It’s time for the first of the four premiere WWE events, the Royal Rumble. Which means it’s time for our Royal Rumble 2022: The Hits And Misses From St. Louis!
As we like to do for these PPVs…sorry…”Premium Live Events“…we will talk about what worked, and what didn’t.
Hence, the hits and misses.
Makes sense, right? Of course it does…it’s not rocket surgery!
Points for the readers who got that movie reference…
Anyways, what could we expect from the hits and misses?
Well…any good surprises in either the men’s or women’s Rumbles, for one.
Heck, at this point, will we have ANY surprises left this year?
And, of course, two major men’s championship bouts.
But, the show is called the Royal Rumble, and the main points of interest are those men’s and women’s elimination matches.
So…with the clock counting down, lets get into things.
And, for a change this time around…we shall do alternating hits and misses…just because.
Royal Rumble 2022: The Hits And Misses From St. Louis!
Source: @WWE, Twitter, Screenshot
Right out of the gate, we start with…
A hit!
Seth Rollins versus Roman Reigns.
From the return of the Shield (music and attire for Seth), to the mind games, good match and smart ending.
Yes, I hate a non-finish…but here it makes sense. I was actually thinking we could have seen the title change hands here, for one reason.
Reigns versus Lesnar does not need a title.
But, for now, Reigns retains. Can totally see this one getting revisited, and having a different ending, sometime in the future.
A miss!
The women’s Royal Rumble.
So much wrong with this match. Where do I begin?
For me, the only surprises we had left for us? Sarah Logan, Ivory and Molly Holly.
Oh, and Alicia Fox.
But here’s the thing…all of those returns, outside of Fox, were also quick eliminations.
Or, put another way…outside of a few…they were wasted entrants.
I say this for a few reasons.
For one, the extra nostalgia acts would not be required had someone not axed a bunch of talent in the last year.
Another? Some more logical choices were not brought in-no Alexa Bliss, no Paige, no Asuka.
One more strike: not a single NXT woman. No Raquel Gonzalez, no Mandy Rose.
Also…no Bayley.
What I want doesn’t even exist yet. #RoyalRumble pic.twitter.com/r2rjKCP4Jf
— Bayley (@itsBayleyWWE) January 30, 2022
If that’s not a shot at the NXT brand, I don’t know what is…because I can think of NXT talent who should have been used before bringing Ivory and Alicia Fox in, for sure.
Last: the booking in general. It was a miss to have Banks out so early, and I am not enamored with Flair and Rousey being the last two, just to set up a match that didn’t need the Rumble to pull it off.
Source: @WWE, Twitter, Screenshot
A Hit!
OK, now that I crapped almost entirely all over the women’s Rumble…
There were some hits out of it.
First, Sarah Logan…nice to see her back, even if her return was wicked short. Curious to see if she’s coming back, or it was strictly a one-off.
Second, Brie Mode, before doing anything else, busting out the Yes chants.
Third, nice that WWE let Mickie James wear the Impact title to the ring. I mean, yes, they had acknowledged that fact…but didn’t know if they’d let her wear it or not.
A miss!
Man, Brock is going to wish he interfered in that opening match…
A hit!
That double cross we had heard was possible? It happened.
Heyman got fired by Roman Reigns in December.
Paul Heyman gave Reigns the WWE Championship at the Rumble, so that the Tribal Chief could bash Lesnar with it.
The Beast is going to be one angry man
A miss!
Bad night for the fireworks. Or the fans who sat under the WrestleMania sign.
And, for that matter…that sign itself…if signs had feelings.
The fireworks that went off on the #WrestleMania sign after Ronda Rousey won appear to have melted it. The entirety of the section below the sign has been evacuated. #RoyalRumble pic.twitter.com/Nb0oMoN6WJ
— Louis Dangoor (@TheLouisDangoor) January 30, 2022
A hit!
McAfee (and Cole) calling the men’s Rumble.
A miss!
Omos…he’s not so good that he deserved to have a major run in the Rumble. Fortunately it was only a mini-run…and a nice elimination assist from AJ Styles.
A hit!
McIntyre was said to be out with neck issues, and with those…you never quite know. He returned for the Rumble, and got the biggest pop in that match to that point.
A miss!
Wow…the men’s Rumble match delivered a lot of misses too.
Like…the whole match. Sure, some neat moments, like Roode and Styles, or Styles and Nakamura…but those aren’t enough to save this.
source: @WWE, Twitter, Screenshot
Our big surprises? Bad Bunny…Shane McMahon…and Lesnar, of which that last one was super predictable.
Huge way for WWE to crap all over NXT. Like, for how many years in a row have we seen at least a couple NXT Superstars in the Rumble matches…and none in either this year.
Here’s why Lesnar winning wasn’t all that good: Lesnar and Reigns did not need a Rumble win to happen-that was taken care of earlier in the evening.
source: @WrestleMania, Twitter, Screenshot
And that match does not even need a title to make things interesting.
I am sure some are happy…but this Rumble match felt like it wasn’t booked well, and looking at Twitter, I am not alone in those thoughts.
And just like that, we wrap up our Royal Rumble 2022 hits and misses…and the show, I think, had far more misses than it should have.
