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Leighty’s WWE Royal Rumble 2014 Review

September 3, 2021 | Posted by Robert Leighty Jr.
Royal Rumble 2014
7.5
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Leighty’s WWE Royal Rumble 2014 Review  

-Not sure if you have heard but former WWE Backstage analyst, CM Punk is having his first wrestling match in 7 ½ years this Sunday at AEW All Out. I figured before getting there we should take a look back at his last match before walking away. I will also mention I was in the building for this show as I always wanted to see a Royal Rumble and thankfully they finally brought one to Pittsburgh. Kind of a quirky thing as I was at Mania XXVI for Shawn Michaels’ last match, Mania XXVII for Edge’s last match and this show for Punk’s and all three returned in some capacity. Anyway, let’s get to it!

-Original Air Date: Jan 26, 2014
-Consol Energy Center (now PPG Paints Arena), Pittsburgh, PA
-Announce Team: Michael Cole, Jerry “The King” Lawler, and Michael Cole

-It should be noted this was the next to last PPV before the WWE Network debuted and effectively killed their PPV model. This show did 467,000 buys.

-Cool opening video package that WWE does so well. The road to WrestleMania begins and man did that road change quite a bit due to a pissed off crowd and CM Punk walking out.

Daniel Bryan vs. Bray Wyatt (with Luke Harper (RIP) and Erick Rowan)

-Hey, this Daniel Bryan guy is really over and it would be crazy if he got left out of the Rumble and the crowd turned on the match. Amazing he gets this kind of reaction and the WWE was going to book him with Sheamus at Mania had things not completely changed. “We’re Here,” from Wyatt is still awesome and man, do I miss this entrance and song. They show the end of RAW from 2 weeks ago where Daniel finally attacked Bray inside the steel cage and it’s glorious. Very few people have ever had a crowd so firmly on their side as he did that night. Just crazy over and a satisfying payoff to his being a Wyatt Family member storyline. Massive Bryan chant to start at the bell and better get used to that tonight. Bray goes crazy with rights, but Wyatt cuts him off and delivers a nice shoulder block. He stomps away including stomping on the hand. Bryan fights back and buries a knee to the ribs. He throws some more knees and then goes after Harper, which lets Wyatt land a blow from behind. Daniel decides to take out Harper with a suicide dive and the ref has had enough so he tosses Harper and Rowan from ringside. Wyatt tells them to go as he doesn’t need them to fight this way for him. The crowd sings them out as they take their exit. Bryan comes off the top and hits a crossbody on the floor. Another Daniel Bryan chant! Back inside and Bryan gets another crossbody for a one count. He fires off kicks to the hamstrings in the corner and then catches a charging Wyatt with a boot in the corner. Bryan goes back up and Wyatt kicks him off the top and he crashes to the floor. Cole brings up that there was a report that Bryan suffered a recent concussion and I believe that is legit as it happened during the cage match angle with Wyatt on RAW. Wyatt ends up going knees first into the ring steps and Bryan has a body part to attack. Yes Kicks on the mat and then in the corner before Bryan gets a leg whip. Bryan gets to surfboard, but instead of bringing Wyatt up, he just stomps his head into the mat. Effective! Wyatt is back with headbutts and some elbows in the corner. Bryan right back with more kicks to the bad leg including a running dropkick in the corner to the knee. Wyatt ends up on the apron as they fight over a suplex attempt and both end up on the apron. They slug it out from there and Wyatt wins that exchange as he arm drags Bryan down onto the ring apron. Another Daniel Bryan chant and again, get used to that. Release vertical suplex back in the ring from Bryan and the crowd is not pleased. Bray slows things a bit as he hooks a chinlock, but Bryan elbows his way out and fires off forearms. He makes the mistake of charging and gets dumped over the top the floor. Wyatt places Bryan’s head against the post and reigns down with some forearms and then a running forearm. Bryan is selling the concussion issue and Wyatt hits a senton back splash on the floor. Back inside the ring Wyatt gets a two count. He lets Bryan know that he gave him the world before kicking him down again. Wyatt gets a few covers, but Bryan still has life. Bryan throws some forearms and goes back to the chinlock. Wyatt gets a release Uranage and then the crab/spider walk which still freaked people out at that point. He gets a splash in the corner which gets another two count. Bryan lands a blow to create space and picks up the pace with a running forearm. Yes Kicks and the crowd is getting into this one again. Wyatt goes face first into the bottom buckle and Bryan kicks away in the corner. Rana off the top from Bryan gets a two count. The crowd lets us know that This is Awesome! Bryan builds up speed off the ropes, but Wyatt just launches himself at Bryan to snuff that rally. That looked great! Bryan flips out of a move and low bridges Wyatt to the floor. Daniel comes off the apron with a Tornado DDT which is missed by the production crew, so a replay is shown from a different angle. Bryan hits the running leg lariat against the barrier and then the dropkick off the top back in the ring. Now we get the legit Yes kicks as he lights up Wyatt’s chest before hitting the head kick for two. Bryan with a running dropkick in the corner, and again, but the third one has Wyatt explode out of the corner with a sick lariat that sends Bryan spinning. That only gets two as well. Sister Abigail is escaped and turned into a roll-up for two. Bryan hooks the Yes-Lock, but Bray escapes by biting Daniel. Effective! They fight on top as the exchange headbutts like real men and Bryan wins that battle. He comes off top with a splash and gets the crowd going with Yes Chants as he preps for the running knee. Wyatt bails to the floor and then catches Bryan off a suicide dive and hits a sick Sister Abigail into the barrier. That draws a Holy Shit chant and Bryan is done as he gets rolled into the ring. Wyatt hits one more Sister Abigail and that’s it at 21:30.

