Royal Rumble 2016 General Discussion & Aftermath Reviews

[Terry Gyimah]

Triple H winning the Royal Rumble, he is already the COO so he doesn't really need it given how he can simply just book himself into the main event without even needing the Royal Rumble

Personally I would love to see NXT guys also in the Rumble but I would only choose 2 NXT superstars out of the whole lot to be in the Royal Rumble Match and my 2 NXT guys that I would have as surprises would be Sami Zayn and Samoa Joe both of them making their main roster debuts in the Royal Rumble Match

But honestly though honestly The Demon Finn Balor I would love to see Finn Balor as a surprise entrant if only for his Demon entrance which would be awesome especially during the Royal Rumble Match with the lights going out and his music playing and the entrants in the ring in shock

 

[swallop]

So the 2016 royal rumble is around the corner and its going to be big. Making history because for the first time in a royal rumble match the WWE title will be defended. So why not make some more history? This involves the diva's division, They have been having problems building hype in the diva's division, well here's how they can mix things up.

Divas title match: Charlotte (c) Def becky lynch

Later that night...

Royal rumble begins #1 entrant being Roman reigns. #2 entrant being.... wait for it... SASHA BANKS. This would mark the first time in WWE history a women would be competing for the world championship. Imagine all the buzz this would receive. Now this is how i would format things. She wouldn't win. Thats a given but teasing the fact would be crazy wouldn't it? Have the ring quickly fill up i'd say the first 12-14 guys all stay in no eliminations. Then have a clean up guy like big show come in and clean house. Sasha could slip under the ropes during this sequence. Have show eliminate everyone besides roman reigns who then takes show out. Roman is exhausted from the elimination and is down for awhile. In the mean time Sasha banks re-enters the ring and shes the last women standing. That would be pretty cool. People would be like whats going to happen now? The next entrant hits being lets say #16 Ric flairs music hits. Nobody comes out. Sasha confused in the ring waits while Charlotte comes from behind and throws banks out. Then from there start the feud with Charlotte and sasha. They could probably cut some cool promo's sasha saying she cost her the chance of a life time. What do you guys think?

 

[Seosa]

Dudleys win the tag team match before splitting during the Rumble.

Charlotte heels it up to beat Becky.

Same with Del Rio to beat Kalisto.

Ambrose has to kill Owens to win.

Haitch probably wins the Rumble. If Brock wins it they probably turn him heel, though I prefer Face Brock. Anyone like AJ or Bryan is a pipe dream, but dreams are there for dreaming so...

 

[laodaron]

I'm pretty excited about this PPV. There are too many variables that we don't have spoiled yet. Will AJ debut, will Austin Aries debut? Is anyone from NXT getting called up? Is Daniel Bryan cleared? Is HHH entering the Rumble? Will Undertaker appear? What's the deal with Goldberg and Angle? Is Cena cleared? Can Roman make it through 29 other guys? And this is just for the Royal Rumble match itself. Other questions arise, like, how well booked is the LMS match between Owens and Ambrose? What sort of spots is Kalisto going to do?

This is shaping up to be a pretty solidly hyped PPV. Let's just hope that it can live up to it.

 

[Jeff Deliverer of Mail]

1. Mick Foley as Cactus Jack. Cactus Jack comes to the ring with a flaming , barbed wire two by four in hand and is not allowed to enter with the weapon. But has Mr. Socko as a back up.

2. Ric Flair. Super old Nature Boy enters number one and goes one on one with Cesaro. Cesaro immediately grabs Flair and gives him the Cesaro Swing for an impressive 147 rotation...killing him . Five people are eliminated during the swing but don't touch them.

3. One Man Gang as Hakeem. He gets into a dancing contest with Big E and they get too involved and start kissing. It makes national news.

4. Brock Lesnar enters number 15...he elimates 10 superstars with F5s out of the ring. But out next is...a fucking Grizzly Bear ? A well trained Grizzly Bear enters the ring, he endures 5 German suplexs from Brock before swatting him over the ropes. The bear is eliminated by Braun Stroman.

5. Vince McMahon. The chairman comes out...he fires the remaining two superstars and declares himself the Royal Rumble winner.

