WWE Royal Rumble, Sunday 29th January 2023, 12pm AEDT

[Golden_6]

Just need Sami to cost Roman one title at Elimination Chamber to free up a belt for Cody to go after.

I have a feeling it’s going to be a fatal three-way main event at WM though.

 

[EBERT THE KING]

Who to though ??

Looking like seth v Logan paul so that rules him out.

Theory maybe, but would have to get the us belt off him 1st

You could have him drop one to KO, with Sami providing an assist.

Have Cody face KO for WWE title
Have Sami face Roman for Universal title

Things change all the time though. 2 weeks ago it was Gunther vs Lesnar at mania, it now looks locked to be Lesnar vs Lashley.

 

[Barralupo]

Is there anyone that could make the audience think Cody could lose? Brock maybe, they could even go with Gunther

 

[kreglze]

A lot of little things make it that much nuanced and interesting, Sami going face to face with Roman then backing down almost immediately when challenged, as well as hitting Roman down, but dropping his chair immediately and apologiesing to the other members of the Bloodline as his issue wasn't with them.

Best part is, they could seemingly take this in a bunch of different directions. Smackdown will be must watch next weekend.

Rest of the RR was good without being spectacular. Women's rumble was fun, some good returns like Piper Niven and Asuka, picked up in the 2nd half, enjoyed the finish. Men's was alright, Gunther going 70+ minutes is amazing, would love to see him in the World Title picture, Logan/Ricochet spot was great as well as Paul having the best Buckshot Lariet in the business, and Dom just being Dom haha.

Other 2 matches, well the less said the better.

 

[DaveyBoy123]

Great shot with a perfect angle to frame all 4 major particpants in the storyline - really, Jimmy & Solo are near irrelevant to the storyline to this point:

 

[Blackhawk42]

For all those wishing The Rock had returned, can you please go back and watch the builds to WrestleManias 27, 28 and 29, plus the events themselves, THEN tell me you still want him back.

Yes, he's a mega star, but please don't forget that he wasted 18 minutes of WrestleMania 27 on a self indulgent promo that went nowhere, was made to look foolish by Cena after writing his notes on his arm before 28, then had half his body explode during the main event of 29.
He's 10 years older now as well. A Rock return to build to a Roman match would have been disastrous as far as quality goes IMO.

The Bloodline with Sami is as entertaining and engrossing as anything the WWE have done in YEARS.

 

[BertyBeetle17]

Who to though ??

Looking like seth v Logan paul so that rules him out.

Theory maybe, but would have to get the us belt off him 1st

Could have Gunther win one in the chamber and have Cody go after him. Continue on from Gunther's good showing today (and his last few months) and them being the final two in the rumble where they looked to have worked well together, albiet in a small sample size.
Good chance to test the waters for a month or two of Gunther as a top guy aswell. Throwing in his henchmen to the mix makes it a tougher chase/more obstacles for Cody to overcome to reach the peak.
Plenty to work with the imo.

Although the Jey situation today does tend to make me believe the direction they're going is with Sami and Kev ending the Usos title run as there's more feeling there in the Sami/Jey dynamic rather than them making it a Sami/Roman story going forward.

 

[BertyBeetle17]

Also gotta have Cody win the WWE championship rather than the Universal title when he does win it (assuming they're split). That's the prestigious one with the history and fits in with the Dusty backstory. A bit weird having him win a belt that wasn't even made up until after Dusty had passed away to put on the mantlepiece and make him proud lol

 

[ULTIMATE_WARRIOR]

As I’ve noted earlier… I wouldn’t call that Mens Rumble match close to the best but it was far from the worst. Some of the negative reactions about it have been well over the top in my opinion.

It was a fun match with a good pace that was all story driven, rather than relying on surprises. You can’t tell me a couple of mid card wrestlers from yesteryear would have made all the difference. Seems many fans got worked over by the “news and rumours” which happens every year.

The womens match I felt was a drag for the first half. A lot of these women aren’t close to being larger than life, or at least have any defined character. The second half improved and the last sequence was fantastic. 15-20 women Rumble would be ideal for me personally.

Booking 2 Rumble matches in one night must be an extraordinary tough task. Both matches would suffer having to do a lot to seperate themselves. Other match types I feel also suffer similarly, such as the Elimination Chamber and Money in the Bank matches.

I really liked Logan Paul in the match, he is born for this. The thought of a match with Seth Rollins has me interested, and Seth deserves some mainstream rub.

Dom Mysterio fantastic again. An absolute heat magnet. Low key contender for man of the match.

I’d have liked to have seen some more story play out with Lesnar and Lashley. Even have Omos assist and tease the Hurt Business. Place seemed to erupt when Lesnar was eliminated though. Having him in the match gave it so much more star power. His stare down with Gunther was fire.

Rewatched the last bit of the Cody win. Definitely the right choice albeit was a tad predictable. But that’s ok if the story is right. It’s a lot better second time around watching. Although I wasn’t huge on him coming in at 30. Was odd to have the heel be the one against the odds doing the endurance spot against the fresh face.

Gunther is on the highway to being the champ. He is an absolute star.

