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Mick Foley blog - "Rumble Blues"

7K views 60 replies 41 participants last post by  SHIVV-EAUX-EMME-GEEE 
#1 · (Edited)
RUMBLE BLUES

Remember how caught up in the ‪#‎RoyalRumble‬ I got last year? I sent out that tweet asking whether ‪#‎WWE‬ hated their own audience, smashed a TV set, and texted all the powers that be - telling them how badly I thought they's messed up. It's safe to say that I was pretty mad last year.

I'm not worried about this year's ‪#‎Wrestlemania‬. I can envision a number of scenarios in which Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar can have an epic confrontation. My suggestion to WWE in this match would be to step aside and let the fertile fields of Paul Heyman's mind run free. and allow Lesnar and Reigns to create the most exciting, physical match possible.

No, I'm not worried about Wrestlemania. But I m worried about the Rumble.

I wasn't mad after this year's Rumble. Instead, I was sad. Sad, because the Rumble, which has been one of the most entertaining WWE events of the year for so long, might just be in danger of becoming "just another show", and going the way of "Survivor Series" as a good idea that runs it course and ceases to be relevant. I didn't see this year's Rumble, and with the exception of the final few minutes I caught on WWE Monday Night Raw, I don't envision myself doing so. But I didn't need to see the Rumble or know the outcome to know what a disappointment it was. All I had to do was watch the people. I dropped 3 of my kids off at the Wells Fargo Center at 6:30, and showed up on Broad Street, just a few blocks from the arena at 10:45, just as the crowd was letting out. No one saw me in my vehicle. But I saw them, and could tell, just by the way people were walking- by the way children were dragging their signs, and shuffling slowly, by the way adults held their heads down, with limited verbal interactions - that there was no joy in Philadelphia.

Let me quote a story I wrote about Zack Ryder several months ago here on Facebook, and hope that the right people in WWE read it - because I think they are on the verge of losing some fans in the fallout of the Rumble. It wasn't just that one of their favorites didn't win - it was the brevity of their appearances, the lack of imagination in their involvement and the unceremonious way in which they were eliminated.

"Eventually people get tired of finding out that the WWE Superstars they have supported with their cheers, their purchases, their signs, their follows and their likes aren't real Superstars - and little by little, those fans lose interest in WWE, find other interests, and become former WWE fans."

I have no intention of becoming the "anti-WWE guy". I'm going to take a little break from ‪#‎Raw‬ abd ‪#‎Smackdown‬ for the next couple of weeks, and see what the landscape looks like, heading into the next PPV. I really do think WWE is going to turn out a great Mania, and I'll be in the crowd watching. But I fear for the Rumble. What was once the start of "The Road to Wrestlemania" has now become a roadblock to the good will and excitement needed for a truly memorable Wrestlemania atmosphere.

One more thing. I've heard rumors that Mr McMahon is personally writing the recent Roman Reigns promos. If that's true, I'd like to personally address Mr McMahon.

Dear Vince,

Please stop - you're killing the poor guy,

Sincerely,

Mick Foley
See you on the road in PA, NJ, NY, AZ, WA, OR, NV and CA http://realmickfoley.com

Mick is spot on. People complain about us Bryan fans being "crybabies" but we wouldn't do any of that if WWE were pushing Bryan to main event.

After last year's Rumble, after so many times screwing Bryan (the losing streak on NXT, the firing in 2010, the virgin gimmick in 2010-11, the 18 second match, him not winning MITB, losing his first WWE title after 5 minutes, losing his second one in less than a day, pushing him down the card because of poor Summerslam buys, turning him heel and joining The Wyatt, losing cleanly to Bray at the Rumble, etc.), after all of that, after the Rumble, WWE seemed to be pushing Bryan.

Back to back WM wins against some of the biggest stars in WWE history, then him main eventing over Evolution and Cena, then the hesitation in stripping him off the title then making a big deal out of his RR announcement, his return to the ring on the first Thursday SD, etc.


Non Bryan fans will never understand how disappointed Bryan fans were at the Rumble, it's not a personal thing against Reigns but us fans picked Bryan as the guy we want succeed not Reigns.

