Crowd didnâ??t really care. Bork gonna go over at Mania.
Crowd didnâ??t really care. Bork gonna go over at Mania.
Nah, it was better because of his elimination. I thought this Rumble was awesome. The Lesnar story dominated Part 1, with Drew taking him out and starting Part 2. This Rumble actually had a story. Loved it. Brock absolutely played his part well.
Royal Rumble 2020
Date: January 26, 2020
Location: Minute Maid Park, Houston, Texas
Commentators: Michael Cole, Corey Graves, Vic Joseph, Jerry Lawler, Tom Phillips
It’s time to get started on the Road to Wrestlemania and while you could say the Rumbles are predictable, you could also say that they’re wide open. This is a very strange situation and I’m rather pleased with that. I’m not sure who is going to win either but they’re going to mean a lot. Let’s get to it.
Click on the link below for the full review.
You Take The Good With The Bad
Agree with you on a lot of things, but I'd give that Rumble match an A+. The first half was fantastic given what it was leading to. People want Drew to look like a monster? There you go. The other monster wrecked half the participants and the eventual winner kicked him into the 5th row. Also allowed the backend to be LOADED with talent. 1992 is my favorite. 1997 is probably my second. 2020 may now be in that 3-5 range, honestly, and I really don't watch much anymore.
The women's match was awesome, was especially awesome to see Beth kick some ass.
The first half of the men's match was fucking dreadful, and went on far too long with the "BROCK SMASH" shit. Thankfully, it got a hell of a lot better, and they picked a good person to win.
"We are not entitled to our opinions. We are entitled to our informed opinions." - Harlan Ellison (1934 - 2018)
I didn't catch the kickoff show due to internet problems, which did finally clear up about 15 minutes before the show came on. As for what I did see:
Roman Reigns vs. King Corbin: (5 out of 10) - This match did nothing for me whatsoever as there just wasn't any drama here, nor was the match particularly brutal. It was also terribly predictable in that you knew Roode & Ziggler and the Usos would be out there running interference. Watching Reigns and Corbin just slowly plodding their way through the audience for the better part of half an hour and, mostly, just trading punches with a few table spots was like watching paint dry. This program stopped being interesting quite a while back and I'm hoping this means they finally move on.
Women's Royal Rumble: (7.0 out of 10) - The ending aside, I enjoyed the women's Rumble match a lot. A few fun surprises and some great performances from most of the NXT women. Bianca Belair looked like a star out there though I have to admit that I'm not overly wild about WWE going back to the method of having a couple of people be responsible for eliminating more than half the overall competitors in the match. It takes away some of the drama and it didn't have the "it feels like anybody can win" atmosphere that both the RR matches have enjoyed the past few years. The ending of the match, to me, was pretty lousy because if there's one woman on the entire WWE roster who doesn't need to win the Royal Rumble match in order to have a title shot or to have a big moment, it's Charlotte Flair. Over the course of her entire time in WWE, including NXT, she's won a total of 11 championships, she was the last Divas Champion, the first WWE Women's Champion, was part of the first female WrestleMania main event, was part of the first women's HIAC match, the first women's Falls Count Anywhere match, I think the first Last Woman Standing match, etc.. Basically, when it comes down to it, just about the only "firsts" Charlotte hasn't been part of involves the Women's Tag Team Championsip, which she's long since been above anyway, and the women's Elimination Chamber match. It just comes off like the waste of an opportunity to do something with someone fresh, someone who already hasn't done everything there is for a woman to do in WWE that isn't gag worthy. Speaking of gag worthy, I could've done without the return of Santina Marella as well.
Bayley vs. Lacey Evans: (6 out of 10) - I'm hoping this means this feud is over since Bayley got her win back. These two just don't click well in the ring, never really have when you look back over their various tag matches in the past. I also just can't get into Lacey's character as there's nothing really to cheer for. The whole "Sassy Southern Belle" bit just seems so corny and old fashioned when you talk about portraying women in a strong light; I mean, they bring up her military service record all the time, so they should've just based her character on that. Make her a tough, former badass female soldier and ditch the whole 1940s pin up calendar girl character they're trying to pass off as a "Southern Belle." The match itself was the best we could hope for, and I'm thankful that it clocked in at just under 10 minutes.
