Why the Royal Rumble is the most perfect match in wrestling today – By Wrestle G

Hello and it’s Friday once again here at NoDQ.com and that means its time for some wrestling opinions from your boy Wrestle G.

It’s been another busy week for me in my other life I’m a sports broadcaster for Ice Hockey and I called an epic game yesterday so today feeling a little bit physically and emotionally drained. But do you know what helps? A nice big dose of pro ‘Wrasslin to switch the mind off and escape into and that is very much what I’ve been doing today. I’ve got two more hockey games to call this weekend, and I am pumped to do so. But that’s enough about my other life you are all here for wrestling opinions so let’s get stuck into some delicious wrestling Tapas, shall we?

Wrestling Tapas

So how about that Penta debut huh? Look I’m not going to pretend I have been the worlds biggest Penta fan I have enjoyed his work in AEW especially the cage match with the Luca Bros and the Young Bucks which is easily in my top 5 AEW matches of all time. But other than that, I thought he was entertaining when he was on the screen. But I was really shocked to see how the WWE presented him on Monday, they made him feel special and a big star. His match was decent, and his promo hit with me. What I will say though is that I don’t think WWE has a great track record with guys like Penta having their momentum continued, so its very much wait and see. I’m intrigued to see him.

Elsewhere in WWE there was confirmation this week that the TNA and WWE partnership is now somewhat more official and locked in for multiple years. For me this deal is only really interesting if it offers the WWE ID programme to have a conveyer belt for progression, if talents can test the waters across both programmes, I think this has legs. I don’t think intrinsically I feel like there are a lot of TNA talent I think are ready or will add something to WWE that they don’t already have (Joe Hendry and the Knockouts division are the most valuable I feel) Partnerships between companies has always been supremely difficult to juggle, Tony Khan to his credit has kept his with NJPW and CMLL very well. Let’s see how this WWE and TNA one evolves.

Over in AEW fans lost their minds over the collision 12-man tag that’s been booked because the Death Riders are slated to team with the Learning Tree. Now my initial reaction to this was that I found it strange, the Death Riders whole mantra is meant to be that they are against the entire machine of AEW. But the reaction to this announcement has been a little over the top for me as I think we should wait and see how it plays out. I find it hard to believe that the match goes as just a straight match. Collision will tell reveal what the plan is.

Kenny Omega made his return to the ring this week and he looked a million bucks. Him and Ospreay are the guys to hitch the wagon on going forward. Omega has something about him, and the time away from the ring has made me realise that as now he’s back he feels really different to a lot of the rest of the roster. Give Omega the task of further enhancing the other guys near the top of the card in Swerve, Hangman and let him also show he is superior to the guys who still have the WWE connotations such as Cope and Lashley. Out the other side Omega as the clear top guy will see the main event scene in AEW refreshed.

Ok It’s time for the main event of our column this week………

Why the Royal Rumble is the most perfect Match.

Royal Rumble 1994 was the first PPV that I sat down and watched when my family first got Sky Sports in the UK. In the preceding weeks I gorged on absolutely every single piece of content I could that was available on Sky. Superstars, Challenge, Mania all the replays of those shows (there was no Raw coverage in the UK in them days…..) and I couldn’t wait to see what a Royal Rumble was.

And it didn’t disappoint my friends this rumble had Diesel railroading a load of superstars and racking up eliminations, it had people ganging up to take Mable out, it had Shawn Michaels ‘accidentally’ eliminating Diesel and it had the double elimination finish with Bret and Luger. Given how much of an absolute dumpster fire the WWF booking and roster was in 94, the Rumble was a highlight. And truth be told, it usually always is.

But why? Why is this match so alluring? Why has it stood the test of time and why has it remained the cornerstone and kick off of the road to Wrestlemania? I’ve been thinking about this a lot in the run up, so I thought, why not deep dive it and really explore the mechanics of what makes the Rumble so Great.

Anticipation

The Countdown in the Rumble is such a big component of the match, so few matches can harness the feeling of anticipation that a Rumble does. In big matches you get that anticipation building when you know the finish is coming, but a Rumble gives you a dopamine hit every 60 – 90 seconds (depending how Titan Time is working)

But it’s not just the anticipation of entrances and who’s coming down next, when you get to the final 4 its that anticipation that your close to finding a winner.