How do they expect people to boo Rollins the on-screen "Handpicked future of the WWE" and expect people to cheer the Real Life Handpicked future of the WWE in Roman Reigns?
 
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#9 ·
How do any other top stars get made if everything is secondary to Bryan.

Problem is that in terms of the top guys in history it goes Ric Flair - Hulk Hogan - Stone Cold - The Rock - John Cena. And WWE don't want him to be that next top guy.

Because he doesn't have the mainstream look, he's 33 and he's already got a lot of miles on the clock.

I am big Bryan fan but I personally think his fans are probably the most annoying I can remember in a long time and cry baby is a perfect way to describe them. Probably worse than Punk marks.
 
#10 ·
How do any other top stars get made if everything is secondary to Bryan.

Problem is that in terms of the top guys in history it goes Ric Flair - Hulk Hogan - Stone Cold - The Rock - John Cena. And WWE don't want him to be that next top guy.

Because he doesn't have the mainstream look, he's 33 and he's already got a lot of miles on the clock.
That's the biggest problem. Fans want Bryan as the top babyface and WWE wants Reigns.

WWE are too stubborn and idiotic to realize that they should pull the trigger on Bryan.

You said Bryan is 33? How old were Hogan and Austin in their prime? Nuff said.
 
#24 · (Edited)
Let me quote a story I wrote about Zack Ryder several months ago here on Facebook, and hope that the right people in WWE read it - because I think they are on the verge of losing some fans in the fallout of the Rumble. It wasn't just that one of their favorites didn't win - it was the brevity of their appearances, the lack of imagination in their involvement and the unceremonious way in which they were eliminated.

"Eventually people get tired of finding out that the WWE Superstars they have supported with their cheers, their purchases, their signs, their follows and their likes aren't real Superstars - and little by little, those fans lose interest in WWE, find other interests, and become former WWE fans."
This was the most telling part in his blog. People lost interest because who they wanted being pushed aren't getting it regularly.


Oh you like Bryan? Oh let's have him come back right before the rumble to a huge reception I might add and have a redemption storyline where he comes back from a career ending injury (sound familiar Austin & HHH???)and wins the Rumble goes on to main event WM... oh wait he's already gone after about 10 minutes
:dylan

Oh you like Ziggler? Let's fire him then when we rehire him let's put him at #30 and have him KO'd like a bitch after like 2-3 minutes even though he got the crowd alive in that little bit of time.
:allen1


Oh you like Bray Wyatt? Let's have him dominate the entire rumble and then he gets a KO punch during a replay and they don't even really play up that fact at all
:dahell


Oh you like Ambrose? Let's have him do nothing for his entire Rumble run then have him team up with Cena 2.0 at the end only to get KO'd like a dumbass
:larry


Oh you like Reigns? Let's have him do the corniest promos of all time leading up to the event while he feuds with the Big Slow. A feud that should have ended weeks ago and nobody gives a fuck about.
:no


And the worst part was that after Ambrose was eliminated there was no drama. Everyone and their mama knew Reigns was winning because no fucking way Big Show or Kane main event with Lesnar at WM. A rumble booked so terribly even the Rock couldn't salvage that shit. But oh well at least Reigns looked strong even though it took him about 5 minutes to pick up Big Show n Kane
:reigns2
 
#26 ·
Let me quote a story I wrote about Zack Ryder several months ago here on Facebook, and hope that the right people in WWE read it - because I think they are on the verge of losing some fans in the fallout of the Rumble. It wasn't just that one of their favorites didn't win - it was the brevity of their appearances, the lack of imagination in their involvement and the unceremonious way in which they were eliminated.

"Eventually people get tired of finding out that the WWE Superstars they have supported with their cheers, their purchases, their signs, their follows and their likes aren't real Superstars - and little by little, those fans lose interest in WWE, find other interests, and become former WWE fans."
This was the most telling part in his blog. People lost interest because who they wanted being pushed aren't getting it regularly.


