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28.3.17 0320
The 7 - Pro Wrestling - Royal Rumble 2016
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Mr Shh
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#1 Posted on 24.1.16 2334.24
Reposted on: 24.1.23 2334.36
Oh, Orlando. You tried so hard to be the third consecutive awesome Rumble audience. You had tough shoes to fill. And you were so close, too. But you just didn't have the right amount of cold cynicism that living in Pennsylvania would have given you. You rejected Roman Reigns (which in itself is always OK, but he has gained some goodwill since last year). Then, when there's nobody credible left to eliminate Roman, you blow the roof off for Triple H's entrance. Then again for his elimination of Reigns. Oh, no worries, you say - Dean Ambrose has this. Uh huh. The cheering for Ambrose reeked of immediate regret and final desperation. A Pittsburgh or Philadelphia crowd would've shit over the whole affair, especially Triple H's entrance.

Speaking of Hunter, he was looking *old* tonight.

Hey, that was one of the best Rumble undercards in quite some time, no? Especially appreciated the women's title match, including the finish. The support for Becky was good to hear.

And then there was AJ Styles. That was something.

(edited by Mr Shh on 25.1.16 0036)
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graves9
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#2 Posted on 24.1.16 2350.55
Reposted on: 24.1.23 2351.20
Pretty terrific show and may end up being the best WWe's show by years end. The undercard was fantastic especially Owens vs Ambrose.

Becky vs Charlotte was terrific and with Sasha getting involved after the match I feel bad for Becky, who will probably miss out on the divas title match, which sucks being that she's the best face on the roster and doing great work. That said, good to see them turn Sasha face as the fans adore her.

Loved the crowd shitting all over Reigns from start to finish and great to hear AJ get a massive ovation and the crowd chanting his name the majority of the time he was in the match, I would have liked for AJ to have last longer, but at least he got eliminated by upper mid card heel and AJ vs Owens at Wrestlemania would be sick. I was also glad the announcers put AJ over so strongly. I also love AJ's theme music it is the best theme he's ever had.

Reigns being number one and being taken out for a good chunk of the match was a retread of the 99 Rumble except you know Austin was beloved. Would have liked to have seen Bray win bad have him in the title match at Wrestlemania, but at least Reigns didn't win.

All in all, an above average Runble that had something for everyone with a great undercard and a good rumble.

(edited by graves9 on 25.1.16 0056)
It's False
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#3 Posted on 25.1.16 0023.40
Reposted on: 25.1.23 0025.36
Well, it was a great show right up until I somehow magically woke up in 1999.
Big Bad
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#4 Posted on 25.1.16 0059.53
Reposted on: 25.1.23 0102.09
Ambrose winning would've blown off the roof off the arena and been such an absolute breath of fresh air instead of the predictable ending. Reigns saving his best friend from being eliminated and knocking Triple H cold to let Dean win the title would've still set up HHH/Reigns for Wrestlemania while also (hey look!) getting Roman over as an actual face.

The Triple H-as-secret weapon ending fell flat for many reasons but chiefly...

a) the Authority's first plan, to injure Reigns and take him out of the match, was seemingly working well. Reigns only returned to the match literally two minutes before HHH entered at #30. If he had indeed stayed out, would Hunter have been like, "welp, don't need me. Hey Slater, you're number 30, get out there."
b) for the love of god, why didn't Vince and the League Of Nations simply ELIMINATE REIGNS after they'd beaten him to within an inch of his life? Roll his carcass back into the ring and let Harper or someone toss him! Surely Vince (of all people) kayfabe knows the danger of letting someone "exit" the Rumble without actually being eliminated
c) Reigns wasn't screwed over by HHH within the context of the match. Triple H cleanly eliminated him without having to resort to pulling him out from ringside, returning to the ring after being tossed, etc.
whatever
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#5 Posted on 25.1.16 0515.14
Reposted on: 25.1.23 0515.27
Loved Sami getting the NXT Rumble callup. Enjoyed AJ's debut and elimination ("Welcome to the WWE!"). Thought the Reigns breather was pretty annoying - as stated above, why didn't they just throw him over the rope after destroying him? Also enjoyed the Wyatt wrecking crew sticking around to destroy Brock. However, I am not looking forward to a possible Brock/Bray match at WM. Brock will just kill him.

