10 Early Reasons To Be Worried About WWE Royal Rumble 2023

7. An Underwhelming Undercard

WWE Royal Rumble Brock Lesnar
WWE.com

The pandemic brought with it the concept of cinematic wrestling, the concept being a pre-taped and heavily-edited performance, often with wacky stipulations incapable of being played out in front of a live audience.

How, exactly, this translates when the audience is there isn’t known; the art style has remained largely absent from the realm of wrestling post-pandemic, bar a couple of notable exceptions. WWE, by the sounds of it, will add to the list at the Royal Rumble with a Mountain Dew Pitch Black match, a match type that on its title alone screams late nineties and/or early noughties World Championship Wrestling.

Bray Wyatt and LA Knight’s endeavour with the stipulation will no doubt follow a cinematic style - at the very least partially - on 28 January.

Despite the resounding reaction given to the real-life Windham Rotunda since his Extreme Rules comeback, the reception to his LA Knight rivalry has been largely mixed. Booking the pair in a potentially divisive stipulation - in what will be Wyatt’s first televised match since April 2021, mind - leaves WWE teetering on the edge of audience perception. If it works, then great.

If not?

It’ll be a catastrophic failure.

Contributor
Contributor

Can be found raving about the latest IMPACT Wrestling signing, the Saints Row franchise, and King Shark in The Suicide Squad.