WWE RAW and Smackdown!: Playstation 2 Presents the 17th annual Royal Rumble January 25, 2004, Wachovia Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Theme: Puddle of Mudd – Nothing Left to Lose
The 2004 Royal Rumble Match My prediction: John Cena Winners: 1988: Hacksaw Jim Duggan (entered #13 of 20) 1989: John Studd (entered #27) 1990: Hulk Hogan (entered #25) 1991: Hulk Hogan (entered #24) 1992: Ric Flair (entered #3) 1993: Yokozuna (entered #27) 1994: Lex Luger (entered #23) and Bret “The Hitman” Hart (entered #27) 1995: Shawn Michaels (entered #1) 1996: Shawn Michaels (entered #18) 1997: “Stone Cold” Steve Austin (entered #5) 1998: “Stone Cold” Steve Austin (entered #24) 1999: Vince McMahon (entered #2) 2000: The Rock (entered #24) 2001: “Stone Cold” Steve Austin (entered #27) 2002: Triple H (entered #22) 2003: Brock Lesnar (entered at #29)
World Heavyweight Championship Last Man Standing Match Champion: Triple H (5 – 4) Vs. Shawn Michaels (6 – 5) My Prediction: Triple H
Triple H: (1996 Hunter Def. Duke Droese*, lost in the 1996 Royal Rumble Match, 1997 Hunter Def. Goldust and retains IC title, lost in 1997 Royal Rumble Match, lost in 1999 Royal Rumble Match, 2000 Hunter Def. Cactus Jack in a street fight to retain WWF title, 2001 Hunter lost to WWF champion Kurt Angle in a wwf title match, won the 2002 Royal Match, 2003 Hunter Def. Scott Stiener and retains world title) *free-for-all match
Shawn Michaels: (lost in 1989 Royal Rumble Match, lost in 1990 Royal Rumble Match, 1991 The Rockers Def. Orient Express, lost in 1992 Royal Rumble Match, 1993 Shawn Def. Marty Janetty and retains IC title, lost in 1994 Royal Rumble Match, won 1995 Royal Rumble Match, won 1996 Royal Rumble Match, 1997 Shawn Def. Sid to win WWF title, 1998 Shawn Def. Undertaker in a casket match to retain WWF title, lost in 2003 Royal Rumble Match)
WWE Championship Match Champion: Brock Lesnar (2 – 0) Vs. Hardcore Holly (2 – 4) My Prediction: Brock
Brock Lesnar: (2003 Brock Def. Big Show in a Royal Rumble Qualifying match, won the 2003 Royal Rumble)
Hardcore Holly: (1995 Holly with X – Pac 1 – 2 – 3 Kid Def. Tatanka to win the tag team titles in tournament final, lost in 1996 Royal Rumble Match, 1999 Holly with Scorpio Def. Too Much**, 2000 holly, and Co-Champion Chyna lost to Co-Champion Chris Jericho in IC Title Triple Threat, lost in 2000 Royal Rumble Match, lost in 2001 Royal Rumble Match,) **Sunday night heat match
WWE Cruiserweight Championship Match Champion: Rey Mysterio (0 – 1) Vs. Jamie Noble (0 – 0) My prediction; Rey
Rey Mysterio: (lost in 2003 Royal Rumble Match)
Jamie Noble: (first Royal Rumble PPV)
World Tag Team Championship Tables Match Champions: Ric Flair (2 – 1) and Batista (0 – 1) Vs. The Dudley Boyz (2 – 2) My prediction: Dudleyz
Ric Flair: (Won the 1992 Royal Rumble Match, lost in 1993 Royal Rumble Match, 2002 Ric Def. Vince in a street fight)
Batista: (lost in the 2003 Royal Rumble match)
The Dudley Boyz: (2000 dudleyz lost to the Hardy boyz in a tag team tables elimination match, 2001 dudleyz def. champions edge and christian to win WWF tag titles, 2002 dudleyz lost to champions Spike and Tazz in WWF tag title match, 2003 dudleyz Def. Champions Lance Storm and William Regal to win world tag team titles)
Chavo Guerrero (0 – 1) Vs. Eddie Guerrero (0 – 1) My prediction: Chavo
Chavo: (lost in 2003 Royal Rumble match)
Eddie: (lost in 2003 Royal Rumble Match)
Now with the 2004 Royal Rumble card at pretty much a lock, i decided to post this ; ). now if in the rare case there are 7 matches, then i will go back and edit, i will also edit if match stips are changed. thanks for your time! ; )
Michaels has never lost a non-Rumble match at the PPV. How about that.
