February 6, 2023 Observer Newsletter: Royal Rumble 2023 review, WWE Q4 financials notes

Cody Rhodes and Rhea Ripley won the 2023 Royal Rumbles and Sami Zayn hit Roman Reigns with a chair and was destroyed by The Bloodline, with a plot twist of Jey Uso walking out on the Bloodline, to headline the most-watched live PPV show ever held in the United States.

The Royal Rumble, held on 1/28 at the Alamodome in San Antonio, was generally well received. The Men’s Rumble match was among the best Rumbles in history with the crowd hot throughout what ended up being the longest traditional Rumble match ever, including a record-time duration record for a North American Rumble set by Gunther. The Women’s Rumble saw Ripley and Liv Morgan start, and they were the last two there at the end, each also setting time duration records for a women’s rumble.

There were some complaints, feeling the show needed more surprises or that the three key things were predictable. Rhodes and Ripley came into the Rumble as the clear favorites to win, and the Bloodline turn on Zayn was clearly coming. But the business reality is that the Rumble winners should be predictable because the winners should be the people who are the hottest to get title shots at the biggest show of the year. To be unpredictable as far as the Rumble winner goes inherently means you aren’t doing the most attractive match for the titles.

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