Tag Archives: Roman Reigns

The 2022 Royal Rumble was Four Hours of…Content

There’s usually a buzz that surrounds any of WWE’s Big Four pay-per-view events. I did not feel any buzz this past weekend when WWE had their second-biggest event of the year, the 2022 Royal Rumble.

You could make excuses as to why this event didn’t feel very big, but the biggest one is that WWE no longer has larger-than-life stars.

WWE is getting paid big money for their weekly television, ~~pay-per-views~~ premium live events, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia pays them handsomely for two big shows every year for the foreseeable future. They just had an investor call on Thursday and announced their first-ever year $1 billion+ in revenue ($1.095 billion in 2021). They aren’t motivated to make big stars right now. If they made another guy as big as The Rock or Steve Austin, they would have to pay them more and wreck their pay structure. They had their biggest profit ever and they still cited ‘budget reasons’ when they fired dozens and dozens of on-screen talent, and even more off-air employees.

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5 Ways to Fix Future “Survivor Series” PPVs

This weekend, WWE had their 2021 ‘Survivor Series” pay-per-view from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. It was panned as a boring show by most, and for me, the only thing worth watching was the opening match between Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair.

The “Survivor Series” used to be one of the biggest, most-anticipated shows of the year, but it hasn’t been that in a long, long time. WWE didn’t dedicate much time building up this PPV as they’ve been hot-shotting title matches in hopes of keeping their ratings above all-time record lows. They really only focused on the upcoming PPV over the last two weeks, and it wasn’t a successful build.

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Toy Crazy: Mattel’s WWE Elite Series 65

I’m a self-confessed vintage toy nerd. I collect vintage wrestling action figures from the 80’s & 90’s. I started purchasing some vintage toys out of nostalgia. Well, WWE and Mattel sucked me into their new stuff. I now buy a few figures a month. You can view photos of my collection on my Instagram account.

The lineup for WWE Elite series 65 is a huge step above Elite 64. You have four ‘first time elites’ along with an updated Rusev and Roman Reigns.

The Ronda Rousey elite will be the most desirable action figure in this set. Eric Young and Aiden English may not get a ton of television time at the moment, but they should still sell well as they are first elites of those superstars.

The WWE Superstars included in Elite 65 Ronda Rousey, Nia Jax, Aiden English, Rusev, Roman Reigns and Eric Young.

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Toy Crazy: Mattel’s WWE Elite Series 62

The lineup for WWE Elite series 62 is a huge improvement over Elite 61. You have three first-time elites (Dude Love & AOP) and a WCW flashback Sting in a new attire.

The WWE Superstars included in Elite 62 are Dude Love, Authors of Pain (Akam & Razar), Sting, Braun Strowman and Roman Reigns.

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Review: Wrestlemania 34

After last year’s Wrestlemania 33, a marathon of mediocrity, I didn’t have high expectations for Wrestlemania 34.

The previous night’s NXT Takeover: New Orleans show was one of the best overall shows WWE has ever produced, so I came into this year’s Mania with some apprehension.

Why was I a bit weary about this Mania?

First off, I knew it was going to be a seven-hour show (if you include the pre-show) and I didn’t want to hold Wrestlemania up to the high standard of the NXT Takeover events. It should be the opposite as NXT guys are still learning to wrestle ‘WWE style’ and the main roster guys should be the ones blowing the roof off at shows.

Did Wrestlemania 34 disappoint or did it rank among the best Wrestlemania shows of all-time?

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Toy Crazy: Mattel’s WWE Elite Series 56

The lineup for WWE Elite series 56 has been known for awhile (and I actually own a few of these figures right now). I fell behind on some of my toy reviews during football season. My betting picks and other gambling-related topics took over the site, so I didn’t have time to write up a couple posts about a hobby I enjoy.

Elite 56 has a couple first-ever elites and includes a couple top stars like AJ Styles and Roman Reigns. It’s a solid set, especially since we finally have The Club elites.

