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Royal Rumble 2014

The SmarK Rant for WWE Royal Rumble 2014

Aka A Harsh Lesson in Crowd Psychology.

Live from Pittsburgh, PA

Your hosts are Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler & JBL

I’m trying this on the WWE app, even without Michael Cole instructing me how to do it! In the pre-game match, the New Age Outlaws actually get a sixth tag title in a decent match, thus ending the reign of Cody & Goldust in the most underwhelming way possible.

But first, to the mailbag!

So far, everyone seems to think it's a surefire bet that Batista is winning the Rumble, and then going on to headline Mania against either Cena or Orton.

But Batista, in his skinny jeans, Justin Bieber sweater, and nose stud looked like King Douche of Douche Mountain last week. If he wins the Rumble, that will be going against everything the fans actually want to see.  That seems like a recipe for the fans to almost immediately turn on the guy.  And Batista vs. either Orton/Cena as the main event of Mania seems like the most boring thing to ever be consideZzzzzzzzzzzz.

So my question is this: if that's the main event we're getting for Mania, what are the odds the crowd shits all over it and spends the entire match chanting for Daniel Bryan?  Seems like that would be an awful big embarrassment for the main event of the 30th anniversary of Wrestlemania, but I feel like that may be the path we're heading down.

Come on, you think an entire crowd would hijack the second-biggest PPV of the year? That wouldn’t happen! That’s crazy talk!

Daniel Bryan v. Bray Wyatt

Slugfest to start and Bryan puts him down with a knee, but gets nailed from behind. Bryan stops to nail Harper with a dive, so the ref sends the Wyatts back to the dressing room, which Bray actually is fine with. Bryan hits him with a dive as well and back in with a high cross for two. Bray tosses him, but charges and hits the stairs. Back in, Bryan works on the leg and wraps him up with a bow-and-arrow, then opts just to kick him in the face instead. That gets two. Bryan is still throwing kicks and destroying the knee, and they fight over a suplex on the apron. Wyatt takes him down to the floor, and back in where Bray throws him around and goes to a chinlock. Wyatt pounds the head and sends him into the post, so Bryan bails, and Bray follows him out there with a senton on the floor. Back in, that gets two. Bray clotheslines him under the ropes for two and continues pounding the head. Crabwalk, and he keeps going back to a neck vice, but Bryan makes the comeback and sends him into the corner for some kicks. To the top for a rana that gets two. Not really expecting Bray Wyatt to be taking highspots, but I’ll go with it. Bray puts him down with an elbow for two, however. Bryan dumps him and follows with a tornado DDT off the apron. Back in for the missile dropkick and the Yes Kicks, which get two. Corner dropkicks, but Bray catches him with a huge lariat for two. Sister Abigail is reversed into a rollup for two, however. Bryan with the Yes-Lock, but Bray bites his hand to break! To the top and they exchange headbutts to the alternating delight and annoyance of the crowd, but Wyatt goes down first and Bryan follows with the flying headbutt. Bray bails again and Bryan follows with the dive, but Bray catches him and Abigails him into the railing in an AWESOME spot, and back in for another one to finish at 21:35 and deflate the crowd. And thus the show was stolen. ****

Meanwhile, the WWE is about to be conquered and subjugated by Viking Space Lord Brock Lesnar, or so Paul Heyman would have you believe.

Big Show v. Brock Lesnar

This needs to be a total slaughter of epic proportions, especially given how much Show had the upper hand in the buildup. And indeed, Brock immediately takes him down and pounds the shit out of him with a chair, and man that looks like it hurts. The sympathetic crowd asks for one more time, and Brock obliges. The ref finally gets the chair away from him, so Heyman gives Brock ANOTHER one, forcing Show to throw the punch. Brock bails and Show tosses him around on the floor, and back in, where Brock puts him out of his misery with the F5 at 1:15. Really 5:15 if you count all the stuff before the official bell. ½* Really he shouldn’t have even had to sell the punch given the beating he delivered with the chair. And then he just totally destroys Show with the chair on the floor afterwards, in the name of GOOD SPORTMANSHIP. Perhaps Show will cry about it on RAW tomorrow. Of course then Show just sells it like a mild case of indigestion on the way out, instead of getting carted out on a stretcher or in an ambulance, like you’d want for someone getting set up against Undertaker.

