The 2011 Royal Rumble, which was billed as the biggest in history, was perhaps the most questionable. I had a hard time deciding where to start. There was so many moments tonight where I asked myself, Why? I guess the best place to start would be the opening match, as it was the best of the night.
Dolph Ziggler made a strong case to be considered as a main event player. His match with Edge tonight was undoubtedly the highlight of the night. I enjoyed it from start to end. The pace of it was nicely done as it build in intensity until they exchanged rapid near finishes near the end of the match. Ziggler is a tremendous athlete and he never seemed out of his league thanks in part to Edge, who continues to be one of the best in the business. One thing I notice tonight was the fact that Ziggler can take a bump and sells them very well. The spear he took at the end looked awesome. I really don’t see why Ziggler shouldn’t be considered a legitimate contender for the world title. He can handle himself on the mic and his work in the ring is excellent. Better yet, we know he can handle adversity. Who would have thought he’d be here after being in the Spirit Squad. It took him a long time to reach this level and he has done so masterfully. It’s time WWE takes Vicky away and gives Dolph a push by himself.
I was really glad that WWE booked the match the way they did with Ziggler and Edge. Even in a losing effort they elevated Ziggler. I hoped they would do the same for The Miz but instead WWE further de-valued his championship reign.
Let me take you back to before the match even started. The Miz was shown backstage with Alex Riley. Now, as usual The Miz was great on the mic but the important thing to note is what he said. He brought up the fact that people didn’t believe he deserved the WWE Championship. That without help he would have lost his tittle to Jerry Lawler. At this point I thought to myself that this was the night that The Miz would win in a clean finish. I thought wrong.
Now listen, I know he is a heel but at some point a champion has to show that he is at least capable of fending for himself. Sure. The Miz at times tonight was in control of the match and he wasn’t outclassed but why involve The Nexus? As much as I love CM Punk they did a huge disservice to The Miz. Why not have The Miz hit Orton with the belt or use the ropes for an illegal pin. Anything but having someone else assist him once again. My point is that Miz should have won the match for himself. Even if he cheated he still could have said that HE won the match. Why not put him over? He needs momentum heading into Wrestle Mania, if indeed, he is to head to Atlanta as the champion.
The match itself left a lot to be desired. Randy Orton’s slow and methodical style clashes with the fact that Miz still needs to find his identity in the ring. All too often during the match I was more entertain by the rants of Micheal Cole (who I will talk about later) than the action in the ring. Orton himself looks to be losing some crowd reaction. I have never like Orton as a babyface, and he is a babyface, forget any notion of him being a tweener. He is a natural heel and he has the ability to sell tickets and merchandise as a heel. Hopefully his character heads towards a new direction heading to Wrestle Mania.
I will spend sometime now to talk about something that was made painfully clear to me tonight. WWE has a severe problem with their current broadcasters. This is nothing new, a lot of us have been complaining about it for awhile. Jerry Lawler is a shell of his former self. He has never been the same since J.R. left. His delivery is often forced and he has gone from a heel commentator to an over the top babyface. Matt Striker may actually be worse. I enjoyed his work a few years ago but his constant reference to stats and history are redundant. He has no direction either as he sounds face one minute but then makes heel comments.
Astonishingly, Micheal Cole may be the best WWE has right now. As I mentioned before, Cole made a sluggish and sometimes boring WWE Championship match entertaining. Unlike Lawler and Striker his delivery is dead on and he brings to light the other commentators flaws. His comment about anything being fair if the referee doesn’t see it when Alex Riley would get involved was gold. Especially, since he reminded King and Striker they had said the same when Edge use the spear on Ziggler. You may love him or hate but you can’t deny the fact that he makes the matches more entertaining. He isn’t going anywhere soon either so the faster you learn to appreciate him the better you will be off.
I am suppose to talk about the Diva’s Championship match next so I will but honestly, is there much to say? I really don’t understand why Eve was handed the title. She has accomplished nothing and I can’t recall the last time I saw her on RAW. I mean, really, what sense that does make. I am not trying to bash the girl but Natalya is light-years ahead of her. I would have rather have LayCool as champions again then Eve. WWE needs to build the woman’s division up. The have Natalya, Beth, Melina and the forgotten Gail Kim, that’s not a bad place to start.
Staying on Gail Kim, I am hopeful she will finally get some sort of push. Her backstage promo with Daniel Bryan and the Bella Twins wasn’t bad. She is extremely beautiful and her words are believable. She is more than capable in the ring and she has been criminally wasted by Vince and the WWE. With the current stable of woman wrestlers why not give Gail the ball and see how far she can go? I guess it makes too much sense and as we seen in the past WWE has often ignored common sense.
