(Courtesy of Wikipedia)

Mistakes.

Everybody makes them, even WWE Creative.

There were some bright spots on the show: The John Cena/Brock Lesnar/Seth Rollins three-way WWE World Heavyweight Championship match was possibly the best WWE Title match in a long time. The Royal Rumble match had touches of glory – returns by Bubba Ray Dudley, The Boogeyman, Zack Ryder and the former Wyatt Family having a cool standoff provided fun.

That’s where it stopped.

It was a clear mistake to eliminate favorite Daniel Bryan in the Rumble early. WWE knew this would potentially backfire in the crowd reaction and have them take it out on Roman Reigns, who WWE sees as this year’s “man” to do it all.

The crowd in Philadelphia did something: they made sure they were heard and that Reigns going over – even with help from The Rock, was not going to salvage this moment.

The Breakdown

– The New Day-Cesaro/Tyson Kidd/Adam Rose (w/The Exotic Express) match was even better thanks to the Philly crowd that Cesaro/Kidd were much over with. Adam Rose was just kind of there. It seemed the crowd would have rioted if The New Day had won. Luckily, that didn’t happen and WWE was smart to do that. Perhaps a double tag team turn is in order? The New Day will not catch fire anytime soon as they are currently.

– The Ascension-New Age Outlaws match went down exactly like it should’ve. It wasn’t too long nor too short and while The Ascension used heel tactics to win, the result was what counted. They’re heels. They should cheat. The question though is where do they go from here? Beating The New Age Outlaws in 2015 doesn’t give a team that many bragging rights. Will they continue to take on legends and beat them?

– Say what you want: Triple H on Steve Austin’s podcast is worth checking out. There’s no telling just where things will go there.

– The Triple H-Stephanie McMahon backstage segment where they bashed Sting, dismissing him as a “WCW person” was interesting. When Paul Heyman entered, it was obvious he would be greeted lovingly by the Philly faithful. His proposal of Brock Lesnar as a solution to Sting was also interesting, especially if you consider things by the end of the night where Lesnar appeared to emerge a fan favorite.

– The Miz/Damien Mizdow and The Usos Tag Team Championship match was entertaining because the fans were so much into Mizdow. The Uso botch on the outside was hard to ignore as the crowd let them know, despite WWE not showing it on replay. Mizdow didn’t exactly factor into the finish and The Usos still retained. Good match.

– The J & J Security/Seth Rollins backstage segment was good in that it established Rollins as a threat and the real chance of him becoming Champion and shedding his “future” nickname was upon us.

– The Paige/Natalya-Bella Twins match was lame in terms of the finish, with Natalya not getting the chance to make the hot tag to Paige, who never entered the match. This will probably cause a rift in their friendship on the following Raw. Never have seen a tag match end before a hot tag. It can never be good.

– The Rumble match hype promos from Roman Reigns, Gold and Star Dust, The Big Show, Miz, Mizdow, Fandango and Daniel Bryan were pretty straightforward. Reigns actually sounded convincing and it was also hard to ignore Bryan. Seeing how the match turned out, this was ironic.

– The WWE World Heavyweight Championship match between Cena, Rollins and Lesnar started off strong with no signs of stoppage. The crowd was very pro-Lesnar, very anti-Cena and somewhere in the middle for Rollins. Lesnar was an absolute machine – kicking out at one of the first Attitude Adjustment by Cena, getting up after three more, enduring a Curb stomp, a spear through the barricade, Rollins’ elbow drop through the announce table and shots to the face with the MITB briefcase. This was without a doubt the best WWE match in a long time. Lesnar’s comeback with a broken rib was almost insane and the crowd bought into it. How could you root against Lesnar in a comeback like that? That’s the kind of performance that wins fans over. Lesnar has been a pseudo-face as of late, attacking The Authority, but where do things go now?

– Rusev and Bray Wyatt put in good performances in the Rumble, but the match should be looked at in two halves: the first was fun and entertaining with returns and the second was boring and predictable, with the crowd boos prolonged. So, what happened? It’s obvious the early elimination of Bryan supplied this turning point. The worst part about it: Bryan can’t even blame The Authority. They had no storyline hand in his elimination. Bryan could only blame himself for getting eliminated. With Bryan gone, WWE hoped fans would rally behind Reigns, but just like Batista last year, they rejected him. While WWE turned Batista heel last year in acknowledgment of the crowd reaction, they likely won’t do the same with Reigns – seeing as how The Rock is now aligned with him. The lone bright spot out of this is that Rock will somehow be involved this WrestleMania season in an angle with The Authority. Where will it go? Who knows. There is one thing we do know: people don’t give a damn about Reigns as a Rumble winner.

Results

– Kick-Off Match – Tyson Kidd/Cesaro/Adam Rose (w/The Exotic Express) def. The New Day via pinfall

– The Ascension def. The New Age Outlaws via pinfall

– Tag Team Championships – The Usos (Champions) def. The Miz/Damien Mizdow via pinfall to retain

– The Bella Twins def. Paige/Natalya via pinfall

– WWE World Heavyweight Championship – Brock Lesnar (Champion) (w/Paul Heyman) def. Seth Rollins, John Cena to retain

– Rumble Match – Roman Reigns eliminates Rusev to win

Original Predictions Correct: 3/6