Thursday, March 28, 2024
Editorial2016 ROYAL REVIEW

2016 ROYAL REVIEW

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I’m very confident that this along with many generic 2016 Royal Rumble reviews will be lost in the fray, however I’m so surprisingly impressed with this years event that I simply cannot help sharing my thoughts.

I was up until 4am watching (UK viewer) on the network, and was again pleasantly surprised with the quality and smoothness of the network, well worth the money for anyone who doesn’t already use it. I also live in university halls, in which I’m sure at least once during the event I woke up 90% of people also living here.

Last Man Standing match: IC Title: Dean Ambrose vs Kevin Owens

What a match. What an intense way to open up the show. Arguably KO and Ambrose stole the show, with numerous big spots, near falls, crazy moments. Within the first 7 minutes, we had already seen a rolling senton through the barricade. The match went 25 minutes and it was the perfect opener. The table spots we perfectly executed, especially the KO suplex. Even the chair shots (which looked like head shots) were hard hitting and intense. A brilliant match, and a brilliant way to open the show.

Tag Team Titles: New Day vs Usos

Once again we got a match between the New Day and the Usos, but in the second match of the night, we saw a debut! Francesca 2 made her debut to a mighty pop, and this pop continued throughout the match. The crowd never got behind the stale Usos, of whom once you’ve seen one match, you’ve basically seen them all. New Day once again looked impressive, and Big E gets better and better with each match he has. New Day wins, and the crowd goes crazy. New Day rocks at the Royal Rumble.

United States Title: Alberto Del Rio vs Kalisto

I was excited for this one. I don’t know why, but I expected a smooth, technical, interesting match. Unfortunately this was the DUD of the night. Granted Kalisto picked up the win, which was awesome, however the match was filled with botches and was just extremely clunky and rushed. I’m hoping Kalisto gets a reasonable run with the title now, and Del Rio can move on.

Divas Title: Charlotte vs Becky Lynch

This was the toilet break for me, I appreciate that the Divas revolution has improved the match quality, I just struggle to get invested in the matches themselves. It was much easier when Trish would be half naked and straddling Lita in a Hardcore match. I finished my toilet break and the match promo had only just finished…. Brilliant. It was a good match. Nothing special, and once again in a Charlotte match Ric Flair stole the show. He KISSED Becky Lynch, hmmmm. Another huge pop went to Sasha Banks, who attacked Becky and turned on Charlotte immediately after. Mania match incoming.

Royal Rumble Match for the WWE World Heavyweight Title

This was it. The big one. I was ecstatic.

Roman Reigns entered number 1 as expect, to an unruly chorus of boos. Rusev was number 2. I’m going to bullet point some key moments, to avoid a giant paragraph of action.

  • Rusev is eliminated in 1 min 30. Really? Payback for the engagement perhaps? Who knows.
  • AJ FREAKING STYLES. This was one moment when the flat was woken up, and everyone who had lectures and classes today was grumbling and going for an early morning shower. I was marking out. What a performance and what a pop! I’m excited to see what happens on Raw tonight with Styles, and the possibilities for a Mania match are endless.
  • The Social Jobbers only have one entrant. THANK GOD. I was worried that all 4 would be in the match.
  • Reigns. Styles. Jericho. WOW.
  • Kane receives a nice nostalgia pop.
  • Goldust receives a not so nice nostalgia pop.
  • R-Truth hilariously brings a ladder into the ring and climbs for a briefcase. This was brilliant. I complained that R-Truth was a waste of an entrant, however this made up for it. Comedy gold.
  • Kane gets himself his token elimination.
  • Kofi Kingston has a token escape, and is eliminated off camera.
  • Reigns is beaten down and put through a table, courtesy of the League of Nations. I like the LON, they have talent and it was similar to the 1999 Rumble beatdown of Austin. It was good, except Reigns limping out was awkward due to the boos, and we knew he was coming back, yawn.
  • Braun Strowman destroys everybody, eliminates Kane and Big Show, and is booked as an unstoppable monster.
  • Kevin Owens eliminates AJ Styles. PERFECT booking. It couldn’t be anybody else.
  • I said when Owens eliminated Styles that either Daniel Bryan or Sami Zayn would be out soon. Sami Zayn enters and eliminates Owens. Genius. Nice pop for Zayn, too.
  • More Wyatts, more eliminations.
  • Brock Lesnar is in. What a beast, massive pop. He destroys Strowman with a clothesline.
  • Miz enters but stays at ringside. WWE did a brilliant job of giving small interesting storylines to the boring, dull entrants. Almost every entrant had a job and did it brilliantly.
  • Lesnar eliminates the Wyatts.
  • Bray enters and his family return to the ring and destroy Lesnar, he’s out and uncharacteristically walks to the back with no backlash.
  • Reigns returns and looks absolutely fine. This was annoying. He eliminates a few entrants including Miz who finally entered and stands alone.
  • Number 30…..
  • Triple H. It was obvious but he still got a massive pop. It’s obvious now who’s winning. The shovel is back.
  • HHH and Bray with an awesome staredown, before Wyatt is thrown out.
  • Jericho is thrown out by Ambrose (after 50 minutes of work), Mania match incoming.
  • Final Four: Sheamus, Ambrose, Reigns, HHH.
  • Triple H really can tell a story in the ring. Brilliant work by the Game
  • HHH THROWS OUT REIGNS. Biggest pop of the night besides Styles.
  • By this point I genuinely thought maybe Ambrose could win. Reigns walks away and doesn’t help his buddy…. Why???
  • HHH WINS.

Crowd is extremely confused however it’s a good decision. This will helps Reigns become more over, although WWE shouldn’t force this. They have a stacked roster and plenty of others can be champion before Reigns. Maybe we need another title. Who knows. I’m excited for Raw tonight though.

My flatmates, however, probably aren’t.

Thanks for reading.

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