Alot has happened in three months, Vince McMahon getting involved was just a joke back then....well some jokes might come true! Except #4.

My real prediction this time...2 and a half months later is Triple H. The Game wins and is the champion.

 

[Pérez84]

The most exciting PPV of the year is here. At least for me. I enjoy being surprised with each entrance. Imagine if this year we'll get a big surprise like say AJ Styles, Kurt Angle or some big shock. I can't wait.

Later that night...

Royal rumble begins #1 entrant being Roman reigns. #2 entrant being.... wait for it... SASHA BANKS. This would mark the first time in WWE history a women would be competing for the world championship. Imagine all the buzz this would receive. Now this is how i would format things. She wouldn't win. Thats a given but teasing the fact would be crazy wouldn't it? Have the ring quickly fill up i'd say the first 12-14 guys all stay in no eliminations. Then have a clean up guy like big show come in and clean house. Sasha could slip under the ropes during this sequence. Have show eliminate everyone besides roman reigns who then takes show out. Roman is exhausted from the elimination and is down for awhile. In the mean time Sasha banks re-enters the ring and shes the last women standing. That would be pretty cool. People would be like whats going to happen now? The next entrant hits being lets say #16 Ric flairs music hits. Nobody comes out. Sasha confused in the ring waits while Charlotte comes from behind and throws banks out. Then from there start the feud with Charlotte and sasha. They could probably cut some cool promo's sasha saying she cost her the chance of a life time. What do you guys think?

Didn't Chyna compete in a Rumble back in the Attitude Era? I think she did. Also Kharma/Awesome Kong was in the 2012 Rumble match.

 

[Dream]

T'his Rumble made no sense. No problem with the outcome, but basically how it unfolded.

-Lesnar gets eliminated, does nothing even though he was cheated
-The remaining Wyatt member families - why did they just leave? Shouldn't they have stayed in to ensure a Bray win?
-It's just unforunate how the crowd was pro HHH with Reigns, and then they're extremely pro Ambrose and then he was eliminated. Would have been a better moment IMO if he won. Though, don't care about that. Moreso the first two points.

 

[dkorolenchuk]

2 things about the RR match

1)We really need a 10 second countout rule in place,you do not get eliminated but do step out of the ring OR do not enter the ring you get a 10 count to get back in or enter after your music hits

2)A serious suspension for anyone not in the match including people that have been eliminated that interfere with anyone still in the match,the way Lesner ws thrown out by 3 guys that he threw out is just stupid and has to stop.

 

[Jeff Deliverer of Mail]

Royal Rumble Aftermath Reviews....


Dean Ambrose vs Kevin Owens last man standing match.
A pretty good hardcore match to start the PPV with a nice ending bump. Not sure what is written for Mania but this outcome spells different paths for both wrestlers come Mania. Crowd reaction was nice for this match. Kevin Owens with a much bigger reaction than Dean Ambrose.



New Day vs Usos. A fairly generic tag team match with nothing to write home about. New Day are MAX over with the crowd and Usos got booed throughout the match.

Charlotte vs Becky - Generic match with dumb Ric Flair moments. Kind of sad really.

Kalisto vs Del Rio - Serviceable match with decent false finishes and a few glaring botches.

The Royal Rumble - Very good, some big Wrestlemania showdowns written in there, a surprise entrance ( ALTHOUGH SHITTY MUSIC...WTF). A predictable winner yet the way it went down it still left you in doubt. Crowds were very into the Royal Rumble match this year...especially Brock's entrance and when certain stars were eliminated.

