WWE Royal Rumble

[strange_one]

ok, so the road to Wrestlemania is about to begin, let's hope this PPV is a scorcher to keep some interest for the new year. from what I remember, the last 2 or 3 Rumbles have been great.

Dudliez Vs Batista And Flair
I guess they needed some kind of filler or starting match. The champs will retain, and hopefully this match will be out of the way sooner rather than later

Chavo Vs Eddie
I actually think this storyline has been handled pretty well so far. The only way I can see Chavo winning this is if ANOTHER member of the Guerrero family gets involved, and thus keeps the fued going. I'm sure it is not all going to end with this one match

Brock Lesnar Vs Hardcore Holly
This will more than likely be a bore, but at least they have built the feud up reasonably well. Brock to, of course, retain

The Rumble
Kinda hard one to predict this year, but I think it'll either be Benoit or Goldberg, hopefully the latter. Not that I wouldn't love to see Benoit get a well-deserved title shot, I just really really want Lesnar Vs Goldberg at WMXX, and the news/rumours sites are reporting that it is still a possibility. WWE need to pull out something huge in March, and this is the only feasible BIG match I think they've got time to play with. Benoit Vs Brock would better suit a regular PPV

HHH Vs HBK
actually I'm really looking forward to this, since it will probably be the last significant meeting these two will have together. could easily go either way, so it is hard to say. I'll pick Shawn to take the title though, in what will no doubt be a bloody mess of a match, or so I hope

and the next big question is Will Foley return?
I think he will, in some capacity, although I don't think he will quite kick the shit out of Orton yet, we'll see what happens.

john cena will win

[DevilSaint]

Dudliez Vs Batista And Flair
-I hate dudley boys matches and I hate that they're lumping Flair into a table match. Batista/Flair have got to win, the wwf can't be stupid enough to put the belts on the Dudley Boys for the 1000488th time.

Chavo Vs Eddie
To keep any heat going with this fued Chavo needs to win by cheating. What they need to do it have Angle turn on Eddy, then bring in Mando/Hector guerrero setting up Chavo/Chavito/Angle vs Eddy/Mondo/Hector at WM. Hey, I can dream - can't I?

Brock Lesnar Vs Hardcore Holly
*yawn* clubbing forearms all over the place. Lesner wins.

The Rumble
Benoit. Please Benoit. Goldy/Brock would be no good. Benoit/Brock would be super. Plus they've been playing up the Benoit starting at #1 thing. PLUS - #30 never wins. Never.

HHH Vs HBK
After that match on RAW they had a few weeks back, I'm stoked for this one. Sometime tells me HHH will drop the title for a month, then win it back come No Way Out.

[funnygeezus]

i've really been looking forward to it. too bad wwe ppv's have become so lacklustre that me and my homies have abandoned our monthly tradition of ordering them.

Dudliez Vs Batista And Flair
the duds are so tired. they're a great team, but they've completely exhausted their gimmick both from the face and heel sides. it's really time to open up the raw tag division. still, should be a perfectly fine match. i think it might go to the dudleys so that the young heel teams (jindrak/cade, la resistance) can chase the dudleys.

Chavo Vs Eddie
should be a very good match. the thing is eddie is booked so far over chavo that i really don't see how he can pick up a win that has any credibility to it (ie. really dirty). eddie's a safe bet to win.

Brock Lesnar Vs Hardcore Holly
this feud really hasn't done it for me (except brock exchange with bigshow last week was hilarious: "i've gained 15 pounds just hanging around you last week!"). should be a fairly unexciting contest, especially since everyone knows that hardcore won't be wearing the strap. there are at least 4 guys on smackdown that the audience considers a match for brock, holly isn't one of them. i considered hhh-rvd to be more up-in-the-air than this. brock will win.

Rey Mysterio vs. Jamie Noble
should be the very good match they've shown that they can put on. can't see rey dropping the belt though.