Winner: Bray Wyatt via pin at 21:30
-You can make a case this is the best match of Wyatt’s career as they just beat on each other for twenty minutes. Bryan losing deflated the crowd, but I can say those around me in the crowd felt him losing here meant he was winning The Rumble. Yeah, nope! Great match as they had good chemistry and Bryan would even get good matches out of The Fiend 6 years later. ****1/4

-Renee Young is backstage with Paul Heyman. He tells us this is the dawning of a new era as Brock Lesnar is going through Big Show and is going to get the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Yep, that would be a spoiler.

-Ben Roethlisberger is in the crowd.

-Josh Matthews (I forgot he was still with WWE as this point as I just associate him with Impact) is on a panel with Ric Flair, Shawn Michaels, and Hacksaw Jim Duggan. Shawn says the future of The WWE is in the hands of Bray Wyatt and Daniel Bryan. Well, he was kind of right as 7 years was a good run. Ric calls Brock the baddest man on the planet and he loves Show, but he is screwed tonight. Duggan is going with Show, while Shawn is siding with Ric and taking Brock.

The Big Show vs. Brock Lesnar (w/ Paul Heyman)

-Brock jumps Show before the bell rings as Heyman throws a chair into the ring. Brock pastes Show with a bunch off chair shots. The crowd chants one more time as Show rolls out to the floor. The ref checks on him as Brock bounces around in the corner. Lesnar goes back on the attack as again, there is no bell. Heyman tosses in another chair and Lesnar demands the ref rings the bell. The ref steals the chair away from Brock, so Paul gives him another one. The ref rings the bell and Brock walks into the KO Punch from Show. Brock staggers to his feet on the floor and gets tossed around by Big Show. He fires Brock back into the ring and talks a bit of trash. He throws some body shots, but misses another KO punch and the F5 finishes at 2:02.

Winner: Brock Lesnar via pin at 2:02
-Knowing they were going to have Brock face Taker at Mania, this should have been Brock steamrolling Show without the chair stuff before the bell. Lesnar hitting an F5 on Show is good enough for a star. *

-Brock wears out Show with another chair after the match for fun. He breaks the chair and then gets another one, because why not. A ref gets shoved away as the slaughter continues. You could probably feel some sympathy for Show, but the crowd is too busy cheering. Brock gets some boos as he walks away. Probably because he stopped. Show just walks to the back as it should have been a stretcher job.

-Shield promo as Ambrose does most of the talking. They promise to stand united, but Reigns feels he has the winning number. Ambrose wants to know what number he has and Reigns won’t reveal. Ambrose tells Reigns that he has all the numbers. These guys are all great.

-Renee Young is backstage with WWE World Champion Randy Orton, and he says when Cena loses tonight he goes to the back of the line. Renee mentions Brock wants a shot at the title as does Batista and Bray Wyatt. Orton calls Wyatt a Duck Dynasty reject and a deranged hillbilly. Could you imagine a WrestleMania WWE Title match between those two? I PROJECT that it would suck!

