Inside Pulse Wrestling | The SmarK Rant for WWE Royal Rumble 2012

The SmarK Rant for WWE Royal Rumble 2012

by Scott Keith on January 30, 2012

The SmarK Rant for WWE Royal Rumble 2012

So just like my Night of Champions rant, this is more of a short-form review because I was watching this in a theatre and I never want to be the doofus taking notes in the dark. Now, that being said, my opinion of this might vary wildly from people watching it home because the movie theatre experience is AWESOME. And it was a sold out theatre, which is a rarity for their PPVs these days. Not only that, but sold out with a JACKED crowd. A tad on the super-mark side (some loudly so) but man what a fun experience it made for. There’s really no comparison to watching it at home. So any of these ratings and opinions are subject to future “2020 Scott sez” re-examinations later where I make fun of myself, but for now it is what it is.

Live from St. Louis, MO.

Your hosts are Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler & Booker T.

Smackdown World title: Daniel Bryan v. Big Show v. Mark Henry

Weird choice for an opener, with two heels and Big Show. Henry, as expected, didn’t do much here, as the focus was mainly Show v. Bryan. A couple of interesting spots with Bryan trying to outsmart the big guys in between getting pounded by Show and throwing kicks. Mark Henry yelling “SHUT THAT DOOR!” at the poor referee was epic. Finish seemed a bit rushed, with Bryan trying for the over-the-top exit and Show holding him by the wrist to block, before just kind of dropping him to give Bryan the win. That’s pretty anticlimactic. The flukish win aside, this was pretty strong booking for Bryan, but the match was dogshit. They’ve gotta let Henry sit out for a couple of months or else he’s gonna be done for good by Wrestlemania. *1/2

Meanwhile, Johnny Ace continues his attempts to save his job by putting Zack Ryder (now downgraded to a herniated disc) into a private office so he can watch the show.

Oh yeah, also a LONG promo for John Cena basically doing everything but showing him walking on water to hopefully find SOMEONE to cheer for him at Wrestlemania. He does charity work! He loves the troops! He does more charity work! They’re going all-in on promoting Wrestlemania, I’ll give them that.

Beth Phoenix, Natalya, Brie Bella & Nikki Bella v. Kelly Kelly, Eve, Alicia Fox & Tamina

I was actually just wondering where the hell Beth had gotten to. I guess we’ve exhausted all the other combinations of these divas, so now it’s just throw everyone into the match and have at it. I really don’t get what they see in Tamina aside from her dad. Standard tag match with no real heat segment aside from the Bellas briefly switching places in lieu of just making a tag, leading up to everyone “brawling” on the floor in the most contrived setup possible for Kelly to do a dive onto them. The finish redeemed it somewhat, as Beth tags herself in and has had ENOUGH of Kelly, finishing her with the Glam Slam to hopefully end that feud forever. This wasn’t embarrassing at least, but man every time Tamina and Fox get in there it’s brutal. *1/2

John Cena v. Kane

This match died the death of a thousand DUDs as far as the crowd was concerned. Like really, it’s supposed to be this super-heated blood feud, and they just go out and do a dull Cena v. Kane match. Kane basically took the whole match and there was nothing going on as Kane can’t even get SMELL THE GLOVE over as a hot finish. Maybe if he wiped his ass with the glove before doing the smother, people would buy it as a deadly move. I did enjoy Kane popping up with a chokeslam attempt to show that he can indeed see Cena, but then they go to the incredibly lazy double countout non-finish so THIS FEUD MUST CONTINUE. It’s such an important issue to Cena that they’re running promos for his match with the Rock before and after it. And then, just because you can never get enough of it, they fight to the back and sure enough Kane invades Ryder’s office and beats him up AGAIN. And this time it’s a tombstone on a guy with a back brace. And the crowd CHEERS it because they hate Cena so much. What a disaster this all was. DUD I keep wondering what more they can possibly do to Ryder and they keep finding things.

But don’t be a bully. BE A STAR! I can assure you that Zack Ryder is no longer a star.

And now, the Rock promo.

