Royal Rumble thoughts

Royal Rumble thoughts

I don’t think the “big surprise” of Edge showing up as a participant in the Royal Rumble match at Sunday night’s pay-per-view was really much of a surprise to most fans, but Edge winning the Rumble certainly was – at least for me.

Edge – who had been out of action since suffering a torn Achilles tendon last July – drew No. 29 in the 30-man contest, and he immediately eliminated former tag team partner Chris Jericho, which is exactly what I and probably everyone else who expected an Edge appearance believed would happen. When it came down to Edge, John Cena and Batista as the final three, I turned to my wife and said it’s going to Cena who wins, or maybe Batista, but it definitely won’t be Edge. I should have heeded the old adage that it’s better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.

So what does Edge’s victory mean as far as the road to WrestleMania is concerned? Beats me, but you can bet there will be some detours as the road passes through the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view on Feb. 21 on the way to Phoenix for WrestleMania XXVI.

I’m still expecting an Edge-Jericho match at WrestleMania, but the question now is whether it would be for the world heavyweight title. Edge earned a world title shot by winning the Rumble, so that could mean Jericho wins the Smackdown elimination chamber match to become champion. Another scenario is that Edge puts his title shot on the line in a match before Mania and he loses – perhaps thanks to Jericho, which would set up a grudge match at Mania.

In other major developments at the Rumble: Shawn Michaels super-kicked DX partner Triple H over the top rope and out of the Rumble match, so the possibility that they would face each other at Mania is still there. Michaels was eliminated by Batista, so we’ll see if that leads to something between them before Mania. … Randy Orton appears to be doing a babyface turn, as outside interference by Cody Rhodes caused Orton to be disqualified in his match against WWE champion Sheamus. After the match, Orton attacked both Rhodes and Ted DiBiase Jr. before Sheamus laid him out.

With Edge seemingly a babyface now, if Orton does turn it will mean that two of WWE’s top heels will have switched sides.

Here is a match-by-match look at Sunday night’s show:

Edge won the 30-man Royal Rumble match: The star of the match in the early going was CM Punk. He entered the ring at No. 3 and quickly eliminated Evan Bourne and Dolph Ziggler. He went on to throw out three others (JTG, Zack Ryder and surprise entrant Beth Phoenix), and every time he cleared the ring, he cut a promo about “saving” people. That was great stuff and it made Punk stand out, but I wish he would have lasted longer. Triple H came out at No. 8 and put an end to the fun by tossing out Punk at around the 12-minute mark. … Before she was thrown out by Punk, Phoenix eliminated The Great Khali by putting a liplock on him and pulling him over the top rope. … MVP was No. 14, but before he could even get in the ring, The Miz attacked him on the ramp and he was taken to the back. Miz came out two spots later, and MVP hit the ring and clothes-lined Miz over the top, with his momentum carrying him over as well. They continued to brawl to the back, so it appears that their program isn’t finished. … Matt Hardy was the 17th man to enter and in a matter of seconds he was thrown out by Kane. Talk about what a difference a year makes. At last year’s Rumble, Hardy turned on his brother Jeff to kick off the biggest singles push of his career. Now he is buried deep. … Shawn Michaels was No. 19, and he eliminated six guys in succession (Carlito, Cody Rhodes, Ted DiBiase Jr., John Morrison, Drew McIntytre and Triple H). The announcers pointed out that Triple H had saved Michaels from being eliminated by John Cena right before Michaels eliminated Triple H. …

R-Truth was No. 25, and he took out The Big Show and Mark Henry simultaneously, which was a nice feather in his cap. … Jack Swagger came out next, and he started like a house of fire, hitting moves on R-Truth, Cena and Michaels. Before he could eliminate anyone, however, he was thrown over the top by Kofi Kingston, who was in at No. 27. Kingston was eliminated by Cena, which the crowd didn’t like. … That left Cena, Michaels and Chris Jericho – who was No. 28 – in the ring with two entrants still to go. When it was time for No. 29, Edge’s music hit and the crowd popped. Jericho (who was sporting a shiner, possibly from his much-publicized incident with Gregory “Hurricane” Helms last week) had a look of disbelief and fear as Edge charged the ring and quickly disposed of him. … Batista was the last one in, and he eliminated Michaels, who totally snapped and attacked two referees as he kept asking for “one more chance” before finally going to the back. … Cena eliminated Batista, which left longtime rivals Cena and Edge as the final two. Edge went for a spear but Cena caught him with a kick to the stomach. Cena then charged at Edge, but Edge sidestepped him and threw him out for the win. ... It was a fun match, but there have been better Rumble matches. It was interesting that no one with a low number lasted a long time this year.