Meanwhile, on a show that I paid $45 to watch, a COMMERCIAL for tax services. I’m in Canada, I can’t even use that! And isn’t Jackson Hewitt one of the guys in developmental right now?

Meanwhile, the Shield squabbles about who drew what number for the Rumble. Roman Reigns is pretty confident either way.

Meanwhile, Randy Orton is confident that he’s the only face of the WWE, and not a “Duck Dynasty reject” like Bray Wyatt. Harsh words.

WWE World title: Randy Orton v. John Cena

The awesome crowd chants for Daniel Bryan after the ring intros, which the announcers are forced to totally ignore. Orton stomps Cena down to start and grabs a headlock while the crowd chants for Bryan again, and now the announcers have to acknowledge it, which allows JBL to bury him. And now the hijacking continues with the chant switching to Randy Savage as Orton gets a suplex and seems to be letting it get to him. Back to the headlock as the crowd now wants to see Jericho and this is approaching glorious trainwreck territory. Well, now Pittsburgh is never getting a TV show again, way to go. Orton back to the chinlock as the crowd continues turning on the match before it even gets started. They fight on the floor and the crowd is having none of it, going back to Daniel Bryan as Orton is losing his mind. DDT gets two and apparently they both suck in the eyes of the crowd. JBL is all “Ha ha, those WWE fans, they be all expressing themselves and shit!” but you know Vince is screaming bloody murder into the earpieces right now. Cena tries a comeback, but Orton powerslams him for two. Cena with a neckbreaker for two. They fight on top and Cena comes down with the guillotine for two, but Orton gets the backbreaker for two. The crowd aggressively does not care about any of this and it’s awesome. So Orton gives him a DDT off the apron, to his credit not flipping out over getting caught in this, and back in Cena reverses the RKO into the STF. Five Knuckle Shuffle, but the ref is bumped, because that’s exactly the thing this fucking match needed. So Orton taps with no ref, then comes back and puts Cena down with the belt as the doctor manages to revive the ref by slapping him around or something. So now we’ve had a ref bump and a beltshot as the crowd switches to “This is awful”. If I could award star ratings to a crowd, I’d be tempted to go the full monty here. Cena with the FU for two, but Orton hits the RKO for two. Orton misses the punt and Cena tries the FU, but Orton reverses that to an STF. Cena reverses to a crossface, so Orton gives him an FU for two. And then Cena hits a RKO for two. To the top, but Orton fights out, so Cena hits a tornado DDT and the STF in the middle. And here’s the Wyatts, as expected. Cena is DISTRACTED, and the RKO finishes at 20:54. So in the match promised as the “traditional wrestling match” we ended up with a ref bump, a foreign object, and a run-in distraction finish. The crowd chants “THANK YOU WYATT” to top it off. The really funny thing is that the match wasn’t BAD or anything, and it was probably one of the better ones where everyone hated it. I mean, they were trying hard to overcome the crowd, but it was the wrong match for the wrong crowd tonight. *** Bray gives Cena the Sister Abigail, so as expected Daniel Bryan proved to be the setup guy for Cena’s Wrestlemania program. “No one expected this!” Michael Cole notes. I’m pretty sure the betting line would disagree with that.

Meanwhile, we recap the Outlaws winning the tag titles and they un-invite Renee Young from their victory party.

Meanwhile, we get the Elmination Chamber commercial, the show that is basically going to end the PPV era for wrestling. And it features Stephanie McMahon, because of course it does.

Royal Rumble: CM Punk is of course #1, and that leads to another awkward moment where they’re like “Two people have won the match at #1 before, Shawn Michaels and…HEY WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?” Seth Rollins is #2 and they exchange kicks to start before Punk puts him down with a running knee and high kick. Damien Sandow is #3 and the heels team up on Punk, but he gives them both a neckbreaker at the same time. Cody Rhodes is #4 and he slugs it out with Sandow and hits the Crossroads, allowing Punk to backdrop him out at 3:54. So now Punk and Rhodes work Rollins over, but Kane is #5. Wearing a suit! Kane lays a beating on Punk, but a high kick puts him out at 5:47. ALEXANDER RUSEV is #6 as NXT represents! Rusev destroys everyone but can’t quite toss Cody or Rollins, and everyone hangs on until Jack Swagger is #7. And the crowd actually gives Swagger a babyface reaction for slugging it out with Rusev! Kofi Kingston is #8, although I’m sure the crowd doesn’t know his NXT history with Rusev. Former tag champs Kofi and Punk battle in the corner, and nothing else going on with Jimmy Uso at #9. More nothing and Goldust is #10.