 

[Jeff Deliverer of Mail]

I'm also positive there will be a thread or two about how a missed opportunity for Dean Ambrose happened during the Rumble.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

WWE Intercontinental Championship - Last Man Standing: Dean Ambrose vs. Kevin Owens - This was a hell of an opening match that definitely lived up to expectations. It was highly physical, both guys did a great job of telling the story, they kept things centered around ringside and that's something I prefer rather than guys ranging all over the arena because it then usually devolves into a punch & kick fest, the crowd was red hot for both men and they basically beat the crap out of each other. As I've said in a few other threads, I feel this has been one of the most entertaining and, overall, well booked IC title feuds in quite a while and both men have been elevated during its course. Ambrose winning the bout was something I expected, but it didn't take anything away from the match itself. The final spot with Owens being pushed off the top was a nice touch, though I have to admit it would've been pretty awesome to see Owens go for the moonsault while Ambrose was stacked on the chairs. ****

2. WWE Tag Team Championship: The New Day vs. The Usos - A good, entertaining tag team bout, which is what I've come to expect regarding matches from these two teams. The New Day hijinks were entertaining without being too distracting and the fans were solidly behind the babyfaces; little things like Xavier not playing the trombone because the fans wanted him to are nice touches, heels aren't supposed to encourage fans to cheer for them and they shouldn't go out of their way to get fans to cheer them. I expected the Usos to pick up the win here but it didn't go down that way. For the most part, with the exception of a few minor instances of outside interference, New Day picks up a clean victory due to Big E hitting the Big Ending. It's time for New Day to move onto another program as they've gone as far as they can with the Usos right now. ***

3. WWE United States Championship: Alberto Del Rio vs. Kalisto - While not quite as good as their first bout, it was still a physical, entertaining bout that told the age old story of David vs. Goliath. I was surprised to see Kalisto score the win as I figured Del Rio would win and they'd put this program to bed. I now wish more than ever they hadn't given Kalisto that 24 hour run last week as it would've made this win feel more special. Here's hoping we're not about to see another 24 hour run from Kalisto. The fans have really gotten behind Kalisto to a solid degree since his performance at TLC, so I've got no problems with WWE taking advantage of it. Again, I just hope they're don playing hot potato with the title. ***1/4

4. WWE Divas Championship: Charlotte vs. Becky Lynch - Very good work from the ladies here and both of them have made some real progress over the past several weeks. Becky has been doing quite well on the mic and fans have responded to that by getting behind her quite a bit the last couple of weeks. As for Charlotte, it seems fans are getting behind her as a heel due in part to her old man's antics and her attitude itself. The ending of the match was a little different, it's been quite a while since I've seen the heel manager throw his jacket onto the face of the babyface. It's a little different, just enough to add a nice little change to merely jumping up on the apron. Charlotte scored the win with the spear and as with the IC title program with Ambrose and Owens, this feud saw both Charlotte and Becky elevated. The post match beatdown immediately gave me the impression that some new challenger was about to show and, sure enough, the crowd went nuts when Sasha Banks' music hit. Her behavior towards Charlotte and attacking Becky is "the boss" that we've seen in NXT and it's much more of what's made her so popular. So, I'm guessing it'll be Charlotte vs. Sasha for WrestleMania. ***1/4

5. WWE World Heavyweight Championship: Royal Rumble Match - Battle royals can be difficult matches to rate or rank, but I have to say that this was one of the most enjoyable Rumble matches I've seen in quite a long time. The crowd was red hot throughout and there were several interlocking stories going on throughout the night. I wasn't surprised to see AJ Styles make his debut, though I was surprised to see that it was #3. Styles had a good showing for himself as he stayed in the match almost 30 minutes; I was also glad to see that the live crowd didn't start crapping all over the rest of the match once he was eliminated. Jericho had a great showing for himself and stayed in for almost the entire match. The stuff with Roman Reigns and the League of Nations was something I expected and, truth be told, I enjoyed it because if broke the feeling that I had in which Roman Reigns was going to be portrayed as this superhuman wrecking machine. Brock Lesnar looked dominant, but he didn't look "too dominant", if that makes any sense. One thing I did like about this match is that while certain guys looked stronger than others, which is always the case, nobody looked so dominant that it made almost everyone else look inconsequential. Even Triple H didn't look like this dominant super stud in there, even though he drew #30 as I and lots of others were expecting. The crowd popped big when Trips eliminated Roman Reigns, guaranteeing a new champ and it was a lot of fun seeing Dean Ambrose and Triple H as the last two guys. For a second, I thought Ambrose was going to pull it off, but Trips managed to backdrop him over the top. Triple H is the new WWE World Heavyweight Champion and we'll almost certainly see him face Reigns at WrestleMania for the title. ***3/4

