Does HHH Suck at Booking The Rumble Match?

[fw91]

PLEASE DO NOT TALK ABOUT ANYTHING REGARDING THE LAWSUIT HERE.

Anyway, I feel like HHH's style of rumble matches stink. There's not much drama. Full of iron man performances and packed rings. Long stretches with no eliminations. Imo it's pretty boring. And it feels like half the field are iron men/women and makes performances less impressive. His winners are right but that's about it.

[welshpenguin]

I liked both winners & there was some cool spots but I wasn’t blown away by either Rumble match.

[Mozenrath]

I think the issue is less the booking and more whoever they have agenting the men's rumbles. That said, he probably gets some of the blame for how eh some of the guys who get picked for these are, or if he has a hand in deciding the elimination order beyond just certain power points I am sure the agents are given.

[Error]

I don't think it so much Hunter as the agents. Has there been a good one since Patterson left? I don't think the booker does much for it other than "Here's who is winning, here is what to highlight, here is who should stand out" everything else is on the agents to put together.

[fw91]

Jan 28, 2024 2:43:45 GMT -5 Error said:

I don't think it so much Hunter as the agents. Has there been a good one since Patterson left? I don't think the booker does much for it other than "Here's who is winning, here is what to highlight, here is who should stand out" everything else is on the agents to put together.

When did Patterson leave? I’d say 2018 was the last well booked Rumble match.

[Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-]]

He knows how to book the final like four

When it comes to that, it looks great

It's the rest of the Rumble that seems to make literally no f***ing sense, and they crumble apart due to it into a complete mess.

Asuka, Kairi, and Grace all going out in rapid succession slowed the women's Rumble to a complete halt until Becky came out like 15 minutes later.

[yokohamacpfc]

I think Micheal Hayes produced the 2023 Rumbles which were largely well-received. Be interesting if it was anyone different this time as the middle parts (especially the men's) were drab compared to last year's.

[Sam Punk]

They need to drive a dump truck full of money to pat's house.

[Big DSR Energy]

Jan 28, 2024 3:17:12 GMT -5 Sam Punk said:

They need to drive a dump truck full of money to pat's house.

He died in 2020.

[Schizo]

Jan 28, 2024 3:17:12 GMT -5 Sam Punk said:

They need to drive a dump truck full of money to pat's house.

Hard to spend money when you’re dead

[A Platypus Rave is Correct]

I wouldn't be surprised if this years men's rumble got f***ed with Brock being a no go like 24 hours before the show.

but even then literally everyone knew the story was going to be, "Hey are we going to continue to mess up Cody's return storyline" like as soon as Mania ended last year.

[Moppy]

So close to clicking Yes, but I've gone for a bit of both.

He generally packs them full of people who are relatively over and uses them to spotlight young and/or interesting talent.

But a great Rumble needs story beats and memorable moments; not just, guy comes in, does a move, hangs around, at some point guy gets thrown out.

[ThankGodForSidJustice]

They've been alright. I haven't been overly impressed with them but I don't think they've been bad either. I think they are definitely better then most of the ones in 2010's.

I do think that someone getting #1 and #2 and lasting to the end or close to it is ridiculously over done. It's no longer an achievement when people keep doing it all the time. It's also become predictable when it shouldn't be. Coming in early like that should be a disadvantage yet they are outlasting most of the people who draw numbers in the 20's which shouldn't be the case.

[jivesoulbrah]

Both 2023 rumbles were great, especially when we look at the disaster that was 2022. This years were ok.

To be fair most men’s rumbles in the 2010s booking wise were either duds on not that memorable (or memorable for the wrong reasons). Easily the best one was 2018.

[King Devitt and the Woke Mob]

Jan 28, 2024 2:43:45 GMT -5 Error said:

I don't think it so much Hunter as the agents. Has there been a good one since Patterson left? I don't think the booker does much for it other than "Here's who is winning, here is what to highlight, here is who should stand out" everything else is on the agents to put together.

Shhh shhh, we need to blame HHH for more things he isn't directly involved in.

I spilled coffee on myself earlier...f***in' HHH....

[Magic knows Black Lives Matter]

I swear i feel like I watched a different match because I thought both matches were strong. Less sizzle (guest appearances) and more steak (coherent storyline beats, of which they’re a A TON tonight) is right up my alley.

I also think people forget how bad a lot of rumbles actually are thanks to nostalgia, lol

[Tea & Crumpets]

I don't think they've been great under him. There's rarely any fun surprise entrants or truly left field participants (I barely noticed Naomi left, she feels like she's just been on hiatus). They seem to have given up on the Kofi-style miracle saves, which I'm not entirely against as it was a bit played out but it does leave things a bit lacking in drama for the bulk of the match.

The Rumble in general often suffers the problem of being predictable but that's been especially apparent under HHH- before watching, I genuinely called Bayley winning as Ironman, Liv as 30, and for the men the final batch being Drew/Gunther/Punk/Cody, then Drew's eliminated, then Gunther, only thing I got wrong was I thought Punk was winning because they were doing Roman vs Rock at Mania. (Although, and I'm 100% serious here, I called Cena's return win in 2008, not kidding I just had a feeling, so again this isn't a new thing). Last year I called Rhea and Cody winning.

I think this time it helped massively that Rock hovering around meant Punk was a genuine contender coupled with the circumstances of his return, because the problem is I don't know how you have a Rumble winner that feels satisfying & makes sense, without it also being predictable. It's hard to do logical and surprising at the same time, this is going to sound weird but I feel like you almost need to treat the Rumble like a murder mystery and build 4-5 equally strong candidates, a whowonit rather than a whodunnit. So I guess in that sense, this year's men's Rumble was better booked as there were 2 candidates, with Rock as a plausible surprise winner.

[4real]

For the most part yes. Need to cool it on the ironman/women performances next year. It’s not special if it happens every year. The women’s in particular has been 3 of the last 4 won by entrants 1-3.

[Goldash #BLM]

I say both. I'm not sure if you can view this year as an anomaly, though. I'm thinking Brock was planned and some spots likely had to be rearranged at the last minute.

The rest of his Rumbles have been hit or miss. My biggest complaint has been that they're almost too straightforward as matches. There doesn't seem to be as much attention paid to ongoing angles as there was in previous years, and the wrestler selection has been hit or miss.

I feel like the rate of eliminations could also be better. Far too often there were too many people in the ring doing nothing. I don't expect a wrestler clearing house every time they enter, but keeping a good flow going is always a way to keep fans engaged. I don't expect the ring to stay empty for long stretches, ala the Russo Rumble, but finding that balance is essential. Otherwise, you'll have far too many people citing boredom.

Also, someone mentioned the "act structure". Telling an ongoing story or introducing new characters will only make things better.

[papagiorgio]

I wouldn't have minded a few legends surprises and McAfee seemed like a wasted spot, but otherwise I had no major issues.

Nobody had a Kofi like save spot, but Kofi botched the last two. I'm not sure if Ricochet was supposed to have done something or at least land on his feet.