WWE Royal Rumble thoughts
His name is Alberto Del Rio. But you already knew that.
He’s going to be challenging for one of WWE’s world titles at WrestleMania XXVII, and if you watched the Royal Rumble pay-per-view Sunday night, you already knew that, too.
Del Rio solidified his status as one of WWE’s fastest-rising stars by winning the 40-man Royal Rumble match. His likely opponent at WrestleMania XXVII on April 3 is world heavyweight champion Edge, who successfully defended his title against Dolph Ziggler Sunday.
In the WWE title match, The Miz retained his title by defeating Randy Orton, thanks to outside interference by CM Punk. During the Rumble match, Miz interfered and eliminated John Cena, so for WrestleMania, it looks like it’ll be Miz defending the title against Cena, and Orton facing Punk.
The reports about Booker T. and Kevin Nash (as Diesel) participating in the Rumble match proved to be correct. Both guys got huge pops from the crowd – the biggest of the night, actually – but neither of them lasted very long in the match.
There were no other surprise entrants (unless you count The Great Khali), and the one big star that I and many others expected to return for the Rumble – Triple H – was nowhere to be found.
There was a surprise participant in the WWE Divas title match, but don’t get too excited. It wasn’t anyone you’re probably thinking of.
Here is a match-by-match look at the show:
Alberto Del Rio won the 40-man Royal Rumble match (69:50): CM Punk drew No. 1 and was the early star of the match, just as he was last year, when he came out third and eliminated several competitors, cutting a promo about “saving” people after each one. This time, Punk lasted much longer – 35 minutes, 21 seconds to be exact, which was the longest anyone was in the ring for this year’s contest. … Before the match got underway, The Corre came down to confront Punk, and that brought out The Nexus. A brawl between the two factions broke out, which prompted the anonymous Raw general manager to chime in and order everyone to the back except Punk. Daniel Bryan came out second, and we briefly had an IWC dream match – which Matt Striker pointed out and Michael Cole mocked, of course. … Justin Gabriel and Zack Ryder came out next and were quickly eliminated by Bryan. Then William Regal was in, and he, Punk and Bryan exchanged stiff offensive moves. … John Morrison was No. 7, and he had one of the most memorable spots of the match. Regal knocked him off the ring apron, but Morrison landed on the ringside barricade like Spiderman, as his feet never touched the floor. That was a gutsy thing to attempt, but he pulled it off. Morrison then lifted himself on top of the barricade, and he tiptoed across it before leaping onto the ring steps and getting back into the ring. …
Chavo Guerrero was No. 10, and instead of getting The Warlord treatment, he actually had a featured sequence. He tried to execute the Three Amigos on three different wrestlers, but each time someone cut him off after two suplexes. He finally completed the trifecta of suplexes on Bryan and did the Eddie Guerrero shoulder-shimmy, which elicited a babyface pop. … After Husky Harris (No. 9), Michael McGillicutty (13) and David Otunga (15) came out, The Nexus took over the match. They worked as a unit and cleared the ring. From there, as soon as someone entered the ring, The Nexus eliminated him. Tyler Reks, Vladimir Kozlov and R-Truth all fell victim to the group. The Great Khali (No. 19) stemmed the tide and eliminated Harris, but The Nexus’ Mason Ryan was out next, and he threw out Khali to once again leave four Nexus members in the ring by themselves. …The first of two big surprise entrants was next, as Booker T. came out at No. 21. He hit a flurry of his signature offensive moves and then did the Spinaroonie to a mega-pop. However, his moment in the spotlight was short-lived, as Ryan threw him out. The crowd didn’t like seeing Booker eliminated so quickly. … John Cena was in at No. 22, and The Nexus’ fortunes quickly took a turn for the worse. Cena eliminated Ryan, McGillicutty and Otunga, leaving just him and Punk in the ring. Then things got really silly for a stretch, as Hornswoggle – yes, Hornswoggle – was out next. …
