THE 2013 ROYAL RUMBLE THREAD

[EmpireWF]

Prime Time Players anyone? Give them a run.

I hate these start/stop pushes they do...even with Rhodes Scholars.

[dave]

That would have been awesome, but unfortunately we are getting Trips/Lesnar at Mania.

I've always felt HHH was the most overrated wrestler in WWE history and only over because he married the boss' daughter.

I think HHH should stay retired because of that, and I don't think Undertaker has anything left to prove and should just go out with his streak intact.

I am not entirely diminishing HHH, but without his marriage, my guess is he is not what he is now. Without the marriage, he's Arn Anderson without Arn's career-ending injury ... a damn good wrestler who would never hold a world title.
I would argue Arn is better both on the mic and in the ring, but I can buy the counter argument.

Prime Time Players anyone? Give them a run.

I hate these start/stop pushes they do...even with Rhodes Scholars.

I love the Prime Time Players. They absolutely deserve better than what they're getting now.

[FedEx227]

Triple H did hold the title before he got with Stephanie (mid 1999), he was also poised for a big push in 1996 but the Curtain Call pushed him to back only to get back to a top level by 1997-1998 and eventually main event in 1999. They then pushed him as hard as possible until he finally got over in a feud with Foley in 2000.

So, I don't think it's entirely fair to say he got there because of Stephanie. He got there because McMahon has for whatever reason, always been enamored with him. How many guys would recover from being apart of the Curtain Call as quickly and easily as HHH did?

[EmpireWF]

So, I don't think it's entirely fair to say he got there because of Stephanie. He got there because McMahon has for whatever reason, always been enamored with him. How many guys would recover from being apart of the Curtain Call as quickly and easily as HHH did?

He basically was in the out house for maybe a year. By that time, he was tight with Shawn and had the politics in his favor to go up up up the card.

[dave]

Triple H did hold the title before he got with Stephanie (mid 1999), he was also poised for a big push in 1996 but the Curtain Call pushed him to back only to get back to a top level by 1997-1998 and eventually main event in 1999. They then pushed him as hard as possible until he finally got over in a feud with Foley in 2000.

So, I don't think it's entirely fair to say he got there because of Stephanie. He got there because McMahon has for whatever reason, always been enamored with him. How many guys would recover from being apart of the Curtain Call as quickly and easily as HHH did?

Again, FedEx, I understand the counter argument. I have never been a HHH fan. IMO, not one aspect of his game (sorry for the pun) stood out to me.
Mic - solid, no doubt
In ring work - solid, but nothing stood out in my opinion
Charisma - solid, but not elite

I have always felt HHH was incredibly overrated. Do I want him in my company? Absolutely. Do I want him as a constant main event? No.

[FedEx227]

Trust me, I'm about the last guy actually defending HHH. I got sick of him about half way through 2000, I'm just saying it's not entirely fair to say Stephanie was the reason he got to where he got. He got to where he got because Vince loves the guy and always pushed him.

[EmpireWF]

HHH from about 99 through his first quad tear was pretty damn good in the ring. Of course, look at the roster all those top WWF guys got to work with, him included. Great matches with Austin (no way out 2001), Angle (last man standing), Foley (rumble 2000), Rock, Benoit, Shawn, Jericho even Jeff Hardy around that time.

He's not Flair/Shawn/Angle/Bret/Savage....from an in-ring POV. 2nd or 3rd tier among the modern guys I'll throw out there.

[FedEx227]

Yeah, trust me, I'm not defending the pushes of Triple H, I'm just saying it's not fair to attribute it to his relationship with Stephanie. Even when he was in the doghouse after the Curtain Call, he was the IC Champ or chasing the IC Title. Quite the burial there.

Vince loves the dude, plain and simple. He made good friends and has the owner of the company as one of his biggest fans. That's it right there. Banging the bosses daughter was just the icing on the cake...literally?

[dave]

Yeah, trust me, I'm not defending the pushes of Triple H, I'm just saying it's not fair to attribute it to his relationship with Stephanie. Even when he was in the doghouse after the Curtain Call, he was the IC Champ or chasing the IC Title. Quite the burial there.

Vince loves the dude, plain and simple. He made good friends and has the owner of the company as one of his biggest fans. That's it right there. Banging the bosses daughter was just the icing on the cake...literally?

Hey .. not blaming him for banging Stephanie. She's fucking gorgeous.

[Warner2BruceTD]

Looking around various forums, I see people raving about this ("PPV of the year contender"), and trashing it.

Not a ton of middle ground.

[JimLeavy59]

It was meh, the thing that sucks about Punk dropping the belt to Rock is the fact that its going back to Cena. And we'll be back to where we were pre-Mania 27 him still doing his Superman shit. I'm sure they'll sneak in a Ryback reign this year thinking that the guy is over yet failing to realize his chant is over not him.

[Bigpapa42]

Looking around various forums, I see people raving about this ("PPV of the year contender"), and trashing it.

Not a ton of middle ground.

At this point, I'd say I'm in the middle. I didn't think the show was utter trash - there was no wrestlecrap matches and the Rumble was what the Rumble always is. Just terribly predictable and with weak finishes.

[Guest]

My biggest gripe is how they did everything possible to trivialize Punk's 434 day title reign. Rock gets a pre match promo but Punk doesn't. Punk has to come out first. Rock gets to throw a temper tantrum and restart the match. I realize the payoff is a Rock vs Cena rematch at Wrestlemania but why not then have Rock win at Elimination Chamber by beating someone other than Punk. Now we basically go into another lame duck PPV where we already know who is going to win the main event.

The case of the Elimination Chamber thing is people over-thinking this. In any other year, having tournaments on Raw and Smackdown to determine who gets a spot in the Chamber for the WWE title is a great decision, With Rock returning to a full-time schedule for a few months, including SmackDown appearances, , did anyone really expect this PPV to be anything but Rock winning the title?

[FedEx227]

At this point, I'd say I'm in the middle. I didn't think the show was utter trash - there was no wrestlecrap matches and the Rumble was what the Rumble always is. Just terribly predictable and with weak finishes.

Yeah, I can't grasp people being on either end, I thought this was "meh" show all the way. Predictable finishes but nothing horrendous (aka no Divas match). There weren't any blowaway matches but everything was sound. It was a paint by numbers PPV.

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

I am enjoying this heel turn larry is doing re: Rock

No heel turn...I love the Rock...but the match was shit.