Odds are you'll have fun

It's January, which means it's once again time for the Royal Rumble. To get ready for one of the most entertaining matches of the year, you can watch the video below and see what makes this match so special...by the numbers.

YES! YES! YES! YES!

As if The Rock defeating John Cena cleanly at Wrestlemania wasn't amazing enough, this was sheer awesomeness.

Royal Rumble Rewind: 2011

So we come to the end of our journey with a look back at last year's show. The 2011 edition of the Rumble once again tried to change the formula - this time by having 40 entrants in the match. As you'll see, this was not a case where the motto 'bigger is better' is true. I hope you've appreciated this look back at the Rumble match and will enjoy the 2012 edition tonight. As is typically the case, there should be a number of surprises and hopefully a winner we can all support. One thing's for sure, tonight will properly get us onto the 'Road to Wrestlemania'.

2011 Royal Rumble

Emanating from the TD Garden in Boston, MA

Last year’s Rumble MVP, C.M Punk gets the unfortunate luck of drawing #1. At this point, he was the leader of the (new) Nexus. Before #2 comes out, the entire group of the Corre (dumbest stable name ever) come out and surround Punk. They attack him, prompting the rest of the Nexus to run out and even the odds. As they brawl, the anonymous RAW GM sends an email ordering their fight to stop. He sends everyone but Punk to the back or else face removal from the match. Frankly I hope they stay so we don’t have to see them again later in an official capacity. As the crowd chants for Punk, the official #2 entrant, Daniel Bryan makes his way out to the ring. The two have some nice fast-paced back and forth action to start. Bryan connects with a missile dropkick but then misses a charge in the corner. #3 is the first Corre member, Justin Gabriel. Punk and Bryan clothesline each other which allows Gabriel to attempt the 450 splash. Punk moves out of the way and Bryan is able to throw the beaten Gabriel out of the ring. Zack Ryder is #4 and he goes right after Bryan. These three guys would be in much higher positions in the company by year’s end. Ryder charges at Bryan who is able to move and hiptoss him out of the ring. And we go from rising star to cagey veteran as William Regal comes out at #5. He lays some stiff shots in on both Bryan and Punk. Now Bryan lays out Punk and Regal with kicks. Ted Dibiase is the #6 entrant and he goes after Bryan. As Dibiase tries to get rid of Punk, Bryan brutalizes Regal with a series of kicks. #7 is John Morrison and he takes out everyone including delivering a C4 to Bryan. Dibiase manages to get Morrison on the apron. Regal then bumps him off, but Morrison manages to hop onto the guardrail without touching the floor. Morrison then walks the rail and hops back onto the ring steps and reenters the ring. That was pretty sweet. Meanwhile, as we were fixated on him, Regal was eliminated by Dibiase. We’ve paired off now with Dibiase and Morrison fighting and Bryan trying to eliminate Punk. Someone who’s thankful that the Rumble has 40 guys this year is Yoshi Tatsu, who’s out at #8. Nothing of note happens as our second Nexus member, Husky Harris is the #9 entrant. He comes in and plays bodyguard for his leader, Punk. #10 is Chavo Guerrero who continues to sponge off Eddie’s name by giving Dibiase the Three Amigos. That gets interrupted by Punk, so Chavo gives it to him instead. However, he gets interrupted again by Morrison, so Chavo tries it on him. One more interruption by Bryan ends with Chavo completing the move on Bryan. Chavo gets a nice pop for that.

We might get some ring clearing now because Mark Henry enters at #11. Chavo tries to hit him with a high crossbody, but Henry catches him and pitches him to the floor. Tatsu tries to attack Henry, so Henry retaliates by clotheslining him out of the ring. Henry finally gets stopped by a double attack from Punk and Harris. #12 is JTG and he always seems to luck out and get a spot in this match. This match is in need of some star power, however we don’t get it because another Nexus member, Michael McGuillicutty is #13. He does make an impact, however, by quickly eliminating JTG. He and Harris team up and are also able to eliminate Dibiase. The string of Superstars mainstays continues as Chris Masters enters at #14. He gets Punk in the Masterlock and nearly eliminates him before Nexus makes the save. It’s more Nexus members as David Otunga is the #15 entrant. He joins his Nexus brethren in eliminating Bryan, Masters, Morrison, and Henry. Only Nexus members remain in the ring as Tyler Reks (who?) comes out at #16. He doesn’t have the chance of getting one offensive move in before the Nexus eliminate him as well. Vladimir Koslov is the #17 entrant and he receives the same treatment. They eliminate him and pose as they wait for their next victim. We could use for Punk to get on the mic during these breaks. #18 is R-Truth, who runs to the ring seemingly undeterred by the fact that there’s a gang waiting for him. Punk mocks his ‘What’s Up’ catchphrase and then throws him out. Crowd is quickly growing restless with this. The Great Khali waddles out at #19 and I doubt, despite his size, that he’ll make much of a difference. I stand corrected though because he manages to take them down and eliminate Harris. However, just as we think that this will be the end of their dominance, the final Nexus member, Mason Ryan enters at #20. He attacks Khali and manages to throw him out, leaving us once again with only Nexus members in the ring.

