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2015 Royal Rumble Preview
Topic Started: Jan 22 2015, 11:38 PM (1,298 Views)
Scrooge McSuck
I'll get you next time, toilet!
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WWE Royal Rumble 2015 Preview:


- For the last 26 years, the Royal Rumble has been one of the most popular and highly anticipated PPV’s produced by WWE. On top of featuring the traditional 30 (and in one case each, 20 and 40) Royal Rumble Match, the PPV itself is seen as the big kickoff to WrestleMania, and the brief period of the year where everyone tries a little harder and it’s easier to give a shit about a bunch of fake wrestling matches with predetermined results. Seriously, if I counted all the time I’ve spent whining about this stuff, I’d probably shake my head in disgust, but you know what, I do it anyway.

Unless you were living under a rock, 2014 was probably the worst example of the WWE being completely out of touch with the fans. Yes, we’ve had PPV’s like December to Dismember, Rock Bottom, King of the Ring ’95, and so on, where the quality of the work was terrible and the booking was half-assed, but never before can I recall an audience demanding one thing and one thing only, and WWE going out of it’s way to force-feed something else, right down to giving their new top face the catchphrase “deal with it”. It didn’t work, and the 2014 PPV still holds up for the crowd hijacking the WWE Championship and finale of the Royal Rumble Match and expressing their opinion harder than ever before. Zack Ryder? Dolph Ziggler? Yeah, the fans have been burned before, but the love for Daniel Bryan persisted and through (un)fortunate circumstances, Bryan was shoe-horned into the Main Event and we were given the finish we wanted.

Which brings me to 2015. It almost feels like we’re doomed for a repeat, except there will be no caving from WWE if things go as we’ve suspected. Daniel Bryan is back, and the crowd still supports (is it as much as last year? Time will tell). Roman Reigns, the hand-picked “next big thing” isn’t lighting up the ring or winning over fans with his below-standards promos (sufferin’ succotash, Andre The Giant never refers to himself as a Giant). Why would WWE bring Bryan back, now of all possible opportunities, and risk having the fans reject their WrestleMania plans for a second year in a row? Will WWE go with Bryan as the headliner for WrestleMania, the smark audience choice, or will they keep going forward with the man pegged for the spot since last years WrestleMania?


30-Man Royal Rumble Match:

So far, the following list of names have been confirmed to participate in the Royal Rumble Match: Roman Reigns, Daniel Bryan, Dean Ambrose, Dolph Ziggler, (The) Ryback, Big Show, Corporate Kane, Rusev, Bray Wyatt, Bad News Barrett, Luke Harper, Stardust, Goldust, Fandango, Jimmy Uso, Jey Uso, The Miz, Damien Mizdow, R-Truth, Justin Gabriel, Fernando, and Diego.

That’s 22 names announced. We can usually expect 3-4 surprise entrants consisting of legends or some kind of comedy act (El Torito in 2014, anyone?), and maybe an NXT worker (Bo Dallas in ’13, Rusev in ’14). I’m honestly surprised Kofi Kingston hasn’t been announced, considering his Royal Rumble gimmick has become a running thing and I’m sure a lot of people look forward to what kind of goofy situation he’ll find himself in. After the top tier names of Reigns, Bryan, and Ambrose, it’s just “the rest”. You have B-Class names like Kane, Big Show, Barrett, Ziggler, etc. etc, and then you have the scrubs: Los Matadores? The Usos? Mizdow? Fandango? JUSTIN GABRIEL? I’m sorry, but the roster isn’t that thin where Justin Gabriel gets a Rumble spot, but not Kofi Kingston.

As much as I fear Roman Reigns winning (and to be perfectly honest, I’m not that upset over it, like the last two highly predictable and unpopular winners with John Cena and Batista), there’s a strong chance they go with Daniel Bryan. It just doesn’t make sense to bring him back, only to screw him over and throw him into a meaningless secondary program. If they do happen to go in that direction, then the WWE Creative Staff is lost. Even Dean Ambrose has a “it could happen” cloud around him. He’s a merchandise seller, consistently over, and is a better promo than either Reigns and Bryan. My official prediction… Bryan wins, tossing out the Big Show last (crosses fingers). Official picks for #1 and #2: Miz and Mizdow.