Punk kicked Hornswoggle in the face, but he did not follow through and eliminate him, much to my dismay. Cena then got rid of Punk, and instead of tossing out Hornswoggle, he formed an alliance with him. Ugh. … Poor Tyson Kidd (No. 24) and Heath Slater (25) entered the match and had to sell for the little guy before being quickly eliminated. Hornswoggle actually hit the Attitude Adjustment on Kidd. Good luck in your future endeavors, Tyson. … Kofi Kingston came out at No. 26, and he and Cena went at it while Hornswoggle looked on. Jack Swagger and Sheamus followed Kingston, and Sheamus momentarily became my hero when he put an end to my pain and disposed of Hornswoggle. Look, I get it that Hornswoggle appeals to some fans as a novelty act, and while I would rather not have seen him in the match, I wouldn’t have been too upset if he had come out, did one quick spot and was eliminated. But to have him last as long as he did and to have guys selling for him hurt the match, in my opinion. … The second big surprise entrant – Kevin Nash as Diesel – was in at No. 32. He looked about 15 years younger with his haired died black. The crowd exploded and there was a loud “Let’s Go Diesel” chant. It must have been a rush for him and Booker to once again have a sold-out crowd in a major arena going nuts for them after playing small venues in TNA. When Rey Mysterio (who had come in at No. 29) hit the 619 on Diesel, the crowd booed. They were even more upset moments later when Wade Barrett (who was No. 30) eliminated Diesel. As Diesel made his way back up the ramp, The Big Show (No. 35) was coming to the ring, and the two big men stopped and exchanged a glance. That could mean that Nash is sticking around and we’re getting a match between the two, or it could mean nothing at all. …
Ezekiel Jackson was in at No. 36 and eliminated The Big Show. Santino Marella drew No. 37 and was quickly thrown out of the ring, but not over the top rope, so he was not eliminated. The announcers pointed that out, but later forgot that Marella was still in the match. … The final three to enter were Del Rio, Randy Orton and Kane. Orton and Dolph Ziggler (who had entered at No. 31) were both in the Rumble after losing their respective title matches earlier in the show. … On two separate occasions, Orton and Cena were face to face and teased locking up (the second time they actually did exchange blows). The top two stars squaring off was supposed to be a big moment, but these two have wrestled each other so many times that the crowd did not react at all. …The final four men in the ring were Cena, Orton, Barrett and Del Rio (although Marella was never officially eliminated). Alex Riley, who had previously been eliminated after entering at No. 34, came down to the ring to distract Cena. With the referee also distracted, The Miz – who had been at ringside doing commentary during the latter stages of the match – then entered the ring, snuck up behind Cena and eliminated him. … Orton took out Barrett, and then Del Rio immediately dumped out Orton to seemingly win the match. However, Marella snuck back in the ring and delivered The Cobra to Del Rio. Marella did his exaggerated celebration and then went to toss Del Rio out of the ring, but Del Rio reversed it and threw out Marella to win it for real this time. (The order of entrances and eliminations is below).
WWE champion The Miz defeated Randy Orton (19:49): There was a lot of good back-and-forth action in this match, as Miz was portrayed as a guy who definitely belonged in the ring with one of the company’s biggest superstars. After some near falls for both guys, Orton set up for the RKO, but The Nexus (minus CM Punk) suddenly appeared and walked down to the ring. While Orton’s attention was diverted, Alex Riley tried to sneak up behind him, but Orton caught Riley and sent him flying over the top rope onto The Nexus. While Riley was in flight, he also took out the referee, who had been on the floor trying to get The Nexus to go to the back. Miz went for The Skull-Crushing Finale, but Orton countered it and landed the RKO. Punk then crawled from under the ring, hit the GTS on Orton and placed Miz on top of him. The referee recovered at that point and made the three count. Miz had a great facial expression, as he sold that he was woozy from the RKO and had no idea how he ended up winning.
