Does this year's Rumble seem crazy unimportant?

[The Possum]

I haven't missed a Royal Rumble since my first one in 1998, and usually the build to it is crazy exciting. But does anyone else feel like WWE seriously forgot to hype it up and phoned it in at the last second this year? I've never been less pumped for it, even in times like 2006-2007 when I became generally disinterested in wrestling.

[YiHammer]

All the PPVs the Rock has been on since his return have felt unimportant except for his one match

[fw91]

you say that now, but once Justin Roberts says "Ladies and Gentlemen," It is now time for the ROYAL RUMBLE MATCH!!!!!" you get pumped. Believe me I've been in the same spot as you, as recent as last year. But with this year has more star power so it shold be exciting even if Cena/Orton/Sheamus win.

[celtics543]

The only interesting part about this rumble is that I honestly don't have any idea who's going to win it. My money is on Cena but I feel it could be him, Ryback, Sheamus, Orton, Ziggler, and I'm probably missing a couple other obvious people.

[The Possum]

Jan 22, 2013 20:55:00 GMT -5 fw91 said:

you say that now, but once Justin Roberts says "Ladies and Gentlemen," It is now time for the ROYAL RUMBLE MATCH!!!!!" you get pumped. Believe me I've been in the same spot as you, as recent as last year. But with this year has more star power so it shold be exciting even if Cena/Orton/Sheamus win.

I suppose you're right. There's no doubt that it'll be fun to watch, I think it's just that this year there's not a candidate I can get behind who has a legitimate chance of winning.

[Digital Witness]

Jan 22, 2013 20:55:00 GMT -5 fw91 said:

you say that now, but once Justin Roberts says "Ladies and Gentlemen," It is now time for the ROYAL RUMBLE MATCH!!!!!" you get pumped. Believe me I've been in the same spot as you, as recent as last year. But with this year has more star power so it shold be exciting even if Cena/Orton/Sheamus win.

This.

Whether it be Howard Finkle, Justin Roberts, or anybody else, when you hear "It is now time.... for the royal rumble match!", stuff just got real.

[Citizen Snips]

First one since 2008 I won't be buying

[Wolf Hurricane]

Jan 22, 2013 20:55:00 GMT -5 fw91 said:

you say that now, but once Justin Roberts says "Ladies and Gentlemen," It is now time for the ROYAL RUMBLE MATCH!!!!!" you get pumped. Believe me I've been in the same spot as you, as recent as last year. But with this year has more star power so it shold be exciting even if Cena/Orton/Sheamus win.

By star power, you mean Rock, right? Ironically, that's the exact problem, as I call it. The whole thing reeks of Royal Rumble in name only - in reality, it's more like "Rock versus Punk and a thirty-man battle royal. Worse yet, there's no suspense to either match: Cena wins the Rumble, Rock wins the title, Rock/Cena at Mania and Cena wins the title.

Maybe if I put it in the spoiler tags, it'd be more "suspenseful"...

[MichaelMartini]

Wait, someone thinks Cena isn't winning?

[BigWill]

I don't think it's guaranteed that Cena is winning, just like it wasn't guaranteed that Jericho was winning last year.

[Deleted]

Jan 22, 2013 21:49:19 GMT -5 Citizen Snips said:

First one since 2008 I won't be buying

Seconded. It's my best friend's and my favorite PPV and we aren't even getting together to watch it at the bar that shows them.

[Dean-o]

I am psyched for this year's, more so then any PPV of last year, including WrestleMania.

There isn't a match on the card I'm not interested in, and once the Rumble starts, my 3rd annual Rumble Games* starts, and that's when shit really gets real!

Myself and 9 other friends/co-workers each throw $30 in a pool. We draw 3 numbers out of a hat. The person with the winning wrestler takes the pot. The Rumble is already my favorite match of the year, but this makes it so much more fun.

[Gerard Gerard]

Considering last year's, in retrospect, was the most underwhelming Rumble I can recall, this year's blows it out based solely on the fact they've actually got more than 3-4 top-tier talents participating in it.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}I can see Cena winning it. If not, he's still ending up in the true WM main-event, even if the WWE overhaul their plans due to the RR blu-ray PR sheet giving away the finish of Punk/Rock. I can see'em tweaking how Cena gets there, but I'm pretty stone set in Rock/Cena II.

Mind, I do have hopes in a Rock/Brock shindig. Given they've ruled out The Shield as a factor, and deliberately teased the involvement of Maddox, so I can see a logical swerve in Lesnar getting involved. I honestly don't see the rumoured HHH/Lesnar stuff happening, it doesn't make as much business sense of having Rock/Lesnar, two stars who're not guaranteed to be there after WM.

Another thing that's leaning me toward a Lesnar surprise is the fact the Rumble card is stacked, and generally well-promoted, that I could see the 'E risking a Lesnar show-up with no promo, knowing that initial buys will be strong enough, and there might even be some replay mileage out of it.

I know, I know. This is IWC-head standard reasoning with the daunting inevitable.

[Dean-o]

I know the easy cop out is saying Rock beats Punk, and Cena wins Rumble, to set up Rock/Cena II but they wouldn't make it THAT obvious would they?

There are so many different options they can go with between now and WrestleMania. I mean, I can easily see Cena, Ryback, Sheamus, or Orton winning this thing. The WHC field is wide open, and I doubt Del Rio will hold onto the belt until WrestleMania. You got Ziggler's MITB cash in which can happen at any time. You got Brock Lesnar...sure he could be facing HHH again, but you also have potential matches against The Rock and Undertaker. Hell, he might even make his return at the Rumble.

[Deleted]

Lesnar returning for the Rumble and actually winning it is a small possibility.

[mizerable]

With the exception of the random PPV every so often, WWE PPVs haven't consistently important since 2005.

[CH Punk]

That's because all of the outcomes for the big matches seem really obvious.

[Slanted and Enchanted]

I'm guessing the reason why the Royal Rumble wasn't so hyped up this year is because I doubt it will even be the last match of the night.

ALSO...as much as people loathe those 'by the numbers' promos, I really missed it this year because it did such a good job of promoting the event. This year we had Cena eating alone at an upscale bar.

[fw91]

Jan 22, 2013 23:01:54 GMT -5 Slanted and Enchanted said:

I'm guessing the reason why the Royal Rumble wasn't so hyped up this year is because I doubt it will even be the last match of the night.

ALSO...as much as people loathe those 'by the numbers' promos, I really missed it this year because it did such a good job of promoting the event. This year we had Cena eating alone at an upscale bar.

actually i've read that an early script of the rumble leaked out. no match deatails or winners/losers were included, but the order of matches on the card and the amount of time they will be given are. Rumble is still scheduled to go last at 70 minutes.

[kidglov3s]

Jan 22, 2013 23:01:54 GMT -5 Slanted and Enchanted said:

ALSO...as much as people loathe those 'by the numbers' promos, I really missed it this year because it did such a good job of promoting the event. This year we had Cena eating alone at an upscale bar.

I thought those were universally beloved?