“It’s time for a FELLABRATION!”
Hey everyone, Harrison back at it once again with a review of last night’s WWE Royal Rumble 2012 Pay-Per-View from St. Louis, Missouri, with a thin card, but obviously headlined by the 30 (Not 40 man), Royal Rumble match, with the winner getting a Championship match at Wrestlemania XXVIII! Also on the card, CM Punk vs Dolph Ziggler for the WWE Championship, Daniel Bryan defending his World Heavyweight Championship against Mark Henry AND The Big Show in a Triple Threat Steel Cage Match, and would John Cena embrace the hate against Kane? It’s the 2012 Rumble, here, on The Harrison Analysis!
On commentary, Michael Cole, Jerry “The King” Lawler, and Booker T.
Daniel Bryan vs Mark Henry vs The Big Show (Triple Threat Steel Cage Match for the World Heavyweight Championship)
Okay, I can’t ignore this, and I have to bring it up…9 minutes. For a Steel Cage Title Match on the 2nd biggest WWE show of the year. Not good. Yes, I know, Mark Henry was going into that match injured, but why not do something like a Big Show beat-down angle backstage instead, and make it a singles match which isn’t compromised? What I will say though, is that for the time allowed, this match was fun, and it did a good job establishing itself story-wise, and highlighting Daniel Bryan’s run as a heel champion now. (Seriously though, they need to sit Mark Henry down for a long peroid of time, he should NOT be working hurt, he could be doing permanent damage to his ankle, he had to be carried off after the match ended). This was basically a Steel Cage Match with the fast forward button on, and that can be a good or a bad thing. Good opener though.
★★★
Beth Phoenix, Natalya & The Bella Twins vs Kelly Kelly, Eve, Alicia Fox & Tamina (Eight-Diva Tag Team Match)
This and the 8 minute video package (Which caused the fans to actually boo), before hand screams of blatant filler and that’s exactly what this match was, probably to compensate for the Steel Cage Match from earlier. The only thing that even mildly stood out was Eve selling concern for Zack Ryder and his injury sustained on the RAW from last week. Oh and Kelly Kelly did one of those babyface splashes on everyone. Lovely. NEXT. (PS: Does it have to take 8 Divas to get a match going longer than 5 minutes?)
★
John Cena vs Kane
Wow. This was…Interesting. I thought they would turn Cena here, but instead, they’re upping his aggression, which is a nice touch, because when he’s fired up, he does it better than anyone in the company, in my opinion. Kane’s done a great job of “humanizing” Cena’s character these past weeks, and this was another good example, as this was more of a fight than a match, and confirms what we already knew with the non finish, that the Masked Kane is a bad motherfu-…Anywho, this whole fued to me is showing that Cena is going to be the babyface going into the match with The Rock at Mania, and Kane is there to re-establish that. Obviously this’ll end at the Rumble, but I found this to be entertaining, and well done, especially for Kane, despite the non-finish.
★★
Brodus Clay vs Drew McIntyre
Guess this gives me an excuse to talk about Brodus Clay? Might as well. I like Clay’s character, but now he’s starting to look like that last guy at a party who refuses to leave while you’re trying to clean up. And poor old Drew, he’ll never be successful in the WWE now he cheated on his missues Tiffany. This was pointless, and I’ll explain why at the end. Next.
N/A
CM Punk vs Dolph Ziggler (WWE Championship Match)
Remember last year when people were hoping that Smackdown carried Pay-Per-Views? Not any more, the talent is firmly on the RAW side now, and CM Punk and Dolph Ziggler are legitimately two of the Top 10 in the world right now. Another great performance as per expected from Punk, and Ziggler keeps proving why he’s the company’s best workhorse right now, consistently performing like every match could be his last. Also, I liked the story of John Laurinaitis and Punk feuding, even if it makes Ziggler feel kind of secondary to the whole thing (If you think about it, Ziggler was “pinned” four times in one match), and the ref bump at the end dragged the match down just a tad, when it could have been at 4 star territory. A shame, considering where it was going, but it was a great 15 minute PPV match and a prelude to I think, something more.
★★★ ½ (Match of the Night)
The 2012 30-Man Royal Rumble Match (Winner gets a Championship Match at Wrestlemania XXVIII)
Okay, as with every Rumble, a lot to cover here, but I’ll try to keep this brief, and not turn into a high school essay. I was surprised Mick Foley came in so early, and I loved the surprise of Kharma coming in at #21, that was the only thing I was genuinely surprised at when it came to the Rumble last night, well, besides the winner, obviously.
What this Rumble showed me, is that the WWE roster, alkl of a sidden, in terms of talent is looking very thin. I think part of the problem is that there’s injuries, and in addition, they tried to make this Pay-Per-View a 6 match card, by takng valuable guys and putting them in pointless matches. In addition, if you’re going to have the entire commentary team enter the Rumble, why not just make it a 40-Person Rumble like last year, ditch the Brodus Clay/McIntyre match and maybe throw the Divas of Doom and Tyson Kidd in there as well, then they could fill the roster out better?
This was shaping up to be the worst Rumble ever, but the ending sequence between Sheamus and Jericho was superb, and nearly saved it. And the surprising finish was great, the Internet Wrestling Community, I think were genuinely in suspense and was surprised at the outcome. But still to me, that was the worst rumble I’ve personally sat through and watched, and the lack of names only hurt it. It was something that was good, but I personally expected better.
Who cares, FELLABRATION!
★★★ ½
Harrison’s Final Analysis on WWE Royal Rumble 2012
Hmmm, I have to borrow a quote from Maffew Gregg from Botchamania here, that sums this show up rather nicely; ” It felt like the writers thought up funny and amusing ideas rather than important ones. So there was a lot of entertainment in the match…but nothing felt meaningful or special (aka what the Rumble is supposed to be).”
The booking on this show was very messy and while fun and entertaining, wasn’t very satisfying and I felt like the whole thing was pieced together at the last minute. This was a step backwards from last year’s Excellent Rumble, and showed the WWE needs to inject some more names and fresh faces into the company. This wasn’t a bad show by any stretch, but it was one that left me with more questions than answers, and it didn’t meet my expectations. Let me know what you thought in the comments below. I’ve been Andre Harrison, thanks for reading, and Sayonara.
Harrison’s WWE Royal Rumble 2012 Rating: 6.5 out of 10 – Decent
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31 Jan 2012, 7:35 am
I feel you overrated both world title matches. I had them both at **1/2. Punk/Ziggler was a disaster in my opinion. I was hoping for so much there. Instead we had a heavily interrupted match, and what didnt involve Lauranitis, involved Punk making Ziggler look like a non threat by somehow dominating him. Let down huge as you could probably tell.
01 Feb 2012, 4:46 pm
Ah, see, this is why I don’t go into events with expectations, makes me looks at things in a more impartial way. I enjoyed both matches to an extent, but I can definitely see why you thought you were let down.