Goldust cleans house and everyone gangs up on Rusev and dumps him at 13:11. Punk chucks Kofi out as well, but Rusev catches him and puts him on the railing for a beating, which gives us our Kofi Spot for the year, as he jumps from there to the ring! Dean Ambrose is #11 and it’s more nothing. Dolph Ziggler is #12 to wake up the crowd. Their optimism is likely misguided. More kicking and punching. R-Truth is #13 as the jobber parade continues. Ambrose dropkicks him out right away at 18:18. Uso goes up and Ambrose shoves him out at 18:38 as well. Don’t ever go to the top rope in the Rumble! That’s the first rule! Kofi manages to hang on by his boots, and Kevin Nash is #14. I was promised a retirement! Swagger is gone at 20:00. And Roman Reigns rounds out the Shield at #15. And the destruction begins. Kofi is gone at 21:50. Dolph at 22:15. Nash at 22:22. Hopefully he didn’t blow a quad on the way down. Great Khali is #16 and the Shield gangs up on him and gets him out at 23:45. And then Goldust accidentally puts Cody out at 24:10, allowing Reigns to dump Goldust at 24:20. Awww. Sheamus returns at #17 and goes after the Shield, nearly breaking my stream. I will say, the WWE app version has been perfect up until now. The Miz is #18 as business is really picking up now. JBL notes that Shawn won in 1996 at 18, which is insulting to both Shawn Michaels and Rumble winners in general. Fandango is #19, and I’m not giving him much of a chance here. Just a hunch. More aimless wandering and the crowd is anxious for Daniel Bryan. Yeah, not happening. El Torito is #20 and obviously they’re not even trying this year.

Fandango lays Torito out, but gets dropkicked out by the midget at 30:42. OH COME ON. Roman thankfully gets rid of him at 31:08. Antonio Cesaro is #21, and he HAS to giant swing someone out of the match. And it’s the Miz! Sadly, Punk interrupts, and then Rollins takes the swing instead. And it’s 30 revolutions as Luke Harper is #22. Nothing going on there and Jey Uso is #23. Ring’s filling up so Batista has to be coming soon. JBL is #24 for the big babyface pop as Cole notes that “The JBL character” has never entered the Rumble before. And Reigns dumps him at 36:54 to end that epic run. They’re really reaching now. Erick Rowan is #25 as this desperately needs some real star power and/or contenders. The Wyatts rob us of a Miz Wrestlemania main event repeat at 38:32. Jey Uso is gone at 39:08. Ryback is #26. Sheamus slugs it out with Cesaro, and Alberto Del Rio is #27. No one cares. More punching and kicking as the crowd is bored as well. And then we’re onto #28 with Batista to hopefully clear the ring a bit. And the crowd TURNS ON HIM! Rowan is out at 42:48. Ryback charges him and goes over the top like the Network at 43:15. Del Rio goes for the armbar and Batista dumps him at 43:48. Big E Langston is #29 and unless Daniel Bryan is behind the curtain, this is going to Batista. Nope, it’s Rey at #30 and the crowd boos the FUCK out of that. Rey and Punk battle on the apron while the crowd turns on the whole match and wants Daniel Bryan. This is gonna be ugly. Sheamus boots Big E out at 46:54. Rey with the 619 on Rollins, but he gets kicked out at 47:54. This crowd is PISSED. Reigns puts Harper out with the Superman punch at 48:30, and the Shield argues, leading to Reigns eliminating Rollins, Ambrose and Cesaro at 48:55.

Final Four: We’ve got Punk, Reigns, Batista and Sheamus. Kane returns to screw Punk at 49:27 to continue that feud no one wanted. The crowd is still chanting for Daniel Bryan and booing Batista out of the building. Batista powerslams Reigns, and Sheamus puts him down and POINTS TO SIGN, which the crowd also shits on. Reigns spears him off the apron at 53:07 to set the new elimination record, and the crowd would now like him to win. Reigns with a clothesline out of the corner, but Batista comes back with his own spear and the crowd boos the shit out of him. Reigns with his spear, but Batista tosses him to win at 55:24. So this was…something. Not the worst Rumble ever, but certainly one of them. **1/2 Although the perverse entertainment of the crowd shitting all over everything almost made up for the completely uninspired match.