I'm disappointed that Flair, for the third straight year since his WWE comeback, isn't in the Rumble. Does WWE not want to tarnish the memory of his 1992 performance or something? Flair coming in halfway through would really perk up the crowd and get them into it, unless WWE is adamant about the Naitch not getting a face reaction.
I'm also kinda surprised that Batista isn't going to be in the Rumble match, since he's a Diesel push kind of guy.
My early pick: Chris Benoit
Rob asks Dave and Ric if they want to go backstage to play Hungry Hungry Hippos and Flair and Batista immediately bail. Flair wants to be Green. Man, EVERYBODY wants to be green. Except the girl in the commercials. She wanted to be pink. That either means that the ad agency was sexist or that she was communist. Of course Hungry Hungry Hippos is a rather capitalist game isn’t it? No self respecting communist would play Hungry Hungry Hippos. Except Stalin. He LOVED Hungry Hungry Hippos. God, I’ve got no clue what the hell I’m rambling about anymore.-- Matt "Excalibur05" Hocking, Raw Satire writer extraordinaire
You know, I just can't call it the "WWE." I just can't. My body's rejecting it like a bad liver transplant.-- Bill Simmons, espn.com/page2
WWE 2004 Royal Rumble predictions: NOTE: I hate it being called RAW and Smackdown Brand so I will call one brand WWF (RAW/HeAT) and the other WWE (Smackdown/Velocity).
WWF Brand
WWF Championship; Last Man Standing Match: "HBK" Shawn Michaels vs "The Game" Triple H(c) MY PICK: HBK
WWF Tag Team Championship; Tables Match: The Dudley Boyz vs Evolution (Flair/Batista)(c) MY PICK: Evolution
WWE Brand
WWE Championship: Hardcore Holly vs Brock Lesnar(c) MY PICK: Lesner
WWE Cruiserweight Championship: Jamie Noble w/ Nidia vs Rey Mysterio(c) MY PICK: Rey Rey
Eddie Guerrero vs Chavo Guerrero: MY PICK: Eddie
WWFE 2004 Royal Rumble
WWF: 1)Kane 2)Booker T 3)Goldberg 4)Scott Steiner 5)Christian 6)Chris Jericho 7)Mark Henry 8)n/a 9)n/a 10)n/a 11)n/a 12)n/a 13)n/a 14)n/a 15)n/a
WWE: 1)Kurt Angle 2)John Cena 3)Chris Benoit 4)Billy Gunn 5)Rikishi 6)Shelton Benjamin 7)Charlie Haas 8)Nunzio 9)Big Show 10)n/a 11)n/a 12)n/a 13)n/a 14)n/a 15)n/a
MY PICK: Chris Benoit
(edited by XPacArmy on 16.1.04 0220) It's like a koala bear crapped a rainbow in my brain!
My predictions: HHH vs HBK-They have always put on good matches, and this will be no exception, I pick HHH in a great match
Lesnar vs Holly-Lesnar, but I would imagine that Hardcore gets some offense in
Eddie vs Chavo-Chavo which will continue what I predict to be one of the best fueds of the year
Tag titles-Flair and Batista-The Dudleys need a break from the title scene, and I see La Resistance taking the titles from evolution down the line
Noble vs Rey-Noble wins to set up a match for next months No Way Out
Rumble match-I want to say Goldberg, but I can see Benoit finally getting the win, and finally getting his world title at Wrestlemania
Mr. Burns: You are of course familiar with our state usury laws? Homer:U-sur-y? Mr. Burns: Oh silly me, I must have just used a word that doesn't exist.
I don't think it's fair to predict the Rumble 'til I know all the guys in the match itself. Yeah, I know, one of the guys already announced will probably win it.
World Heavyweight Title - Last Man Standing Match Triple H (c) vs Shawn Michaels PREDICTION: Triple H -If Shawn was going to win the title, they would have done it in San Antonio.
WWE Championship Brock Lesnar (c) vs Thurman Plugg PREDICTION: Brock -Like Plugg has a chance in hell
Eddy Guerrero vs Chavo Guerrero PREDICTION: Eddy -Normally Chavo should win but if Eddy's possibly challenging Lesnar at No Way Out then he must win. Eddy cheats to win so Chavo can bitch about it.