There’s the anticipation of someone holding on to the ropes and if they are going to go over.

The Rumble is a match that keeps giving you things to keep your interest from first bell till last in the way many other formats can’t.

Stakes

Of course we have our overall stake every year in the Rumble. The winner goes on to face a champion at WrestleMania. It’s the goal of pretty much every wrestler to get that title match. There have been occasions where the Heavyweight championship has been on the line. It’s rare to get a match where the stakes are always so high. Pretty much every other gimmick match has had matches for the sake of matches. The Rumble has by and large avoided this. Which brings us to….

A Protected Concept

Considering the spamming of match types such as Hell in a Cell, Ladder match, Cage match, tables matches, hardcore matches, it is a wonder that the Royal Rumble has remained as protected as it has. Yes, we did have the greatest Royal Rumble take place in Saudi Arabia but thankfully that didn’t become an annual thing. So by and large it’s been a yearly tradition, which again feeds into that anticipation section we had a few points above.

It’s also a wonder that other promotions haven’t borrowed the idea. It’s such a perfect match that with its branding and it being synonymous with the WWE that other companies have dared ever touch it. That’s rare in wrestling and just adds to the fact of how special a match type it is.

A Multiverse within a Match

 

How many other matches can you book new angles, blow off current angles and invite nostalgia acts and wrestlers from other companies all at the same time? Imagine a Hell in a Cell where The Godfathers music just hits out of the blue and he waltzes down to interject himself. I’m sure it would get a pop, but it would be swiftly followed by confusion.

In the Rumble you can get anything and its just instantly accepted. A TNA Knockouts champion turning up? Fine, someone from New Japan? Why not? Hey, I got an idea lets throw Mick Foley out in the rumble three times in his 3 different gimmicks.

You also get stories that can live just within the bubble of the Rumble Multiverse. Who can forget Demolition squaring off? We’ve had tag partners eliminate each other, and it’s never really spoken of again. You can test things out to see what reaction they get and drop them without anyone really caring because after all it is ‘every man or women for themselves’?

The Rumble has always offered us a blank canvas for the evening in many ways while also inflaming the imagination of wrestling fans of what can be possible within the confines of a match.

Debuts and Returns

Off of the back of the above point where it’s been well established that the Rumble is a place where you can expect the unexpected, it’s always been prime breeding ground for Debuts and Returns. Those pops when crowds realise someone has turned up or come back are generational.

AJ Styles finally coming to WWE will always be a huge Rumble moment (although I will never forgive Kevin Dunne for not catching it correctly) and I don’t think many fans will forget where they were when Edge music hits and he made his wrestling comeback after thinking his career was over after neck surgery. A Rumble Debut or Return have a tendency to live longer in the memory than a debut or return on a normal PLE or Raw. I think this is linked to the Stakes section above, when someone comes back to the Rumble there’s an outside chance they might win it, when you aren’t expecting someone to be in the match their sheer presence send you into a spiral of possibilities and your back into your multiverse mind as a fan.

Unpredictability

Overall, I think this word sums up why the Rumble grabs us. We are all big clever clogs most of the year, aren’t we? Mapping out how feuds are going to go, knowing who is going to win the main events on Raw and knowing who that open challenge is going to be answered by.

But the Rumble stretches us on that, the Rumble throws curve balls. The Rumble holds all the card.

It’s the event that takes us back to being a kid when Kayfabe wasn’t just the name of your next-door neighbour.

The Royal Rumble is the great leveller the match where WWE hold the cards and can manipulate our emotions.

The Royal Rumble is the greatest match type in history. And will not be beaten.

So that’s it for this week folks. What did you think? Do you love the Rumble? Do you hate the Rumble? What do you think it is the magic ingredient that makes it so good?

Let me know in the comments or you can follow me on X via @Wrestle_G I’m gaining followers each week and I want to foster a great community of people here on NoDQ.com. the place where column royalty lives.

I’ll be back next week,

Until then,

Cheers,

G