With WWE Fast Lane tomorrow, I feel I should give my opinion on the event that got up to this point, the 2015 Royal Rumble. As a filler pay-per-view between the Rumble and Wrestlemania, a lot of the rivalries that started at the former will conclude in the latter, making Fast Lane the event where, chances are, not a lot will be decided. So, what better way to prepare for an event where not a lot will change than with looking at the origin of a lot of these issues.
Please take note that I was actually working while the Royal Rumble was on, so I did miss some parts. The majority of matches I caught, but the matches I won’t be talking about are the Pre Show match between Cesaro and Tyson Kidd and The New Day and also the Womens Tag Team match, simply because they were on when it got busy.
With that out of the way, let’s begin:
Royal Rumble 2015
The New Age Outlaws vs The Ascension
This match was a lot better than I thought it was going to be. The Outlaws did a great job of warming up the crowd and acting the slightly goofy jobber face team to oppose the serious and powerful Ascension. What amazed me is what great condition Billy Gunn has kept himself in. He looks better than some of the current talent.
The match did a great job of putting over this new tag team force of Konnor and Viktor, taking out one of the most beloved Attitude Era tag teams and former champions. Road Dogg and Billy Gunn seem to understand that although they cherish their own ego, their day is done and a new breed needs to ascend (pun intended), especially in the sparse tag team division the WWE currently have.
Overall, a great, short match, doing what was best for the company and letting the crowd see The New Age Outlaws preform once again
The Usos vs The Miz & Damien Mizdow for the WWE Tag Team Championship
Speaking of the baron Tag Team division…
It seems odd that this match still warrants to be on a pay-per-view. You buy these sorts of events to see matches you don’t normally see, like the example above. The Usos and Miz’s have been wrestling pretty much non-stop since the latter became a tag team. Its obvious that teams like the Ascension and other NXT teams are needed in the main roster, and fast.
Overall, it was a decent match, marred by the fact we’ve seen this match up only slightly less than Orton vs Cena. Mizdow, as always, was fantastic as the comedy side character of the match, with the fans chanting almost constantly for his partner to tag him in (more on him later). The Usos win, the status quo remains, we’re one step closer to losing another tag team. Good
Brock Lesner vs John Cena vs Seth Rollins for the WWE World Championship
Say what you want about the Rumble match itself, this match was worth buying the pay-per-view for. This is the best title match I have watched in a very, very long time.
The story played so well, with three giants clashing in the ring. It was like a match up between the hero, the villain and the neutral beast, and they all played their parts very well. Cena played the noble face perfectly. Rollins played the weaselly opportunistic heal amazingly. Lesner is an unstoppable beast, it’s not like he needs to act.
It was a stellar wrestling match. Admittedly, it was mostly only two people in the ring at a time, but it was so well presented that you were to enthralled with what was going on those facts slip your mind. Highlights of the match were Lesner’s double German suplex, as well as Cena’s double AA to J&J Security, as well as Rollins putting Lesner through the announce table and the highlight of the entire night, Rollins’ Phoenix splash on Cena, which rightfully garnered ‘This is Awesome’ chants from the crowd.
Rollins came out of this match looking amazing, only being pinned after Lesner, seemingly coming back from the dead after the announcer table spot, caught him off guard to win. It was nice to see Cena play a bit part in this story and not be the main draw. It was an incredible match I would urge everyone to check out.
30 Man Royal Rumble Match
IT would probably be a lot easier for me to bullet point this as there were a lot of points to get through. So, here we go…
- Boring start between Miz and R-Truth, luckily spiced up by the return of Bubba-Ray Dudley who got a massive pop
- Bray Wyatt looked incredible in this match, lining up big things in his future if The Undertaker rumours turn out to be true
- Where was Curtis Axel’s chance? Fuck you, Eric Rowan, I thought you were meant to be a face
- Daniel Bryan came. Daniel Bryan saw. Daniel Bryan eliminated to a chorus of boos. After this the fans didn’t give the match a chance, and it’s a shame
- Rusev also looked like a monster again in this match, eliminating six people and looking as dominant as he ever has
- The usual Kofi Kingston escape from elimination seemed a lot more due to luck than skill as in previous attempts. Still, very entertaining. Who knows, maybe WWE will let him win a battle royal at some point
- Golddust and Stardust heated encounter means another Tag Team is on it’s way out it seems. Luchadragons for main roster?
- Reigns enters. The crowd sees where the match is going, the boos begin to get louder
- Big pop for Mizdow. Big heal heat for Miz trying to take his place. Bigger pop for Mizdow. Mizdow enters the Rumble!…Eliminated in 18 seconds by Rusev…Fuck you, WWE.
- ‘Daniel Bryan’ chants momentarily change to ‘Let’s Go Ambrose’. He’s clearly over and I can’t blame them, I love this guy
- ‘Let’s Go Ambrose’ change to ‘Let’s Go Ziggler’. Clearly another popular superstar on his way up.
- Both Ambrose and Ziggler, as well as Wyatt and Ryback (who are also over in different ways) are all dumped out unceremoniously by fat Kane and fat Big Show…
- STOP PUSHING BIG SHOW AND KANE AS THESE MONSTER HEELS INSTEAD OF PUSHING YOUR MAIN BABYFACES AND ACTUALLY POPULAR HEELS. The Authority idea is a good one, but not the detriment of your audience. People care about Ambrose. People care about Ziggler. Hell, people even care about Bray fucking Wyatt! So why have them jobbing out to two old Attitude era guys, coming up to the end of their useful in ring worth? It garners heat, yes, but what after that?
- The Rock enters to help Reigns. Boos ensue. Reigns elimiates Rusev (again, with no fan fair) and The Rock looks confused when the crowd boo their number one contender.
All in all, it was a decent match made a lot worse by some massive blunders on the part of the WWE. Having ageing heels dump out half of the most popular wrestlers in the company, having the biggest draw of the match, Daniel Bryan, getting dumped out 11 men into a 30 man competition and thinking The Rock could help all of this was, at best, misguided. There were good spots in the match, but this event will always be remembered for the Rumble winner who was booed out of the stadium.
To Wrap Up…
What did I think of the 2015 Royal Rumble? Overall, it was a show with good ideas, some better executed than others.
I think the WWE managed to get The Ascension and Seth Rollins over really well, making them look strong and keeping in character. On the flip side, Reigns big moment was squashed by a hostile crowd who would only accept one winner – Daniel Bryan.
It was clear for a long time that Reigns had been lined up to win this year’s Rumble. Supposedly these were made before Bryan’s recovery and return to the ring. His inclusion in the Rumble seemed not to be expected, so really him not being in the title picture shouldn’t be surprising. It would be like Sheamus coming back now and directly into a big title match.
Before people shout at me, I’m not blaming Daniel Bryan for the poor reception to the Rumble match. I’m blaming a mixture of poor booking decisions and an interesting theory I heard on the Stone Cold Steve Austin Podcast with Triple H – That kayfabe is dead in the Reality Era, but that’s a discussion for a different time.
All in all, it was a decent pay-per-view marred by a few poor bookings. Does it get more grief than it deserves? Of course it does, but trying to change it would be like asking WWE ‘fans’ to stop asking for CM Punk back – it just won’t happen.
RAMBOLIC RAMBLER 