Greatest Royal Rumble Event Discussion & Reviews

[enviousdominous]

A great crowd can make a mediocre show work, and the crowd at the GRR made that show work. I don't know if it needed the help, but it was a much better night for having them.

I had to juggle work and the GRR, so I missed the Cruiserweight match and the Cena vs HHH grudge match. I had a good time though as it was a slow day at work, and it was the first time in a long time that I could participate in the Live Discussion forum.

My biggest criticism is that some of the matches seemed rushed. The Usos seemed to be over with the crowd, and from what I remember they got flattened by The Bludgeon Brothers.

The matches really were great, especially for matches that had to be thrown together abruptly right before another network special. The casket match was the most fun for me, and the rest of the matches were fun as well. I can see the positive of having a show that's just a show, without any high tension drama predicating the matches.

The rumble was neat. I liked seeing the crowd show love to Daniel Bryan. I wish there would have been more surprises, like maybe have Punk return for a night or have more NXT members participate. From what I remember they only had Tucker Knight and Roderick Strong from NXT. I'm guessing that more would have been done if not for issues with travel.

All in all it was a fun show that exceeded expectations, and the crowd made it clear that the WWE would not regret doing another show in Saudi Arabia in the near future.

 

[ShinChan]

All in all it was a fun show that exceeded expectations, and the crowd made it clear that the WWE would not regret doing another show in Saudi Arabia in the near future.

WWE is coming back in this year itself. In November but in Riyadh this time.

Also, I read that the authority over there apologised because a female was shown in some sort of advertisement. They also said that they have made it clear that the women won't be showcased at any cost even in the future.

I watched it almost as the whole. Glad for Braun Strowman and Daniel Bryan. No idea about what's Universal Title picture is. Nakamura is looking better as a heel. NO SPEAK ENGLISH. Ladder match was the show-stealer for me. How did Balor get cut near his eye? Interested in Backlash. It is co-branded now.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

There were some dodgy moments for sure, like the rich assholes with their back to camera and the action within minutes and them catching the WWE guy telling them to move or sit. The local camera work seemed more off than usual and hilariously exposed Cena's burgeoning bald patch more than ever.

The lack of real talent there in the Rumble was a major disappointment and much of the show seemed not to follow "TV Logic", why have Drew cut a hot promo on Monday and not be on the show for example? Zayn not being there but Heyman being there seemed an odd choice and ultimately, the pops for Jericho and Rey seemed somewhat muted. There was no Cien, no Aliester Black or even a few more old school names. Hornswoggle didn't really cut it in the same way throwing someone even like Jeff Jarrett or The Hurricane would have done.

What was good though was it was a genuinely fun show... I took a friend of mine who has learning disabilities to the local pub to watch and he loved a lot of it and it was good to reconnect a little with the show in that way without the jaded eyes of a 30+ year watcher.

Taker looked surprisingly good, Bryan did great and Titus stole the show, albeit inadvertantly, that might have saved him from firing when the releases come as you an imagine Vince pissing himself backstage and gaining a new respect for how he "took it like a champ".

One issue seemed to be the fallout of the shake up made some matches seem odd as certain guys were on RAW/SD now and it made it somewhat predictable who would win.

Not sure how you unpick Brock v Roman... to be honest if that was the planned finish with Brock going over then Roman screwed it up and to be honest, that's his last chance in my eyes. If it was the other way round then Roman again seemed to botch it a bit. They seem to be ready to move on to Strowman and that in itself isn't a bad thing at all.

As an experiment it seemed to work, the crowd were hot other than the idiots at the VIP section... WWE would be good to say next time it's standard arena seating rather than the empty armchairs but if it's a choice between those battles and getting women on the card then it's a no brainer which to push for. It showed these "glorified house shows" could be more over time. The downside is they got a lot of the money upfront, so if the political stuff isn't resolved then it's easy to see the company downgrade the production going forward.

It was a C+ for me, as fun as some of the UK house shows I've seen over the years but not on the level of a good RAW taping, even with the big guns like Taker assembled.