WWE "Royal Rumble 2005"

[adamclark52]

WWE “Royal Rumble”
January 30th, 2005
From the Save Mart Center in Fresno, California
Commentators: Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler (Raw), Michael Cole and Tazz (Smackdown), Jim Ross and Taz (the Royal Rumble (f*** you, Michael Cole))

Edge vs. Shawn Michaels
This was a decent match. There was some decent grudge backstory between the two. Edges matches always bored me until their final five or six minutes and this was no different.
Winner: Edge

Eric Bischoff and Teddy Long are backstage in the Royal Rumble Number drawing room discussing whether a Raw star or a Smackdown star will win the Royal Rumble. Ric Flair and Eddie Guerrero come in to draw their numbers. Flair goes first and seems happy with his number. Eddie doesn’t seem too happy with his number so he hugs Flair and wishes him luck. Flair takes another look at his number...and he’s not happy. GUERRERO STOLE HIS NUMBER!!!

John Heidenreich is backstage fretting about his Casket Match with the Undertaker. Gene Snitzky comes in and tells him he likes him. John says he likes him too. Snitzky has an idea for Heidenreichs match.

Casket Match
Heidenreich vs. the Undertaker
This wasn’t very good at all. I didn’t like commentaries lines trying to build Heidenreich as one of the Undertakers “mortal enemies”. Heidenreich doesn’t even register as a blip on the Undertakers radar, let alone the WWEs. Snitzky did interfere on Heidenreichs behalf but then Kane (Snitzkys “arch enemy”) popped out of the casket to even the odds. I remember rumours of a Tag Team Match happening at Wrestlemania that year but it never happened.
I’m not sure if Heidenreich pinning the Undertaker at the end was intentional or not?
Winner: the Undertaker

Teddy Long is trying to get Eddie Guerrero to return Ric Flairs number. Evolution storm in and Eddie gives the number back...and Flairs wallet. Batista goes to leave to get his number for the Royal Rumble but Triple H tells him that taking care of Randy Orton is more important. Batistas eyes show a man who is not happy.

Christian, Tyson Tomko and John Cena get their Royal Rumble numbers. Christian isn't impressed by Cena so he challenges him to an impromptu rap battle. Christian doesn’t do too bad. Cena roasts him pretty good though.

For the WWE Championship
Kurt Angle vs. the Big Show vs. JBL (champion)
It’s been fifteen years and I still can’t believe that JBL was WWE Champion. It’s still strange to me. This was good but I would’ve liked it much more if it was a no holds barred, no disqualification type match.
Winner: JBL

Batista is walking backstage when Carlito Caribbean Cool asks him to sign a petition to remove Teddy Long as Smackdown General Manager. Batista says “no” and goes to get his Royal Rumble Number. While doing that he overhears Eric Bischoff banning Evolution from ringside of the World Heavyweight Championship Match. Batista doesn’t seem too upset over that. In fact, he seems happy.

For the World Heavyweight Championship
Randy Orton vs. Triple H (champion)
f***, I miss Ortons Mercy Drive entrance. That was an entrance. That was also all I cared about happening in this match. f*** the Reign of Terror and f*** Triple H.
Winner: Triple H

Nunzio is walking backstage with his Royal Rumble Number but Kurt Angle steals it from him.

JBL and his cabinet crash the General Managers room. They're riding high after JBLs victory. Teddy Long informs JBL that his next title defence will be against the Big Show in a Barbed Wire Steel Cage Match at No Way Out. That spoils the party.

