3 Ups & 9 Downs From WWE Raw (Jan 25)

2. Minimal Rumble Build

The Royal Rumble is quite possibly one of the easiest matches in WWE to promote. And yet, this company managed to fumble and botch the hell out of it this year.

Save Edge’s impassioned promo on Monday night, Bobby Lashley’s comments a few weeks back about going to WrestleMania and Charlotte Flair calling herself Miss WrestleMania, has anyone been talking about the opportunity the Rumble presents for them? How it can create a life-changing opportunity for them? That winning guarantees them the glory of a world title match at the biggest PPV event of the year?

In years past, you would get numerous wrestlers talking about how the Rumble was their big chance to make a name for themselves, to earn a shot at the gold. Now you get people announcing via Twitter or on TMZ with nary a mention of how important this match is to them.

At other times, WWE has produced slick videos breaking down the Rumble “by the numbers,” which has been a really cool way to hype the event, get people excited and explain exactly what’s at stake here. This year? Nothing.

WWE put more effort into its video packages and promoting Lana going through the announcers’ desk nine consecutive weeks (and then that trope went nowhere). The Rumble is a personal favorite, and to see such little effort put into promoting it is just plain disheartening.