10 Things That Are No Longer Special About WWE Royal Rumble

A false finish in wrestling is a terrific way to excite a wrestling audience, as it creates the illusion that one performer is about to win when really it’s going to be their adversary. When used sparsely, the concept helps add a final element of suspense, which encourages a louder final ovation.

Few matches have adopted the device more than the Royal Rumble. When fans first glimpsed a false finish in the battle royale, it succeeded in entertaining. Conversely, since then, it has been used so much that it lost its charm and became just another part of the bout.

Worse than overuse, the fake-out can generate the wrong kind of heat with fans. For example, Roman Reigns’ victory in 2015 was marred by relentless jeers. The boos might have started earlier in the contest, but they only intensified after Rusev slid back in the ring. He hadn’t been eliminated and stood as one last obstacle for the ‘The Big Dog.’ In reality, ‘The Bulgarian Brute’ was popular with fans and served as their last breath of hope during the disastrous contest.

The swerves are risky and all too common. The only way for the false finish to become a surprise again would be for WWE to pretend it never existed as a creative option in the first place for around the next 100 years.