I
come to you this week, my minions, with some sad news. Though nothing has been
finalised it appears our association with Freemantle Media and Fetch.FM has come
to an end after several years. Like I say, nothing is certified yet but after
disagreements on both sides it appears that Review Corner will only be
appearing as special one off blogs from now on. It all came about when I once
again failed to receive Review Discs for ‘Live in the UK: November 2014’, ‘The Best
of Raw and Smackdown 2014’ and ‘Survivor Series 2014’ and contacted one small
minded employee at said company who was nasty and verbally abusive, basically
stating that she didn’t appreciate being contacted over such matters even
though every email I ever received ended with the phrase ‘please do not
hesitate to contact me if the review discs do not arrive’. And these are the
people we’re trusting to handle our WWE media output.
Taking
into account this argument with the small minded individual who plainly doesn’t
know how to do her job, Review Corner is indefinitely suspended until I know
for sure what is happening. Should Review Corner disappear from this blog,
barring one or two special returns for the previously mentioned and much
anticipated wrestling tome which will be released later this year, then I will
of course look into replacing it with something else. Hell, maybe I’ll contact
Clearvision and enquire about reviewing their TNA DVD’s. I’m sure they’re much
nicer and easier to work with than some. Should I decide against this then I
will of course replace said column with another regular addition. Watch this
space.
However,
if your Wrestling God does have his ties cut with these people, then it’s safe
to say I will no longer be purchasing WWE related product brand new and giving
them my money, after the way I have been treated after years of loyal service.
If they cut me adrift, then they do not deserve my money or yours. Instead, I
will buy the releases second hand from Ebay, thus not giving them a penny.
However, now there’s the small issue of this week’s blog and I’m happy to say
that one person has come forward with a question and I hope the rest of you
will follow. Details of how and where to send your wrestling related questions
can be found at the end of this column.
Q: The 2015 Royal Rumble was such a
flop. In your opinion why was that? WWE had all the tools succeed.
@10antfuturedw
A:
The answer is both quite simple and intricate in its explanation. The main
reason the 2015 Royal Rumble failed as an overall event is simply because WWE
planned it around one person and that was Roman Reigns. Roman Reigns’ 2014
injury put his main event push back months and had it not happened then it’s
feasible that he may have been WWE World Heavyweight Champion by now. If not,
then he’d at least have been in a stronger position to triumph than he was on
the night. It’s correct that WWE had all the tools necessary to put on what
should have been the most memorable Royal Rumble event in years, but they
failed to use them because Roman Reigns was the centre of their attention. WWE
were so adamant that Reigns must be pushed into a strong position to challenge
Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 31, everyone and everything else including common
sense went completely out of the window.
WWE
once again underestimated the power of its audience. They believed that Roman
Reigns was a fan favourite heading into the event, that we’d treat him as such
when the bout got underway. What the company forgot to calculate for was the
love we hold for superstars more popular than Reigns and who we believe
deserves the push awaiting the winner, more than the former Shield member.
Three of those in question were Bray Wyatt, Daniel Bryan and Dolph Ziggler who
had the perfect story heading into the event but was treated like an absolute
jobber on the night. WWE believed that we would forget about these young stars
and agree with them that Roman Reigns was the winner elect. They were wrong.
The
booking was also a major problem. The way WWE booked the entire event was
shabby in its entirety. From the outset, there seemed nothing special about the
Royal Rumble this year and booking three consecutive tag team bouts, four if
you include the kickoff show, drained the audience before the Royal Rumble
Match even got underway. The New Age Outlaws vs The Ascension was pitiful
considering Billy Gunn and Road Dogg knew how to get Konnor and Viktor over but
never bothered. The opener was rushed and not in the least bit interesting. In
fact it was so predictable that many weren’t even in their seats when the match
ended because they had no interest in seeing the bout.
The
Usos vs The Miz and Damien Mizdow was better but not excellent. Considering it
was for the WWE Tag Team Championships, both teams should have strived to tear
the house down. Damien Sandow’s reaction was momentous, it appears his stuntman
gimmick is working and maybe it could help him get a push in the future. WWE
certainly didn’t expect us to take this attitude with Sandow who will surely do
battle with The Miz at WrestleMania when their team breaks down at Fast Lane.
Following that, Paige and Natalya vs The Bella Twins was utterly repugnant.
None of the four were able to do anything with the time given to them and Paige
hardly got into the bout. For once, they were given too long and did nothing
with it as most predicted.
Three
tag team bouts were too many, but thankfully the saviour of the show was the
triple threat match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Seth Rollins
was the standout star of the show and his performance sowed he was capable of
more than hiding behind someone else. But there was a problem with this
terrific bout. And that was its quality. So good was it, fans were drained by
the time the Royal Rumble bout came along and had little left to give. Maybe
the Royal Rumble match should have gone on before and the triple threat last.
But it was the Royal Rumble Match which proved to be the greatest drain on the
event, because nothing of note happened. I will even go as far as saying that
the audience helped ruin the match for the wrestlers and fans watching on
pay-per view.
Bray
Wyatt was dominant for a while and then faded away. Daniel Bryan’s
participation was too short and Dolph Ziggler had no time to do anything but
get knocked out after a flurry and dumped over the top rope. Fans mercilessly
jeered Roman Reigns from the outset because there were others we preferred to
take the spot. But when Daniel Bryan, Dolph Ziggler and Bray Wyatt were
eliminated too easily it didn’t do Reigns any favours. He never stood a chance.
Big Show and Kane didn’t deserve to be in the final four and fans would have
much preferred to see Roman Reigns, Dolph Ziggler, Daniel Bryan, Rusev and Bray
Wyatt in the finale. Roman Reigns may have stood a better chance with the live
audience had he attempted to thwart an Authority attack on Ziggler and Bryan
before winning the bout. When you combine that with a dull hour of action and
too many legends when the Boogeyman certainly wasn’t needed and the spot could
have gone to a younger star, WWE were destined to fail. It says something that
The Rock’s appearance was one of the most cheered of the night.
And
there we have it. Our first Q&A column completed, but I hope it won’t be
the last. I await your questions on Twitter at @TWGISHERE where you can message
them to me direct or you can use the hashtag #Q&AWGISHERE to put your
questions. All questions sent to me before February 20th will appear in
February’s Q&A column. Any I receive after will appear in March and so on.
Get writing minions.
Onwards
and upwards