Juuuuust about shut off the TV once #30 hit. Once it wasn't 'Ride of the Valkyries', it became pretty predictable. Also not looking forward to a HHH WM main event.
InVerse
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#6 Posted on 25.1.16 0625.17
Reposted on: 25.1.23 0625.29
The fact that JBL's justification of Ric Flair sexually assaulting Becky was "He's said he does it for years!" is almost as mind boggling as the fact that they're down to one world title and it's still going to be a midcard match at Mania.

But hey, better HHH than Brock. At least I believe Hunter loves the business and puts his heart and soul into it rather than having turned his back on it once and only coming back for the money.

I was almost expecting the Undertaker to come out and attack AJ Styles for trying to steal his wife's finishing move. (I presume he'll never be referred to as the phenomenal AJ Styles while in WWE.) At least they were smart enough to have AJ eliminated by someone who the crowd wouldn't shit all over. (Or at least someone who would enjoy the crowd shitting all over him.)

Sasha not pointing to the Wrestlemania sign made me sad.

Overall, I"m a lot more unhappy with the show than the quality deserved. Ambrose vs Owens was brutal but never went full retard. Kofi seemed a bit off but New Day retaining is always good. I'd be down for a legitimate title run for Kalisto. The women's match was very good, but Ric Flair needs to go away forever. And he needs to take Brock with him.

Since I have a new address and new debit card, I was able to scam my way into a free trial. At this point, I'm not so sure I'm willing to pay $9.99 for Wrestlemania. It'll depend on whether I have any tests the next day or not.
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#7 Posted on 25.1.16 0638.27
Reposted on: 25.1.23 0641.51
    Originally posted by Mr Shh
    Oh, Orlando. You tried so hard to be the third consecutive awesome Rumble audience. You had tough shoes to fill. And you were so close, too. But you just didn't have the right amount of cold cynicism that living in Pennsylvania would have given you. You rejected Roman Reigns (which in itself is always OK, but he has gained some goodwill since last year). Then, when there's nobody credible left to eliminate Roman, you blow the roof off for Triple H's entrance. Then again for his elimination of Reigns. Oh, no worries, you say - Dean Ambrose has this. Uh huh. The cheering for Ambrose reeked of immediate regret and final desperation. A Pittsburgh or Philadelphia crowd would've shit over the whole affair, especially Triple H's entrance.


This x100. I give up. I think I've finally come to grips with the fact that the WWE does not market towards people like me. When anyone with an internet connection and the crazy people who actually gamble on this stuff KNOW that HHH - an entrant not even named as a participant - will come in at #30 AND win the Rumble, it's kinda hard to listen to Cole express shock and the audience go crazy when EXACTLY THAT happens. (Honestly, I'm dumbfounded that anyone could possibly cheer HHH since 2003, since he's spent that ENTIRE period getting himself booked to squash up-and-coming stars, win titles, and never, EVER show ass or look silly. Even Austin made fun of himself when he was with the Alliance.)

Glad Kalisto won, though the match was pretty sloppy. Not much else I found entertaining or noteworthy other than... WWE should really either turn New Day face or the Usos heel. Other than that, I'm glad the NFC title game was a blowout or else I'd have been even more pissed that I missed it to watch this crap.

EDIT: OH, there was one shocking moment for me: HHH was in the ring at the same time with Jericho and didn't eliminate him. I thought, for sure, that he would Pedigree Jericho, Y2J would fly out of the ring on impact, and a meatwagon would drive directly to the ring and haul him away. But not before Stephanie slapped his dead carcass about 30 times.


(edited by Reverend J Shaft on 25.1.16 0903)
Tenken347
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#8 Posted on 25.1.16 0639.03
Reposted on: 25.1.23 0641.55
    Originally posted by graves9
    Pretty terrific show and may end up being the best WWe's show by years end.


I'd say it was the best big show they've put on in 1.5-2 years. I'm having trouble remembering the last show they did that I liked this much.