Brodus Clay v. Drew McIntyre

I don’t get the joke behind Drew continuing to get “fired” every week and yet still being employed. Usual Clay squash here, although the crowd isn’t really as fired up for Clay as the RAW crowds have been. ½*

RAW World title: CM Punk v. Dolph Ziggler

Thankfully, this was where the show went from awful to fantastic. Ace demotes himself to outside referee and then tosses Vickie (as per the stips that I don’t think anyone else even remembered). Ziggler continues to bring the goods here, as they do some neat mat reversals off the sleeper attempt and Dolph continues to be a show-off. I also really loved the fameasser getting countered into the rotation powerbomb by Punk. The finish sees the ref getting bumped (of course) and Punk hitting three different finishes on Ziggler to make up for the fluke jobs he’s already done, with Big Johnny missing all of them. The crowd was RABID at this point and freaking out about Ziggler possibly winning the title, so the booking of the match was particularly effective. Dolph escapes the GTS with the fameasser for a hot two, but Punk finishes for realz with the GTS with both referees counting. Ace as the smiling asskisser was tremendous here and this was a show-saving main event. ****

Royal Rumble

Miz gets #1 of course and he quickly gets rid of Alex Riley at #2. Man, whose dog did Riley run over? I just don’t get this whole thing where they find their decent prospects and then job them out of existence in a weird self-fulfilling prophecy. Most impressive to me, however, was the loud-mouthed guy next to me who actually knew A-Ry’s music. Next big highlight was Mick Foley at #7, leading to a sock-off against Santino in an amazingly entertaining break. Also amazingly entertaining: Ricardo Rodriguez entering to Del Rio’s music and driving a broken-down rental car before bonding with Foley and eliminating Justin Gabriel. That whole segment was AWESOME and they’ve got something potentially special with Ricardo. After that begins the running gag for the night, with Jerry Lawler entering the match to a giant pop and cleaning house before getting eliminated again. There was a lot of that, which is a great way to use the legends. Jinder Mahal gets some good heat from the crowd before Great Khali comes out and eliminates him, then proceeds to last longer than he had any right to. Next announcer into the match is Booker T, and you can see the payoff to this gag coming a mile away. Kofi Kingston gets tossed by the Miz, but lands on his HANDS and does a handstand to the stairs to save himself. That got, I shit you not, a near-standing ovation from the movie theatre. Michael Cole is the last announcer in at #20 and everyone stands aside to let him pose and the marks around me were SCREAMING for Jim Ross to get #21. Sadly, no, but Kharma returns and Cole eliminates himself to escape. Then the actual star power portion begins, with Sheamus, Orton, Jericho and Big Show ending up as the final four. The crowd in the theatre was going crazy for all of this, although Show as #30 was a letdown to me. As was Jericho making his big promises and then just being a guy in the Royal Rumble. Orton gets his big hometown eliminations and then just gets tossed by Jericho, which was kind of a weird way to use him in his home city. Sheamus and Jericho survive to the end and do a pretty great 5 minute match ala Shawn-Undertaker in 2007, with Sheamus getting the unpredictable win with the Brogue Kick to eliminate Jericho. I don’t see him in the title match by Wrestlemania somehow. Plus I think predictable would have been the better way to go. I initially gave this the full monty while leaving the theatre and updating the blog from my phone, but a couple of hours of thought leaves this as ****1/2 because there was too much silliness with the announcers and they seemed to run out of clever ideas at the end. Still, a fantastic end to save what had been a horrible show up to the WWE title match started.

The Pulse

Well worth buying the replay, but only for the last two matches. That Kane-Cena abomination was a show-killer on any other PPV, but the Rumble was fantastically entertaining and I’m kind of left wanting to see another Ziggler-Punk match next month. Which is good because I’m sure I’ll get one.

Thumbs up!

Tags: big show, chris jericho, cm punk, Dolph Ziggler, john cena, kane, Mick Foley, randy orton, royal rumble, royal rumble 2012, sheamus, SmarK Rant, WWE

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Scott Keith

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Scott is the author of five books on pro wrestling: "The Buzz on Pro Wrestling", "Tonight...In This Very Ring", "Wrestling's One Ring Circus", "Wrestling's Made Men" and most recently "Dungeon of Death: Chris Benoit and the Hart Family Curse". He also acted as a consultant for Goldberg's autobiography. Scott is probably best known for his RAW and PPV reviews at CBS Wrestleline from 1998-2000, and he has been with InsidePulse since day 1. For more information on Scott Keith, you can visit your local library. Or just go to his blog at www.rspwfaq.com. Either way.

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E. E. Faulk

-Hearing the crowd bite for nearfalls and scream dueling chants throughout the match seems to run counter to your “death of a thousand DUDs” comment. Part of me wonders whether or not you typed that comment before the event started.