World heavyweight champion Edge defeated Dolph Ziggler (20:45): The stipulation was that Edge would lose the match and the title if he used The Spear. The crowd was pretty quiet for the opening minutes of the bout, as it seemed like no one really bought Ziggler as a legitimate threat to the title. As the pace picked up, however, the crowd got into it and this ended up being a really good match. The final nine minutes of the contest were especially entertaining, as there were a number of believable near falls for both men. At about the 16-minute mark, Edge teased that he was going to go for The Spear, but he thought better of it, and Ziggler caught him in a Sleeperhold. Edge, however, quickly got out of it and nailed Ziggler with the Impaler DDT. He made the cover, but Vickie Guerrero grabbed the referee’s leg to break up the count. Guerrero got up on the apron and began slapping Edge in the face when suddenly Kelly Kelly ran down to the ring, pulled down Guerrero and began wailing away on her. That was a surprise (I suppose Drew McIntyre’s ruthless aggression is rubbing off on her).
Ziggler hit the Zig Zag at the 17:25 mark but he could only get a two count. Ziggler then locked on the Sleeperhold again, and this time it was more effective. Edge was fading, but he eventually managed to get to his feet, and as he fought to break free, the referee got bumped. Once Edge was out of the sleeper, he assessed the situation. Ziggler, the referee and Guerrero were all down, so he set up for The Spear. When Ziggler got to his feet, Edge speared him and then played possum as he waited for the referee to recover. Once the referee regained his senses, Edge hit the Killswitch – the finisher of his former tag-team partner Christian – for the victory. I wonder if Edge winning with that move was the planting of a seed for an Edge-Christian program down the line. I also wonder if Guerrero will reverse the decision on Smackdown this week since Edge used The Spear. As for Ziggler, he performed well in his first pay-per-view world title match and looked strong in defeat.
Eve Torres defeated WWE Divas champion Natalya, Michelle McCool and Layla to win the title (5:11): This was originally scheduled to be a handicap match, with Natalya defending the title against both members of Lay-Cool. However, before the match began, the anonymous Raw GM announced that he was changing it to a fatal four-way. After a dramatic pause, the fourth competitor was revealed to be Torres. That was a major letdown, as I – and I’m guessing a lot of others – was expecting to see either Beth Phoenix or Awesome Kong. The live crowd in Boston groaned as soon as Torres’ music began playing. There was a cool spot during the match in which Natalya had the Sharpshooter applied to Layla and Torres simultaneously before McCool made the save. At one point, McCool and Layla were left in the ring together and it looked as if they were about to lock up, but Natalya got back in and the not-so-highly-anticipated battle of Lay-Cool members never took place. The finish saw Torres hit a moonsault on Layla, while McCool rolled up Natalya for a pin at the same time. The referee made the three count and awarded the match to Torres. I’m glad McCool didn’t win the belt (at least not yet), but I have no idea why WWE would take the title off Natalya at this point and put it on Torres.
Here is the order of entrance for the Royal Rumble match, with the order of elimination in parentheses:
1. CM Punk (21)
2. Daniel Bryan (8)
3. Justin Gabriel (1)
4. Zack Ryder (2)
5. William Regal (3)
6. Ted DiBiase Jr. (7)
7. John Morrison (10)
8. Yoshi Tatsu (5)
9. Husky Harris (15)
10. Chavo Guerrero (4)
11. Mark Henry (11)
12. JTG (6)
13. Michael McGillicutty (T-19)
14. Chris Masters (9)
15. David Otunga (T-19)
16. Tyler Reks (12)
17. Vladimir Kozlov (13)
18. R-Truth (14)
19. The Great Khali (16)
20. Mason Ryan (18)
21. Booker T. (17)
22. John Cena (36)
23. Hornswoggle (24)
24. Tyson Kidd (22)
25. Heath Slater (23)
26. Kofi Kingston (31)
27. Jack Swagger (25)
28. Sheamus (32)
29. Rey Mysterio (35)
30. Wade Barrett (37)
31. Dolph Ziggler (27)
32. Diesel (26)
33. Drew McIntyre (29)
34. Alex Riley (28)
35. The Big Show (30)
36. Ezekiel Jackson (33)
37. Santino Marella (39)
38. Alberto Del Rio (winner)
39. Randy Orton (38)
40. Kane (34)
Comments
So with Booker and Nash in WWE...what does this due to TNA their story line of the "they"?