World Tag Team Titles Evolution (c) vs Dudley Boyz PREDICTION: Evolution -May as well keep all the belts on the Horsemen
WWE Cruiserweight Title Rey Rey (c) vs Jamie By God Noble PREDICTION: Ron Mysterio Junior -Nidia regains her sight
Overall, it should be a good show and has the potential to be great. HHH/Shawn, Rey/Noble, Eddy/Chavo will all be really good. Brock/Holly should be decent but it will depend on whether the crowd really buys that Holly can beat Lesnar. The Tag Title Match was decent on RAW and should at least have good heat. The Rumble is always a crap shoot but if Benoit's going to be in it until the end, it has potential to be 92 quality.
For once, the WWE has come up with a card that's worthy of my hard-earned money. Good for them.
WWE Championship Match: Hardcore Holly [Challenger] vs. Brock Lesnar [Champion] PICK: Lesnar. WHY: Holly hasn't proven he's a draw, or even a credible threat. Match won't be pretty, as Holly has a kicky-punchy-occational-suplex style, while Brock is all power. FUN FACT: The last time the WWF/E Title changed hands at the Royal Rumble was 1999, when The Rock beat Mankind in the infamous I Quit Match.
World Championship Last Man Standing Match: Shawn Michaels [Challenger] vs. Triple H [Champion] PICK: HHH. WHY: Gut feeling. HHH just got the title back at Armageddon, and hot-shotting the title onto HBK wouldn't make much sense.
World Tag Team Championship Table Match: The Dudley Boyz [D-Von & Bubba Ray; Challengers] vs. Evolution [Batista & Ric Flair; Champions] PICK: Evolution. WHY: The Dudleyz almost never win Table Matches, and Flair & Batista just got the belts. Then again... FUN FACT: The Dudley Boyz won the World Tag Team Titles at last year's Royal Rumble.
Grudge Match: Eddie Guerrero vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr. PICK: Chavo. WHY: This fued just started, and I suspect that Chavo Jr. will have Chavo Sr. in his corner. And heck, No Way Out is a Smackdown PPV, so they'll need a few matches to fill it up...
WWE Cruiserweight Championship Match Jamie Noble [Challenger; with Blind Nidia] vs. Rey Mysterio [Jr.; Champion] PICK: Mysterio WHY: He just got the belt. SmackDown has a PPV next month. I like Rey better.
The 17th Annual WWE Royal Rumble Match: Kane, Booker T, Goldberg, Scott Steiner, Christian, Chris Jericho, Mark Henry, 8 more RAW wrestlers, Kurt Angle, John Cena, Chris Benoit, Charlie Haas, Shelton Benjamin, Nunzio, The Big Show, Rikishi, Billy Gunn, 6 more SmackDOwn wrestlers SUSPECTED SMACKDOWN RUMBLERS: Bradshaw, Faarooq, Akio, Sakoda, Doug Basham, Danny Basham, Ernest Miller, Rhyno, Shannon Moore & Tajiri SUSPECTED RAW RUMBLERS: Rico, Randy Orton, Rob Conway, Rene Dupree, Al Snow, Val Venis, Lance Storm, The Rock, The Hurricane, Sylvain Grenier, Steven Richards, Rosey & Rob Van Dam PICK: Benoit [and if not him, Cena or Goldberg] WHY: Benoit's due, Cena's hot, and Goldberg's on his way out, so might as well strike while the iron's hot. FUN FACT: Only two men have began the Rumble match at the beginning and won: Shawn Michaels in 1995 & Vince McMahon in 1999. ANOTHER FUN FACT: Since the Title Shot Stipulation was instituted in 1991, Royal Rumble winners are 10-3 in their WrestleMania title shot. (For the curious: Hulk Hogan [VII], Yokozuna [IX], Bret Hart [X], Shawn Michaels [XII], Steve Austin [XIV], Steve Austin [XV], Steve Austin [XVII], Triple H [XVIII] & Brock Lesnar [XIX] all won, while Lex Luger [X], Shawn Michaels [XI] & The Rock [XVI] lost their title matches. There was no title shot awarded in 1992, as Ric Flair won the vacant title in the Rumble. Steve Austin's 1997 Rumble win was overturned and Undertaker was eventually awarded the title shot.)
FLAMES: 22-13-3-3 for 50 points It took the team until March 5th to get 21 wins last year