-How is a double-countout “lazy” when WWE wants to keep Golden Boy Cena and the returning Kane strong for more than just a few weeks?

-Drew McIntyre hasn’t been fired yet… I’m not sure why you think he has George Jetson job security and gets fired every week.

-I think Jericho is doing more than “just being a guy in the Royal Rumble.” I’ve read your stuff for years now and, while I usually love your sense of humor and enjoy some of your insights, it seems like you bounce back and forth between wanting slow-burn storylines and making snap judgments about the direction of an angle in progress.
John Stevenson

You clearly aren’t a smark…

Kane/Cena was awful.

Henry/Big Show/Bryan was half a match.

Brodus Clay/Drew McIntyre was a match barely suitable for Raw or Smackdown.

Women’s match was decent.

The Royal Rumble was filled with about 1/2 jobbers, a few good legends, and had a good ending. Aside from the ending, it was one of the worst Rumble matches of all time.

CM Punk/Dolph Ziggler was by far the match of the night. The ending dragged and became excessive though. This was probably the only clearly worthwhile part of the PPV aside from the ending of the Rumble match.

Overall, it was easily among the worst Royal Rumbles. Do not buy the replay for this PPV unless you want to waste your money.
Kekataag

The crowd was hotter during Cena/Kane than it was Punk/Ziggler. Just saying …
http://twitter.com/Kanta_Mizuno Ryan Alarie

Let’s Go Cena/Cena Sucks are not dueling chants. They are both Cena chants. No one was cheering Kane. No one was booing Kane. Some people were cheering Cena, and some people were booing Cena. Now, I don’t know about Scott, but it’s possible he was refering NOT to the live audience, but the theater audience he was with. Still though … it was the SAME Let’s Go Cena/Cena Sucks chants that happen during ANY Cena appearance. There was nothing that indicated the crowd was any hotter than normal, and, like with most Cena feuds, the other person involved doesn’t seem to get any crowd reaction. It’s all about Cena, and the fact that the audience is more interested in fighting amongst themselves about their feelings about it than what actually happens in the match.

Double Count Out is lazy when the entire feud was about embracing the hate. If they want the feud to continue, they have this thing called a DQ finish, which would have actually played INTO the feud, instead of it just being a normal match where they ended up outside the ring too long. Cena didn’t seem particularly angry for most of the match, a (regular) complaint, only made worse when the entire POINT of the feud is that Kane is getting under Cena’s skin.

Drew hasn’t been fired yet, but he does get a “win this match or you MIGHT get fired” match EVERY SINGLE WEEK. Every week it’s “one last chance”, but they don’t show him getting fired, so he’s able to come back and ask for one last chance again and again. Even if they point to the “he said almost” clause, it’s still diminishing returns. Why should anyone care about the losing streak if there is no consequence to his losing? Why should anyone care when he wins because he’s getting to keep his job win lose or draw apparently?

Jericho came out and attacked people. Yeah, he did his moves, but he did, more or less, EXACTLY what he would have done in any other Rumble he’s been in. His new direction of trolling the fans, giving them only a very little, sort of parodying the ‘triumphant return’ seemed to have no impact here. MAYBE, his losing is a way of tweaking things (he can complain about how he was ‘supposed’ to win, just like HHH, and Cena, and Edge, and the other triumphant returns). However, the match itself didn’t seem to really reflect the changed Jericho (then again, we don’t really know what the ‘changed’ Jericho would look like as a wrestler, but being exactly the same as before he left probably isn’t it). Maybe Jericho speaking was officially the ‘end’ of the troll, and the start of phase 2, but Jericho didn’t do anything shocking in the Rumble. It wasn’t a cap on a run of strange trolling appearances, it was a return to ‘normal’, which is a bit of a let down after the build up that implied anything but normal.
http://twitter.com/Kanta_Mizuno Ryan Alarie

Let’s Go Cena/Cena Sucks are not dueling chants. They are both Cena chants. No one was cheering Kane. No one was booing Kane. Some people were cheering Cena, and some people were booing Cena. Now, I don’t know about Scott, but it’s possible he was refering NOT to the live audience, but the theater audience he was with. Still though … it was the SAME Let’s Go Cena/Cena Sucks chants that happen during ANY Cena appearance. There was nothing that indicated the crowd was any hotter than normal, and, like with most Cena feuds, the other person involved doesn’t seem to get any crowd reaction. It’s all about Cena, and the fact that the audience is more interested in fighting amongst themselves about their feelings about it than what actually happens in the match.

