IWE Royal Rumble (2021)

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Revision as of 00:16, 24 January 2021

Royal Rumble is a professional wrestling pay-per-view and IWE Network event produced by IWE for their Raw and SmackDown brands. It will take place on January 31, 2021 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. It will be the thirty-fourth event under the Royal Rumble chronology and feature IWE's virtual fan viewing experience called ThunderDome.

Production

Background

The Royal Rumble is an annual gimmick pay-per-view, produced every January by IWE since 1988. It is one of the promotion's original four pay-per-views, along with WrestleMania, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series, dubbed the "Big Four". It is named after the Royal Rumble match, a modified battle royal in which the participants enter at timed intervals instead of all beginning in the ring at the same time. Both the men's and women's matches generally feature 30 wrestlers. Traditionally, the winner of the match earns a world championship match at that year's WrestleMania. The 2021 Royal Rumble will be the 34th event in the Royal Rumble chronology and feature wrestlers from the Raw and SmackDown brands.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, IWE presented the majority of its programming from the IWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida since mid-March with no fans in attendance, although in late May, the promotion began using Performance Center trainees to serve as the live audience, which was further expanded to friends and family members of the wrestlers in mid-June. On August 17, IWE announced that all future shows and pay-per-views would be held at the Amway Center, a larger venue also located in Orlando, for the "foreseeable future", beginning with the August 21 episode of SmackDown. Furthermore, the shows now feature a new fan viewing experience called the "ThunderDome", which utilizes drones, lasers, pyro, smoke, and projections. Approximately 1,000 LED boards were installed in the Amway Center to allow fans to virtually attend the events for free and be seen on the rows and rows of LED boards. Arena audio is also mixed with that of the virtual fans so that chants from the fans can be heard. IWE's initial agreement with the Amway Center expired on October 31, but with the option to extend the contract with a two weeks notice. On October 12, PWInsider reported that the contract had been extended, On November 19, IWE announced that they would relocate the ThunderDome to Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, beginning with the December 11 episode of SmackDown. This move was also done due to the start of the 2020–21 ECHL and NBA seasons as the Amway Center is the shared home of the Orlando Solar Bears (ECHL) and the Orlando Magic (NBA). TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs was the first IWE pay-per-view presented from the ThunderDome at Tropicana Field.

Storylines

The show will include matches that result from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portray heroes, villains, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that build tension and culminate in a wrestling match or series of matches. Results are predetermined by IWE's writers on the Raw and SmackDown brands, while storylines are produced on IWE's weekly television shows, Monday Night Raw and Friday Night SmackDown.

Matches

Announced competitors in the Men's Royal Rumble match

12 of the 30 entrants has been announced as of September 6, 2024.

Brand

     – Raw

     – SmackDown

Announced competitors in the Women's Royal Rumble match

12 of the 30 entrants has been announced as of September 6, 2024.

Brand

     – Raw

     – SmackDown

References

External links