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2021
Surprises: Carlito, Damian Priest, Kane, Hurricane, Christian
Exits: Morrison, Daniel Bryan, Braun
Synopsis: Edge and Orton renew their rivalry from the previous year at 1 & 2. 3-on-1 beat down of Edge. Jeff Hardy in at 5 to help Edge. RKOs for everybody. Edge takes out Randy who is helped to the back. Carlito would have got a nice reaction in front of a live crowd. Ring fills up a bit, guys come in and hit their stuff. Randy worked on backstage. Priest vs Edge. Miz smashes up Bad Bunny’s decks. Miz/JoMo dominate. Priest with double elim. Bunny hits a top rope crossbody (nearly slips off the ropes). Bryan vs. Ricochet. Kane chokeslans Ricochet on the apron. Team Hell No hug/Kane chokeslams DB. Priest elims Kane. Corbin vs. Dom Mysterio continues/Dom elims Corbin. Lashley vs. Big E. Beefy. Hurricane double chokeslam spot calling back to 20 years prior. CHRISTIAN!! returns to a bigger pop than HHH at MSG. 4 guys elim Lashley. C&E reunion. AJ takes Edge’s Spear as a back bump this year after injuring his shoulder the year before taking it with a flip sell. Omos saves AJ and elims Big E and Rey. The Bar go face to face/Big swing to Sheamus/MASSIVE swing to DB. Seth returns from absence. Braun in at #30. Omos saves AJ again. Braun elims The Bar, AJ. Down to the final “6”. Bryan vs. Riddle strike-a-thon Part I & II. Seth elims Bryan. Riddle vs. Rollins. Riddle getting some real shine in this before being eliminated by Seth. Final “4”: Rollins, Braun, Edge, Christian. Rollins tries to team up with Braun, Braun powerbombs Rollins. Braun builds up a head of steam. Edge trying the Benoit vs. Big Show elim. Rollins elims Braun and Christian. BULLSHIT!! Edge elims Seth moments later. Edge wins from #1!! RKO outta nowhere! Orton is still in the Rumble! Edge reverses and elims Orton to actually win the Rumble for the 2nd time and become the 3rd person in history to win from #1.
Thoughts: This felt pretty flat but I think that’s largely down to being in the ThunderDome. Obviously they mishandled Chrsitian’s return by not having him win and go on to Mania to unify the titles (although tbf I’d want to save that until I could do it in front of a capacity Mania crowd), thus forcing Christian into the arms of AEW promoting the demise of the WWE but I’ll set that aside for now. Feel like they didn’t need to cut back to Orton backstage if they wanted to do the “he was never eliminated” deal at the end. That trope has become a little bit played out by now. Carlito was a nice little surprise. Decent amount of “threads” and “moments” through the match.
Verdict: Better than 2022 but not by a mile.
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