Royal Rumble Review

Last night had a lot of disappointment, especially around the booking of Daniel Bryan. Still, last night had a positive side, as we saw the rise of two new stars, Bray Wyatt and Roman Reigns.

Daniel Bryan vs Bray Wyatt

This match was brutal. These guys easily stole the show last night, there were a lot of strong looking spots in this match, especially the finish where Bray caught Bryan in a suicide dive and hit a Sister Abigail onto the barricade. I've always known Daniel Bryan can have a killer move set when given the chance, but we've never been given the chance to see if Bray Wyatt had one. Tonight he proved it. He was pulling out head buts, he was dropping his weight on Bryan. He was looking really strong. I was surprised by the finish. Bray Wyatt won cleanly. There was no Wyatt Family, there was no low blow or anything like that, it was clean. At first, I thought it was because Daniel Bryan was going to be in the Royal Rumble, but he wasn't. I'm not against the outcome. I love that Bray is getting clean victories over top stars. WWE is proving that they think Bray is worth something, and he is.

Big Show vs Brock Lesnar

This match was short and to the point. I liked that. It made Brock Lesnar look like a merciless beast, just beating on the Show with no sign of stopping. I just wish there would have been one other spot where Brock speared Show over the barricade of clothesline over the barricade. Something strong like that, but they probably didn't do it since Brock already speared Mark Henry through the barricade a couple weeks ago on Raw. Anyway, I enjoyed this match. It was short, but just what Brock needed. If he wasn't before, Brock Lesnar is surely a threat to the WWE World Heavyweight championship now.

John Cena vs (c)Randy Orton WWE World Heavyweight Championship

This match flat out sucked. And this is coming from someone who was honestly looking forward to this match. When I first started watching wrestling, this rivalry from 2009 was just ending, so I didn't get to see much. So, since this rivalry had started back up I've been excited to watch it. This match was disappointing. It definitely doesn't live up to their match at TLC, and was just boring. The crowd wasn't into it, the match had way too many finishers. I think the Wyatt Family saved this match because nobody saw that coming, or at least I didn't. In that sense, I'm looking forward to where this rivalry is going, especially with the inclusion of the Wyatt Family. I just hope that John Cena doesn't bury the Wyatts.

30-Man Royal Rumble

Before we get to Batista and Daniel Bryan, let me just say this Royal Rumble was still fun to watch. We had the debut of Alexander Rusev, who was amazing in NXT. We finally got a Shield split and a Rhodes Brothers split. CM Punk lasted over 40 minutes as the number 1 entrant.Also, we got a new record of most eliminations in one Royal Rumble match with 12 eliminations. Roman Reigns not only did that, but he was the last man to be eliminated in the Rumble. This match was a lot of fun. Now, at the end Batista did win, but we all saw it coming. We were prepared for this outcome, and honestly it's not that bad. What everyone has been pissed off about, including me, is Daniel Bryan was not even put into the Royal Rumble match. Daniel Bryan is the most over person in wrestling, period. This is not a biased, Indy fan's opinion. This is an obvious fact that thousands of fans can agree with. Daniel Bryan didn't have to win, although I would have him win. Just having him part of the Rumble would have been good enough. Why wouldn't WWE put him in the Rumble? I think I have an idea. Months before Daniel Bryan's push Shawn Michaels tweeted about WWE not given an unidentified performer who was over with the fans a push. When asked if Daniel Bryan was the mystery person, he replied  saying Vince McMahon loves Daniel Bryan. People still didn't buy it, which leads me to believe that WWE is running with it, and keeping Bryan down because that is what's keeping him over. It reminds me of Tommy Dreamer in ECW. He had a lot of matches against Raven, and lost every one of them. When he finally beat Raben it meant so much. When Daniel Bryan finally wins the WWE World Heavyweight Championship it will easily be one of the biggest moments in WWE history. We will get impacient, and pissed but it will happen.

Batista has won the Royal Rumble, and will more than likely win the title at Wrestlemania. There are a ton of reasons why I think this won't be a bad thing, which I'll get more into on another entry. Until then, as Ric Flair said, learn to love it.

How WWE Could Save The Diva's Division

As of late, the Diva's Division has been a complete joke. It's been boring, gone nowhere, and has lacked originality, and it can all be blamed on it's booking. The Diva's Champion, AJ Lee, has lost more matches than she has won in the last couple of months, yet continues to carry the title around her waist, and the division on her back. With all due respect to AJ Lee, she can't continue carrying the Diva's division while not being booked as a threatening champion. With the centerpiece out of whack, it sends a rippling effect throughout the whole division, and has left the division hard to watch. What looked like a promising new division less than a year ago with the Kaitlyn - AJ rivalry has led to disappointment so high that a former major role for the Divas, Kaitlyn, has packed her bags and left. Here are some things I would like to see WWE do to reignite the Divas flame.