    Originally posted by graves9
    Becky vs Charlotte was terrific and with Sasha getting involved after the match I feel bad for Becky, who will probably miss out on the divas title match, which sucks being that she's the best face on the roster and doing great work. That said, good to see them turn Sasha face as the fans adore her.


I'd have rather seen Becky win this one (she really deserved to), but I think they might be setting up for a three-way at WrestleMania. As beloved as Sasha is, she's clearly not a pure babyface.

As a match, I really liked the Rumble itself, but that was disastrous booking (why did I think that would be any different than the last two years?). That's exactly how you book Reigns if you want people to take a gigantic shit on him. Book him at #1, but then he takes a powder so he doesn't have to face off against any of Brock/Bray/KO/etc. Of course no one was going to cheer him coming back, and even the smallest child in that arena knew he was coming back. They should have just left him in there the whole time, clinging on and doing desperation spots. People might have actually gotten behind him then. But they had to overbook this thing, and they knew it, because otherwise you don't make Dean Ambrose the last face in the ring. By the way, if you already know that he's easily the most over face on the active roster, how on earth do explain some of the booking decisions there?

Blargh. In any event, it was a good match like I said. But World Champion Old Man H is not a WrestleMania seller, no matter what else you've got going on with that match.

    Originally posted by Reverend J Shaft
    Honestly, I'm dumbfounded that anyone could possibly cheer HHH since 2003, since he's spent that ENTIRE period getting himself booked to squash up-and-coming stare, win titles, and never, EVER show ass or look silly


Well, it is worth pointing out that 2003 was, wait for it, 13 years ago, and that probably most of that crowd was either too young or too not born yet to remember any of that stuff.

(edited by Tenken347 on 25.1.16 0442)
CxMorgado
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#9 Posted on 25.1.16 0704.58
Reposted on: 25.1.23 0716.10
    Originally posted by InVerse
    I was almost expecting the Undertaker to come out and attack AJ Styles for trying to steal his wife's finishing move. (I presume he'll never be referred to as the phenomenal AJ Styles while in WWE.)


The first thing Cole did was call him the Phenomenal One, and the phrase "I Am Phenomenal" was all over his tron video. Not that you could really see it without going on Youtube after, what with the 2 minutes of Roman making confused shock face.
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#10 Posted on 25.1.16 0711.41
Reposted on: 25.1.23 0718.53
I bought into Dean winning and becoming a double-champ. Hunter-Reigns doesn't need the belt to be a feud but I guess we have our main event.

So this sets up...
Hunter-Reigns
Brock-Wyatt
Dean-Heel Jericho?
KO-AJ (or Sami?)
Sasha-Becky-Charlotte?

No idea where the League of Nations fit into Mania plans..or Taker...

The Rumble format still gets me to mark out in a way nothing else does in wrestling.

    Originally posted by InVerse
    I was almost expecting the Undertaker to come out and attack AJ Styles for trying to steal his wife's finishing move. (I presume he'll never be referred to as the phenomenal AJ Styles while in WWE.) At least they were smart enough to have AJ eliminated by someone who the crowd wouldn't shit all over. (Or at least someone who would enjoy the crowd shitting all over him.)


I'm pretty sure his entrance video said "phenomenal" on it and his ring gear said "phenomenal 1."

Just last January I saw AJ in a ROH main event the night before the Philly Rumble...didn't expect him to be IN it a year later.
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#11 Posted on 25.1.16 0724.32
Reposted on: 25.1.23 0729.01
So, thanks Orlando for making me totally WRONG about whether AJ Styles would get an impressive crowd reaction for entering the Rumble. It still created a very weird thing in my house where IJ (the WWE-only fan who has not discovered Wrestling News on the Internet) actually said out loud "wait...who IS this guy?"


    I'd say it was the best big show they've put on in 1.5-2 years. I'm having trouble remembering the last show they did that I liked this much.