The Pulse

Although the show kind of sucked, I certainly got my $50 worth of entertainment out of it in a very Bash ’91 “total rejection of everything being presented” type of way. Although apparently WWE hates their audience in a very real way, so the war that will be ongoing over the next two months will probably be far more fascinating than anything in the ring.

Comments

  1. I twas funny you butthurt IWC moron.

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  2. Vince built up a billion dollar corporation, what the fuck have you done with your pathetic life?

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  3. Says the nerd virgin who never got out of their parent's basement.

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  4. Bryan has not been jobbed out your moron, as usual the IWC uses terms wrong.

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  5. Bullshit, you will to like the rest of the IWC virgin nerds.

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  6. IWC nerds are hilariously stupid.

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  7. How much would have the building & Twitter exploded if @reymysterio took off his mask & it was @WWEDanielBryan #RoyalRumble


    https://twitter.com/THETOMMYDREAMER/status/427675113400832000

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  8. At what point do people actually start throwing stuff in the ring? Because they won't be able to sweeten the audio then.


    Anyway, I'll keep checking this blog to find out what happened on Raw and if anything takes my fancy I'll skip to that bit on the DVR. At this point, though, I'll give it until Mania and if I don't like what I'm seeing I'm happy to walk away.

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  9. Not gonna lie: The Daniel Bryan Pregnancy Test practically writes itself.

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  10. I was really hoping for the garbage throwing. I think they threaten to arrest you before the show.

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  11. Is there any other kind? o.O

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  12. If they could have pulled it off withouy being fojnd out, it would have been my favorite Rumble finish of all da times.

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  13. If 100-200 people pelted that ring with stuff, there wouldn't be enough police presence to manage the situation. You don't have to hurt anyone with batteries or coins, but a couple of rolls of toilet paper strewn across the ropes (a la One Night Stand 2006) would send a message.

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  14. The saddest fact of this to me is that the Daniel Bryan fuck up is going to completely overshadow Reigns and Wyatt having a great night.

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  15. Samson would have to lose his beard. Not sure how Samson's followers (or Delilah Bella) would feel about that.

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  16. Im very upset I didnt order this just for the crowd alone. I don't care what show it is, a hot crowd, or a rabidly pissed crowd like last night seemed, is worth an order alone. Great recap.

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  17. As well they should. Boo, just don't go to the shows, whatever, but don't throw things at performers. It's not Batista's fault.

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  18. Not read he rest of the comments in here but I wonder if HBK heard the crowd tonight and thought "I want a piece of the action with Bryan at WM". I know it's unlikely but that crowd was pretty insane. You'd think WWE wouldn't be so stubborn and would put Bryan in a top match now wouldn't you.

    Meltzer looks as if he called Cena-Wyatt correctly so I wonder if Alvarez called Bryan-Sheamus right too.

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  19. History will remember last night as the Royal Rumble with the most egregious Rumble Snub of all time, advertised or not.

    That's on the Booker, not the talent.

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  20. Sin Cara would've worked.

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  21. I can confirm, the last time I went to a WWE house show the ring announcer said anyone who throws garbage or objects into the ring will be kicked out and possibly arrested. And anyone who records video footage will be kicked out of the building.

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  22. Pre-calc? Trigonometry? What are you in, ninth grade?

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  23. WWE: Because You'll Buy The Network Regardless, So We Can Do Whatever The Fuck We Want To

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  24. Yep, I'm very happy with how Reigns was handled last night. Insanely dominant but didn't win. It's too early for a Rumble win for him, but his time will undoubtedly come. I think pulling the trigger on him that decisively right now might actually hurt him more than help him. No need to rush things - just keep building him up.

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  25. That'd be sort of nice, but at the same time that is a pretty dangerous situation because someone might aim for the ring and end up hurting someone sitting near the ring. It's one of those ideas that sounds better in theory than in execution because it can be a danger to the wrestlers and others in the crowd, who are not to blame for this awful booking.