WWE World Heavyweight Championship: Randy Orton (c) vs. John Cena

-This is the point in the show where the crowd begins turning on things and it’s quite glorious. Orton won a TLC match between the two the previous month that unified the World and WWE Titles. The Ascension Ceremony on RAW before the PPV is still great to watch and again, makes me think what could have been had Punk not walked out over his physical and mental health concerns. Perhaps we could have gotten DX vs. Punk/Bryan at some point. Probably not, but one can wonder. A loud Daniel Bryan chant starts after the introductions and again, get used to that. Lockup to start and Orton controls with a headlock as a boring chant breaks out. That morphs into Lets Go Cena and Cena Sucks, which is normal. Orton land some right hands and then stomps away on the mat. Another loud Daniel Bryan chant and again, get used to that. JBL has to point out that the fans are dumb become Bryan was already out here and lost. Cena gets the running bulldog for a two count as Lawler praises the fans. Orton mocks Cena as he plays to the crowd a bit. He delivers a suplex for a two count. A Randy Savage chant is next and Orton just smiles at the crowd. Orton back to the headlock and this time the crowd chants for Y2J. Cena tries for a Boston Crab, but Orton kicks him out to the floor. Orton brings Cena back in with a suplex from the apron for another two count. Now a loud boring chants breaks out and Orton picks up the pace with a headlock. Thankfully, Cena fires up with punches and a clothesline that sends Orton to the floor. Orton reverses a whip on the floor to send Cena crashing into the ring steps. Daniel Bryan chant again, and again, get used to that. Orton yells at the crowd as he is either playing with the crowd or they are getting to him a bit. Knowing Orton it’s 50/50 either way. Now a “you both suck,” chant as the announcers have to just talk about how the fans are having a good time and can do whatever they want. Orton plays to the crowd some more and gets dropped with an Electric Chair for two. Cena fires up with the 5 Moves of Doom and the boos rain down from the Pittsburgh crowd. Orton stops the 5 Knuckle Shuffle and hits the snap powerslam for two. Cena gets a full nelson into a neck breaker as he breaks out the move set. Orton is out at two, so Cena heads up top. Orton meets him up there, but Cena head butts him off and comes off with the leg drop for two. AA is escaped and Orton hits his modified back breaker for two. The crowd is entertaining themselves with the wave, which I totally forgot about, though I know I didn’t partake. Orton gets dumped to the floor, but catches Cena with the draping DDT on the floor. Orton wastes a lot of time as they have slowed this match to a crawl to do anything to see if the crowd will burn themselves out. Spoiler: We didn’t! Orton preps for RKO, but Cena avoids and gets the STF. Orton gets to the ropes to force a break and the sad thing is this is actually one of the better Cena/Orton matches, but the crowd doesn’t care. Cena hits the belly to back and then the 5 Knuckle Shuffle, but the ref gets bumped as Orton tries for the AA. Cena goes back to the STF and Orton taps quick, but doesn’t mean a thing. Orton blasts Cena with one his title belts. The ref recovers but Cena kicks out at two which draws some cheers from the women in the crowd. Orton argues with a recovering Charles Robinson and pays for it as Cena pops up and hits the AA for two. Cena now doesn’t know what to do and pulls Orton up and pays for it as Orton snaps off the RKO for two. The crowd now chants for Divas on one side of the arena, but on our side it sounded like “we want refunds.” After a few reversals and escapes, Orton ends up putting Cena in the STF and the crowd chants for Cena to tap. He uses his strength to break and reverses to his own STF. Orton rolls through to get a two count and then hits Cena with the AA for two. Credit to both of them as this finishes spam and using the other guys finisher is getting the crowd back into the match. Cena gets the RKO out of nowhere for a two count to finish off the sequence. Cena carries a limp Orton to the top rope and looks for the Avalance AA, but Orton is out. Cena is ready though and connects with a Tornado DDT and goes back to the STF. He pulls Orton back in the middle of the ring and the Wyatt gimmick hits and the lights go out which draws the biggest pop of the match. The Wyatt Family distracts Cena enough that Orton hits one last RKO for the win at 20:56. I will note that as Orton leaves through the crowd he walks right by my fried, Seth, who was sitting right behind the timekeeper.