Rumble 2015 had the Seth/Cena/Brock Triple Threat and a Rumble that was pretty good even though the ending was either a year too late or too early. Mania was pretty damn great, too. I would say Mania 31 > RR 2016, if only because ADR/Kalisto and Charlotte/Becky weren't very good (and I really wanted the Divas match to work but the crowd wasn't into it and Ric Flair made the match worse, not better.)
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#12 Posted on 25.1.16 0726.50
Reposted on: 25.1.23 0729.02
Overall an enjoyable show. I wish we hadn't got the predictable HHH end, but alas we did.

Owens-Ambrose was a great opening. It made me like both more, which is always good. This was magnified by their selling later in the Rumble, particular Owens dragging his dead leg. Kevin destroying Michael Cole on his way down behind the announce table was fun too.

Tag match was acceptable fun. Can we move on from the Usos now, please?

Loved the womens match as well, but loved the ending even more. Sasha is goodness. I'm guessing we probably head to a threeway next.

The Rumble was fun overall. Enjoyed AJ, it was some of my first exposure as I haven't ventured far out of the WWE bubble. Loved Kevin Owens battling his former enemies throughout the match. Enjoyed the Kofi spot, though followup like actual camera shot of him eating popcorn on Big E's shoulders and such would have been nice.

Didn't like the attack on Reigns or how they didn't actually take the few seconds to eliminate him. Also I think it would have meant more to have him actually last 50 minutes IN the match. At least it would be more respectable than him limping to the back and coming out twenty minutes later fresh as a daisy.

I wish we had a few more legit surprises, AJ we halfway expected and Sami was easily the most expected NXT face. I half expected Tommy Dreamer. Throw us a Hacksaw or random former WCW star or somebody.

It was a good set of 30 though for the most part, with very little complete deadwood.

So now we continue the obvious "Roman's road to the belt" right? Let me guess... Roman has to beat all four (or three, depending on if Bad News Barrett is alive or dead that week) League of Nations members to earn a WrestleMania title shot, AND he has to do it with guest referee Vince McMahon.

P.S. The Edge & Christian show looks kinda bad, right?
graves9
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#13 Posted on 25.1.16 0734.10
Reposted on: 25.1.23 0736.55
Forgot to mention I'm surprised that they're letting AJ keep the Styles clash considering he injured a few guys in Japan with it as they teased it twice in the Rumble. The way Sami was booked last night makes me think he'll stay on the main roster.

Count me in on being shocked that HHH didn't eliminate Jericho after all the times he's buried him.

Holy shit is Braun Strowman terrible, he probably is the least talented member of the roster, but since he's big and looks mean Vince loves him.

(edited by graves9 on 25.1.16 0842)
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#14 Posted on 25.1.16 0737.10
Reposted on: 25.1.23 0752.56
I believe I had this. I was going to have something else, but Shh's cold cynicism of living in Pennsylvania is such a great line that there is zero need to top it. He is dead right by the way.

I got this for free and Fastlane for free, because I truly believe all WWE cares about is subscriber numbers and not actual buyers. So, you can't bitch about getting something for free, right?!! WRONG!!!!

Ok, the undercard was excellent minus Luchabotchamania. I don't care about Alberto and could care less about low rent Rey. Owens/Ambrose was MOTYC quality. New Day makes my wife happy, so it makes me happy. The Women's match was great until Octogenarian Flair threw a coat for no reason. Still, the Legit Boss showing up was terrific. If they do a three way at Mania, it could steal the show.

Now for the Rumble. It was at least better than last year's boring match. I was in a deadpool and got 23, so I am was Team Brock all night and will continue to be after he destroys those dastardly inbreed Wyatts. It was actually very interesting til number 30 hit. From that point on, it became an ego driven mess much like the last three years of this entire company. There is zero reason for HHH to win this match. None. He will not pack them in at Jerry world regardless of who is who's corner. He will bore the fuck out of us for the next three months and possibly more due to rematch clauses.

