ParagonOfVirtue
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| #21 Posted on 1.1.04 2123.35 Reposted on: 1.1.11 2123.42 | This is looking to be one of the best Royal Rumbles ever. It's not even just about the roster. Other years have had great rosters but the fact that this victory is so up for grabs makes it that much better. Imagine if the last ten minutes of the Rumble featured, say, most of the following:
Jericho, Angle, Benoit, Michaels, Guerrero, Cena, Orton, Booker T, Flair, Batista and Van Dam. Throw in a few token heels and how kickass would that be.
And I'm having a good feeling that this could be the year that the glass ceiling is officially broken. If you notice of those men, Angle is the only currently established main eventer, and then you've got Flair and Michaels, but they are special cases. If only we could do something about Austin's excessive TV time and..HHH. Then we'd get somewhere. | mercer
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| #22 Posted on 1.1.04 2128.51 Reposted on: 1.1.11 2129.01 | Originally posted by InVerse I'm going to go out on a limb here and pick the one person who's currently getting a push who hasn't been named yet... Shannon Moore!
Moore was one of the highlights of last year's Rumble, he's been in the spotlight for several weeks now (albeit getting his ass kicked, but I'd rather get my ass kicked in the spotlight than kick someone's ass in a darkmatch) and can anyone think of another credible way for Moore to main event Wrestlemania other than being the soul survivor of a plane wreck that killed all of the other superstars?
So my pick to win the 2004 Royal Rumble is Shannon Moore. If I'm right, I'll mark out like a little girl at a Justin Timberlake concert. If I'm wrong, nobody will remember come Mania anyway.
That is the single greatest idea I have ever heard...no wait, no its not! Nonetheless, that would rock. Remember back when they would always say, well anyone can win the Rumble, yet it was always the person you knew was getting the rub. What if this year they Shocked us with someone like Moore or Spike, or....The LEGENDARY, The BEST, The Original recipient of a butt whippin', BARRY HOROWITZ!!! | madiq
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| #23 Posted on 1.1.04 2238.26 Reposted on: 1.1.11 2239.27 | I'm really tired of seeing the same story play out at Royal Rumble time, that of the face overcoming the odds to get his Wrestlemania title shot. I would really like a refreshing change of pace, that being a heel Royal Rumble winner. To that end, I would like seeing Jericho win the rumble (although it seems like they'll be going with Benoit), because having a heel win the Rumble with a heel champion is the type of precipitating event that causes a heel to go face.
As far as I can remember, the only heel Royal Rumble winners have been Vince McMahon and Ric Flair. If this is true, then WWE has been doing a woeful job of cookie-cutter booking recently, using the match as a contrivance to put the face du jour into the Wrestlemania title match as a way of "overcoming adversity."
I'm just looking for a change. In my mind, I had Goldberg retaining his title through 'Mania, with Brock Lesnar winning his second straight Rumble (as a heel), then using his title shot to take out Goldberg, who many consider to be his better. That would be a fine way to tell the story that would create Goldberg-Lesnar. As cool as Benoit-Lesnar would be, storyline-wise, I think Goldberg-Lesnar is your money match, especially if Goldberg won't be back. In fact, since there is a Smackdown PPV between Royal Rumble and Wrestlemania, I'd imagine a WWE Title match would headline, and it is entirely possible that Benoit could win his title shot by then. I mean, I hope they won't do a Holly-Lesnar rematch...
But I guess this is a prediction thread, and it looks like the WWE is showing their cards yet again. I'd be incredibly surprised if Chris Benoit DIDN'T win. | Shem the Penman
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| #24 Posted on 1.1.04 2247.21 Reposted on: 1.1.11 2249.00 | The moment Angle started talking about winning the Rumble for the troops, I thought, hey, way to give away the winner three weeks in advance. I can't believe Vince would give Angle five minutes to tell everyone about a soldier he met in Iraq and how it inspired him to enter the Rumble -- and then have him lose. But having Angle and Brock main event Mania two years running? It's not like it'd be a bad match, but still ... | JustinShapiro
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| #25 Posted on 1.1.04 2250.36 Reposted on: 1.1.11 2251.10 | "As far as I can remember, the only heel Royal Rumble winners have been Vince McMahon and Ric Flair"
Hey now:
Yokozuna Shawn Michaels Steve Austin
I don't think the babyface chase formula is lazy, it just works so there's no need to stray from it. Rumbles in 98-02 all did gigantic buyrates even though everyone knew that Austin (99), Rock (00), Austin or Rock (01), and HHH or Austin (02) were going to win. People wanted to see them win and get the title shot, so they bought the show. Same story with Lesnar last year, though the buyrate wasn't as high as the previous years because business is down across the board. This year, things are wide open so it's probably a more interesting match for the likes of me (not that the Rumble failed to entertain even when I knew who was winning), but without the strong individual story going in of an Austin or Rock against adversity (closest being Benoit, which obviously isn't the same thing), I doubt it'll be as big of a draw. OTOH, the Rumble itself is so over as a gimmick that it'll still be the second-biggest drawing PPV of the year.
