2020
Surprises: MVP, Keith Lee, Edge, Riddle.
Exits: Rowan, Morrison, Keith Lee, Braun, Karl Anderson, Luke Gallows, Aleister Black, (+ Murphy & AOP). (7)
Brock enters #1 as WWE Champ. Brock vs. Kofi II. Brock vs Mysterios rivalry continues. Big E/Kofi/Rey team up on Brock to a great reaction. No “Kofi Spot”. Shelton vs. Brock. Brock dancing to MVP’s music
. Brock vs. Keith Lee. Brock vs. Lee vs. Braun. Brock’s total: 14. Drew eliminates Brock with some help from Ricochet to a HUGE reaction. Drew picks up where Brock left off. Drew/Dolph relationship revisited. EDGE RETURNS!!! Edge and AJ face off. Rated-RKO Reunion. Roman booed. Possibly the best ever final field: Reigns, Orton, Edge, Black, Drew, Owens, Samoa Joe, Rollins. Seth’s Disciples take out half the field. AOP catch Rollins/help eliminate Owens, Murphy helps Seth eliminate Joe, ringside brawl. Rollins tries to team with Roman, takes a beating from the remaining field. “This is awesome” chants during Final 4. Rated-RKO implodes. Edge faces off with Roman. Drew eliminates Roman to win.
Thoughts: Almost perfect Rumble. The inclusion of Brock as Champion from #1 gave an immediate framework to the early stages of the match. It touched on Kofi/Brock after the 8 second match in October, Rey vs. Brock following stuff with Brock and Dominick, the history with Shelton and Brock, framing of Keith Lee as a big test for Brock, Braun coming in and raising the stakes for Brock, low blow from Ricochet that led to a match vs Brock, minimal contact between Brock and Drew leaving it all on the table to their match. Everyone that came out to face Brock was either a well liked babyface or a heel that presented a “challenge” (Rowan) or someone that people wanted to see get their sh*t pushed in. Drew looking like Brock’s equal by taking over the field. Edge’s return probably in the top 3 surprise Rumble entrants of all time, arguably the best ever. Hints at Edge/AJ. RKO reunion and elimination sewing the seeds for their Mania programme. Rollins’ Disciples making his chances of repeating look good. Arguably the strongest ever final field. Very little in the way of a back-and-forth between the final 2 that seems to have become the norm. Only things I’d tweak would be holding off MVP until after Brock is eliminated to give him a little more shine, the timing was a little off with some of the Brock elims in that some were so quick it led to 60-90 seconds of downtime, albeit Brock did enough to fill the time. Riddle was a non-factor in his appearance. The follow up to Keith Lee’s appearance was non-existent. They could have called him up here and made something of him using the momentum from this.
Verdict: Best Rumble match I’ve watched so far. Dare I say better than 92?