From this point, Vince, Step, HHH and everyone need to shut up about this brass ring. It doesn't exist. It won't exist if a mid 40 year old HHH still believes he can go. It won't exist as long as Vince has a hard on for pet project. It won't exist as long as Steph becomes an untouchable heel that says and does anything she wants. The brass ring will only exist if one or two of those three people are permanently removed from the equation. Until, then everyone is spinning their wheels while busting their ass. I feel bad for AJ, Austin and anyone who signs with this company, because he are being sold a bill of shit. Glad AJ is here, yet its going to be sad to see him marginalized to prove a point that no longer exists.

(edited by lotjx on 25.1.16 0743)
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#15 Posted on 25.1.16 0739.01
Reposted on: 25.1.23 0753.12
There were some really smart decisions in this Rumble like having Owens eliminate Styles and overall every minor story told in the match was excellent, but the main story with Roman just hung over the whole thing. In the end it sucked the life of an otherwise bee fun and entertaining Rumble. It felt like a WCW production where you just try to block out the awful stuff they are pushing and focus in on what you enjoy.

* Helmsley did look shockingly old tonight.

* The camera work was bad all night and missing the Kofi elimination was egregious.

* The McMahon beat down was silly. Beat Roman up, let him go to the back, don't attack him while he is hanging out by the water cooler, let him come back out a half hour later. Just real intelligence insulting stuff.

* I don't remember a main eventer ever getting such a massive push with such shotty booking decisions at every turn. I don't know how Roman recovers.

* Jericho being the iron man is a really weird choice and a waste of a young guy who could have used that notch in the belt.

* WWE is WCW. Root for your favorite midcarders and hope the WWE machine doesn't get around to crushing them.

A pretty good show though, I guess.




(edited by BigDaddyLoco on 25.1.16 0840)
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#16 Posted on 25.1.16 0739.35
Reposted on: 25.1.23 0753.27
    Originally posted by Reverend J Shaft


    EDIT: OH, there was one shocking moment for me: HHH was in the ring at the same time with Jericho and didn't eliminate him. I thought, for sure, that he would Pedigree Jericho, Y2J would fly out of the ring on impact, and a meatwagon would drive directly to the ring and haul him away. But not before Stephanie slapped his dead carcass about 30 times.



Me, too. AND, Y2J got to hit the Codebreaker on HHH, too! Maybe Hunter felt bad for all the holding down all those years and said: "You get your payback a bit, here."




HAHAHAHHAAHA. I can't believe I just typed that.

At least I was 2 for two with my New Day RR predictions. Francesca is back, AND, Kofi rode on Big E's shoulders doing the unicorn, thing. Nothing better than a refreshing soda while perched upon E's shoulders. The crowd: "WE WANT POPCORN!" Yeah, Me Too!

Completely unbelievable that Brock just walked away after being eliminated. The Beast would never do that. Bray should have been Germaned into the eight row after that. Bah.

I picked HHH to win, and was certain he was coming in at 30, so him winning was a given. I DIDN'T, however, pick HHH and Dean as the last two. Bit of a swerve there for us. Thank you. I didn't notice what Reigns was doing at the end, tho. Did he just walk away, too? So, only the heels can come in and cause interference? BS.

As they faded out, I can only hope this leads to the WM match with Reigns being if HHH loses, The Authority and Mr. McMahon are hone forever from our screen. (At least until next time.) Roman winning that kind of match, with the whole crowd singing NANANANAHEYHEYHEYGOODBYE, with the final screen capture of WM being Steph screeching NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, I would be ok with that.

Oh, and how the hell was Charlotte not DQ after Ric threw his jacket in the ring? It IS a foreign object, shoulda been the end of the match. Oh, and what was she saying to her dad when he came in the ring in the end and raised her hands? She seemed kinda pissed at him.


-edit- One more thing. How did Booker utter the phrase: "I bought that title into the WWE!" (referring to the US Title), and not have a pissed look on his face? It WAS NOT the US title he brought over, it was the World Title. Screw you, Vince. Yeah, yeah, we know, you won the war, but SOME of us have memories of WCW that don't include your vision.

That being said, Edge and Christians new show look completelyawesome, AND they interview The Shockmaster!

(edited by JimBob Skeeter on 25.1.16 0743)
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#17 Posted on 25.1.16 0751.40
Reposted on: 25.1.23 0755.33
- Triple H was on Jericho's podcast a bit a go. By all accounts, it seems they're on great terms. I think we can put their feud from over a decade ago behind us.

