WWE: Royal Rumble (2017) Reviews

• Great undercard, but they kinda royally screw up main event, a bit. Royal Rumble 2017 was just alright, because of that.

  ironhorse_iv2017-02-02

  'Royal Rumble' has always been one of the most important pay-per-views in the WWE, because of the fact that the winner of the main event will earn a title shot at the biggest wrestling show of the year, 'WrestleMania'. '2017 Royal Rumble' was no different. This year's event had limitless potential, with a variety of big matches scheduled to change the face of WWE in major ways. Hailed once again from the Alamo Dome in San Antonio, TX, last being 'Royal Rumble 1997'. The card featured some of the best entertaining matches, I have ever saw in one show. Sadly, the pre-show matches weren't part of that of the deal. Let's start with the first pre-show match, Becky Lynch, Nikki Bella, and Naomi facing 'Smackdown' Women's Champion Alexa Bliss, Mickie James, and Natalya in a three women tag. Without spoiling the match, too much, this is exactly what you expected from a preshow women tag match. A mishmash of a whole bunch of individual story lines, being put into one with a strange bed-fellows match that will solve nothing, until the next single match. While it wasn't terrible by any means, it was simply there for the sake of getting the 'Smackdown' women on the show, so it doesn't look like, all of the talent in that division went to the 'RAW' show. Talking about the ladies of 'RAW', it's sad to see, how far, Sasha Banks has fallen since December PPV 'Roadblock: End of the Line' and furthermore, Nia Jax who had a great run in NXT, but so overlook in the main roster. While, this match was mostly a squash, this ladies feud deserves to be, on the main show. The storyline is quite good. Anyways, this brings us to the last match on the preshow, a 'Raw' Tag Team Championship match between the champions, Sheamus & Cesaro Vs 'The Club' (Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows), which I wasn't really looking forward to, because of two reasons. One, I never like, WWE lame attempt to capitalize on a NJPW promotion's stable, as I found their 'Club' to be a total rip-off. Second off, I didn't like, how WWE has misused Anderson & Gallows by having them, look weak, the last several months. Because of this, I found their lukewarm tag matches to be mediocre, at best. Added that to how much, I dislike the idea of Cesaro & Sheamus, teaming up, and you got a match, I really couldn't get into, even if a title match was indeed on a preshow. Don't get me wrong, the match itself was good enough to be on the main card, but the title change barely justify how much momentum the 'RAW' tag team members and division has lost, since the draft in July. Even if that division seem down, at least, the women division has been steady with Charlotte Vs Bayley starting the main show. It was short, but decent. Also, I don't mind the storyline PPV streak that WWE is going with Charlotte, but however, it will get, pretty predictable, in the next couple of months. After that, Rich Swann defended the WWE Cruiserweight Championship against Neville in a match that I found to be OK. I like Swann, but champion; not so much. Heel Neville is the best thing to happen to the cruiserweight division since the Cruiserweight Classic. Hopefully, this would stop the hot potatoes that been happening with the title, as of late. Next, Kevin Owens defended the WWE Universal Championship against Roman Reigns in a No-Disqualification match, with United States Champion Chris Jericho suspended above the ring in a shark cage. It was an alright match, but it did seem like WWE is trying to sell Mattel's Crash Cage Playset, more than the story logic of the match, itself. It has some jarring plot-holes, like how is Reigns ribs and chest can be, in so much pain, during the match, if he's wearing a bulletproof vest and how ridiculous was it, for him to able to kicked out of a Superman Punch with brass knuckles. It was a match that made little sense. It was not the match of the night. That title goes to AJ Styles Vs John Cena for the WWE Championship. It was a fantastic fight that will live down in history. While, I'm not a huge Cena fan, I believe this match, silence a lot of his haters. It made both men look good. Rumble Match is next, with this match typically, having one of the most divisive booking decisions of the year that can either be embraced with immense adoration or met with biting criticism, depending on who is victorious. While, this 30th event under the Royal Rumble chronology wasn't as bad as recent Royal Rumble were, like 2014 or 2015; it did had some faults. The flaws of the match reads like this; I would had love to see, more surprise debuts from NXT or even as recent as the UK Championship Tournament. It felt like a letdown. Also, it would have been fun to see a few legends, added to the mixed. Last, having a previous title challenger who compete, earlier on the night, come out to try to win the Royal Rumble, seem misguide, since the other loser from the other world title match, did not. It felt like hogging all the spotlight that could had gone to somehow else like Samoa Joe. It left a sour taste in so many people's mouths. It's a bad omen. Despite that, the majority of this match was highly entertaining, but it seems as though WWE once more has gone with a controversial ending that won't please a good portion of the fans. Is it really hard to give, what the majority of fans want, Vince!? Overall: The show was watchable, but it also left much to be desired. Maybe, next year show would be better.