The WWE Superstars included in Elite 56 are AJ Styles, Karl Anderson, Luke Gallows, Jack Gallagher, Roman Reigns & Samoa Joe.

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Top 10 WWE Matches of 2017

I started to compile a list of the ten best wrestling matches of 2017. The list of contenders was loaded with New Japan matches, a couple from Pro Wrestling Guerrilla and not many from WWE.

This year has just been an insane year for great matches all over the world. I decided to save that list for later this month and just focus on WWE with this post.

I was surprised there weren’t many top matches with women wrestlers in WWE. The top ten matches in WWE the last two years had plenty of contenders from the women’s division. I think when you have a belt on Alexa Bliss for most of the year (on Smackdown and RAW), and every brand PPV usually only has one women’s match (usually just the title match), you’re cutting down the opportunities for women to have great matches.

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Toy Crazy: 2017 Ringside Fest’s WWE Mattel Announcements [PHOTOS]

There are only a few times a year when Mattel announces and debuts upcoming WWE action figures. San Diego Comic-Con and Ringside Fest are the two of the biggest events with the most upcoming WWE action figure reveals. This year’s Ringside Fest in NYCC did not disappoint.

We already saw some of the figures at San Diego Comic-Con, so I’ll skip most of those in this post. I want to focus on the figures we didn’t know anything about or figures we haven’t seen in prototype form.

We already know that Target has NXT basics and elites and Hall of Fame elite exclusives, Walmart has the ‘THEN NOW FOREVER’ elites and basics, as well as an occasional Build-A-Figure line and Toys R Us has a multiple exclusives per year. It looks like WWE Shop will also get in on the Elite exclusive fun this upcoming year.

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Review: WWE SummerSlam 2017

After last night’s NXT Takeover: Brooklyn III, the WWE main roster had to put on a PPV to follow up that amazing show. I wouldn’t say they failed to do so, but the show was too damn long.

If you count the pre-show and the main card, it was SIX HOURS LONG! You could watch two NFL football games, or roughly four football matches (I didn’t want to exclude my International readers). It wasn’t as long as Wrestlemania and thank God.

SummerSlam had five title changes, which could be a record. I know Michael Cole mentioned that this show has the most title matches in one night in the history of WWE. It may or may not be correct since WWE announcers have spewed bullshit records in the past (I’m looking at you Matt Striker).

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Toy Crazy: Mattel’s WWE Elite Series 51

The lineup in Elite 51 is above average. Any set after Elite 50 was going to be a little underwhelming. That set was fabulous.

The WWE Superstars included in Elite 51 are A.J. Styles, Mankind, Scott Hall, Roman Reigns, Berzerker and Sami Zayn.

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Wrestlemania 33: A Marathon of Mediocrity

Wrestlemania is the biggest wrestling event in the world. Every year, tens of thousands of wrestling fans cram into a huge stadium or dome and watch as the WWE trots out what they believe is the best overall wrestling card of the year.

This year’s 33rd installment of Wrestlemania occurred on Sunday in Orlando at the Citrus Bowl. Stars like John Cena, The Undertaker, Brock Lesnar were put in matches with weeks-long build ups.

It should have been a home run, right?

Well, unfortunately, the 7 1/2 hour show fell flat time and time again.

I thought about writing an in-depth match-by-match review of Wrestlemania 33, but I really doubt it would have been very entertaining. Many matches lacked quality wrestling and focused more on ‘entertainment’. I will instead just mention a few thoughts about each match and give my opinion of the overall state of ‘wrestling’ in the WWE.

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Toy Crazy: Mattel’s WWE Elite Series 45

I apologize for not posting a review of Elite 44. It was an above average series with Sasha Banks and Tugboat being the best from the set.

The lineup in Elite 45 is quite solid. The WWE Superstars included in Elite 45 are Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns, Lex Luger, Lord Steven Regal and The Dudley Boyz

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