Royal Rumble preview
Predictions for tonight’s WWE pay-per-view:
30-man Royal Rumble match: Barring a swerve in which the victor ends up somehow losing his WrestleMania title shot at next month’s No Way Out pay-per-view, I only see two possible winners – Randy Orton or Triple H. Orton is the hotter wrestler right now, especially coming off the big angle with Mr. McMahon last Monday on Raw. Triple H already has a Rumble win (in 2002), while Orton is looking for his first. He’ll get it tonight.
WWE champion Jeff Hardy vs. Edge: I don’t believe Hardy will go to WrestleMania as the champion, so I think Edge wins the title with help from Hardy’s stalker. I wouldn’t be surprised if the stalker appears under a mask or in a disguise and his identity isn’t revealed tonight.
World heavyweight champion John Cena vs. JBL: This match is more about Shawn Michaels than it is the two competitors. Will Michaels interfere on JBL’s behalf and cost Cena the title, or will he finally stand up to his underhanded employer? I’m guessing that Michaels “does the right thing” and Cena retains the title. That will set up a Michaels-JBL match at WrestleMania.
ECW champion Jack Swagger vs. Matt Hardy: Swagger hasn’t lost a singles match yet (at least not on TV) and I think his record will remain unblemished after tonight. WWE seems to have Swagger on the fast track, so it wouldn’t make any sense to have him drop the belt so quickly after winning it. Plus, Hardy doesn’t need the title at this point, and he could be in a more high profile story line soon.
WWE women’s champion Beth Phoenix vs. Melina: Rosa Mendes figures to get involved, so the question is whether her interference helps Phoenix or backfires and costs “The Glamazon” the match. I don’t see any reason to take the belt off Phoenix and put it on Melina, so I think Phoenix retains.
Comments
SHWAN MICHELES MUST GET HIMSELF OUT OF JBL'S GRIP
Posted by: MIR JAMIL | January 25, 2009 5:28 AM
Kev, Do you think that it would be a right move on the part of WWE to take the belt off cena (after a short period of time) and put it on JBL who clearly would not be the fans choice for the top champion on raw ????
I think it would be a mistake on many levels one - jbl is getting older (not saying that age is a bad thing)
two- people hate him (even more than they hate cena if that's possible)
three- i just can't see jbl as the main dog on raw as much as i can see Cena
what is your opinion on all of this
RESPONSE FROM KEVIN ECK: As I said, I think Cena will retain the title.
Posted by: Jay | January 25, 2009 9:04 AM
Swerve of the night: Cena beats JBL because HBK makes a conflicted decision not to help him. JBL orders Shawn to win the Royal Rumble and to give the title shot to him. And Shawn Michaels becomes the winner of the 2009 Royal Rumble.
C'mon K.Eck. I can't believe you didn't call Michaels winning the rumble.
Posted by: Dennis | January 25, 2009 10:25 AM
"I wouldn’t be surprised if the stalker appears under a mask or in a disguise and his identity isn’t revealed tonight"
I will be surprised if this does not happen.
Posted by: Christopher | January 25, 2009 10:34 AM
Kevin,
I agree with most of your predictions. However, I can forsee two other interesting possibilities. 1) JBL wins the WWE title b/c of 'inadvertant' help from Michaels. That is, Michaels does something trying to help Cena, but it backfires and helps JBL win. Meanwhile, Michaels, enters the Rumble (there are something like 5 or 6 unannouced entries) and wins the Rumble... setting up a JBL title match against Michaels at Wrestlemania.
What do you think?
RESPONSE FROM KEVIN ECK: It seems that a good number of people are thinking along those same lines, but I just don't see a JBL-Michaels title match. Could it happen? Sure, but it seems to me that a title doesn't need to be at stake for their feud to work.
Posted by: Gentlemen Chris | January 25, 2009 10:43 AM
The only thing I would change is having JBL win the title from Cena due to interference from Shawn. I would then have a rematch at No Way Out with Shawn finally standing up for himself, doing what's right and costing JBL the title. Thus setting up the match at Mania between Michaels and JBL....I think it is too soon for Michaels to turn on JBL yet, and it would be a bigger deal to make JBL lose the belt, rather than not actually win it.
RESPONSE FROM KEVIN ECK: That isn't far-fetched at all, but I hope it doesn't go down that way because the world title has been changing too frequently already in my opinion.