Double Count Out is lazy when the entire feud was about embracing the hate. If they want the feud to continue, they have this thing called a DQ finish, which would have actually played INTO the feud, instead of it just being a normal match where they ended up outside the ring too long. Cena didn’t seem particularly angry for most of the match, a (regular) complaint, only made worse when the entire POINT of the feud is that Kane is getting under Cena’s skin.

Drew hasn’t been fired yet, but he does get a “win this match or you MIGHT get fired” match EVERY SINGLE WEEK. Every week it’s “one last chance”, but they don’t show him getting fired, so he’s able to come back and ask for one last chance again and again. Even if they point to the “he said almost” clause, it’s still diminishing returns. Why should anyone care about the losing streak if there is no consequence to his losing? Why should anyone care when he wins because he’s getting to keep his job win lose or draw apparently?

Jericho came out and attacked people. Yeah, he did his moves, but he did, more or less, EXACTLY what he would have done in any other Rumble he’s been in. His new direction of trolling the fans, giving them only a very little, sort of parodying the ‘triumphant return’ seemed to have no impact here. MAYBE, his losing is a way of tweaking things (he can complain about how he was ‘supposed’ to win, just like HHH, and Cena, and Edge, and the other triumphant returns). However, the match itself didn’t seem to really reflect the changed Jericho (then again, we don’t really know what the ‘changed’ Jericho would look like as a wrestler, but being exactly the same as before he left probably isn’t it). Maybe Jericho speaking was officially the ‘end’ of the troll, and the start of phase 2, but Jericho didn’t do anything shocking in the Rumble. It wasn’t a cap on a run of strange trolling appearances, it was a return to ‘normal’, which is a bit of a let down after the build up that implied anything but normal.
Robisrob34

Bryan/Show/Henry was just there…….they only spot I enjoyed was when Show just threw his weight on Bryan when he was between the ropes and cage

Im not a fan of women’s wrestling…..its generally just an excuse for the male demographic to see half-naked women……….I can do that at a club for less than 54.99

Cena/Kane ended exactly like I figured…..Cena doesn’t lose, and Kane doesn’t win…….5 bucks says Cena ends up with Eve in some convoluted WWE logic

Brodus Clay is a great GIMMICK………..and even though I enjoy his squashes on free tv, paying for almost exactly what I see for free doesn’t agree with me

Punk is doing a better job of making Ziggler a star than anyone else has………watching that match makes me really think he’s a future big-time player…….but I thought the same about Swagger when he was on a roll

The Rumble was one of the best……..the WWE roster is full of similar looking, similar wrestling guys throughout the mid-card, it was nice to see see actual personality in there………and anyone who though Foley and Santino were in it for any other reason than some entertaining moments is just nuts…I think the Jericho loss is an extension of this psuedo-mockery of returning superstars…..they always re-debut on TV to big reactions, they always promise to win their first big match back, and somehow, you always end up disappointed in the end………..and with a few exceptions(Undertaker, Austin’s 3rd win, Hogan, and HHH) the Rumble has almost always been one by someone who is on the cusp of Main Event pushes….and even though some have flopped in the long run(Mysterio, Im looking at you) it gives someone a chance to move up.

Overall, I thought my money was well spent, even though I think the Divas and the squash should get me 8 dollars off my bill.
James Alsop

Actually, only one thing about this pay-per-view bothered me: how on earth did they justify Drew competing for a spot in the Rumble when Brodus Clay himself WASN’T in the Rumble match? If Drew had one, it’s not like he would have taken Clay’s spot, because Clay didn’t have a spot. And Clay ended up winning a stipulation match where he had absolutely nothing to gain.
Are we to assume that Drew beating Clay would have cost Santino or Hunico their spot?

