Welcome to another edition of eWN Ring Position, where we gather some of the most active writers here on eWrestlingNews and share the platform to answer some questions surrounding a centralized topic, upcoming event, etc.
This is meant to showcase the potential for both a wide range of perspectives as well as how sometimes, there can be a group consensus no matter what your viewpoint is, so we also invite all of you to join in on the discussion by answering these questions yourself in the comments section below.
For this particular volume, we’ll be focusing on the Greatest Royal Rumble event and the surrounding storylines for it.
Participants for this round = Anthony Mango, Richard Staple, Ethan Absler, Yiannis Bouranis.
1) “Do you like the idea that we are getting another Royal Rumble this year, or should this have been something entirely different like a new event, a new gimmick match type or bringing back a different event from the past instead?”
MANGO: I love the Royal Rumble. It’s my favorite singular match every year, even if I don’t enjoy the outcome. Since I think it works so well in January to set up the WrestleMania challenger, it kind of bugs me that this is happening again and for some random trophy. For this to be an oddball card like it is, I’d have preferred something new or at least something else, as I think between the 2 Royal Rumbles we had in January, the 2 battle royals at WrestleMania and this, it’s overkill of a good thing.
STAPLE: I personally don’t mind, though it does kind of feel like overkill with two royal rumbles in one PPV in January, and then two battle royals at WrestleMania. If they were going to do the biggest Royal Rumble ever, I wouldn’t have done it on a Network exclusive show, and rather do it at the regular RR PPV, but since there hasn’t been any relatively new match concepts relayed out there, this will be as good as it gets.
ABSLER: In my opinion, the Royal Rumble match is one of, if not the most exciting match in WWE so I’m very excited for the match. With that being said, without knowing what the winner gets, I can only get so invested. Is it a Summerslam title shot? A trophy? Bragging rights? I think the build to the match has been horrible, but nonetheless, the thought of a 50-man Royal Rumble still makes me excited. A new gimmick match also would have worked well for this show.
BOURANIS: So and so, to be honest. Given many top superstars will take place in the 50-man Royal Rumble, the match will be of high quality. Yet, I believe it would be better, if they created a new event that would attract the audience’s attention or if the winner of the Rumble Match would get a future title opportunity or something similar.
2) “Is WWE overloading this card to give off a better impression for investors and will stop caring as much once some deals are sealed, or do you think this is a legitimate focused effort to just provide a quality event?”
MANGO: That’s the impression I’m getting. I imagine they wanted to do this event and didn’t give it too much thought other than people pitching random gimmicks and pairings, because they want it to seem absolutely huge to make a strong first impression.
STAPLE: Definitely the former. WWE hasn’t seen a roster this deep since the Ruthless Aggression Era, which is why it is so befuddling to see WWE consistently underperform, especially on Smackdown week after week in lieu of the talent they have. Maybe the shake-up was what the doctor ordered, but this card shows that they can put on a loaded card whenever they want, but choose not too. I mean, look at it. It’s practically WrestleMania and the Royal Rumble combined into one. Of course, Cena, Triple H and Lesnar are pretty much special attractions at this point in their careers so obviously they won’t be on every show, but if they want to, they can put on a loaded card.
ABSLER: I don’t think the overstocked supercard is a publicity stunt to get investors. I think WWE sees a massive potential market in Saudi Arabia though and wants to capitalize on it by bringing a studded show to the country. So it’s a little bit of both; a bit for the money in SA and a bit to provide an awesome show that hooks the foreign fans.
BOURANIS: I think it’s both. The event takes place in Saudi Arabia in front of a sold-out crowd, so it’s likely the WWE will try to attract new investors. Consequently, they do their best to create a blockbuster event. On the other hand, all Live Events are of high quality, so I am not surprised they are trying to overload the card.
3) “Has this overshadowed Backlash due to its proximity?”
MANGO: 100%. Backlash hasn’t even had proper graphics put up on the website, and some of the matches have been changed to fit this card or the Superstar Shake-up. It’s a complete afterthought, and they’ll rush next week to try to announce stuff for it.