Stop The Weekly Diva Tag Team Matches
Since nearly before Survivor Series we have seen more Diva tag team matches on Raw than we had one on one matches. Mainly, to push the Total Divas cast as somewhat of a stable against the Divas that turned down the show. As these matches continued we began to forget that 'Total Divas' was even playing a role on the show, or maybe we just didn't care about these matches. The reason simply was because the tag team matches were hardly thought out, and led to nothing. They never made a major difference to any story that was going on. Worse of all, a lot of those matches ended with AJ taking a loss and the person who got the win for their team would randomly get a title shot. These tag team matches happened too often and lowered the importance of the Divas title, and the relevancy of the division. If WWE were to simply eliminate these tag matches from their weekly Raw, and instead book matches that will help build characters there might be more people paying attention to the Divas division.

Stop Pushing The Bellas
For the past year WWE has been trying to get the WWE Universe behind the Bella Twins, and have still been unsuccessful. They brought them back, and made them the cover girls for their reality show 'Total Divas', turned them face, and put Brie Bella in the title scene. Still nothing from the crowd. Yes, they did win Diva of the Year award somehow, I still don't understand, but that hasn't proved that the fans are behind them at all. First of all, the Bellas aren't even believable as faces. They're just too bratty and annoying, which are heel characteristics. Honestly, the Bella Twins have done more damage to the Divas division than good. They yelled all stupid during AJ Lee's 'pipe bomb' promo on the 'Total Divas' cast, Nikki said she could take on an MMA fighter, and they've asked for Divas tag team titles (which is understandable since all the Divas get booked in tag matches anyway). These girls need to be taken away from the spotlight until they get themselves in order. They are pretty good in the ring, and definitely do have a place in the Divas division, but right now WWE is not sure what that place is and it's showing on the product, leading to rushed and sloppy stories. I could see a rivalry between AJ Lee and Tamina verses the Bella Twins over  AJ saying somthing like 'she was too good for Daniel Bryan' since Brie's getting married to him, or something. That could be down the line, once they've found a way to look like faces. Just take the rivalry slow like WWE did for AJ and Kaitlyn's rivalry, and it could be a success.

Push Natalya
Natalya's not perfect. She rushes through her promos so fast I can hardly understand what she says, and her finishing clothesline doesn't look devastating at all, but she's one of the most over Divas not named AJ. The internet fans are behind her like crazy, and her fans been waiting for her title run for a while. I think making Natalya look like a dominant fighter by beating Tamina a few times and not touching AJ until a title match could be a good thing. Once she and AJ get a good match together AJ can pick the win, making herself look like a strong champion once again. Natalya definitely deserves a title run, but right now AJ Lee is too over for anyone to take the belt from her yet. After a rivalry with the champ, Natalya can back off from the title scene, maybe match her up with a heel Alicia Fox, who has been impressive in the ring as of late.

Put Layla Back on TV
Seriously, where has Layla gone? The last time we saw her she had turned on her friend, Kaitlyn, building up to Kaitlyn's rematch against AJ Lee at  Money In The Bank. Layla was a blast to see on tv. Her facial reactions to devastating moves were funny to see, and she was believable as a heel. Then, she was gone. I really think they had something with her as a heel, and WWE needs to bring her back on tv to work with some face Divas. I think Layla might have a good chance of making the Bella Twins look like actual faces since she could be much more bratty. This would be something more entertaining than these tag matches.

Begin Building Future Top Divas
WWE has two potential top Divas on their main roster already; Naomi and Summer Rae. Unfortunately, they're both stuck in gimmicks that keep them from shining. That's okay. If WWE were to push Natalya, they'd have a top face for the divas division, and if they could find some way to make the Bellas look more like faces there would be a good amount of competition for the champion. This could take less focus on Summer Rae and Naomi where they could possibly do mixed tag matches with Fandango and Xavier Woods. This could go on until it's just Summer Rae vs Naomi, where they'd have a chance to build up their own characters. The fans can get behind Naomi when Summer Rae is dancing over her defeated body, or saying bratty things about her dance moves. This could lead to Summer using heel tactics to pull off wins, injuring Cameron to piss off Naomi. I really think those two could pull off a good rivalry if given the chance, and build themselves as top stars without even facing Natalya or AJ Lee.