Post by "IcePic" Rick Cobos on Jan 29, 2007 13:57:28 GMT -5
LOOKING AT A "NOW THAT WAS WORTH 40 BUCKS" ROYAL RUMBLE
by Dave Scherer @ 12:00:00 PM on 1/29/2007
As the price and sheer amount of WWE pay-per-views has risen over the years, more and more I find myself asking this question when the show ends: Was that worth forty dollars? Sadly, more often than not the answer to that question is an emphatic NO! But last night, WWE hit a home run and gave the fans great value for their money with one of the best Royal Rumbles ever.
The show featured two outstanding bouts, as a well as a solid opener, and gave the fans the kind of "WWE moments" that were so plentiful back in the salad days of the company, before creative teams and excess producers complicated the process of putting on an entertaining wrestling product. Last night WWE backed off a bit on the "making movies" philosophy and focused on the wrestling end of the product. It was a good move and helped produce a good show. This is one of those PPVs that was worth the money and if you are debating whether to buy the replay or not, ponder no more. It's worth the money. And now, on to the matches.
The opener was exactly what I thought it would be, a good (but not TOO good) match to start the show. After their December bout, I didn't think the foursome would get the chance to tear the house down again, and frankly given what was planned later in the show they didn't need to. What they did was have a strong bout to get the show off to a good start. This was important because after the opener, everyone knew that the show would hit a lull for the next half hour, so it was important that the Hardys and MNM delivered, and they did.
I didn't expect much out of Lashley and Test and that was exactly what I got, not much. I won't rag on the bout though because anyone who expected anything better here just isn't sane or rational. This is Lashley and Test we are talking after all. Now, if you want to complain about that finish? Well, I DID expect more from that. After all, Test just walked away, like a baby, rather than come back into the ring. He had been whining for weeks about getting a shot at the belt, and then he just walked away? It made no sense. What made matters worse was that after he got counted out, Lashley brought him back into the ring and destroyed him, showing that he could have pinned him anyway. So, Test was buried once as a baby and then again as a loser who would have been pinned anyway. Why not just have Test do the job? Yeah, I remember tons of finishes like that back in the glory days of ECW. Sure I do. WWE totally gets how to book the brand don't they? Anyway, hey Test, thanks for coming man. You ain't going to WrestleMania. I guess Marcus Cor Von is. ... Boy, how would you like to be Joey Styles and Tazz, getting flown to the PPV to do just this match?
OK, I just figured out why the ECW match was so dull. It was so that Mr. Kennedy vs. Batista could look better in comparison. And, they did, which granted isn't saying much. This match was about Kennedy trying really hard to carry the offense, with varying degrees of success, and Batista, well, being Batista. The fans love Batista and he has the belt for that reason but man, he often looks really stiff and anything but fluid in the ring. It's amazing to me that after all this time, the guy can't improve at all. He looks really bad in comparison to John Cena, who was his peer but now has blown passed him in ever facet of the business. Then, there is his move set, which is often sloppy, like it was tonight. Me, I would have preferred a title change but we didn't get it. Kennedy was clearly and by far the better worker in this match.
Wow, that bit in the back with Coach and Little Bastid was really embarrassing. Well, at least until Kelly Kelly talked about balls and Ron Simmons said, "Damn." Then, it became ridiculously embarrassing. Man, creative is so predictably lame at times. On the plus side, this ended the sub par portion of the program and it was all good from here.
The show really picked up with John Cena vs. Umaga bout. Those guys put on one hell of a show and I loved every minute of it. Anyone who still boos Cena now is just downright clueless and refuses to appreciate how hard the guy busts his ass every time out. He has become a full-fledged, legitimate top guy, a true stud. His match last night was great stuff, just great stuff. As I said earlier, it's amazing by how much Cena has passed Batista when there was a time when they were equals. That time has long passed. He and Umaga tore the house down and told a great story in their bout, in addition to working hard. Of course, they did the prerequisite big spots, as well as some really cool, innovative stuff like the rope choke out finish. Umaga's three table splash was a classic WWE moment as well. This was a true World Title match.
Did anyone else crack up at the fact that even Ric Flair bailed out on the ECW divas? I mean, if the biggest tail hound of all time wanted nothing to do with them, doesn't that tell you all you need to know about how their hotness is in inverse proportion to how sexy they are?
I don't know if this year's Rumble was the best of all time, but it was certainly at least as good as any that preceded it. The only negative I can think of is that they put Michael Cole on the stick instead of Jim Ross. There were many, many times during the bout where Jim Ross would have mentioned two men's history with each other as they squared off that Cole totally ignored. Other than that, this Rumble was great. The booking was excellent and the last 10 minutes or so were off the charts amazing. Undertaker and Shawn Michaels squaring off was classic stuff and both men were just amazing. I could have watched them go at it much longer, it was that good. This was a great ending to a strong PPV.
Random Rumble thoughts:
Wow, whose idea was it to use three of the four "main brand" announcers and leave Jim Ross out? Wow.
Edge, at number 5, was the first one to enter the match that I thought could actually go the distance. He almost did.
Boy, it was sad to see Ric Flair get dusted first. I am not saying he shouldn't have been, given his age, but it was still sad to see the once-great Flair in this role.
When Tommy Dreamer came out, I couldn't believe the ECW chant that he got. All I could figure was that the fans in San Antonio don't get Sci Fi on their cable.
Not for nothing, but I still don't get why anyone runs to the ring when they are in the Rumble. It would make more sense to stay out of the match as long as you possibly could.
Was anyone shocked to see Kane come in and immediately dust Tommy Dreamer and then chokeslam Sabu through the table? Nah, me either.
Damn, could Sandman possibly have been eliminated any quicker than he was?
But then at least there was some justice in Miz getting tossed even quicker than Sandman did.
With Khali cleaning house, all I could think was that they were definitely setting him up for Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania.
I loved how with just one guy left, the announcers were wondering who could come out and eliminate Khali, like everyone could forget Undertaker. What made it worse were that two of the three announcers were from Smackdown, so there is just no excuse that they wouldn't have realized one of their top guys wasn't there yet. If Ross were on the mic, that wouldn't have happened.
The four guys that the match came down to were the exact people I figured would be there at the end. As soon as Edge and Orton were eliminated by Shawn Michaels, all I could wonder was whether they would have Taker win and keep us wondering which one out of Michaels and RKO would get the title shot from the Raw brand or whether they would let us know Cena's opponent tonight.
The closing minutes of the match were great. Watching two forty plus year old vets doing what they do best was just amazing. The kids in the business today can learn a lot from those two.
And finally, after all these years, it was an advantage to draw the last number. I can't believe they never had the 30th guy win before. Now there is finally a precedent for number 30 being important. It's about time!
helped $lim jinx NXT. Woops
