There are a lot of mixed feelings about WWE’s Greatest Royal Rumble event that took place in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia last week.
On one hand, it was really cool to see a show of that magnitude in another country. The visuals of it were amazing, and WWE did a great job of making this feel like a big-time event.
On the other hand, the results of the show made it feel like an overproduced house show. Only one new champion was crowned, and that was because we were guaranteed new Raw Tag Team Champions. Everything else had a predictable finish, leaving a lot to be desired.
After initially finishing the event, I thought “eh, that was okay.” But in the 48 hours since the event, I’ve lightened up on my critique of the show.
For starters, the John Cena-Triple H match was a surprisingly fun match. It wasn’t “out of this world” or anything like that, but the duo was still able to put on a decent match in front of a hot crowd. You could tell the fans were loving seeing two of the all-time greats go at it in front of their own eyes.
Kalisto and Cedric Alexander had a solid match following this. The crowd was dead, but the two men still did some fun things in the ring. The counter of the Salida del Sol into the Lumbar Check by Alexander was the spot of the night, in my opinion.
The match of the night was probably the Intercontinental Championship fatal-four-way ladder match. All four guys left the match looking like stars, and the way Rollins won was surprising. I had never seen a finish like that in a ladder match, which made me pop a little while watching it at the office (call me a bad employee, if you must).
And finally, I thought the 50-man “greatest royal rumble” match was well-done, given it had no serious implications. The moment everyone is talking about, of course, is Titus O’Neil tripping on his way to the ring, subsequently sliding under the apron. The moment was absolutely hilarious, and Titus has seemed to handle it like a pro in the days following the incident. Oddly enough, the trip may have been good for Titus, as this gives him a chance to use this as a catapult for a new run in WWE.
Braun Strowman winning the rumble made sense as well. We will see in the following weeks if anything will come of this win for Strowman.
So, was the show predictable? Yes. Did it feel like a house show at times? Absolutely. But, for what it was worth, the show provided some fun moments and a great excuse to watch wrestling at work. I don’t think WWE should do it again next year, but for going in with minimal expectations, I left entertained. And that’s all that really matters.