WWE Royal Rumble Reaction

The Road to WrestleMania has officially begun with the first WWE major pay-per-view of 2013: The Royal Rumble! To be honest, the only major reasons to order this show is for The Rock and CM Punk and the 30 Man Royal Rumble Match. Let's get down to business.



Preshow: 

WWE United States Championship Match
Antonio Cesaro (c) vs The Miz

The preshow kicks off with the United States Championship Match between The Miz and Antonio Cesaro. First of all, I can't stand The Miz and his face turn. His jokes are corny and everything seems forced. He needs to go back to being a heel. All that aside, it was a pretty basic match. Very technically sound match with a lot of holds. Nothing too fancy. When Miz landed on his ankle, I think he tweaked it a bit. Hope it's not serious. Cesaro gets the win and retains the title. Hoping to see more Cesaro exposure heading into WrestleMania.

Last Man Standing Match for the World Heavyweight Championship 
Alberto Del Rio (c) vs Big Show

The Royal Rumble kicks off with the Last Man Standing Match for the World Heavyweight Championship and to be honest, this was a GREAT match. I'm always against the idea of having the World Title go on first, but this was a great way to set the tone for the night. I think that this even trumped their match from SmackDown a few weeks ago.

I LOVE Alberto Del Rio as a face. He's played the role well so far. Getting to the match, there was a lot of great action. The match started off slow, but soon after, it picked up and picked up in a BIG way. Del Rio uses the same aggression he had as a heel and fights with the same style. Great spot with Big Show chokeslamming Del Rio off of the light structure at the top of the set through a table! Great spot! And the ending works for me. It furthers Del Rio's character and how much of an asset Ricardo is to him. He tapes Big Show's feet to the ropes so he can't get up and Del Rio retains the World Title. Kinda lame, but how else were they supposed to end it?

Good move here. I didn't expect Del Rio to drop the title to Big Show here. I feel confident that Del Rio is going to walk into WrestleMania with the World Title. I'm really enjoying this face turn he's on. Don't know where Big Show goes from here though.

WWE Tag Team Championship Match
Team Hell No (c) vs Team Rhodes Scholars

This match is, hopefully, the last installment of this feud. It's been going on for 4 months too long now. I predicted Team Hell No would win this and they did. Their face turn has been going so well. The crowd loves them, they put on entertaining segments, and they're just a great team overall. I don't see them losing the titles until WrestleMania.

It was a great match. Classic tag team wrestling by both teams. Loved it. All four men really put it on the line. Rhodes Scholars really worked well as a team in this match, and Team Hell No simply work better as a team. I like the way they booked this match. Team Hell No gets the win here and I'm not mad about it. Hopefully they move on from this feud and Team Hell No takes on The Shield.

Royal Rumble Match

Ok then, Royal Rumble in the middle of the show. That means something big is going down in The Rock and Punk Main Event.

What can I really say about the Royal Rumble Match? It was Amazing! I thought last year's Rumble was entertaining, but this one was better. I say better by miles. Loved seeing Dolph come out cutting a good promo before facing CHRIS JERICHO! The fans were LOUD for Jericho when he came out. That was the loudest they've been all night and Jericho got a very deserved standing ovation. Great moment with Dolph and Jericho. Shows how far Dolph has really come. He looked  like he hasn't missed a beat as usual. It was great seeing guys Goldust giving some good minutes and The Godfather (even though he lasted two seconds.)

I would've liked to see Dolph in the Final Four. Kind of bland when the final four are all faces. The Rumble always provides some great energy and the crowd always gets into it. This year was no different. Final Four came down to Ryback, Cena, Orton, and Sheamus and the Final two were.....wait for it......John Cena and Ryback. Guess who won? Yup, you guessed it. John Cena. I think everybody in the world saw that coming. It's whatever. I'm not gonna go on some long rant about Cena, but it's whatever. Cena is going to WrestleMania to compete for most likely the WWE Championship.

Overall, I LOVED this Royal Rumble Match. Great energy, great atmosphere, great Rumble match. There was just a certain energy about this Rumble better than last year's. Dolph Ziggler has come a long way, Ryback has come a long way, Jericho coming out was a HUGE surprise and there were better moments. Like Kane and Daniel Bryan's funny moment, Barrett being eliminated by a rookie, and Kofi's little stunt with the chair. I still think John Morrison's spot from 2011 was better, but that's just me.

