They're not a budding new team though. That would be a team like Richochet and Braun. These dudes on the other hand have been established as close in storyline for years, established as having teamed together many times, established as having fought just as many, etc.
2008 was the last time I ever paid for a wwe ppv when Cena came back at 30 and won thats when the magic of the rumble died for me and now here we are 15 years later and they make the same mistake. Should of had roads drop to walter to give the intercontinental title some prestige then have roads win in at chamber to set up reigns roads. Seems they are taking the easy road.
Yeah, it felt like a pretty cowardly way to book the winner. Come in at #30 and pick the bones of people who have been fighting the whole time. No different than the time Brock just entered himself into a MITB match in the closing moments and won it. Itās a heel move, not something to establish a face.
Agreed. It wasn't a surprise he'd be there so leaving him for last was probably due to recovery concerns. It's just a shame it showed. Flat, almost dull spots once he was in the ring. I get it that not every rumble has to be won by someone who "earns" it during the rumble but much more excited for other potential matches to come out of the event (Rollins vs Paul).
It could have worked if they did a 2008 Cena and kept his return as a surprise. Announcing the return AND giving him the 30 spot just kinda made the win feel flat and undeserved.
not against cody winning it because iām looking forward to reigns vs cody at mania, but i swear recently all the rumble winners have been very predictable. i remember when it like never used to go the favourites. like the year people wanted roman to win, batista won it. the year roman won it, someone else was the favourite canāt remember exactly (daniel bryan maybe?). and then you had like triple h winning it who no one really expected.
I think part of the problem is Roman with both belts and wrestlemania. The winners have to have a program with him culminating in wrestlemania. Roman can only really potentially lose on a handful of shows a year, so they need someone who could potentially upset Roman, and as itās mania they donāt want someone who has tried and failed conclusively.
To be fair the winner is usually predicable it just depends on who the fans want to win. Only time weāre āshockedā is when the fan favorite doesnāt win. Batista was always going to win we just didnāt want him to but we wanted Bryan so we were shocked when they didnāt give us what we wanted.
Gunther was incredible. Also this Royal Rumble felt a lot better than last years. I remember thinking "who?" when tons of generic random themes played. It actually felt like a bunch of people who deserved to be there and some good nostalgia hits like Booker. I agree with the commenter who said Cody should have came out earlier and had Logan be #30 for the heat. Entertaining match though and again, big props to Gunther for holding that down.
My only wish is that we got an NXT guy. We got Roxanne and Zoey for the women but seeing someone like Hayes or McDonagh get showcased for a bit would be cool.
I feel like they could have had Ziggler instead of Miz, or maybe instead of the ghost of Rey (maybe ex con-Dom attack him on the way to the ring and takes his spot) so that he can break Kane's record.
Is anyone else getting tired of 1 and 2 always lasting 30+ minutes? It's just extremely predictable they're going to be in there for the long haul. It was a nice change of pace in '92 when Bulldog eliminated DiBase maybe 45 seconds in and just waited for Flair.
I'm tired of the finish being predictable in general, everyone said Cody was winning the rumble last year. It was even more obvious he was gonna come in at number 30 and take it. I just don't get how I don't support Gunther at the end, they've been in the match since #1 and #30 is gonna come in and steal it.
Did Rey Mysterio win the royal rumble? He was pick number 17 he never showed up and never got eliminated. Cody Rhodes went over the top when he exited the ring. So doesnāt that make Rey Mysterio the winner ? Maybe Iām just reaching lol .
if this isn't intended to showcase the future of WWE after Roman leaves then IDK what is. Cody Rhodes v GUNTHER is such a perfect rivalry to succesfully capture the mainstream audience they've been working to draw in by working with Logan Paul for example.
I liked that none of the teams (New Day, Banger Bros, Judgement Day, even Braun/Ric) turned on each other. Not only does it make sense to work together until the end, I'm just tired of the "it's every man for himself" betrayal spot.
It was really dumb in 89 when Ax and Smash from Demolition were numbers 1 and 2 and they fought until number 3 came in. Dudes just wait thereās 28 other guys to go through.
As much as I like Sami, he doesn't seem strong enough as a contender to end the strength of Roman's reign like The Rock or Cody would. Everyone loves an underdog, but Cody is the guy.
I haven't watched wrestling in years but I Def watch a royal rumble every now and then and chose to watch this year. When they showed the lineup of the men and woman in the rumbles on the wwe network they had cody rhodes and rhea Ripley off center to the right of a superstar posing in the middle of everyone else. The very next time they showed the picture of the entrants cody and rhea were direct center of the roster photo. My friends and I had stated "How shitty and predictable would it be if cody won the men's and rhea won the woman's after moving their positions on the rumble line up to the direct middle of that pic?" Sure enough they both won and neither Austin or the Rock showed. We all agreed it was just a waste of money as we already knew from the beginning who would win based off of that. It wasn't good.
Cody being #30 was quite the ballsy move. I thought it would be a Danielson 2014 all over again since the crowd probably wanted Sami. Now Cody against Roman at Mania? I donĀ“t think I would have Cody win the match. IMHO, the guy that shoud beat Roman is the next face of the company. And thatĀ“s not Cody. But then if Roman wins, itĀ“s hard to re-build Cody after a big main event loss at Mania. ItĀ“s a tough situation. If Cody was 7 years younger and if wasnĀ“t one an ex AEW EVP, he would be a great choice. Great wrestler, excellent promo, charismatic, good look, can work heel or face. But heĀ“s 37 years old and knowing the way WWE operates, I donĀ“t think he Ā“s the guy that should beat Roman.