Final Thoughts - I thought tonight's Rumble was a very strong showing for the first WWE ppv of the year and I thought it was one of the best Royal Rumble events in history. There wasn't a bad match on the card, there was competent booking throughout each match, there were even a couple of surprises such as Kalisto regaining the United States Championship and Roman Reigns not being one of the final two men left. The Rumble match itself was well done, AJ Styles had an impressive debut and had a good showing for himself, though I'm of the opinion that Sasha Banks may well have gotten the biggest pop of the night. As I said earlier, I really liked how nobody really looked so dominant as to make most other competitors look inconsequential, which is what usually happens; for instance, we didn't have anyone eliminate seven, eight or ten guys. While I'm not overly wild about Triple H winning, I've got no major complaints about it as of right now. What I am hoping, however, is that we're not going to have the Authority in every other segment on Raw from now to WrestleMania.

Grade: A

 

[Jeff Deliverer of Mail]

I'll add that pop for Triple H eliminating Reigns third last was a pretty big pop. Very anti Reigns crowd. Dead on his entrance and zero reaction to anything he did. I think Roman should just stop competing in The Rumble.

 

[ヒュー　G.　レックション]

One of the weirdest Rumbles I've ever seen. Styles was very underwhelming, looked very weak, did one Pele and a couple of forearms. Lesnar not eliminating Wyatt made no sense. Breeze... WTF? And the whole thing with Roman leaving and then coming back. I have no problem with the end result H winning but the way it was all booked was weird as hell.

 

[Jeff Deliverer of Mail]

One of the weirdest Rumbles I've ever seen. Styles was very underwhelming, looked very weak, did one Pele and a couple of forearms. Lesnar not eliminating Wyatt made no sense. Breeze... WTF? And the whole thing with Roman leaving and then coming back. I have no problem with the end result H winning but the way it was all booked was weird as hell.

I thought A.J looked Kalisto small compared to everyone else. I thought he was a bit taller than that. Plus his music stunk...ugh. I hope they change that shit.

 

[GOOZEKING]

I enjoyed the ppv over all but I just have 3 complaints
1) ending would have been much better and unpredictable if ambrose was not holding the IC title
2) lack of memorable eliminations sure no one looked weak and the right people got eliminated at right time but should have been more memorable eliminations and made a bigger deal
3) the final 2 in the rumble need to go at least 5-8 min... It builds intense and I would much rather prefer it than look at each other, punch, kick, attempt finisher, throw over top rope.

 

[Jeff Deliverer of Mail]

I think WWE missed a good opportunity to change Ambrose to a heel to have a shock ending to The Rumble...it was kind of looking that way when it was down to four wrestlers. I thought Ambrose would either screw over Roman by eliminating him or eliminate himself once he helped Triple H eliminate Roman. Ah well, it was still good.

 

[Dagger Dias]

This was the best Royal Rumble event in many years. A massive step up from the last few years and the rest of the card was also good from top to bottom. Let's take a look at each of the matches.


Pre-Show: The Ascension VS Darren Young & Damien Sandow VS The Dudley Boyz VS Mark Henry & Jack Swagger
Stupid. This belonged on the pre-show and I am glad our time was not wasted by it on the main card. Young and Sandow don't make any sense as a team, and I highly doubt anyone cared about Henry & Swagger winning this.

Dean Ambrose (c) VS Kevin Owens (Last Man Standing Match for the Intercontinental Championship)
This was a great start to the show. Lots of crazy spots and Dean retaining was the right call. He should have a long reign. This was probably the end of the feud.

New Day (c) VS The Usos (Tag Team Championship)
Glad that New Day retained. This was a little better than I was expecting. Woods' antics with his new Trombone were the highlight of the match for me.

Alberto Del Rio VS Kalisto (United States Championship)
Thank you, WWE, for making Alberto winning back the title from Kalisto COMPLETELY POINTLESS! Seriously, what was the point of that? Kalisto retaining both on the television match and then here on PPV would have been a much bigger deal than having so many title changes. The match was probably the worst on the main card, but still decent. Happy for Kalisto.