In our first surprise of the night, the six time WCW champion, Booker T enters at #21. Big crowd pop for him. He initially holds his own and takes down the Nexus members long enough to perform the Spinarooni. He gets close to eliminating Punk, but Ryan comes up behind him and throws out Booker instead. #22 is John Cena and I think we can safely say the reign of Nexus will finally be coming to an end. He’s able to divide and conquer and eliminates Ryan, Otunga, and McGuillicutty and short order. Cena and Punk square off in a match up that would get much more interesting a few months later. Cena escapes a GTS attempt and both men clothesline each other. With both men down, Hornswoggle comes out at #23. He taunts Punk, who shoves him down. Good!! Punk gets Cena up again, but Cena escapes and manages to pitch out Punk. Not pleased about that one. Cena then helps Hornswoggle up. If Cena wanted to earn some favor with the crowd he’d launch him into the 8th row, but he instead opts to form an alliance with him. Tyson Kidd comes out at #24 and gets double-teamed by the two of them, which includes an FU by Hornswoggle. He gets eliminated shortly after that. The second Corre member to enter, Heath Slater is #25. He receives a 5 knuckle shuffle from both of them and then gets hit with the tadpole splash by Hornswoggle. Cena quickly pitches him after that. The only saving grace about this sequence is that they’re jobbing out worthless talent. Kofi Kingston is #26 and we’ll see what happens now that it’s another face in there. He actually locks up with Cena as Hornswoggle stands by and watches. That goes nowhere as Jack Swagger enters at #27. He takes down both Cena and Kingston. Hornswoggle shoves Swagger, which is enough of a distraction to allow Kingston to hit him with a high crossbody. Now Kingston and Hornswoggle hit Swagger with the Boom Drop. Sheamus runs out at #28 and I hope he destroys that horrible little nasty stereotype that’s in the ring. He comes in and attacks everyone else. When he spots Hornswoggle he shoves him down. Hornswoggle gets back up and tunes up the band. He hits Sweet Shin Music, but Sheamus quickly recovers and picks him up. He sets him on the top rope and then hits him with the Brogue Kick to punt him out of the match. Thank goodness. We get back to normalcy as Rey Mysterio enters at #29. He slides into the ring and is immediately caught by Swagger. As he tries to hit Swagger with a 619, Sheamus intercepts him with a clothesline. Swagger charges at Mysterio in the corner, but Mysterio heaves him onto the apron. As Swagger tries to reenter, Mysterio hits him with a 619 that knocks him to the floor. With everyone down, the next Corre member, Wade Barrett comes out at #30.

Kingston stomps away at Barrett in the corner as Dolph Ziggler makes history by being the first ever #31 entrant into the Rumble. It should also be noted that Ziggler already wrestled and lost to the World Champion, Edge earlier tonight. Cena, Kingston, and Mysterio team up to try and eliminate Barrett, but they’re unsuccessful. In yet another surprise entrant, #32 is Big Daddy Cool Diesel, who gets an even bigger pop than Booker. Barrett goes right after him but gets knocked down. Diesel catches Kingston and hits him with Snake Eyes. He even knocks down Cena with a clothesline. Drew McIntyre is the #33 entrant and he quickly teams up with Sheamus to take on Diesel. A ‘Let’s Go Diesel’ chant breaks out. Mysterio hits Diesel with the 619, which draws boos. The Miz’s protégé, Alex Riley enters at #34. He runs in and immediately gets punched by Cena. Meanwhile Barrett manages to dump out Diesel, which the crowd does not like. As the action continues, the Miz joins the commentary team. #35 is Big Show who has a brief staredown with Diesel in the aisle before entering the match. He knocks down everyone who comes in his path. Show grabs Ziggler and heaves him out of the ring. Cena and Kingston work together and manage to eliminate Riley, something that the commentary team, including Miz, completely miss. The final Corre member, Ezekiel Jackson is the #36 entrant. As he runs down Show manages to throw out McIntyre. Jackson clips Show in the leg and then heaves him out of the ring. Miz says that Riley is being very smart right now, apparently oblivious to the fact that was eliminated minutes ago. Santino Marella runs out at #37 and goes after Sheamus. Sheamus recovers and hits Santino with a Brogue Kick. That shot causes Santino to be knocked out of the ring, but under the bottom rope. Driving out to the ring in a Bentley is Alberto Del Rio at #38. As he postures in the aisle, Matt Stryker finally figures out that Riley was eliminated. Del Rio still hasn’t made it to the ring yet when Randy Orton runs out at #39. Orton also lost a world title match earlier tonight. He clotheslines Del Rio from behind and then sends him into the steps. He brings Del Rio into the ring and gives him the RKO. He then gives one to Sheamus and Kingston as well. He eliminates both Sheamus and Kingston after that. Orton and Cena have a staredown which draws zero response from the crowd. I absolutely love that their staredown was met with such apathy. They wanted to have an iconic moment in the same way whenever Austin/Rock, Michaels/Jannetty, or Santana/Martel met in the ring and yet nothing. Rounding out the field is Kane at #40. He comes in and punches everyone in his way.

