Views From The Turnbuckle: Royal Rumble Review, Star Ratings, Analysis And What Comes Next

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After a couple years of Royal Rumbles that felt predictable and ended in less than spectacular fashion, WWE bounced back with a strong performance, filling out the card with solid matches for championship gold, and delivering one of the better Rumble matches in recent memory.

Royal Rumble: ****

A lot to tackle in this match so I'm going to put it down in convenient bullet point format:

* I know I give him a lot of crap in this column and I'm sure I'm not going to be enthralled by numerous, Authority promos that go nowhere to open every Raw, but Triple H was excellent in this match. He got a huge pop and of course he couldn't resist giving the babyface DX chops to the audience. Suit-wearing, boring Triple H isn't exactly the most enthralling figure in the wrestling universe. Triple H as The Game, the bully who manipulates his way to key spots on the card and to championship reigns is much, much more exciting. He did a great job selling his near-exits and was able to make fans believe that perhaps Dolph Ziggler or Dean Ambrose could really win the championship.

* I don't know what exactly they can expect from Roman Reigns. Triple H has been nothing but a giant heel for the last six months and WWE has busted their ass trying to get Reigns over as a big babyface; yet when Triple H came out and began assaulting Reigns, the fans were cheering FOR Triple H. It was not a split crowd like we see with Cena or other polarizing stars, they were firmly in the corner of Triple H. I think part of the reason it came down to Triple H and Ambrose instead of Triple H and Reigns is because like last year, the fans would have probably been very vocal in their support of the opponent of Reigns. At least with Ambrose the fans were cheering for the supposed babyface and booing the supposed heel. WWE has spent a whole year trying to get Reigns over, yet they are still back where they started with Reigns getting booed at the Royal Rumble.

* Speaking of Ambrose, I thought he was terrific in the final two against Triple H. Ambrose really came across as an all-or-nothing babyface who the fans can rally behind. Unlike their support of Reigns, they were really behind Ambrose as he squared off with Triple H. Any logical fan could figure out that Ambrose had no shot of winning, but he gave the fans a small window of hope, even though we all knew he was going to break our hearts.

* AJ Styles showing up was completely surreal. I expected it to happen but still seeing him in the ring, wrestling guys like Reigns and Jericho was indescribable. Styles has been a terrific wrestler, one of the world's best, for a long time and he has worked really hard to get to this spot. Any fan who was concerned with his ability to get over with the live audience and get a good pop was immediately put at ease when he came out for the Rumble. The crowd was electric and Cole did a good job selling him to the fans at home who may not be familiar with his work. Some fans might complain that he got eliminated too early, but it was a lot better than it could have been. If you told me Styles would make his debut, last nearly a half hour and then get eliminated by Kevin Owens, I would gratefully take it.

* WWE is obviously building towards Bray Wyatt and Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania, which I think is fine. They really put over the Wyatt Family, particularly Braun Strowman, strong and The Wyatt Family are a vicious enough group of big men that they can manhandle Brock Lesnar without really ruining any of Brock's mystique.

Dean Ambrose vs Kevin Owens: ****

I really liked the decision to have this match open the show. I also really liked that the match was given enough time so that each guy could work at the appropriate pace. When there is an undercard match with a stipulation like Last Man Standing, or Tables, Ladders and Chairs, or any other type of match like that, sometimes they hamper the guys by not giving them enough time. This leads to a rushed matches where the wrestlers are hurrying into all of their high spots and there is no story really being told. Owens and Ambrose were able to have a match that they worked the high spots and the weapons into the overall story, which was nice to see.

Ambrose is a solid babyface that the fans can get behind, and Owens is a great bully of a heel. They each took turns beating the crap out of each other and sending each other through tables and onto chairs. The Intercontinental Championship was built on matches between guys that were popular and given enough time and storyline progress to build up to important moments. Owens and Ambrose's match tonight was another strong entry into that mold, and WWE needs to find more ways to have matches like this if they want to re-build their mid-card back into relevancy.

The New Day vs The Uso's: ***1/4

Solid wrestling match that had a nice, creative and athletically impressive finish. The Usos were the babyfaces in this match in storyline only, as the crowd was clearly in favor of The New Day. The New Day have really become a pillar of WWE's programming, always being able to get a pop from the crowd and Xavier does a great job working the audience from the outside. While The Usos did not get a tremendous babyface reaction, they put a good effort out there and were a good opponent for The New Day. In addition, I loved the opening segment with a new Francesca returning; the only mistake was that they should have named the trombone La hija de Francesca.

Kalisto vs Alberto Del Rio: **3/4

This was a decent match, but it got really sloppy at times. The botches were at least during really difficult moves that took a lot of skill and concentration to pull off, but doesn't it seem like these things happen to Alberto Del Rio a lot? Kalisto winning the title back is fine, but he is going to need consistent storyline help, similar to what Ambrose has gotten. I don't know why they had to switch the title back onto Del Rio on Smackdown before having another title change tonight. This is typical even-steven booking for WWE, the only difference is this time a championship is involved.

Becky Lynch vs Charlotte: **3/4

Decent match, slow paced but ultimately a good show. I thought the stuff with Flair was a little bit hokey at times, but it got the crowd into it. Charlotte is much better as a heel than a babyface, and she does a good job building heat, using her size and athleticism to bully her opponents. Introducing Sasha Banks back into the title situation is a cool move, clearly she is the most over person in that division despite rarely appearing on television recently.

Ultimately I think the one troubling thing about the Royal Rumble is that it was indicative of WWE's current power structure. The popular indie-wrestlers, like Styles, Ambrose, Owens, Zayn etc. all got their moments to shine, but at the end of the day it came down to the guys that management sees as the real top talents of the company. Obviously Triple H is one of the guys, and tonight he definitely lived up to that billing. On the other hand, Roman Reigns is clearly another key piece of the equation and despite the tremendous build-up for, he came out flat. The fans didn't really care about him the way they cared about Ambrose or even Styles, and if the gameplan is still to get him into the main event of WrestleMania and have him solidify himself as the babyface of the company, then I'm not that optimistic about the road to WrestleMania, despite tonight's success.