Which part of the Royal Rumble is more enjoyable?

[Stu]

This popped in my head the other day. Typically, the first half of the Rumble is there to kill time and WWE usually fills it with shenanigans involving midcarders and what have you. For example, this year we got Tye Dillinger and Jack Gallagher showing up, not to mention the Braun Strowman experiment. But then we get the second half, when all the main eventers show up. From that point on, it's serious business and fans may be too focused on worrying about the winner.


So what do you think? Which is more enjoyable? The first half, which is inconsequential but fun? Or the second half, which is what really matters?

[thecrusherwi]

I find the first half more enjoyable because there's more potential for surprise. By the time about number 20 comes out, there is less mystery as to who will come out next and I start getting sad the the Rumble is almost over.

[This Player Hating Mothman]

The first half is fun, the second half is "We're havin' fun, Maggle!"

[Deleted]

The first half, like was already said: surprises, fun moments like two guys you never would think would work together well makes you believe they could be a decent tag team someday.

[Tenshigure]

For me, it's actually the "Middle Half" (10-20) quite a bit of the time, typically from the time a dominant monster is in the ring and the numbers game starts piling up before the ring clear (when there's like 6-8+ guys in the ring at the time). It's when things get the most hectic that we get to see guys who don't normally work together string some combos, surprise entrants who have no chance in hell of winning showing up (unpopular opinion: I was disappointed there was none this year), and the fun reaches its peak before the 'Main Eventers' show up and clean house.

Honestly the only time I think I hated the middle half was 2011 when they did the 40-man and there was that dead space from Entrants 11-22 with the Nexus eliminating everyone in under 60 seconds as they entered.

[Soultastic]

Fist half made me believe the rumble would be a lot of fun. Then the second half happened.

[NickRedMachine]

First half usually doesn't crush your soul, and you're usually still excited for people to come out. So that.

[Reflecto]

The bigger problem is that usually, the Royal Rumble shouldn't "have" halves.

This Rumble, for example, proved that there is almost a golden ratio of 1:3:1 to a good Rumble:

Of every five entrants in the Rumble:

1 should be a favorite- someone who has a likely shot to win (or is sold as having a likely shot to win.
3 should be placeholders, vendor trash, what have you.
1 should be a surprise- legends, celebrities, announcers, NXT/205/women, returns...someone who is just a pleasant surprise for the fans and you're supposed to know that.

Likewise, the favorites should be spread out. It shouldn't exactly be per five, but usually one favorite in the first 10, 2 in the second 10, and 3 in the last 10 seems to work the best.

[Bo Rida]

Everything before that moment towards the end when you wonder "who's left?" and your heart sinks once you've worked out the answer.

Unless you can't work the answer out of course, then it's all excitement to the end.

[Deleted]

The 2nd half seems to always has the people who "are supposed to be there." Not as much fun as seeing the other guys in the earlier parts of the match...

[Bub (BLM)]

First half. I usually lose some interest after all the entrances are done.

[TheMediocreWarrior]

I voted for the first half, and I'd actually say the first 2/3 of the Rumble are usually fun, with the last 1/3 occasionally being a disappointment.

When I rewatch Royal Rumbles, I enjoy that it is a showcase of what the overall roster looked like during that time. By the time you get closer to the end of the Royal Rumble though, it's usually business as usual as far as the main event scene of the time.

[Perfect Timing]

First half but I feel they could have the second half be just as fun if they saved more surprises for the final 5.

[Dang!]

Feb 12, 2017 16:37:45 GMT -5 Perfect Timing said:

First half but I feel they could have the second half be just as fun if they saved more surprises for the final 5.

The second half has been full of loud screaming "f*** YOU!"s for years now, but it's what matters. They could easily improve that by having someone totally surprising come out at #30. Imagine Diesel or DDP coming out last and people actually wondering whether they'd be crazy madmen and have a nostalgia surprise winner.

[Perfect Timing]

Like Diesel in 2011 came in fairly late and I marked hard.