Jackson charges at him, but Kane ducks and causes him to fall out of the ring. Kane catches Mysterio coming off the top rope. Before he can chokeslam him, Mysterio reverses it into a ‘rana that eliminates Kane. While still on the apron, Mysterio gets knocked to the floor by Barrett. We’re seemingly down to the final four of Cena, Orton, Del Rio and Barrett. From my perspective that’s a weak quartet, although the brain trust that run this company would disagree. Cena and Orton staredown again and it’s one again met with silence. To quote Nelson Muntz, ‘haw haw’. Despite being down to these last few guys, we’re still getting some pretty generic fighting between them. Suddenly Alex Riley runs back down and distracts Cena. That allows Miz to run into the ring and throw Cena out. I have to imagine that was not how that was originally supposed to play out. Riley likely got eliminated earlier than he was supposed to and that was the audible. Now Del Rio and Barrett team up against Orton. Orton recovers long enough to toss out Barrett, however, Del Rio quickly runs up behind him and throws out Orton. Del Rio begins to celebrate his victory, but suddenly Santino Marella, who had never been eliminated, reemerges. Del Rio turns around and gets hit with the Cobra. The crowd is loving this. Santino goes to throw Del Rio, but Del Rio reverses course midstream and pitches out Santino instead. Now Del Rio can officially celebrate his win.

Bottom Line: They added 10 more guys to this match and yet the roster still seemed weaker than in other recent years. We really did not need nearly a tenth of the roster to be comprised of Nexus and Corre members. Their presence also created the major sag in the middle of the match where either they or the Cena/Hornswoggle duo were dominating. On the plus side, there were a couple nice surprises and it also attempted to set up some Wrestlemania feuds. While I give them credit for trying to promote a new star in Del Rio, I think hindsight may prove that they made the wrong call by giving him the win. In fact, I think I would have rather had Santino win here, only to have him lose the title shot sometime before Wrestlemania. It would have given the match a feel-good ending and could have actually built Del Rio’s heel heat further by having him win the title shot in a more nefarious manner later down the line. This was not a strong Rumble and time (albeit only a year) has not been kind to it. ** ¾

Royal Rumble Rewind: 2010

As we get closer to the end, we look back at the 2010 Rumble which featured another surprising return who managed to come back and win it all

2010 Royal Rumble

Emanating from the Phillips Arena in Atlanta, GA

#1 is Dolph Ziggler, who’s theme song claims he is perfection. He’ll need to be if he’s to win this match. He’ll begin this match against Evan Bourne, who is #2. Bourne uses his speed to gain an early advantage. A standing dropkick by Ziggler nearly sends Bourne out. A sloppy ‘rana by Bourne puts Ziggler on the apron. Ziggler hits the Zig Zag, but Bourne recovers and connects with Air Bourne. Out to save us all is C.M. Punk at #3. Punk makes quick work of both guys, sending them out and to the floor. He then asks Serena to get him a mic. Punk says those two were just the first of 27 others who will be saved tonight. #4 is JTG, who must have once again won the coin toss. He foolishly tries for a 10-punch count on Punk who dumps him to the floor. And now we get more sermonizing. He claims he’ll be the first straight-edged Rumble winner. To do so, he’ll have to go through The Great Khali, who is #5. Punk tells Khali he can make him greater. He asks Khali to raise his hand and make a pledge. Khali chops him instead. As Khali applies the head vice, the second woman ever to enter the Rumble, Beth Phoenix, is the #6 entrant. Khali picks her up and places her on the apron. Beth grabs Khali and lays a big kiss on him that sends him over the top rope and to the floor. Beth now goes after Punk and attempts to eliminate him. He escapes and hits her with the GTS. As Zack Ryder comes out at #7, Punk easily dumps out Beth. Punk asks Ryder if he’d like to join the Straight Edge Society and then nails him with the microphone. It doesn’t take too much more after that to eliminate him as well. A ‘C.M. Punk’ chant begins. He has been ruling the Rumble thus far. Punk says he is better than whoever will come out next. #8 is Triple H and yet somehow I don’t think that Punk will recant his statement. HHH comes in and takes it right to Punk. As HHH connects with a spinebuster, Drew McIntyre enters at #9. He takes his time coming to the ring. HHH meets him when he does get in the ring and hits him with a running knee. Punk attempts the GTS on HHH, but he blocks it and throws him out. That is very disappointing. #10 is Ted Dibiase and he goes after HHH. Dibiase and McIntrye begin to team up to work over HHH. Matt Striker is already beginning to grate on me with his moronic rhetoric questions that he tries so hard to make profound.

