Joe Haines -- January 26th, 2014
As we all know, last night the 27th annual Royal
Rumble took place in Pittsburg, PA.
Also, as everyone that ordered the PPV or read comments on twitter know,
people lost their fucking minds in result to the questionable booking that took
place at the start of the Road to Wrestlemania.
Apart from a tremendous match of the year candidate between Daniel Bryan
and Bray Wyatt, there was a lot to be disappointed in with the nights program,
and the live crowd in attendance made it known that the WWE Universe is upset
with what was presented.
The WWE
World Heavyweight Championship match between John Cena and champion Randy Orton
was not an extremely terrible match by any means, but it did not live up to the
“greatest rematch in WWE history” hype that that it was billed to be. The live Pittsburg crowd let it be known that
what they were seeing is not what we as a collective fan base want to see
anymore. There were chants of “this is
awful” and “we want Divas” ringing throughout the area during the duration of
the match. I want to make things
absolutely clear – I do not condone chanting “this is awful” at any point
during a match because these guys work night in and night out all year to
entertain us all while risking their bodies in order to do so. But, I will agree with that crowd because it
was absolutely pitiful and boring. The
only thing that really saved this match was a John Cena beat down at the hands
of the upstart Wyatt family. This, hopefully,
signifies that this is the end of the long overplayed John Cena vs. Randy Orton
feud which seems to have happened thousands of times before.
Regardless
of how bad the title bout was, the main source of resentment for last night’s
pay-per-view was what happened, or more importantly, didn’t happen during the
battle royal main event. The Royal
Rumble was panning out just as good as it could have gone with the inclusion of
NXT upstarts and WWE legends like Kevin Nash and JBL, but the most isolated case
of mutiny came at the number 30 spot in the Rumble. Myself, the Pittsburg crowd, and every other
WWE fan were anticipating the inclusion of Daniel Bryan in the Royal
Rumble. But when the music hit, and the
number 30 participant appeared, we were greeted by Rey Mysterio followed by the
most overwhelming cascade of boos that hasn’t been heard in a long, long
time.
The
source of frustration from the fans in attendance wasn’t that Rey Mysterio was
included, but its source derives from the fact that the heads of the WWE
creative team continues to ignore the fact that Daniel Bryan is the most
important superstar on the roster. They
continue to ignore the fact that throughout the night, even after his match,
chants of “Daniel Bryan” were heard from this live crowd, and not having your
biggest superstar in the ring for the biggest battle royal of the year is
inexcusable. The WWE had every
opportunity to make this happen. We had
the “privledge” of see Kevin Nash in the rumble, but we’ve seen this before,
and no one really cares about him anymore.
We had the “honor” of seeing JBL’s first ever royal rumble entry…but it
lasted all of three seconds. We were
“entertained” by the sight of a dwarf dressed in a bull costume flipping and
spinning around the ring. But we could
have definitely done without any of these inclusions if just one spot in this
match was reserved for the company’s biggest star.
When
the match was reaching its conclusion, we were starting at two individuals that
solidified what the WWE universe loves, and what the WWE Universe hates. Roman Reigns, the exceptional young talent
and cousin of The Rock was standing face to face with Batista, a man who was
absent from WWE television for four years while he pursued a movie career. Even with Reigns’ character persona being a
heel, the crowd was 100 percent behind the youngin’ and absolutely resented the
sight of Batista in the final two. But,
when it was all said in done, Batista threw the man who set a new Royal Rumble
record for eliminations over the top rope and an anger bubbled over from this
crowd in the likes of which I have never seen.
There are a few ideas to take away from this situation:
1.) The WWE creative team showed us last night that they
have the biggest set of balls on the face of the planet. In order to ignore the fact that every crowd
that you have been in front of recently has been going absolutely nuts for a
certain individual on your roster and you decide to not include him in one of
the biggest matches of the year shows that you will do what you want and not
care what anyone has to say about it.
2.) The fans are beginning to hate the idea of bringing back
part timers and forcing them directly into the main event spot. Fans didn’t like when the Rock came back and
stripped the belt away from CM Punk, and fans definitely don’t like the fact
that Batista came back to headline Wrestlemania and take a spot from a fan
favorite that deserves it over anyone else.
I hate this idea as well. When
the WWE asks these individuals to make a comeback in the company, the Rocks and
Batistas of the world hold so much contractual power that if their stipulations
are not met, they would have never returned in the first place.
The Royal Rumble should be a match
where WWE builds up underutilized talent and give the younger guys on the
roster a chance to make a major impact in the company, and the fact that the
WWE wasted this opportunity on a superstar that certainly looks like he lost a
lot of his luster over the past four years is ludicrous. It wasn’t like anyone was really clamoring
for a Batista return, were they? It also
doesn’t help that they debuted him on the RAW before the Royal Rumble. If he was a surprise entrant, and won that
way, there would have been a larger reaction and a more positive one at
that. When you ignore the current stars
on your roster and put everything in the corner of a part timer, that just
shows that you could care less about the men that are busting their asses night
in and night out. It’s just bad for business.
3.) Most importantly though, it seems that the WWE Universe
is fully behind these young guys and seem to want change in the worst way. I speak for many fans when I say that we are
sick of the same feuds and confrontations that we have seen for well over five
years. The energy that was behind Reigns
last night was incredible. People love
and want to see him. People want to see
Daniel Bryan. People want to see Dolph
Ziggler. People want to see Damien
Sandow. People want to see Bray
Wyatt. People want to see the
Shield. People want to see the stars
that you have in your roster. That
should be the biggest eye opener for the WWE and they should embrace the fact
that they have money makers in that locker room and they need to utilize them.
While
WWE is preparing for RAW tonight, and presumably have been working furiously
throughout the night to fix whatever they fucked up last night, expect to see
some major changes leading up to Wrestlemania.
What the crowd did last night should be embraced by all other live
fans. If you hate what is going on in
front of you, realize that your voice is a vote and you need to let that vote
be heard. And if filling the area with
chants of wrestlers that you want to see is the way to do it, then by god
everyone should do it. But, if the WWE
refuses to fix what happened last night, and leave the product be, then we have
a major problem on our hands as we will virtually see Vince McMahon and
Triple-H slap each and every WWE fan in the face as they continue to do whatever
the hell they want to do. I hope change
is coming, and I hope it’s coming soon.
Joe Haines
The Common Man Wrestling Fan
@LJ_YOHAUNCE
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