Yeah it's kind of boring with the obvious number 30 win, we all knew how it was gonna go even last year. Sami is who the people want to take down Roman, Cody would not be the right move.
Cody is younger than Roman. He is also younger than Brock Lesnar, Drew McIntyre, Bobby Lashley, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn... 37 isn't that old in wrestling. I am not a Cody Rhodes fan, but he's in no way too old to be pushed.
That would have been amazing, having him find a way to win would have been very interesting. Was pretty disappointed in the obvious number 30 Cody finish.
Gunther was my #1 pick to win, while Cody was my least favorite, the last 10 minutes were absolutely traumatizing for me, there was a moment where I thought Gunther might actually win š
One of the greatest Royal Rumble matches I have ever seen. I loved it. Incredible story telling throughout, the spots were structured so intelligently throughout. There was always something going on in the ring, great moments. The final two showdown was incredible, I have to say probably one of the greatest ever, a whole dream match between Gunther and Cody.
Corey explained it the first time by saying that Gunther did that to get a better grip on the ropes to stay in. We could say he tried that again, but failed.
I agree except for Gargano. Yes, he spent a good amount of time in the match, but he didn't do anything of note. Also, the pop (or lack thereof) when his music played was really sad to hear. His main roster booking so far has not worked at all.
I liked the fun of it overall but I just hated how predictable it was. I also hate having Cody come in at #30 vs Gunther at #1. I'm always gonna be supporting the person who has been in it from the start vs the person coming in at the end to win.
Do we think that was how bobby was supposed to go? I dunno, everything about his elimination just felt "off" and I was thinking he was supposed to do one of those hang by the ropes spots and just slipped.
The booking of this Rumble was actually pretty solid, but the lack of memorable surprises was kind of a let down. No one really felt unexpected. If they would've kept Cody secret it would've been a 9/10 for me.
I think even though they could have just had him coming back since his foot was on the arm of the chair, because it didn't go exactly as planned they just left it. Disappointing.
Adrenaline, in my soul I freaking hate Cody Rhodes! (The wrestler, not the private person which I donāt know) The spoiled brat got everything he always wanted. Spotlight on him, making him the super baby face. I usually do not watch the WWE product anymore, but the Rumble has always been my favorite extra event, so I watched it and enjoyed to the point Cody came out. Yes, I am a AEW fan from the first hour starting with All In. And this makes the whole thing so bitter for me, I never wish anyone something bad in my entire life but I cannot wish Cody anything good after selling out and using the company and especially us fans to go back to the sacred kingdom he fought against so hard for years. Downvote me to hell, but I will always show up every once in a while in a WWE thread to remember everyone that Cody is the impersonation of a sell out!
Yeah I don't get it either. I don't necessarily hate Cody but he made a HUGE deal of fighting against wwe in aew, then his reward for that is a rocket ship push? I don't get it. I thought the steel cage with Rollins was super corny and it feels like Cody is being shoved down our throats in a weird way.
I watch it every year, I knew the result going in even tho it was already obvious. Gunther put on the performance of a lifetime, to go the distance then pretty much have a singles match at the end. Guy is an absolute beast.
Was an okay Rumble, nothing particularly bad about it but also kinda forgettable, did what any decent rumble should do but I was kinda hoping for something new or different, thought maybe HHH would have had some cool ideas stored up for the Rumble. Maybe next year I guess.
The men's rumble was way worse than the women's rumble this year. It felt like there was no storytelling, nobody built up any momentum and Drew/Sheamus didn't need to be in the match for as long as they were. Additionally, Cody being the most obvious winner in the history of the rumble should have driven the producers to want to make the rest of the match more interesting but it clearly didn't. Did it have a few impressive spots? Sure. But a few bright spots in an hour-long match don't make up for the rest of it.
Disagree, it's just stupid to have the #30 against #1, we obviously support the person who worked hard to stay in rather than the obvious return stop right at the end. If it was a surprise it might have worked, but it was planned and we were shown many times that Cody was gonna be there.
It was pretty decent for a 29 man rumble. It would have been such a fuck you to Cody after he jumped out of the ring over the top rope to announce that the last person was yet to enter.
When Cody and Gunther were the last 2 standing, did anyone thought that Cody wasn't gonna win? Pretty predictable shit. Imagine Sami and Cody being the last 2, or a little more plausible Cody and Seth.
Overall I thought it was okay. I felt like some of the camera work and some of the timings of the countdowns took away from stuff going on at the time.
The camera work all night was dodgy as hell. It's like they were trying to make sure you never saw anything that wasn't pretty much perfect and ended up making you miss things. They'd suddenly change to weird angle shots and you'd miss a clearly planned spot. It made the entire men's rumble feel so messy and poorly planned that I didn't even like it by the end.
It was always going to be Cody. Not complaining because he's an absolute star. Gunther with a beast performance. I hope he gets another go at it from #1 next year but actually going one step further and winning. Biggest loser for me was Kross. It's been a rough couple of days for him that makes me wonder if creative has cooled on him. Booker T pretty much being the only surprise entry was a pretty weird choice and the lack of could have been why there were some lull moments throughout.
I donāt watch WWE normally though I did watch the Rumble. Maybe itās because I donāt watch WWE but Rhodes/Reigns doesnāt exactly scream āmain eventā at Wrestlemania. It was an alright Rumble just predictable ending and again meh itās Cody/Reigns big deal.