John Morrison enters at #11 and he attacks both Dibiase and McIntyre. Hard to believe this is the first time tonight that we’ve as many as four guys in the match. Morrison connects (sort of) with Starship Pain on McIntyre, but then gets clotheslined by HHH. #12 is Kane and he enters with a flying clothesline on HHH. He takes down everyone in the ring but has yet to eliminate anyone yet. He chokeslams HHH as Cody Rhodes comes out at #13. He saves his partner Dibiase who was nearly eliminated thanks to Kane. Rhodes sends Morrison to the apron, but he hangs on. Morrison reenters the ring by springing off the top rope, but Rhodes hits him with a dropkick in midair. MVP is #14, but before he can make it to the ring, The Miz runs out and nails him with the U.S. title. Legacy work on eliminating HHH while Morrison hits a spin kick on McIntyre. Carlito enters at #15 and I had honestly forgotten he was still employed with the company at this point. He begins to hit the Backstabber on several of the guys in the ring. And after briefly appearing a moment ago, The Miz officially enters at #16. Suddenly MVP runs out from the back and goes after The Miz. He tackles Miz causing both of them to fall out and be eliminated. #17 is Fat…er…I mean, Matt Hardy. He earns Bushwacker status by entering the match and going to the top rope only to be shoved out by Kane. However, HHH comes up behind Kane and throws him out as well. Now HHH hits everyone left in the ring with a spinebuster. HHH attempts to Pedigree Rhodes, but McIntyre clips him from behind. Shawn Michaels is the #18 entrant and he enters the match on a mission. He desperately wants to fight The Undertaker at Wrestlemania and can do so by winning this match. He makes an immediate impact by backdropping Carlito out of the ring. He then pitches out both Rhodes and Dibiase. He avoids a Morrison kick and throws him out as well. Michaels and HHH team up and eliminate McIntyre. We’re down to HHH and Michaels, but before they can fight, John Cena enters at #19. He goes after both members of DX. He hits the five knuckle shuffle on both of them, which draws boos from the crowd. Cena tries to eliminate Michaels, but HHH makes the save. HHH hits the Pedigree on Cena. When he stands up Michaels hits him with Sweet Chin Music, which knocks him out of the ring. Big shocker there! There truly are no friends in this match. As we still recover from seeing that, Shelton Benjamin comes out at #20. Why do I have the feeling he’s once again going to be a victim of Michaels. Benjamin actually manages to hit Michaels with a few moves. However, when he goes for his finisher on Cena, it’s Cena who actually dumps him out of the ring. I guess Michaels got bored eliminating him year after year.

#21 is Yoshi Tatsu and somehow I don’t think he’s going to be able to hold his own against Cena and Michaels. He gets some token offense in, but soon Cena clotheslines him out of the ring. We’re back to Cena and Michaels. The Big Show is the #22 entrant and he’ll likely have better success than Tatsu. Show grabs Michaels and puts him on the apron, but Michaels begins to pull Show out with him. Neither is eliminated. Cena attempts to throw Michaels out, but he skins the cat to come back in. Hey Kool Aid! Oh nevermind, it’s just Mark Henry out at #23. He gets in Show’s face and they begin to slug it out. After Cena joins the attack, Henry is able to slam the Big Show. Cena gets Henry up for the FU, but his weight causes Cena to buckle. #24 is Chris Masters and nobody cares. Why couldn’t he have been quick fodder for Punk earlier in the match? Masters whips Michaels, who does his flip flop and fly sell. However, Show quickly grabs him and throws him out. As Henry tries to eliminate the Big Show, R-Truth runs out at #25. He comes up behind both Show and Henry and dumps them both to the floor. What did he do to deserve that push?? Now he manages to hit a scissors kick on Cena. It’s the All-American America Jack Swagger out at #26. He goes after everyone in the ring. Swagger clotheslines Michaels out, but once again Shawn finds a way to hang on. #27 is Kofi Kingston and he enters by hitting a high crossbody on Swagger. As Swagger tries to eliminate Kingston, Kofi reverses it into a ‘rana that sends Swagger to the floor instead. Kingston hits a 10-punch count on R-Truth. Truth then dumps Kingston to the apron. Kingston, however, uses a legscissors to pull Truth out of the ring and send him to the floor. Chris Jericho comes out at #28 and goes after Cena. Good. Cena recovers and hits him with the FU. Michaels then hits Jericho with the flying elbow. Michaels tunes up the band, but Kingston hits him with Trouble in Paradise instead. Cena then grabs Kingston and pitches him out of the ring. Cena turns around and Jericho hits him with the Codebreaker. And in a big surprise, it’s Edge at #29. He has been out with an injury since last May. He immediately attacks Jericho, who’s badmouthed him since he’s been gone. Edge hits spears on Jericho, Michaels and Cena. Edge then throws out Jericho. #30 is Batista, who automatically becomes part of the Final Four along with Edge, Michaels, and Cena. Man, I could easily see any one of these guys winning it. Batista comes in and takes down everyone. Batista foolishly takes time to taunt, which allows Edge to spear him. Now it’s Michaels who begins to get his second wind. He hits flying elbows on both Cena and Batista. He then hits Sweet Chin Music on both of them. Edge clotheslines Michaels and they both fall over the top rope and onto the apron. Michaels kicks Edge back into the ring, but then Batista knocks Michaels off the apron to eliminate him. Michaels is absolutely heartbroken, no pun intended. He begins to flip out knowing he lost his chance to face The Undertaker. He throws a referee down and then superkicks another one before leaving despondent. Meanwhile things continue in the ring as Batista attempts the Batista Bomb on Cena. Cena blocks it and backdrops him. Batista charges at Cena, who pulls the top rope down causing Batista to fall out. Edge goes for a spear on Cena, but he avoids it. However, when he makes a charge, Edge sidesteps him and pitches him out for the victory.