Posted by: D. Nelson | January 31, 2011 11:59 AM
Why don't they let Orton have back Championship. Miz sucks as champion it seems as if he can't keep it without AR. I wish wrestling would go back to one on one and core and nexus would be disqualified for intervering in matchs. Have watch wrestling from 1960's.But if it keeps going way it is I won't be continuing. Letting that little person Mysterio beat Cane ie Big showe is a joke. COME ON!!!!!!!
Posted by: john claunch | January 31, 2011 12:03 PM
Kevin- good crystal ball prediction on the Miz/Orton match. Good show overall, but it seemed something was missing. The times are a-changing.
Posted by: BobbyD | January 31, 2011 12:13 PM
I have to say, I thought that one of the titles would change hands (sorry, but I could care less about the Divas title, but Natalya dropping it to Eve is much better than LayCool having it again) and I was surprsied that Miz and Edge retained.
But upon further thought (and seeing how the Rumble played out) it makes sense.
#1. It was clear that a Cena-Miz program was being built for Wrestlemania before the Rumble. With Miz holding onto the WWE title, it makes the match that much bigger.
#2. Putting the Heavyweight Title on Ziggler at this point would have been as ill-advised as putting the WWE Title on Sheamus last year. Edge had to retain the title.
A Orton-Punk/Nexus program going forward works for me. Cena vs Nexus is played out.
Oh, and Edge has a lot of work to do between now and Wrestlemania to get ADR up to snuff for a main event booking IMHO.
Posted by: Caps Nut | January 31, 2011 12:14 PM
I love how WWE keeps burying Nexus. They had a 4 on 1 advantage and Cena took out 3 of them in less than 15 seconds.
Is there any reason we should care about Nexus vs. Corre? For the most part, they're all a bunch of nobody losers who never win. Both groups should just go away.
Posted by: Josh | January 31, 2011 12:15 PM
Santino is the last man eliminited from the Rumble--just a step away from a main event at Wrestlemania, yet someone like R-Truth can't get on the show? Hornswoggle eliminated a few guys, yet someone like R-Truth can't get on the show???
RESPONSE FROM KE: R-Truth was on the show, but he wasn't on it for long.
Posted by: clint | January 31, 2011 12:20 PM
I thought it was a great Royal Rumble... until John Cena entered. I think I'm finally appreciating the newcomers rather than the veterans. But let me get this straight. Cena eliminates 3 Nexus members in about 10 seconds, but then a clothesline leaves him lying on the mat for 5 minutes? Once he (and Hornswoggle) got into the match, it went completely dead. And the face-to-face with him and Orton? The audience didn't care at all.
Here's hoping Booker and Nash stick around for a little bit. Crowd really digged them but I don't think it'll last much past Wrestlemania.
So matches for Wrestlemania so far look like Edge vs. Del Rio, Miz vs. Cena, HHH vs. Sheamus, Orton vs. Punk.
but what about the Undertaker? Maybe he ends up winning the title at the Elimination Chamber and he takes on Del Rio instead? And we have the Edge vs. Christian matchup?
We definitely don't want Undertaker vs. Kane again. And who else is out there?
Posted by: Sam | January 31, 2011 12:26 PM
Overall I thought it was a pretty good rumble. I was glad to see Del Rio win it but shouldn't they have put one of the bigger stars to win it? Del Rio is fantastic but ready to mainevent Mania? Idk... I am also glad there was no HHH surprise entrant. The reason being Is that maybe they can still reveal him as the Raw GM. The payoff for that HAS to be high! I was screaming for Cena to toss out Horswoggle while they were in the ring alone as it prob would have gotten Cena more cheers than boos. it was even good to see some of the jobbers get their lil 30 seconds of offense in the rumble like Chavo and Zach Ryder.
Posted by: Chris | January 31, 2011 12:39 PM
completely agree with your forecast for the wrestlemania main events. I'm just wondering how Miz is going to survive the elimination chamber with the belt. It would be a shock if he can retain in a match that will most likely have other main eventers in the pods.
Posted by: ndugu | January 31, 2011 12:42 PM
This was the best RR I've seen in years! The first half had some great spots, particularly Morrison jumping onto the barricade to save himself.
We could have done without the Hornswoggle comedy bit; even still, the finish was fantastic, and the crowd was really into it, especially during Booker & Nash's respective entrances.
