6 Match Star Ratings For WWE Royal Rumble 2021
5. Drew McIntyre Vs. Goldberg - WWE Heavyweight Title Match
Shockingly competent - for WWE, "shockingly competent" means "not boiling the piss out of pockets of the fandom that are somehow not jaded into submission" - Drew McIntyre beat Goldberg clean in the middle in an effective subversion of last year's parodic WrestleMania season.
It was a Goldberg match in 2021. The man looked gassed heading to the ring, and amusingly, the video hype package played between entrances - presumably to allow him to get his breath back. That's quite the indictment, but really, if there is a ceiling on a Goldberg match, he and Drew McIntyre hit it.
Exponentially better than the drab, grim formality of the WrestleMania 36 finisher trade-off, an element of suspense was threaded into the match through the tease of Drew suffering a shoulder injury following an early barricade spot.
Manipulating known anxieties in the sort of meta development WWE really shouldn't have mastered - "Don't f*ck this up again" is a type of drama - McIntyre kicked out of the resulting Jackhammer. In another generous curve-grading, although the delivery was weirdly staggered, it wasn't dangerous nor pathetic, like Bill's Saudi vintage. The action wasn't great, but we've all seen far worse.
They put McIntyre all the way over one year after they first put him over. Firmly established as a made main event man, he heads into WrestleMania 37 as the realisation of what was sought to achieve at WrestleMania 36.
That has to be admired.
Star Rating: ★★½