Winner and Still WWE World Heavyweight Champion: Randy Orton via pin at 20:56
-As I mentioned this is one of the better matches in their long running series, but the story here was the crowd rejecting what they were seeing. Cena is a pro at handling a hostile crowd, so he was fine out there, but it seemed to annoy Orton. Overall this was still a good match as they plowed through and nearly got the crowd back into before the screwy ending. Just wrong night and wrong crowd for these two. ***1/4

-The crowd starts a “Thank you Wyatt” chant and the beat down is on as this sets up Cena/Wyatt at WrestleMania. Now you see why Wyatt had to go over Bryan. Sister Abigail draws a massive Yes chant and all this does is make me miss the original Bray Wyatt character. In a theme for tonight, Cena walks out under his own power after the beat down.

-Mae Young tribute video narrated by Stephanie McMahon at first before kicking into the song and highlights. Very well done and WWE is great at putting these together. They bring a smile to your face while also putting a tear in your eye. In Memory of Johnnie Mae Young (1923-2014).

-Renee Young is backstage with the new WWE Tag Team Champions: The New Age Outlaws. Still, wild that I was at a WWE PPV in 2014 and saw the New Age Outlaws win the Tag Titles, and they won them from Cody Rhodes and Goldust. Renee isn’t invited to the victory party apparently. Hope she remembers that if they want to be on her podcast.

-We hear from some of the competitors in the Royal Rumble: Miz, Usos, Big E (IC Champion), Fandango, Batista, Damien Sandow, Ryback, Rey Mysterio. I enjoyed this as it had an old school feel.

-Josh Matthews back at The Royal Rumble kickoff set. Duggan, who won the first Rumble, goes with Dolph Ziggler. Shawn has 4 guys: The Shield or CM Punk. Flair goes with Batista and the crowd boos that. Flair tells them to learn to love it.