Bottom Line: This was almost the opposite of last year’s Rumble as they kept things very streamlined. There were hardly any slow spots or periods with too many guys in there. You also had a lot of fun or entertaining moments like Punk’s sermonizing, Michaels coming up short in his quest to win and Edge’s surprise return. However, there were also a number of small aspects that could have made this match even better. I felt like there were some missed opportunities to set up the eventual Wrestlemania matches better. Since Batista would face Cena, I would have liked for Batista to be more instrumental in causing Cena to be eliminated. I also would have liked more interaction between Edge and Jericho for the same reason. Still these are minor quibbles in an otherwise strong Rumble. **** ¼

Royal Rumble Rewind: 2008

Madison Square Garden was once again the setting for the Rumble in 2008 and as usual, the New York crowd was as boisterous as ever. Thankfully the WWE gave them plenty to respond as a result of several surprises sprinkled throughout the match including a major one at the very end.

2008 Royal Rumble

Emanating from Madison Square Garden in New York City, NY

In the ‘why haven’t they thought about doing this sooner’ category, Mr. ‘Let’s Get Ready to Rumble’, Michael Buffer does the ring announcements to open the match. Things get off to a very interesting start as our first two entrants this year, are the same as last year’s final two entrants – The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels. Michaels attempts to use his speed to his advantage, but Taker quickly overtakes him with his power. Taker goes for a running boot, but Michaels avoids it. #3 is Santino Marella and I don’t like his chances. He tries to prove he can hang with the two future hall of famers, but Michaels quickly superkicks him. Taker then dumps his limp body out. Michaels tries to come up behind Taker and dump him as well, but Taker hangs on. Taker goes for Old School, but Michaels pulls him down. As Michaels hits a flying forearm, The Great Khali enters at #4. Taker chokeslams Michaels and then goes right for Khali. As Khali kicks away at Taker, the crowd begins a ‘You can’t wrestle’ chant. Gotta love the NY fans. Khali goes for his chop, but Taker ducks it and throws him out. Taker and Michaels resume their battle as Hardcore Holly comes out at #5. Taker shifts his focus to Holly and goes after his arm. Taker grabs Michaels and attempts to throw him out again, but Holly breaks up that attempt. #6 is John Morrison and he goes after everyone. Michaels throws Morrison over the top rope, but he manages to hang on. After hitting a flying elbow, Michaels goes for Sweet Chin Music, but Morrison blocks it and delivers a kick of his own. New York’s own Tommy Dreamer enters at #7. He comes in as a house of fire, punching everyone in sight. A ‘Tommy Dreamer’ chant breaks out. This is apparently going to be a front loaded Rumble as #8 is Batista. He takes down everyone and then has a staredown with the Undertaker, who he fought at Wrestlemania last year. Before they can go at it, Dreamer interrupts. Batista pitches him out for that. Crowd doesn’t like that. #9 is nobody…oh wait nevermind, I just had to look closer because it’s Hornswoggle. He sizes up the humanity that’s currently in the ring and decides to immediately hide underneath the ring instead of try to compete. The action resumes in the ring with Batista spearing Taker. Holly clotheslines Michaels over the top rope, but he hangs on. Chuck Palumbo is out at #10 as the world asks ‘Why?’. The pairs squaring off right now include Taker/Palumbo, Michaels/Morrison, and Holly/Batista.

The #11 entrant is Jamie Noble, who was feuding with Palumbo at the time. He naturally goes right after him. Palumbo gets Noble over the top rope and boots him to the floor with relative ease. Michaels throws Morrison over, but he again does an impressive job of holding on. #12 is Punk who delivers running knee strikes to everyone until he gets dropped by a Taker clothesline. Palumbo gets Punk up on his shoulders, but Punk escapes and throws Palumbo over. He hangs on, but a running knee by Punk is enough to knock him to the floor. Michaels and Punk go at it as Cody Rhodes comes out at #13. Rhodes was a ‘wet behind the ears’ rookie at this point, but that doesn’t stop him from deciding to go after Taker. We might get some ring clearing now as Umaga is out at #14. He hits Holly with the Samoan Spike, which sends him out to the floor. He now begins to hammer down Batista. #15 is Snitsky and he attacks both Rhodes and Morrison. Rhodes hops on Snitsky’s back and nearly falls out of the ring in the process. Punk attempts to hit Morrison with the GTS when Morrison’s partner, The Miz, comes out at #16. Taker is trying his darndest to get Umaga out, but the big man won’t go. #17 is Shelton Benjamin, who immediately hops onto the top rope and delivers a double noggin knocker to Morrison and the Miz. Both men manage to stay on the apron, however. He knocks down Punk only to be hit with a superkick by Michaels that eliminates him from the match. Once again Michaels is Benjamin’s Achilles heel. A big surprise at #18 as it’s the Superfly, Jimmy Snuka. He comes in and takes it to everyone who comes after him. Then it’s our second surprise in a row as Rowdy Roddy Piper is out at #19. He quickly locks eyes with Snuka and they renew their decades old rivalry. Everyone else in the ring stop to watch these two go at. #20 is Kane who brings us back to reality by immediately eliminating both Snuka and Piper. Taker looks to chokeslam Kane, but changes course midstream and delivers it to Michaels instead.

