The PPV Discussion Thread

[RavenBish]

Corbin's better and more interesting than say Dean Ambrose though.

I hope the future Mrs Ravenbish, Alexa Bliss, brings home the gold.

 

[Bluebird_Dai]

Why Ellsworth why?!

 

[Stevencc]

I haven't watched this yet but apparently Corbin and Kalisto put on a very good match.

Take that Oaf, ya stupid idiot.

 

[Smally]

All the matches were decent at worst, I liked this show. Ambrose vs Styles was very good

 

[Oaf]

Fuck the rest of the show, the most important thing to note to come out of TLC is... yes, indeed, Baron Corbin actually had a good fucking match! This replaces Goldberg destroying Lesnar as the biggest shock of the year.

I'm glad. It looks like we're going to have Corbin pushed whether he's actually any good or not. If it's gonna happen, I'd rather he was at least capable of having decent matches once in a while.

By the way, The Miz? Still abso-fucking-lutely the man.

 

[Libertine]

Corbin's hatred of all the indy/cruiserweight guys is perfect, it sets him up against all the type of fans that dislike him.

 

[Oaf]

I'm really looking forward to the rumble tomorrow night. It's always a bit more exciting when you know you're going to WM (which I am, btw, StevenCC) as it starts to shape up the event but this year feels more exciting than usual. Loads of really big names that I really want to see what they're planning for such as Taker, Goldberg and Lesnar, loads of potential for exciting appearances from rumoured names like NXT stars like Nakamura, Joe and Dillinger (at 10, naturally) as well a possible return for Balor and other surprises like Kenny Omega and even Kurt Angle being thrown in there... plus the actual fact that, for once, it's actually hard as hell to call who's going to win the thing. My pick is still Taker, but the bookies this morning seemingly have Orton as the favourite.

Is it just me, or is this actually the most exciting rumble in years?

Plus the other matches are pretty cool, too. Bayley/Charlotte and Reigns/Owens should be good and the thought of Styles and Cena going again after having the match of the year last year is exciting as fuck.

Roll on tomorrow night... but NXT Takeover first, tonight!

I'm sort of expecting NXT to fully become GLORIOUS tonight, so that Nakamura can get called up to the main roster.

 

[Stevencc]

I've not been watching WWE for a couple of months or so now but I will be watching the Rumble, it looks great this year.

 

[Libertine]

Yeh really hard to call. Got Monday off work so staying up. Gonna try stay up for NXT tonight too, though not watched that in ages.

 

[Stevencc]

I've got to be up early and I'm still contemplating staying up for this.

 

[The Mustard Tiger]

The odds on Sky Bet certainly make for interesting reading in regards to the outright winner for the Rumble tonight.

 

[T.A]

I'm going to try and stay up for it, not in work till 2pm tomorrow so should be alright. Reeks of a Reigns win tonight v Owens which would be awful imo. Not too bothered about who wins other matches and the RR is literally one of the best for a while potentially, hopefully some surprises are in there that's not been mentioned.

 

[RavenBish]

5 matches in 4 hours seems a bit...light?

Rumble will last just over an hour, so you've then got 3 hours for some 205live action, a women's match and then 2 title matches. It doesn't stack up and that's allowing for the fact that I expect Styles v Cena to go really long. There's got to be at least 1 special surprise segment.

 

[RavenBish]

R.I.P the narrative that Roman Reigns isn't an absolute fucking star and shouldn't be main-eventing PPVs.

 

[T.A]

Not a great ending to that match. I think Reigns smacked his head on the monitor too which was a bit dodgy.

 

[Stevencc]

Not a great ending to that match. I think Reigns smacked his head on the monitor too which was a bit dodgy.

Yeah, that looked pretty bad.

 

[Stevencc]

This is a hell of a match...

 

[T.A]

Great match. Smackdown showing Raw how it's done.

 

[T.A]

 

[RavenBish]

Enjoyed that PPV. Women's match was solid and didn't outstay it's welcome (that's not commentary on women's wrestling, Charlotte/Bayley just didn't excite me). The Owens/Reigns match was a really nice change of pace with the tables and chairs spots and then you had Styles v Cena which was phenomenal (pardon the pun).

Only downer was Neville/Swann - WWE really need to get out of the mindset of heels wrestling like heels because it hampered Neville a lot in a match that could've/should've been superb.

Liked the Rumble too which says a lot because I'm firmly in the camp that has pretty much never enjoyed a Rumble match but it was well booked imo - in terms of people who deserve a Rumble win, Randy's at the very top of that list - you just wonder if there were better options though as now you've got the prospect of Orton v Cena at Mania (yep, that feud again) or Orton v Wyatt which I mean, meh.