Still, I think the Royal Rumble should ALWAYS close the show. It's tradition, but I guess WWE these days don't respect tradition anymore.

WWE Championship Match
CM Punk (c) vs The Rock

Main Event Time! A feud that's been developed since the Summertime has culminated in this Royal Rumble showdown for the WWE Championship. Let's get right to it!

I'm gonna go ahead and say The Rock is getting too old for this. Sure he can still sell moves and he made Punk look like GOLD, but Rock doesn't have the same energy and explosiveness like his younger days. There's a big difference between being in shape and being in "wrestling" shape. This is what age does to people. That aside, I think this match was better than Rock/Cena. I'm not blowing smoke up Punk's ass, but he can carry a match better than Cena can. His moves are more fluid and he can make a good match, a great match.

Both men told a great story in the ring. Match started off fast pace and back-and-forth, and then Punk started to take control and dominate a good portion of the match. Rock came back towards the end and the energy in the building went up a few notches. Too bad the table spot didn't work and it collapsed since the weight was too much.

The ending of the match was pretty out of nowhere, but very well done. Rock goes for the people's elbow, the lights go out and The Shield puts the Rock through the table. All of this in the dark. Impressive. Punk capitalizes and get the win. Or does he? Remember when Mr. McMahon said if The Shield interfered, Punk would be stripped of the title? Yeah. Out comes Mr. McMahon to a BIG pop and was about to strip Punk of the title, but Rock refuses and advises the match to be restarted. The match restarts, Rock hits the people's elbow and the match is over! The Rock has become the NEW WWE Champion!

I know there's A LOT of people that have mixed reactions about this. The Punk fanboys are upset that their Champion lost to a part-timer, while others, me included, are glad to see The Rock wear the WWE Championship one more time. I enjoyed CM Punk's reign as WWE Champion, and it was a GREAT ride as the Champion, but it had to end sooner or later. Great moment for us fans to see one of our childhood heroes win the WWE Championship.

Here's my take on the matter. CM Punk's Championship reign had to end sooner or later. Punk is already a star. This year long title reign has boomed Punk's career so much and losing the title isn't a bad thing. What do you want? Punk to hold the title for 20 years? Open your eyes people. Don't drink the Kool-Aid. For those saying Punk should've beaten The Undertaker.....stop....now. Rock winning does a number of things. 1) brings the casual fans back into the WWE seeing a guy they watched as a kid hold the title and 2) gives the WWE great exposure heading into WrestleMania. Losing the title can open up new opportunities for Punk's character to get even better. It's not about nostalgia. It's about putting over the young guys and making them look good. Punk is going to benefit from this. I LOVE CM Punk, but some of you out there need to relax. Who better to end CM Punk's great reign as Champion than The Rock himself. Arguably Top 5 of all time.




Overall, The Rumble was a great show. Not really worth $50 Bucks, but a watchable show. TLC was better. Too predictable, but that's WWE these days. Only entertaining part of the show was The Royal Rumble Match. It SHOULD HAVE closed the show. I know Rock and Punk was a big deal, but it's tradition that The Royal Rumble Match end the show. I think that was the best part of the show. Loved The Rock winning the title. Great moment, but the Rumble should've closed the show. Oh yeah, and there was SUPPOSED to be a Divas Match that was advertised and barely talked about, but I guess they couldn't spare the 2 minutes. Life goes on I guess.

I'll give it a 6.5 out of 10. Great show, but let's not get too crazy.

This opens up possibilities for WrestleMania. It SHOULD be Rock vs Punk vs Cena, but it's gonna be Rock/Cena II. Really don't want to see that match again. Punk and Rock and Cena's paths have been paved  and this a serious money making match.

I would like to see Del Rio face off with Dolph Ziggler for the World Title. Get some fresh faces in the title picture. We've already seen Orton and Sheamus. Let Del Rio ride this face turn into Mania and square off with Ziggler. That'd be a match I'd love to see.

The Road to WrestleMania has begun and there's no telling what could happen and how plans could change.


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By: Gerald "Showstopper" Prophete