If you were among those disenchanted with the WWE Royal Rumble PPV, you were not alone.
We've heard from a number of sources in the company who were frustrated with the constant changes in the Rumble matches over the course of the last week and felt that was a direct cause for the quality (or lack of) for the Rumble matches themselves. As we reported earlier, one source noted the Men's Rumble alone changed "20 times" over the course of the days leading to the Rumble matches between spots that were devised, changed and discarded, changes in eliminations, order of entrances and even interactions between talents. We have since heard that was the experience for the Women's Rumble match as well. All of the changes led to a frustrating day for talents with a lot of moving parts that kept shifting, so for some, it just turned into a confusing hodgepodge of things they needed to remember or dispose of mentally. It all came down from Vince McMahon as he had his fingers deep in every aspect of the PPV.
The morale after the show was very down compared to most recent WWE PPVs because as one talent (who commented under condition of anonymity) stated, "We were all in a whirlwind. Just as you had your role and spots down, everything started over and over and now most of us were back to square one. It changed again and again and again. It wasn't an easy night even before we hit the ring."
WWE President Nick Khan was at the Rumble, arriving to the building with Shane McMahon.
Ben LeDoux sent word in his live report from the Royal Rumble that the Wrestlemania sign was burning AGAIN after the pyro for Brock Lesnar's Rumble win.
A number of readers, including Tim Windhalm, noted that overhead spotlight that WWE used around the ring last night in St. Louis was blinding fans in the audience and there was a consistent “turn the light off” chant that keep popping up between Rumble entrants.
We've been asked if Johnny Knoxville's ring gear was a tribute to Andy Kaufman. I haven't heard that was the case, but I could certainly see the similarities.
We've heard from a number of sources in the company who were frustrated with the constant changes in the Rumble matches over the course of the last week and felt that was a direct cause for the quality (or lack of) for the Rumble matches themselves. As we reported earlier, one source noted the Men's Rumble alone changed "20 times" over the course of the days leading to the Rumble matches between spots that were devised, changed and discarded, changes in eliminations, order of entrances and even interactions between talents. We have since heard that was the experience for the Women's Rumble match as well. All of the changes led to a frustrating day for talents with a lot of moving parts that kept shifting, so for some, it just turned into a confusing hodgepodge of things they needed to remember or dispose of mentally. It all came down from Vince McMahon as he had his fingers deep in every aspect of the PPV.
The morale after the show was very down compared to most recent WWE PPVs because as one talent (who commented under condition of anonymity) stated, "We were all in a whirlwind. Just as you had your role and spots down, everything started over and over and now most of us were back to square one. It changed again and again and again. It wasn't an easy night even before we hit the ring."
WWE President Nick Khan was at the Rumble, arriving to the building with Shane McMahon.
Ben LeDoux sent word in his live report from the Royal Rumble that the Wrestlemania sign was burning AGAIN after the pyro for Brock Lesnar's Rumble win.
A number of readers, including Tim Windhalm, noted that overhead spotlight that WWE used around the ring last night in St. Louis was blinding fans in the audience and there was a consistent “turn the light off” chant that keep popping up between Rumble entrants.
We've been asked if Johnny Knoxville's ring gear was a tribute to Andy Kaufman. I haven't heard that was the case, but I could certainly see the similarities.