I enjoy the Bloodline story and the people clearly want Sami to take down Reigns for the perfect story and giving us Bryan at Mania 2014. Cody was an obvious win and at #30 and all, it's just kinda lackluster. I'm not interested in Cody vs Reigns.
Thought this was an average rumble with great spots. I hope Kofi is okay, looks like he hit his head on the announce table. One of these years the Rumble needs a longshot winner. Someone that shouldn't win the Rumble because of their position. As much as I hated it, at least McMahon winning was a huge shocker. I'm thinking an NXT call up or someone you say is a one-time appearance, but you secretly have them on a 6 month contract. Just make the Rumble feel like anyone has a chance for real.
It looked like when he got thrown out of the ring, he hit his head on the announce table. I noticed the camera cut away from him and wouldn't go back on him.
Good Rumble match, some lulls throughout, but overall enjoyable. The right person won, and people like Gunther, Drew and Sheamus got to look great in the process. It was the right call to not put Sami in the match too since Cody was winning, and considering what happened after the main event.
Sami is the star, this is 2014 with Bryan. People are okay with Cody now, but he's not that interesting. He's doing exactly what he did in AEW, it works for a bit and then you're tired of the same thing. Not even necessarily hating on Cody, he's just not the choice for the main event. Sami Zayn is.
Incredibly boring, I don't get how anyone can praise it for the finish. Totally "random" numbers picked lol. They set it up and even let us know Cody was coming to win the rumble, the #30 was the icing on the bland cake though.
The crowd is indifferent to him, but on the bright side he did get some pops in when he did his moves. I feel like he has to be booked a bit better and imo teaming up with Ciampa is what he needs the most atm to build his character.
Changing his theme was a bad decision, no one knew who it was when his music hit . Give him the old one back and there would have been a pop , they do need to actually give him something meaningful to allow him to build a character other than man who wrestle good
I thought it was a decent Rumble match. Cody winning at 30 is cheap way to give him a Rumble win especially after eliminating the way superior Gunther.
Cody is only where he is because he's the shock return from AEW. He's almost like an artificial main eventer, handed his spot and presented as such, but not really there.
I popped at Guntherās intro music and couldnāt believe he was in the final two. That was a fantastic ironman performance. The ending with Codey was clear, but their mini-match was nonetheless remarkable.
I thought it started fun, with some good stories being told. But I felt a real lull after Edge eliminated the JD. Once Cody came in, you knew who was going to win and it took too long for my taste to get there.
I enjoyed the Cody vs. Gunther basically one on one match very much but it would have felt way better if Cody hadn't entered last. It was hard to not root for Gunther or just feel it was unfair. Other than that I loved the drawn out ending.
Wasn't a bad Rumble, i guess,but the long ass entrance walkway wastes so much time. There were so many guys with mild crowd responses & and there to be a number & did very little like Gargano, etc
Wasn't a bad Rumble, i guess,but the long ass entrance walkway wastes so much time. There were so many guys with mild crowd responses & and there to be a number & did very little like Gargano, etc
It feels like he's still just been handed is spot because he's the "shock return" from AEW. Doesn't feel like a main eventer, he's doing his same character that got stale in AEW but being presented as a top guy. I just don't find him interesting.
The Rollins cage match did it for me. I can see why you say this but that just put him totally over for me and makes me buy into his "overcoming the families' shortcomings" angle.
There's really not a lot to get, honestly. He's the "hot new thing" since he returned after reinventing himself and proving he's more than he was in his original WWE run, and to the fans that only watch WWE he feels new because of it. AEW fans got bored of him because he got really stale and refused to change which I think is a big part of the reason he came back to WWE, and in NJPW he wasn't anything special as just another member of Bullet Club. It's impressive that he went out and had good main event matches, hosted All In, and was a major player in starting up the first successful non-WWE major televised American wrestling promotion since the 90s, but his character just boils down to "my dad" this, "my dad" that, and his ring work, while above average, isn't anything that really sets him apart from the rest.
It's been surprising seeing some of the praise such a predictable rumble got. Are these new viewers that don't know how a good rumble is booked? I feel like we haven't had a good one since Nakamura's win.
as much as the dude sniffs his own farts, cody's obviously got something and props to him for getting himself over on the sheer force of self-belief. i really liked the mini-match he had at the end with gunther (who also acquitted himself fantastically tonight). he did fantastic fighting from underneath babyface stuff. is this the first time 1 and 30 have been the final two of a rumble?
Definitely better than last years. This was a great Rumble. Very predictable winner but that doesnāt mean it wasnāt entertaining. Felt like the first 15 entrants was nothing but big hosses slapping meat around, I loved it.
Unfortunately for you they know he has the kind of clout that can push just about any feud he's in regardless of belts. He can be auto included in ppvs without much effort just on his ability to make things work. Blessing/curse.
I feel like he either shouldāve come out earlier, or not had his entrance announced before the event. One or the other wouldāve been fine with me, but both feels like overkill.
Curious what Tony Khan thinks of WWE doubling down on making Cody their top face in 2023? It was obvious with the Mania 22' entrance, and all the times in 2022 Cody went over top guys(including Seth in 3 different matches) that both the Vince and HHH regime see Cody as their modern day Cena. Also curious what WWE stans who shit all over AEW think of a very "AEW presented" Cody being the top face in WWE. As a day one AEW fan whose had a lot of criticism of Tony Khan's booking in 2022/early 2023, I love it. Cody being #30 and winning it all feels odd, as he shoulda came out much sooner as the history of #30's winning it feels cheap(especially since they had long been announcing Cody being in the Rumble...it doesnt feel organic in the way Bryan/Danielson in 2014 felt organic with the fans. Yet....it also kind of fits with the smarmy over the top feel of it all.