(edited by JMShapiro on 1.1.04 2226) | HMD
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| #26 Posted on 2.1.04 0302.08 Reposted on: 2.1.11 0303.05 | Originally posted by Quezzy I think Benoit is the best choice as well, but I've been saying for a while now that the winner of the Rumble should be a Raw wrestler, like T.I.O said. Because a) a Smackdown wrestler won last year B) Smackdown has the Febuary ppv to come up with a WM main event and C) the WM match should really be a two month feud atleast anyway.
By your Smackdown has February's PPV to set up a match reasoning, that'd mean a Smackdown wrestler would never win the Royal Rumble ever again. And criss-crossing the rosters to divvy up Rumble wins is going to look hella fake.
I think whoever needs it more should win. Last year to underscore the enormity of Angle/Brock they had to put the Rumble win in there. It made sense since Angle had proclaimed never to give Brock a shot again. This year, no face on RAW could realistically fill the role outside of Goldberg. Jericho may be quasi-face right now, and I haven't been watching RAW so I'm only going by what I've heard, but the Rumble win is not designed to go to quasi-faces. It's supposed to set a clear pathway for the next two months. You have to put someone in that position that is going to make people want to tune in for the next couple months, and above, is going to make people want to see Wrestlemania. Would Jericho do that? Perhaps. Benoit, who stands as good a chance as anyone to win the Rumble given the "no title shot ever again" stip, probably couldn't. It's hard to tell at this point.
Originally posted by Shem the Penman The moment Angle started talking about winning the Rumble for the troops, I thought, hey, way to give away the winner three weeks in advance. I can't believe Vince would give Angle five minutes to tell everyone about a soldier he met in Iraq and how it inspired him to enter the Rumble -- and then have him lose. But having Angle and Brock main event Mania two years running? It's not like it'd be a bad match, but still ...
I see what you mean, but keep in mind that was on a throw-away show on Christmas Day. That show was filled with, from top-to-bottom, filler material that didn't advance storylines whatsoever, so I wouldn't put too much stock in anything that happened. It did an okay rating, probably better than anyone thought they'd do, but it was still designed as gift-to-the-troops type thing. It was almost like pre-season play in another sport.
| It's False
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| #27 Posted on 2.1.04 0326.56 Reposted on: 2.1.11 0327.05 | The Smackdown end of the Rumble has been built up far better than Raw's side. With Smackdown, there are three viable winners:
Chris Benoit: The #1 slot ensures he'll go far, if not win the whole thing. John Cena: Closing in on main event status. If they can stack the odds against him a little more, he can be one of the great stories of this year's Rumble. Eddie Guerrero: The final half-hour of Smackdown told a great story. The story for Eddie will be if he can truly break out on his own and win the big one for himself, even if it means abandoning family.
Feasibly, any one of these three could win the Royal Rumble and fans would buy it. Look on Raw's end and you'll see that nobody's being built up for any kind of Rumble run. Booker and RVD are stuck in limbo, Goldberg's deactivated and his WWE status is in question, and HBK's in the title match. The only possible winner out of Raw's side is Kane, but they'd have to tell a hell of a story with him by having him destroy EVERYTHING in the weeks leading up to the match.
Realistically, I'd give it to Cena. Cena's just too hot to ignore right now. Smart money says Benoit gets the screws put to him, but gets the title shot in February while Eddie moves into a feud with Chavo and Kurt Angle. But that's just my guess.
Honestly, there are so many different directions the Rumble match could take, which will make for a great PPV and one of the better Rumble matches in recent memory. | Tribal Prophet
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| #28 Posted on 2.1.04 0424.36 Reposted on: 2.1.11 0425.01 | Originally posted by Hogan's My Dad
Originally posted by Shem the Penman The moment Angle started talking about winning the Rumble for the troops, I thought, hey, way to give away the winner three weeks in advance. I can't believe Vince would give Angle five minutes to tell everyone about a soldier he met in Iraq and how it inspired him to enter the Rumble -- and then have him lose. But having Angle and Brock main event Mania two years running? It's not like it'd be a bad match, but still ...
I see what you mean, but keep in mind that was on a throw-away show on Christmas Day. That show was filled with, from top-to-bottom, filler material that didn't advance storylines whatsoever, so I wouldn't put too much stock in anything that happened. It did an okay rating, probably better than anyone thought they'd do, but it was still designed as gift-to-the-troops type thing. It was almost like pre-season play in another sport.
