Good evening ladies and gentlemen. It is time for the first PPV of 2016, the Royal Rumble. This one comes at us live from sunny Florida, a place where many of us in the Northeast United States wish were at, having been slammed by a wee bit of snow this weekend. That being said, we are getting things kicked off in a big way, with the Last Man Standing match.
Best Match of the night:
Let’s be honest. The Last Man Standing match blew every other match out of the water. Well, most of them. In spite of the screw jobs that were way too plentiful, and few surprise entrants, the Rumble was very good as well. But I still rank the IC match above it.
Worst match of the night:
It is hard to call this the worst match of the night, but the Divas match did somewhat disappoint. That being said, I thought all of the matches tonight were pretty good-even the Divas match. If I were grading them, it would have the lowest numerical grade on the evening, which is the only reason it lands here.
Crowd Chants of the Night?:
Holy sh%$
Fight Owens Fight
This is awesome
New Day rocks
Francesca
play Francesca
Lucha
Let’s go Becky
AJ Styles
Lets go AJ
Suplex City
Let’s go Ambrose
Star of the Night
No question, it has to be Dean Ambrose. In spite of losing the Rumble to HHH, the man was in the match of the night and played a major role in the Rumble as well.
Spot of the Night:
At first, I thought Owens’ cannonball through the barricade. Then, Dean drove Owens through a table. And then Owens put Ambrose, from the top rope, through a table. And, if that wasn’t enough? Owens was about to leap from the top rope to drive Ambrose through a pile of steel chairs. But, Ambrose popped up and shoved Owens through not one, but two tables that Owens had stacked up earlier in the match. Take your pick, the match was a beautiful train wreck.
Kofi, using Big E to stay alive in the Rumble.
Jobber of the Night:
Social Outcasts. One entered, all took a beating in the Rumble.
Swagger and Henry, too, for having extremely brief stints in the Rumble.
Upset of the Night:
Minor though it may be, Kalisto beating Del Rio for the US Title gets the nod. Proves his first win was neither a fluke, nor a token gesture, in my view.
Holy Sh** Moment of the Night:
Sasha, finally getting into the Divas title scene, by coming down and attacking Charlotte after her successful title defense.
AJ Styles, entering the Rumble at number 3.
And, of course, Hunter at 30.Kinda telegraphed that one.
Reigns getting eliminated before the final two. Did not see that one coming.
Botch of the night:
Good job roster. No clear and obvious botches tonight.
Commentary of the night:
I think there’s a Home Depot under the ring.
I don’t think they are about to play musical chairs
The luchador is playing the role of Flat Stanley
LOL Moment of the night:
Owens, to a fan as he was setting up a table…”Thanksgiving was in November, moron!”
Woods, explaining Francesca 2 :”A brother has needs”
R-Truth, thinking it was MITB
Noteworthy Moment:
Raise your hand if you ever thought Kalisto would be a two time US Champion
Maybe I am crazy, but didn’t Lawler usually join the announce team for PPV? Now he’s just on the panel? Unless he’s doing that because he’s in the Rumble?
AJ Styles debuts in WWE, As the 3rd man in the Rumble.
Sami Zayn returns as entrant #20.
Overall lowlights:
I know they make sense, but having two major screwjobs during the Rumble is too many. It is somewhat frustrating that the League beating made the fans miss out on eliminations, which is what the match is really all about. Of course, both will set up WrestleMania matches, so there is a silver lining I suppose.
My only other gripe, and it’s more a disappointment, is that we got all of two semi-surprise entrants to the Rumble. I don’t count HHH, because he was super-obvious. Zayn made a lot of sense, so he wasn’t a tremendous shock. Even Styles, while a mild surprise, was somewhat a spoiled surprise when word leaked out that he’d been signed.
We got no one from NXT. There were no huge names returning from injury. Not for nothing, but I am sure a lot of folks would trade the quick appearances by Swagger and Henry or Axel, for either someone from the past, or someone from NXT.
Overall highlights:
Last Man Standing
US Title match.
AJ Styles’ debut. Was he over, or was he over.
Sami Zayn is back too.
Jericho lasted quite a while.
After the final bell:
Well, I’d be lying if I said I was not into the Rumble match. When it got down to the final five or six, the hear rate was absolutely elevated. And that’s a good thing. I wasn’t sure if WWE would have Reigns overcome the odds and beat even HHH, or if they’d swerve us all and have someone not named Roman or Hunter exit with the gold. Heck, for a while there I was beginning to think AJ had a shot.
As annoying as the Wyatt junk was, and the League of Nations assaults, the reality is, we know Brock is going to be squaring off, either against Bray or perhaps ALL of the Wyatts, at WrestleMania. That will be a big match. And then we are most likely getting HHH versus Reigns, where Reigns will get his WrestleMania moment and his third title reign. One has to assume, at least.
AJ Styles had a decent debut. I have not seen too much of him before. I’ve seen spots here and there, but I admit I am not as familiar with him as I am with the rest of the WWE roster. I can’t say I hated it, or even love his debut. What I can say is, I want to see more-and I bet a lot of fans do, too.
Compared to last year’s Rumble, this one, from top to bottom, was a much better event.
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