Fans done right with Royal Rumble
WWE often times gets criticized for some of the moves it makes, but the Royal Rumble was a great example, for the most part, of the company doing right by the fans.
Having Edge come back as a surprise entrant, although it was announced in this column a few weeks ago, and receive a massive ovation form the crowd was something special. The tears in his eyes as he stood in the entrance way and took it all in was something special to see.
Edge lost nine years of his career and to be able to see him step back in and look as well as he did is something that fans will remember for a long time.
A drawback, though, was the production truck missing Edge spearing Dolph Ziggler as soon as he entered the ring. How can that be missed? Fortunately, WWE is editing it into the Video On Demand version so it will be fixed on the WWE Network.
While some people did not like Brock Lesnar dominating the first half of the Rumble and eliminating everyone, it protected several wrestlers and set up for Drew McIntyre eliminating him.
While I would have liked to see Erick Rowan, Keith Lee and Braun Strowman in the match longer, it helped give Lesnar momentum which made his elimination by McIntyre that much bigger.
This, as well, was touched on in this column a few weeks ago how Lesnar could make stars.
The women鈥檚 Rumble was solid as well with Shayna Baszler and Bianca Belair looking best. Charlotte Flair winning was a drawback, but if the rumor that she will challenge NXT champion Rhea Ripley for a match at WrestleMania is true, then it makes sense.
Bray Wyatt had his best WWE match yet in his title defense against Daniel Bryan and the Becky Lynch versus Asuka match was also entertaining.
Styles out
One unfortunate issue for WWE coming out of the Rumble was that AJ Styles separated his shoulder in the match.
He is reportedly out for up to six weeks, so he could still have a match at Mania.
Andrade suspended
United States champion Andrade has been suspended for 30 days due to failing a Wellness Policy.
On This Day 鈥�
In 2000, Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko and Perry Saturn made their WWE debuts on Monday Night Raw in Pittsburgh. The quartet, fresh from their releases from WCW, sat ringside for the opening match between The New Age Outlaws and the team of Al Snow and Steve Blackman.
A brawl ensued with the eight men and the wrestling world was abuzz about the WWE debut of The Radicalz.
For years, WCW鈥檚 mid-card wrestlers had carried the promotion while the aging main eventers were no longer in their primes. WWE, on the other hand, had the main event players who could deliver in the ring but had a relatively shallow mid-card roster.
The addition of Guerrero, Benoit, Malenko and Saturn was a big blow to WCW, and the company would be out of business a little more than a year later.
This week鈥檚 question
After watching Randy Orton lay out Edge to end Raw, the crowd was in shock. When is the last time you remember something like that happening? Bobby, Carmichaels.
The crowd was definitely stunned, and that is a sign of both disbelief and the fact that the fans are emotionally invested.
The last time I remember fans at an event being in shock was the reaction at WrestleMania XXX when Lesnar ended The Undertaker鈥檚 undefeated streak.
I was there, and when the match ended, there was shock in the Superdome. Fans sat there in disbelief and many thought a mistake happened until the graphic popped up on the board saying 21-1 for Taker鈥檚 record.
The day before, I had been tipped off by someone 鈥渋n the know鈥� that we were going to see something never seen before. When the show started with Steve Austin, The Rock and Hulk Hogan in the ring together, I figured that was what my 鈥渟ource鈥� was talking about.
To see a dome full of people shocked, that was something else. It played out well on TV when I watched it back, but being there live was something else.