8 Ups And 12 Downs From WWE Royal Rumble 2021

1. Beaten-Down Superstars

Want to know how badly WWE beats down its wrestlers and turns them into “just another guy”?

There were 13 former world champions in the men’s Royal Rumble this year. Thirteen. Nearly half the field. And if you include ECW and NXT Champions, that list would grow to 17. And yet, looking at the field, did you see even 10 men who legit could have won the Rumble and then headlined WrestleMania?

The clear answer is: no. Maybe you could have pegged four or five of them, but that was about it. By comparison, the 2010 Rumble had 11 former world champions (at the time), and seven of them would have been fine to win.

WWE just takes their superstars and break them down until they’re just guys. No one would buy Sheamus, Dolph Ziggler or Jeff Hardy as Rumble winners this year, but they have nine world titles between them. That’s just nuts. And no one would buy Ricochet, despite being one of the best wrestlers in the world, because WWE has broken him down. And Riddle, who could have a hell of a strong match with anyone, would never be taken seriously at this point above the mid-card.

Despite having an overwhelmingly talented roster, WWE has done real damage to many of its wrestlers, to the point where very few of them pass the Rumble Test – can you see them winning the Royal Rumble and headlining WrestleMania? That’s a really bad sign.