Cody being injured and out after a good match did him a favour in a way, people in WWE aren't bored of him yet. He started alright in AEW but refused to ever adapt and that's what made him boring. Those that watched AEW and have seen the Cody character played out and mostly aren't interested anymore.
Cody in AEW was doomed from the beginning since he was a VP. He always had that Jeff Jarrett stigma of him booking himself to be world champion. Nobody would ever take Cody seriously in AEW cause you knew his ego would have him be AEW Champion. That's why he booked himself to never be champion and since he can't be champion, Cody returned to WWE with an obvious contract clause that includes a WWE title run.
I feel like his entrance at 30 would have been much better if they DIDNT tell us he was coming back! Let it be a surprise! Then I think the cheapness of it wouldn't be a thing. Thats just my opinion. Good rumble though
Cody really should've been in sooner. A Babyface being number 30 against the heel who was number 1 is all kinds of backwards. That said it was an otherwise good Rumble.
Really liked the rumble, if I could change one thing Iād have Cody come out waaay earlier (or not announce his entrance beforehand) cause everyone kinda expected him to win so you were kinda just waiting for him to show up
My thought was that if Cody came out earlier, people might be expecting a big surprise like Austin for number 30. With Cody being number 30, the crowd knew what to expect when the last clock started counting down.
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Gunther. Yeah. Just yeah. šš½šš½šš½šš½šš½
And that pop when Gunther and Lesnar squared off.
Me during the whole thing: Glass break!? Aww, damn. Glass break!? Aww, damn.
It was a good RR. Won't lie.
They're not a budding new team though. That would be a team like Richochet and Braun. These dudes on the other hand have been established as close in storyline for years, established as having teamed together many times, established as having fought just as many, etc.
I don't remember this and would like to see it? Got a year, or an approximate?
2008 was the last time I ever paid for a wwe ppv when Cena came back at 30 and won thats when the magic of the rumble died for me and now here we are 15 years later and they make the same mistake. Should of had roads drop to walter to give the intercontinental title some prestige then have roads win in at chamber to set up reigns roads. Seems they are taking the easy road.
This was awesome!
Was I supposed to want Cody Rhodes to win that? Waltzing in at number 30?
Yeah, it felt like a pretty cowardly way to book the winner. Come in at #30 and pick the bones of people who have been fighting the whole time. No different than the time Brock just entered himself into a MITB match in the closing moments and won it. Itās a heel move, not something to establish a face.
Agreed. It wasn't a surprise he'd be there so leaving him for last was probably due to recovery concerns. It's just a shame it showed. Flat, almost dull spots once he was in the ring. I get it that not every rumble has to be won by someone who "earns" it during the rumble but much more excited for other potential matches to come out of the event (Rollins vs Paul).
It could have worked if they did a 2008 Cena and kept his return as a surprise. Announcing the return AND giving him the 30 spot just kinda made the win feel flat and undeserved.
not against cody winning it because iām looking forward to reigns vs cody at mania, but i swear recently all the rumble winners have been very predictable. i remember when it like never used to go the favourites. like the year people wanted roman to win, batista won it. the year roman won it, someone else was the favourite canāt remember exactly (daniel bryan maybe?). and then you had like triple h winning it who no one really expected.
I think part of the problem is Roman with both belts and wrestlemania. The winners have to have a program with him culminating in wrestlemania. Roman can only really potentially lose on a handful of shows a year, so they need someone who could potentially upset Roman, and as itās mania they donāt want someone who has tried and failed conclusively.
To be fair the winner is usually predicable it just depends on who the fans want to win. Only time weāre āshockedā is when the fan favorite doesnāt win. Batista was always going to win we just didnāt want him to but we wanted Bryan so we were shocked when they didnāt give us what we wanted.
Gunther was incredible. Also this Royal Rumble felt a lot better than last years. I remember thinking "who?" when tons of generic random themes played. It actually felt like a bunch of people who deserved to be there and some good nostalgia hits like Booker. I agree with the commenter who said Cody should have came out earlier and had Logan be #30 for the heat. Entertaining match though and again, big props to Gunther for holding that down.
I love gunther but his top rope spots look kinda odd to me
My only wish is that we got an NXT guy. We got Roxanne and Zoey for the women but seeing someone like Hayes or McDonagh get showcased for a bit would be cool.
I feel like they could have had Ziggler instead of Miz, or maybe instead of the ghost of Rey (maybe ex con-Dom attack him on the way to the ring and takes his spot) so that he can break Kane's record.
Gunther is good at this aināt he! My favourite Rumble match since the year Shinsuke won
I'm just here to put respect on the Drew McIntyre 2020 Rumble win.
I like Cody but not looking forward to him crying in every promo for the next year
Is anyone else getting tired of 1 and 2 always lasting 30+ minutes? It's just extremely predictable they're going to be in there for the long haul. It was a nice change of pace in '92 when Bulldog eliminated DiBase maybe 45 seconds in and just waited for Flair.
The Lesnar one at #1 was fun
I'm tired of the finish being predictable in general, everyone said Cody was winning the rumble last year. It was even more obvious he was gonna come in at number 30 and take it. I just don't get how I don't support Gunther at the end, they've been in the match since #1 and #30 is gonna come in and steal it.
Yup. Feels so repeated. Theyāre in the ring doing nothing for most of it but getting beat in a corner
Did Rey Mysterio win the royal rumble? He was pick number 17 he never showed up and never got eliminated. Cody Rhodes went over the top when he exited the ring. So doesnāt that make Rey Mysterio the winner ? Maybe Iām just reaching lol .