Oh you like Bryan? Oh let's have him come back right before the rumble to a huge reception I might add and have a redemption storyline where he comes back from a career ending injury (sound familiar Austin & HHH???)and wins the Rumble goes on to main event WM... oh wait he's already gone after about 10 minutes


Oh you like Ziggler? Let's fire him then when we rehire him let's put him at #30 and have him KO'd like a bitch after like 2-3 minutes even though he got the crowd alive in that little bit of time.



Oh you like Bray Wyatt? Let's have him dominate the entire rumble and then he gets a KO punch during a replay and they don't even really play up that fact at all



Oh you like Ambrose? Let's have him do nothing for his entire Rumble run then have him team up with Cena 2.0 at the end only to get KO'd like a dumbass



Oh you like Reigns? Let's have him do the corniest promos of all time leading up to the event while he feuds with the Big Slow. A feud that should have ended weeks ago and nobody gives a fuck about.



And the worst part was that after Ambrose was eliminated there was no drama. Everyone and their mama knew Reigns was winning because no fucking way Big Show or Kane main event with Lesnar at WM. A rumble booked so terribly even the Rock couldn't salvage that shit. But oh well at least Reigns looked strong even though it took him about 5 minutes to pick up Big Show n Kane
Exactly.

The disappointment with the Rumble match isn't because Bryan lost and Reigns won.

There was an allstar cast in the Rumble match and WWE failed to maximize their presence:

Roman Reigns
Daniel Bryan
Bray Wyatt
Rusev
Dolph Ziggler
Dean Ambrose

Even the Midcard talent was solid.

Top to bottom, there was more top level talent in this Rumble match than in most. I watched the 2012 rumble prior to this one. 2012's talent level was WEAK compared to 2015.
 
#27 ·
Good points from Foley.

I for one can really relate to the idea that the Royal Rumble is beginning to lose its former "magic." The winner used to mean something. Now it's about handing it to guys that the fans don't want to win, and not because they are heels, but because they are going over guys that the fans actually find entertaining. Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if the next Rumble ends like the last two: not with a bang, but with a whimper.
 
#31 ·
Bryan is more over than all those guys listed. There's literally no reason you can come up with as to why he can't be "the guy" with how popular he is.

And get the fuck out using fallacies like that :punkout

The past 2 Rumbles have just proven that Vince couldn't care less what the fans want. It's not about us. It's about him. WWE is his little playground. The best thing that could happen is that playground breaking down.
 
#32 ·
- it was the brevity of their appearances, the lack of imagination in their involvement and the unceremonious way in which they were eliminated.


This is where he wins. And he's 100% right. The Rumble has become the biggest fucking failure in the WWE. The Rumble used to be used specifically FOR people like Daniel Bryan, as a way to hype them for their Mania push. It was a MOMENT for that person to win. Yet Royal Rumble hasn't had a legit moment based on who won in over 10 years.

Now the Rumble is used to slap the fans in the face, and force a negative response to the guy who wins it. Here's why WWE is so amazingly blatantly insulting and incompetent: If there's even a CHANCE of your theoretical winner getting booed out of the building, then you need to be calling an audible ASAP. Instead, they've turned the Rumble into a disgrace.

The guys who NEED to look strong and have their moments and appear to be stars, are casually eliminated like nobodies.
 
#35 ·
I always tend to agree with what Foley has to say but the last yet arguably the most delicate part of his blog entry regarding Reigns was pretty special to read.

McMahon and the powers that be should let Reigns grow on his own. Let him expand as a wrestler, let him grow as a character and let him improve entirely (or mainly) on his own fuel. I genuinely and truly believe that Reigns has major potential and an amazing family lineage as a cool bonus but as long as the creative team has such an iron grip on him then we may never come to truly see what he's all about. Heck I don't know, maybe Reigns himself should put up a fight against the creative team?

Certain posters of this community insist every now and then that WWE is currently considered a dying business and I didn't think much of such thought before but now I'm starting to truly believe that is the case. Sometimes it almost feels like someone within the WWE wants it to fail on purpose. Too many wrestlers of the roster are being held back, very few wrestlers are getting pushed and sometimes (like Bryan for example) even some of the few keep getting marginalized while, on an overall scale, everyone (including the company as whole) is on a major lose-lose situation.
 
