don’t get that. he didn’t win (damn shame imo), had a cool staredown with taker (the fucking state of him btw. hopefully he’s in better shape come mania), protected bray and randy from having to do the breakup thing just yet, and made sure orton got cheered as the winner.
even if you don’t like reigns. he’s still a) a big fucking deal so of course he’s in the rumble b) was only in there for like 5 minutes of an hour long match
sure, but it if you enjoyed the previous 55 minutes then I don’t see how that last 5 undoes it all, especially when he doesn’t even win.
what other guys? balor would’ve been great but seems he’s not ready to come back yet. obviously we’re getting rollins-hhh at mania, so no point in having seth there to be eliminated by someone who isn’t hunter. samoey joey would’ve been good but allegedly he’s being lined up to face cena. if that’s true, then its the same point as rollins - why weaken him by having him thrown out by someone who he isn’t gonna be feuding with.
appreciate we’ll never be on the same page on this, since I fucking love the big dog. just surprises me a bit that people hate him that much that they get angry about matches he doesn’t even win
To clarify even with reigns somehow making it into the rumble which makes no keyfabe sense I thought this year’s rumble match was tremendous fun, a lot more memorable for the right reasons than any other in recent memory. But I’ve finally found that I’m not thinking of wrestling as this one determined sport and just going a long for the ride so find myself a lot more forgiving of the booking. Though of I put my smart hat on for a second, the reason they put reigns in to be eliminated by Orton was a) to set up his match with taker and b) it’s guaranteed that people won’t shit on Orton for winning. It also makes it highly likely that gray wins the title at the chamber to set up Orton vs Wyatt.
I was holding out for Balor or Joe (or Angle) even if they don’t win, I don’t think them not winning the rumble hurts them.
I don’t even really want Orton to win so just because Reigns was there to soften the blow doesn’t make it any better.
As @anon73286315 says, it makes literally no kayfabe sense for Reigns to be in the Rumble when he’s already had a title match that same night and is part of this relentless pushing of a guy with the charisma of an inanimate carbon rod without any reason other than “I’m the big dog/guy!”.
Stick to SmackDown and go to the toilet during taker strowman. I love wrestling and raw is bore is easily the most disposable show because the story writing and utter disdain shown for the audience there is tragic.
agree kayfabe wise it was iffy, but not the first time that has happened. angle would’ve been great of course but if he is to have one more match I dunno if you need to set that up via the rumble anyway.
also agree him vs taker most likely won’t be great, but let’s be real, taker vs anyone in 2017 probably isn’t going to be a great match is it
would be more than happy with that. would love a cena-nakamura match though, can just imagine the crowd losing their shit during the pre match staredown