We have made our way to the Royal Rumble match. I really had no idea what to expect. Given the way the match played out it seemed WWE had no idea either. There was no better example than the start of the match itself. The confrontation between The Nexus and The Corre (horrible name) was understandable, though repetitive. The most bizarre fact was that in the actual match the two groups never even faced off. The Nexus was highlighted midway trough the match but what about The Corre? They were nowhere to be seen. Gabriel and Slater were eliminated quickly and without much fanfare. Ezikiel Jackson didn’t even come out to the ring with The Corre’s theme, which I found to be strange as well. The only time The Corre was present was near the end with Barrett and Jackson teaming up. What was the point at the beginning then? Was it just an excuse for the horrible RAW GM to be highlighted? As great as Cole is, the GM angle needs to end.
After the two groups were sent to the back the match finally started. I like the pairing of Daniel Bryan and Punk as the first two entrants. I feel like they could have done more with it though. They both complement each other and hopefully we get a feud down the road with them. The early part of the Rumble was uneventful for the most part. I liked seeing William Regal get a nice pop and John Morrison is just an insane athlete. What he did outside the ring and then jumping to the stairs to save elimination was amazing. I can’t see a reason why Morrison was eliminated so early though, it leaves him without a storyline for Wrestle Mania. He can always be in the Money in the Bank match but he should be above that now. Hopefully he gets to showcase himself at the biggest pay-per-view of the year in a singles match. I almost forgot to mention Chavo’s tribute to Eddie. It’s always good to see Chavo as he has more to give than what they give him. The Three Amigos sequence was nicely done and the pop from the crowd was nice as well.
The Rumble started to go downhill after that, however. As more of The Nexus came out, the over saturated angle wore on me more and more. Other than Punk and Mason Ryan, I don’t see any redeeming qualities of the other members. The Rumble just seemed to be dragging on as Nexus was eliminating people left and right. It took away from the feeling of the Rumble itself. Remember when Punk took over the Rumble last year and he was given mic time? That was great. This year Punk’s abilities were squandered. He has so much charisma and he can verbalize his words so well, second only to Chris Jericho.
I was quickly losing interest in the match, that is, until Booker T came out at number 21. I always forget he is 45 years old. He looked great and I wouldn’t mind seeing him on WWE TV. His Spin-o-Roni was classic and his facial expressions are always great. Just when I thought the Rumble was going to pick up however, John freaking Cena came out. Let me start by saying I respect the man. His work ethic is the best in the business. That doesn’t take away the fact that he his character has grown tiresome. Him eliminating all of Nexus and the teaming up with Hornswoggle was the low point of the Rumble. I mean, come on! Really? I can’t stand Hornswoggle, not even as a comedy relief. It made a mockery of the Rumble. There is a shot at the main event at Wrestle Mania on the line and you got this little dude running around giving a F-U (literally an F-U not an Attitude Adjustment) to Tyson Kidd. Can any of you say you enjoyed the Cena-Hornswoggle segment? If you did. you are a bigger person than I am. Worse, the way Cena got eliminated by The Miz leads me to believe that Cena will once again be in the main event at Wrestle Mania. That’s fine, I get it, he is the face of the WWE but it doesn’t mean I have to agree with it or much less like it.
I’ll be honest. I went into auto-pilot for awhile after Cena came in. I was looking at the screen but I wasn’t paying attention. Usually, Rumble eliminations are exciting but this year it just seemed that they were uneventful, partly due to the weak announcing team.
It took another returning star to once again grab my attention. Diesel came out at number 32. Certainly, getting the biggest pop of the night from Boston. I was disappointed by the fact that he didn’t Jackknife Powerbomb somebody but he still looked capable of delivering some punishment. It is worthy to ask if WWE may have set up something for Nash against the Big Show. Their stare down was long enough to garner some interest.
For all the shortcomings the Rumble had though, I am static at the way the night ended. I love Alberto Del Rio. I know there is some people out there who can’t stand him, calling him a JBL knockoff, but I see great potential in him. His work in the ring is good and coming from a wrestling family and also having an MMA background is not hard to tell why. His promos at time run long at times but that can be fixed. I think what he needs to change is his constant smiling. A little more of a mean streak would serve him well. Can I say also that I love his personal ring announcer? He is so annoying that you want to punch him in the mouth and he literally engraves Del Rio’s name in your brain, great heel.
I haven’t forgotten about Santino at the end of the match but I really have nothing to say about it. WWE is relaying to much on corny comedy these days and I won’t contribute to it.
I was really excited to see this year’s Royal Rumble but for the most part, I was disappointed. The World Heavyweight title match was great but the WWE dropped the ball with The Miz. The Royal Rumble should be kept at 30, though, I am certain 40 will be the new staple. Don’t get me wrong, the more the merrier but there comes a point where too much becomes a problem. They wasted to much time with The Nexus and Cena-Hornswoggle segments. The Rumble is a good way of highlighting up and comers but no one broke out this year. The elimination themselves appeared to have no relevance. Morrison went nowhere, Sheamus seems to be in limo until Triple H returns. The Nexus and The Corre accomplished nothing. It will be interesting to see where the road to Wrestle Mania will ultimately end but at this moment, aside from Alberto Del Rio, I don’t have high hopes.
Prove me wrong WWE. Please, I want you to. I want good wrestling back on TV.
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