Yes, I over-think things.
Anonymous

Double count-out is lazy because every PPV and every TV show now has double count-outs, no contests, double disqualifications, no decisions and “THIS MATCH HAS BEEN RULED A DRAWWWWW” — it’s annoying to see it everywhere, especially on PPV.
Guesty McGuest

The crowd was really dead for Cena/Kane. You don’t even have to be re-watching WWF from 2000 to know that’s an uninterested crowd. Yeah, they did a few manly “HOO!”s during a punch or a move, but that’s because they wanted to make it interesting. Everyone else was just quiet.
Guesty McGuest

The crowd was really dead for Cena/Kane. You don’t even have to be re-watching WWF from 2000 to know that’s an uninterested crowd. Yeah, they did a few manly “HOO!”s during a punch or a move, but that’s because they wanted to make it interesting. Everyone else was just quiet.
Anon

E. E. Faulk, you seem to be forgetting this is a PPV. Jericho suggested something notable would happen at the Rumble, and people paid money. It’s one thing to ‘troll’ people on free TV, but to do it for a month and then get people to spend money is too far. It was cheap.

I’m not sure what match you were listening to, Cena/Kane stunk the place out. Just because a crowd make a noise when someone punches doesn’t mean they’re a good crowd. Perhaps you should compare it with videos of matches from yesteryear. TV matches have had far better crowds.

But it’s not the crowds’ fault, they can’t force themselves to be interesting in something badly booked, which the WWE is.

A double countout is certainly lazy. There are many ways to make Kane look strong while Cena doesn’t lose. The double countout is the most boring and lazy option, and it happens too often.

That 3 of the matches of a 5-match + Rumble card were TV matches is worrying.

That they needed a rumble to push Sheamus into the main event, when he is already a multi-time world champ (remember?), is worrying. It shows how bad the booking has been.
Pingback: The Great Khali’s WWE Return, Cena/Kane Future Plans – Wrestling Inc. – The Great Khali News | Great Khali News, Videos and Pictures
Victor

The only thing with Kane/Cena I liked was the tombstone at the end, and him making Eve watch. It felt very Jake.

I loved Kharma, but was really disappointed in Big Show being #30, and them ending Kane’s streak of being in the Rumble for no good reason.

I also don’t understand how Jericho’s involvement here works with his storyline.
Diaolicalx911

Sigh…I know your review is a little slighted due to the awesomeness of seeing the show live in a movie theater (which, btw, I REALLY need to find one near where I live).

But, seeing it from the wonder of my house, here are my opinions/match ratings:

World Championship 3-Way Cage Match

- It was there…But the ending was a little flat to me. Bryan sold his ass off for those two (which he should, being the smallest of the three). But, you can’t count the fact that we had a very limited Henry (who has incredibly grown in his role in the past year), and if he was healthier, the match might’ve been better drama-wise (as having three guys who could have a legit shot at winning the belt would’ve made things more interesting). But, again, it felt like the match was getting into it’s final act, then, it suddenly ended rather anti-climatically.

Rating: ***

Diva’s Tag Team Match

- I didn’t watch this shit! I would rather watch a porno.

Rating: N/A

Cena vs Kane Match

- Watched the match. But it looks like they’re doing the building of this feud DURING A PPV? Couldn’t they have kept this kind of a finish for the Raw BEFORE the PPV, have Cena enter the Rumble, then have Kane eliminate both him and Cena, then have the after match hijinks?

- I think I like the story…Although I can’t really say as I usually pick up watching wrestling a little bit towards the Road to Wrestlemania nowadays. But, there are better options and although the story was told well, I just didn’t feel it too much.

Rating: **

Brodus vs McIntyre

- Was this really a match, or just a 3-5 min dance off (cause it’s the Funk-a-sarus Rex, baby!)? But, I haven’t seen this fun in a match since The Godfather (who SERIOUSLY needs to cameo this shit!). But, the whole McIntyre deal made zero sense, so…

Rating: *

WWE World Title Match

- Wasn’t it me, or didn’t I get a whole Bret Hart vs HBK (circa 1992) vibe going on here…Too bad it didn’t really reach the vibe going on in my head. They wrestled a good match, a damn good match, but how about giving the guys 25-30 mins and telling them to tear the house down? (Like HBK/Hart did in 1992)

- Like most of the night, the match felt somewhat flat to me, and the whole Punk/Ace deal is interesting, but would’ve been more interesting if Ace somehow inadvertently cost Punk the title (as it would’ve lead to some more Dolph/Punk matches for them to get better working together). But that ending just didn’t feel right.

- On a side note: Didn’t anyone catch the little receipt that Dolph gave Punk when Dolph yanked Punk’s leg off the top rope (and Punk clipped the back of his head on the top turnbuckle)? I think it was for when Punk was trying to hang Dolph over the top rope and didn’t give him anywhere NEAR enough time to get extended for the move (and damn near knocked Dolph the hell out). I know they’re using actual ropes in the WWE, but as a part-time wrestler, I know if they used wire/rubber ropes, that’s a damn perfect way to get a concussion!

