40 Man Rumble

[TUFFY54]

The Royal Rumble has always been the match where guys we dont see on PPV a lot get a shot to compete. However, in the last few years we have seen fewer and fewer "undercard" guys get into the match. When the WWF first started their 30 man Rumbles they had probably half as many wrestlers as they have now. I believe that the Royal Rumble should start having 40 men involved. Here are a few reasons why:

There are so many wrestlers under contract The WWE has two full brands now. RAW and Smackdown both have about 5 "main event" guys. If both titles are defended at the Rumble, that takes up 6 spots of guys who are picks to win. Both shows have about 10 "midcard" guys who fight for the US/Intercontinental belts. If all those guys try to get a shot at the Mania main event you have about 25 spots total filled up. Every year the WWE brings in a few legends and has a couple of returns. That puts the total at 30 and no undercard guys are in the Rumble. I dont think all of the Nexus guys will even get into the match this year. Let alone anyone from NXT season two. We also probably wont see any guys just starting out get a chance to compete in it. Instead of using NXT so much, the WWE should take a few top talents from FCW and put them into the Rumble for 5 or 6 minutes to see if they get any reaction from the crowd. I'm not saying they should fill it with nobodys, but 3 or 4 great up and commers wouldn't be bad. Just have the anounce team at home say something like "this is a big young stud from FCW trying to get a chance at glory". Even if they don't want to use FCW guys, there are still a good number of main roster wrestlers that don't normally get to be in the Rumble.

The Ring Wouldn't Get Overcrowed I understand that WCW tried to do a bigger Rumble with World War 3, and it was terrible. Thats the beauty of the Rumble, the timed interviels make it so we never have so many guys in the ring that you can't see the action. Every year they have one or two moments where everyone but one or two superstars gets eliminated to set up an angle in the match. Having 10 more guys wouldn't change affect the flow of the match at all.

The Time Wont Change They always say that the Rumble is the most exciting hour of television in wrestling. However, most of the time it doesn't add up to that. Some years they claim people come out every two minutes, some years they claim people come out every minute and a half. Regardless, they always shave time off during the middle of the match. Say the 40 guys are comming out every minute thrity. They could still shave 5 or 10 seconds off each one and have about the same length Rumble they always do.

It Would Make It A Bigger Deal A 40 man Rumble has never been done before. They could spin it by saying that they have never had this many talented induviduals trying to get WWE glory. It would sound even more impressive to say that someone fought through 39 other superstars to make it to Wrestlemania.

So what do you think? I honestly can't think of any downsides to making the Rumble bigger.

 

[FitFinlay4Life]

Wouldn't be a big fan of the idea - going into any Rumble, there is usually only half a dozen realistic contenders (if that) because the winner does go onto headline Wrestlemania. 34 known losers is just to many - possibly, there would be more room for guest spots but a smaller more realistic squad is better in my opinion. I'd rather see a 20 man Royal Rumble with everyone having at least an outside chance rather than 30 or 40 men with most just there as headliner fodder.

 

[King Blitzkonic]

Wouldn't be a big fan of the idea - going into any Rumble, there is usually only half a dozen realistic contenders (if that) because the winner does go onto headline Wrestlemania. 34 known losers is just to many - possibly, there would be more room for guest spots but a smaller more realistic squad is better in my opinion. I'd rather see a 20 man Royal Rumble with everyone having at least an outside chance rather than 30 or 40 men with most just there as headliner fodder.

I gotta agree, I wouldn't mind a 20-man either for those exact reasons. I'm not sold on the idea of a battle royal to determine the number one contender, but I guess it does give more of a "anything can happen" air to the concept.

 

[GideonGodsend]

i dont think they should widen the rumble. i think they should just get rid of afew guys. get rid of Thursdays Superstars. there are too many guys' that don't really matter. and since these people aren't being used in the E, if they get released they will be able to get booked ANYWHERE with a hefty pay. and with a smaller roster it will be easier for majority of the roster to be involved in a storyline or angle.

 

[AnthonyMango/NoFate007]

You know...I thought the same thing at one time, due to how many extra people they have on the roster now in comparison to before where they'd need to recruit from AWA and such, but then you look at something like World War 3 and the whole concept loses stability. The only way to have a 40 man battle royal realistically would be to cut the entrance time shorter to maybe 60 seconds, and then it would seem like it was going by too fast.

I guess it's a matter of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it", cause really...those extra 10 guys wouldn't have a shot anyway, seeing as they'd be people like Curt Hawkins and Primo lol

 

[Undertaker the 5th]

I don't see much of a reason to change the format. Most of the people who loose at the rumble are not really remembered anyways as far as who ended second and stuff like that. Only one man wins and 30 man is more than enough. I do agree that it seems like some wrestlers don't come in at the same intervals as the rest. An example is the one from 2007. Khali came in destroyed and very soon the Miz came in. Than it took like 3 minutes for Taker to come in, well maybe that is just what it felt like. On to the 40 man rumble, I think it could give shots to more unknown wrestlers, but that doesn't guarantee that people will follow them now. They would probably just be thrown in like meat o the rest of the wrestlers.

 

[Wrestling Free Thinker]

So you'd add more jobbers no one cares about? I liked the rumbles with all mid carders or up and coming stars.

I don't want rumbles with guys like Nunzio doing nothing.

40 man doesn't really seem that different anyway. Just 10 more guys. And in more years, people would say "make it 50 guys".