Overall, a much deserved return Two thumbs up!
Posted by: Trevor | January 31, 2011 1:10 PM
First off, I didn't have to pay to see this thing, so I suppose I got what I "paid" for. Had I shelled out the money to watch this, I'd swear to never buy another PPV from the WWE.
The stand alone matches weren't great. Do we really need a run-in at the end of a championship match on a pay-per-view? You get those all the time on Raw or Smackdown. The women's match was equally a letdown. Eve? But since Michelle also had Natalya down for the 3 count at the same time Eve did, you know we'll see this settled on FREE television.
The Royal Rumble wasn't bad, but wasn't great. How many legends, when interviewed, always say they had the great matches they did because they listened to the fans? When the fans popped big for Booker T and Nash, it would have been to the WWE's benefit to actually let them stay in it a while, maybe even eliminate a superstar or two. When the new Nexus was eliminating each star, fans were booing because they didn't want to see it -- they wanted to see what they paid for. The Royal Rumble. That should have stopped after the first elimination.
Finally, the idea of keeping a wrestler outside the ring for the remainder of the match, only to reappear at the very end to steal (or tease) the win is old and tired. If they were going to do that, then they should at least have had Santino win and then do a Chuck Wepner/Rocky type buildup to Wrestlemania.
I give this PPV a C-. With the exception of the Royal Rumble, this is nothing you don't already get for free on Raw or Smackdown. Why do people still buy these things?
Posted by: PCH | January 31, 2011 1:12 PM
Kev, don't you think Dolph Ziggler needs a more devastating finisher before he wins the World Title? Every strong opponent he's faced has kicked out of the Zig-Zag, and no top level competition will submit to the Sleeper hold.
Posted by: Doug V | January 31, 2011 1:41 PM
I was glad to see how well Diesel was received by the wwf fans last night. That was the most fun part of the night for this older fan. I hope his reception will earn him a few more tv appearances!
Posted by: msn | January 31, 2011 1:45 PM
As I have stated before, I have been following Pro Wrestling since the days of the old Baltimore colisium and I have adjusted to change over the years. But, after throwing away $55 last night, I think I am finished with the WWE for good. OK, it's bad enough that we have to learn a whole new language; wrestling (sports entertainment), wrestler (superstar), belt (championship) and women (diva) but Vince has taken this PG thing too far. Last night I thought I was watching a cartoon, only with real people instead of animation. First, Kevin, after watching Vicki stand on the ring apron and slap Edge in the face for five minutes, did you think the referee might have cause for a disqualification. Next, having Hornswoggle in the Rumble was an insult. Having him last as long as he did was embarrassing to a true wrestling fan. Also, while we know from baseball that Boston fans are idiots, I guess these people have been living in a cave because they kept chanting Diesel! The man hasn't been Diesel (despite what was written on his shirt) for about 15 years. I guess if it didn't happen in the WWE, it just didn't happen. During the Rumble match, there was a referee stationed at every side of the ring. Yet, We're supposed to believe that none of them saw the Miz eliminate Cena. This is no longer PG, it should be on the Cartoon Network. Well, thanks for letting me rant, I feel a little better now. Not $55 better but, better. Finally, Kevin, I have two questions for you; one, where was Triple H and what do you think his future is and, two, how do you think the veterans feel about the big and quick push being given to Del Rio. Thanks for allowing this long winded entry.
Posted by: Magnificent Mark | January 31, 2011 1:50 PM
Kev, The Corre vs. Nexus at Mania??
Posted by: Jeremy | January 31, 2011 1:59 PM
WWE.com did an interview with Nash and he said, "I wish I had a thesaurus, so I could explain it. It’s nice to be in a building with people." Burn!
Posted by: Ryan | January 31, 2011 2:00 PM
I thought the whole show was an "8", and normally I would say "Screw Kevin Nash", but it was good to see him as Diesel, without the stigma of the N.W.O., Scott Hall, Hogan or Sean Waltman with him.....now, "Can You Dig It, SUUCKKAAAAAAAAAA???"