"The Fiend" Bray Wyatt vs. Daniel Bryan: (8.0 out of 10) - I enjoyed this match quite a bit because we actually got not only a real match out of it but some genuinely fun action. They really went after each other with the strap, Bryan's selling during the match was extremely good and I also like that he really got in a lot of offense on Wyatt. Everyone knew going in that Bryan wasn't going to win, that's going to take some drama out of any match no matter how you slice it, but people were hoping for a strong performance and I think we were content with that. Looking at the marks and bruises on Bryan's back, arms and chest from the strap, it made this match come off as VASTLY more physical than Seth Rollins' match against Wyatt back at HIAC. The lack of the stupid red light during the match was another huge plus as was them cutting back a lot on the whole supernatural aspect of the Fiend. To me, the character is much more interesting as more of a savage nutjob than some sort of supernatural demon. Wyatt retaining was never in doubt and was the right call. I have a feeling we're getting Roman Reigns vs. Bray Wyatt at WrestleMania in what will probably be little more than Reigns delivering Superman Punches and spears almost the entire time.
Becky Lynch vs. Asuka: (8 out of 10) - The same thing with Wyatt vs. Bryan in that it was a strong match from the ladies, they worked hard and delivered a good effort even though there wasn't really a ton of drama given that everyone knew Becky would be retaining. I still find myself hoping somehow that some sort of angle will go down that'll see Charlotte lose her WrestleMania spot to someone else because the thought of her feuding yet again with Becky Lynch or Bayley is enough to put me to sleep.
Men's Royal Rumble : 7.5 out of 10) - The first 25 or so minutes of this match had me pretty disgusted in that WWE was doing exactly what I figured they were going to do: making Brock Lesnar look unbeatable at the expense of half the participants of the match. Much like Charlotte Flair being so overly accomplished that she didn't need the Rumble win, Lesnar has been made to look so dominant over the years that there was no need for WWE to make roughly half the men involved in this match look like they were chumps who should've been packing Lesnar's bags to and from his rental car. And yes, I get that the entire point was to set things up so that fans would pop like crazy when/if someone finally eliminated Lesnar, I'm just LONG since over Vince's near obsession with making Lesnar look 99.9% untouchable to such a degree that it made his protection of John Cena during the 2000s tame by comparison. Even though Lesnar was eliminated, they couldn't just let McIntyre have an untainted moment here as they just had to overly protect Lesnar again by having him suffer a low blow from Ricochet, slowing him down so that McIntyre could hit the Claymore Kick and knock Brock out over the top rope. One of the coolest parts of the match was seeing Edge in a WWE ring again, despite all the claims that he wasn't getting back into it. He's in great shape, better than I've seen him in a very long time, and he lasted a pretty good amount of time. It was cool to see his interaction with Randy Orton again and ultimately screwing Orton over rather than vice versa. Ultimately, it came down to Reigns and McIntyre as the last two left in the ring and I'm glad that WWE made the right call in this match by giving it to McIntyre. It was a huge moment for McIntyre, the fans responded just as they should have and at least the show ended on a high note. However, even more so than the women's RR match, they went back to a booking format of showing 1 or 2 wrestlers being especially dominant. Lesnar eliminated 13 guys, most of which were eliminated within a handful of seconds after they got into the ring while McIntyre himself eliminated 6. Again, this takes some of the "anybody might be able to win" bit that's been connected with the last couple of Royal Rumble matches but, as I said, at least this one ended the right way.
Overall, even though there were some low points in the show, the 2020 Royal Rumble was a pretty decent show Reigns vs. Corbin and Bayley vs. Lacey Evans were both dull but the rest of the show did have some strong performances, some nice showings from the women of NXT, and a little emotional manipulation here and there. The big shortcomings for this show, for me, were Charlotte winning the women's Royal Rumble even though there's no need for it and for more than a dozen guys being made to look like scrubs just to needlessly reinforce the mythic status of Brock Lesnar. Overall, I give the show a 7, maybe a 7.5 out of 10.
"What Do I Know Of Cultured Ways, The Gilt, The Craft And The Lie?
I, Who Was Born In A Naked Land And Bred In The Open Sky.
The Subtle Tongue, The Sophist Guile, They Fail When The Broadswords Sing.
Rush In And Die Dogs - I Was A Man Before I Was King."
Conan Of Cimmeria
Theres no heat like RRRRH. Roman Reigns Royal Rumble Heat. If you want your winner to get a positive reaction just put them in the last 2 with Roman.
I think a lot of the smarks have outsmarked themselves in their criticism of this Rumble match. How much does the second half of that match matter without Brock doing what he did during the first half?
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