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One of WWE’s biggest pay-per-views of the year, Royal Rumble, took place from the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on the WWE Network.
The night was highlighted by the huge triple-threat match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship between Brock Lesnar, John Cena, and Seth Rollins. Who retained? Did Rollins cash-in?
There was also the highly anticipated, but highly controversial Royal Rumble match, which had Batista winning it last year. Who would win it this time around to headline WrestleMania 31?
Click “next” to find out.
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New Day vs. Cesaro and Tyson Kidd – Pre-Show
Result: Cesaro and Tyson Kidd win via pinfall.
Rating: 2.8 out of 5 stars
Rob’s Take
This was a decent match for the Royal Rumble pre-show. It wasn’t anything eye-popping, but it set the stage for an interesting night of wrestling.
Having Cesaro and Kidd win this was the right call. Hopefully they move onto more high-profile tag team matches through the winter.
Mike’s Take (Coming Soon)
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The New Age Outlaws vs. The Ascension
Result: The Ascension win via pinfall.
Rating: 2.4 out of 5 stars
Rob’s Take
This was very predictable and not very good. While the nostalgia act of the New Age Outlaws was cool, everything else wasn’t. It was an okay match with a sloppy finish that had Konnor and Viktor win.
Mike’s Take (Coming Soon)
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The Usos (c) vs. The Miz and Damien Mizdow – WWE Tag Team Championship
Result: The Usos win via pinfall and retain the WWE Tag Team Championship.
Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars
Rob’s Take
This was another installment of a match we’ve seen a few times. While it was solid, there wasn’t much that made you say “wow.” It was an above-average tag team match that could have been featured on Raw. Who The Usos defend against next will be interesting; could The Ascension challenge for the belts?
Mike’s Take (Coming Soon)
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The Bella Twins vs. Natalya and Paige
Result: The Bella Twins win via pinfall.
Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars
Rob’s Take
The wrestling from the Bellas was not bad at all. They looked very good in the ring, especially Nikki. However, the complete domination over Natalya and Paige (the latter never entered the match) made this match kind of pointless to book. It seemed like this was only done so a Divas match would be on the card or to have a filler contest.
Mike’s Take (Coming Soon)
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Brock Lesnar (c) vs. John Cena vs. Seth Rollins – WWE World Heavyweight Championship
Result: Brock Lesnar wins via pinfall.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Rob’s Take
This was an awesome match all throughout. It really couldn’t have been more perfectly booked and executed by the three stars involved.
It felt kind of strange, but refreshing to see the WWE World Heavyweight Championship defended for the first time since Night of Champions. That show was over four months ago, when Brock Lesnar was via DQ.
Seeing Lesnar was somewhat of a surprise, in my opinion. I thought that Seth Rollins’ briefcase would come into play, but it was only used for attacking.
My one complaint is that the ending was a little predictable. Having Lesnar nearly “stretchered off” meant that he was going to come back with a vengeance and win the match. That indeed did happen. It was the right call in the end, however.
Mike’s Take (Coming Soon)
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Royal Rumble Match
Result: Roman Reigns wins and will main event WrestleMania 31.
Rating: 2.8 out of 5 stars
Rob’s Take
This was a very up and down Royal Rumble match.
The beginning was great with Bubba Ray Dudley returning to WWE for the first time in a decade. He got a big pop after being in TNA for such a long time. The domination from Bray Wyatt early and throughout was great as well.
Where it started to get rocky was when Daniel Bryan was eliminated by Wyatt (11th overall elimination). This was the stunner of the match. The crowd chanted for Bryan for awhile and booed the stars in the ring for a little while. It would prove to be an attempted strategic move on WWE’s part for when Roman Reigns won the Royal Rumble later on.
I was disappointed to see Dolph Ziggler get such a short run in the match after coming out at #30. He was out within a blink of an eye! It felt like a statement from WWE that said “this guy is not a main event talent.”
When Reigns came out at 19, he was viciously booed by the “smart crowd.” The boos kept reigning down on him for awhile, as he was laying out other stars in the ring.
Eventually, the final four was Reigns, Big Show, Kane, and Dean Ambrose. Show and Kane would toss out Ambrose, followed by Reigns tossing at the two Authority henchmen. We all forgot that Rusev was still in the match, so he popped up from the below the ring, took a spear from Reigns, and was eliminated. It was extremely anti-climatic and poorly executed. They should have battled for a little while to at least create some suspense. Reigns disposed the Bulgarian Brute like a rag doll in short time.
I like Roman Reigns. I think he has the potential to be a stud in WWE; it’s just too early for him. He has made some improvements in his mic work and wrestling skills, but he’s not ready. The crowds clearly aren’t ready for him either. WWE clearly does not care though and are sticking with their guns of manufacturing Reigns into the next “guy” as soon as possible. Wrong move. Even having The Rock make an appearance couldn’t salvage this.
WWE has to expand on this main event for WrestleMania 31. It can’t just be Reigns and Lesnar because it will fail with the crowd. How do we even know that Reigns can wrestle a match longer than 10 minutes?
So many of WWE’s flaws were exposed in this one hour match. It’s a shame.
Mike’s Take (Coming Soon)
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Final Thoughts
Rob’s Take
The WWE World Heavyweight Championship match was an instant classic and the clear highlight of the night. However, the Royal Rumble match is going to leave a sour taste in the mouth of most fans.
Where WWE goes tonight on Monday Night Raw will be interesting. There’s a lot of questions to be asked and a lot of answers for us to receive. Stay tuned.
Mike’s Take (Coming Soon)
What were your thoughts on the Royal Rumble PPV?