World heavyweight champion The Undertaker defeated Rey Mysterio: This is pretty much what you would expect from these two: a good match in which Mysterio put up a courageous fight against his much larger opponent before finally succumbing. Mysterio really took it to The Undertaker, who had a lot of blood coming from his nose, which made for a great visual. I guess nosebleeds are allowed in WWE, as there were no medics running in the ring to shove cotton swabs up The Undertaker’s nostrils. After hitting consecutive 619’s – one on each side of the ring – Mysterio attempted to springboard off the top rope, but he was caught by The Undertaker, who hit The Last Ride for the win.

WWE champion Sheamus defeated Randy Orton by disqualification: Before the match, Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase Jr. went to Orton separately and said that they had his back while selling out the other. Orton later told them not to interfere because he wanted to beat Sheamus by himself. There wasn’t a lot of heat during the match because the majority of fans just don’t buy Sheamus as a world champion. The crowd was behind Orton and there was a “Randy” chant early. Later, I think there were about three people chanting “Let’s go Sheamus.” The match had a slow pace and was only average at best. Sheamus focused his attack on Orton’s arm, while Orton targeted Sheamus’ knee. Orton did a great job of selling his arm, but Sheamus was inconsistent in selling his knee. The finish and post-match happenings were the real story. At about the 12-minute mark, Rhodes came down to ringside and attacked Sheamus right in front of the referee, making it appear as if he may have intentionally gotten Orton disqualified. While the referee chastised Rhodes, Orton hit the RKO on Sheamus and covered him. The referee, however, called for the bell and awarded the match to Sheamus. Orton attacked Rhodes after the match, and when DiBiase tried to intervene, Orton laid him out, too. When Orton turned around, Sheamus nailed him with a bicycle kick. There are several directions this story line could go from here. DiBiase came off looking less like a heel than Rhodes, so I could see DiBiase turning babyface and wrestling Rhodes at WrestleMania, while a babyface Orton challenges Sheamus for the WWE title (although the speculation is that the plan is for Sheamus to face Triple H at WrestleMania). Or, DiBiase and Rhodes could both remain heels and feud with Orton. The long-rumored Orton-DiBiase singles match at WrestleMania doesn’t seem likely.

ECW champion Christian defeated Ezekiel Jackson: This match, which opened the show, was a lot better than most probably expected. There were several signs during the course of the match that pointed to a Christian victory. Right off the bat, color commentator Matt Striker said, “How can Ezekiel lose?” Then William Regal was ordered by the referee to go to the back, so my theory about outside interference costing Christian the match was out the window. Jackson also was getting an awful lot of near falls, but he couldn’t keep Christian down for a three count. The match told a good story, as Christian tried to counter Jackson’s substantial size and power advantage by using stick-and-move tactics. Christian absorbed everything Jackson dished out, and in the end, the savvy veteran overcame the inexperienced powerhouse. In his biggest match to date, Jackson made a good accounting of himself.

U.S. champion The Miz defeated MVP: Smackdown general manager Teddy Long made this match early in the show. The match was fine, but it only went about seven minutes and seemed more like a TV match than a pay-per-view contest. Miz won with a small package after catching MVP off guard as MVP was coming through the ropes. Miz retaining the title was not a surprise, as is he clearly higher than MVP in the pecking order at this point. MVP did get some heat back by hitting The Playmaker on Miz after the match, although he got a lot of boos for it.

Mickie James defeated WWE women’s champion Michelle McCool to win the title: After McCool hurled more insults at James on the mic and Layla came out in the fat suit, James ran down the ramp and immediately jumped on Layla. Once the bell ring, McCool attempted to kick James but she missed and nailed Layla, who was standing on the apron. James than hit a big DDT on McCool for the win in 23 seconds. After the match was over, several female babyfaces came out with a big cake, and James smashed it in the faces of McCool and Layla, who both sold it great. After all the humiliation she had suffered as of late, it was a sweet victory for James, and McCool and Layla finally got their just deserts. The only drawback to the quick finish is that it almost came off like a fluke victory. I’d like to see McCool get a rematch and this time have James score a decisive win in a longer match.

Here is the order of entrance for the Royal Rumble match, with the order of elimination in parentheses:

1. Dolph Ziggler (2)
2. Evan Bourne (1)
3. CM Punk (7)
4. JTG (3)
5. The Great Khali (4)
6. Beth Phoenix (5)
7. Zack Ryder (6)
8. Triple H (17)
9. Drew McIntyre (16)
10. Ted DiBiase Jr. (14)
11. John Morrison (15)
12. Kane (11)
13. Cody Rhodes (13)
14. MVP (T-8)
15. Carlito (12)
16. The Miz (T-8)
17. Matt Hardy (10)
18. Shawn Michaels (27)
19. John Cena (29)
20. Shelton Benjamin (18)
21. Yoshi Tatsu (19)
22. The Big Show (T-21)
23. Mark Henry (T-21)
24. Chris Masters (20)
25. R-Truth (24)
26. Jack Swagger (23)
27. Kofi Kingston (25)
28. Chris Jericho (26)
29. Edge (winner)
30. Batista (28)