#38 ·
The Royal Rumble was crap. Being a Reigns fan, even if the crowd didn't boo him, I still wouldn't have enjoyed his victory. I would have preferred the final 4 to be: Bryan, Ziggler, Reigns, and Ambrose (Wyatt or Rusev) to add to the drama. And the eliminations were horrible! The wrestlers might as well eliminated themselves.
 
#39 ·
It's laughable that people accuse people of being a troll because they don't have the same opinion as them. It's pathetic.

So many fans are pissed off that Roman Reigns won the Rumble. Chris Jericho stated on his podcast that he is happy that Reigns won and he likes the idea. Does that make him a troll.

As a big fan of Bryan I want to see him consistently remain at the top of the card or in main event calibre matches. His work ethic and match quality is immense and I want to see more and against the bigger names in the Industry.

But where I disagree with many of these tentative other Bryan fans is that I don't believe he needs to win everything and be fed every major opportunity to get over and stay relevant. 2014 was Bryan's year and it was great to see someone who doesn't meet the typical wwe mould break out and force his way into the WWEs reckoning. He was given in one night, one of if not the biggest pushes in WWE history at Wrestlemania.

Unfortunately, through nobodies fault Bryan got injured and his push was halted whilst he could have had his career ended. WWE who were quite obviously giving him the massive push that everybody craves so much where forced to give bigger pushes to other guys in the meantime as they were unsure whether he would even return again.

Bray Wyatt and The Shield have all been built up to be credible main roster talent and have been transitioned from NXT to the Main Event. During the time BRyan has been out, WWE have been making plans for this years Royal Rumble and Wrestlemania, not knowing what the status of Bryan would be during RTWM.

So a segment of the Bryan fans go in to mass hysteria when the guy doesn't win one of the biggest responsibilities in the WWE on his first match back. Nobody has any idea how he will fair on his return and whether the injury reoccur.

So WWE bring him back in to boost the a Rumble ratings and Network subs and to test him out to see how he handles his first match back. Now I will admit his booking in the rumble was entirely fucked up and made little to no sense at all, unless they niavley thought that it would get Bray Wyatt some major heat.

Bryan will main event PPVs again, he will win the title again and he will probably main event Wrestlemamia again. But there is no overwhelming necessity for it to be right now just because fans are impatient and throw a tantrum.

The timing just isn't right on this occasion and rather than put all their eggs in one basket again, they really need to push and establish somebody else and hence the reason that Roman Reigns has been made a scapegoat. All these things that people so desperately crave for Bryan can happen next year and for the next 10 years.

Maybe WWE Have learnt from their mistakes with Cena and instead of heavily relying one one guy they want to have multiple top level guys like they did with Stone Cold, The Rock and HHH.

How does other new talent get established if people want everything to be fed to Bryan? And what's to say Bryan isn't heavily pushed from Summerslam to Wrestlemania 32?

It's better for the future of the company if WWE create multiple top level stars but it's almost like some people see that as a threat to their favourite guy and freak out.
 
#42 ·
And did that rumble help create/cement multiple stars?

Do you trust Vince to create multiple stars?

That is part of the issue right now. Vince has never used booking to create multiple stars. When they came around, it was fans who did. Vince only pushes one guy to the top consistently, but will give 2 months for another star to get over before getting bored.

But this time it is different - any push he gave to Daniel, was to stroke his ego that he knew what was best for business, sure in the knowledge an indi midget would never get over.

And boy, that backfired. It is easy to see his wounded ego is striking out. Bringing back Batista - he looks jacked and is a movie star - that will shut up those idiots cheering Bryan. Nope.

Bryan is more a rallying point for some fans of wrestling. A figurehead of the change we want to see. I want Ziggler vs HHH at wrestlemania as a marquee match.

As I see it, some people (and I can see Reigns fans in this group) want to see the attitude era back - where bad ass characters did not need to wrestle well could thrive, as long as they where entertaining. Some people want the ruthless aggression era back, where technical wrestlers were given a platform, and entertained.