Posted by: Horseman420 | January 31, 2011 2:01 PM
I would have loved to have seen CM Punk win the rumble im not really feeling Del Rio the thought of him being in the main event at Wrestlemania doesn't interest me i think its too soon...
By the way were the heck is Triple H???
Posted by: Danny | January 31, 2011 2:07 PM
I haven't enjoyed a Royal Rumble like I did this one, for years. I was greatly exaggerating potential entrants but that's part of the fun & mystique of the Rumble. I marked out big time when Booker & Diesel showed up, which is funny cause at times during their recent TNA runs I found both fairly dull. Just goes to show the excitement the Royal Rumble can produce. I couldn't see past Cena winning. The way he disposed of Nexus, I thought we were about to have another bout of Superman Cena but all due respect to the WWE. They absolutely Squashed what I thought was concrete and thankfully gave the victory to Del Rio.
Posted by: LG | January 31, 2011 2:09 PM
I'm so glad that Alberto Del Rio won the Royal Rumble. :D
Posted by: Sharan | January 31, 2011 2:22 PM
Hey Eck,
Given how Tyson Kidd was treated in the Rumble, I was thinking he may be on thin ice with WWE now too (as you pointed out). But, if you look more into it, Natalya losing the belt to Torres didn't make much sense and DH Smith was advertised for the Rumble but didn't end up being in it. Uh oh. Hopefully, it's just a coincidence right?
Posted by: Eric Keith | January 31, 2011 2:28 PM
I was hoping to see one of Edge's old finishing moves in the match instead of the spear. At least we got the Edgecator, even if Ziggler got out of it.
Posted by: Matt | January 31, 2011 2:35 PM
There is an Edge and Christian storyline in Smackdown Vs. Raw 2011. So I suspect that it may happen!
Posted by: John Wilding | January 31, 2011 3:20 PM
I have a theory of why Eve was given the title. Awesome Kong will win the title from her in a dominant squash match at the Elimination Chamber match. This saves Natalya and Phoenix for more competitive title defenses at later ppvs.
Posted by: Dan Gugliuzza | January 31, 2011 3:34 PM
the royal rumbled sucked biggest waste of my money. my kids where so upset some nobody won.. r u serious
Posted by: christina | January 31, 2011 3:50 PM
Hey Kevin - do the rules not state that a paticipant must make it to the ring before the 90 second count down for the next participant elapse? Unless I'm mistaken Orton made it into the ring before Del Rio so should he not have been eliminated? - otherwise surely the best heel move would be to actually not enter the ring until late
Posted by: Anthony | January 31, 2011 5:28 PM
Are you serious? There were 4 Nexus guys in the ring, and John freaking Cena came out with a big smile on his face and proceeded to eliminate 3 of them in 10 seconds, before eliminating CM Punk with the aid of Hornswoggle about 2 minutes later. What the hell are they doing to Punk? They couldn't even have kept him in a bit longer and teased that he could win without Nexus? They just introduced Ryan as a monster, but Cena eliminates him in a flash. Who the hell comes up with idiotic scripts like this? So much for the New Nexus being a dominant stable, when a single guy and a leprechaun can take all of them out.
I wish John Cena would just go away. Disappear. And take Kevin Nash with him.
Posted by: Anonymous | January 31, 2011 5:29 PM
i was very disappointed with the royal rumble match. i think it was spoilt by the nexus and the core at the beginning and that with all the nexus in the rumble match no one who was coming in had a chance of winning. my husband and i have always liked the wrestling but it has become a farse with the nexus coming in and spoiling matches such as cm punk coming in to help the miz which lost randy the match.the same happened when they finished off the undertaker in the buried alive match which i was very angry about as he hasnt wrestled since because of injury . you are making it un watchable and if your not careful people will stop buying the pay per view because it is a waste of money. a very angry and upset fan
Posted by: paula regan | January 31, 2011 5:52 PM
Kev, do you think the new nexus and the corre angles have compromised the quality of the matches? also the Miz retains the belt....REALLY?
Posted by: Bob | January 31, 2011 5:56 PM
Personally, I thought this was a great Royal Rumble. I'm happy that Del Rio won, even though it should have been Wade Barrett. But I was entertained. So entertained, I watched it twice.
