Good show, with decent work by all. The women's match/segment was handled pretty perfectly (outside of the McCool talking portion going too long).
The Sheamus/Orton match was interesting. To their credit, they both kinda stayed heelish, to where it was dueling heat segments with no real comeback. The finish was dumb, but it sets up the impending Legacy doom.
The Rumble match was too fast for me, but had enough fun spots that I was entertained throughout. Most of us might have expected Edge to be there, but I certainly didn't have him winning the Rumble. I wonder where that leaves Jericho, unless he actually faces and beats Taker at WWE Elimination Chamber.
Overall, the PPV was worth the 15 bucks easy (split it with three friends).
"Put on your helmets, we'll be reaching speeds of 3!" "It was nice of you to give that dead woman another chance." "All right, look alive everybody...oh sorry Susan."- MST3K: Space Mutiny Click Here (myspace.com)
I only saw the Rumble match. I thought it was pretty good, overall. I wish Rhodes and Dibiase hadn't been eliminated so early, without interacting with Orton.
I was shocked when Triple H was eliminated so early, and even more shocked when Michaels wasn't one of the final two. Edge winning was a nice surprise, and if it means we're going to get Edge/Jericho in a title match at Wrestlemania, then I love the decision.
I know it doesn't really matter, but why on earth is Khali still around? I mean, he was eliminated tonight by Beth Phoenix. What purpose could he possibly still serve?
Also, and I feel like this gets said every year, there were just too many of those "thrown-out-oh-no-he-held-onto-the-top-rope" spots. Michaels alone seemed to do it like four times.
Oh yes, CM Punk was great. I wish he could have lasted longer.
I'm glad to see HHH was able to exact his revenge on Punk for Punk's sin of being cheered more than HHH at Survivor Series a couple of years back. Thank goodness Trips was there to reinforce the pecking order, lest Punk forget who is in charge.
Decent show. Nothing spectacular outside of Punk's awesome run at the beginning of the Rumble. Good to see Edge back.
Gotta think Jericho gets the belt with some help from HBK to set up Y2J/Edge and HBK/UT for Mania.
I couldn't be happier with WWE right now. Edge is back! Edge won the Royal Rumble (by eliminating Cena)! Edge has a beard! It's everything I could have wanted.
The big picture booking as I see it is HBK goes full heel. DX explodes, drops the Unified titles to the Straight Edge Society, who are owed a rematch. Punk gets to go on both shows to cut his promos and save RAW. HBK interferes in the Elimination Chamber and costs Undertaker the World Title to force him to face him in Phoenix. Jericho wins the title to face Edge cashing in his Rumble win at WrestleMania. And... That's enough for me to buy WrestleMania right there. I don't even care what happens on the RAW side with Sheamus.
I thought the Rumble was one of the most entertaining ever. The first third being devoted to Punk cutting his promos in between eliminations was fantastic. I think Punk won the crowd over to the point where the air was let out of the balloon a little when Triple H tossed him (rather unceremoniously.) Beth Phoenix eliminating Khali and then taking the GTS full on was great. HBK superkicking Triple H to eliminate him was great. Anything that brings about the destruction of DX makes me enormously happy. Batista eliminating HBK was awesome, as was HBK snapping and superkicking the referee. He actually yelled "GOD!!" out in frustration in the aisle; that's the most blasphemous he's been in a decade. And Edge eliminating Cena to win the whole thing was outstanding.
I always felt that HBK winning the Rumble was just too predictable. I'm thrilled they went this route. Plenty of room in the next several weeks to tell the story of how HBK forces Undertaker to face him again.
Geemoney is a genius to call the Ultimate Warrior squash of McCool Mickie James did. That was the right way to end that story and it was totally satisfying.
I thought everything on the show before Mickie planted McCool with a DDT was pretty bad. Christian vs. Ezekiel was fine but forgettable. Miz and MVP don't seem to have good chemisty; their aggression during the Rumble was better than the match. I just can't get into anything Sheamus does and the Orton match almost put me to sleep. The Legacy thing at the end underwhelmed me.
But it seems like Orton is bound for babyfacedom while Shawn Michaels is bound for heelitude. Legacy and DX, which has choked the main events of RAW for a year, are finally both ending (hopefully). That's a pretty good switcheroo of locker room loyalties at the top of RAW's card.