Carlito is out at #21 and spits some apple in Rhodes’ face. Another NY native, Mick Foley in the #22 entrant. He attacks everyone as Taker powerbombs Batista. We really could use to thin the herd out at this point. #23 is Mr. Kennedy and he opts to go after Rhodes. He then hits his finisher on both the Miz and Punk. He jaws at the Undertaker, which earns him a chokeslam. Taker starts to catch a second wind knocking down everyone in his sight. As Big Daddy V comes out at #24, Taker grabs Snitsky by the throat and shoves him out of the ring. Taker turns around only to be superkicked out of the match by Michaels. Taker is stunned by that. Michaels has no time to gloat because Kennedy comes up behind him and throws him out. When I wanted some eliminations, I did not have those two in mind. Frustrated, Taker legdrops Snitsky on the announce table. Kennedy throws Rhodes over the top rope, but he hangs on. As he tries to skin the cat, he also tries pulling Kennedy out. Both manage to hang on though. Nice spot. More beef fills up the ring as the #25 entrant is Mark Henry. Hornswoggle emerges from under the ring long enough to pull The Miz, who was teetering on elimination out of the ring. If he keeps doing that, he’ll break Kane’s elimination record with ease. #26 is Chavo Guerrero, who was the ECW Champion at the time, which goes to show you how little they thought of that title if he’s competing in this match. He and Punk, who were feuding at the time go right at each other. After several close calls, Kane finally eliminates Morrison with a boot. Hornswoggle tries his elimination technique again, but foolishly tries it on Mark Henry, who pulls him into the ring instead. Both Henry and Big Daddy V surround Hornswoggle, but before they can do anything, Finlay runs out and attacks both of them with the shillelagh. Finlay then grabs Hornswoggle and takes him to the back thus eliminating both of them despite neither going over the top rope. A major disappointment there. Elijah Burke is the #28 entrant and I frankly had forgotten that he was still in the company at this point. Punk and Guerrero to go at it and Chavo manages to pull Punk over the top rope from the apron and throw him to the floor. A disappointing finish for Punk, but he’s certainly in a better place today. Getting a very good draw is Triple H out at #29. He makes an immediate impact by throwing out Rhodes and Big Daddy V. Now he and Foley go at it, which makes us nostalgic for their classic Rumble match at MSG back in 2000. He whips Foley into Burke and both of them fall over the top rope and to the floor. Umaga misses a charge, which allows HHH to hit him with a Pedigree. #30 is…I don’t believe it…it can’t be..it is..John Cena. This was a MAJOR shock at the time. Cena was out at the time with an injury and still wasn’t due back for several months. The NYC crowd pops huge for this surprise while HHH looks on in disbelief. Cena comes in and takes it to Henry. Cena then pitches out Carlito and Guerrero. Henry gets dumped out by him also shortly thereafter. Cena and HHH have a big staredown and then slug it out. HHH hits a spinebuster on Cena but then gets knocked down by an Umaga uppercut. As Umaga goes for the Spike, Batista spears him. Batista then throws out Kennedy. Batista then clotheslines Umaga out of the ring.

Our final four is Kane, HHH, Batista and Cena. It’s a strong foursome, but it doesn’t last long as HHH and Batista team up to hurl Kane out of the ring. The three guys left stare at each other as the crowd cheers them on. They then do some taunting to fire up the crowd further. There are no alliances here as they all go after each other. Batista manages to connect with spinebusters on both Cena and HHH. Batista goes for a Batista Bomb on Cena, but he blocks it and backdrops him. HHH then clotheslines Batista out to eliminate him. HHH points to the Wrestlemania sign and says that’s what it’s all about while Cena reminds HHH that he made him tap out at a previous Wrestlemania. Now they go back to fighting as they slug it out. Crowd now seems to be behind HHH as they boo Cena’s punches and cheers HHH’s. Cena connects with the five knuckle shuffle. Cena gets HHH up for the FU, but HHH escapes. HHH attempts the Pedigree, but Cena fights out of that. Both men are down after they clothesline each other. Cena boots a charging HHH, but HHH comes back with a DDT. As HHH tries to put Cena out, he blocks it by grabbing the top rope. HHH goes for the Pedigree again, but Cena escapes and back drops HHH out of the ring to score the victory.