Orton and Miz were perfectly matched. Orton is a fantastic wrestler and made The Miz look really, really good.
Edge and Ziggler was great as well.
Posted by: Kristina | January 31, 2011 6:04 PM
I've been thinking since there's no Triple H in sight, I'd honestly rather see him come back as a heel authority figure, rather than get back in the ring on a full-time basis.
It could work, as long as they don't try to rehash the Austin-McMahon feud with Orton-Helmsley. The part of The Rock could only be played by Cena, except he would never be a heel and he wouldn't be as funny with his trash talk. Nothing against Cena, but he's just not the Great One. And I don't trust the WWE to put on an entertaining undercard (despite having plenty of talent to do so)consistently enough to get me to watch often enough to appreciate the storyline anyway. Ah well.
Sidetrack aside, I'm betting Hunter will come back and feud with Sheamus, win 2 or 3 more titles, get injured, come back win a few more titles, then go the way of Ric Flair, and keep wrestling long past quittin' time.
Great job with the picks, btw. Ever tried hustling your coworkers? ;)
Posted by: Phoenixfire | January 31, 2011 6:22 PM
Morrisons jump was pointless. The rule is TWO feet must touch the ground. So why did he not just hop around on the ground on one foot for a while? His move was pointless. In fact lots of wrestlers make this mistake. Shawn Michaels used to always cling onto the rops swinging his feet about. Why not just stand on one foot instead?
Posted by: Steve | January 31, 2011 7:18 PM
Why don't more wrestlers just stay out of the ring like Santino did during the RR?
Posted by: S Pattrick | January 31, 2011 7:42 PM
i was in boston for the rumble, and the "big surprise" of the divas match becoming a fatal four-way was ruined...BY THE ROYAL RUMBLE T-SHIRT. i guess since there were so few matches on the card they decided to put them all on the back, and as i was standing in line for merch about an hour before the show started, i noticed it said fatal four-way for the divas title with eve inserted.
waaaaaaaay to go, WWE.
Posted by: mookie | January 31, 2011 8:30 PM
I always thought Tyson Kidd was the complete package when he entered the mainstream 'E. Its such a shame that these exciting talented, albeit smaller, guys (along with Christian, Kaval, Chavo and to a much lesser extent Y2J) get given such a clear glass ceiling. I really hope a new promotion does start up (any word??) that gives the cruisers a chance to do things no one else can. And while we're on the subject, just 'cause they are smaller guys who can wrestle well (exception Y2J) they don't have to be babyfaces.
Posted by: AC | January 31, 2011 8:48 PM
Maybe we'll have co womens champions again -- Eve and Michelle. Although TorCool doesn't have the same ring as LayCool.
Posted by: Bob Buscaglia | January 31, 2011 10:15 PM
Santino is the last man eliminited from the Rumble--just a step away from a main event at Wrestlemania, yet someone like R-Truth can't get on the show? Hornswoggle eliminated a few guys, yet someone like R-Truth can't get on the show???
RESPONSE FROM KE: R-Truth was on the show, but he wasn't on it for long.
Yeah...saw that on RAW ronigth..oops my bad !!
Posted by: clint | January 31, 2011 11:12 PM
I normally wouldn't even consider purchasing a monthly PPV event, since they are usually just longer versions of what you see two or three times a week on tv. But, I enjoy battle royals, so I decided it might be worth the 40 bucks to see the Royal Rumble. It must have really been a long time since I bought a WWE PPV, because my jaw hit the floor when I saw it would set me back 55 dollars!
After reading your review, Kevin, I'm glad I saved my money. And they showed the Morrison highlight on RAW, so I got to see that for free.
Nash has a good point about performing before a big crowd. TNA really does need to tape before a bigger audience. But, I hope Nash doesn't mind doing his act to a house full of children. That seems to be who WWE is targeting.
They may still have some of the top talent in the business, but like an earlier post said, watching WWE is like watching the Cartoon Network.
Posted by: LarryB | February 1, 2011 12:57 AM
“Daniel Bryan came out second, and we briefly had an IWC dream match”
We payed for that with the Hornswoggle segment, didn´t we.
