Jumpin said:
I agree with you that the booking was bad, but disagree on what's wrong or how to fix it. Switching the Royal Rumble winner away from the main event is lazy and damaging. Each time they do that diminishes the value of the Royal Rumble. All that stupid pointing at the WrestleMania sign becomes even more pointless since they're no longer winning the Wrestlemania main event, and are rather, just earning another title shot for a lesser slot. Saying that Jey is "not an elite worker" isn't saying anything to your argument when you're praising Hogan and Flair in the same post. Hogan and Flair complete trash when it comes to working in the ring and are less articulate than a brain damaged crackhead on the mic. It was the writing and marketing that made those two pieces of monkey feces as big as they were. Jey is a vastly superior worker to either of them in the ring. There are plenty of things WWE could have done to make Jey vs Gunther bigger. First, build Imperium back up a little, and push the bloodline into the Jey angle. Make their match more of a focal point of a much wider part of the show. Austin vs Rock, the reason why the first two of these matches were so big was because they were the main battle of a war - Austin vs McMahon, Rock vs the McMahon faction, Austin vs The Corporation and that belt meaning something to these wars going on. The problem isn't booking Jey vs Gunther, both of them have done an excellent job - no one right now is able to rouse the crowd has hot as Jey can - the problem is how little effort they put into making that match and that belt feel as big as it should. Almost every other wrestler in WWE, outside of Jimmy, doesn't seem to have any interest in the title belt or anything surrounding it. That's where the mistake is. There's no war, no stakes, and ultimately no Royal Rumble winner in the main event of Wrestlemania. Anyway, I hate playing backseat booker. I personally just prefer watching and enjoying the show, and not thinking too much about the backstage stuff. If I enjoy it, I enjoy it, if I don't then I don't. But I'd rather they'd have the Royal Rumble winner main eventing Wrestlemania, regardless of whether or not it's the biggest match on the card - and if they want it to be the biggest, they shouldn't shuffle the card making the Royal Rumble winner lose the spot they're supposed to have, they should make that title match the biggest. |
Ric Flair and Hogan didn't need to be elite wrestlers. From the moment Hogan and the Rock had their stare down the crowd was electric. Do you think Jey and Gunther staring at each other is going to have that kind of aura? If not, then there is more pressure on their actual in ring performance and I just don't see them putting on a match that will justify their main event spot.
Ultimately, I don't really care if it cheapens the rumble. I don't think at this point putting Jey in that spot is really good for anyone, including him. Maybe they could have booked it so that would feel like a mania main event worthy match but they already didn't do that, so better to just not try and force it.
