by Dalton Belcher
If you ask most anyone older than the John Cena age group (basically anything up to preteen) if they watch WWE, they'll generally tell you no, even if they do. There's a reason teenage and college age students don't admit to watching the show anymore. It's because the show has become embarrassing to watch. Yes, it's scripted. Yes it's PG. Yes it's entertainment and we should be happy with what we get. But there is one problem to that thinking. WWE doesn't have to be TV-MA or even TV-13 to become a badge of honor like it was during the oft longed for glory days of the Attitude Era. It's not treating your older viewers with blatant disregard and, frankly, disrespect. January 28th, 2015 the WWE went to Philadelphia for one of their "Big 4 PPVs" the Royal Rumble and they did exactly what they shouldn't do. They insulted fans. Whether wwe wants to admit to the scripted nature of the show or not, most people know. The days of "kayfabe" are dead and for WWE to believe that a vast majority of the WWE Universe doesn't read "dirt sheets" and "rumored plans" is just silly. We know they want to push Roman Reigns as their top company star. We know they don't think internet darlings like Daniel Bryan, Dolph Ziggler, or Dean Ambrose are top guy material. The problem is, they are (take those guys and look at Stone Cold Steve Austin, Shawn Michaels, and Mick Foley...the character comparisons are there) and fans like them. There's a reason when Daniel Bryan gets eliminated the crowd chants his name for a solid 5 minutes afterwards, knowing he won't come back. There's a reason people held on hope that WWE might finally listen and give them what they want: Dolph Ziggler and Dean Ambrose still had a marginal chance. The WWE wants to believe that the crowd won't get behind these guys (they already do) because they say their main demographic (kids) wants super heroes like Cena or Reigns. Which is somewhat ridiculous because most kids have short attention spans and whoever WWE puts the "machine" behind, they'll buy into.
So when the dirt sheets started saying WWE wanted Roman Reigns to win, most fans sighed (did they REALLY not learn their lesson last year with Batista and the whole Yes Movement that the fans started?) and to many's dismay, they didn't. They even brought in the one man who can control a crowd as good as anyone ever, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, because they knew (they KNEW) that fans wouldn't accept their plans because they feel others (Bryan, Ziggler, Ambrose, Wyatt, even Goldust) are more deserving than Reigns. Then the crowd booed Rock and Reigns and cheered for Rusev (Russian sympathizer, kicker of military veteran's faces, and overall a terrible human being...character wise), because they wanted something other than what was they've been given with Cena for years. There's a reason Batman has like 5 different comic book lines right now and Superman's main one struggles, people want heroes with shades of grey (or at least a constant villain with kryptonite...looking at you CM Punk to John Cena).
It's not that Reigns a bad wrestler or that he's not someone fans can't get behind, it's that WWE is forcing him down our throats and, frankly, who likes that? The kids whose parents pay 9.99$ a month for them to watch the WWE Network, they don't really care who gets to win or not so long as they see their favorite stars wrestle, because what kid is going to school tomorrow saying, "I'm so glad Reigns won, because he is primed for a bright future in WWE", they care about the spectacle not the results, while the older crowd actually pays attention to these details. So when WWE clearly spit in the face of their fans with tonight's main event, it was only poetic justice when the company that so desperately craves social media relevance was given the big "screw you too" from fans when "#CancelWWENetwork" started trending, complete with some NSFW language comments and screenshots of proof.
Couple Notes of Interest...
Curtis Axel never entered the ring so he was never eliminated (I assume we'll have a triple threat with him Reigns and Lesnar at Wreslemania?)
WWE teased a Rhodes Brothers breakup (No more MeanDust?!?) and a Mizdow break up but didn't effectively use the rumble to do so. It's been done before but I don't think anyone would've complained if one of the two tag teams had one member actually eliminate the other (not almost eliminate them).
Why no one grabs a chair or chills under the ring (Rusev) by going under the top rope in the Rumble is beyond me.
Seeing Bubba Ray (Bully Ray) without D-Von and using R-Truth makes me wonder if they couldn't get a deal done with D-Von or if that'll work into a surprise return angle for him or if Truth is his replacement because WWE is being extremely racist and just throwing any old black wrestler in with Bubba to recreate the Dudley Boyz.
Finally, ask anyone, ANYONE who they would've wanted to see as the final 3 and I almost guarantee that Big Show and/or Kane is not on their list. Even if they were working together and teasing dissension (please don't let this become a feud).