STAPLE: Absolutely. Backlash is in two weeks, and to this point, I don’t think we have gotten any official matches announced for the PPV (though if you look on YouTube, there’s a match card with Roman vs. Samoa Joe being featured). This is one issue that plagued WWE last year. Content overload. There’s far too many PPV’s in close distance of each other, not allowing for proper build and resulting in lackluster performances that feel stale. It’s kind of ironic, because the purpose of the Backlash PPV is to feature RAW and Smackdown and eliminate brand-exclusive PPV’s, yet this one just so happens to be just over a week after the Network exclusive event. We’ll probably get official matches for Backlash announced this week, but I totally forgot it’s in two weeks since WWE seems to be more focused on promoting the Greatest Royal Rumble event.
ABSLER: I definitely think Backlash has suffered a lot from the Greatest Royal Rumble. WWE hasn’t even been able to really properly build to Backlash because of all the matches and titles being thrown in to Saudi Arabia.
BOURANIS: For sure it has. I believe the creative team has paid more attention to create storylines regarding the Greatest Royal Rumble. Although many interesting title matches have been announced for Backlash, like Intercontinental Seth Rollins vs the Miz, United States Champion Jeff Hardy vs Randy Orton, Raw Women’s champion Nia Jax vs Alexa Bliss and Smackdown Women’s Champion Carmella vs Charlotte Flair, there hasn’t been any significant build-up in the past few episodes, and with Backlash fast approaching, I can’t see how these matches will be effectively promoted.
4) “How do you feel about the women’s division not being represented here?”
MANGO: It’s a shame, as it just goes to show how much progress is still yet to be achieved. For more of my thoughts on this, check the Superstars Missing post.
STAPLE: It probably isn’t a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but it probably leaves a bitter taste in each of the women in the locker room. All of them, especially WWE, has been heavily promoting how far the Women’s “evolution” has come, and it has a great deal. The women in the past couple of years have propelled the division to having their first Hell In A Cell match, Money In The Bank Ladder match, Royal Rumble match to main eventing PPV’s.
But unfortunately, with the announcement that women won’t be performing at the show, it kind of shows how far beyond WWE barriers, the women’s evolution has yet to come. It would provide somewhat of a real validation that they have come far. That said, this will probably only inspire the women’s division to work even harder. Sasha Banks and Alexa Bliss had the first ever women’s match in Abu Dhabi in December last year, so perhaps with WWE looking to expand its program with Saudi Arabia, they’ll eventually have their moment. We never thought they would have the matches reserved for men. I’m sure this will come to pass eventually as well.
ABSLER: I really think the Women’s Division has come a long way and deserves to be on the card no questions asked. With that being said though, women in Saudi Arabia don’t have the same rights as they do here in the US or in Canada or the UK for example. That’s why Bliss vs Banks was such a big deal when their match happened on WWE’s last tour. Despite the true stars that the women of WWE are, maybe it just isn’t safe for them to perform in SA as that’s really the only logical reason that comes to my mind.
BOURANIS: I don’t think this is a wise decision. Since the WWE wants to give equal opportunities to men and women in the company and has started a women’s revolution in the past couple of years, I can’t understand why the respective division is not represented in the Greatest Royal Rumble.
5) “Who would you have preferred in the casket match, Rusev or Chris Jericho?”
MANGO: Neither makes any sense whatsoever, but I feel like Jericho as the bigger name and the better in-ring talent would have been a smarter decision. Plus, that would avoid having Rusev in a position where he needs to be booed, but will be cheered, as that will be awkward for all those “Rusev Day” chants to go on against The Undertaker. I don’t imagine what will probably be a quick loss to Taker here will really help boost Rusev any bit.
STAPLE: Definitely Rusev. Chris Jericho is the bigger and more popular name, but he’s not going to be on Mondays or Tuesdays for the foreseeable future. Rusev definitely needs this much more than Y2J ever would need it. Even if it may be in a losing effort, all Rusev needs is the exposure, and considering his Rusev Day gimmick has gotten immensely over, it only makes sense to strike while the iron is hot.
ABSLER: I honestly would prefer Rusev. I like Jericho more than I like Rusev, however, I love me some Rusev! I believe he should be rewarded for how over he’s getting and for his high merchandise sales numbers. I also felt really bad for Rusev when he was replaced by Chris so it’s nice to see what was promised to him be delivered.