In the past they have done if a wrestler doesn't enter by the time the next entrant comes out he is eliminated
if this isn't intended to showcase the future of WWE after Roman leaves then IDK what is. Cody Rhodes v GUNTHER is such a perfect rivalry to succesfully capture the mainstream audience they've been working to draw in by working with Logan Paul for example.
Dude, what about that pop when Gunther and Lesnar squared off
Exactly. This is nothing but a win for both Cody and Gunther.
Roman isn't leaving anytime soon
I liked that none of the teams (New Day, Banger Bros, Judgement Day, even Braun/Ric) turned on each other. Not only does it make sense to work together until the end, I'm just tired of the "it's every man for himself" betrayal spot.
It might at least make sense for the Banger Bros since the two like to slap meat together but I get what you're saying.
It was really dumb in 89 when Ax and Smash from Demolition were numbers 1 and 2 and they fought until number 3 came in. Dudes just wait thereās 28 other guys to go through.
The front page of this sub is all evidence wwe needs to figure out how to get Roman vs Sami at wrestlemania
As much as I like Sami, he doesn't seem strong enough as a contender to end the strength of Roman's reign like The Rock or Cody would. Everyone loves an underdog, but Cody is the guy.
As much as I'd love that, putting Jey in instead would be satisfying.
Sami needs his Mania moment now, this would be like not getting Bryan's 2014 moment.
I donāt want to see that. If this company went by this sub Johnny Gargano would be a top guy
Sami zayne is 2014 Daniel Bryan. I can smell a triple threat at mania
I haven't watched wrestling in years but I Def watch a royal rumble every now and then and chose to watch this year. When they showed the lineup of the men and woman in the rumbles on the wwe network they had cody rhodes and rhea Ripley off center to the right of a superstar posing in the middle of everyone else. The very next time they showed the picture of the entrants cody and rhea were direct center of the roster photo. My friends and I had stated "How shitty and predictable would it be if cody won the men's and rhea won the woman's after moving their positions on the rumble line up to the direct middle of that pic?" Sure enough they both won and neither Austin or the Rock showed. We all agreed it was just a waste of money as we already knew from the beginning who would win based off of that. It wasn't good.
Cody being #30 was quite the ballsy move. I thought it would be a Danielson 2014 all over again since the crowd probably wanted Sami. Now Cody against Roman at Mania? I donĀ“t think I would have Cody win the match. IMHO, the guy that shoud beat Roman is the next face of the company. And thatĀ“s not Cody. But then if Roman wins, itĀ“s hard to re-build Cody after a big main event loss at Mania. ItĀ“s a tough situation. If Cody was 7 years younger and if wasnĀ“t one an ex AEW EVP, he would be a great choice. Great wrestler, excellent promo, charismatic, good look, can work heel or face. But heĀ“s 37 years old and knowing the way WWE operates, I donĀ“t think he Ā“s the guy that should beat Roman.
Yeah it's kind of boring with the obvious number 30 win, we all knew how it was gonna go even last year. Sami is who the people want to take down Roman, Cody would not be the right move.
Cody is younger than Roman. He is also younger than Brock Lesnar, Drew McIntyre, Bobby Lashley, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn... 37 isn't that old in wrestling. I am not a Cody Rhodes fan, but he's in no way too old to be pushed.
I thought Sami was supposed to be in the Rumble
That would have been amazing, having him find a way to win would have been very interesting. Was pretty disappointed in the obvious number 30 Cody finish.
No good surprises, Booker is meh.
To the surprise of no one.
I feel bad for Kofi, this is the second time in a row he missed his spot š«
I thought he was gonna come back because 1 foot was on the arm of the chair, but I guess it was meant to stay standing up.
Gunther was my #1 pick to win, while Cody was my least favorite, the last 10 minutes were absolutely traumatizing for me, there was a moment where I thought Gunther might actually win š
How can we be supporting Cody stealing it at #30 against Gunther who was in it from the #1 spot. We knew how this was going down for a long time.
One of the greatest Royal Rumble matches I have ever seen. I loved it. Incredible story telling throughout, the spots were structured so intelligently throughout. There was always something going on in the ring, great moments. The final two showdown was incredible, I have to say probably one of the greatest ever, a whole dream match between Gunther and Cody.
I wish Gunther didnāt turn 3 times when going over the ropes. It looked really fake
Corey explained it the first time by saying that Gunther did that to get a better grip on the ropes to stay in. We could say he tried that again, but failed.
Why announce Cody returns, then give him the number 30? And with only 2 surprises entrants?
We really haven't had a good mens rumble since Nakamura won. This might be the most predictable one we've had for a while.
Some might think it pedestrian but I really like that the IC and US champs were in the final 4, just something that made sense.
Theory wasn't in the final four, he was in the final five. The last 4 competitors were Seth, Logan, Cody and GUNTHER.
Pros:
I agree except for Gargano. Yes, he spent a good amount of time in the match, but he didn't do anything of note. Also, the pop (or lack thereof) when his music played was really sad to hear. His main roster booking so far has not worked at all.
I liked the fun of it overall but I just hated how predictable it was. I also hate having Cody come in at #30 vs Gunther at #1. I'm always gonna be supporting the person who has been in it from the start vs the person coming in at the end to win.
How is Cody winning a pro?I dont even get why he is going to main event Wrestlemania.
Do we think that was how bobby was supposed to go? I dunno, everything about his elimination just felt "off" and I was thinking he was supposed to do one of those hang by the ropes spots and just slipped.