Bottom Line: Cena’s return and subsequent victory were a huge surprise and made for a buzzworthy finish to the match. Prior to that, the match had sufficient star power to keep the match entertaining. While it at times had too many guys in there, one thing they did differently this year was they left the middle of the ring open so that two guys could do some more innovative or high impact moves instead of everyone doing the typical punching and kicking near the ropes. There were some aspects of the match that could have been booked better, but they are minor quibbles. This set up some Wrestlemania feuds and kept the lulls to a minimum which makes this a solid Rumble. ****

Royal Rumble Rewind: 2005

Once again in 2005, the Rumble match marked the dawn of a new era. Two rising stars were beginning to emerge and it took a little longer than expected to determine which one of them would come out victorious in this match.

2005 Royal Rumble

Emanating from the Savemart Center in Fresno, CA

#1 is Eddie Guerrero and #2 is Chris Benoit. At that time it was a dream opening pair. Now, like so many other great moments from that time they are just a grim reminder of what has happened. The two go through some feeling-out moves to kick things off. Before they can truly get going, #3 is out and it’s the $1,000,000 Tough Enough winner, Daniel Puder. Puder opts to go for a mic and announces that he’ll make history by being the first Tough Enough winner to win the Rumble. Benoit and Guerrero don’t take too kindly to that and decide to take out their anger on him. It quickly becomes a game of who can chop him harder. Guerrero delivers the Three Amigos as Hardcore Holly comes out at #4. So things are getting worse for young Puder, since we know Holly hates rookies. Holly decides to get in on the chopfest as Puder is just getting brutalized in there. After an Alabama Slam, Holly does the honor of eliminating Puder. As The Hurricane comes out at #5, Benoit and Guerrero sneak up behind Holly and throw him out. Benoit and Guerrero team up against the Hurricane, but suddenly Guerrero turns on Benoit and tries to eliminate him. Benoit hangs on though and they go back to the Hurricane. Hurricane gets a brief moment of offense before Guerrero backdrops him out of the ring. #6 is Kenzo Suzuki and I look forward to more domination from Benoit and Guerrero. After briefly teaming up, Benoit decides to return the favor and try a sneak attack on Eddie, but he too manages to hang out. Appearing for the second time tonight, Edge is out at #7. He goes after Guerrero, while Benoit and Kenzo continue to go at it. Rey Mysterio enters at #8 and he goes after everyone. Kenzo tries to slam Rey, but Rey escapes and then delivers a hurricanrana to eliminate him. #9 is Shelton Benjamin and that is quite the atheletic fivesome in there right now. Shelton slugs away on Edge, while Benoit tries to get rid of Rey. Eddie comes over and tries to eliminate Benoit. Benoit almost suplexes Eddie out of the ring, but Rey stops them. Booker T is the #10 entrant and he goes after Edge. As Rey and Shelton teeter on the top rope, Eric Bischoff decides to walk down to the ring.

#11 is Chris Jericho and the ring continues to be filled with awesome talent. Jericho hits everyone in his path as Teddy Long now decides to make his way down to the ring. Hmm, something seems to be a-brewing. Making it eight men in the ring now, Luther Reigns enters at #12. Soon, the wrestlers realize that there are four RAW and four Smackdown guys in the ring. They take sides and suddenly go at it, West Side Story style to match the theme of this year’s show. Nicely done. The brand warfare suddenly comes to a halt as Muhammad Hassan comes out at #13. The entrants surround Hassan as he looks to the sky. Everyone quickly has enough of that and beat him up. After putting the boots to him, Rey hits him with a 619 and then as a group they collective throw him out. Politically incorrect? Probably. Crowd-pleasing? You better believe it. And then we come down from that high by seeing Orlando Jordan come out at #14. Why can’t he receive the same treatment as Hassan? Everyone pairs off and Shelton is the closest to eliminating someone, that being Chris Jericho. He manages to hang on though. As if Orlando Jordan wasn’t bad enough, now we get Scotty 2 Hotty out at #15. Thankfully, an upset Muhammad Hassan attacks him before he even gets in the ring and puts him in the camel clutch. It appears Scotty’s night is over before it even began. A lot of people are close to going out, but everyone is still hanging on. #16 is Charlie Haas and he goes after everyone. Suddenly Booker gets on a roll and eliminates Luther and Orlando Jordan. He celebrates that with a Spin-a-rooni, but that allows Rey to dropkick him and Guerrero to eliminate him. Rene Dupree is out at #17 and has brought FiFi with him. Haas quickly grabs Dupree and drops him across the top rope. Then it’s a brief World’s Greatest Tag Team reunion as Shelton and Hass double-team Dupree with the alley-oop splash. Shelton hops up onto the top rope, but Edge shoves him off and to the floor to eliminate him. #18 is Simon Dean, who apparently needs to do some more exercises before he gets into the ring. Back inside, Edge sneaks up behind Guerrero and tosses him out. He then dances like Eddie to draw more heel heat from the crowd. The crowd perks back up again as Shawn Michaels is out at #19. Simon Dean has made it into the ring, but is still exercising. Shawn spots him and immediately dumps him out. Haha, nice. Edge tries to corner Rey, but he’s too quick for him. Haas tries punch away on Shawn, but Shawn dumps him to floor. Whooo! It’s Kurt Angle out at #20. He comes in and gives suplexes and Angle Slams to everyone in sight. He tries for one on Shawn, but he escapes. Shawn goes for Sweet Chin Music, but Kurt puts him in the ankle lock. Shawn escapes and then hits the superkick to quickly eliminate Kurt. Wow!