 

[Dragonfirez]

I'd prefer more men as it allows undercard wrestlers to show their potential (despite them having no chance of actually winning) and every year, I'm excited to see which competitor comes out as the next entrant, so more entrants = more excitement.

 

[FitFinlay4Life]

I'd prefer more men as it allows undercard wrestlers to show their potential (despite them having no chance of actually winning) and every year, I'm excited to see which competitor comes out as the next entrant, so more entrants = more excitement.

Less entrants - more time between their entrances, more tension builds for each entrant; more entrants, not enough time to get excited. And really, who remembers anyone but the last couple remaining entrants? Who shone out of the undercard in last years Rumble for example?

 

[ccotreau1]

Or another thing I could see them do is have 2 20 men rumbles, 1 for the WHC/WWE title and the 2nd one for the US/Intercontinental Title...Where you have a dozen or so guys that are main event status guys like HHH, Cena, Orton and Kane in it, as well as guys like Sheamus, Alberto Del Rio, Rey Mysterio, and Wade Barrett in the mix for the WHC/WWE title and throw in some outside shot guys into the fold like Morrison, and whomever they want to give a push to the main event. Then for the US/Intercontinental Rumble, you can take those guys who are the underutilized in the WWE and allow them to get into the fold for that title shot.

 

[mral82]

FitFinlay4Life
Quote:
And really, who remembers anyone but the last couple remaining entrants? Who shone out of the undercard in last years Rumble for example?

I think they could do a 40 man as it supposedly supposed to be the so called greatest hour of the year. And the man who shined last years on the undercard was CM Punk just go back and watch plus Beth Phoenix was epic as well.

 

[Yarrie]

I dont think 40 men would make a difference except when the timer counts down you would be like ah stink him, or whose that again??

The Royal Rumble is the best PPV ever, I far prefer it over WM. In order to make the Rumble bigger they should do it twice a year!!

 

[Wrestling Free Thinker]

I'd prefer more men as it allows undercard wrestlers to show their potential (despite them having no chance of actually winning) and every year, I'm excited to see which competitor comes out as the next entrant, so more entrants = more excitement.

How do they show potential? They just get beaten up and then thrown out. And why would they make them show their potential or do something significant if they weren't going to push them?

 

[latinoheat8979]

40 men would not make the Rumble any better. By the time the last few entrants enter the ring the crowd in the arena has usually calm down and their energy has faded until the final 4 entrants are left in the ring. Less is more besides that why add 10 extra jobbers nobody cares about?

 

[Jacob]

I'd for one would actually enjoy this idea. It would be a chance of stardum for the up and coming stars. Plus it would allow more superstars to look like they aren't totally worthless. For instance it would make it possible for the new "Batista" to really look like him to a certain point.

 

[zman21]

i like the idea but would rather stick with the 30 only for tradition. it would be weird watching a 40 man royal rumble. although if it was a 40 man royal rumble they could add more suprise entrants. i love how every yr they give us 1 or 2 suprises. imagine with 40 we can get at least 6 to 7 more. also if this were to happen i say have the first 4 entrants start it like a fatal 4 way then start the count down from #5 thats why it wont seem to long

 

[An Angry Blonde]

i like the idea but would rather stick with the 30 only for tradition. it would be weird watching a 40 man royal rumble. although if it was a 40 man royal rumble they could add more suprise entrants. i love how every yr they give us 1 or 2 suprises. imagine with 40 we can get at least 6 to 7 more. also if this were to happen i say have the first 4 entrants start it like a fatal 4 way then start the count down from #5 thats why it wont seem to long

Thats actually a pretty good idea, 40 men (and/or women) would be a bit more interesting, but the only real problem with the rumble is mid carders don't ever seem as a real threat compared to the main eventers. Maybe if they made the mid card a serious threat in the rumbles than it would be more enjoyed, or have mid carders elimate more main eventers during the rumble, shaking it up a bit. Any way it would be an interesting concept, however if it is ever tested, the PPV card needs to be really strong to help reduce the risk of the RR bombing because of the 40 man royal rumble, which WWE tends to reley on when it comes to interest and rating.

 

[Tattooed Jesus]

No way 30 is the way it should stay! Just adding jobbers and ham&eggers that don't stand a chance to win wouldn't make it a better match at all.

 

[Hundred Dollar Man]

Make it a 35 man rumble, and have 15 guys (presumably all jobbers) have a battle royal for the 5 additional spots. When down to the last 5 have the 5th to 2nd place guys go in 1,2,3, and 4 respectively. The winner of that battle royal gets the final entry spot, in this case #35. That way you have two significant battle royals in one night.

 

[Ruthless-RKO]

No.. not really.. It would jsut make the match longer and as you see now years Rumbles are not like the past, we get a lot of wrestlers now just laying down for no reason or crawled up in a corner while 2 guys actually fight.. So there is no real point.. 10 out of 30 wrestlers in the Rumble match are nobodies anyway!! haha So why make it 40?? Like the saying.. Don't fix it, if it's not broken!!

 

[King Patrick Star]

I like the idea of expanding the Royal Rumble to 40. It makes it sound bigger that past Rumbles. However, I would rather go with having two 30 man Royal Rumbles instead. One Raw Royal Rumble for the WWE Title and One Smackdown Royal Rumble for the World Title would work. To fill out the Rumbles, the WWE can add NXT Superstars, and if needed, FCW Superstars.