The Royal Rumble
Featuring: Batista, Booker T, Charlie Haas, Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho, Christian, Daniel Puder, Eddie Guerrero, Edge, Gene Snitzky, Hardcore Holly, the Hurricane, John Cena, Jonathan Coachman, Kane, Kenzo Suzuki, Kurt Angle, Luther Reigns, Mark Jindrak, Muhammad Hassan, Orlando Jordan, Paul London, René Duprée, Rey Mysterio, Ric Flair, Scotty 2 Hotty, Shawn Michaels, Shelton Benjamin, Simon Dean and Viscera
There were some epic spots in here: Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit being the first two entrants and working magic with one another (the whole match should have been them immediately tossing out whoever came out and then just going back to each other), Daniel Puder getting his ass handed to him by Guerrero, Benoit and Hardcore Holly, the Raw and Smackdown guys momentarily putting their differences aside and throwing Muhammad Hassan out (that guy should have been a top heel for years)...and Vince McMahon blowing both his quads out then sitting in the ring yelling orders to restart the match after the double-elimination of John Cena and Batista. I’ve always been partial to the 2004 Royal Rumble myself but this one is really damn good too. My only problem was the guys came in every minute (which didn’t give certain things enough time to properly settle in) and the middle entrants were all pretty low-tier. The building was f***ING NUCLEAR by the end.
Winner: Batista
_____________________________________________________________________________________
There were some classic backstage segments on this show: Eddie stealing Flairs Number, Snitzky and Heidenreich being f***ing creepy, Batista just being cool. I thought Maria’s classic “the Edge” line was also on this show but I guess that was some other show? Then there’s the timeless image of Vince sitting the ring after blowing out his quads. Not to mention the classic beating of Daniel Puder in the Royal Rumble. It’s usually a bad sign when the matches are the least memorable part of a show but those were all moments that have been imbedded in the history of wrestling. The undercard matches were all solid, except the Casket Match. And the Rumble itself was really damn good. I was actually smiling when I watched it. This is worth checking out again.

The breakup of Evolution was some good storytelling.

[chronocross]

This is one of my favorite PPV's, lots of storyline progression here:

-Edge gets a win over HBK after losing the previous PPV due to HBK's superkick at New Years Revolution
-Taker/Heidenreich, boring as s*** to me, but finally this feud was put to bed while furthering the Kane/Snitsky feud on Raw.
-JBL surviving another title defense with the help of his Cabinet, which leads to the No Way Out PPV and the barbed wire cage match vs. Big Show.
-The interactions with Raw and Smackdown guys which felt like a big deal because the interactions with Flair/Guerrero and Cena/Christian didn't happen every week.
-The dissension with Evolution continues here with Trips/Batista's argument and later in the Rumble when Flair tried to eliminate Batista.
-HBK and Kurt Angle interaction for the first time here which leads to their Mania encounter.

[King Boo]

[adamclark52]

Jun 23, 2019 18:01:39 GMT -5 King Boo said:

They took him out on a stretcher, was he really hurt?

[Oh Cry Me a Screwball]

Jun 23, 2019 18:08:46 GMT -5 adamclark52 said:

Jun 23, 2019 18:01:39 GMT -5 King Boo said:

They took him out on a stretcher, was he really hurt?

Nah, he was just selling.

[Deleted]

As painful as it was, watching Vince sit on the canvas cutting that promo cracked me up. Batista and Cena’s “WTF?” face will never get old.

[4real]

Loved JR & Tazz’s commentary on this one. Tazz mocking some of Raw’s rumble entrants (Hassan, Dean, Coach) was pretty funny.

And this review also reminded me of Orton’s short lived concussion storyline. Man Orton sucked as a face here but we all know wHHHo to blame for that one.

The stuff with the Rumble..er balls was great too memorable segments with Eddie & Flair & Cena & Christian.

WWE were lucky they had two hot faces about to break through in Batista & Cena who they had used and pushed pretty well to this point.

[adamclark52]

Jun 23, 2019 18:19:56 GMT -5 @negan said:

As painful as it was, watching Vince sit on the canvas cutting that promo cracked me up. Batista and Cena’s “WTF?” face will never get old.

I laugh too

But no matter how many times I watch it I still can’t understand how it happened?

[Rican]

I really love that Rumble match

[fw91]

Cleanest Botch in wrestling history. They landed on the floor at the exact same time.

[MAD TITAN]

Classic PPV.

I loved all the Eddie segments and the Batista/Cena final 2 moment. Really an underrated time in WWE, everything was going great into that Mania.

["Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay]

This is a show with a lot of influence in big and small ways. It's part of a transitional phase.

Setups for a number of hugely significant Mania matches (HBK/Angle, Batista/Trips).

A Rumble ending botch so perfect that it outdid the time they tried this on purpose in 1994.

The heralding of the clone era, as a bunch of the field are generic meatheads.

Some of my favourite backstage skits ever - the Eddie stuff was perfect, Nunzio getting threatened out of his number - as well as Tomko refusing to give a beat, which kept the lights on for this forum for years to come.

