Royal Rumble 2015

Royal Rumble 2015 Review


The last time I reviewed a show was for Night of Champions 2014. Since then my interest in the current product has sort of dwindled. Not that I haven't been watching wrestling as I still enjoy many classic shows and matches on the Network on a daily basis.


This event is easily the most controversial since last year's Rumble event, but how good was this one overall? Let's find out.


I won't completely review the pre-show match since I wasn't paying too much attention but it looked like a  **3/4 to me.



The New Age Outlaws vs The Ascension
WWE had such a great run of fun opening matches but that streak ended with this one. Hopefully after this victory the announce team will stop referring to the Ascension as wannabes. I really fear for anyone coming up from NXT after the way Ascension were treated. The match was nothing special with nothing particularly memorable about it and it probably should have just been a complete squash for Viktor and Konnor. Pretty bleh way to start the show. *1/4



The Usos vs The Miz & Damien Mizdow
The Tag Titles are on the line. I really hope the Ascension are fine after this show because if they're not then the Usos will have no challengers for their Titles. These two teams may have faced off far too many times in the past couple of months, but this was probably their best one yet. It featured some nice nearfalls and false finishes. I could never really tell who the winner was until the very end. It was kind of annoying that the Miz was in the match the entire time, but at least it keeps the fans behind Sandow. Good stuff. This probably should have been the opener. ***



The Bella Twins vs Natalya & Paige
What the hell is with all the tag matches on this show? This was one I wasn't looking forward to at all in the lead up to the show, but it actually wasn't that bad. It wasn't good but at least it wasn't terrible. It could have been pretty damn good if Paige had gotten the hot tag or if the finish hadn't terrible. A forearm for the pin? Really? Well at least it was better than most diva matches (not including the awesome NXT matches). A forgettable, overlong match. *1/2



John Cena vs Seth Rollins vs Brock Lesnar
The WWE World Title is on the line. It's weird to think that this is Lesnar's first defense since September last year. And now we'll probably have to wait another two months for the next one. This match was so much better than I was expecting. Everyone performed magnificently here, especially Rollins who looked very comfortable in the main event spot. If Lesnar's performance didn't turn you into a fan of his then nothing ever will as he looked like a complete tank here that looked as if he could take on a whole army of men. The nearfalls were fantastic and I was never sure of who would come out as champion as the nearfalls were very well done. A terrific match and an early MOTYC. ****3/4


The Royal Rumble Match
What the hell happened here? The sad thing is that this one showed real promise in the first 20 minutes and I was expecting it to be one of the best ever, but obviously that didn't exactly happen. Bubba's return and DDP's surprise entry were brilliantly done and DDP hitting a ton of Diamond Cutters was just awesome. The Boogeyman's return was pretty underwhelming outside of a funny staredown with Bray Wyatt. Speaking of the (literal) devil, he was a real highlight of this match and looked very impressive with many eliminations and managed to stay in the match for about a half hour. And then everything changed when Bryan was eliminated. It totally deflated the crowd and probably everyone watching at home including myself. That was followed by an influx of wrestlers than no one was interested in until Mizdow came in and then he was eliminated quickly, resulting in an even angrier crowd. Only Ambrose and Ziggler got good reactions from the crowd after that. The reactions turned venomous once it came down to Reigns, Show and Kane. I wouldn't call this the worst Rumble ever but it's definitely close as it seems that Vince decided to say 'Fuck you' to the audience rather than putting together a fun match. **



5/10. This one had it's moments like the fun Tag Title match and an amazing World Title match, but the rest was either bad or just forgettable. If it wasn't for the Triple Threat match then this would easily go down as one of the worst PPVs ever and possibly the worst Rumble event ever. I'm totally disappointed with the booking but not enough to cancel my beloved Network subscription. It'll be interesting to see how we look back at this one in one year's time, but I will say that this one makes the 2014 event look like Money in the Bank 2011.