Interesting. I was going more with the theory of him and Braun getting together before the match and agreeing to just go at it and take the gloves off a bit, similar to what he did with Cena when he first came back.

If you are correct on the motivation then I agree with you but that wasn't my guess.

Yeah just rewatching now and at 2:43:00 on the network, Braun hits Brock with a very stiff knee when combating the F-5 and Brock lays 2 fists into Strowman after no selling the stiff knee. If they were working in tandem, Brock would sell the knee at least a little bit (stay bending over at least but he darts up and punches him). Maybe I just got worked . idc. I both.

My problem with this PPV was almost solely the match placement decision.

WWE clearly cared more about stroking its on dick by claiming they had a Womens RR as their main event than they did about putting out the best possible product.

The crowd was white hot for the men's match and it fell of a cliff from there. The Lesnar pinfall got literally 0 reaction. The womens rumble match was basically dead the entire time short of a few spots.

Had they saved the men's match for last, I think both matches would have gone over way better with the crowd, and that probably would have changed my opinion significantly.

Add to that the over the top (albeit expected) patting themselves on the back/Stephanie McMahon ridiculous commentary, and it really left a bad taste in my mouth.

LOL seriously?

None of the three were good at all as wrestlers. And I said "one of the worst", not "the worst".

I was never been as bored and annoyed with Sable as I am when Brie comes out.

K2 was absolutely awful, probably a similar level, but if you were to take K2's best 3 matches near the very end of her career and compare them to Brie's best 3 matches I'd say K2's would win. This is seriousy a tallest midget comparison though regardless.

Yeah I'm including Nikki and Brie as old-timers (and was including Natalya too but obviously I'm LOL wrong on that one).

But if we are talking impact, eliminations are a better objective measure:

Eliminations by active members (including Natalya of course): 21

Eliminations by old-timers (including Nikki Bella): 18

That's almost half of the eliminations. That's ridiculous. Keep in mind the number is >30 because of people eliminated by multiple people, but even looking at those in isolation the numbers are around 50/50 so it doesn't effect anything.

And again, this wouldn't have been a worry at all if they had just booked at least one believable active competitor in to the final stanza of the rumble

I get why they did it but I would’ve much preferred to see the younger stars do some work and put on a quality wrestling match. I think that would’ve gotten the match over way more than 47 year olds eliminating everyone or the “comedy” Vicky G skit. The new crop of girls are just so much better in the ring nowadays. Mccool did a fine job though.

They could’ve had Mcool, trish, lita and maybe one other legend and it would’ve been fine imo. they already have enough semi legends like the Bellas to fill spots. I also would’ve preferred them cut it to 20 entrants and not have the core of their roster roll around the mat outside of the ring so a bunch of randos could get their spots in

One year ago today I tell you that Shinsuke Nakamura and Asuka will win the Royal Rumble(s). Can you imagine thinking this forum would still be bitching?

Like even have a final four of Asuka Nikki Sasha Nia and I'm fine with it.

banks and Becky were particularly disappointing btw imo. If anything thus match highlighted just how important Charlotte and bliss are to the roster.

I though that deville girl looked good, know zero about her but she at least looked to be moving full speed and brought some intensity

Yeah I noticed that... Hard to know, maybe it will come out post-match

The dumb thing is what does he do if that shot actually knocks out or concusses Stroman. That makes me think he didn't just legit go at him

Nak is treated so much better in the WWE than he ever was in NJPW. Strange world we live in.

The last 5 minutes of the single all bit confirmed my suspicion that Reigns would be about 1000x times better in NJPW than he has been in the WWE

To be fair that's probably Sasha's worst performance at WWE level. Watching the kicking replay I feel like she felt that she had the whole match on her shoulders and it was too much pressure.... normally that spot is reserved for a Jericho type who has been in a bunch of rumbles.

Yeah I thought she was probably equal 3rd best along with Kairi. She went as Daria on Tough Enough

Oh even with my criticism of Sasha her opening with Becky was good and her bit with Asuka was great. It was just that she didn't seem to know what to do the half hour in between those spots

Man, I disagree a ton. Becky and Sasha carried the match, they were in the ring forever and selling/bumping for everyone believably, including legends who hadn't been in the ring in years. Sasha going heel at the end was also great. They were kind of the glue that kept this match from becoming too boring/botchy like it easily could have.

Sasha's kicking thing was pretty embarrassing, but she was going easy on Lita and probably figured she wasn't on camera or something.

I also kind of like Deville and hope the Rousey signing doesn't diminish her too much since she has a sort of MMA/fighting gimmick.

When has the rumble ever been a quality wrestling match? It's always been about the spectacle.

I hope ronda wears something semi revealing when she wrestles. Is that too much to ask?

Lol triple h

Loved both Rumbles. I thought they were both awesome. Loved Ronda coming out. I'm huge fan (unless she's fighting Holly Holm). And Asuke is a beast

didnt watch much of this live so stayed away for spoiler purposes but enjoyed both rumble matches. was pleasantly surprised that shinsuke won.

thought there was a chance asuka wouldnt win because of a double japanese thing but the writing was on the wall with like 4 ppl left or whatever imo. thought the womens match was about as good as could be expected (especially with so many 'legends' there werent too many botches or w.e).. booking was a bit of a let down after the mens which i thought was a really consistent watch.. best in a while

thought the AJ match was pretty good and am looking fwd to him vs nakamura.

thought the brock match was kind of weak but ive been sick of kane for like a decade so that never helps.. anyone else catch him stiff the **** out of braun? feel like this isnt the first time either.

found a clip:

i mean jesus.. brock gets away with a lot

oh also really enjoyed heath slater tonight lol... great stuff

I thought it was one of their best PPVs in a long time. My only major cons are I dgaf about Rousey at all and Steph's commentary was awful.

Lesnar is such a dick for those shots. I get that Braun was reckless but it was the start of the match and Lesnar could have legit concussed him with straight bombs to the face.

That HHH tweet is awesome.

First time seeing Asuka. Wow. She really highlights how god awful everyone else is.

Although everything Stephanie in this event was nauseating and self-satisfied, I think the match placement was much more about the Rousey thing and the fact that it will get a bunch of mainstream coverage. Nothing gets Vince turned on like seeing his own product splashed across the front of ESPN.com as the cover story (which it is right now).

Thought the PPV was good. The ronda stuff was just a bit weird. She looked like an adult make a wish or something just coming out and pointing to the wrestlemania sign

I felt like Sasha’s selling was virtually nonexistent and both she and Becky literally weren’t in the ring for huge stretches of time. I don’t know if it was booked that way or not but nevertheless i thought it was disappointing and not a memorable performance for either of them.

If you’re gonna lean on a spectacle to carry the match you better nail it. Crowd was dead for the entire thing except for the last 5-10 mins or so.

I would’ve preferred to see them scale back on the theatrics and let the core of the roster put on a great match. Instead the core of their roster was too busy laying outside of the ring for 5 mins to catch Vicky G or whatever