The Good, The Bad and The Ugly of Royal Rumble 2013

The first PPV of 2013, Royal Rumble, gave us a lot of exciting moments. With the return of Chris Jericho, John Cena winning the Royal Rumble and The Rock winning the WWE title, there were several things that brought out different emotions from fans across the globe. While PG era fans loved the results, hardcore wrestling fans were indeed disappointed once more.

The fans witnessed several important events in this PPV and here are the good, the bad and the ugly of Royal Rumble 2013.

The Good

Antonio Cesaro retains the US Championship. The fact that The Miz didn’t win the title from Cesaro in the Pre-Show of the Rumble was quite a satisfying result. The main reason is Cesaro looks quite impressive both on the mic and with his wrestling skills. Allowing Cesaro to dominate the US Championship can indeed improve his stature as a future World Title Contender.

Rock wins the WWE Title. After nearly 10 years, The Rock has finally won the WWE title. Every Rock fan would have loved that particular moment.

Chris Jericho returns to WWE. The real ‘best in the world’ is back. I freaked out the moment Jericho made it to the Royal Rumble as the second entrant. I would have loved it more had he won the Rumble. That way, he defeating The Rock in WrestleMania would have been an epic event. Also, the fact that he lasted close to 48 minutes was interesting.

Dolph Ziggler eliminates Chris Jericho. For months, we have been hearing opinions from people that Ziggler is an exceptional talent and shouldn’t be buried under already main event stars. The fact that Ziggler eliminated Jericho and the idea of these two getting into a feud again does create a lot of excitement among several WWE fans.

The Bad

Team Hell No retains the WWE Title. Frankly, I think Kane and Bryan need to start looking at their singles career from here on. Yes, they are funny and do give us a lot of entertainment, but as a wrestling fan, I expected the Rhodes Scholars to win the title and see Kane and Bryan go their seperate ways.

The Godfather lasted only for about 1.2 seconds? Godfather made it to the ring as a surprise entrant and was eliminated almost immediately, which was a great disappointment.

The final four in the Rumble. The final four wrestlers in the ring were Cena, Ryback, Orton and Sheamus, which was extremely predictable. Pretty bad writing by the creative team I’d say.

Ziggler does not cash in the MITB briefcase. I don’t know when it is going to happen. We have waited months for a moment that seems forever elusive. However, the idea of WWE making Ziggler cash in the briefcase and not win the title keeps me happy that he still hasn’t.

The Ugly

John Cena wins the Royal Rumble. John Cena won his second Royal Rumble. Why? So that we get ready for Cena vs Rock II? This was one of the most predictable and ridiculous moments of Royal Rumble.

CM Punk loses to a People’s Elbow? CM Punk, a 434 day WWE Champion, finally lost his title to the people’s elbow? I personally am a Rock fan but not a mark. I was happy that Rock won the WWE Title but would have preferred CM Punk to retain the title.

Big Show’s leg tied to the rope using a tape. What? A tape? Doesn’t that remind you of a similar event before? Frankly, one of the most disappointing moments of the PPV for me.

WWE could have made this PPV a lot more interesting had they added a bit more unpredictability and creativity into the matches. Cena and The Rock winning was almost obvious. Hopefully, we don’t see a Rock vs Cena II again as it wasn’t really an interesting feud.