Huge groans from the crowd as Jonathan Coachman comes out at #21. Coach tries a sneak attack on Benoit, but when that doesn’t work, he runs away and grabs a rope. Rey and Jericho come close to eliminating each other, but to no avail. Mark Jindrak is #22, but no one cares because we’re all focused on Kurt Angle who has come back into the ring and thrown out Shawn Michaels. Angle then grabs the steps and throws them at Shawn. With Shawn busted open, Kurt puts him in the ankle lock. The usual bunch of idiots come out to finally break it up. And that’s how you create a Wrestlemania feud! With order now restored, we get our #23 entrant in the form of Viscera. Everybody is sort of milling around as Paul London enters at #24. Dupree knocks him down and then does his French Tickler. Jericho comes up behind him and throws him out. He then does his own version of the dance, which is better received by the crowd. #25 is John Cena who has two tons of hardware to take off before he can get into the ring. He comes in and immediately runs into Viscera. Viscera charges and Cena is able to backdrop him out of the ring. Snitsky enters at #26 and hits everything in his sight. London hops on Snitsky’s back and tries to apply a sleeper. Snitsky pulls him off and onto the apron. Snitsky then clotheslines him off the apron in one of the sickest bumps ever. London’s 360 flip onto the floor is something to behold. With Snitsky looking strong, it seems appropriate that Kane now comes out at #27. Those two go at it as EMTs tend to London. Kane delivers chokeslams to everyone in sight, but doesn’t eliminate anyone. Finally he grabs Jindrak and throws him out. Coach tries attacking Kane from behind, but that doesn’t work. However, before Kane can attack him, Snitsky knocks him down. With everyone down, Batista enters at #28. He immediately makes an impact by clotheslining Snitsky out of the ring. Big ‘Batista’ chant from the crowd. Batista now goes after Kane and dominates him. Batista catches a charging Jericho and throws him to the mat. The Peeps can celebrate now because Christian, accompanied by Tomko is #29. He goes right after that punk Cena. Cena brushes him off and goes over to pick up Kane and dump him to the floor. Rey talks with Cena and tries to team up with him. We’re left with only one man yet to come out and it is The Man, Ric Flair at #30. Flair high fives Batista and then stomps away on Coach. Batista gives Coach a spinebuster and then Flair throws him out of the ring. Batista then gives Christian a spinebuster. He then press slams him out of the ring and onto Tomko. A disappointing night for Captain Charisma. Flair and Batista now team up on Benoit and eliminate him. Suddenly Flair tries to double-cross Batista and throw him out, but Batista doesn’t budge. Batista looks at him, but before he can do anything Edge and Rey attack him. Edge then goes after Flair and throws him out of the ring. More boos for Edge.

Just like that we’re down to the Final Four of Edge, Batista, Rey Mysterio and John Cena. A good crop of new talent there. Edge manages to get spears on Batista and Cena. He goes for one on Rey, but Rey avoids it. Rey then hits Edge with a 619. Edge recovers and throws Rey over the top rope. Rey hangs on, but then Edge spears him and eliminates him for good. Edge charges at Batista and Cena, but they backdrop him to the floor. We’re down to two! The two stare at each other before slugging it out. Cena gets Batista up for the FU, but Batista blocks it by grabbing the ropes. Batista escapes and then sets up Cena for the Batista Bomb. As Cena tries to escape that, both men end up falling over the top rope and hitting the floor. Different referees believe each man won. Both men go in the ring and both get their hand raised. Suddenly Vince McMahon struts out and tries running into the ring. As he gets in, Vince crumbles to the mat. While he sits there, both referees argue their case. We would learn after the fact that as Vince tried entering the ring, he blew out both of his quads (yeowch!), hence him sitting in the ring. Meanwhile, Batista throws Cena out of the ring. Cena comes back in and throws out Batista. Howard Finkel comes on the mic and announces that this match should restart. Cena attempts the FU, but Batista escapes. He hits Cena with a spinebuster and then throws him out to officially win the Royal Rumble.

Bottom Line: Man, if only that finish had gone off more smoothly. We still don’t know if they had planned the double elimination/restart finish or if it was an error on Cena and Batista’s part. On one hand, it provided a good gauge of how fans responded to both men. However, with both men ultimately getting title shots, they probably should have just made them co-winners right there. Aside from that finish, however, this was a tremendous Rumble. There were so many mini-stories and/or spots peppered throughout this thing that there was hardly a dull moment. This match was also successful in doing more than just establishing a #1 contender. It started up the Angle/HBK feud. It also really helped Edge as a heel as he was there until the end and had some good eliminations of crowd favorites. This would get the full monty with a smooth ending. Instead it’ll have to settle for **** ½