- Style's "I am Phenomenal" shirt has sold out already.

- Is Zayn now on the main roster now officially? I'm not sure, but it was a nice touch for him to eliminate Owens. Also a nice touch how Styles and Owens went at it right away.

- I liked the opener a lot, including the table bump which looked impressed but seemed quite safe.

- Inexcusable for Lesnar to not destroy everyone after he was eliminated.

- Speaking of Wyatt, I was hoping he would win, especially after the HHH staredown, but it wasn't to be. I was also holding out hope Ambrose would win because there's still Fastlane for him to drop the title, but nope.
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#18 Posted on 25.1.16 0753.08
Reposted on: 25.1.23 0756.34
Caveat: First non-NXT WWE I've watched since the last Rumble.
Analysis in no particular order:

I worried that the "champ must go coast to coast to retain" thing was going to be problematic. A competent story-teller would manage it but the E hasn't a great recent record. My concern was that the match psychology would be off and that they'd overly choreograph things.

So early doors they manage to put my mind at ease. By completely confirming my fears and taking the heat out so I could watch in all my snarky glory.

The first section of the Rumble; where we had a couple of dudes duking it out whilst Roman had a little rest in the corner and the one out one in, perfectly timed. I swear the guy running the countdown clock had instructions saying "when Rusev is eliminated, show the 10 second countdown. Etc." Seemed to happen a bit. If I could be arsed I'd go back and check some of those intervals, because they felt like there was a bit of convenient variation.

Roman did a great job of visually emoting "who the fuck is this?" when AJ's music started. Also did a great job of visually emoting "oh, for fuck's sake" when Kane came out.

Thought AJ had a good first outing. Nothing that tells the universe that he's any more than just another guyTM mind. Although the announcers put him over strongly so good news there. I wonder if, prior to the event, Vince walked AJ around the arena - possibly draping an arm around his shoulder in a potentially fatherly manner. And said something like: "Son, this is the big time. So get yourself a decent bloody haircut!"

Camera work felt shoddy. Frequent switches away from action to miss stuff. Like AJ's what I assume was a nice power-slam on Golddust.

Psychology-wise it probably doesn't matter, but I'd have thought people would gang up on the champ as priority A1. Leave each other alone until that was done. Rusev to stall waiting for help. Beat Roman until he goes down. And then kick him and kick him and keep kicking him until all his botty water comes out. Then turf him and get on with it. But they didn't. They gave him lots of nice little rest stops while they played with each other. Which was very considerate.

Following on from that thought - it then made more sense when Vince came out with cronies. But as soon as they started with the outside piss beating you just knew they were going to leave him outside to have a rest. There they go. Nice Spanish announce table spot. Where they fucking leave him. And nobody else notices that one of the main threats is available for a quick win. Even Show who must have passed the posse on the way in. As "evil geniuses" these guys make Turner D. Century look like the 3rd Reich.

Sasha Banks' submission move is a helluva thing.

Thought they did a good job putting over the big new Wyatt that I don't know as a threat. Having him eliminate Kane and Show. I especially liked how Show made sure how softly he went out. Not since Iron Sheik at Wrestlemania X7 have we seen skills like that.

Trouble is, this was a thin Rumble. And WWE booked it like a thin Rumble. There were only a handful of guys who were important going in and I didn't feel as if the E tried to make me think that anyone outside of that handful could become important as the match went on. Sure there were plenty of new guys who looked like they will be fun to watch, but no Rick Martel going deep out of the blue.

Oh Roman Reigns is going to the back now, "injured"? Bloody hell, who wrote this? It's like the dreck pumped out for creative writing essays during high school, where you forgot to do it because you had football practice or something important so you scratch out something with zombies on the morning bus ride in. There are as yet unborn fetuses in the Okavango Delta that know Reigns is going to run back into the match just before it ends. After a nice little rest, possibly some massage and a mai tai or two.

Roman Reigns can walk out under his own power. Good. So he can turn himself around and walk his big dumb arse back into the ring under his own power then. No? Oh well.