30 Man Royal Rumble Match

-CM Punk is #1 as punishment for his messing with The Authority and this would be the last time he made his entrance to a WWE ring. No matter the outcome this should have been Punk’s match as you knew entering #1 he was going a long time. Seth Rollins is out at #2 and this match would BANG today. Funny how Punk kind of took over the slimy heel role from Edge for a bit when he retired and then Rollins ran with that after Punk left. Punk blitzes Rollins to start and immediately tries to dump him over the top and to the floor. Punk fires off some chops, kicks, and forearms. He hits a spin kick, but Rollins comes with a dropkick. Rollins eats a running knee in the corner, and then Punk drops him with a clothesline. Both men get knocked down and Damien Sandow is in at #3. He is fresh off blowing his Money in The Bank chance and never really recovered as a serious threat, but got over well with his stunt double gimmick for The Miz. Loud CM Punk chant as he drops Rollins and Sandow with a combo neckbreaker/DDT. The countdown is on again and Cody Rhodes is next at #4. He and Sandow throw blows and Cody wins that battle. Sandow probably knowing Cody would be in charge of a major promotion in 5 years and was hoping to get a job. Sandow is gone at 3:52 thanks to CM Punk. The AEW guys double team Rollins as Corporate Kane enters at #5. He runs wild on Punk and Cody for a bit as Cole and JBL put over Kane’s history in The Rumble match. Punk catches Kane with a roundhouse kick and dumps him at 5:45. Rusev makes his main roster debut from NXT at #6 as the future AEW roster continues to roll into this match. He gets to run wild for a bit and nearly dumps Cody. He catches Punk with some knees and then a Fall Away Samoan Drop. The clock is super fast tonight at Jack Swagger is out next at #7. Now it’s just getting kind of funny how many AEW guys are showing up in the early parts of this one. He and Rusev have a stare down and that could be a fun mach for the TN Title. Rollins take the leg out from Rusev and he gets tripled teamed. Countdown is on again and Kofi Kingston is in at 8 and here is where the match changes as Kofi catches Punk with a clothesline and his head bounces off the match giving him the concussion he talked about in the famous Colt Cabana podcast. Cody tries to dump Punk, but he survives and then tries to regroup in the corner and you can see he is talking to the ref to let him know he got rocked. Jimmy Uso is next at 9 and he gets to run wild for a bit. He fires off some chops, but gets caught with a dropkick from Cody. Swagger and Rusev continue their HOSS fight in the corner. Goldust is in at #10 to put another one on the board for AEW. He runs wild a bit with powerslams before getting stopped by God’s Favorite Champion. Punk is back into things as 4 guys gang up on Rusev to eliminate him at 13:10. Kofi gets dumped but Rusev catches him, so he doesn’t hit the floor and beats on him on the barricade. Kofi realizes he is still good and walks the barrier and makes the jump back onto the apron in an impressive spot. Crowd popped for that one! #11 is next and it’s Dean Ambrose (who was US Champion) and he goes right after Punk. Yeah, I am sure their paths will cross soon enough. Nothing of note happens, so Dolph Ziggler is out at #12. The crowd still loved him at this point and he gets to run wild for a bit. The crowd starts a massive “Let’s Go Ziggler” chant as we hadn’t picked up on the fact that Bryan wasn’t coming at this point. Punk nearly has Swagger dumped on one side of the ring, while Cody and Ambrose tease some eliminations on the other side. #13 is out next and it’s R-Truth and he gets doubled by The Shield. Truth is tossed by Ambrose at 18:30. Uso is gone at 18:30 thanks to Ambrose. Kofi is nearly gone, but hangs on by his feet hooked into the bottom rope. He uses Swagger’s boot to blast him in the face and then #14 is Kevin Nash to a massive pop. He knocks out Swagger at 19:58 and then goes after Ambrose. It would only seem fair if Punk got to toss Nash to finally payoff the Fall of Punk, but I don’t think they are looking at it that way. #15 is Roman Reigns and he doesn’t get booed out of the building at this point in his career. He catches Punk with a drive by which had to suck considering the concussion. He dumps Kofi at 21:49 and then cuts Dolph in half before tossing him at 22:14. Nash goes out next at 22:32. The Great Khali is next at #16 as this is apparently his 8th Rumble which shocks me as I forgot how long of a run he actually had in the WWE. Khali runs (lumbers) wild for a bit. Reigns drops him with a Superman punch and then tosses him at 22:45. Cody ends up on the apron and Goldust accidentally dumps him at 24:05 and Goldust gets dumped by Reigns at 24:08. Sheamus is in at #17 as he returns from his injury at Money in the Bank in July. He runs wild and abuses Ambrose’s chest with some clubbering forearms. Rollins eats an Irish Curse and then Reigns gets dropped with a Brogue Kick. Nice run from Sheamus there! #18 is The Miz as Punk is down in the corner again, as he continues to battle whatever the concussion did to him. Miz pounds away on Reigns in the corner while Sheamus gets doubled by Rollins and Ambrose. Fandango is next at #19 and the crowd is happy to do the dance! At this point I started doing the math in the crowd and it dawned on me that Bryan wasn’t coming out. Man, Punk had to have been rocked as he is basically curled up in a ball in the corner. The crowd starts a Daniel Bryan chant and yeah, it’s not happening. El Torito is #20 in a comedy spot which the crowd eats up. He flies around for a bit and then calls out CM Punk. They do a comedy bit as Punk laughs at home, but then gets dropped with a headscissors. Fandango cuts off the bull and goes for a press slam but gets taken over the top and a dropkick sends him packing at 30:30. Reigns tosses Torito at 31:00. Cesaro is next at #21 and he immediately catches Miz with The Swing which Punk stops with a dropkick to Miz. Punk gets swung for a bit and then Rollins gets the same, but he gets 27 full rotations. Sweet! Luke Harper (RIP) is out at #22 and he and Punk go right after each other. He drops Punk with a clothesline and then goes after Rollins a bit as we are a month away from The Shield/Wyatt classic at Elimination Chamber. (Main Event) Jey Uso is next at #23 and he goes after Cesaro. Punk and Harper continue their battle as the ring is starting to get a bit too full which means someone needs to come out to clear some dead wood. Cesaro and Harper exchange blows in the middle of the ring as they see who can hit who the hardest. JBL leaves the announce desk to enter at #24 in another comedy spot as Cole talks about how The JBL character has never entered The Rumble. He wants Cole to get his jacket and is easy pickings as Reigns dumps him at 36:38. JBL plays it off as if he never entered as he goes back to talking about Batista and Cesaro swinging people. Erick Rowan is in at #25 and I joke with my wife that we named our son after Rowan. She isn’t amused anytime I mention that. Harper sends Miz packing at 38:12. Harper eliminates Uso at 38:50. Ryback enters at #26 to not much of a reaction though the crowd does chant Goldberg. Cesaro and Sheamus have a showdown as The future BAR explodes before our eyes. Alberto Del Rio is next at #27 and he runs wild a bit with kicks and forearms. Rollins and Punk continue to battle each other as they are both at 41 minutes into this thing. Batista is next to many boos at 28 and this should clear the ring some. He runs wild with clotheslines and eliminates Rowan at 42:35. Batista and Ryback come to blows with Ryback getting an early advantage, but he gets backdropped to the floor at 43:08. Del Rio kicks Batista in the head, but Batista dumps him at 43:35. Big E (IC Champ) is next at #29 and he goes after Batista with a belly to belly suplex. He man handles Sheamus and the crowd chants for Bryan, but we know Mysterio is the last one. It’s going to get ugly here in just a few moments. Now a Yes chant breaks out and out comes Rey Mysterio at #30 and the crowd is pissed. Rey gets booed out of the building. I assume they felt Rey was so popular the crowd would be happy, but not happening on this night. Punk and Rey tease eliminations, but the real story is the anger coming down from the crowd. Big E is out thanks to Sheamus at 46:44. Cesaro uppercuts everyone which likely means his night is over soon. The 6-1-9 gets booed and Rey gets eliminated by Rollins at 47:38. The crowd cheered Rey’s elimination. Another Daniel Bryan chant! Harper is gone thanks to Reigns at 48:08. Ambrose tries to eliminate Reigns which Rollins as Rollins tries to keep peace. The break-up of The Shield angle was put on hold for a few months after that this was can also be attributed to Punk walking out as they opted to turn the group face for a brief run. Cesaro, Reigns, and Ambrose all battle by the ropes and Reigns tosses all of them at 48:39. That ties the elimination record set by Kane. The Final Four is set with Punk, Sheamus, Batista and Reigns. Kane, who came out too early and had to hide around ringside which gave away what was happening for us in the crowd, jumps up on the apron and grabs Punk to eliminate him at 49:30. Punk almost made it 50 minutes in what was the last time we saw him in a match until this Sunday at All Out! Kane puts Punk through the announce table as I assume the next step was Punk beating Kane before getting his match with HHH at Mania. The crowd chants for Daniel Bryan and then boos everyone in the ring. All three men stare each other down and we get sign pointing before everyone hits everyone as the hate continues to flow from the crowd. Batista slams Reigns as the crowd starts a massive “no” chant and the announcers are just ignoring all of this. I wonder what’s Vince’s reaction is at Gorilla? Sheamus preps for The Brogue Kick and with each pound of his chest the crowd chants No. Cute! Batista backdrop Sheamus to the apron and Reigns knocks him off at 52:55 to set the elimination record. Now the crowd starts cheering for Reigns as they want anyone other than Batista at this point. They exchange blows and Reigns hits a clothesline to a massive reaction. Funny how that would all change a year later on the other side of the State. A loud Roman Reigns chant starts and Vince had to have dollar signs in his eyes, not knowing it was mostly due to the hate the crowd had for Batista. He spears Reigns, but then ends up getting speared. Roman looks to toss Batista, but it’s reversed and Batista wins this one at 55:07.

