But I’m sure you don’t want to hear about all that... well, most of it, anyway. So I’ll just talk about the Rumble card itself. For all you stat-a-holics out there, on the end of this column will be all the facts and figures from this year’s rumble, back by popular demand! Whooo! So let’s get into it, and get the moans out of the way first.
First, every match bar the Rumble was WAY too short. One of the matches could have been held over, or bumped onto Heat - I mean, come ON! The Tag Team match was under four and a half minutes, the Cruiserweight match JUST broke through the three minute barrier, Brock & Hardcore went six and a half minutes, and even the heated Guerrero vs. Guerrero clash was only a meagre eight minutes and change...
As entertaining as I’m sure it was for the people backstage, I’m sure that Paul Heyman and Eric Bischoff’s little face off and subsequent beer bath with Austin could have waited until another day.
Only Trips and HBK got a decent length of time, and you have to think if maybe the cruiserweight match was bumped to Heat, it could have had a whole extra minute (whooo!) and the time allocated to one of the other matches.
Speaking of Trips and HBK... I though the finish to that match, while it may well have made sense for neither man to lose face and lose, to have a draw in a last man standing match is just such a cop out. Granted it was a good match - not as good as the classic they had on Raw a few weeks ago, mind - but with another 5 minutes or so and a clear winner, it could have been up with the best of them.
Those gripes out of the way, and all that’s left is goodness. Sure, the undercard matches may have been short, but one thing they were was excellently worked. The crowd were right into them, they all had clean-ish finishes and either continued or ended feuds - just what you need at the Rumble.
I’d look for Brock, Rey and Eddie to move on to new feuds, but the Raw matches don’t have that air of finality to them - I’d expect both the HHH-HBK story to roll on, as well as the Dudleys and Evolution’s battle... Flair looks to be teaching Big DAVE~! well, and that can’t be a bad thing...
Hopefully, Eddie is now done with the whole Chavo affair for the time being, and will be moved up the card. At the moment, with Benoit being blackballed by Heyman, Eddie is easily Smackdown’s most likely contender for Brock’s title - Cena is still tied up with the Big Show and the US title.
Which leads us onto the Royal Rumble itself. This is undoubtedly one of my highlights of the year, and this year’s match was as good as any I can recall for sometime. It was nice to see Benoit finally get a big win under his belt - Tazz and Flair declaring that Benoit never wins the big one earlier in the show more or less guaranteed that Benny would win it though.
Benoit has been impeccable since his return from injury and done everything asked of him, and more - he deserves this moment in the spotlight. Could the much rumoured Benoit vs. HHH match finally go ahead at WrestleMania? Nobody ever stated which title Benoit could get a shot at, after all...
Aside from the winner, the Rumble had it’s fair share of enjoyable moments and storyline advancement... the implied return of The Deadman was predicted right here in this column - and it worked beautifully... Kane vs. Taker, Hell In A Cell at WrestleMania? Works for me...
Randy Orton had easily his best night in the WWE, finally providing a performance to live up to the hype bestowed upon him. Orton looked like a seasoned veteran at times as he worked his way through a near 35 minute stint - second only to Benoit’s marathon 60 plus minutes.
Of course, the return of Mick Foley was a great moment too... as soon as Test was found to be laid out, it looked obvious that the mystery man would be Mick, and he didn’t disappoint. He may not be as quick or as agile as he once was, but it does look like there could be a decent Orton vs. Foley match out of this feud somewhere down the line - another WrestleMania match planned out in advance? Shocker!
The other storyline that looked to be moved up a gear was the simmering Brock Lesnar and Goldberg rivalry - since they confronted each other at Survivor Series, there was always a feeling they would cross paths again - and with Lesnar effectively eliminating Goldberg from the Rumble, there looks to be the big money WrestleMania match between the too set up perfectly as well.
You have to applaud the WWE for their long-term planning if all these pointers come to fruition - it’s been a long time since there’s been a sense of continuity this strong in any of the plans... and it can only be a good thing.
So, the Rumble delivered in spades... not even The Cat and his pointless antics could drag it down, although Tazz’s singing nearly did! I was looking forward to this card a hell of a lot - and boy, did it deliver... The Royal Rumble was easily the best PPV of the year so far! Yay! That joke never gets tired at all...
