Written By: Mark Armstrong
Running Time: 166 Minutes
Certificate: 12
Number Of Discs: 1
Studio: Clear Vision Ltd/Silver Vision
Released: May 14 2012
The 25th annual Royal Rumble should be a DVD that you simply have to own. But while it’s enjoyable enough, the prevailing feeling is that the show as a whole is disappointing, making the home release less appealing as a result.
The opening three-way Cage battle for the World Title between Daniel Bryan, Big Show and Mark Henry feels like an odd piece of booking, but it does work, and it helps to establish Bryan as World Champion at a time when he was just starting to use the “Yes!” chant. The subsequent eight-woman tag is pure filler, which was often the case for the females in WWE during this time, unfortunately.
John Cena vs. Kane doesn’t really work due to an awkward styles clash and a poor finish. Cena facing The Rock at WrestleMania XXVIII means he wasn’t in the Rumble itself, and because Kane was chosen to be his opponent in a non-RR bout, it ended a streak of 13 straight Rumble match appearances for The Big Red Machine.
Brodus Clay vs. Drew McIntyre is more filler to promote Clay’s new Funkasaurus gimmick. CM Punk vs. Dolph Ziggler for the WWE Championship is exciting, though inferior to Edge vs. Dolph at Rumble 2011; John Laurinaitis’ role as special referee and then the “outside” referee is pointless since he goes along with counting the three for Punk to try and save his job ahead of a Triple H job evaluation, so Laurinaitis’ beef with Punk is largely and abruptly ended here.
Sheamus triumphs in a somewhat odd Rumble match. It’s lacking in star power, but it has quite a few surprise participants (though they’re not major, main event-level entrants). Chris Jericho and Randy Orton seem to be the only other legitimate contenders besides Sheamus to win the bout. And while The Celtic Warrior’s victory made sense, some were hoping for Jericho – or simply not Sheamus – to triumph. It’s a fun, watchable Rumble, but it’s not a classic 30-man battle by any means.
Summing this one up, we had already known the WrestleMania main event between Cena and Rock for almost ten months, which reduced the impact of Royal Rumble (which is supposed to decide who headlines WrestleMania, of course). But even under the circumstances, it’s a somewhat underwhelming card, especially given the high stakes of this annual tradition. So, while you’ll definitely find some moments to enjoy from watching Royal Rumble 2012, I wouldn’t suggest that you should go out of your way to see it.
Overall Rating: 5.5/10 – Above Average