Rating: ***+1/2

Royal Rumble Match

- I know that you watched this live in a theater, but if you watched it at home, you may have felt a little cheated by this match. There were a ton of fun moments in the match. I loved that all three of the commentators were put in the match, Road Dogg, and I was chanting “Karma’s gonna kill you” when Karma came for Cole’s ass. But there wasn’t much in the match that made me go, “Whoa, that’s interesting”.

- I think Orton didn’t get the nod because of the perceived history of him choking in the main events of Wrestlemania. But in reality, he’s the only legit star in the match, and he would’ve been the only person who could’ve made a championship match a draw come Wrestlemania.

- Shemus grew a little bit this past year, from my understanding, he developed a very entertaining gimmick. But, when I think main events, Shemus’ name doesn’t really pop into my head. Of course, I could always be proven wrong (as I’ll hold out until I see who/where they go with this), but I’m a little on the fence on this.

- This match was REALLY missing star-power here, as there wasn’t enough legit Main Eventers to make this THAT worthy of ****, let alone the blown-up ***** that some reviewers I’ve read gave it, and it wasn’t all that interesting to watch, and was devoid of some much-needed drama. If the Rumble ended in double elimination of Shemus with Jericho, then I would’ve been sold on this. If they did a Triple-elimination of Orton, Shemus, and Jericho, I would’ve totally WTF’d out. But, the ending, while unexpected, felt flat (there goes that word again).

Rating: ***+1/2

Overall: ***

- I felt that if this was the start to the Road to Wrestlemania, then it was a rather weak one. Unless the whole event will ride on the whole Rock-Cena deal (which I think would be a HUGE mistake), I really hope that the WWE puts their promotion machine into overdrive, as I’m not totally sold on if Wrestlemania being remotely interesting this year (outside of Rock-Cena).
Justin

Horrible, horrible Rumble match, very sad really. I’m a huge wwe fan, however this Rumble served no purpose but to merely expose with incredible clarity, just how scarce and thin the roster has become. Honestly, it was just sad to watch such a mediocre version of what should be the platform to really showcase the talent and creative ability of the wwe. Unfortunately many people will be left simply scratching their heads, wondering where this all went so wrong.
Anonymous

Couldn’t agree more with your assessment of the Rumble match itself Diaolical…
E. E. Faulk

“You clearly aren’t a smark…”

Haha, that seems as if you’re saying “You’re enjoying the wrong things.” Remember back when we used to be fans, and care more about who won and lost (as well as how entertaining the match was) than things like star ratings and the mindset that entertainment is somehow objective (X is clearly better than Y, Z is easily the worst, B is obviously a waste of time and money…).
E. E. Faulk

Haha, I’m not “forgetting” that I paid to see the event… jeez, what happened to “I disagree”? Must every post be insulting?

I didn’t say there was a “good crowd.” I was pointing out that they actually cared about the match. That doesn’t make a crowd “good” or “bad;” entertainment is subjective. They enjoyed it, you and Scott didn’t. Nobody’s right or wrong in that situation, but it does seem wrong to pretend that the things we like are the only worthwhile things in wrestling, and the things we dislike are automatically abominations.

I agree that Sheamus was mishandled in the early parts of his career (yes, I do remember… disagreeing with you is not a sign of memory loss lol), but I’m glad he’s gotten a sustained push to the main event, going to Smackdown and taking a more traditional “kill jobbers–> heated upper card feuds –> Rumble Win –> Main Event” route. I’m looking forward to seeing where this leads.
E. E. Faulk

I think we have different definitions of dueling chants. See, “dueling chant” implies opposition of two chants against one another. Whether it’s “I like A”/”We hate A,” or “We like A”/”We like B.” Most Cena matches have the crowd chant more about Cena than his opponent. I know it’s easy, and even tempting, to say that nobody is interested in the things we don’t like. But, really, it’s that kind of mindset that keeps self-proclaimed “smarks” out of touch with what most wrestling fans enjoy. To confuse the reaction to a Cena match with the bathroom-break disinterest in a Diva’s or match is to turn a blind eye to the fact that… and I know I’ll get flamed even more for this… casual fans enjoy things that we don’t. The comments following mine only reinforce this point: “the crowd only cheered/booed one guy, so it doesn’t count as interest. Duh, you remember what kind of show this is? Remember how bad Sheamus was booked before (before he was booked well… a fact that’s gotten swept under the rug in favor of furthering a ‘worst X ever’ narrative that comes with every big show)? Let’s Go Cena/Cena Sucks is somehow equivalent to “Woo” and “What…”"