Still, easily a thumbs up show for me just for the Rumble match itself.
Once again, I came out of retirement (from watching WWE) to watch the Rumble this year. I was definitely entertained, and I think I'll definitely be paying more attention this year.
I liked that this year's match strayed from the normal formula. Starting with two guys I didn't remember at all (I thought they were both new this year, until I saw that Ziggler was in last year's Rumble), and then having Punk take control. It was a little odd, until I realized it was new. No one ever cleans house to start.
Anyway, it seems there's a mostly impressive list of Superstars (and Mark Henry), and anytime Shawn and HHH are moving toward a feud, you know it's going to be good.
Whoa. Not the best Rumble for action, but one of the most entertaining and surprising. Triple H going out early was even crazier than Edge winning. CM Punk, amazing man. Undercard was pretty useless except for UT/Rey, but Mickie's win was nice and Christian did a very good job with Zeke.
No idea how they get set up for WM from here but fascinated to find out.
Originally posted by spfI'm glad to see HHH was able to exact his revenge on Punk for Punk's sin of being cheered more than HHH at Survivor Series a couple of years back. Thank goodness Trips was there to reinforce the pecking order, lest Punk forget who is in charge.
What's wrong with throwing a guy out of a battle royal? Someone had to. He didn't even pin him in the match they had on Friday. This is terrible revenge.
Was it just me or did the rumble just stop once HBK got tossed out? It was crazy, all the action just stopped. I loved the camera at when it was down to Cena and edge where edge's head just crept into view behind Cena.
Dont say its not worth it, when you can sleep with no fear, that kind of time is worth any thing.- FFX
Originally posted by yamcharulezWas it just me or did the rumble just stop once HBK got tossed out? It was crazy, all the action just stopped. I loved the camera at when it was down to Cena and edge where edge's head just crept into view behind Cena.
Well, there were only 3 other guys in the match at this point. Batista was staring down Michaels as he was starting to lose it and the other two guys were either selling or watching as shocked as everyone else that HBK was gone.
Okay, after this Rumble, consider the state of the WWE:
Possible Main Event/Headliners: -Edge -UT -Cena -HBK -HHH -Batista -Orton -Jericho -Punk (?) -Sheamus (?) -Big Show (?)
Quite the stacked upper card the WWE has right now. Just predicting any combination of these matches is interesting. As long as we don't get any combination of HHH/Orton/Cena, I think we could be okay.
Personally, I think the WWE needs to hold off on HBK vs Taker. I'd have DX in the Smackdown Chamber Match (since they can appear on both shows after all) with the Idea that Shawn wants to beat taker for the title, and then grant his rematch but only at Wrestlemania. HHH of course pays Shawn back for the Rumble, but still loses to taker.
Meanwhile, Jericho pulls an Edge and attacks someone (Kofi again?) to weasel his way into the Raw Chamber after losing the smackdown one, last eliminating Big Show/Cena to win the title.
Cena wins the #1 Contendership and Fights Taker. Edge fights Jericho HBK SNAPS and fights HHH
I'd even be as risky enough to have HBK cost Cena the match against undertaker after beating HHH. Then have HBK/Cena Kofi (MITB Winner)/Jericho/Edge/Show/Punk run programs for the summer. Do HBK v. Taker next year with a year's worth of Dick Shawn Promos. It would be amazing because Shawn would be playing a version of the Cowardly heel without being afraid of the Undertaker. He would just be the arrogant Mr. Wrestlemania who will ONLY fight Taker on that night.
Whoops. Sry about the fantasy booking.
Anyway. GREAT show. Lots of possibilities to go from here, and some actual depth in the main event scene despite lots of complaints about a stale product over the past year.
Originally posted by spfI'm glad to see HHH was able to exact his revenge on Punk for Punk's sin of being cheered more than HHH at Survivor Series a couple of years back. Thank goodness Trips was there to reinforce the pecking order, lest Punk forget who is in charge.
What's wrong with throwing a guy out of a battle royal? Someone had to. He didn't even pin him in the match they had on Friday. This is terrible revenge.
No, it was pure fuckery. Punk should have stayed in for a good thirty minutes. He was completely owning the crowd and that moment. They killed off the crowd pretty badly with that stupidity. Triple showed up on SD, buried Punk's gimmick, effortlessly threw him out of the Rumble, and doesn't even have an issue with the guy that leads to a match. His overbearing presences bogs down/ruins every 'Mania it appears on. And he looked fat.
