Tossing Salt Presents:
WWE Royal Rumble 2022
Thoughts & Review
January 30, 2022
DougMaynard.com

Well, the WWE Royal Rumble is now in the books and it was an interesting show. Normally, I just do my predictions, watch the Premium Live Events, go to bed, and never give them another thought, but this one. There was just something about it. So I watched the show, went to bed, had some weird-ass dreams, and now that I’ve woken up, it’s time to look back at each match and give a few thoughts. I might even pull a Meltzer and give each match a few stars. We’ll see how it goes. So a Royal Rumble Review from your favorite salt-tossing Q&A’er. Let’s do this.

Match 1: Roman Reigns versus Seth Rollins…

This match was damn good at first. The head games that Seth was playing, coming out in SHIELD gear and such, was awesome. Seth and Roman have such good chemistry together and I don’t think they’re capable of having a bad match, not until the finish that is. I get the DQ finish and it makes sense in the overall scheme of things, but the post-match beatdown just seemed to kill the vibe and take the air out of the room. It was just too much and major overkill in my opinion I’ll give the match 3.0 stars. It wasn’t bad, but it just left me with a bad taste in my mouth.

Match 2: Women’s Royal Rumble Match

This was easily the match that I was looking the most forward to and while it wasn’t bad, it wasn’t good either. All of the leaked names and surprises and it was just “Eh” at most, until the end of course. It was good to see Melina, but my heart broke a little bit at the way she was in and out so quickly. I don’t think that was the planned elimination spot and she messed up. And from there, it was okay. I popped like hell to see Ivory, especially in her Right To Censor character. That woman is 60 years old and looks great. The Molly Holly/ Nikki A.S.H. bit was okay too and I hope that they follow up on it. Mickie James, coming to the ring with her own music and the Knockout’s Championship was cool to see. There were some good spots, but nothing really memorable until the end. Ronda Rousey at #30 saved this match and it’s good to see her back. She didn’t look quite as dominant as we’ve seen her in the past, but she made the impact needed. 3.0 stars for this one.

Match 3: Becky Lynch versus Doudrop…

This match was okay, but it never really seemed to get off the ground. Part of the reason was that the Wrestlemania sign had caught fire and was distracting the fans in the audience away from the match. So that was a distraction, but in spite of that, this match just never seemed to get off the ground and going. I didn’t see any chemistry between these two ladies and the moves were awkward and stiff. We often complain about the WWE matches being too scripted, but this one needed more polishing. It was a stinker. 1.5 stars.

Match 4: Brock Lesnar versus Bobby Lashley…

I wanted to like this match, but it just didn’t work. The trading of suplexes and back and forth with the no-selling and high-impact moves was good and fun to see. Most people don’t talk about it, but Brock is damn good at selling when he wants to be. It had so much potential, but the ending just killed my vibe again. Roman gets involved, is handed the WWE title belt by Heyman, lays out Brock and Lashley gets the pin to win the title. It was just so by the numbers and uninspiring. Heyman turned on Brock and is back with Roman and Lashley wins the belt. It should be a big moment. It wasn’t. I’ll give it a 2.5 star rating.

Match 5: The Miz & Maryse versus Edge & Beth Phoenix

Another match that I had been looking forward to, but it just didn’t deliver. The chemistry and flow weren’t there. It seemed more like Beth mostly, but Maryse too at a few points, was more focused on trying to remember spots than just going with the flow and wrestling. I’m sure that everyone involved had a great time putting this match together and it’s obvious that Edge and Miz both love working with their better halves, but the match just never seemed to get off the ground. It was hit this spot, hit that spot, and so on, and I was majorly disappointed. 2.5 stars for this one.

Match 6: The Men’s Royal Rumble Match

It just didn’t work. Omos had the spots where he was booked as a monster and looked good, but that wasn’t all that in the big picture of things. Johnny Knoxville had his appearance to make the news clips but didn’t really add anything to the match. AJ Styles, Happy Corbin, and Madcap Moss had some good spots. Austin Theory looked good. Kofi tried for one of his highlight spots, but messed up and was eliminated almost immediately. Oh yeah, Bad Bunny and Shane O’Mac are back. Who cares? Usually, in the Rumble matches, there is a story and the action seems to flow better, but for the majority of this match, it just seemed to be hit a spot and step back for everyone. And then we had Brock come in at the end, eliminate everyone and he’s going to Mania. As much as I was putting over Brock for his selling earlier, this time he was smiling during and after the match, and considering that he had just lost the WWE title and his best friend/Advocate had just betrayed him an hour earlier, why would he be smiling? It just destroys the vibe. I’ll give this one a 3.0.

And there you go. I tried to like the Rumble match, but by the time the mixed tag match was starting, I was ready for this show to end. It was just so long and the energy and excitement had been drained out of me. It just felt forced like everyone was going through the motions. The emotions were real with Melina and Mickie James, and I popped for Ivory, but the rest of it? For an event with so many things going on, it just didn’t have what I was hoping for. Maybe next time. For the overall show, I’m going with a 3.0 rating. The potential was there and there were a few good spots, but for the most part, I didn’t feel it.

Comments, thoughts, and any questions are welcome and appreciated. Until the next time, take care of yourself and be good. I’ll see you at the matches.

Ubuntu!