BOURANIS: I would say Chris Jericho, without a doubt. Given the history between Y2J and the Undertaker in the past 15 years, this would be a great match.
6) “Do you enjoy when events have seemingly random matches like John Cena vs. Triple H which are booked out of nowhere and with no foundation to them, but are surprising, or do you think all matches should have at least some build prior to being announced?”
MANGO: Give me a reason for people to fight. If it isn’t a feud, there should be something on the line. If it’s just “eh, I don’t know, how about Person X versus Person Y?” then it comes off to me as lazy. “Cena and Triple H are big names. Throw them into the ring together and they either eat it up, or we tell them that they’re disrespectful to two legends.” I’d much rather have at least one segment with them addressing each other.
STAPLE: Chris Jericho once said that if two people are booked to fight without any reasoning or purpose, it’s just two men in their trunks grappling with each other. It really depends on the situation. If a random match, like say, Seth Rollins vs. Daniel Bryan for the IC strap was announced, I’d be excited for obvious reasons. But this is John Cena vs. Triple H. Two men who have wrestled each other so often to the point where they probably know the spots in their match 4 minutes before it takes place. Triple H vs. John Cena was a huge deal in 2006, but not so much in 2018. Add in the fact that there is no story and just announced just for the sake of them fighting and nothing more, there will be no reason to get behind it. Not all matches require build to be exciting, because some superstars just have natural chemistry with each other. Hell, the biggest Rumble match ever on a Network exclusive itself is kind of random, no? But in other situations, if you’re just going to put two superstars in a match, at least do a pre-taped video package or something.
ABSLER: I don’t think there’s anything wrong with a random big match like Cena vs HHH. You see it in the UFC all the time- two guys that have no prior beef or rivalry but they’re booked because they’re two big names. Although I hold that to be true, this is pro wrestling, not MMA. I still believe though, that WWE should take full advantage of their star power to sell tickets and hopefully the two men can tear the house down.
BOURANIS: There should be some build up prior to the matches in order for the company to make them more interesting, however a random match between John Cena and Triple H will be exciting, given the history the two future Hall of Famers have had in the past 20 years.
7) “Which match, aside from the 50-man Royal Rumble itself, do you think will steal the show?”
MANGO: The Intercontinental Championship match is probably the one with the most fundamental potential behind it, but I wouldn’t sleep entirely on the cruiserweights trying again to show their value.
STAPLE: The ladder match has me intrigued about the possibilities, but I think the AJ/Nakamura match will perform much better than the WrestleMania match with the new face/heel dynamic at play here. There’s no reason why AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura can’t go out there and knock it out of the park, but at WrestleMania, I don’t think they were necessarily put in a position to succeed. This go around, with Shinsuke’s heel turn a breath of fresh air and AJ as a legit face figure, you have two of the best in-ring performers and a clear good guy/bad guy. Sometimes, that’s what is necessary. Here’s to hoping they can have the match we all know they are capable of having.
ABSLER: I don’t see the 50-man Royal Rumble stealing the show. I definitely think either AJ vs Nakamura or The New Day vs The Usos will steal the show.
BOURANIS: The match between Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns. Not only because the title will be on the line, but due to the tension between the two superstars prior and after Wrestlemania 34.
8) “Name a few entrants for the Royal Rumble who aren’t yet announced, but you’d like to see compete in the match.”
MANGO: I’m really hoping 205 Live is represented here with a good number of those guys, as well as maybe Shawn Daivari (especially if his brother can eliminate him), Carlito would be cool (pun intended), MVP would be a nice addition, and I know it’s quite random, but Billy Gunn would be on my list as well.
STAPLE: One guy I’d definitely like to see in a WWE ring that hasn’t been there in 4 years is Christian. I know he’s not an active performer, but he kind of just left and never really had a formal announcement. I think he’d be good for a couple of moves.
ABSLER: I’d love to see Batista enter the match even if it’s just a one and off opportunity. The returns of John Morrison, RVD, and Carlito along with the debut of Velveteen Dream are some other competitors I’d like to see.
BOURANIS: I would say Batista and Rey Mysterio. It would be great if the two former WWE Champions made their return during the event.
Big thanks to everyone who took part in this edition!
Those are our thoughts, but what do you have to say about these issues? Keep the discussion going by chiming in via the comments section below!