Becky Lynch VS Charlotte (Divas Championship)
Yeah, this went about as expected. I really REALLY wanted Becky Lynch to win although I was fine with Charlotte retaining. Flair's actions were a bit frustrating and the kiss was disgusting. Then Sasha showed up after the match to challenge Charlotte. Whether it's at Fast Lane or Wrestlemania, Charlotte VS Sasha will be a feud I look forward to seeing.

Royal Rumble match for the World Heavyweight Championship
Well, here we are. The namesake of the event. And this year the top prize was on the line! I wasn't sure if I liked this stipulation at first as it made it seem too obvious that Roman Reigns "had" to retain. For the sake of history it could have been cool to see him retain, if he had worked the full match that is. I didn't like that he was offscreen for so much of it. Trips winning seemed like the WWE went with what may have been the best of a very limited list of options. So many guys are out with injuries. Ambrose would have been a better option for winning than Trips if you ask me.... but at least Brock Lesnar didn't win. The last thing we need is him holding the belt hostage again. The best moment of the night though was AJ STYLES showing up to compete in the Rumble!!!! Legit mark-out moment for me there.

Overall Thoughts
The year is off to a good start. We also have a couple of potential feuds that this event has opened up the door for. Reigns VS Trips, Lesnar VS Bray Wyatt, Charlotte VS Sasha, Styles VS Owens, and more. I am feeling optimistic about Wrestlemania 32 now despite all the injuries. I'm hoping we get Undertaker VS Jericho this year too. This show was the best Royal Rumble in a LONG time and it has set the pace for what could be an exciting year for the WWE.

 

[Jeff Deliverer of Mail]

Poor Byron Saxton, I can't help but feel sorry for this guy. By now he really should be better than that on a bigger stage. He's just clearly not cut out for a big event. He was completely buried at The Royal Rumble to where he barely got five words in per match. Not even sure why he was there, Cole and JBL had things well in hand and provided serviceable and sometimes very good commentating.

 

[Bernkastel]

I was rooting for Roman, because I was wanting to see if he could pull it off. I had gripes about him being taken out of the match halfway through and then coming back out of no where. I would have preferred it if he had stayed in and gutted it out. But oh well. I was expecting Trips to come out with the victory if Roman didn't. It makes sense and the story is compelling. And even though Trips is a part time star, at least he will appear with the belt every week to build up the match unlike Brock Lesnar.

Speaking of Lesnar, I'm looking forward to his match against Bray. Not so much as to whether he can survive being pummeled by all the members of the Wyatt family at once, but just to see him have a nice back and forth, competitive match for a change.

 

[Softcore Holly]

I thought the PPV was great.

IC match started off on a very high note as KO and Ambrose had a great LMS match. Especially liked how there were no dumb finish like pinning the guy down so he can't get up, tying their legs up, etc etc. Just one huge spot to get the 10 count is what people look forward in a LMS match and they delivered big time.
Tag was fun enough, especially liked the catch Big E did at the end.
US was fine overall, it just would've felt like a much bigger moment if it was Kalisto's first US title win compared to him winning back.
Divas overall was very solid, although the Flair bump was kinda weird. Like what's the point of accidentally kicking Flair if he's just going to come back and help cheat FTW anyway? The Sasha return was very cool and man did she not hold back on that crossface since it looked legitimately painful as hell.

The RR match was a ton of fun, lots of neat surprises and one hell of a finish. It was also refreshing since there were multiple possible winners compared to the extremely predictable RRs for the past couple of years. And last but certainly not least it's very, very nice to not see the RR winner get booed out of the arena, although kinda ironic since this time a actual heel is the winner. Kinda wish Kofi got to do something more impressive and the whole Reigns storyline took a little too much focus away from the ring for a while but overall it's the best RR I've seen in quite a while. Of course that's very easy to say since the night didn't feel like it ended with a train wreck but I'll gladly take it.

 

[rge2010]

Was anyone else disappointed with Brock Lesnars reaction to getting cheated out of the Title? Three of The Wyatts entered the ring illegally and threw him over the top. Three of them disappeared and left Lesnar at the side of the ring to compose himself before making his way to the back.