I hope I got these quote things right...
Actually, Angle said it on tonight's show, not on the Christmas show. They actually had his return and his "I'm doing it for the troops" as the big surprise event of the night.
I had the same feeling that Shem had about it, until I realized that the WWE only SAYS they give the fans what they want, and regardless of how many guns they may have, the people of the U.S. Army are just fans too.
As far as people giving Cena the title shot at WM20, or even the Royal Rumble win by itself, I can't tell you enough how horrible an idea that would be. All the guy can do is get the shit kicked out of him until he does the F-U. There's a reason his matches are all either tag matches where he gets beat on until making the hot tag, or else singles matches that are only 36 seconds long. Even Vince knows how green he is. Have him do his sing-a-long rap, and then get him the hell out of there as soon as possible is their booking style with him, and it's working. Exposing him now would just kill him.
I like the guy and all, but he's the wrestling equivalent of the Road Dogg Jesse James and Eminem's horribly disturbing love-child.
Tribal Prophet | wordlife
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| #29 Posted on 2.1.04 0720.27 Reposted on: 2.1.11 0720.34 | Originally posted by Tribal Prophet
Originally posted by Hogan's My Dad
Originally posted by Shem the Penman The moment Angle started talking about winning the Rumble for the troops, I thought, hey, way to give away the winner three weeks in advance. I can't believe Vince would give Angle five minutes to tell everyone about a soldier he met in Iraq and how it inspired him to enter the Rumble -- and then have him lose. But having Angle and Brock main event Mania two years running? It's not like it'd be a bad match, but still ...
I see what you mean, but keep in mind that was on a throw-away show on Christmas Day. That show was filled with, from top-to-bottom, filler material that didn't advance storylines whatsoever, so I wouldn't put too much stock in anything that happened. It did an okay rating, probably better than anyone thought they'd do, but it was still designed as gift-to-the-troops type thing. It was almost like pre-season play in another sport.
I hope I got these quote things right...
Actually, Angle said it on tonight's show, not on the Christmas show. They actually had his return and his "I'm doing it for the troops" as the big surprise event of the night.
I had the same feeling that Shem had about it, until I realized that the WWE only SAYS they give the fans what they want, and regardless of how many guns they may have, the people of the U.S. Army are just fans too.
As far as people giving Cena the title shot at WM20, or even the Royal Rumble win by itself, I can't tell you enough how horrible an idea that would be. All the guy can do is get the shit kicked out of him until he does the F-U. There's a reason his matches are all either tag matches where he gets beat on until making the hot tag, or else singles matches that are only 36 seconds long. Even Vince knows how green he is. Have him do his sing-a-long rap, and then get him the hell out of there as soon as possible is their booking style with him, and it's working. Exposing him now would just kill him.
I like the guy and all, but he's the wrestling equivalent of the Road Dogg Jesse James and Eminem's horribly disturbing love-child.
Tribal Prophet
I am a HUGE cena mark and I have to sadly agree here...I was at the Backlash match b/w him and Lesnar for the title and he seemed to get lost out there after about ooooo 5 minutes or so (we had a bunch of marks yelling "boring" near us)...the kid has "it", no question, but Vince is definitely doing the right thing with him by bringing him along slowly and protecting him...he kinda reminds me of a hot QB prospect that some team has, you know he has got all the goods but he just needs to refine his fundamentals a little bit and he will be something special | CANADIAN BULLDOG
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| #30 Posted on 2.1.04 1127.44 Reposted on: 2.1.11 1128.28 | Goldberg wins it (although he's no longer on Raw), last eliminating Kane or Kurt Angle. We learn the next night that his contract has been purchased by Heyman (as GM of SmackDown that is) and he faces Lesnar at Mania.
Either that or John Cena. | Spaceman Spiff
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| #31 Posted on 2.1.04 1233.19 Reposted on: 2.1.11 1236.31 | Why would Heyman want to grab Goldberg to fight Brock?
I'd go w/ Benoit. They've set up the reasons (Heyman: "You'll never get another shot at the title", last night's segment between the 2), so it's only natural he overcomes the stiffest of odds (#1 in the Rumble) to earn a shot at the title.
Of course, w/ Vince logic, you could throw all that out the window. | CANADIAN BULLDOG
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| #32 Posted on 2.1.04 1243.13 Reposted on: 2.1.11 1244.59 | Originally posted by Spaceman Spiff Why would Heyman want to grab Goldberg to fight Brock?
I'd go w/ Benoit. They've set up the reasons (Heyman: "You'll never get another shot at the title", last night's segment between the 2), so it's only natural he overcomes the stiffest of odds (#1 in the Rumble) to earn a shot at the title.