Did I hear Michael Cole really say that Natalya makes Vickie look like a model. I know he´s supposed to be a heel commentator (at least sometimes) but that is ridiculous. Could WWE just stop pretending that they are PG because they´re not. In my opinion it´s not PG making fun of fat people who are not even fat btw (Natalya). And it doesn´t work any better in the case of Vickie. I don´t think a little bit of blood and some cursing would do more damage to kids than those “fat jokes”.
Maybe wishful thinking but I´m hoping for a 3-way at WM with Edge/Del Rio/Christian.
Posted by: XDreamItchy | February 1, 2011 4:18 AM
Why did Kelly Kelly intervene? Why not Kaitlyn, who had heat with Guerrero? By the way, what happened to Kaitlyn's story with Dolph? And to her title shot?
As for the Women's Championship, the AGM should have said something like "there are three Smackdown divas in the ring, but as the General Manager of Raw, I have the power to change things and to bring a Raw diva to this match, and she looks good!", something like that. That would have justified Eve's presence. When I saw that Eve was the fourth competitor, I thought for sure that it meant that Beth was saved for another Rumble moment, but that didn't happen...
Posted by: Axl | February 1, 2011 6:02 AM
After this Royal Rumble and last night's Raw, I'm becoming more and more of a TNA fan. WWE has way to much comedy going on. You have SuperCena and SuperSwoggle eliminating guys left and right, you have Mark Henry and Great Khali in a dance off against the Usos (what a way to kill off the tag division even more), and you have Jerry Lawler becoming the #1 contender for the WWE title. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy for Lawler, but main eventing a PPV? Just to think that people bash TNA for giving the older guys way past their prime a push. Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Santino under the ring? I'm almost positive they showed that side of the ring at least once and he wasn't there. As soon as he went out, I predicted that he'd come back in at the end.
Posted by: paul | February 1, 2011 8:34 AM
Sooo...did Tyson Kidd get caught literally taking a crap in Vince Mcmahon's conflakes or what? Move of the night goes to Morrisson of course. That move was awesome. Natalya should still have that title and the WWE should be grooming a program between Natalya and Beth Pheonix. Eve is a mediore wreslter and a worse dancer and she doesn't deserve the title(which I suspect she got due to her looks not work) Natalya was doing a great job of actually legitimizing the division...oh well. Santino that close to main eventing wrestlmania was scary on paper but watching it was ok I guess. I'm just glad no one too predictable didn't win.The championchip matches put things into perspective for mania. Kelly Kelly attacking vickie seemed weird but if I were to guess I'd say Kelly is going heel to push Drew McIntire into the title hunt possibly for a match at Elimination chamber possibly a 3 way with Ziggler(does that sound dirty,it shouldn't)
Posted by: tony | February 1, 2011 11:06 AM
2 Championship matches, 2 ref bumps. Awful.
Posted by: Bill H | February 1, 2011 12:40 PM
It was great to see Booker T and Diesel, but it's like the old saying - "It was a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there." Nice to see you 2. Buhbye now. Learn from Randy the Ram. Hell, learn from Rick Flair. Retire. Enjoy your grandkids. Teach them the Spinarooni.
Posted by: Ruzious | February 1, 2011 2:53 PM
I'm fine with Alberto DelRio getting a big push and all but what happened to Drew "The Chosen One?" MacIntrye? And if this keeps up how long are the announcers going to keep calling him that? And being the Santino mark that I am, I'm glad to see him getting some light if only briefly.
Posted by: Rodney | February 2, 2011 10:19 AM
It was weird to see both of the failed title contenders in the Rumble. Made it seem like they were stretching to fill 40 slots.
No Usos, DH Smith, Darren Young, Primo, Curt Hawkins, Michael Tarver or Trent Barretta (am I forgetting anyone?)
I think Curt Hawkins is cool; I would have liked to see him in there. Chavo and Ryder both really worked hard to make the most of their time. Booker T looked great and moved well too... seemed ready for a spot on the roster!
Posted by: Jules Bentley | February 3, 2011 4:02 AM