 

[Oaf]

Bit different to my views....

I thought until the rumble, it was a superb PPV. All matches were at least decent, with Reigns vs Owens being pretty great watching and, once again, Cena and Styles absoluely stealing the show. Certain pairings of wrestlers just click to make magic every time, and Cena and Styles have that magic chemistry in spades. Great ending too, and not one that I really mind either. I'd have thought I'd have hated to see Styles lose the title as he's the best thing going today, but I had no issues at all with Cena being the guy to dethrone him. And even for those who still hate Cena... come on, it's been well over a year since he last held the title, you've had it good by usual standards

Anyway, onto the rumble...

It had it's moments, sure. Dillinger at 10 was a fucking dream that I never actually expected to see happen, but holy fuck, it did. Made perfect sense, even if it's not quite a proper call up yet and was just a one off. But it may as well be a proper call up... the guy is over as FUCK. You only needed to see the reaction last night to know that.

The other good move is actually something I've been suggesting to people, but didn't think WWE would have the balls to do... and that was Goldberg absolutely dominating Lesnar once again to really establish that it wasn't just a fluke, Goldberg really has the guys number. Lesnar is still otherwise untouchable, he owned that rumble until Goldberg. But something about Goldberg just seems to be his kryptonite. And it brings about a lot of intruige now for the Lesnar/Goldberg WM match...

But other than those two things... I don't really think anything else about that match was particularly great. I don't entirely mind Orton as a winner, it just felt incredibly out of the left field and random. There's still plenty of time to go somewhere logical from here, but I just thought that there was so much more potential with other wrestlers. And Orton hasn't really done anything since coming back from his injury... he got dominated by Brock, had a feud with Bray which he openly admitted that he couldn't handle, so he joined them instead... and even that has felt a bit aimless. Plus there's the fact that... you know... Bray Wyatt was RIGHT THERE. There has to be SOME TIME, surely, to pull the trigger on him and actually make him seem, you know, important.

It's strange though... I usually find myself really enjoying the rumble and then being baffled with the winner... but this year it was sort of the other way around, with me being alright with the winner but somewhat uninterested with the actual rumble itself, at least until the last few people from after Lesnar showed up. I guess it's because we build ourselves up with all these potential scenarios in our heads, but it didn't really deliver any surprises outside of the two mentioned above with Dillinger and Goldberg and the winner, purely because of how random it felt.

But at least Reigns didn't win, huh? Look, I like Reigns, but I want to see WWE give the poor guy a fucking chance. Yet another Rumble win would have been criminal. But it almost felt as if they were using the hatred of Reigns to try to make people a little less annoyed with the Orton win. I notice this morning that a lot of reaction is "oh well, at least it wasn't Reigns again"... I wonder, if it was anybody else who Orton eliminated last, how people would be reacting.

 

[RavenBish]

The optimistic view is that they've booked feuds so well recently that a Rumble win wasn't required for lots of the obvious choices - Strowman and Reigns look strong going into their feud, Taker/Lesnar/Goldberg all remain intact (Taker looked AWFUL though) and the Goldberg/Lesnar feud doesn't need anymore hype generating. So they've used it to effectively push Orton AND Wyatt.

People will grow out of the Reigns thing eventually, he's too consistently good for them not to. At least they've got some awareness about it now though for the reasons stated above by having Orton eliminate him.

 

[Leewilson]

Pretty sure now you'll get Cena drop the title at Elimination Chamber (possibly to Wyatt). Cena then gets a rematch at WM along with Orton earning a shot through the Royal Rumble spot. You then have a triple threat and Cena going for title 17.

 

[TheMinsterman]

The Rumble sucked, and despite everybody trying to act like it was down to Reigns (no, that was down to them fantasy booking a number 30 debut in their heads) he isn't the reason why and it's so childish to focus it on him. No real surprise entrants of note, not really all that many big spots, they put huge names in, only for them to last less time than quite a lot of people involved (seriously, Lesnar, Goldberg and Taker all came out late and then were all eliminated, what was the point?) and nobody really came out of it looking all that great. Strowman did for a spell, but then the guy who took him out and should have then had some momentum himself before his elimination in Corbin just vanished after that.

The pick for winner is terrible, Cena v Orton... no thank you, should have just kept the belt on AJ and pulled the trigger on Wyatt seen as you set up all your other feuds without needing them to win the thing.

