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In 1992, Ric Flair won the Royal Rumble, and in the process, the WWF World title that had been vacated when The Undertaker & Hulk Hogan exchanged the title under controversial circumstances. Since 1992, the winner of the Royal Rumble had been guaranteed a WWF World title match at the next Wrestlemania. From 1993 to 2006, the winner of the Royal Rumble, except for Steve Austin in 1997 & Vince McMahon in 1999, would compete for the world title and, with the exception of Lex Luger in 1994, Shawn Michaels in 1995 & The Rock in 2000, the Royal Rumble winner would win the title match and become the champion. That’s 13 out of 15 Royal Rumble Winner competing for the title and 10 out of 13 actually winning the championship in their Wrestlemania match. That includes 6 straight winners from 2001-2006. It is safe to say that the winner of the 2007 Royal Rumble will go to Wrestlemania, compete for one of the three WWE world titles and become the next Raw, Smackdown or ECW World Heavyweight champion.
Also at Wrestlemania, there will more than likely be a “Money in the Bank†Ladder Match where the winner of the match will win for himself a match against one of the three WWE world champions whenever they choose through the next year’s Wrestlemania. There have been two “Money in the Bank†matches thus far and in each instance, the winners, Edge in 2005 & Rob Van Dam in 2006, have gone on to win their title challenges and became world heavyweight champions. It is safe to say that the winner of the 2007 Wrestlemania “Money in the Bank†Ladder match, which will probably include two wrestlers from each of the three shows, will challenge for and win a world title.
From these two scenarios, it is also safe to say that the Royal Rumble winner winning the world title and the Money in the Bank winner winning the title is already getting boring. As I have said, there have already been Rumble winners who competed for but did not win the title, but not in the 21st Century. For the past six years, there have been eight title matches awarded by way of winning an annual specialty match, and each of the winners have gone on to become world champion. While I am a fan of both the Royal Rumble and the Money in the Bank matches, I will repeat, it seems to be getting boring.
During the Austin versus McMahon feud, and the entire Corporation story line, guys like Austin & the Rock won the Rumble because they wanted to fight for and win the title so that they could rub it in McMahon’s face, so the fact that they would lose their title match, or in Austin’s case, not even get to compete, made the story line even more interesting. The fans would want to know who would win the following year to see it if would be one of Vince’s friends, one of his enemies, or someone who Vince would attempt to draw into the feud by virtue of the potential of that man becoming WWF champion and gaining a measure of power within the WWF.
To add to the boredom is the fact that for the past three years, a face has won the Rumble and has had to defend his Wrestlemania title shot against some heel who felt that he was more deserving of the title shot even though he did not win the Rumble. The face wins the match against the heel at the next PPV and goes on to fight for and win the title at WM. WWE made an attempt at variety in 2006 by having Rey Mysterio win the Rumble and be challenged for his title shot by Randy Orton, the last man eliminated. The variety came when Orton actually defeated Mysterio and won the shot against Kurt Angle at WM 2006. However, Smackdown GM Teddy Long used his authority to reinstate Mysterio into the title match, which he won. WWE also tried to add variety to Money in the Bank by having RVD defend his title shot, which Edge did not have to do.
WWE needs creative variety. WWE badly needs to do something different from time to time, and Wrestlemania should be that place. WM used to be the place where old the feuds ended and new ones began. It used to be the place where new championship eras began, former champions became contenders and pretenders were elevated into title pictures. These days, WM is the place where Royal Rumble winners become champions and where “Money in the Bank†winners are awarded open-ended contracts for world title matches, which they will eventually win, provided the face Rumble winners and the MITB winners can successfully defend their title shots against the angry heels who feel that they are more deserving of being champion than the man who went through “29 other wrestlers†in a battle royal or five of the most talented and athletic wrestlers in the company in a ladder match. This is what Wrestlemania has become, and it is becoming boring.
As a writer, you are taught that you should never discuss a problem unless you have a viable solution that you can also introduce in your writing. Well, in this instance, I have no viable solution for this problem. Wrestlemania is supposed to be the “granddaddy of them all†in the wrestling business. It is supposed to be professional wrestling’s Super Bowl or World Cup or Indy 500. Each year, these other events attempt to do something just a little different so that there is heightened anticipation for the next one as soon as the last one is over. If Wrestlemania continues doing the same things and the creative staff continues to book WWE the same way immediately following WM, there will be no anticipation for the next WM because the fans will grow bored with the same old stuff.
Send comments, complaints or questions to me @ ericej@netzero.net
Eric E. Jenkins is an author who has written a semi-biographical book covering the last 20 years in professional wrestling through the eyes of a fan entitled “Reflections of a Professional wrestling Fan: My 30 Years ‘In’ the Businessâ€ÂÂÂ. He is currently writing “Dead Too Soonâ€ÂÂÂ, a book chronicling the careers of and paying tribute to many of the wrestling stars who passed away very young.