I was thinking more in the sense that he's steal Goldberg from Raw. In other words, I'm guessing that Lesnar-Goldberg is your Mania main event, and that's how you set it up.
Personally, I too would much rather it be Benoit. It's such a strong story to tell, could be executed flawlessly, and the fans would eat it up. That's why I agree with what you said -- it'll never happen. | fuelinjected
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| #33 Posted on 2.1.04 1254.07 Reposted on: 2.1.11 1254.07 | They could always do Lesnar/Goldberg then have Lesnar drop the title to Benoit in May. They can use the Rumble to peel Benoit off into a feud with someone else who cost him a shot at his dream. | dMp
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| #34 Posted on 2.1.04 1357.17 Reposted on: 2.1.11 1358.16 | I like what they are doing. Notice how the board is divided. Cena, Angle, Benoit, Goldberg. That's 4 names already. They have a few more weeks and could easily build up Booker, RVD, Jericho, Kane and who knows who else. They could end up with 6-8 serious contenders at least here, unlike last year when we knew right now that Brock was going to win it and nobody else. However, I am sure some will be unable to enter the rumble due to other matches (I personally like it when only one or two guys do double duty that night, and not half of the roster)
As for NWO being a Smackdown show..that actually can help with the RR-roadtowrestlemania storyline. Either the usual "despite winning the rumble you gotta beat this guy at NWO to get the shot" or any of the other "final hurdles" stories that are available.
Raw in the mean time could easily set things up simply via Raw. isn't that what they did last year too? Booker T didn't win the rumble. he hardly made an impact there. Yet still he was a strong contender for HHH by the time Wrestlemania came by. | Matt Tracker
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| #35 Posted on 2.1.04 1423.54 Reposted on: 2.1.11 1429.01 | Just to play the spoilsport, it doesn't matter who wins the Rumble for either brand.
The winner will have to put his title shot on the line, lose it and chase it for two months. Or he will be denied the win at the Rumble and then pursue a title shot via a GM-mandated gauntlet.
This stale pattern allows them some leeway to gauge audience reaction in the months leading to WM and swap contenders is need be. I hope it's Benoit chasing and getting the title shot since it would put him in the spotlight for two months, but I'd rather not see the same post-Rumble angles again. | Big Bad
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| #36 Posted on 2.1.04 1431.47 Reposted on: 2.1.11 1432.30 | The moment Angle started talking about winning the Rumble for the troops, I thought, hey, way to give away the winner three weeks in advance. I can't believe Vince would give Angle five minutes to tell everyone about a soldier he met in Iraq and how it inspired him to enter the Rumble -- and then have him lose. But having Angle and Brock main event Mania two years running? It's not like it'd be a bad match, but still ...
Y'see, I think that this was more like planting a very subtle seed for an Angle heel turn. If Eddie eliminates Angle, he can show up on Smackdown and claim that Eddie was being selfish and 'letting down America.'
I kind of like this unpredictable Rumble...the only other time I didn't have a good idea who was going to win was 1992 (which was, of course, the best Rumble of all time). | InVerse
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| #37 Posted on 2.1.04 1502.34 Reposted on: 2.1.11 1504.16 | As we all know, they generally like to bring back a couple of older stars for a nostalgia pop. One such potential entrant is a former Rumble winner himself. I'm talking, of course, about Hacksaw Jim Duggan!
Also, I'd like to see Lance Storm work some kind of angle talking about how he's gotten screwed out of Wrestlemania two years in a row and how he's going to make damn sure that it doesn't happen this year.
Alternatively, we could have Raven ripping off the first Celebrity Death Match where he hides in the rafters and severes the lighting rig from the ceiling, causing it to land on top of a majority of the WWE superstars, killing/injuring enough to ensure himself a spot on the Wrestlemania card | ihateatmfees
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| #38 Posted on 2.1.04 1516.01 Reposted on: 2.1.11 1517.48 | The winner of the Royal Rumble will be Zach Gowen.
Think about it. | madiq
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| #39 Posted on 2.1.04 1719.58 Reposted on: 2.1.11 1720.55 | I don't want Gowan to WIN, but it'd be cool if he got in. Then an unnamed cruiserweight (let's call him Namie Joble) could get upset that he was denied a spot in favor of the one-legged guy, setting up a feud.
Yup, mistreating the blind and the crippled...that'd make him a heel. | InVerse
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| #40 Posted on 2.1.04 1846.46 Reposted on: 2.1.11 1849.31 | Originally posted by madiq I don't want Gowan to WIN, but it'd be cool if he got in.
It would be awesome if he was in and Maven eliminated him and went around bragging about how he eliminated Zach Gowan from the Rumble, after being completely humble (or was it scared shitless?) about eliminating the Undertaker? |
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