WWE Not Happy With One Royal Rumble Performance
Despite a successful night for WWE in the Alamodome at the Royal Rumble, a report has suggested that one performance left a lot to be desired.
The 2023 Royal Rumble was a night of shocks and unparalleled drama with Rhea Ripley and Cody Rhodes booking their places at WrestleMania 39 by winning their respective Rumble matches.
The end of the night saw The Bloodline implode after Roman Reigns successfully defended his Undisputed WWE Universal Championship against Kevin Owens. The Usos and Sikoa continued to assault Owens, handcuffing him to the ropes. Reigns then ordered Sami Zayn to finish off his former friend with a steel chair but in a moment eerily reminiscent of one night in Raw in June 2014, Zayn slammed the chair into his Tribal Chief’s back.
All hell broke loose as a heartbroken Jimmy Uso dropped Zayn with a superkick and Sikoa then mauled him. Jey Uso – the one who was most resistant to Zayn’s presence originally – had seen enough and walked away from his family.
In a press release, WWE touted the success of the event that smashed several company records:
“The event set a new all-time gate record at more than $7.7 million, far surpassing the previous Royal Rumble high in 2017 by more than 50 percent. Viewership of the event saw a 52 percent increase versus the previous record set in 2022.
“In addition, the 2023 Royal Rumble broke all-time venue merchandise and sponsorship records. Merchandise sales were up 135 percent versus the record set in 2022. Royal Rumble sponsorship revenue was up nearly 200 percent versus 2022 and featured the first-ever sponsored match (MTN DEW PITCH BLACK) and sponsored countdown clock (Applebee’s).
“On social, the Roman Reigns-Sami Zayn videos generated 20 million-plus views across all WWE platforms and became the most-viewed WWE clip of 2023. Additional highlights include Logan Paul and Ricochet’s high-flying collision which amassed 26.5 million views across WWE and Paul’s platforms, and the launch of Reigns’ TikTok account which netted 100K followers in the first 24 hours.”
However, one performance on the night perhaps did not live up to the high standards set elsewhere. Fightful Select has reported that the musical performance by country singer Hardy was “largely scoffed at” by some within WWE, and judging by the fan reaction in the Alamodome and online, they weren’t the only ones.