8. Kalisto's Little Big Moment
As mentioned in the introduction, the undercard of the Royal Rumble was more than solid. Four championship matches took place on the main show itself, with Kalisto being the only challenger to win gold by defeating Alberto Del Rio for the United States Championship. The problem with this isn't so much the decision for him to win the title at the Royal Rumble, more the little game of hot potato that took place with the belt in the weeks prior. If Kalisto was going to be booked to defeat Alberto Del Rio for the US Title at the Rumble, why did they do two title changes in a week prior to it? The Royal Rumble is one of the biggest nights on the WWE calendar, and Kalisto is one of the most promising young talents in the company. Take those two components and add a championship win into the mix, and you have a story of an emotional first time champion that even a child could tell. As such, this fell flat precisely because WWE has forgotten the importance of the first time.
John Bills
Contributor
Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.
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