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One of the best PPV’s of the year is the Royal Rumble because you see more
wrestlers and during the match we can figure out who is getting the big push for
the year. The event sets up the road to WrestleMania and everything that follows
sets up the card. The 23rd annual Royal Rumble is in the books and a match was
added to the card so I figure after the show was timed out they realized they
had about 10-15 minutes to fill. I did predict a return and boy did we have a
big one.
EDITOR'S NOTE:
The "BO's PREDICTION" part of the review below was posted on Friday night
(012910). |
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ECW CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH:
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Christian (c) vs. Ezekiel Jackson |
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BO'S PREDICTION:
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The idea is that Jackson will learn from Regal and become more than just a power
guy. He isn’t a horrible worker but is green as hell. That said this match will
be carried and its quality is all on Christian who appears to be one of the best
workers in the company and needs to move off of ECW. The bookers will be tempted
to have Regal at ringside and have Koslov interfere but I hope they just let
them work and see what Jackson can do. If Christian loses then he will get the
belt back sooner rather than later because there aren’t any workers in ECW that
can create an interest in the title. |
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BO'S REVIEW:
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This was the match that started the card and it was a decent
match. Regal came out with Jackson but was tossed out by the ref for almost
interfering with the match. Christian allowed Jackson’s power moves to get over
and sort of made it look like Jackson could actually wrestle. Matt Stryker was
the heel in commentary and defined just what a ‘peep’ actually was. Jackson came
close to winning a few times but Christian retained the belt with the kill
switch. This was a nice way to open the show.
This was followed by a backstage visit between Teddy Long and Tiffany, who were
running the show because Raw doesn’t have a general manager. Cryme Tyme came
into the office and wondered why both weren’t in the Rumble. The Great Khali and
his handler came in and CT tried to trick Khali into giving up his spot but that
didn’t happen. What did happen was an impromptu performance of Pants on the
Ground by Khali, Singh, Long and Tiffany. The Miz came in to break this up and
Long told him that he would defend his US title tonight against MVP. From there
we saw Randy Orton and Cody Rhodes talking in the locker room and Rhodes
suggested that Ted DiBiase wasn’t on Orton’s side. |
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USA CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH:
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The Miz (c) vs. MVP |
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BO'S PREDICTION:
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This match was added at the last minute so there was no prediction for
this match. |
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BO'S REVIEW:
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During this match the suggestion of tension between Jerry Lawler
and Stryker started to crop up. It came off as forced and you could tell that
Stryker was being fed his lines by Vince on headset. Miz ended up winning the
match when he caught MVP coming back thru the ropes and pinned him. Miz then
proceeded to talk trash to MVP who nailed him with the play maker. Stryker
complained about MVP but Cole pointed out that Miz was talking crap and deserved
what he got.
This was followed by Big Show walking down the hallway and running into Jericho.
Jericho was a little miffed that Show thought Miz was a better partner but
R-Truth got in Jericho’s face. We then saw Orton heading to the ring and run
into DiBiase who said that things were cool between them.
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WWE CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH:
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Sheamus (c) vs. Randy Orton |
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BO'S PREDICTION:
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This is a match between two heels. We knew that sometime during the Cena/Sheamus
match on Raw that Orton was going to come out but I don’t think anyone expected
Cena to take out Orton and be the only man on his feet at the end. The finish
suggests that no matter who wins this match the three are going to be programmed
together for at least a month. The tentative plan is for Ted DiBiase to start
his face turn during this show so maybe he will cause Orton to lose and set up a
match between the two at Mania. I can see a clean win by Sheamus since he is
getting the major push due to his friendship with HHH but I don’t know if Orton
would do a clean job for him right now. This means we are going to get a finish
that keeps the belt on the ultra pale Irishman without Orton losing clean. |
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BO'S REVIEW:
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This was sort of a weird match. Sheamus came out first instead of
Orton. The match consisted of both working on a body part trying to weaken the
other. Rhodes came out and tried to interfere in the match and got caught thus
getting Orton disqualified. Orton seethed for a while then attacked Rhodes.
DiBiase then came out and Orton attacked him as well before Orton took a stiff
kick from Sheamus. The finish was what I expected since I didn’t believe that
Orton was going to do a clean job for the ultra pale Irishman.
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WWE WOMEN'S CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH:
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Michelle McCool (c) vs. Mickie James |
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BO'S PREDICTION:
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This is likely to open the show unless they go with the ECW title match instead.
