4 Ups & 11 Downs From WWE Raw (Jan 11)

1. Reminder: Royal Rumble Is Coming Up

WWE Royal Rumble 2021
WWE

The Royal Rumble is supposed to be WWE’s second-biggest PPV of the year. The signature matches are highlights of the wrestling year and can launch two superstars’ careers, as evidenced by Drew McIntyre’s incredible 2020.

Typically, we get a buildup of interest in the show and the match, as wrestlers make their case for entering the Rumble and how it can change lives. And while there are still two more episodes of Raw before the PPV, it’s remarkable that we’ve had less than 20% of the Rumble field announced, and the buildup just isn’t there – yet.

This isn’t hard. You have a three-hour program, surely someone could cut a promo about how much winning the Rumble could change his or her life, or a former winner could talk about how they made their mark. It just doesn’t feel like a major PPV is coming up in three weeks. And that’s not a good feeling to have.

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Contributor
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.