I understand how easy it is to get swept up in negativity, and to even blatantly ignore the subjectivity of entertainment for the sake of passing opinion as fact. But please… if we, the IWC are really so far above everything, let’s not stoop that low.
http://twitter.com/Kanta_Mizuno Ryan Alarie

People like Cena, and People like to hate Cena. It doesn’t matter WHAT Cena does, or who Cena faces … there will always be those chants. In some cases, like during his feud with Punk, there will actually be chants for (or against) his opponent. It’s very hard to argue that Kane’s involvement in the feud has an impact of how loudly people chant for or against Cena.

The problem with the feud is a problem many have with Cena in general. The whole point is to build towards Cena being tempted by the dark side, so to speak, with Kane escalating his attacks to make Cena angrier and angrier. However, the PPV didn’t have an angry Cena against Kane. It didn’t have an angry Cena rising above the hate and holding back from going too far. It just had a pretty standard match that ended up in a double count out that led to an angle which, on Raw, finally showed Cena getting angry.

I’m not a “worst PPV ever” kind of guy. I know some people in the IWC are, but the IWC is hardly a monolithic entity anymore than marks that cheer for Cena are a monolithic block of young kids and ladies.

In the interest of fairness, “we” will stop passing opinion as fact, if you stop deciding what our opinions are (like saying that ‘death of a thousand DUDs’ must have been written before the match, or that anyone is claiming that no one is interested in the things we don’t like).

Personally, the Kane/Cena match wasn’t something I was looking forward to. However, in the thought experiment in which I was interested in that match, the ACTUAL match did not live up to it. Neither Cena NOR Kane were showing anywhere near the level of animosity that the build up to the feud would imply. Why would either be trying to win a wrestling match, when it has already escalated to repeated attempts to permanently injure someone? And, anyone that was interested in the match were just given more build up to a real match at a later date. Had they gone with an actual DQ ending (Cena going off on Kane, getting DQ’ed, stopping himself before he goes ‘too far’ … or conversely, Kane doing something nasty to Cena, which he ended up doing ANYWAY, to further motivate Cena to take revenger later on). Even with the outcome they wanted (no winner, to have a gimmick rematch at the Elim Chamber PPV) they could have at least made the match flow naturally out of the build.

That being said … the ultimate pay off of the feud is, I believe, a Ryder/Kane match at Wrestlemania. Outside of something whacky (Ryder turning on Cena at some point), that seems to be the best outcome, giving Ryder some retribution, and a Wrestlemania payday, as a reward for being Cena’s damsel in distress.
E. E. Faulk

Fair points, but isn’t saying that I’m deciding what people’s opinions are, deciding what my opinion is? I kid. The comment you’re trying to call me on was directed towards people who accuse me of “not remembering” what I watched a few hours before, or pretend that people who disagree with them must have some kind of cognitive problem instead of a mere difference of opinion. It was also directed towards those that cite a “lack of fan interest” in things that they personally dislike, despite great evidence to the contrary.

All that aside, you make great points and, hopefully, Ryder/Kane is exactly what we get. I would’ve rather seen it happen with the U.S. Championship on the line, but no biggie.

You make a pretty good point about Cena/Kane. Big Show and Mark Henry were more annoyed by Bryan than enraged, and they still showed more viciousness than Kane and Cena did against each other. I was pleasantly surprised by the wrestling match Cena and Kane were able to have (I expected a MUCH slower pace from a Kane match), but I agree: this was neither the time nor the place for a “wrestling match.”

Other than that: I thought it was a good-not-great pay-per-view overall, given the circumstances. Every match had something about it I didn’t like (the shortness of the cage match and the fact that a twice-injured Mark Henry isn’t at home recovering, the “wrestling match” between Kane and Cena, the Johnny/Punk storyline distracting from a match between two great workers, the silliness of most of the Rumble and the fact that Jericho didn’t get the win), but none of it was enough to eclipse the things I enjoyed.

Complete sidenote: did anyone else notice Laurinaitis in the background, texting on his blackberry during the Punk/Ziggler match? I found that funnier than any of the comedy segments of the Rumble match.