Agreed. The Kofi thing has become cringe, try hard and over played.
That was one of the best royal rumble matches I've seen in a while, I loved it
The booking of this Rumble was actually pretty solid, but the lack of memorable surprises was kind of a let down. No one really felt unexpected. If they would've kept Cody secret it would've been a 9/10 for me.
Did anybody notice they completely forgot about Kofi not being out?
I think even though they could have just had him coming back since his foot was on the arm of the chair, because it didn't go exactly as planned they just left it. Disappointing.
Didnāt watch super closely but did they replace Rey with someone or could someone have come out after Cody won?
The refs probably saw both his feet hit the floor and they collectively made a call to scrap the whole spot
I think he was supposed to land in the chair but it fell over so they just moved on.
I'm glad, the kofi spot has become annoying.
Adrenaline, in my soul I freaking hate Cody Rhodes! (The wrestler, not the private person which I donāt know) The spoiled brat got everything he always wanted. Spotlight on him, making him the super baby face. I usually do not watch the WWE product anymore, but the Rumble has always been my favorite extra event, so I watched it and enjoyed to the point Cody came out. Yes, I am a AEW fan from the first hour starting with All In. And this makes the whole thing so bitter for me, I never wish anyone something bad in my entire life but I cannot wish Cody anything good after selling out and using the company and especially us fans to go back to the sacred kingdom he fought against so hard for years. Downvote me to hell, but I will always show up every once in a while in a WWE thread to remember everyone that Cody is the impersonation of a sell out!
*personification
Yeah I don't get it either. I don't necessarily hate Cody but he made a HUGE deal of fighting against wwe in aew, then his reward for that is a rocket ship push? I don't get it. I thought the steel cage with Rollins was super corny and it feels like Cody is being shoved down our throats in a weird way.
Men's match was awesome Women's match was awsome. Ko vs Roman best story in years. Dark match looked ok but was meh Binca vs Alexa boring.
I watch it every year, I knew the result going in even tho it was already obvious. Gunther put on the performance of a lifetime, to go the distance then pretty much have a singles match at the end. Guy is an absolute beast.
Was an okay Rumble, nothing particularly bad about it but also kinda forgettable, did what any decent rumble should do but I was kinda hoping for something new or different, thought maybe HHH would have had some cool ideas stored up for the Rumble. Maybe next year I guess.
The men's rumble was way worse than the women's rumble this year. It felt like there was no storytelling, nobody built up any momentum and Drew/Sheamus didn't need to be in the match for as long as they were. Additionally, Cody being the most obvious winner in the history of the rumble should have driven the producers to want to make the rest of the match more interesting but it clearly didn't. Did it have a few impressive spots? Sure. But a few bright spots in an hour-long match don't make up for the rest of it.
You obviously haven't watched many rumbles if you feel Cody was the "most obvious winner in the history of the rumble".
Yep, Womens rumble was done right. Men's rumble was kind of just whatever until Cody comes in for his obvious win at 30.
More obvious than Hulk Hogan or Stone Cold? Itās always obvious most years.
Disagree, it's just stupid to have the #30 against #1, we obviously support the person who worked hard to stay in rather than the obvious return stop right at the end. If it was a surprise it might have worked, but it was planned and we were shown many times that Cody was gonna be there.
Cena was a SURPRISE entrant at 30. Those two are not comparable.
It was pretty decent for a 29 man rumble. It would have been such a fuck you to Cody after he jumped out of the ring over the top rope to announce that the last person was yet to enter.
When Cody and Gunther were the last 2 standing, did anyone thought that Cody wasn't gonna win? Pretty predictable shit. Imagine Sami and Cody being the last 2, or a little more plausible Cody and Seth.
I didn't think the crowd was likely to boo Cody but having him eliminate Zayn in the final 2 would've been playing with fire
Overall I thought it was okay. I felt like some of the camera work and some of the timings of the countdowns took away from stuff going on at the time.
The camera work all night was dodgy as hell. It's like they were trying to make sure you never saw anything that wasn't pretty much perfect and ended up making you miss things. They'd suddenly change to weird angle shots and you'd miss a clearly planned spot. It made the entire men's rumble feel so messy and poorly planned that I didn't even like it by the end.
It was always going to be Cody. Not complaining because he's an absolute star. Gunther with a beast performance. I hope he gets another go at it from #1 next year but actually going one step further and winning. Biggest loser for me was Kross. It's been a rough couple of days for him that makes me wonder if creative has cooled on him. Booker T pretty much being the only surprise entry was a pretty weird choice and the lack of could have been why there were some lull moments throughout.
Still very surprised that the only āsurpriseā entrant was a lackluster Booker T
and Logan Paul
I donāt watch WWE normally though I did watch the Rumble. Maybe itās because I donāt watch WWE but Rhodes/Reigns doesnāt exactly scream āmain eventā at Wrestlemania. It was an alright Rumble just predictable ending and again meh itās Cody/Reigns big deal.
I enjoy the Bloodline story and the people clearly want Sami to take down Reigns for the perfect story and giving us Bryan at Mania 2014. Cody was an obvious win and at #30 and all, it's just kinda lackluster. I'm not interested in Cody vs Reigns.
Lol
WHERE IS REY? HE OK?
Crawling to the ring, these wounds will never heal.
Happy Cody won but imagine if they never announced his return and he came out š¤Æš¤Æ
Louder pop than what he got (not that it was a bad pop) and imo would contest the pop Sami/Jey got.
