All storylines received nice pushes in preparation for Royal Rumble and achieved their goal of creating more anticipation for the PPV on January 26. The best segment of the night was the contract signing between Daniel Bryan and The Fiend, with the latter signing the contract in his own blood.
WWE’s main goal when it comes to aligning Sami Zayn, Cesaro, and Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura was clearly to spotlight Zayn’s mic work. The other two men fell into the background and appeared to be doing nothing for the most part except serving as henchmen for The Great Liberator.
The only thing that has been somewhat disappointing about this alliance is that Zayn’s incredible in-ring ability has been largely ignored for the last few months. That’s okay, however, because this is being done to get The Underdog of The Underground’s character moreover and to give the WWE universe more of a reason to get invested in his character. This will change by the middle of the year for sure because Sami is far too great of a talent to waste.
Lacey Evans will be a perennial babyface in WWE for years to come. The fact that she was a former Marine pretty much gives it away which side of the heel-face spectrum she will be on.
Elias just needs to keep doing what he’s doing (as The Miz has said during WWE Backstage). It’s working, especially now that he’s been a heel in the past. It’s almost easier to get over as a face if a superstar has been a heel in a past incarnation of his/her character. Maybe it wasn’t necessarily that way five or ten years ago, but it certainly is now.
And for the love of all things holy, something major needs to happen in what is most likely WWE’s most compelling storyline between Otis and Mandy Rose. Vince McMahon should be looking to push this particular story hard because the WWE universe right now seems to have a pretty high level of interest.