The Rumble
i'm going to do this a bit differently, i'll list the entrants and assess their chances (in percent.).
Kane- possible, but highly doubtful. he has that thing with undertaker on the go, and i can't see them throwing a title into that match at this late point in the game. 3%.
Kurt Angle - i have to think he'll eventually win a rumble. it just doesn't seem like his year. 5%.
Booker T - i seriously doubt it. 2%.
John Cena - he's on the cusp of a main event run, and a wm main event would be a HUGE start to such a run. just doesn't look like it's in the cards. but he's one of the more promising black horses. 6%.
Goldberg - very likely candidate. i doubt vince will put him in the WM main event if he's planning to leave in a few months. then again, mcmahon IS an idiot. 20% chance.
Chris Benoit - the other obvious choice. he has the story and i honestly believe he's the most deserving of the win. i can only hope he'll win. 30% chance.
Scott Steiner - heh. no. 1%.
Billy Gunn - wtf is up with him? he's like the "that's a good thing" ddp now (aka. a grinning idiot). he's got the stigma of being the guy who can't follow through on a push. his chances seem low. 2%.
Christian - not in this lifetime. too bad, really. 2%.
Rikishi - ugh. have you seen him recently? kish has let himself go, bigshow style. he used to be an impressively mobile bigman, now he's depressing in his sluggishness. 2%.
Chris Jericho - hmm. i certainly wouldn't complain. not that i think it will happen. 5%.
Shelton Benjamin - he could be a future champ. not his time though. 2%
Mark Henry - a crowd has to react to henry with something other than disgust before vince can push him to a main event slot, right? right? 4%
Charlie Haas - nah. 1%
Rico - a man of contradictions. he's got a manly-man background that the announcers won't shut up about, yet he's in make-up and he molests his opponents. no one's taking him seriously, and i doubt they ever will with this gimmick. that's a no on winning the rumble, btw. 1%
Nunzio - he can't win 3-on-1 handicap matches with two big goons at his side, but he's going to win the rumble? riiiiiight. 1%.
The Hurricane - not gonna happen. hopefully he can at least get an ic shot at some point in the future. 1%.
Big Show - ew. i hope not. 2%
Spike Dudley - nope. 1%
Matt Morgan - well he's certainly big enough for vince to get behind. then again, he's a product of tough enough so triple h probably hates him. 2%.
Matt Hardy - what happen? he was going places! now he's not. 1%.
Tajiri - remember when he was ecw champ? that was cool. 1%
Test - no. 1%.
A-Train - why do they insist on pushing him? also, he looks so weird with his face shaven. 1%.
Rene Dupree - could be a breakout in the future. not now. 2%.
Ernest "The Cat" Miller - he's going to wrestle? ew. and he's still going to dance? ew. and he's keeping the butler? ew. MINUS 10%
Randy Orton - doesn't seem like his year. i think he will have a year though. 5%.
Bradshaw - god i hope not. 3%.
Rob Van Dam - there was like 2 full years when the audience was totally receptive to rvd moving into the main event scene, but the idiots refused to push him and now he's lost what seemed like a never-ending supply of heat. 2%
Rhyno - woah! is rhyno actually getting a push? and as a monster? could be heyman's mere presence in the company, whether he has any power or not. 2%

prediction: benoit. based on personal preference, strong RR-related storyline and goldberg's iffy contract status.

HHH Vs HBK
no reason why they won't match their other very good bouts. just shows what triple h can do when he's in with a guy he respects and treats like an equal. trips will make me forget his horrible attitude for a solid 40 minutes. too close to call, but i'll go with the champ.

Will Foley return?
i'll say he's gonna show up at the very least. then probably a match to follow at WM or maybe the february ppv (or both?).

wow, those seem bad. i picked all retains, except in the tag match. that doesn't seem right. oh well.[/b]

[BeautifulLoser]

I haven't watched at all since the last ppv. I could care less.

[Transformer]

Fuck i'm glad goldberg didn't win...what do you people see in that talentless bum?

Benoit wins, justice is served

BTW, that undertaker thing was great, kane did a good job of selling it

[funnygeezus]

it was a good show.

dudleys-evolution was a decent opener. don't see another face team to compete with naitch and batista, so i doubt we've seen the last of this match.

mysterio-noble was a good match that should have been given more time. i was watching the video package for the guererro match and thinking that it was 5 minutes that could have been used on this match.

the guererro match was good, but it seemed to lack a payoff. is it over? i doubt it. not that that's a bad thing. here's seriously hoping the "that's your kid" line was crazy mexican slang and not the dawn of a "chavo, i am your father"-angle.

brock-hardcore was about as good as it was going to be. liked the clean finish. the goldberg segment later on seemed to rehash the angle, why is brock so scared of a guy he can easily beat?

hhh-hbk was good, but i didn't dig the non-finish. michaels bled a LOT. triple h did a pretty good blade-job too, but it look like a scratch compared to michaels, who had a thick layer of blood covering every inch of skin on his head and shoulders. the finish was a complete anti-climax. the whole point of the match was that it was going to settle the feud one way or another and they just did another draw. i kept waiting for austin to come out and reverse the ruling, and eventually they were both put on stretchers and i realized they were going to end it like that.

the rumble was predicable in that the most likely (and most deserving) participant won, but it did a few other things right to make it interesting and build for the future. brock screwing BG sets up their match, just not for WM. the taker gong/blackout and ensuing elimination of kane begins the 2-month build for their match. the story of the night, though, was randy orton and his feud with mick foley. he kicked ass in the rumble with an ungodly amount of eliminations (it had to be close to 10 and they were all consecutive). then foley took out test backstage and gets himself entered just to kamikaze orton, crytalizing their feud. it made orton look like the real deal to be the biggest non-winning factor in the rumble (big show also took out a crazy number near the end, but fuck him) and now he has a reason to hate foley outside of the legend killer gimmick.

[funnygeezus]

wow, it was only 4 that orton eliminated. still it came across as a strong showing. and the foley stuff was still good.

[DevilSaint]

Benoit dragging Big Show over the top rope by his HEAD = awesome.

[Fattening Ass]

the royal rumble NEVER fails to deliver.

i can't wait to watch.

[BeautifulLoser]

So did they do the Old School Taker bit?

