8 Match Star Ratings For WWE Royal Rumble 2020
Uneven undercard, but what really mattered was unbelievably great.
WWE had much to accomplish at the 2020 Royal Rumble, particularly since, for reasons hard to place - the lack of a true, ascending star, no imminent returns from part-time megastars? - it didn't much feel like WrestleMania season yesterday.
WWE had to heat Becky Lynch back up. Her big, brash talk hadn't landed as well as it had in 2018, and her crisis in confidence schtick, well-intentioned as a babyface - she should want to avenge that loss - veered too far in the other direction. She didn't feel like Becky Lynch, and she didn't feel like Becky Lynch when she was being Becky Lynch. This time last year, the Women's division was on fire. This year, ahead of Royal Rumble weekend, just five women were announced for the titular match. This was pathetic, and sad. Were they not worth promoting?
The Fiend needed a convincing, and more importantly over match. Bray Wyatt has engineered a cult following online, more than he ever did as an actual cult leader, but then the bell rings, and if it's only subjectively awful, it is objectively quiet. No Fiend match has gotten over. That is a fact.
WWE also had to pay off the very intriguing Brock Lesnar hook with a satisfying elimination spot that built, if not a breakout star, then a compelling WrestleMania 36 match.
Did WWE accomplish any of this...?
8. KICKOFF: Shorty G Vs. Sheamus
A broad story told in a way that wasn't particularly compelling, this was a disappointment, but perhaps one excused by Sheamus' ring rust and its position on the card.
Sheamus is taller and stronger, Shorty G is shorter and pluckier, and this dynamic was explored early when Sheamus continually threw Shorty to the canvas, with a thud, in exchanges fought at a glacial pace. This didn't work in generating a reaction from the crowd; the palpable lack of intensity made that power boring, and that guile all but impotent. This was a Kickoff match, and was wrestled in that gear as a result, but without Sheamus clubbing Shorty with his trademark stiffness, they failed to orchestrate and real sense of peril or drama early.
The hardway blood that emerged from Shorty's ear seems to undermine that take, but the sight of blood usually extracts some sort of reaction from the crowd. It didn't here. By the time the stiffness intensified, the pace never picked up to unglue the crowd. It was almost pointlessly painful.
Quintessentially solid, plodding WWE fare, this was a dire night for the returning Superstars on SmackDown. At least John Morrison had an easier shift.
Star Rating: ★★¾