And there, imo, lays the issue. The Rumble was merely a set piece to set up some other feuds and then some bland guy won it, Orton doesn't need it, it now looks like yet another tedious Orton v Cena match (unless they now have Cena lose at EC). I get that you need to use it to build other things, but that's the point, all the big hitters were setting up feuds meaning nobody really involved in the finish mattered all that much. Even Reigns, he's either going after Strowman or Taker now.

 

[Oaf]

To be fair though regarding Cena vs Orton if they went down that route (which a lot of people seem to be assuming they will, but I don't see as being likely at this stage), yes it'll be a case of it happening for the 900th time... but honestly, back in 2009 when I wasn't really watching WWE, the feud and matches between those two was a large part of the reason that i got back into it. Some of the matches they had, the I Quit and Iron Man specifically, were fantastic.

But yeah, as I said I still don't really see them going for it. A triple threat or Orton vs Wyatt are my guesses. Logical story telling for me... plenty of ways it can go.

For example: Wyatt doesn't want one of his people going to the main event of WM instead of himself. Asks Orton for his spot, Orton says no... match at EC for that spot, some kind of tie bullshit, triple threat.

Or, Orton turns on Bray. He joined them on a "if you can't beat them, join them" basis... now he's back on top, he doesn't need him. Bray gets pissed, wins the EC title match for the title, Cena has his rematch clause, triple threat.

Or, and this is probably my choice... Orton and Bray stay on the same team despite this win, then Wyatt wins the title at EC... Cena gets his rematch, triple threat... but with Orton and Bray on the same team, it's near enough a handicap match, with Bray basically ordering Orton to help him win the title. Throw in a dash of "will Orton stay loyal to Bray or go for the title for himself?", as well as Cena having to face incredible odds for his record breaking 17th title... that shit writes itself.

I could probably sit here all day fantasy booking it, but let's just settle on this... my money is on a Wyatt/Orton/Cena triple threat, and, no matter how it ends up getting booked, Cena is walking out of WM 33 a 17 time world champ.

Now go and watch WWE have it end up as Baron Corbin vs Jack Swagger or something.

 

[iesty wfc]

i didnt think it was a terrible rumble match, but likewise i wasnt blown away by it. shame that Tye was the only surprise per se, but im glad they nailed on the 10 pick with him.

the rest though was a rumble by numbers. strowman had a strong spell and its a shame he didnt come in earlier. Henry got a nice pop in what will probably be his last rumble (Cole called him a future HoF-er - ewwwwww). Show looked good albeit briefly - his last rumble too?

lesnar thinned the pack out when the ring was getting a bit busy and i agree it was wise for Goldberg to destroy him. Taker??? bit of a waste for me

when it got down to the final three i couldnt see any other winner than Reigns so having Orton in a main event scene is refreshing as between injuries / acting / randomly punting people in the head, he hasnt had much of a run recently

 

[Oaf]

Gah, the more I think about it the more I just have to accept that WWE pulled a fucking masterstroke of a move on us all. It was a damn dirty trick, but they deserve kudos for how they played it. Using Roman Reigns as they did... the hatred the fans have of his constant push, the fact that he wasn't supposed to even be in the rumble (because from the story perspective, it made zero sense to have a guy in a title match also in the rumble... what if he'd beat Owens? Who'd have been number 30 then?) and then even having him eliminate Taker. A combination of acknowledging the fans hatred of him, purposefully infuriatingly illogical booking and having him eliminate the most popular guy in the match who most people wanted to see...

Then Orton throws him out, and we're delighted that Orton has won the Royal Rumble.

If it came down to basically anything else, I think people would have been pissed off with Orton winning it. Nobody would have him as a pick to win, either from a story perspective or through popularity. But now, WWE/Vince has a guy he fucking loves in the main event of Wrestlemania, and rather than us be pissed off about it we're delighted about it.

Well fucking played...

 

[Smally]

Well other than Orton vs Harper and the chamber match, that was pretty horrible. But the chamber match was fantastic. The crowd blew up for the first time in ages too

 

[Dolph Ziggler]

Well other than Orton vs Harper and the chamber match, that was pretty horrible. But the chamber match was fantastic. The crowd blew up for the first time in ages too

It's about time they did what they did too.

 

[Stevencc]

I don't think it was a bad show. Naomi/Bliss was enjoyable and the Orton/Harper match along with the Chamber match itself were both excellent, even if the result in the latter was a little less exciting than it could have been due to its predictability with Wrestlemania around the corner.