The infamous homoerotic Snitsky/Heidenreich promo. How anybody ever saw money in the latter is absolutely beyond me, although actually as some power freak tag team they may have worked together.

Daniel Puder gets annihilated for being a colossal douche... but also beating WWE at their own stupid game, and gets stiffed out of his shoes for his trouble.

That awful, slow, boring match with Orton and Triple H.

A show with a lot of great moments and little good wrestling.

[Topher is Human]

A great underrated moment of that Rumble Match itself is the final 4.

Edge, Cena, Batista and Rey. 4 guys on the cusp of the main event, none has held a world title beforehand. The final two would win world titles at that years Mania, and by the end of the following years Mania, all 4 would become world Champions.

[Heartbreaker]

I used to watch the hell out of this show when I was a kid. For some reason Smackdown vs. Raw 2006 came with the Royal Rumble 2005 DVD, same with SvR07 and the 06 Rumble. I should rewatch it, haven't seen the show in years.

Eddie stealing Ric Flair's number is one of my all-time favourite backstage segments.

[deadzeppelin]

What happened to Cena from this point to a year from then? I stopped watching in 01 and started again in 06 so I missed this period. Guy was a mega over and then became the most hated man on the show. Batista kept his momentum going and remained babyface in the fans eyes.

[EoE: Well There's Your Problem]

Jun 24, 2019 4:07:29 GMT -5 deadzeppelin said:

What happened to Cena from this point to a year from then? I stopped watching in 01 and started again in 06 so I missed this period. Guy was a mega over and then became the most hated man on the show. Batista kept his momentum going and remained babyface in the fans eyes.

Couple of things, from what I can gather... One, they phased out the rapping gimmick over the course of 2005 into what Cena has generally been ever since (including one of the first of many attempts at rehashing the face v authority figure feud, with him and Bischoff), which alienated many fans. Two, wrestling with the likes of Christian, Chris Jericho and Kurt Angle exposed him for being a comparatively limited worker, and fans resented that he was beating them clean. And three, there was also some resentment aimed at Cena for how WWE kneecapped Christian around this time, because it was this rivalry with Cena that got him over like crazy and got him to the level of legit world title contender, but then they kind of shoved him aside within a matter of months and he left before the end of the year.

[Timeless Hayterade]

Jun 24, 2019 4:07:29 GMT -5 deadzeppelin said:

What happened to Cena from this point to a year from then? I stopped watching in 01 and started again in 06 so I missed this period. Guy was a mega over and then became the most hated man on the show. Batista kept his momentum going and remained babyface in the fans eyes.

When they moved Cena to Raw, he was mega over. Then, they had him feuding with Christian, Chris Jericho, and later Kurt Angle to close out the year, all of whom were favorites of the majority of the IWC.

[Heartbreaker]

Jun 24, 2019 4:21:25 GMT -5 EoE: Well There's Your Problem said:

Jun 24, 2019 4:07:29 GMT -5 deadzeppelin said:

What happened to Cena from this point to a year from then? I stopped watching in 01 and started again in 06 so I missed this period. Guy was a mega over and then became the most hated man on the show. Batista kept his momentum going and remained babyface in the fans eyes.

Couple of things, from what I can gather... One, they phased out the rapping gimmick over the course of 2005 into what Cena has generally been ever since (including one of the first of many attempts at rehashing the face v authority figure feud, with him and Bischoff), which alienated many fans. Two, wrestling with the likes of Christian, Chris Jericho and Kurt Angle exposed him for being a comparatively limited worker, and fans resented that he was beating them clean. And three, there was also some resentment aimed at Cena for how WWE kneecapped Christian around this time, because it was this rivalry with Cena that got him over like crazy and got him to the level of legit world title contender, but then they kind of shoved him aside within a matter of months and he left before the end of the year.

Didn't help when Cena finally lost the WWE title to Edge, he would win it back like two weeks later.

[hassanchop]

Jun 23, 2019 21:26:30 GMT -5 fw91 said:

Cleanest Botch in wrestling history. They landed on the floor at the exact same time.

Makes that comment Vince made ten years prior a lot funnier now. When Lawler mentioned Bret and Luger winning the previous Rumble and Vince says it will never happen again.

[Deleted]

The West Side Story commercial was amazing.