Weekend Plans Post: Let’s Get Ready To Rumble
I still haven’t internalized the new WWE thing quite yet. A million years ago, the Royal Rumble was known to be the PPV that happened the week between the penultimate games in football and the Superbowl. During that one-week lull between football games, when you’re still nowhere near overdosed on the commentary going into The Big Game, you’re stuck with a Sunday night where there are no football games for a whole week. So why not get the Royal Rumble to help distract you for a weekend?
So on the Sunday Night during the entire NFL’s “bye” week, we’d get the Royal Rumble, we’d talk about the Superbowl during the various lulls during the various matches, get some chicken, eat way too much, and stagger off home to have a bleary Monday morning the next day.
More than that, the Royal Rumble was, quite regularly, one of the best PPVs of the year. Hey, my absolute favorite PPV of all time was the 2001 Royal Rumble (the one where Stone Cold eliminated Kane). I mean, the really good ones had an ebb and a flow. You had some chaos in there, some stunts, maybe some high-flying, some really crazy tension, some comedy to let off some steam, you’d establish some stories for the next few months, and then you’d have the final four guys in the ring and you’d see a minor window into the next year of the company.
Seriously, it was a good PPV for people who were watching at the surface level and a good PPV for people who were watching as the markiest smart marks you could find.
BUT IT WAS ALWAYS ON A SUNDAY NIGHT!
At some point during the pandemic, the WWE has started putting PPVs on Saturday night. This throws wrenches into downright everything. We were supposed to play games this weekend! Well, now we’re doing the PPV. But we’re still getting chicken and we’re still going to eat way too much.
Six matches have been announced:
Reigns (c) vs. Rollins
Edge and Beth Phoenix vs. The Miz and Maryse in a mixed tag match (if you think you’ll need to go to the bathroom, try to time it for this one)
Becky Lynch (c) vs. Doudrop
Brock Lesnar (c) vs. Bobby Lashley (this one is the one with the most potential variance. This could be an amazing brawl between giants… it could be a wet raspberry with two frankensteins slowly plodding around the ring)
The Eponymous Ladies’ Rumble
The Eponymous Mens’ Rumble
Apparently, only ~20ish names have been announced for each Rumble (out of 30) and so there will be plenty of opportunities for nostalgia to pop up with the yet-unnamed entrants (holy cow! It’s Hacksaw Jim Duggan!) and, quite honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if only 28 names have been written in pen on the list. (You never know who is going to miss their flight.)
That’s pretty much the big thing this weekend. Probably a bleary-eyed Sunday, now that I think about it.
So… what’s on your docket?
(Featured image is “WWE Ring Before the action” by Vishal Somaiya and is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
Now that I’m over the bacterial infection I had last week, and I tested COVID negative (had a double exposure – the one Saturday at the urgent care, and I also, unbeknownst to me, had a student show up infectious to class before that), I can get back to sorting and digging out
This weekend I attack the walk-in closet which is mostly a repository for clothes, including a lot I’ve not worn in years and probably should just dump. Also I have some more fabric in there but it’s mostly already in plastic tubs and could just be moved to the storage unit as-is.
Sadly though first I have a dental check up, and this is the check up where they scale all the tartar off my teeth and also check my gums; do not want. I have genetically bad teeth (insert joke about British Isles heritage here) so even though I take good care of them I always need stuff done. At least I’ve not needed any crowns or fillings in almost 10 years; may that trend continue.Report
The poker game I thought was tonight is actually tomorrow, so tonight is free. Maybe I’ll noodle around on the bass, or do some freelance work I’ve been putting off.
Sunday is hanging around with the ref crew and watching football, mostly criticizing the play calling probably.Report
Ronda Rousey is trending on the twitters.
So, like, that’s either going to be awesome or a massive disappointment.
I imagine that the WWE has a competent enough PR department to persuade Twitter to make something else trend instead…Report
Maybe the schedule changed due to the extra week of NFL this year? I can see a fear of losing momentum while that which cannot be competed with is on.
As for us my son stayed with my parents last night so my wife and I got a much needed date to our favorite Cuban restaurant. We hadn’t been since the pandemic and it was just as good as we remembered, though the drive home in the snow and sleet after a Cuba libre was a bit intense.
Today will sadly be filled mostly with work. Tomorrow football and friends bringing over their kids, who will combine forces with mine to destroy my house.Report
I don’t know. They’ve got a new partnership with Peacock and the Superbowl is playing on NBC this year and so maybe there’s something to that? But the Chiefs/Bengals game is on CBS and the 9ers/Rams game is on Fox.
No idea.Report
I thought the Rumble was pleasant enough, all told. *WE* had fun watching it.
It felt more like Survivor Series, though.
There was a major screwjob and the last match was a squash. Which is weird. I think that this is the first time that the Rumble ended with a squash. Storyline it was pretty good. Wrestling-wise, it was kinda crappy.
I miss Pat Patterson.Report