WWE Royal Rumble Review 2009

Following on from TNA’s Genesis earlier this month this weekend it was WWE’s turn to put on their first PPV of the year that being their annual Royal Rumble. I always think that the Royal Rumble is a great event to start the year off with as it is an exciting event which is truly different from any other PPV of the year.

Good Points

The Swerve

Was great to see Matt Hardy swerving his brother and costing him the title after cracking him with a steel chair. For weeks and weeks the fans on the internet had been predicting the return of Christian to cost Hardy the title but this was a great twist. This storyline will give them the chance to wrestle each other at Mania if played right which is probably what they have been dreaming about for some time.

It’s not over

HBK played his role brilliantly in the JBL / Cena title fight. After a poor match he laid out both JBL and Cena but left JBL on top to get what he thought would be the win. It wasn’t to be though as Cena kicked out and went on to win the match but now where does this leave HBK? Whose side is he really on?

The Rumble match

I will get on to some of the bad points surrounding the Rumble match later but there was some great stuff happening in there. RVD’s return for the Rumble match was brilliant and a surprise to many, the pacing was good, they really built the ring up well and let a handful of wrestlers really have some great moments in there.

Bad Points

Too predictable

After weeks on the blog saying that they weren’t building anyone for the Rumble match the first few minutes of the broadcast was dedicated to it with a video package which featured a heck of a lot of Orton and surprise, surprise Orton went on to win it. I think anyone that couldn’t spot that Orton was going to win it is blind, normally the match is great because you aren’t sure one hundred percent who is going to win.

Botching a match

Melina and Beth Phoenix showed us some really innovative spots and really tried to push the envelope but by doing this they botched quite a few moves. If they had just toned it down a little bit they could have had a really good match which came across crisp but instead you were worrying if one of them picked the other up if they were going to drop them by accident or not.

Overall

For Storyline development it was a superb show with four great matches already in the pipeline for Wrestlemania if they follow through properly on what they have started here. It was that good I will forgive the obvious ending to the Rumble match as at least with Orton it will now build some interesting storylines.

WWE Raw Review - 18th August 2008

After an average SummerSlam I was still looking forward to Raw as coming out of the PPV there seemed to be some interesting directions they could take the storylines in the run up to Unforgiven.

Good Points

Build for Jericho

After not having much of a push since his return finally Jericho is getting pushed back to the top in his feud with Shawn Michaels. Jericho gave a great promo in the ring to start the show off where he blamed Michaels and the fans for him hitting Michaels wife. He also ended the show with a non tile victory over Cm Punk so is being pushed as the main draw.

New concept for title match at Unforgiven

The theme for Adamle’s tenure as GM on Raw has been coming up with new and different concepts for matches. This time in a TNA style idea they are having a scramble match for the title between five competitors which will have a twenty minute time limit with the last competitor to get a submission or pinfall victory being declared the champion. Although I’m not sure about the quality of the match it will be a way of getting the belt off Punk which doesn’t harm him.

Santino stealing the show

Santino marella along with Beth Phoenix are stealing the show in the undercard right now. Who cares that Santino can’t wrestle as his character skills and mic skills put even the main eventers to shame. If only he was a bigger guy who could wrestle, if he was he would be the new Rock which the WWE really needs.

Bad Points

Killing CM Punk

CM Punk’s credibility was killed on Raw as in his hometown he lost a non tile main event to Jericho who isn’t even a challenger for the title. I think now the sooner they got the belt off him the better as he will never be allowed to go over big on anyone and it is doing him no favours to continue to be the champion the way he is being booked.

Main event stars put in throwaway matches

The guys who main evented SummerSlam were all put in terrible matches as JBL beat Jamie Noble, John Cena beat DiBiase and Holly. Then to add to this Batista was allowed to run over Burchill. It’s great to see Burchill being booked against the main event stars but he shouldn’t just be used for this.

Kane off the backburner

After having nothing to do at SummerSlam they are pushing Kane again by putting him in the main event at Unforgiven, giving him promo time on Raw and then having him chokeslam Batista. They should have continued Batista’s heel push and have him as champion not have him feuding with a heel who is probably not going to be given the title.

Overall

If it wasn’t for Jericho and Santino the show would have sucked. When the two guys you tune in for aren’t the main eventers in the championship scene you know there’s a problem.