The first premium live event of the year is finally here, which leads me to this…WWE Royal Rumble 2024: The Best And Worst of the show.
Simple concept, right?
I thought so. Almost as simple as eyeing the results from every RAW by clicking here…
So, no disrespect to either of the title matches on the card, but they are not the focus.
The eponymous matches are. We have the women’s and men’s 30 Superstar, over the top rope Royal Rumble matches.
Whomever wins those two matches locks themselves in for a major match in Philly in April.
So with that said, the focus for the best and possibly worst of the Rumble will be those two matches.
We have the women’s match opening the show, and the men’s Rumble closes us out.
It’s the kickoff of the Road to WrestleMania, and one show that is assured to be overflowing with crazy spots and big surprises.
Buckle up and lets dive in!
WWE Royal Rumble 2024: The Best And Worst
Might as well get the bad stuff out of the way first, right?
The Worst
I have to say it, because it’s just there.
There will never be a good time for what came out about Vince McMahon late in the week. But it does suck that it came out just a couple days before the Rumble.
Took a little of the excitement away, and I am not trying at all to be insensitive. Just being honest.
In terms of the matches?
Caught a few botches, some could be nerves (Ivy Nile, in her first Rumble, had at least a couple). Not ripping anyone apart, veterans and first timers had them, but I needed stuff for this section.
The middle of the women’s Rumble caught a bit of a lull. Not sure why, but it came in hot, ended hot, but the middle was only so-so.
Most knew she wasn’t going to be there, but still a bummer we couldn’t get a Sasha return.
The women’s match was, overall, better than the men’s. Some contend that this was also the case with the 2023 edition.
Why is this bad? I expected more out of the main event.
Seems we had more surprises in the women’s match. Perhaps this was due to some key talents being out and providing some open spots.
Pat McAfee is awesome, but a self-elimination in 38 seconds is not. Can’t help but wonder if Pat got the Brock slot.
And it can’t all be bad, which leads us to…
The Best
Pat McAfee. So predictable but still a nice surprise, and would love to see WWE use some of the new TV money to entice him back full time.
WWE having any sort of working agreement with TNA is a win. Jordynne Grace is a legit star, and deserved the opportunity.
Naomi and Grace gave us one of the early awesome moments of the evening, and hopefully we see more of Jordynne in a WWE ring…eventually.
Not an issue tonight.
Jade Cargill had about as good a debut as you could hope for. Great showing, getting her into the final three as well.
Bayley winning it all was nice, and while she said she was gunning for Rhea…will she really do that?
And on the men’s side…
I am old enough to remember a time when many never thought they could string out Jimmy and Jey until WrestleMania. And now, they’ve basically done it, and gave us a teaser to start the Rumble.
Took us a little longer to see him, but Andrade is indeed back and looking great.
Bron Breakker had a nice showing. Main Event Jey did too.
Gunther will get there eventually.
Outside of Andrade, there really wasn’t a surprise though. Sure, Sami returning was nice…but it was not on the level of an MJF or Okada type surprise.
Some rumors ahead of the match made me expect a huge surprise (Like, was The Rock coming out at 30). The ending was really good, but not as good as my hopes were.
Still, been a long time since we had a back to back winner, and the path for Punk to challenge Rollins is simple enough.
So, for WWE, the Royal Rumble in 2024 is in the books. Perhaps a bit predictable, and I would say that the women going last would have been a smart choice…but overall, still fun.
And just like that…we are on the Road to WrestleMania!
