NFL
Royal Rumble 2023 Recap
Leading in to the Royal Rumble there was huge speculation of the potential surprises for the Royal Rumble match, especially on the men’s side. We were left with very little from the men’s Royal Rumble and more surprises and crowd support for the women’s Royal Rumble.
Overall a disappointing show considering the rumors of The Rock, Steve Austin, Jay White, Zack Ryder and Tama Tonga to name a few. In actuality the biggest surprise was Booker T.
The Show kicks off with the hype song “SOLD OUT” by Hardy. The song didn’t fit the event and was met with very little crowd response throughout the evening when played.
Fresh off of his ESPN College Gameday first season, Pat McAfee returns to a big Pop from the crowd as he took a seat at the announce table with Michael Cole and Corey Graves.
The kickoff match happens to be the men’s Rumble, which comes as a suprise. The match kicks off with the first 2 competitors being The Intercontinental Champion Gunther and Sheamus. They continue their feud, which has been ongoing (they previously had a match of the year match against one another at Clash at the Castle). Gunther made a great showing in the match lasting until the very end, being the last man eliminated and tying for the most eliminations with the winner with 5. The match had its moments with a Gunther vs. Brock brief showdown with a crowd Pop. Seth Rollins and Edge both came out to huge crowd responses as well, as did the winner, the returning American Nightmare Cody Rhodes. The problem I had with that was he was announced he was 3rd a few weeks ago and instead came in at 30. I wholeheartedly think Cody winning is the best possible outcome but the storyline leading in and during the match was lacking. There was not enough surprises as mentioned previously, Rey Mysterio Jr. was announced to be the 17th entry and never came in, instead Dominick Mysterio came out with his mask and there was no other mention of him, also there were far too many tag teams involved with no real purpose. The spot of the match and night was between Logan Paul and Ricochet that went from one side of the ring, from the other and met in the middle in a high flying collision. A match between those 2 would be exciting, especially if they are given time to work. Overall an ok match that was supposed to be much more.
After the men’s Rumble there is an ad for WWE 2k23 with John Cena. Another potential surprise that didn’t happen and reminded the crowd of how much was missed in the previous match.
Next up is the Mtn Dew Pitch Black Match between LA Knight and Bray Wyatt. The match was performed in a dark arena with Knight wearing glowing neon gear and Bray with glow in the dark paint on him. The appearance of the 2 superstars was more impressive than the match itself. It was a sloppy lackluster match that had a Uncle Howdy post-match spot botch flying elbow that was several feet off its mark.
Next match is the WWE Women’s RAW Title match with Alexa Bliss challenging Champion Bianca Belair. The match itself was ok, but nothing really happened and Bianca went over clean to put an end awkwardly to their feud. After the match Firefly and Uncle Howdy try to lure Alexa into their group
The next match was the Woman’s Royal Rumble. In my opinion the match of the night and had everything the men’s match lacked. It had surprises, the crowd was into the whole thing. Rhea Ripley wins the match as the first entrant and had the most eliminations. Ripley started the match with Liv Morgan who was also the last woman eliminated. Great storyline throughout. Asuka returned with a huge pop and new look. Piper Niven has a new name, formerly Doudrop. Chelsea Green debuts to a big pop and subsequently gets eliminated the quickest. Zelina Vega had a Street Fighter cosplay that went over. Michelle McCool was surprise entrant coming in from her seat in the crowd. There was even a surprise 30th entry with Nia Jax returning to the dismay of the crowd and the female locker room. Overall the match was booked properly and Damage Ctrl involvement in the match led to pushing the faction and also furthering storyline.
Then there was a live performance from the band Hardy with their bad song “Sold Out” that was a complete momentum killer for the event and was met with Boo’s afterwards.
The final match is the Undisputed Title Match between the challenging Kevin Owens and the Champion Roman Reigns. Reigns accompanied to the ring by Sami Zayn. Sami and the Bloodline has been the best storyline in wrestling for a better part of the year and this match continued that. Roman has hardly been a fighting champion which diminishes the titles in my opinion. The match started with the crowd completely dead due to the terrible musical performance. The match got them back into it with trading finishers, ref bump and the ringside presence of Zayn. The match ends with Reigns winning cleanly after brutally beating KO. After the match the Usos and Solo Sikoa continue to destroy KO. During this Sami looks distraught. Roman then orders Sami to hit a handcuffed Owens with a chair. Sami tries to stop it and instead hits Roman in the back with the chair to a huge pop. Jimmy Uso then kicks Sami and he and Solo beat him down. Jey Uso looks upset and leaves the ring to another big crowd reaction. Overall great story telling between the Bloodline. The crowd was into it after being put to sleep with a terrible music performance.
Overall the night was a bit disappointing. Cody and Rhea were the favorites to win but the Women’s Rumble held up their end of the bargain while the mens did not.
