Pros & Cons Of WWE The Greatest Royal Rumble

WWE The Greatest Royal Rumble is a live event that was held on April 27, 2018 at King Abdullah International Stadium, part of the King Abdullah Sports City, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. This event was WWE’s first ever televised event in Saudi Arabia. Instead of a full review, what I want to bring to you is the Pros and Cons of the event. Card had all 3 brands active on the show and was treated as a special PPV with a very similar setup to Wrestlemania 34.

Pro #1 - The Right Kind Of Nostalgia
With WWE being around for so long, they seem to always use the nostalgia factor and it has been used a lot more the past few years.  Most of the time it is done right, (example being Wrestlemania 30) but sometimes it can backfire, like Raw 25th Anniversary. But WWE did definitely used nostalgia right during this event and it started with John Cena Vs Triple H. opening up the show. This was the best option to kick off the show, as the casual fans in Saudi Arabia were hot for the opening match. It wasn't a great match by work rate, but it was good enough for nostalgic reasons. We would also see appearances by The Undertaker, Shawn Daivari, Hornswoggle, Rey Mysterio, and Great Khali. They didn't go overboard, but did enough to excite a casual audience.
Con #1 - The Commentary and Botches During Matches

I do not blame the commentary for being what it was. They had to watch what they said as they had a whole country to respect and you do not want to cause an international incident. You could just feel the tension during their commentary and it dampened some matches. Now, the wrestlers had a lot of botching, but it could have been because of jet leg or even because of the pressure they were under. They had the royal family watching them and mistakes can happen. Jinder Mahal botched quite a few times in his United States Title match, but the scariest botch of the whole show was in the Royal Rumble match when Bobby Lashley went to Suplex Big Cass and dropped him on his head. It just looked nasty, like he broke his neck.


Pro #2 - AJ Styles Vs Shinsuke Nakamura for WWE Title
This match, except the ending, was so well done and was way better than their match at Wrestlemania. There was a great Heel vs Face dynamic and they both really showed the art of storytelling. Heel Nakamura really freshened up Nakamura on the main roster and Styles pulls off the Babyface about as good as anybody without looking like a vulnerable champion. I didn't like the ending, as I wanted a proper finish, but I understand it. By making both men look strong, they were setting up a big title match for Backlash where I see Nakamura finally winning the title. This by far was the match of the night and I hope to see more from both of these men.


Con #2 - The Ending of Brock Lesnar Vs Roman Reigns

So this feud started at Wrestlemania 31 and we had a three year build up, only for a Wrestlemania to have a very underwhelming match. Now we get to this point, and yet again another underwhelming Brock Lesnar/ Roman Reigns match. The match was a snoozefest and no one was that interested in it. The ending is what triggered most people watching, as it made little to no sense. When Roman’s feet hit the FLOOR first, by the rules he should win but WWE protected Lesnar by not even following their own rules. This almost promises another Reigns Vs Lesnar title match and at this point no one wants it.

Pro #3 - The Booking Of The WWE Greatest Royal Rumble Match
When this match was announced, I was worried it would be too long of a match to keep anyone interested. But thanks to the good booking of this match I, was so in love with every minute of it. Whether it was the iron man performance of Daniel Bryan, who showed no ring rust and hasn’t despite three years of no in-ring work. We saw a lot of mid card guys, lower mid guys, and lower tier NXT guys, but it all worked in this house show kinda feel. Seeing Roderick Strong appear in the rumble and having a very impressive showing was great to see. The way Braun Strowman was booked to enter during the match and absolutely dominate everyone was great. Near the end, we had Braun Strowman, Big Cass, Daniel Bryan, & Bobby Lashley. You could say each person had a chance to win. Lashley getting eliminated shocked me at first, but he had a great showing and looked very strong. I expect him to be in the main event scene by Summerslam. Daniel Bryan lasted an hour and sixteen minutes and that is just insane. He got chucked by Big Cass, which was so smart because Cass had just returned and has targeted Bryan, who looked very strong. This made Cass look good by just being the the person to eliminate him. For Braun to win, it was the only move you could make and hope they do something special with him in the coming weeks.

Conclusion :  This was a glorified house show that played more as a commerical for WWE and Saudi Arabia. That had underwhelming matches, some bad booking but some great booking. The Royal Rumble match and WWE Title match were the highlights as The Universal title match was the lowest point


Overall Grade: C+