    As someone said in the live thread, at some point the talent needs to take a stand against management. It's not fair for them to go out there and get shit on for things that aren't their fault.

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  26. I think they are just going to ignore the reactions and do what they want to do anyway, which has been their MO since SummerSlam.

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  27. I honestly felt bad for Cena and Orton last night. I don't really care for Orton, but Cena does work hard in the ring and gives a good effort every night. Their match wasn't awful, so it really didn't deserve the crowd response it got.

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  28. It was amazing. Batista flipping off a fan after winning was amazing too.

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  29. I would be very interested in crowd breakdown of long-time, "smart" fan vs. average, casual fan. I would agree that it seems the long-time fans are becoming a bigger part of their fan base, but I have nothing other than an ear/eye test to reach that conclusion. Big PPV events lately have been more smart fans than anything else.

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  30. Well, where's Raw at tonight?

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  31. Isn't Extreme Rules in Seattle this year? If so, oh man, that's going to make last night look like a walk in the park.

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  32. Shucky ducky, quack quack.

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  33. They crap all over the sports teams so it could be interesting

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  34. Porn-Peddling Jef VinsonJanuary 27, 2014 at 6:28 AM

    I asked the question before: Will Cena be done with the Wyatts by WrestleMania so he could start a program with the Undertaker?

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  35. Porn-Peddling Jef VinsonJanuary 27, 2014 at 6:30 AM

    Macklemore and Ryan Lewis were the hot topic. More die-hard rap fans are destroying them on the various websites.

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  36. Porn-Peddling Jef VinsonJanuary 27, 2014 at 6:31 AM

    Actually the other members of Destiny's Child were talented but it helps when her dad held them back so we never know what they really could be.

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  37. Porn-Peddling Jef VinsonJanuary 27, 2014 at 6:32 AM

    Her voice is annoying over time, and she was smart enough to have an exit plan by marrying Jay-Z.

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  38. Porn-Peddling Jef VinsonJanuary 27, 2014 at 6:34 AM

    Yeah, but Smackdown is taped so they can make the crowd sound however they want to. RAW and another PPV however...

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  39. Porn-Peddling Jef VinsonJanuary 27, 2014 at 6:35 AM

    He put himself there.

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  40. Porn-Peddling Jef VinsonJanuary 27, 2014 at 6:37 AM

    If the rumor of hiring Russo back is true then I agree 100%
    If not, I agree about 80%

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  41. Porn-Peddling Jef VinsonJanuary 27, 2014 at 6:38 AM

    That is DBry's job now. He is going to get people over because win or lose the crowd will still love him.

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  42. Porn-Peddling Jef VinsonJanuary 27, 2014 at 6:39 AM

    He should send DBry Christmas cards for the rest of his life.

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  43. Porn-Peddling Jef VinsonJanuary 27, 2014 at 6:40 AM

    Tag titles yes. Road Dogg says it in his spiel.

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  44. Porn-Peddling Jef VinsonJanuary 27, 2014 at 6:44 AM

    They also should have put it in the summer where die-hard football fans are jonesing for football.

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  45. Porn-Peddling Jef VinsonJanuary 27, 2014 at 6:46 AM

    COOHHH wanted them there.

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  46. Porn-Peddling Jef VinsonJanuary 27, 2014 at 6:48 AM

    It would be nice to let Kofi win a Rumble VIA using an insane amount of spots to stay in the thing.

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  47. Porn-Peddling Jef VinsonJanuary 27, 2014 at 6:50 AM

    ..and in Vince's mind he'll think that he made DBry by doing that and justify the retarded way he jobs out people.

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  48. Porn-Peddling Jef VinsonJanuary 27, 2014 at 6:52 AM

    At this stage of the game if DBry fights the Undertaker then he's EARNED that WM payday. That won't be an easy person to carry at this stage of his career.

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  49. Porn-Peddling Jef VinsonJanuary 27, 2014 at 6:54 AM

    Winner.

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  50. Porn-Peddling Jef VinsonJanuary 27, 2014 at 6:58 AM

    It doesn't make a differenced if he did abort the angle. He didn't give the fans what they wanted and that was seeing DBry in the Rumble.

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  51. Porn-Peddling Jef VinsonJanuary 27, 2014 at 7:01 AM

    Officially, yes.

