3 Ups & 11 Downs From WWE Raw (Jan 18)

1. Rumble? What Rumble?

WWE Royal Rumble 2021
WWE

Yes, we know the Royal Rumble is less than two weeks away, and some wrestlers are talking about it, declaring for the Rumble matches, or fighting for a spot in the Rumble (more on that later), but does anyone really feel like a big PPV is around the corner?

It just feels like WWE is going through the motions of putting on a show and making a few passing references to the upcoming PPV rather than making it the focal point of the show. For years, the Rumble has been the big event that launches WrestleMania season, so the setup for that PPV has become a bigger deal. This year, not so much. And sorry, the lack of a crowd doesn’t excuse that.

Also, how ridiculous is it that Ricochet needs to impress the brass against AJ Styles, but AJ, Jeff Hardy, Miz and others can just automatically declare themselves entered? If you’re going to create some artificial qualification, that’s one thing, but this is just arbitrary and poor storytelling.

Less than 1/3 of each Rumble match has been announced with just one episode of Raw and two SmackDowns to go. Chop-chop, WWE.

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Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.