I thought Lesnar would have climbed back in the ring and gone ballistic....even throwing Bray Wyatt out. Instead he just kind of accepted his fate and walked off. Really disappointing booking of 'the beast'.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Was anyone else disappointed with Brock Lesnars reaction to getting cheated out of the Title? Three of The Wyatts entered the ring illegally and threw him over the top. Three of them disappeared and left Lesnar at the side of the ring to compose himself before making his way to the back.

I thought Lesnar would have climbed back in the ring and gone ballistic....even throwing Bray Wyatt out. Instead he just kind of accepted his fate and walked off. Really disappointing booking of 'the beast'.

To be honest, I felt it was a nice change of pace. WWE goes all out to make Lesnar look like this unstoppable beast that I thought it was a bit refreshing to see him sorta slink away looking genuinely defeated.

Speaking of Lesnar, is it just me or is anyone else worried that Lesnar is gonna drop dead of a heart attack in the middle of the ring? The guy seriously, seriously needs to work on his cardio as he was totally, physically spent last night. Whenever he wrestles, sweat cascades off him and he looked so tired after last night that you could see spittle dribbling out of his mouth as he tried to catch his breath.

The potential downside now is that, if it's Lesnar vs. Wyatt for WrestleMania, Lesnar not only destroys Wyatt but obliterates the rest of the Family in the process during said match.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

One of the weirdest Rumbles I've ever seen. Styles was very underwhelming, looked very weak, did one Pele and a couple of forearms. Lesnar not eliminating Wyatt made no sense. Breeze... WTF? And the whole thing with Roman leaving and then coming back. I have no problem with the end result H winning but the way it was all booked was weird as hell.

Well, the thing about a battle royal is that you often don't have a lot of opportunity to showcase your in-ring technique. Aside from the guys trying to eliminate each other and the near eliminations, the appeal of the Royal Rumble match is to see who comes out at what number.

I have to disagree about Style's debut and, frankly, I'm glad he didn't just come in there and just decimate people left & right. Since they didn't really have Brock Lesnar do that and since they didn't really have anyone look so dominant that nobody could touch them, I see no reason why an exception should be made for Styles. Even guys like Big Show, Mark Henry and Kane, guys who're known to have dominant Royal Rumble appearances, didn't come off as monsters and that's a pleasant change of pace.

Styles' appearance generated a lot of buzz, he had a couple of eliminations, stayed in the Rumble match for about half an hour and wasn't eliminated by one of the wrestlers many fans would deem as corporate picks like Reigns or Sheamus, which helped maintain the flow and energy of the match. I'm sure WWE is pleased as it's been reported that their first AJ Styles t-shirt has already sold out, so Styles is already making them some money.

 

[rge2010]

To be honest, I felt it was a nice change of pace. WWE goes all out to make Lesnar look like this unstoppable beast that I thought it was a bit refreshing to see him sorta slink away looking genuinely defeated.

Speaking of Lesnar, is it just me or is anyone else worried that Lesnar is gonna drop dead of a heart attack in the middle of the ring? The guy seriously, seriously needs to work on his cardio as he was totally, physically spent last night. Whenever he wrestles, sweat cascades off him and he looked so tired after last night that you could see spittle dribbling out of his mouth as he tried to catch his breath.

The potential downside now is that, if it's Lesnar vs. Wyatt for WrestleMania, Lesnar not only destroys Wyatt but obliterates the rest of the Family in the process during said match.

I have to disagree. He should have at least tried to climb back in the ring whilst held back or smashed a few things ringside to show his anger. It was like he didnt really care.

 

[Jeff Deliverer of Mail]

Was anyone else disappointed with Brock Lesnars reaction to getting cheated out of the Title? Three of The Wyatts entered the ring illegally and threw him over the top. Three of them disappeared and left Lesnar at the side of the ring to compose himself before making his way to the back.

I thought Lesnar would have climbed back in the ring and gone ballistic....even throwing Bray Wyatt out. Instead he just kind of accepted his fate and walked off. Really disappointing booking of 'the beast'.

I was thinking the same thing when the camera was on Brock after he was eliminated....I was picturing Haymen yelling No, no don't do it and Brock charging back in the ring to raise hell....instead he just walked to the back.