Posted by: Wayne | January 25, 2009 11:17 AM
I feels too early for Shawn Michaels to lose his employment to JBL. I would not be surprised to see JBL win the championship tonight, and then HBK inadvertantly (or on purpose) cost JBL the title at No Way Out in a rematch with John Cena.
That gives RAW more time to build the employer/employee relationship between them. If they ended it now, it would be almost forgettable by the time they got to Houston. But I'm not fond of one-month reigns, so I won't if I am wrong.
Posted by: Mr. Sarcasm | January 25, 2009 11:26 AM
Sadly I think you're right about Jeff and it sucks that after just one month we'll go back to the same boring status quo of the past few years.
We all know every time Cena comes back he's the #1 contender and will win the title no matter what. And anytime someone new gets a chance with the title they'll lose it right away.
Neither C.M. Punk nor Jeff Hardy were even given a chance to show they could carry either show.
I'm sure it'll wind up being Edge vs. HHH for the title at WM25. And thank God for that cause neither one has had the belt enough yet.
Boooooorrrrrrrriiiiiiinnnnnnnggggg.
Posted by: Josh | January 25, 2009 11:47 AM
Kevin,
What do you think of this:
-Jeff Hardy is unable to compete because of another "attack". Edge is awarded the title.
-Matt Hardy loses to Jack Swagger
-Matt Hardy is a surprise entrant in the Royal Rumble and wins the match
-On SmackDown, Matt says that he will face Edge at Wrestlemania for the title, and try and get revenge on him for taking out his brother. A match is signed.
-Edge says that he was never the one who attacked Jeff, and that to prove he didn't need to, he challenges Jeff to a WWE title match at No Way Out.
-At No Way Out, Christian returns and attempts to help Edge, but Jeff regains the title anyway.
-Christian is revealed as Jeff's mystery assailant
-Jeff says that he wants a match with Christian at Wrestlemania
-Matt says that he is already signed to wrestle Edge for the WWE title. Since neither of them have the belt, they get added to the Jeff-Christian match.
-Reminiscent of the last time WrestleMania was in Houston (X-Seven), they compete in a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match, only this time, instead of it being for the tag team titles, it's for the WWE title.
That is perfectly logical, and would be a lot more entertaining than Triple H Is God Part 209 or Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase Are Randy Orton's Lackeys And Have No Credibility Of Their Own Part 17.
You could even get a Hardys feud out of it, depending on how the TLC match at WM goes.
Posted by: James | January 25, 2009 1:34 PM
What about Christian coming back tonight? And winning the rumble...
Posted by: Jim | January 25, 2009 4:47 PM
Christian coming back tonight and winning the Rumble would be amazing. Everyone is picking Orton and I hate when the Rumble is so predictable.
Posted by: Papa Shango | January 25, 2009 6:49 PM
Before Raw last Monday, I would have bet the farm on Orton winning the Rumble. But now a Vince/Orton Wrestlemania on the horizon, someone else will have to win the Rumble. I'm guessing your boy Shawn Michaels.
Posted by: Matt | January 25, 2009 7:11 PM
Maybe they'll do an injury angle with Matt Hardy in his title match? That way, they can reveal him to be the stalker later on in the show and still be able to surprise the audience.
Posted by: Jack Windham | January 25, 2009 7:20 PM
Good call on the predictions, I'd say you called a perfect game, or PPV so to speak.
I have to agree with you predictions on wrestlemania matches.
Out of curiousity, how do you think this Orton punting Vince thing is going to go? Do you think Randy might be teaming up with Shane to take over Raw as a possibility?
Posted by: Neil | January 25, 2009 11:19 PM
What happened to the Big Show?? From highlighting last years WM to being a jobber who probably won't even be involved in this years WM. Matt vs Jeff Hardy at WM will be a good match.
Posted by: PS Johnson | January 26, 2009 12:36 AM
Yeh I agree with you KEv , Alot of little hints were dropped that Randy would win the Royal Rumble espcially with the amount of storylines and interesting plots in Raw he has been in laterly.
Posted by: Zane rulz | January 26, 2009 1:26 AM
randy orton won the royal rumble
Posted by: cj the game | January 26, 2009 3:19 AM
oh cena retains champion ship
jeff gets beaten by edge but listen to this matt hardy came out and hit his own brother with a steel chair ! OMG
Posted by: cj | January 26, 2009 3:22 AM
Rvd returned at royal rumble
Christian did not he wasant even in the arena
Posted by: cj | January 26, 2009 5:32 PM