The Pitch Black match was predictably ordinary. I’m not sure the spooky supernatural stuff works in modern wrestling. It works when it’s just video like a lot of Wyatt’s stuff because the brilliant production quality the WWE has, but when the performers have to get out there and pull it off it can be a bit hokey. I still have faith in Wyatt and I’m not remotely worried about LA Knight, far too much charisma for wins and losses to affect him.

 

[NSWCROW]

I’m not remotely worried about LA Knight, far too much charisma for wins and losses to affect him.

YEEEEAUH !

 

[NSWCROW]

 

[Grockadoc]

One major criticism I have is the whole Rey thing.

Having him presumable attacked backstage, mention it for maybe 10 seconds and then forget about him was lazy.

No replacement either.

It should either have been:

a: Rey gets attacked and taken out on the ramp. Adam Pearce comes out and states that Rey will
be replaced in the match. Edge's musix hits and he is a replacement entering the rumble. (Someone else the judgement day have issues with)

B: Dominik eliminates Rey.

I feel the best outcome would have been this though:

C: Rey eliminates Dominik, who loses it, goes back into the ring and eliminates Rey, beating him down at ringside.



Forgetting Rey for 40 minutes and not even mentioning this was a 29 man rumble was just horrible.imo.

 

[brutus76]

Any chance they make it Sami V Roman V Cody with both belts on the line

Remember when Angle lost the European and IC titles to Benoit and Jericho without being pinned as Wrestlemania 2000 as Benoit and Jericho pinned each other for each belt?

 

[99 Problems]

No hiding from the fact that was a pretty bad PPV. Outside the last 10 minutes it barely had a memorable moment which is unusual for a Rumble. There would have to be some concern for the mediocre reaction Cody winning got too.

The last 10 minutes were very good, but they’ve booked themselves into a corner now. The crowd will s**t all over Roman v Cody if they book it for mania. They can’t make it a triple threat because Roman v Sami is too personal. They can’t have Roman pull double duty because it would make the second night meaningless.

Basically Sami now has to main event Mania. The only way out is to get a title off Roman at EC, but even then it has to be a legitimate heel, that also makes sense for Cody to pick and give up the high profile match with Roman. No idea who that could even be.

 

[Golden_6]

No hiding from the fact that was a pretty bad PPV. Outside the last 10 minutes it barely had a memorable moment which is unusual for a Rumble. There would have to be some concern for the mediocre reaction Cody winning got too.

The last 10 minutes were very good, but they’ve booked themselves into a corner now. The crowd will s**t all over Roman v Cody if they book it for mania. They can’t make it a triple threat because Roman v Sami is too personal. They can’t have Roman pull double duty because it would make the second night meaningless.

Basically Sami now has to main event Mania. The only way out is to get a title off Roman at EC, but even then it has to be a legitimate heel, that also makes sense for Cody to pick and give up the high profile match with Roman. No idea who that could even be.

Could it be Gunther? Cody & Gunther went at it for a fair while to finish off the rumble match so maybe they were setting something up there.

The fact that Gunther lasted the entire rumble also suggests that maybe they’re building him up for something a little more?

 

[nobbyiscool]

One of my favourite things in the world is when Fox Sports post about wrestling on their Facebook page and it’s met with dozens of “but urs fake!” comments from people who genuinely seem to think this is a revelation.

 

[mickelboy182]

One of my favourite things in the world is when Fox Sports post about wrestling on their Facebook page and it’s met with dozens of “but urs fake!” comments from people who genuinely seem to think this is a revelation.

To be fair I understand them not wanting Fox Sports to cover it. It's not a sport.

 

[BertyBeetle17]

I love to remind those people that Motorsport isn't really sport either, it's just watching traffic. That usually gets them going lol

 

[The Casey Cat]

Am I the only one who found the Mens Rumble boring?

No. It was absolute rubbish apart from a few decent spots and couple of decent performances (or extremely good performance where Walter's concerned).

 

[Biggie]

Ripley dislocated her knee and popped it back in

 

[mickelboy182]

I love to remind those people that Motorsport isn't really sport either, it's just watching traffic. That usually gets them going lol

It's competitive so still fits the bill better than pro wrestling.

 

[Shade]

Maybe Roman does double duty? Night 1 vs Cody for one title and Night 2 vs Sami for the other? unlikely but I could see it

 

[Hawksboy72]

Gunther was going over the ropes ever before Cody got to him.
To me Cody lacks a bit of personality.

 

[EBERT THE KING]

So many things to play out.

Do they do Jimmy vs Jey at mania? I think they definitely lose the tag titles in the next fortnight. Imperium should win the Smackdown tag titles asap, and then the raw titles can go to any number of teams.

Do they run with solo vs KO?

The intrigue is massive and WWE have done an unbelievable job with this storyline.

 

[Sozabarus]

I haven’t watched wrestling for a long time but watched the Rumble after seeing a bit on social media about this Bloodline angle being really good.

So Zayn watches his friend get beat up and does nothing, and then after he’s already beat down all he does is a cowardly chair shot from behind? Obviously it worked because it got a huge pop but seems weird to me for a baby face to get over like that.

Also, I know colour isn’t allowed these days but I reckon if Owens was bloodied up it would have been even more impactful.