As it was noted over the weekend, morale was down backstage due to so many changes that were made to the Men’s and Women’s Royal Rumble matches by Vince McMahon. There were changes made to many aspects of those matches in the days and hours leading up to the show.
Ringside News reported that there’s a lot of heat on Shane McMahon for trying to book the match around himself.
PWInsider cited sources saying that Paul “Triple H” Levesque not being there for the first time in years as also a factor. He was not there because he’s dealing with health issues. For previous Rumble matches, he would be involved in an advisory role and would make changes to accentuate certain talents. He would also make sure that there were little “moments” in the match to boost the overall presentation of the match. It was said that his absence was absolutely felt.
TJ Wilson (Tyson Kidd) was also absent. He usually takes a big role in producing the women’s matches and helping them during rehearsals. He was not involved in the process this year and he hasn’t been around in recent weeks but is still officially with the company. Dave “Fit” Finlay was brought in from NXT to help produce the Women’s Rumble since he had been a big help with the division in the past.
PWI said that not having Levesque or Wilson in their roles was a big factor in how the matches were presented on Saturday.
