The 2017 Royal Rumble was supposed to be one to remember. At least, that was per the tagline for the event that had been pushed for months on end. Given how much hype was put into this year’s event, the general mindset going into the event was that it would be different from past Rumbles.
And it had to be. Not only was this the 30th annual Royal Rumble event, but the past three rumbles had all been plagued by at least one dismal booking decision.
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Up until the actual event itself, this PPV looked like it would break away from the mold and end up being surprising in the best way possible. For the first time in years, the Rumble match itself wasn’t too predictable, with several theoretical winners and surprise entrants circulating the internet.
There was also major hype for other matches on the card, with Cena vs. AJ Styles pegged as WWE’s first big chance to out-do the now-historic Wrestle Kingdom 11 main event between Kenny Omega and Kazuchika Okada.
Everyone wanted something new and fresh in the 2017 Royal Rumble. What we got was more or less the status quo.
Kevin Owens defeated Roman Reigns in controversial fashion once again, following an interference from Braun Strowman. It’s painfully obvious that Owens simply cannot win any title match cleanly, and must rely on others helping him win.
If you had any doubts Owens was a weak champion, this match proved that theory true. It’s hard to call yourself a true champion when you can never win a big match on your own.
John Cena captured the WWE Championship for the 16th time, tying WWE’s interpretation of Ric Flair’s record. It was a fantastic match, but it too had problems in the underlying story being told. In the end, Cena’s victory amplified a major problem that WWE seems to be determined to ignore for as long as possible.
Finally, Randy Orton won the 2017 Royal Rumble. This made him the fourth repeat winner of the Rumble since 2013, joining the ranks of John Cena, Batista and Triple H. While this was a better choice than having the #30 entrant Roman Reigns win, it was another case of failing to utilise the Rumble’s significance to elevate someone new.
So while the 2017 Rumble match wasn’t anywhere near as bad as the 2014 or 2015 Rumble matches, and featured more excitement than the 2016 edition, it still had several flaws. Here are the five worst booking decision of the 2017 Royal Rumble PPV.
#5 A tease that won’t go anywhere
Under normal circumstances, the Rumble match acts as the starting point for major feuds leading to WrestleMania. A common case is one member of a tag team eliminating their partner, only for that partner to also be eliminated, setting up a personal rivalry between them.
We got a glimpse of this last night when Sheamus eliminated Cesaro, only for Sheamus to be eliminated immediately afterwards.
This was the perfect opportunity for Cesaro and Sheamus to end their dubiously-put-together tag team and start a feud. Even though they already wrestled several times last year in a Best of 7 Series, that rivalry was much better than their tag team, which hasn’t succeeded in replicating the oddball pairing of Booker T and Goldust.
Instead, they stood nose to nose, and then simply walked to the backstage area. Given WWE’s recent track record of not breaking tag teams or alliances when they should, the likely scenario will go as follows.
Sheamus and Cesaro will tease breaking apart, only to reunite the following week. Then they’ll have another major confrontation and tease splitting up again, only to reunite after ‘reconciling their differences’. By the time they actually do, no one will care, because the moment will have lost its significance.
WWE did this two years ago with the Miz and Damien Mizdow. They had so many perfect opportunities for Mizdow to break away from the Miz, and the fans would’ve loved it. Instead, the duo had a singles match on RAW that ended without any fanfare.
This is the likely direction they’ll go in with Cesaro and Sheamus, instead of making this feud hotter than it is currently.
And speaking of the Miz...
#4 A missed opportunity for nuclear heat
This year, the Miz was the #15 entrant. He entered to his own music, accompanied by Maryse, did nothing for 30 minutes. Seriously, he didn’t eliminate anyone and spent the bulk of his time taking finishers from other wrestlers.
There was a golden opportunity here for WWE to really draw in a major reaction from the crowd. As I had suggested before, WWE should’ve had the Miz enter to Daniel Bryan’s music, preferably in a later spot as one of the possible surprise entrants.
WWE could have had Bryan’s music play for 15-20 seconds, to get them to chant like crazy, only for the Miz to come out instead.
The heat would’ve been monumental, far worse than anything Roman Reigns experienced as the real #30 entrant. The fans would’ve gone nuts at the Miz disrespecting the much-beloved Daniel Bryan.
This would’ve also been a great way for them to further the already-intense feud between Miz and Bryan, by having him add more to his mockery by stealing Bryan’s music. Sadly, WWE didn’t think about this, and instead, Miz’s involvement in this year’s Rumble was a non-factor.