Winner: Batista via elimination of Roman Reigns at 55:07
-This was a solid Rumble with a lot of young talent, but Punk’s concussion seemed to hurt the middle of the match. The story became the crowd turning on the match when Bryan didn’t show and to be fair, he wasn’t advertised for The Rumble. Once they crowd turned there was no way to get them back without calling an audible for Punk or for Reigns when it was down to two. Now, we all know the WWE ended up getting to where everyone wanted them to, but it took the fans revolting and CM Punk walking out of the company. It would have been glorious to see the massive crowd in New Orleans dump all over Batista vs Orton though. Overall, a decent Rumble made more famous by the crowd and for it being the last match of CM Punk’s WWE career and for a time, his wrestling career. ***

-The crowd is not happy and you can see Batista realizes it as he starts talking trash to the fans. After the show went off the air he actually got into it with a fan in the aisle.

-Thanks for reading!

7.5
The final score: review Good
The 411
With only 4 matches and 3 of them being good (one being great) this would seem like a slam dunk thumbs up show. What makes things interesting is the crowd rejecting the Championship Match and then turning on The Rumble. It's an easy show to watch and I was entertained when I was there and still find it enjoyable to watch 8 years later. This ends up being a rather historic show thanks to the crowd and it being the final straw that broke Punk's back and caused him to walk away. Wyatt/Bryan stole the show in the ring, while the crowd stole the show and started the battle between Vince and the fans that ultimately led to the ending we all wanted at WrestleMania. It also planted the seed that Roman was being groomed as the next face of the company and that battle between Vince and the fans has raged on ever since. Just a fascinating show that has all the politics and backstage stuff adding layers onto what would have just been a decent show with a middling Royal Rumble.
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Royal Rumble, Robert Leighty Jr.