The whole ‘Piggie James’ bit insulting Mickie is childish and comes off as mean
spirited since she is setting up her post-WWE career in country music. McCool
hasn’t been 100 percent in the ring after her injury and so James will have to
carry the match to make it interesting. Since McCool is the Undertaker’s
girlfriend I do not expect James to beat her in what should be an okay match. |
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BO'S REVIEW:
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Calling this a match is kind of a stretch since we saw very
little action. McCool came out and went over the whole ‘Piggie James’ bit while
suggesting that James wasn’t going to show. Layla then came out in the fat suit
she wore on Smackdown and we got more teasing until James came out. Layla ended
up getting kicked in the head by McCool and in about a minute James pinned
McCool and became the new Woman’s champ. The rest of the divas then came out
with this huge sheet cake that ended up in McCool and Layla’s faces. This wasn’t
exactly a match but the finish was entertaining..
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WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH:
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Undertaker (c) vs. Rey Mysterio |
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BO'S PREDICTION:
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Ahhhh, I forgot this match. I'm 50 what can I say!?! |
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BO'S REVIEW:
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After watching this match we can add Taker to the list of big men
who love working with Mysterio. He let him get a lot of offense in during the
match. At some time during the match Taker’s nose started bleeding but didn’t
let it stop him. Before the finish Taker took two 619’s before pinning Rey with
the tallest Last Ride ever. We never saw their respective injuries slow the
match down at all.
This was followed by Kane telling Shawn Michaels to forget about wrestling Taker
again at Mania because he fought his brother twice and lost both times. HHH then
wandered into the room and DX wished each other luck.
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ROYAL RUMBLE MATCH:
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The entrants as of 1/28 are: Big Show, Carlito, Cody Rhodes, Evan Bourne, Jack
Swagger, John Cena, Kofi Kingston, Mark Henry, MVP, Santino Marella, Shawn
Michaels, Ted DiBiase, The Miz, Triple H, Chris Masters, Batista, R-Truth, Chris
Jericho, CM Punk, Kane, The Great Khali, Shelton Benjamin, The Hurricane,
William Regal, Yoshi Tatsu and Zack Ryder. There are rumors we may see Edge (if
he is healed up), Booker T (who dances around the idea) and Rob Van Dam in this
match since the WWE hasn’t announced 30 wrestlers. |
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BO'S PREDICTION:
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During this match we will see one wrestler toss over the top a goodly number of
wrestlers (Kane has the ‘record’), feuds take place in one corner of the ring, a
bunch of wrestlers team up to toss out either Henry, Khali or Show and we will
see new feuds emerge. Predicting the Rumble is hard because the WWE doesn’t tell
you all of the participants but I will go out on a limb here and say that
Michaels wins again. Why? Because it has already been set up that Taker isn’t
going to wrestle him again at Mania so he has to win the Rumble to make that
happen. If Edge does return then he has a ready made match against Jericho at
Mania so unlike the surprise return of Cena at Madison Square Garden at the
Rumble he will not win but if he is coming back then he will be entrant number
30. |
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BO'S REVIEW:
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Santino, The Hurricane and William Regal were taken out of the
Rumble before it began. The first two entrants were Dolph Ziggler and Evan
Bourne. Beth Phoenix came in at #8 and eliminated Khali by kissing him and
pulling him over the top rope. She then took a GTS from Punk and was eliminated.
Drew McIntyre came in at #9. MVP made his entrance at #14 but the Miz attacked
him. Miz followed Carlito but MVP ran out and eliminated him. HBK came in at #18
and eliminated Carlito, Rhodes, DiBiase and John Morrison. DX eliminated
McIntyre together and when Cena came out they were the only three in the ring.
Cena got to do a double ‘you can’t see me’ on DX right before HBK superkicked
HHH out of the ring. We also got to see Cena try to pick up Mark Henry right
after Henry picked up Big Show. R-Truth came in at #25 and eliminated both Show
and Henry (I can see him getting a renewed push). We learned that the wrestler
who comes out at #27 has won more Rumbles than any other spot and the man who
got the number this time around was Kingston. #29 was none other than Edge and
when he came out the place went wild. He immediately eliminated Jericho. #30 was
Batista. We got a cool spot that had HBK and Edge on the ring apron. HBK kicked
Edge back in but Batista eliminated HBK who followed with a great acting job. He
sold total disbelief and climbed back into the ring. Ref Charles Robinson (even
though WWE policy is now to not give the ref’s names we still know who they are)
tried to stop him and took a superkick for his troubles. HBK walked to the back
still not believing he had been eliminated. Cena eliminated Batista and was
eliminated by Edge. Edge wins the Rumble and is going to WrestleMania.
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All in all, a pretty good Rumble, the matches were well planned
out and we got a surprise or two. I don’t get the Stryker/Lawler tension and I
hope they lose that before Mania. The next PPV is the Elimination Chamber but I
will be passing on that.
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Photo © 2010 WWE/World Wrestling Entertainment
Article © 2010 Alternate Reality, Inc.
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