WWE World Heavyweight Championship Match:
Brock Lesnar © vs. John Cena vs. Seth Rollins

Here’s another match that throws a monkey-wrench into what the original WrestleMania plans were. With the numbers for the WWE Network not being what they were, and their new television deal being much lower than anticipated, and with the idea of Brock Lesnar leaving for another run with UFC immediately after WrestleMania, there’s some belief they’ll take the title off of Lesnar and run with Cena vs. Reigns at WrestleMania. It might be just my weird thought process, but it feels like we’re being set up for Paul Heyman turning his back on Lesnar in favor of Seth Rollins. This would make sense as it gives Heyman a high profile worker to talk for, in the event of Lesnar leaving. Some have speculated Brock won’t turn, but will take his anger out on others, and somehow cost Daniel Bryan the Rumble… because it makes little to no sense? I don’t know. If I were a gambling man (and I can be), I’m putting my money on Seth Rollins cashing in and walking out of the Royal Rumble as WWE World Heavyweight Champion. That’s TWO Bold Predictions.


WWE Tag Team Championship Match:
Jimmy & Jey Uso vs. The Miz and Damien Mizdow:

The joke was funny the first couple of times, but we’re now in month FOUR of Mizdow pantomiming Miz’s actions and getting a laugh from the crowd. Comedy is fine, but it’s basically turned every match they are in into meaningless fluff because of the antics happening away from the action. The Miz/Mizdow split was coming sooner than later, but the seeds are set for it to happen Sunday. Unless it doesn’t, because WWE likes to change their booking just to mess with predictability. There’s no chance the Uso’s are losing, but they need a more meaningful program to give the Tag Titles a more serious tone, again.


The Rest…

WWE has done a decent job promoting the upcoming Diva’s Tag Team Match between the Bella Twins and Natayla & Paige. Does it mean it will be good? You never know. The downside to this is it’s probably held under Total Divas Universe Rules, which means we won’t know why exactly they’re doing this combination until 3-4 months from now when it’s mentioned briefly on an episode of Total Divas. I’m going to assume the random tandem of Nattie and Paige goes over, because Champions always lose Non-Title Matches. I’m still waiting for Natalya to get one more PPV Championship Match, but we’ll more than likely be subjected to Nikki vs. Naomi or something equally uninteresting.

WWE has NOT done a decent job promoting the latest NXT arrivals, The Ascension, Viktor and Konnor (or Connor. Who cares). In what can best be described as ass backwards thinking, lead heel announcer JBL thoroughly runs them down every chance he gets, while the babyfaces come to their defense. Throw in some awkward promos, and then have them crushed by 7 old geezers, and you wonder why nobody gets over anymore. The Ascension will obviously crush the New Aged Outlaws, and yes, they are getting their second Rumble appearance in a row 16 years after the last time they wee over.

Finally, the Kickoff Show will feature a 6-Man Tag Team Elimination Match between the New Day (Kofi Kingston, Big E., and Xavier Woods) against Cesaro, Tyson Kidd, and Adam Rose. These six men had a great (for TV) match on Main Event last week, and with decent time (10-15 minutes) I can see them repeating that success, and possibly beyond. The result means nothing, but the New Day should win since they’re the official three man faction, while Rose has just been shoe-horned into the randomly throwing together of Cesaro and Kidd (who, by the way, kick ass as a team).

Overall, looks to be a good show, and the results are mostly in doubt, which is always a plus. It was unfortunate that the last two Rumbles featured nothing but predictable outcomes, so this one will be fun to sit down and see unfold.
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Erick Von Erich
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I'm Big E and I tell it like it is
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Been jokingly throwing out a "hey, Royal Rumble's on at our house, Sunday night" to several friends over the past week. Surprised how many have been interested. If nothing else, it'll lock down the TV for me, so the Old Lady doesn't monopolize it with another Sunday evening ionTV marathon of (pick one): Criminal Minds, Leverage or Law & Order.
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