"Goldust" lil bro " Stardust" won the Rumble?? I kinda hate when 30 wins now.
Thought this was an average rumble with great spots. I hope Kofi is okay, looks like he hit his head on the announce table. One of these years the Rumble needs a longshot winner. Someone that shouldn't win the Rumble because of their position. As much as I hated it, at least McMahon winning was a huge shocker. I'm thinking an NXT call up or someone you say is a one-time appearance, but you secretly have them on a 6 month contract. Just make the Rumble feel like anyone has a chance for real.
Yeah I feel like the random chair in front of the desk with Xavier Woods was a part of a Kofi spot which went wrong, he looked legit hurt after it.
While we're here btw. I'm a little disappointed that Bron Breakker didn't make his main roster debut here in the men's rumble.
So have him come out and get thrown out? That does nothing for him and it has never done anything for anyone.
It's insane how Cody feels like a genuine big star
He flopped in AEW and he's flopping in WWE by getting injured right away lol,his moment is gone.
So what happened to Kofi?
It looked like when he got thrown out of the ring, he hit his head on the announce table. I noticed the camera cut away from him and wouldn't go back on him.
Good Rumble match, some lulls throughout, but overall enjoyable. The right person won, and people like Gunther, Drew and Sheamus got to look great in the process. It was the right call to not put Sami in the match too since Cody was winning, and considering what happened after the main event.
I really don't give a monkey's ass about Cody winning. There were guys in there that deserved it way more.
I cannot and will never, ever understand this.
Sami is the star, this is 2014 with Bryan. People are okay with Cody now, but he's not that interesting. He's doing exactly what he did in AEW, it works for a bit and then you're tired of the same thing. Not even necessarily hating on Cody, he's just not the choice for the main event. Sami Zayn is.
lol Cody gonna be booed just like he was in AEW,then he's gonna take his ball and go back to AEW.
Triple threat?
No but okay
If the Rock wants in, let Sami beat the Rock to get to Roman, or the other way around, and win both.
Cody winning to me just feels meh, would much rather Gunther have won had won.
Gunther fought for it from #1 and Cody had the easiest win. I genuinely don't get how I could support Cody there.
Should not have given away Codyās return. Should not have put him in at #30. What a shit, predictable rumble.
Incredibly boring, I don't get how anyone can praise it for the finish. Totally "random" numbers picked lol. They set it up and even let us know Cody was coming to win the rumble, the #30 was the icing on the bland cake though.
Yeah, itās supposed to be random and Cody just happens to be #30? Very predictable and even worse makes it look fake.
Currently watching the PPV now and I've just finished the men's Rumble.
His shattered dreams looked better than his pedigree
This rumble was completely shit. Not worse than 2015 or something, but it was... Lacking in a lot of places.
You don't go against the family
Can we take a moment of silence for the level of fan disinterest in Gargano when his song dropped...pretty sure I heard crickets
I had no idea it was him
Honestly, I'm starting to feel like maybe Vince was right on dismissing some people.
The crowd is indifferent to him, but on the bright side he did get some pops in when he did his moves. I feel like he has to be booked a bit better and imo teaming up with Ciampa is what he needs the most atm to build his character.
Changing his theme was a bad decision, no one knew who it was when his music hit . Give him the old one back and there would have been a pop , they do need to actually give him something meaningful to allow him to build a character other than man who wrestle good
Gargano is bland as flour, can have good matches but at this time on the roster there is nothing to care about.
Well considering his booking in his last months, i cant blame them.
This was a good royal rumble match but it would be even better if Cody didn't announced his return
Hope Santos is ok. Looked like he took a nasty hit when he got eliminated
I thought it was a decent Rumble match. Cody winning at 30 is cheap way to give him a Rumble win especially after eliminating the way superior Gunther.
Cody is only where he is because he's the shock return from AEW. He's almost like an artificial main eventer, handed his spot and presented as such, but not really there.
I popped at Guntherās intro music and couldnāt believe he was in the final two. That was a fantastic ironman performance. The ending with Codey was clear, but their mini-match was nonetheless remarkable.
I thought it started fun, with some good stories being told. But I felt a real lull after Edge eliminated the JD. Once Cody came in, you knew who was going to win and it took too long for my taste to get there.
I enjoyed the Cody vs. Gunther basically one on one match very much but it would have felt way better if Cody hadn't entered last. It was hard to not root for Gunther or just feel it was unfair. Other than that I loved the drawn out ending.
Kofi Kingston screwed up his saves the last two years now. Time to hang up that tired ass gimmick.
That was a steaming pile of monkey crap. Quite possibly one of the worst rumbles of all timeā¦.. predictableā¦ā¦
Alot of those wrestlers you mentioned are in thete 50s and 60s they ether dont want yo or can't do it anymore.
You're a fucking loser lmao The men's rumble was 1 of the top 10 ever You're complaining about literally nothing
Wasn't a bad Rumble, i guess,but the long ass entrance walkway wastes so much time. There were so many guys with mild crowd responses & and there to be a number & did very little like Gargano, etc
I hate the long ramp so much.
Wasn't a bad Rumble, i guess,but the long ass entrance walkway wastes so much time. There were so many guys with mild crowd responses & and there to be a number & did very little like Gargano, etc
I still donāt āgetā Cody Rhodes.
It feels like he's still just been handed is spot because he's the "shock return" from AEW. Doesn't feel like a main eventer, he's doing his same character that got stale in AEW but being presented as a top guy. I just don't find him interesting.
The Rollins cage match did it for me. I can see why you say this but that just put him totally over for me and makes me buy into his "overcoming the families' shortcomings" angle.