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  52. Porn-Peddling Jef VinsonJanuary 27, 2014 at 7:05 AM

    People didn't boo the movie because Darth Maul died. They were booing the movie before that, then a new interesting character comes along that the crowd started to like and they KILL him off quickly. While at the same some a character that EVERYONE hates in Jar Jar Binks not only lives through the film but is a focal part of the movie whether we liked it or not.

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  53. Porn-Peddling Jef VinsonJanuary 27, 2014 at 7:08 AM

    Kofi was the moron. after being tossed out he could have sat at ringside until the end of the Rumble.

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  54. The comments on WWE.com are even slagging the Rumble. This is one glorious mess the WWE booked themselves into.

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  55. On my weekend off i found myself going through some old rumbles to hype myself up for last nights one, and I ended up going through some murky dailymotion videos and youtube videos split up into parts. The entire time I was thinking how great it would be to just stream it off my ps4 in 720p seamlessly and effortlessly. The WWE may be a piece of shit most of the time, but even they put out some absolutely tremendous stuff on a yearly basis that I can't deny their entire library for that price.

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  56. My inner child feels quite injured after last night's show.

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  57. Probably did, but it's interesting to see what will happen between now and WM, if any audibles will be called or not. Because Vince would have to be a real REAL stubborn old fuck, to hear crowds shitting on the main event of your main show of the year for 10 whole weeks straight and not change it.

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  58. Yeah, why not. Bray's gimmick is gold, he looked like a million bucks last night and they are finally utilizing Cena the way he's meant to be at this point in his career. Putting people over and helping develop the future.

    I'm surprised people still have the energy to complain about Bray Wyatt vs Cena when they are actualy going ahead with Orton/Batista.

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  59. I'd rather have that than Bryan being stuck in a midcard 12 minute match with Sheamus. At least being paired up with Cena results in the benefit of having a match that largely promoted and given a great amount of time.

    They could go so far as to have hogan in their corner and constantly reference and homage the first WM main event in the build up. If that isn't a glow of importance and prestige to Daniel Bryan I don't know what else would be outside of winning the world title.

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  60. Remember that pre-Rumble promo montage? Somebody snipped and pasted some of it together quite cleverly.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrS22HYW74Q

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  61. The WWE had to expect some backlash from the show they produced last night, right? I find it hard to believe they could not see this reaction from people coming after the reactions Daniel Bryan has been getting FOR MONTHS now.


    I've been one of the guys preaching the "wait and see" approach, I was happy to let it play out, because proper storytelling would dictate some sort of payoff for Daniel Bryan's arc. Clearly, I was wrong.



    I just hope the Blog doesn't get inundated with D-Bry posts this week. I know that's wishful thinking, but really, how many more threads do we need to bitch about how stupid WWE is?

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  62. But who would he face? Think about it, the only fresh (and it's not even that fresh) opponent that he has left in a megamatch environment is Taker, and that's likely to be saved for a future WM. Other than that, what else established guys can he go up against that hasn't been run to the ground? Bryan, Brock and maybe Jericho? He's already feuded with everyone else a hundred times. At this point in time any fresh program he's in would be with up and comers and rightfully so, he's at the point in his career when a PPV match alone with someone gets them over in a major way.


    Although if I had my way, I'd have Punk and Cena wrestle on PPV at least once a year, they could dedicate an entire PPV to it, call it Punk v Cena's 5 star hour., and just have it every year even after they retire they could come back every year to do that one match. Hell to the fucking yes, their matches never get old.

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  63. Hmm might check that out.

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  64. Yeah but last time I checked they actually still crank out some decent stuff where as HHH hasn't given a genuinely good ring performance in years, oh and Beyonce is the shit, her latest album killed it!

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  65. WWE doesn't have much else going for it, which is a shame.

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  66. It hasn't? I'm pretty sure he's a bigger star now than he was at WM28.

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  67. I couldn't disagree with you more on all of this. I don't think the Wyatt gimmick is good at all, it's gotten better but it still comes off as corny. No way Cenas at the point where he should be putting people over just to be putting people over. He's still one of the only draws he has and is the face of the company. He's not what he was 8 years ago but he's still their best Long term option on top. Also 99.999% sure we're getting Brock/Batista and not Orton/Batista

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  68. LOL at Bryan not being one of the five points. Looking forward to that midcard match vs. Sheamus.

