Royal Rumble Reaction

THE ROYAL RUMBLE MATCH

Let's get straight into it. Your Royal Rumble winner is Sheamus. I'm not going to lie. I was pretty stunned. I know I had Sheamus as my no. 4 competitor to win, but when it came down to he and Chris Jericho, I felt pretty confident that my prediction of Y2J would come true. Nevertheless, Sheamus prevented the end of the world as we know it and eliminated Jericho to go over and earn his choice of a world championship match at Wrestlemania.

I'm bittersweet on the this conclusion. I do greatly appreciate the element of surprise. Like I said in my predictions, I was fine with Jericho being in a title match at Wrestlemania and even winning the Rumble, but it felt too obvious after his overly-ominous promo on RAW last week. Seeing Sheamus go over him restored a lot of the unpredictability that people love about the Rumble.

On the other hand, I know full well that this cemented Sheamus' incredibly vanilla push (no pun intended to Sheamus' incredible white-ness). I've been the first to voice displeasure over Sheamus constantly winning two squash matches a week over (mostly) jobbers over the past several months. The good news is that the squash matches hopefully end and we can finally see Sheamus do something useful.

I'll have more on the Celtic Warrior later this week.


WWE CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH


About what was expected. Another incredible match between Ziggler and Punk with added interjection by John Laurinaitis. Punk manages to retain over several bouts of arguing with Johnny Ace. It wasn't a very creative finish given the circumstances, but the match was rock solid so it's easily excusable.


WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH


Exactly as expected. The focus was heavier on Show and Bryan than it was on Henry - although keep in mind that Henry allegedly hyper extended a knee at the most recent SmackDown taping. A lot of people said this was a weak match. What did you expect? Two oversized big men and Daniel Bryan. Daniel's a great wrestler, no doubt, but this was his first time ever working a key match at a PPV (and he wasn't given many favors in booking). After a back and forth that almost resulted in Show picking up a pin fall over Henry, Bryan manages to escape and, as I predicted, somehow retains his championship.


JOHN CENA VS. KANE

I had Cena going over here, but that obviously did not happen. The match resulted in a double count out. I know what I picked, but I honestly thought this was a strong possibility as well. I thought the prospect of a no contest was much higher than Kane simply winning.

After the match, there was a brawl that ended up with Kane finding an injured Zack Ryder backstage and knocking him out. He then brought him to the ring and, despite Eve's crying, Tombstone Piledrivered him (awesome spot!). Before Kane can get his hands on Eve, Cena reappears to make the save. Too bad for him, all he got for it was a choke slam. The match was a no contest, but Kane obviously came out on the better end. As Kane leaves and the paramedics come to aid Ryder, Cena recovers and watches on helplessly. The crowd erupts into chants of, "CENA SUCKS!"

This is by far the most interesting part of the show - at least when the shock of Sheamus eliminating Jericho wore off. I'm actually most looking forward to the fallout of this match tonight on RAW compared to the Punk/Laurinaitis angle.


THE REST OF THE SHOW


I predicted we'd see either a tag match or a divas match added to the show. We ended up getting both wrapped up into one: An 8-(wo)man tag match. Beth Phoenix ended up winning the match for her, Natalya, and the Bella Twins. Very uneventful.

The other match added was also uneventful. Actually it was more uneventful. It turns out that Brodus Clay squash matches extend to pay-per-views. Luckily, available for Brodus was the king of being buried over the last month: Drew McIntyre. Carbon copy of all of Clay's matches.

1) Arrive
2) Funk It
3) Dance
4) Leave

Poor Drew.

I like the Funkasaurus personally, but... Let's just say that including SmackDown quality squash matches on a $50 pay-per-view is not a good way to please your fans, WWE.

There was also a crazy amount of promotions during show - particularly about Wrestlemania. I don't think that went over too well either. Again WWE, people are paying for that stuff.


OTHER STUFF THAT HAPPENED DURING THE RUMBLE


I might as well come out and say it. Christian was not in the Rumble and I was one of many peeps to be highly disappointed. Were the reports of him being in St. Louis incorrect? Possibly, but the more logical explanation is that he was still not medically cleared to compete. I still expect he'll be back within the next couple of weeks (if not couple of days). I'd also like to go on record and say had Christian been healthy, his spot would've been where Jimmy Uso entered. Anyone find it odd that only one of the two Usos was in the match? That's a "place holder" entry if I've ever seen one.

The Rumble, I thought, provided for two truly surprising returns. Let it be known, I don't count legends and novelties in that count. I mean true "returns." One was the Great Khali, who I mistakingly thought was through with the WWE. The second was Kharma! I realize that it hasn't been nine months since Kharma left due to pregnancy. I'm just addressing the elephant in the room here. Perhaps it was a premature birth or she had been pregnant for several weeks prior to here being written off of television. I don't know, but I'm sure the IWC has buzzed about it. I don't want to get into it past that. I'll just say welcome back and PLEASE make the divas division respectable.

I'm highly disappointed Kane was not in this match. It seems WWE is bent on making sure he retires without breaking Shawn Michaels' elimination record. Shame on you, WWE. The man has TWO world championships reigns over several years (one of which lasted a grand total of 24 hours). Let Kane have something for once.

That Kofi Kingston hand save. Enough said.

The Rumble provided a lot of laughs and interesting spots. I can't say it was packed with star power, however. The ending was okay. Unfortunately, I don't see the memory of this one surviving the test of time.


Peace,

Daniel