The True Story of Royal Rumble, 2016
SYNOPSIS:
For nearly 30 years, both WWE Superstars and WWE Universe members alike begin their Road to WrestleMania at Royal Rumble. An over-the-top free-for-all battle where the winner is given a one-way ticket to the Showcase of the Immortals. Get all the history, get all the stories, and learn The True Story of Royal Rumble.
With the WWE Network pushing out plenty of watchable documentaries and behind-the-scenes specials like The Monday Night War and WWE24, it seems odd the company is still releasing things like The True Story of the Royal Rumble on home video. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great to see all of your favourite superstars from past and present (and Roman Reigns) sit down and talk about, arguably, the second biggest show of the year, but is it worth your time to go out and buy it?
The documentary is split into two parts that overlap each other. One half is your standard talking heads WWE documentary inter-cut with clips (The Rise and Fall of ECW, The Self-Destruction of the Ultimate Warrior etc.) and the other half is a WWE24-esque behind-the-scenes look at Royal Rumble 2016, which saw Roman Reigns defend the WWE World Heavyweight Championship in the Rumble itself. The True Story of Royal Rumble then uses moments from the WWE24 section of the video to bring up certain subjects about the history of the show. For example they talk about AJ Styles making his debut as a surprise entrant, which turns to the talking heads discussing other surprise entrants like Kevin Nash, The Honky Tonk Man and Drew Carey. It’s pretty seemless, and it flows nicely.
In all honesty, the talking heads discussing the history of Royal Rumble is far more interesting and entertaining than the behind-the-scenes stuff. It feels like they didn’t film enough usable or interesting footage, so nothing really has any weight. The aforementioned debut of AJ Styles is simply a shot of him stepping out of a car with a voice-over, and then the debut itself (although at least you get to see it this time as it was missed on the live broadcast). However the section on surprise entrants is very entertaining with some good anecdotes. Not every story is golden and you’ve most likely heard them all before, but the majority of them are pretty great.
However sometimes the documentary takes clips and sounbites from other WWE releases that are remotely connected and passes them off as new. They discuss Razor Ramon and Goldust’s controversial and taboo feud as if it was a classic Royal Rumble moment, when really they just had a match. The segment is interesting as it features some revealing truths from both Scott Hall and Dustin Rhodes, but it isn’t really a “True Story of Royal Rumble”. Neither is the late Roddy Piper talking about putting Bret Hart over at WrestleMania. Piper’s comments sort of tie it to Royal Rumble, but not really. Like the behind-the-scenes stuff, there aren’t enough stories or topics to talk about with this show – which is crazy as it feels like every Royal Rumble has something to talk about.
Which brings us to the real kicker: The True Story of Royal Rumble is only an hour long. The whole documentary, from start to end, is 60 minutes. If this was on the WWE Network it wouldn’t be an issue, but this is a DVD and Blu-Ray release and such a short run time is inexcusable. Is it fun? Yeah it is, but it’s also disastrously short. Turns out there isn’t really a “True Story behind Royal Rumble”, but there are some amusing anecdotes you’ve likely heard on shoot interviews, podcasts or other WWE-released documentaries. It’s kind of a shame, when you think about it.
Perhaps the funniest part of the release, however, is the alternate-history WWE often likes to pedal with these documentaries. In this case, it’s the two years in which the winner of the Royal Rumble was booed because they weren’t Daniel Bryan. The first year, when Batista won, didn’t even feature Bryan in the match and the second, featuring Roman Reigns being endorsed by The Rock, saw everyone’s favourite underdog eliminated from the match early. It’s funny because they talk about how these actions never changed their future plans – despite the fact several people have gone on record to say the boos Batista received altered their WrestleMania plans to put Bryan in the main event. Furthermore they play down the boos of Roman Reigns with behind-the-scenes footage of Michael Hayes saying, “we can’t let one city affect our global plan” – like it was the only time Reigns has been booed in an event. While these moments are humorous for fans to watch and poke fun at, it reminds you that this is a WWE release which means some of these “true stories” might not actually be that true.
Thankfully the DVD and Blu-ray releases sort-of make up for the documentary’s flaws by having a good selection of special features. Aside from the usual deleted scenes (which don’t offer a lot – hence why they were deleted), there are some classic matches which are well worth a watch including Tazz vs. Kurt Angle from Royal Rumble 2000 and CM Punk vs The Rock from Royal Rumble 2013. There are a couple of full Rumble matches too, including the 1994 Rumble which crowned a new champion and the 2001 Royal Rumble, arguably the best Rumble match in WWE history. Sadly the triple threat match featuring John Cena, Seth Rollins and Brock Lesnar, and Triple H vs. Cactus Jack in a street fight are criminally overlooked, but you can’t have it all. The Blu-Ray release has a couple of exclusive matches, including a Raw and Smackdown 15-Man Rumble following the PPV to crown a new #1 contender, and Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs. Duke Droese from Royal Rumble 1996. There’s only one problem with this, of course. All of this content is on the WWE Network.
And that’s the real issue with The True Story of Royal Rumble. It’s a fun watch and a great trip down memory lane, but there’s nothing here that necessitates you to buy it off the shelves. The Blu-ray release here in the UK is £21. You can get the WWE Network for £9.99 a month. You could take advantage of the free month and watch all the bonus features on this home video release – and so much more including the missing triple threat and street fight – and save yourself twenty-one quid. It won’t be available for a while, but The True Story of Royal Rumble will eventually be added to the WWE Network too, making this purchase even more redundant.
It sort of makes this set hard to review. I have to judge The True Story of Royal Rumble on its merits, and as an entertaining watch with some pretty great special features it’s a satisfying home run. But as a package when other options are available, you can easily skip it. Perhaps this is for die-hard fans only.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Luke Owen is the Deputy Editor of Flickering Myth and the co-host of The Flickering Myth Podcast and Scooperhero News. You can follow him on Twitter @ThisisLukeOwen and read his weekly feature The Week in Star Wars.