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  69. If Batista didnt look like complete shit in the ring, maybe it would have gotten over a bit better than it did but he was not in ring shape at all.
    They did tell some decent stories in the match to set up potential matches down the road but the drama was not there and it was evident Batista was winning the moment D-Bry was not included.

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  70. He was billed to be in Cleveland, he was even on the ads in the papers.
    Card subject to change?

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  71. Stranger in the AlpsJanuary 27, 2014 at 7:56 AM

    The only injuries stemming from last night's show were the typing fingers of a lot of people.

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  72. Seriously, my hands are fucking sore from last night.

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  73. And sore throats of fans.

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  74. FYI: Bray beating Bryan is the last of the 5 points on there.
    http://www.wwe.com/shows/raw/2014-01-27/raw-five-point-preview-jan-27-2014-26178028/page-6

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  75. You'd think he'd be used to it by now, he's always been that whipping boy for live crowds, he's never been liked.

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  76. I was up till 2:30 in the morning with all this.

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  77. Even the markiest of marks go mild for batista.

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  78. My faith that something will happen with this product keeps dying a little each day.

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  79. If I didn't have to be up and ready for work this morning, I probably would have been. As it was, I got sucked in to the Bryan-Wyatt match when the replay auto-started.

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  80. All Austin tweeted about last night was Reigns. Championing Bryan is not one of his priorities, nor should it be.

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  81. I agree. The stuff with the Shield was a great way to build to whatever they are doing, even the Goldust-Cody bit was good. But I can't remember the last time I saw a crowd get deflated as fast as the crowd in Pittsburgh did last night when Daniel Bryan didn't come out at 30, and then Batista winning the whole shebang.

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  82. I'm strangely fascinated by how wwe books raw tonight. Seems like Wyatt/Cena is starting up, so what is Bryan gonna do? Will the no sell the crowd last night? Will Batista continue to dress like he's 16?

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  83. You should see the BoD Rumble injury list.

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  84. Really? The gimmick is far more effective than what others have been given, and regardless of how you feel about the character, Bray has immersed himself in it, whoever writes it he still has to say it and his mic skills are gold.

    Who would you rather Cena face then? Seriously who else is there left to face if he's not at that point right now, because I think he is.

    I would hope for Brock/Batista because at least that way, most people have someone to root for in that match and a way to get involved, but it's not happening, certainly not at those odds you've inflated. Without Brock, who does Taker face? Who does Orton go up against?

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  85. The US title definitely couldn't. It has the name of one specific country in its name.

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  86. It's not a good idea to start a sports league that ESPN will shun.

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  87. Your_Favourite_LoserJanuary 27, 2014 at 9:21 AM

    "The crowd yelling "NO!" instead of "BROGUE" to Sheamus..."

    ooh, thanks for reminding me of that. when it happened, i wondered if it would translate well on tv, or if it would be muddled enough that people at home just might think they were chanting "brogue"

    i wouldnt put it past the announcers to have said, "listen to them chanting brogue!"

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  88. Your_Favourite_LoserJanuary 27, 2014 at 9:24 AM

    when flair gave his prediction on the panel that batista would win, the crowd completely crapped all over it, and flair did his bug eyed "oh no, you di'n't!!!" deal

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  89. Your_Favourite_LoserJanuary 27, 2014 at 9:25 AM

    and he was gassed to boot

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  90. Your_Favourite_LoserJanuary 27, 2014 at 9:35 AM

    my one friend suggested we throw garbage into the ring

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  91. I think I heard the crowd chanting "we want aids in the middle of Orton Cena

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  92. Scott thinks it'll just make Vince dig his heels in further. Makes sense to me, unless this truly hits the mainstream in the USA again

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  93. At this point yea, Cena doesn't have many options. Doesnt excuse the fact theyve booked themselves in a corner with Cena. I'd rather have seen Cena vs

    Taker
    Brock
    Batista
    Bryan
    HHH (100% serious)

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  94. How on earth does Hogan fit into this?

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  95. I agree with whatever they're saying.


    If he didn't cover the topics that no other rapper was covering, he'd still be underground. Dude is painfully average as a rapper.

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  96. Jessica Simpson and Christina Aguilera are doing alright.

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