I was expecting orton to just throw edge over instead of the rko. Ending was only slightly better than that. But still ****ing horrible. Shame the switch to 1 made us all suspect

No.

He didn't eliminate anyone except for the last two people.

Well. Yeah...

So Orton is going to take the belt from Drew before WM isn't he?

I think edge chooses to wrestle Orton instead of a champion

I dunno, that all felt pretty bad to me. That Orton stuff was bottom of the barrel awful.

Why would he need to win a Rumble to do this?

Thinking Edge/Roman for Mania and Orton/Fiend.

Orton heeled remarkably quickly from both his burns and that leg injury.

I foresee Edge/Roman in a spear-off

Bro it’s wwe. They don’t use logic

I foresee me not giving a ****.

Kind of surprised at the negativity. Thought the Rumble told a good story with Edge having to last the whole way, dealing with Orton, getting assistance from Christian, etc. and then they set up Edge vs. heel Roman which seems like a very strong feud for Mania. I suspect Keith Lee being exposed to COVID changed some plans. Grateful there wasn't any Fiend ****.

Also liked Bianca winning and showcasing her and Rhea at the end. Rhea is going to be huge on the main roster after some baffling booking in NXT.

I'm interested in seeing how Paul Heyman spins that cuffs thing in a promo. I'm sure he'll come up with something.

IDK, I watch these shows now without reading much internet chatter/criticism and generally like them.

I agree that the women's Rumble was pretty good, independent of me binking on the betting pool.

I just couldn't possibly disagree more strongly that the Orton-Edge stuff was anything close to a good story. Incredibly hacky stuff there.

I was low-key shocked that Adam Pearce didn't screw Owens

Orton starting in the match and coming back was definitely the worst part. I won't defend that (I guess they just wanted the swerve at the end, but meh). But I don't mind Edge going the distance and pulling it off here, and that broader story was told well imo.

just laughing the last two guys were a guy who won in 2009 vs a guy who won in 2010.

christ, you could *try* to make someone new a star or something

The thing is that Edge's story was so obviously inextricably tied to Orton that it felt like there was almost no chance that Edge was going away until Orton inevitably came back, so I couldn't see getting invested in just about anything Edge was doing. He was just sort of this invincible figure in the match that you could ignore and instead pay attention to others.

I did enjoy Christian's return, so I guess that's the one thing involving Edge that I was into.

https://twitter.com/davemeltzerwon/s...730661890?s=21

Average age of male entrants was over 38, and only 2 under 30.

lol.

Okay, I see what you mean now. I'm probably just more invested in Edge I guess -- I think the story of the guy who had to retire early and now is back with unfinished business is good, he looks the part, can still wrestle, and is a compelling promo. And I liked how the match mirrored his journey back to the ring (the long, arduous quest, getting help from Christian and such).

It was also just not a great year to try to make a new star imo given no crowds (so no massive pop like Drew last year that can build on itself) and Keith Lee being out.

Ah, #1 won. Got to have been -350 that Maggle or whoever was on comms made some sort of comment that would justify Maffew reusing the Benoit/Simple Minds clip in the next Botchamania, right?

Only 14 were under 40.

I'm so bored with the fact that there are no countouts or DQs in a Royal Rumble. It creates so much lazy booking. Why didn't all of Retribution storm the ring as soon as Ali entered so they could assist him? Why didn't all of Hurt Business storm the ring as soon as Lashley entered? It's perfectly legal! Why would anyone voluntarily enter the ring at any point?

Something I've never understood about Goldberg's entrance. Why does this big, strong, scary guy need a team of 6 security guys to escort him to the ring?

I havent watched in a loooooong time, but I really like Mcintyre's kilt and sword gimmick

Yeah, I'm amazed there hasn't ever been a rule added about this. All the entrants should just sit outside the ring. Or even better, just leave the arena altogether.

On a related note, as a kid I used to always wonder why a champion, say Rick Rude or Honky Tonk Man, wouldn't just constantly get themselves counted out or DQ'd and stay champion forever.

In kayfabe, there used to be talk about "the winner's purse," which was the kayfabe reason a champ wouldn't do that, but WWF didn't bring it up much and certainly doesn't now. So it remains a good strategy that has yet to be utilized.