Royal Rumble

We sat down to watch Royal Rumble with great expectations, as the card looked strong and plotlines promising. The road to WrestleMania starts here.

First match was the World tag team championship in a tables match, Dudley Boyz vs. Ric Flair and Batista. This looked like a promising match with some decent action, and almost before it started it was over. I would have assumed that Dudleys would have had the advantage here it being a tables match and all, but it was not to be – Evolution brought this one home (surprisingly) cleanly.

Next was the Cruiserweight Championship match beteen Rey Mysterio and Jamie Noble (with Nidia) – and this one was even shorter with only three minutes of action. Match was as solid as it could be in that time, and Noble keeps impressing me each time. Story-wise I have to say I’m starting to suspect that Nidia isn’t as blind as she appears, and will make Jamie taste his own medicine very soon now.

Eddie Guerrero vs. Chavo Guerrero was next, and this was maybe the biggest disappointment in this event. We were really looking forward to this one, two luchadores, lots of emotion, what could go wrong? Well, apparently a lot. Match was very slow, most of the time seemed to go to either into submissions or the guys just staring at each other. None of the fast lucha libre we were expecting, and the post match beat up was just unnecessary. Unfortunately I have a feeling that this feud is far from over... but I just want it to end so we can have our charming funny Eddie back.

Then it was WWE Championship match - Brock Lesnar vs. Hardcore Holly – was perhaps the match I least looking forward to. Not because the guys are not good wrestlers – Brock is starting to become very good, and Holly is, although not the most interesting, very solid performer. But I wasn’t looking forward to it because I knew how it was going to end. None of the hype they had put into Holly made anyone believe that he would succeed where the likes of Undertaker, Chris Benoit and Kurt Angle had failed. For a championship match, the length of the match, only six minutes was pretty pathetic. While I understand they had to leave time for the last man standing match and the rumble itself, I’d rather with they’d cut one match off instead of making all the others just a few minutes long. These guys could have delivered a better match.

I knew the Last Man Standing match was going to be good. The hype was there, and these guys have had some of the best matches in RAW. It was Triple H vs. Shawn Michaels, and it was bloody and heroic. Not the best match they’ve had (the match they had in RAW this month was better), but it was pretty good. I had put my money on HBK and was hoping he would deliver, but he was really being hammered down from the beginning. Several times he came back, and I knew that before we would hear some sweet chin music, it wouldn’t be over. Then it came, Trips was just running towards him, and the boot sang, and both men went down... When the count hit seven and HBK still wasn’t moving, I started getting nervous. He shifted a bit, and... it was over. Both men were counted out, and Trips got to keep his belt. Crowd wasn’t pleased at all about this, there were even some “bullshit” chants coming from the audience. They send for stretchers, but Shawn refused to be carried out. I can only guess what’s coming – while Trips left with the belt, HBK can claim that he walked out... I expect a final match in WrestleMania XX.

Then we got down to business, it was time for the Royal Rumble match. My money was reluctantly, but firmly on Goldberg – but at this point they had said so many times that Benoit was always going to be second and that he was never going to win, that I started hoping there might be something to it. There were some notable performances – Tajiri did well, he stayed in the ring for three minutes and outlasted the big man Bradshaw. Spike Dudley got points for a good rib – I think it was the biggest pop of the night when people thought (old) Undertaker was going to come and take care of Kane. Randy Orton earned my gratitude for getting rid of the most useless wrestler on Smackdown roster, Ernest “The Cat” Miller. Nunzio got points for being as funny as ever, sitting outside the ring most his time. Big Show got lot of respect for a solid and convincing performance – after I’ve seen Gigante Silva of CMLL I’ve started appreciating Big Show in a whole new way. John Cena got a huge pop when he came out, and of course so did Bill “Mr. 30” Goldberg.

Last few men made a huge effort, especially amusing was the all the faces doing their finishers on Show, and all in vain since he ended up eliminating Cena, RVD, Jericho and Angle. And so it was down to two men – Chris Benoit and Big Show. At this point I couldn’t contain my excitement, and although Show did put up a good fight right till the end it was very clear to me that he didn’t have a chance in hell.

And so it was, in the end, the Rabid Wolverine himself, standing in the middle of the ring, ecstatic and looking manically happy. He’s going to be in the main event of WrestleMania XX and at this point it doesn’t really matter if he’s going to win or loose, it’s a an honour. I’m really happy that the company understands his value and skills, and has given him the brightest spotlight of them all – being the second person ever to win Royal Rumble starting as number one, and now heading to the main event of the biggest and the most important of WWE’s events in years.

All in all, it was a very good event – the first matches were not bad, just too hurried, and the last man standing and the rumble itself were very good. This is a good start to Road to WrestleMania, and if the following events hold up to this, it’s going to be a great wrestling year.

For complete results, check out Christopher Zimmerman's result sheet.

Posted by kolibri at 28 January 18:53, 2004