Undercard was really bad. Liked the Mickie blowoff, finally getting revenge. With the innate misogyny of typical WWE booking, I was worried Mickie would lose. Hideous burial of MVP. I don't know how you progress the Porter/Miz issue to 'Mania when you beat your babyface with a basic pinning combination. Miz continues to be brilliant in terms of personality/charisma but unimpressive in the ring. Christian looks horrible in HD. Orton/Seamus was fucking dreadful and inexcusably boring for anything you'd expect people to pay actual human money for. Seamus did some weird thing where he put his foot against Orton's jaw and slapped his knee. It was absolutely the shittiest move I've ever seen. It was up there with Steiner slipping off the apron. I was glad Rey busted up 'Taker. Someone had to pay for the entire upper card basically telling him to go fuck himself for being short. Rey has no obvious issue heading into 'Mania.
Rumble was fun but too short. What was that craptacularity when Cody came out? Like he wanted to pull Ted out but then Kane fell down. It looked bad. Shawn getting Hunter off my TV early was good as was Shawn's elim. HBK winning was too obvious and no one that age should ever win a Rumble. Edge's return was perfectly done, but I'd have had Jericho eliminate himself to get away from him. Edge also took three long naps between elims. Cena winning would have been lame. Gotta go with Shawn costing Taker the belt, Jericho getting it, and Edge going after Y2J.
Hey I wanted to say. I love Miz but he should be ashamed of mocking people for making a weeks-old pop culture reference when he's quoting Weekend Update from two years ago (as burnt by Dule Hill).
Originally posted by yamcharulezWas it just me or did the rumble just stop once HBK got tossed out? It was crazy, all the action just stopped.
Well, everyone had just eaten superkicks.
Originally posted by Hogan's My DadNo, it was pure fuckery. Punk should have stayed in for a good thirty minutes. He was completely owning the crowd and that moment. They killed off the crowd pretty badly with that stupidity.
I think this is projecting based on who did what to who. Dude got an entire third of the Rumble exclusively to do his act, tossed out a bunch of dudes singlehandedly, and then got eliminated by one of the top babyfaces. Triple H apparently got buried by Shawn Michaels tonight.
I was glad Rey busted up 'Taker. Someone had to pay for the entire upper card basically telling him to go fuck himself for being short.
??? The ones who all sell their asses off for him because they respect him so much and think he deserves more of a push than management does? Rey has kind of been kicking Batista's ass for the last month.
HBK winning was too obvious and no one that age should ever win a Rumble.
Yeah I don't think CM Punk has anything to complain about.
He's had a damn good year since returning to Smackdown, actually - he seemed to be lost in the shuffle for a few weeks after he lost the title to the Undertaker, but ever since he picked up Luke Gallows he has been on fire and WWE really seems to be behind him. I also think Punk, despite being relatively small, regularly holds his own physically with guys like Triple H and the Undertaker.
Yeah I can't* believe people are complaining that HHH threw Punk out of the Rumble. Obviously Punk was either supposed to win or throw himself out like a moron.
*I can totally believe it, although for a second I thought I was back in 2004.
Oh and you all missed this gem-
And everyone knew EDGE would be coming for this... You can always tells when they don't hype a return that it is going to be a surprise.
So they either hype something or it's a surprise.. thanks for that information.
I really liked HBK's elimination -- the way he lost hold of the top rope and fell seemed so natural that I thought for a few seconds that it was unplanned. ("OMG! Maybe he was supposed to win!")
And I thought the whole Punk spotlight was great. Maybe the way HHH eliminated him was a little bit...anti-climactic? but I still don't see it as something to complain about.
Edge's return and the finishing sequence were nicely done.
Undercard was mostly just there.
--K
Last 5 movies seen: The House of the Devil *** - Whip It *** - Up in the Air **** - The Invention of Lying *** - The Exiles ***
Was Edge cheered or booed? When he came back, was Jericho in the match? What was his reaction?
I didn't expect Edge to return at all; I'd read that a Wrestlemania return wasn't certain...but I guess after seeing Cena win it a few years back, the Rumble has some healing qualities.
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