***WWE Royal Rumble 2023 8 p.m. ET***
Join Date: Jun 2009
Posts: 10,487
If nothing else, not being able to go to Saudi Arabia may be the biggest obstacle to Sami carrying the company after Roman.
Join Date: Aug 2003
Posts: 95,986
Yeah, I grant that. Sami obviously shares a lot with Daniel Bryan in terms of not having the look the company wants in a world champion, so I assume if he ever captures the belt it will just be a transitional thing. But the moment of winning it all is still worth doing.
Join Date: Nov 2008
Posts: 6,329
Wow loved that final segment, the heat for Roman and crew seemed real!
Join Date: May 2012
Posts: 53,704
You kinda pigeon hole yourself when you make every title match be for both belts. Way easier to let rhodes go over however you want if it’s just for the universal title and you designate a PPV like summerslam to be the unification ppv if the champs are separate
Join Date: Oct 2009
Posts: 723
The somewhat boring but plausible route is to have Roman defend one of the belts in the EC match, Sami/KO interfere and cost him the title to Seth, Cody challenges Seth for part 3 in their feud and Sami/Roman goes on for the other title at Mania.
The Rock situation seems to be mostly resolved by him not being at the Rumble so I doubt he'd actually be wrestling but you could always have him in Sami's corner or as the special ref/enforcer/whatever at Mania.
Join Date: Jul 2013
Posts: 4,679
Convinced two non-wrestling mates to stay up and watch this, what a boring rumble. Very disappointed.
Join Date: Jun 2009
Posts: 10,487
In general, yeah, but the last 15 minutes...that's what I've always watched wrestling for.
I've been trying to watch AEW more of late, but it's all full of oohs and aahs for the moves, but very little else.
I'll always take the emotional investment and pay off of an angle like they pulled off with Sami & the Bloodline far ahead of fancy moves every single time.
Hope they keep Sami & KO off TV a week or two to sell injuries.
Join Date: May 2012
Posts: 14,200
Yah, the last big storyline angle AEW had was the Hangman Page payoff, and that's been awhile already. People think Tony Khan is some kind of long-term booking genius, but I think he basically had the first couple years of AEW mapped out, and is now just winging it (with meh results).
Join Date: May 2010
Posts: 58,718
Meltzer ratings. Last three matches seem accurate.
Men's Rumble was a 3 at best and not sure Wyatt/Knight shouldn't have been a straight up dud.
Men’s Rumble: 4.25
Bray Wyatt vs. LA Knight: 0.75
Bianca Belair vs. Alexa Bliss: 1.5
Women's Rumble: 3.5
Roman Reigns vs. Kevin Owens: 3.5
Join Date: Aug 2003
Posts: 95,986
Men’s Rumble rating is absurd. Anything above 2.5 for that would be. I actually wouldn’t figure Meltzer to be unable to properly rate RR matches since it’s not the usual sort-by-flippy-**** thing he does in other matches.
Join Date: Jun 2009
Posts: 10,487
I've never understood why his opinions carry such reverence.
Join Date: Aug 2003
Posts: 95,986
I can't defend the fact that they do, but unfortunately it doesn't seem to only be fans who pay attention; it seems like some wrestlers actually care about getting high ratings like that. And since big Dave plainly believes in a psychology-optional model of wrestling, here we are.
Join Date: Jul 2013
Posts: 4,679
How can the RR be anything more than ok/10? Handful of people booked well, fairly boring entrants, nothing stupidly bad.
Watching the cultaholic podcast, had completely forgot about the live music. Is Hardy actually famous? Even googling him I'm finding it hard to find him bar WWE being unhappy with his performance.
Last edited by MMSS; 02-03-2023 at 07:38 PM.
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 12,210
What's the deal with Sarah Logan these days? I was half expecting/hoping she'd be in the rumble - is she just going to walk around with antlers on her head and not do any actual wrestling?
