WWE The Greatest Royal Rumble: Review, Grades, and Analysis

Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar (c) – WWE Universal Championship

Roman Reigns came out to a series of boos, with slightly more cheers than usual. This was a very lukewarm reaction. Brock came out to a massive pop. There is no question that Brock is the one that crowd wants here. They popped huge for Heyman’s introduction. Brock and Reigns exchanged a series of hard strikes. Brock suplexed Roman 4 times, and Roman hit several spears. Neither man was able to escape the cage.

Paul Heyman slammed the door on Roman’s face and slipped a chair into the ring. Roman stole it and beat on Brock. Roman the speared Brock though the cage and Brock hit the floor first, so Brock won. Finish was a bit botched, as technically Roman’s feet hit the floor first while Brock’s legs were slightly elevated.

Result: Brock Lesnar

Rating: 2.75 stars out of 5

This show was violent and hard hitting, and I was somewhat amused by the crowd cheering Brock and largely cheering Roman.

The Greatest Royal Rumble – 50 Man Royal Rumble

Dainel Bryan entered at #1 and Dolph Ziggler entered at #2. Sin Cara was in at #3 and the crowd went mild. #4 was Curtis Axel and the crowd goes dead. #5 Mark Henry came in and got a big pop. Sin Cara and Axel were both out at this point. #6 was Mike Kanellis and his awesome theme, and Mike is immediately eliminated. Well then. #7 was Hiroki Sumi. Who? Crowd went even deader. Mark Henry eliminated Sumi. Bryan and Ziggler eliminated Henry. #8 was Victor from the Ascension and the geek parade continues. Victor was eliminated and we’re back down to Ziggler and Bryan. #9 was Kofi Kingston, and you know he’ll have a wacky save. Kofi got a pop. #10 was Tony Nese, and it’s noticeable that Kofi, Dolph, and Bryan are all around the same size as the cruiserweight.

#11 was Dash Wilder. SAY YEAH. YEAH. YEAH. YEAH. The ring is starting to fill up a little bit. #12 was Hornswoggle and he got a bigger pop than Roman. #13 was Primo. Hornswoggle was eliminated, but I think it was without being over the top rope. #14 was Xavier Woods. Tony Nese was eliminated by The New Day. #15 was Bo Dallas. #16 was Kurt Angle, and we get a massive pop! Kurt eliminated Bo and Dolph. #17 was Scott Dawson. SAY YEAH. YEAH. YEAH. YEAH. I think Dash has already been eliminated, but I didn’t see it. #18 was Goldust, who got a great reaction. #19 was Connor of the Ascension. #20 was Elias. I like Elias. The crowd went undead. Elias eliminated Kofi and Xavier, along with Connor. Michael Cole started screaming about how great Elias is, and I wanted to scream to drown him out.

#21 was Luke Gallows. Daniel Bryan did his yes kicks on Angle, but Angle blocked the last one. Elias threw out Angle. #22 was Rhino. #23 was Drew Gulak. #24 Tucker Knight from NXT entered. #25 was Bobby Roode! Bobby eliminated Goldust. Dawson was eliminated by Roode too. #26 was Fandango. #27 was Chad Gable. Rey Mysterio Jr has showed up at #28! Rey did a moonsault off Fandango onto Chad Gable and then Rey hit a DDT. #29 was Mojo Rawley. #30 was Tyler Breeze. #31 was Big E. #32 was Karl Anderson. #33 was Apollo Crews. #34 was Roderick Strong! I popped, but no one in the crowd did. #35 was Randy Orton and he got a massive pop. #36 was Heath Slater. #37 was Babatunde from NXT. #38 was Baron Corbin. Corbin eliminated Roode and Strong.

#40 was Titus O’Neil and he literally slipped and fell under the ring. I laughed so hard I couldn’t breathe and actually had to go back and figure out the next three entries because of how hard I was laughing. #41 was Braun Strowman, who ran wild. #42 was Tye Dillinger. Elias dumped out Orton and in the chaos a huge amount of people were eliminated. #43 Curt Hawkins was in next and killed by Braun. #44 was Bobby Lashley, and he got the pyro treatment. #45 was The Great Khali. #46 was Kevin Owens. #47 was Shane McMahon. Okay. Bryan and Shane beat on Owens a bit. #48 was Shelton Benjamin. #49 was Big Cass. #50 was Chris Jericho who got a massive pop. Braun killed Shane McMahon by throwing him from the top rope and through the announce table. Cass then eliminated Daniel Bryan. The crowd just started crapping on the Rumble. They died and had little to no reaction. Braun eliminated Big Cass and won the Royal Rumble.

Result: Braun Strowman

Rating: 1.5 stars out of 5

This match was way too long and filled with way too many midcarders. It demonstrated how little all these guys are over. The best reaction was definitely for Daniel Bryan, and Braun Strowman, so it should have been one of those two to win, however, they way they did it killed the crowd.

Final Thoughts

Show Rating: 1/5

I can’t give this show a good rating. It left a very sour taste in my mouth for a variety of reasons. The first being the ethics of having it in the first place. The issues surrounding that were so clear and obvious from the get go, and having John Cena cut a promo praising Saudi Arabia for being progressive was so off base and forced. The announcers doing the same throughout the show told us all we needed to know about it, and that Vince was doing this for the money, and not interested in giving the Saudi’s an actual quality show. The other problem was with the Iranian angle, which reeked of cultural insensitivity at best. The history between Iran and Saudi Arabia is a bloody one, and not something to be reduced to an angle for heat.

Next: WWE NXT - March 25: Review, Grades, & Analysis

Outside of that, the matches themselves were house show quality for the most part. What promised to be The Greatest Royal Rumble ended up being a mediocre one at best, and awful at its worst. Non-finishes in title matches with two screwjobs in a row did nothing to bring the crowd into it. The whole thing just felt bad. This most definitely was not The Greatest Royal Rumble. Instead it was an ethical disaster, and a really expensive house show with pyro.

In the end, this show was WWE becoming a propaganda tool to tell the world that Saudi Arabia is no longer oppressive, yet women only obtained the right to vote in 2015, and were only allowed to drive in 2017. So much for being The Greatest Royal Rumble. If anything, it ranks quite low in the Royal Rumble rankings, and is a show I’d rather forget.