[sweet17]

They teased it. After Kane came in and started to dominate, the old school Undertaker Gong went off and Kane flipped out. His distraction ended up getting him eliminated. Rather than the Undertaker, Spike Dudley came out. Kane demolished him again.

[strange_one]

I liked the show

the first three matches were horrendously rushed, and yeah Eddie and Chavo just didn't pay-off at all, it just finished like that was that. not booked too well at all

Brock and Holly was a bit of a bore, when Brock could have finished the thing in about 3 mins

HHH Vs HBK was very good, but not really as good as the match they had on raw a few weeks back. I was pissed at the end too, but when you think about it there really wasn't any other way for it to end. you just knew that shawn wasn't going to get the belt and get a WMXX build-up, yet having HHH win cleanly just wouldn't be a good finish to this 'final battle' either. I'm glad, if anything, that there was no interferece

The Rumble was pretty super. I was marking out like a schoolkid when Foley's music hit, I just didn't expect it. I thought Austin was going to send Stacey Keibler out or something, it was unreal. and Undertaker's gong moment was great too. as you'd expect, I was really psyched to see the beginning of the Brock/Goldberg build-up as well. by the climax there really wasn't going to be anyone else than Benoit to take it. If Big Show won then I swear I would not watch WWE again for the rest of the year

also that Heyman and Bischoff shit was just pointless

so this looks like it COULD be the WMXX lineup so far:

Lesnar Vs Goldberg
HHH Vs Benoit
Kane Vs Taker
Foley Vs Orton

it's a good start

[AndySlash]

Originally posted by strange_one
Lesnar Vs Goldberg
HHH Vs Benoit
Kane Vs Taker
Foley Vs Orton

I think it'll be Rock 'n Sock vs. Orton/Flair or Batista or maybe someone else entirely if Flair/Batista hold on to the titles. Rock's coming back for WMXX, and I don't see anything for him to do other than team with Foley. There's no reason to have him in any type of high profile singles match (which he'd have to win to make it worth his while to return).

The Lesnar/Goldberg bits were great, and this should be at least entertaining. I think WWE and Goldberg are both stupid for not working out a good deal for both parties for BG to stay. BG puts people in seats. Mark Henry does not. Goldberg is a name. Matt Morgan is not. They both need to quit being stubborn bitches.

What will Michaels be doing at WMXX? Him and Jericho have not had the "rubber match" yet in their series, and Ross referred to Michaels once or twice when Jericho was the focus of the announcers' attention, so their "feud" might not be over. I wouldn't complain.

Will Benoit finally win a world championship (I don't think even he counts his WCW title win as a title win)? God I hope so. The guy is probably the most deserving of a title run. I hope Trips doesn't pull rank and beat him. We don't need another Booker T at WMXIX type match.

The Rumble was a great match. I don't even think there were any real slow spots which seem to plague the Rumble during the teen numbers when nobody cares who is in.

As for the undercard- suck. HHH-HBK was a great match spoiled by a shit ending. What was stopping Hebner from saying "first man up" wins? Have both of them get up, hit each other simultaneously, and HHH fall into the ropes, thus keeping him on his feet. That would have been a LOT better than a non-ending.

Eddie-Chavo was a big time let down. The rest was just... there.

This PPV would get a D if the Rumble wasn't involved, but the Rumble was exciting and rather unpredictable (when was the last time it wasn't a foregone conclusion who'd win? It's been a few years...) and it brings the grade up to a C+.

[DevilSaint]

Originally posted by strange_one

HHH Vs HBK was very good, but not really as good as the match they had on raw a few weeks back. I was pissed at the end too, but when you think about it there really wasn't any other way for it to end. you just knew that shawn wasn't going to get the belt and get a WMXX build-up, yet having HHH win cleanly just wouldn't be a good finish to this 'final battle' either. I'm glad, if anything, that there was no interferece

This whole feud reminds me of the Foley/HHH feud they did a couple years back around the same time of the year. An indecisive conclusion at the Rumble so they can stretch it out into a rematch to try to sell No Way Out. Unless NWO is a Smackdown PPV, it doesn't say if it is or isn't on their site, in which case that finish would have been completely moronic unless they're doing a rematch at WM.

Originally posted by strange_one


also that Heyman and Bischoff shit was just pointless

come on! Heyman and Bischoff blaming eachother for starting the fight when Austin came to the ring was comic genius!

[AndySlash]

NWO is Smackdown only.

[DevilSaint]

Originally posted by AndySlash
NWO is Smackdown only.

and once again, WWE booking completely baffles me...

[strange_one]

Originally posted by AndySlash
NWO is Smackdown only.

apparently it is going to be Eddie vs Brock for the main event, or so I heat

[BeautifulLoser]

Originally posted by strange_one

apparently it is going to be Eddie vs Brock for the main event, or so I hear

Eeew.

[funnygeezus]

Originally posted by BeautifulLoser


*fap*

fixed.

[Transformer]

Originally posted by strange_one

apparently it is going to be Eddie vs Brock for the main event, or so I heat

eddie vs Brock could be ok

BTW- when i saw the letters NWO, i totally freaked out....then it clicked