Back to the handful. And with the pall of a miraculous return of the champ cast, the match between started to take on a filler-ish feel. The Wyatt domination-Lesnar-Wyatt-Bray confrontation was good fun. Although it telegraphed that neither Bray nor Lesnar would win the match because those two pretty much set up their Wrestlemania event.

Lesnar walks around at approx 300lbs these days, right? I reckon Paul E is not too far behind him. That reminds me. I need to buy a new suit this year.

Fastlane. The last stop on the road to Wrestlemania. Shouldn't it be "Gas Station" then. "WWE Gas Station - where more than the hotdogs will make you sick. Coming soon on Pay Per View".

Alrighty, here we go. #30 about to come out. Come on WWE give me something. Give me anything. Hell, I'd even take Savio Vega or King Tonga. Just give me something other than the most obvious, most simplistic, most likely to be scrawled on a cell wall by a sociopathic narcissist in their own faeces storyline. "It's time to play the game" Oh. Fuck. Off. Lemmy deserved better than this.

With this being a thin Rumble we had a few dudes pulling double duty. Which from a psychology perspective makes sense with so much glory available. I've never liked it though. It's a bit 'expose-y' to me. There are laws in cricket that disallow players from playing limited overs matches on consecutive days. Cricket! You know the game where they stop playing in the middle of the afternoon for a cup of tea. So for a guy to be beaten to the point of unresponsiveness to be good to go an hour or so later, in something purporting to be a combat sport has never worked for me. Good on Kevin Owens for doing a limp though. I really like Kevin Owens.

The double duty did give us Ambrose going deep though. Which I imagine many people enjoyed. In his condition from his first encounter he could have gone off too fast. It looked as if he could squirt out of the ring at any time. But then he found his rhythm and brought us to the climax of the evening.

I almost bought into Ambrose as a potential winner after HHH inevitably eliminated Reigns, as was punctuated by pieces of corn in the original script. The only thing that stopped me was that they kept the IC on him when they didn't have to.

Things I liked about HHH:
  • Was only there for a single purpose, but still found time to eliminate the odd mid-carder. Just to keep his eye in.
  • When Ziggles hit his finish on him. In my mind, that wasn't planned. Ziggy just thought "I'm never going to get the chance to do this again!" I don't care what any of you say. That's what happened.
  • When Stepho came in for a congratulatory hug, HHH turned and made her stagger a little bit which made her, again in my mind, look exactly like that woman you see every Spring Racing Carnival that's had one too many champagnes in the sun


Undercard was fantastic. Highlight of the show. Not often I've said that about a Rumble event.

andy1278
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#19 Posted on 25.1.16 0813.26
Reposted on: 25.1.23 0813.42
    Originally posted by JimBob Skeeter



      -edit- One more thing. How did Booker utter the phrase: "I bought that title into the WWE!" (referring to the US Title), and not have a pissed look on his face? It WAS NOT the US title he brought over, it was the World Title. Screw you, Vince. Yeah, yeah, we know, you won the war, but SOME of us have memories of WCW that don't include your vision.

      (edited by JimBob Skeeter on 25.1.16 0743)


    Booker T did bring the title with him though. On the last Nitro/WCW show, Booker went into it as U.S. champ, having won it from Rick Steiner at Greed, and won the world belt on the same show. He was U.S. champ coming into WWE, and gave the belt to Kanyon on July 26th on SmackDown! after coming in.

    (edited by andy1278 on 25.1.16 0914)

    (edited by andy1278 on 25.1.16 0914)
Spank E
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#20 Posted on 25.1.16 0816.26
Reposted on: 25.1.23 0817.32
    Originally posted by JimBob Skeeter
    -edit- One more thing. How did Booker utter the phrase: "I bought that title into the WWE!" (referring to the US Title), and not have a pissed look on his face? It WAS NOT the US title he brought over, it was the World Title. Screw you, Vince. Yeah, yeah, we know, you won the war, but SOME of us have memories of WCW that don't include your vision.


Booker was the World and US Champion when the WCW sale went down.
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