At the Royal Rumble pay-per-view, the WWE had an opportunity to follow the momentum Survivor Series and TLC had. Unfortunately for the company, and more importantly its fans, they chose a different route.
They chose to disgust the live audience and people sitting in their homes by letting Roman Reigns win the Royale Rumble.
Fans and critics hoped a repeat of last year’s Rumble would not happen where the fans hijacked the show after it was won by Batista. Boy, did management get it wrong … again.
The match saw a few returns, mainly Bubba Ray Dudley and DDP. It was dominated mostly by Bray Wyatt who constantly eliminated superstars and was left standing alone for a significant amount of the match until Daniel Bryan showed up. However, much to the fans’ displeasure, Bryan was eliminated early by Wyatt and the fans booed the entire match from then on.
The only time the crowd was actually happy was when Dean Ambrose and Dolph Ziggler came in but as soon as those two were eliminated, the fans just completely turned on the event. Not even a surprise appearance by The Rock could save it. Roman Reigns won the event and was met with boos.
Sometimes in the WWE, we get moments where we can’t determine who is going to walk out the victor. And when this happens, the entire audience are usually pleased with whatever result it gets because they were able to witness an entertaining match.
This was the case in the Triple Threat match. No one could be certain who was going to win coming into the match, even those who are aware of WWE’s scripted nature. Brock Lesnar was the favorite, but there are rumors he would be returning to UFC and it would make sense for WWE to take the title away from him. John Cena winning made sense as well, since he was the only guy the WWE thought could stop Lesnar. He’s won it so many times that it just made sense. Rollins also had a case since he had the Money in the Bank contract which guarantees him a title match anytime he wants. The three men delivered and brought their best to the ring. Lesnar was more dominant than ever but also allowed Cena and Rollins to look strong in the end.
The Triple Threat Match for the WWE World Heavyweight title was a classic. Lesnar showed his dominance early on in the match after suplexing Cena and Rollins multiple times. Lesnar was so devastating, rivals Cena and Rollins, actually teamed up against the Beast to even the playing field. Seth Rollins stole the show with his acrobatics but ultimately came up short after an F-5 from Lesnar.
The WWE did the exact opposite in the rumble match. Fans gave the WWE three guys they wanted to see win and possibly face Lesnar at Wrestlemania 31: Dolph Ziggler, Daniel Bryan, or Dean Ambrose. Those three guys, especially Ziggler and Ambrose, have been cheered for nonstop for the past year and it made sense for either of them to win since they were well-liked babyfaces and Bryan had the pleasure of being Daniel Bryan. Instead, the WWE, despite constant boos from fans on previous Raw episodes, decided to let Roman Reigns win the Rumble. This win has made the entire Road to Wrestlemania predictable. It is a guarantee Reigns is going to beat Lesnar because the WWE wants to groom him as their next big star. It eliminates the suspension of disbelief because WWE surely won’t let Reigns lose.
People have compared Reigns to John Cena, but it is an unfair comparison to John Cena. Before becoming the face of the company, Cena actually had a body of work to show fans why he was chosen. He had the charisma and mic skills, also he has had spectacular matches and moments with the company. Reigns has yet to do this. Although he was a part of the much beloved Shield trio, Reigns was usually protected by Rollins and Ambrose and shielded him from being exposed.
My favorite to win was Dolph Ziggler. Six months ago, would have been considered impossible and unrealistic. But ever since Survivor Series, Ziggler has been made to look like a star. He is actually somewhat of a rare breed, a guy who has been at the top then put at the bottom at the pecking order and then finds himself back at the top once again. I can’t remember the last time a superstar lost in such convincing manners, consistently gain the love of fans. Every show where Ziggler was present, one can hear chants like “Let’s go Ziggler!”
As a WWE fan, it was disappointing to see this happen. VInce McMahon claims he is not out of touch and he constantly listens to the fans but everyone knew this would happen if they let Reigns walk out as the winner and yet they went along with it. It wasn’t Reigns winning, it’s the WWE shoving him down our collective throats.
