Triple H saves WWE Royal Rumble 2016 from mediocrity
Last night the Royal Rumble took place at the Amway Center in Orlando and threw up a few surprises but ultimately failed to inspire. It just isn’t what it was and deep down even the fans know it.
The angle this year, which we were constantly reminded of, was that Roman Reigns was to defend his title in the actual Royal Rumble. That’s right, whoever won the rumble would win the WWE World heavyweight Champion. “History was to made!” - although this wasn’t actually the first time the title was on the line at the Royal Rumble.
With the constant animosity between Reigns and The Authority, the defending champion was drawn to come out first, meaning he would have to oversee the elimination of the remaining 29 competitors. We were told that the odds were against him, as they have been for the last year or so, in a boring bid to make Reigns popular with the fans. Just let it go, it will never work!
And so it transpired that The League of Nations were to gang up on him and render him useless as he was sent back stage, noticeably not actually eliminated yet. Obviously we knew that he would eventually return when half the roster were already gone.
A J Styles made his debut for the WWE coming in at third and stuck around for a fair bit. Jericho did a similar stint and almost made it all the way. Brock Lesnar came in and eliminated almost everyone at once, including the entire Wyatt family, who continue to lose their fear factor. Brock and Jericho were eventually eliminated, whilst Reigns predictably came back (to an audible chorus of boos) and looked like he could retain his title after getting rid of 29th entry and arch rival (that no one cares about) Sheamus.
At this point no one really cared who was going to win until Triple H made a surprise entry as number 30 and basically cleared the rest of the deadwood before putting crazy man Dean Ambrose over the top rope to win the title. This sets him up for the Wrestle Mania main event bout with….. we don’t know yet. It was the most realistic outcome: best wrestler enters last, best wrestler wins. Although no one would have moaned if The beast Lesnar won.
What we do know is that none of the new generation wrestlers can ever compare to the likes of The Game, therefore pleasing a whole bunch of hardcore fans tired of seeing pathetic personalities at the top of the pile. Triple H saved the day, saved Royal Rumble, saved pro wrestling and saved WWE, at least for another few weeks.
The rest of the Royal Rumble results were as follows (winners in bold):
Last Man Standing Match: Dean Ambrose vs Kevin Owens
United States Championship: Kalisto vs Alberto Del Rio
Tag Team Title: The New Day vs The Usos
The Divas Title: Charlotte Flair vs Becky Lynch
Royal Rumble Kick Off Match: Mark Henry and Jack Swagger vs The Dudley Boys vs The Ascension vs Darren Young and Damian Sandow
