What I love about the Royal Rumble is that you can always tune in for a good time. You don’t have to be in the know when it comes to the latest storylines or the characters, but you’d still be entertained. And when it comes to the Royal Rumble match, it rarely disappoints. Royal Rumble this year was a mixed bag. It amplified the things we love about WWE while making the lows feel far worse than ever before.
The night started with the pre-show featuring the RAW Women’s Tag team championship match, with the champions Charlotte Flair and Asuka taking on Shayna Baszler and Nia Jax. In all honesty, this was just another tag match at the start. Nothing too fancy, a few good spots here and there, and nothing special to discuss.
The Asuka-Charlotte team has always been a weird afterthought, with no buildup, no storytelling, and always second fiddle to another “meh” storyline among the characters. Ric Flair intervened in the match with Lacey Evans to distract Charlotte which eventually led to her losing the match.
While the Ric Flair and Lacey Evans’ storyline has been cringy at best and abysmal at its worst, using the RAW Women’s’ champion Asuka as a lackey to the eventual Wrestlemania match between Flair and Lacey feels like a total waste of talent.
The first match on the main show was the WWE Champion Drew McIntyre taking on the returning Goldberg for the WWE championship. As pointless as this was supposed to be, kudos to the creative for actually trying to make Goldberg look somewhat better than his previous outings.
The two started brawling before the bell rang, which led to Drew spearing Goldberg and taking the brawl outside. Goldberg eventually speared McIntyre into the barricade, starting the match a few moments later.
Their match resembled Brock Lesnar vs Drew McIntyre in Wrestlemania for the title, but a lot sloppier. Two people hitting their finishers until one of them gets the three count. Goldberg honestly felt out of his depth and having him lift Drew for the jackhammer felt hard to watch. About time for the old man to hang up his boots for good.
While there’s no guarantee of what’s next for McIntyre, rest assured, we won’t have to see a lot of Goldberg anytime soon!
Next up, the Smackdown Women’s’ champion Sasha Banks took on Carmella for the blue-brand supremacy. It wasn’t that bad per se, but given that the person that stood out the most was Reginald, it wasn’t that great either.
Sasha started off pretty strong, but constant interferences’ from the challengers’ personal sommelier shifted the tide to Carmella’s side every once in a while. While both of them had their moments, Sasha never looked like she was going to lose.
While the new Carmella gimmick isn’t something I’m a big fan of, she can definitely take care of herself on a big occasion against an in-ring general like Sasha. Sasha’s run as a champion has been very good so far, and getting rid of the Carmella feud will only do good in the long run.
We move on to the first Royal Rumble match of the night, the Women’s Rumble.
A well booked, well-paced match that’s going to be the benchmark for Rumble matches in the near future, and for all the good reasons.
The Rumble started off with Bayley and Naomi as the first two entrants, followed by Bianca Belair coming in her tank and Billie kay joining the announce team before making it to the ring.
The first elimination happened as Shayna Baszler threw out Shotzi Blackheart. However, things started heating up with the arrival of Rhea Ripley as she started off very strong and got a few quick eliminations.
Torrie Wilson, Alicia Fox, Jillian Hall, Mickie James, Victoria, etc. made their returns, and all of them had some moments. From Alicia Fox winning the 24/7 title from R-Truth to Torrie Wilson stealing the spotlight for a while. All the popular returns felt wholesome and none felt out of place.
However, the biggest positive of this match is the pacing. From the start to the end, everything felt coherent. Even Ric Flair’s arrival with Lacey Evans didn’t look too bad. But, the ending was the perfect icing on the cake. Both Bianca and Ripley had been in the ring for a fairly long time, and the back and forth between them was exceptional. From both almost dropping to the floor at the same time, to do everything to throw their opponent out, the women were phenomenal.
While either of them winning would’ve made sense, it was Bianca’s moment. She has been a must-see ever since her Smackdown debut and today was no different. Her emotions after the win were heartwarming, and I’d really wanna see her win the gold against Sasha in WrestleMania.
For Rhea, it’s about time she moves up the ladder. She should be a main roster mainstay and preferably on Raw. With the acute dearth of women to take on Asuka, she’s the perfect fit to face the empress on Wrestlemania for the gold.
From there, The Universal Champion took on Kevin Owens in a last man standing match for the Universal title, and honestly, it didn’t disappoint.
From the start, both men dedicated to put their opponents through the worst. From beatdowns all over the arena, to low-blows, the match had everything.
Kevin Owens has made a name for himself for taking massive bumps, and today was no different. From jumping off a forklift ladder to getting run over by a golf-cart, Owens had gone through hell and beyond for the match.
However, the ending wasn’t that great. Owens tied Roman to a post and the referee almost counted the match. Roman low-blowed the referee, and by the time a replacement could arrive, Paul Heyman managed to save Roman. Eventually, Roman held Owens in a Guillotine choke and made him pass out. Thus avoiding the 10-count and retaining his title.
Finally, we reach the main event. The Men’s Royal Rumble match, and while it might be an unpopular opinion, it fell flat against just how good the women’s Royal Rumble was. By no means it was a bad Royal Rumble match, but it was bang-on average.
The match started with Edge and Randy Orton as the first to start the match. Edge attacked Randy before he could arrive and they started a brawl backstage. Sami Zayn and Mustafa Ali were the next to arrive and soon the mayhem began.
Some of the standout performers included Daniel Bryan, Riddle, and Damian Priest. Priest looked very good for his first Royal Rumble, while his wardrobe choices can be questioned. Him eliminating Miz and Morrisson in quick time and getting rid of Kane definitely showed his wrestling chops.
Furthermore, seeing Riddle and Daniel Bryan going one-on-one while using the best of their tactical chops was as good as it gets. But the biggest return of the night was the return of the People’s Champion, Christian. Coming in at 24th, Christian looked like he never lost his touch. His moments with Edge were brilliant and it’ll be great to see him back for one last ride!
While Edge winning the rumble is a special feeling, there are a few issues that I couldn’t look past. The Bad Bunny segment was unnecessary, and Corbin eliminating Big E will have no long term value. The returns of Hurricane and Kane didn’t help the match either.
Overall, it was a good match, but compared to the women’s match, it felt like an average Rumble that you won’t remember much.
Honestly, Royal Rumble this year was great. There were great moments and very satisfying outcomes. However, there were certain moments that could’ve been done better, and carrying the same storylines without a target doesn’t seem like a good idea!
In conclusion, Royal Rumble 2021 might not be considered as one of the best PPVs of the year. It’s a solid event that could’ve done a lot better!