But as I see it, Roman Reigns is the continuation of the safe, kiddy friendly PG era. Pinning hopes on Reigns bringing the bad ass attitude of the attitude era are deluding themselves. Vince will not allow it. Why the hell do you think Vince is writing toddler friendly promos for Reigns? Will Reigns vs Lesnar be an all out war (where skill is less needed than weapon spots) - with blading to shock the PC brigade of soccer moms? Shots to the head?
 
#41 ·
I said from the start, my main issue with the Royal Rumble is not Roman Reigns winning. I do NOT endorse him winning, or agree with him winning, but him winning COULD have worked in the right context.

But here were the fucking issues with the Royal Rumble this year, where Mick Foley is correct:

- Bryan is the most over guy in the Rumble, he gets eliminated early in anti-climatic fashion, and the crowd DIES. Like totally dies. Dead.

- Wyatt was actually over and doing pretty well.

- Ambrose was over and doing well.

- Ziggler was over and doing well.

- Rusev was over and doing well.

- Then the Rumble gets taken over by who? BIG SHOW and KANE. The two most boring performers in the WWE. Just feuding with these two ruins everyone they face. They are a roadblock to people getting over. Yet they casually eliminate Wyatt to the crowd booing, casually eliminate Ziggler to the crowd booing, casually eliminate Ryback to the crowd booing, casually eliminate Ambrose to the crowd booing, chanting BULLSHIT, and chanting WE WANT REFUNDS.

So THAT is my main fucking issue with the Royal Rumble. Why the fuck, in 20fucking15 and I watching the fucking Big Show and fucking Kane slowly and casually in the most boring way possible, dump all of these much more exciting performers over the top rope? Why is the most over guy in the Rumble not even in the final fucking four?

The crowd died and became very, very, very angry towards the end, not just because of Reigns, but because the booking of this match was utterly atrocious in every single way. Nobody wanted to see Big Show/Kane eliminate all of these people. Nobody. And it's funny because when the Rock's music hit, I'm like 99% sure that the crowd actually thought the Rock was there as a surprise number 31 entrant, and he was going to save them from this awfulness. And then when they realized he was just there to grant Reigns Make-A-Wish, they booed even worse. It was like the final nail in the coffin of arguably the worst Royal Rumble match in history.

So yeah, stop with the "Blah blah Bryan marks, best for business, Vince wins lol" bullshit. That match fucking sucked and it was a fucking insult to fans AND the hard working performers who actually deserved to get some spotlight and moments, but had to play second fiddle to two heatless bums who were past their prime 10 years ago, let alone now.
 
#43 ·
Love Foley man
 
#46 ·
Foley is spot on again.

Reigns has no identity. Same Shield theme, same Shield attire. A powerhouse who does no power moves. A "badass" who quotes Looney Toons. They shit on every babyface for one unproven midcarder. A guy is who is living off of Shield success where he was carried by two other guys. Now they're on their own and everyone can see just how bad Roman Reigns really is.

You think a few Heyman promos is gonna change anything? Not likely.
 
#51 ·
it's not just BRyan that's getting fucked over, they are deliberately trying to dictate who we root for by killing any little momentum whatsoever, they're doing it to more than just IWC favorites like Ziggler & Wyatt & Bryan, Ryback & Cesaro have been handled very poorly as well, and it just seems like it's on purpose.

Ziggler finally got a real good showing and Ryback was getting over in his face return, but what do they do? they take them off TV in a "you're fired" angle and they stay in limbo for a few weeks, just to get the Authority over ya know, bcuz dat Heat! :side:

Cena ends up being the hero and saves the day defying insurmountable odds...yet again, and now it takes away from Ziggler's defining moment, and once again the only guys who come out looking good & strong are Cena & the Authority fpalm

Vince, it's not that they aren't reaching for the BRass Ring, you just keep standing in their way, deliberately denying them the Brass ring PERIOD
 
#52 ·
Interesting topic.

My main take away is the Royal Rumble is no longer seen as something you "win" rather it is something you are handed (such as Vince's ring isn't something you earn, its something you are handed) and as long as that's the perception, you might as well scrap it.

At least,King of the Ring or MITB more legit. There's a sense something is actually earned.
 
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