WWE’s first Premium Live Event of the year Royal Rumble kicked off with the 30-men over the top rope battle royal. The match saw some marquee names from the current roster feature with WWE Hall of Famer Booker T also entering the match. And despite crowd favorite Cody Rhodes winning the Royal Rumble on his return from injury, there was an overall underwhelming feeling among the fans.
The Royal Rumble match traditionally features surprise names and legends of the yesteryears, but this year WWE steered away from that. This didn’t sit well with many fans who criticized the predictability and the lack of surprises in the match.
Fans disappointed by WWE’s booking of Royal Rumble
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The Men’s Royal Rumble match saw the Intercontinental Champion GUNTHER enter number 1 and stay in the match for a record 1 hour 11 minutes and 25 seconds. It also saw Logan Paul back in the mix and hit an astonishing spot with Ricochet, with both men colliding in mid-air. Brock Lesnar also wreaked havoc before being eliminated by Lashley, lasting less than three minutes.
There was also the curious case of Kofi Kingston botching his usual Rumble spot and Rey Mysterio never entering the match with no replacement announced. A lack of big-name returns also left many fans agitated. Although the fans were delighted to see Cody Rhodes pick up the win by last eliminating GUNTHER, many fans were left disappointed. Some fans termed it as boring and predictable while some even went on to call it one of the worst Rumbles.
Here are some of the top reactions from fans to the 2023 Men’s Royal Rumble match.
That was one of the worst Royal Rumbles of the past 20 years.
The Ricochet/Paul spot was cool and the Gunther vs Rhodes part was nice but other than that there was nothing. #RoyalRumble #WWE
No problem with Cody winning but Sami would've made more sense.
— Bretton Bannister 🇨🇦 (@BrettonAB) January 29, 2023
Worst #RoyalRumble ever too damn predictable no one's gonna buy into that kid beating roman SOS #WWE #WWERoyalRumble
— K2mac88 (@K2Mac88) January 29, 2023
WWE should lose big money from this ppv , they made Roman unbeatable for 3 + yrs had Cody sit on his ass just to bring him back & win the royal rumble this man resume is by far the worst in history .. then how u win when the 17 entry never came in like Cody some shyt!!!
— AyoLano (@AyooLano) January 29, 2023
One of the worst Royal Rumbles ever.
Why spoil his surprise then? WWE are finished and HHH is a muppet.#RoyalRumble https://t.co/cWaq0wWDXp
— Nostradamus. (@Hxnz99) January 29, 2023
Worst royal rumble I've ever seen
Almost everything predictable
They were fighting like it's one vs one normal match in the raw
Insulted legend booker T
No explanation about Rey
What about kofi elimination
No full time superstar return
All big stars unnecessary elimination— Jaskaran singh (@Jass_666999) January 29, 2023
Fans continued to bash WWE’s booking of the match.
Too predictable and no Sami made it one of the worst in recent memory for me.
— Pat Greissing (@pgreissing) January 29, 2023
It was boring AF until Cody and Gunther went at it
— George Hughes (@GeorgeHughes) January 29, 2023
Best Rumbles? That was one of the least memorable rumbles I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen every one since 1990. Gunther had a great showing, but Logan Paul does nothing for me, Cody’s win was obvious from a mile away, and there were no real surprises.
— Happy Joe Year (@JB_In_SC) January 29, 2023
Best rumbles? 😂😂😂 Worst rumble since 2015 and it’s not close.
— Brandon Like (@B_Like) January 29, 2023
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One of the best?? I thought it was good but very predictable once there was no Sami or Rock and lots of dull spots in the middle. Plus Kofi's spot was botched again.
— Mannish Boy (@mannishboy69) January 29, 2023
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There was great hype around the match with many rumored returns and surprises expected. This was also the first Royal Rumble with Triple H as Head of Creative. His booking thus far has been appreciated by fans but they were left with bad taste and frustrated at the end of the Men’s Royal Rumble match.
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