WWE Royal Rumble PPV Evaluation
January 29, 2012

By Nathan Kyght, PWTorch specialist

BEST MATCH – THE ROYAL RUMBLE

No surprises here, as the Rumble match was obviously the focal point of WWE’s first pay-per-view of the year, and the majority of the effort in terms of surprises and “special moments” is rightfully focused on the main event. Having said that, in my opinion, this was a fairly underwhelming affair, with a major portion of the match being used to highlight comedy spots or just simply large stretches where nothing much happened.

This year’s Rumble just didn’t feel like the Rumble to me. The crowd came alive for Chris Jericho’s entrance, and I thought that the final few minutes between Jericho and Sheamus was very well done and engaged the crowd throughout. Although, it was miles away from the classic finishes of some of the previous Rumbles - Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker instantly comes to mind. All in all, a fun if not particularly memorable match, but still the best thing on the show, I felt.

WORST MATCH – BRODUS CLAY VS. DREW McINTYRE

No build-up, no announcement beforehand, and then 67 seconds long. Just, what was the point of this? They couldn’t have put this sequence into the Rumble match? Pointless.

BIGGEST SURPRISE – SHEAMUS

I felt that Randy Orton was a lock to win the Rumble. He was in his hometown, which would have guaranteed the “feel-good” pop, he has been great as of late, and he is one of the few babyfaces on the Smackdown brand who can legitimately main-event WrestleMania. So, of course, WWE goes in a different direction. Perhaps they felt it was too obvious, and Sheamus ended the night "punching his ticket" to Miami. Sheamus is certainly an interesting choice, and as I mentioned her certainly had a solid final few minutes with Jericho, but, as of now, it just seems that Sheamus in the main event (well, we know what the actual main event is but you get my point) of WrestleMania is an odd choice. Still, there is a lot of time left, so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt.

BIGGEST LETDOWN – TREATING PAY PER VIEW AS TELEVISION

Not counting the “secondary” shows, WWE presents Raw and Smackdown every week. That’s roughly four hours of time to shoot angles, build towards matches, have wrestlers cut promos, and build towards the shows people have to actually, y’know, pay for. Yet, WWE insists on airing ads during the pay-per-views, and delivering time-wasters such as the meaningless Brodus Clay squash match, a two-minute, unannounced Divas tag match that was instantly forgettable (I just watched the show, and I swear to you I forget who won) and yet another "Zack Ryder in peril" skit. WWE needs to use the TV shows for these things. Then, the PPVs will be about the end results, not just a Raw or a Smackdown that costs $50.

BEST QUOTE – THE CROWD

After C.M. Punk landed his top-rope elbow on Dolph Ziggler, the crowd gave a brief but passionate “Machp Man” chant. It’s nice to hear fans still acknowledge one of the all-time greats. That was nice, St. Louis.

BEST MOVE – BROGUE KICK

It certainly wasn’t the most flashy, or the most spectacular move, but regardless of what happens, the Brogue Kick that knocked Jericho to the arena floor is significant. With that move, WWE firmly sent a message that they are behind Sheamus, and this cemented his place in the upper echelon of the company moving forward.

BEST MATCH FINISH – THE ROYAL RUMBLE

As I mentioned before, the Rumble was fairly slow and certainly heavy on comedy spots, but after it came down to Chris Jericho and Sheamus, the two men seemed to sense that they needed to do something special to "save the show." And, while it wasn’t quite enough to do that, it was very good. Several false finishes coupled with a crowd that “knew” Jericho was going to win made for a satisfying conclusion to an otherwise lackluster affair.

OTHER THOUGHTS

- Like most people, I always look forward to the Royal Rumble. This year’s event just didn’t click for me, though. In what has become a disturbing trend, WWE continues to take fans's money and then offer up more on the television show. I felt this PPV was marred by confusing finishes, feuds that don’t advance, commercials, long segments with no pay-off, and then a Rumble match itself that had the fewest number of "major names" that I can remember.

- They flew Brodus Clay in for that. And, paid him. Nice work if you can get it.

- Daniel Bryan is absolutely phenomenal in his role. The plan appears to be Bryan vs. Sheamus at WrestleMania, and I’m glad that Bryan is finally getting a shot to show just how good he is. There isn’t a moment of his character where you don’t believe.

- I’m way past the point of caring, but remember when the commentators used to talk about the match, the feuds, and then put the wrestlers over? That was great.

- Someone needs to explain what it means to ‘Trend on Twitter’ to WWE officials. It’s not that impressive. All it means is that nobody was talking about a subject, but then some people started talking about it. That’s it.

WHAT IT’LL BE REMEMBERED FOR

We’ll have to see how they handle it from here, but it appears to be the night that Sheamus was given the proverbial ball to run with. But, we shall see.

UPDATED 2012 PPV EVALUATION RANKINGS

1 - WWE ROYAL RUMBLE (2012-1-29)
2- TNA GENESIS (2012-01-08)

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