The experience of AEW viewers during the end of his tenure.
There's really not a lot to get, honestly. He's the "hot new thing" since he returned after reinventing himself and proving he's more than he was in his original WWE run, and to the fans that only watch WWE he feels new because of it. AEW fans got bored of him because he got really stale and refused to change which I think is a big part of the reason he came back to WWE, and in NJPW he wasn't anything special as just another member of Bullet Club. It's impressive that he went out and had good main event matches, hosted All In, and was a major player in starting up the first successful non-WWE major televised American wrestling promotion since the 90s, but his character just boils down to "my dad" this, "my dad" that, and his ring work, while above average, isn't anything that really sets him apart from the rest.
I never have either. I understand he's a hard worker, but he's not entertaining.
āAnd at number 12 brock lesnar enters the rumbleā āAnd here comes bobby lashleyā
I wanted Jay too, but he's still tied to NJPW atm
I thought the first half of the rumble was clearly triple h showing he is not going to do the same old vince shit.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
It's been surprising seeing some of the praise such a predictable rumble got. Are these new viewers that don't know how a good rumble is booked? I feel like we haven't had a good one since Nakamura's win.
Yeah having the obvious favorite appear at #30 when itās suppose to be random and having them win is way to obvious and predictable.
What's the point of watching anything when people injured or already retired are consistently more over than people busting their ass weekly
Are we looking at Rollins vs Logan Paul at WM? Logan vs Ricochet?
Logan vs Rollins woukd be a fun match
Does he really have to be there?
Triple threat
as much as the dude sniffs his own farts, cody's obviously got something and props to him for getting himself over on the sheer force of self-belief. i really liked the mini-match he had at the end with gunther (who also acquitted himself fantastically tonight). he did fantastic fighting from underneath babyface stuff. is this the first time 1 and 30 have been the final two of a rumble?
Graves and Cole makes the Dom thing work perfectly. It's so dumb and I love it
Tonight made it official...I am a Dom fan
Definitely better than last years. This was a great Rumble. Very predictable winner but that doesnāt mean it wasnāt entertaining. Felt like the first 15 entrants was nothing but big hosses slapping meat around, I loved it.
How long do I have to wait to see Rollins become a champion again? It's frustrating to be his fan and not see him go anywhere
Unfortunately for you they know he has the kind of clout that can push just about any feud he's in regardless of belts. He can be auto included in ppvs without much effort just on his ability to make things work. Blessing/curse.
He eliminated lashley heās chilling
Lots of people here like: (vanilla)cOdY sHoUlD hAvE cOmE oUt SoOnEr. He just got back from injury. He probably canāt/shouldnāt go that long.
If he can only wrestle from #30 he shouldn't be in the main event of Mania.
Why does he even deserve the win if he cant go?smh
Then why did he basically have two complete matches at the end of the rumble? It's not like he came in, did one spot and then won.
If he just got back from injury and is still fragile then Cody shouldn't even have been in the Rumble.
Had not thought of that, good point
I feel like he either shouldāve come out earlier, or not had his entrance announced before the event. One or the other wouldāve been fine with me, but both feels like overkill.
Curious what Tony Khan thinks of WWE doubling down on making Cody their top face in 2023? It was obvious with the Mania 22' entrance, and all the times in 2022 Cody went over top guys(including Seth in 3 different matches) that both the Vince and HHH regime see Cody as their modern day Cena. Also curious what WWE stans who shit all over AEW think of a very "AEW presented" Cody being the top face in WWE. As a day one AEW fan whose had a lot of criticism of Tony Khan's booking in 2022/early 2023, I love it. Cody being #30 and winning it all feels odd, as he shoulda came out much sooner as the history of #30's winning it feels cheap(especially since they had long been announcing Cody being in the Rumble...it doesnt feel organic in the way Bryan/Danielson in 2014 felt organic with the fans. Yet....it also kind of fits with the smarmy over the top feel of it all.
Cody being injured and out after a good match did him a favour in a way, people in WWE aren't bored of him yet. He started alright in AEW but refused to ever adapt and that's what made him boring. Those that watched AEW and have seen the Cody character played out and mostly aren't interested anymore.
Cody in AEW was doomed from the beginning since he was a VP. He always had that Jeff Jarrett stigma of him booking himself to be world champion. Nobody would ever take Cody seriously in AEW cause you knew his ego would have him be AEW Champion. That's why he booked himself to never be champion and since he can't be champion, Cody returned to WWE with an obvious contract clause that includes a WWE title run.
I feel like his entrance at 30 would have been much better if they DIDNT tell us he was coming back! Let it be a surprise! Then I think the cheapness of it wouldn't be a thing. Thats just my opinion. Good rumble though
Cody really should've been in sooner. A Babyface being number 30 against the heel who was number 1 is all kinds of backwards. That said it was an otherwise good Rumble.
Yeah not only was it obvious Cody was gonna win, fans sympathize with the guy who came in at number 1 and lasted the whole match.
Really liked the rumble, if I could change one thing Iād have Cody come out waaay earlier (or not announce his entrance beforehand) cause everyone kinda expected him to win so you were kinda just waiting for him to show up
My thought was that if Cody came out earlier, people might be expecting a big surprise like Austin for number 30. With Cody being number 30, the crowd knew what to expect when the last clock started counting down.
I wanted Cody to win but I wish they had him come out earlier than 30.
Honestly Cody coming out at 30 kinda took the wind out of the sails, so to speak. Was a pretty good rumble, though.