Royal Rumble 2021 was a pretty great show. Given the lacklustre year WWE has had, it was good to see the road to WrestleMania 37 get off to an exciting start.
For lapsed fans, like myself, the Royal Rumble is an event that always draws interest. It’s one of WWE’s flagship shows, there’s usually a return (or ten) for a nostalgia hit, and it’s one of their strongest match concepts. The lack of real fans this year is a first for a Royal Rumble event. Admittedly, it nearly put me off and was jarring at first. But overall, it didn’t detract from what was an enjoyable show, and proves that the pandemic is no excuse for poor creative.
Of course, Royal Rumble was a WWE show, so there was bound to be some negatives. And I hate to be that guy. But it’s my job to watch these shows and be honest.
Here are 5 things I loved and 5 things I hated about 2021’s Royal Rumble event…
Royal Rumble – 5 things I loved
Edge returns and wins the Men’s Royal Rumble
I love Edge. When he retired in 2011, he was one of my favourites, and the entire wrestling world was gutted. Seeing him come back at last year’s Royal Rumble event was an incredible moment, but it wasn’t the right time for him to go the distance with WWE primed to pull the trigger on Drew McIntyre.
This year was a different story. For better or worse, WWE has done an incredibly poor job of building up any new stars (besides Drew McIntyre) over the last several years. This left WrestleMania 37’s main event scene looking flat. Both Roman Reigns and McIntyre, WWE’s respective world champions, were in desperate need of competitive contenders. Edge fills that void perfectly. Outside of that, it was simply a fantastic thing to witness after watching his heartbreaking retirement a decade ago.
Bianca Belair wins the Women’s Royal Rumble
Bianca Belair is an incredible athlete. Probably one of the best in WWE. And if there’s one thing WWE has done well in recent years, it’s recognise the ability of their female wrestlers.
It would’ve been easy for WWE to go with Charlotte Flair (again) or one of the other women’s division mainstays. But their decision to go with someone new, not long out of NXT, is a refreshing one. After all, it’s common for NXT talent to flounder on the main roster. Thankfully, that trend has been broken in Belair’s case – and the division should be all the better for it.
Roman Reigns vs. Kevin Owens in a brutal Last Man Standing match
Roman Reigns has been a consistent highlight of WWE programming since his return last summer. His role as WWE’s tribal chief has been one of the most compelling acts in years, and he’s a phenomenal heel – thank god WWE finally saw sense! Put him with a reliable worker like Kevin Owens and you’re bound to have a great match, as these two have proven in the past. Their Last Man Standing match at this year’s Royal Rumble was no different.
Brutal, bloody, and down right scary at times. The two men beat each other all over the arena. Owens got launched from the stands through a table and ran over by a golf cart (a la Sammy Guevara), while Reigns took a brutal Swanton Bomb through a table when Owens launched himself off an elevated forklift.
Christian’s return in the Men’s Royal Rumble
What. A. Moment. If you didn’t have a tear in your eye when Christian’s music hit before embracing his former tag team partner, Edge, are you even human!?
Christian, like Edge, retired in the early 2010s due to injury. He was always a great talent and still seemed to have many years ahead of him. When he walked down the ramp on Sunday’s show, I was in disbelief. Some might think of him as simply “Edge’s buddy”, but he’s a legend in his own right.
We can only hope WWE remember that Christian never got the Intercontinental Title shot he earned in his final match before retiring…
Drew McIntyre beats Goldberg to retain the WWE Championship
The match went as expected for a whopping 2 minutes and 32 seconds. But then, who expects anything else out of Goldberg at this point?
I do wonder if these matches only water down the legend, especially when he loses. It exposes him as pretty incapable compared to the rest of the roster. That said, at least he didn’t win the title. The first time he came back and beat Kevin Owens to capture the Universal Championship, it was frustrating but understandable. Then he came back and beat The Fiend, arguably WWE’s hottest act at the time, and it was bewildering. If he would’ve squashed McIntyre, the guy who’s carried the company for the last year, I’d have been shocked. Luckily, he didn’t, and the show of respect between the two was a great moment.
Royal Rumble – 5 things I hated
Edge returns and wins the Men’s Royal Rumble
It might seem odd to list this as both a “love” and “hate” moment, but hear me out.
While I love Edge and him winning the Rumble was a truly fantastic moment, it’s a sign of how far WWE has fallen on the star building front. Not because Edge isn’t a legitimate main event star (because he really is), but because WWE have very few others. Watching Riddle, Cesaro, Ricochet, Nakamura, and others all go out, only for the final two to be Orton and Edge – two guys who’ve been around for decades – isn’t a great sign for the future.
The botched finish to Roman Reigns vs Kevin Owens
As great as the match itself was, the ending was botched thanks to a pesky pair of handcuffs. On a live show, a convoluted and time sensitive finish like this just seems too risky. And it ultimately left everyone involved looking stupid.
Reigns, handcuffed by Owens to the bottom of a scaffold, took out the ref at a 9 count. Logic would dictate their replacement restart the count from 9, but they didn’t. If that wasn’t bad enough, when the new ref reached 5, he realised Paul Heyman, who had the handcuff key and was trying to free Reigns, wasn’t going to do it in time, so he just stopped counting. The ref, Heyman, Reigns, Owens, and the announcers, all hesitated awkwardly and avoided the fact that Reigns blatantly should have lost the match.
Jillian Hall’s return in the Women’s Royal Rumble
The Royal Rumble match is always full of surprises. It’s one of the things that makes it so great. Unfortunately, it can mean that WWE feel obligated to bring back past stars… Even if those stars are really best left in the past.
I have nothing against Jillian, but her career highlights are being JBL’s image consultant and having a big mole on her face bitten off by the Boogeyman. Is she really someone to bring back in 2021?
Alexa Bliss’ “transformation” gimmick
This has to be one of the DUMBEST things WWE has come up with in a long time. When she began her “metamorphosis”, as Tom Phillips called it in the Royal Rumble match, I cringed so hard.
Fair enough, align her with The Fiend and have her be kinda crazy. But this is the kind of stuff that makes you embarrassed to watch WWE.
Ric Flair helping Lacey Evans beat his own daughter with brass knuckles
Giving Alexa Bliss a run for her money in the dumb gimmick department is the recent pairing of Ric Flair and Lacey Evans. Even worse is the fact they are in a feud with Ric’s own daughter, Charlotte.
The Ric/Charlotte rivalry has been done numerous times in the past and it has never made sense. Flair is clearly a sentimental guy, and his daughter honours him with her entrance music, by wearing his robes, and by using an adapted version of his Figure Four submission hold. So, in kayfabe, why would he turn on her? Not only that, but why would he enable someone else punching her in the head with brass knuckles? It’s just plain stupid.
Overall show rating: 7/10
Do you agree with our list? What did you think to 2021’s Royal Rumble? Let us know in the comment section below and don’t forget to check out our other pro wrestling articles…
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Featured image credit: WWE
