PPV Evaluation - WWE Royal Rumble 2014
By Nathan Kyght, PWTorch PPV specialist

BEST MATCH – DANIEL BRYAN VS. BRAY WYATT

If the WWE's plan for WrestleMania is indeed John Cena vs. Bray Wyatt (and all signs seem to be pointing in that direction), this was definitely the way to establish Wyatt as a top-tier act. The opening match at this year's Royal Rumble was given about 20 minutes, featured a nice touch of Bray having Rowan and Harper go to the back to prove he could win alone, and a refreshing clean victory. This is exactly the kind of move the WWE needs to book moving forward, as your John Cenas (and clearly your C.M. Punks) aren't going to be around forever. Bryan lost nothing in defeat (in fact, the crowd was still chanting for him two-and-a-half hours later when the show went off of the air), and Wyatt suddenly doesn't look so out of place in a featured WrestleMania match. Well done.

WORST MATCH – BROCK LESNAR VS. THE BIG SHOW

It pains me to put Brock in this category, but on a four match show this takes worst match by default. More of an angle than an actual contest, this was set up to make Brock look like a monster as he presumably gets ready to face The Undertaker on April 6. The problem was simply the length of the beat down. Five or six chair shots drawn out to mean something would have sufficed, but instead there were about 20. This segment felt endless. And after all of that? Big Show walks to the back with the trainers. If ever an angle should have been sold with a stretcher job, this was it.

BIGGEST SURPRISE – THE DANIEL BRYAN SHOW

Now, the surprise isn't that Daniel Bryan was this over, far from it (although I'm not 100 percent sure how much he's over vs. how much the crowd loves chanting 'Yes!'), but the extent to which he was over? Wow. The fans essentially high-jacked the show starting with the WWE World Heavyweight Title match all the way through to the end of the Rumble. And, poor Rey Mysterio, whose crime it seems was simply that he wasn't Daniel Bryan, took a verbal beating from the crowd that he didn't deserve at all. How nice of WWE to put him in that slot. Perhaps the most baffling more, though, was that I thought the WWE made it clear that Bryan wasn't going to be in the Rumble match itself. Didn't he set up the match with Wyatt by saying that they weren't in the Rumble so they could have a match? WWE could have done a better job hammering that home on TV beforehand.

BIGGEST LETDOWN – STILL NOT ON TRACK

The last great WWE pay-per-view was all the way back in August, meaning we're coming up on half-a-year of average to below-average shows. With the imminent arrival of The Network, I've heard speculation that a focus is going to be pulled somewhat from pay-per-views, as they will now be included with the subscription, so they may be viewed as more of a continuation of TV. This seems backwards to me, as if the company is trying to hit the magic million subscribers mark, the pay-per-views should be presented as really special shows that you are now lucky enough to be able to watch every month. Blending them in won't help, but this was another show that was just there.

BEST MOVE – SISTER ABIGAIL

Daniel Bryan dives to the outside, only to be caught by Bray Wyatt, who then performed Sister Abigail on Bryan sending him into the ring barrier. An awesome spot in a great match......

BEST MATCH FINISH – DANIEL BRYAN VS. BRAY WYATT

......and then Wyatt rolls Bryan into the ring, hits him with the move again, and pins him clean. Bryan loses nothing, Wyatt is elevated, Cena gets an opponent, and all is well.

OTHER THOUGHTS

- Wow, did folks ever PANIC when Daniel Bryan wasn't in the Royal Rumble. Two things about this: (1) He was never advertised for the match and (2) of course Batista was going to win. And, as of the next night on Raw, it looks like this is in fact a part of a storyline that will culminate in a match vs. Triple H at WrestleMania. Calm down, folks. Daniel Bryan is a tremendously successful wrestler making a ton of money doing what he loves, it's not your job to stick up for him. And just because he doesn't have the title, doesn't mean he's being buried. Let's all take a deep breath, and wait and see how this all plays out. Extreme Rules is going to need a title match, and it just so happens to be in Seattle...

- John Cena and Randy Orton had a very good match, but it was absolutely overshadowed by a crowd that didn't care. It doesn't help that we've seen this match so many times (including a a match a few years back that was billed as "The Last Time" they would ever wrestle). Also, I have to question the logic of having a TLC match to build to a...er...wrestling match. Still, they both worked hard and in front of a different crowd this would have been seen as what it was: a solid showing.

- I thought the Rumble match itself was one of the more entertaining ones of the last few years. Roman Reigns's push continues to be note-perfect, and the Batista win, while obvious, jumps him back into the top of the card in a "season" where big matches are going to be key. Batista vs. Randy Orton isn't lighting my world on fire, but it's early and I'm heading to New Orleans for WrestleMania, so worst case scenario is the match is lousy but I'm still in New Orleans.

- Last year, Ryback was in the final two. Think about that for a second.

- The now annual 'Kofi saves himself' spot is a lot of fun.

WHAT IT'LL BE REMEMBERED FOR

Batista's return somewhat, but mostly for the crowd turning on the product over Daniel Bryan. For better or worse, the crowd was the story of this PPV. A crowd that probably had some folks who said they were never watching WWE ever again after Bryan was stripped of the title after Night of Champions. But, I digress. This was a decent show, probably a C + or a B - if I was assigning a grade. The Wyatt-Bryan match was great, but the rest was just there. Still, for the time being at least, it's sitting at #1.

INITIAL 2014 PPV EVALUATION RANKINGS

1 - WWE ROYAL RUMBLE (2014-01-26)

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