#3 Goldberg & Brock Lesnar disappoint
A major feud WWE has been building up was the next confrontation between Brock Lesnar and Goldberg. Lesnar was bent on revenge and was out to do as much damage to Goldberg as possible. We were being sold the idea that Lesnar and Goldberg would try to destroy one another, but that didn’t happen.
Lesnar entered the ring and demolished many Superstars almost immediately. A few minutes later, Goldberg entered, and after a brief staredown, Goldberg eliminated Lesnar after one single spear.
This wasn’t the epic confrontation everyone was hoping to see. Instead, it was Goldberg being booked to ‘have Brock’s number’ and destroying the man that has been destroying everyone else on WWE’s roster since 2012.
If Lesnar, a bona fide part-timer, can demolish the entire roster without breaking a sweat, and he gets destroyed by a 50-year old man that hasn’t wrestled on even a part-time basis in 12 years, what does that say about the rest of the roster? It says, ‘everyone on the roster today is second fiddle to the guys that made it big over a decade ago’.
Had Goldberg and Lesnar had an actual brawl or even a ‘who-can-out-power-the-other’ contest, that would’ve been much better than the one-spear disappointment that WWE booked these guys to execute.
#2 John Cena Defeats AJ Styles
Let me begin by saying that Styles and Cena put on a fantastic match for the WWE Championship. It surpassed the performance both men had at SummerSlam 2016 and set the bar high for WWE in 2017. Some have called it a better match than Omega/Okada from Wrestle Kingdom 11, but that’s a debate for another day.
However, there was an underlying flaw in having Cena defeat Styles. In doing so, Cena proved once again that ageing part-timers are better and more important than the fulltime roster. There were slight hints of this mentality in action throughout the show, especially given the emphasis on Goldberg, Lesnar, and Taker.
But nowhere was it more obvious than with John Cena, a man whose career is obviously heading towards the part-timer’s role, defeating AJ Styles, the full-time wrestler who has been carrying SmackDown.
This was a major reason for CM Punk’s 2014 departure. Despite working incredibly hard to earn his spot at the top, Punk (and now Styles) are treated as secondary stars to the established part-timers of yesteryear. This begs the question, what is the point of even working hard when the top spots will all be taken by people that only show up on a part-time basis anyway?
If someone that made a name for themselves years or decades ago will get top billing, while you toil away on a weekly basis without getting the recognition you feel you’ve earned and deserve, why even bother trying to reach the top, knowing those in power have already decided you’re not worth it?
If WWE wants to build stars for tomorrow, this is not the way to go about it. Cena, despite being something of a superhuman, won’t be around for much longer. WWE needs to look to the future for its top stars, instead of to the past. If they keep going down the safe route by emphasising the stars of yesteryear, they won’t be able to grow or expand as a promotion.
#1 A lack of surprise entrants
Before the Rumble PPV started, 22 or the 30 entrants had announced their participation in the Rumble match. This was done to build up the match as a contest with several theoretical clashes between Superstars and legends. The downside to this direction, however, was that it limited the possibility of surprise entrants in a major way.
With so many announced entrants, it was necessary that WWE capitalise on possible surprise entrants to really make the match feel more exciting. Don’t forget, the whole surprise factor is a major component of the Rumble match itself. The less surprising or more predictable a match is, the less fans will enjoy the match.
With eight spots available for surprise entrants, there was hope that WWE would save at least a few of those for genuine surprises that would’ve added to the match. Instead, the surprise entrants were, on the whole, disappointing.
Tye Dillinger entered at #10, but his appearance had been built up for several weeks, so it more of an expectation than it was a surprise. Kalisto was the first surprise entrant, but his appearance in the match was insignificant. The same could be said for James Ellsworth, Apollo Crews and Enzo Amore, all of whom were demolished with little resistance.
In a previous article, I have made suggestions for performers who should appear in this Rumble match as surprise entrants. I had argued that Shinsuke Nakamura, Samoa Joe and Gillberg (yes, Gillberg), would’ve all been ideal surprise entrants to add more drama and excitement (and in Gillberg’s case, humour) to the match. Instead, we got 3 guys that got manhandled very easily.
So instead of adding any big stars as surprise entrants (even if they were unexpected, like Kurt Angle or Finn Balor), WWE went down the disappointing path by adding surprise entrants that no one cared about in the first place.
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