The Piledriver Report 1.31.07: Royal Rumbling

For the first time in months, the WWE presented a really good pay per view. This year’s Royal Rumble took place in San Antonio, TX. For the first time in a long time, there was not a clear-cut favorite going in to the battle royal. Unlike previous editions when you knew Hulk Hogan (Rumble 1989), Shawn Michaels (Rumble 1995), Steve Austin (Rumble 1998), The Rock (Rumble 2000), Triple H (Rumble 2002), Chris Benoit (Rumble 2004), and Batista (Rumble 2005), this year’s Royal Rumble featured a number of candidates who could have easily been crowned this year’s Royal Rumble winner.

In the end, the main favorites, the Undertaker, Edge, Shawn Michaels, and Randy Orton were left to battle in the WWE’s version of the Final Four. Before these four men battled for a spot in a World title match at WrestleMania 23, this year’s Rumble pay per view featured the good, the bad, and the ugly.

The night started out with the good. Matt and Jeff Hardy once again beat MNM in a very good opening contest. The Hardys have already beaten MNM at the December 2 Dismember. They also have bested Nitro and Mercury in singles competition. This was the perfect chance for the WWE to give MNM their heat back in this feud, and possibly extend the Hardys/MNM rivalry to an awesome match at WrestleMania. However, the WWE’s booking felt it wasn’t meant to be. While it wasn’t on the same level as their ECW pay per view match, the tag team contest opened the show on a very positive note.

Next, came the bad. The ECW World Champion Bobby Lashley defeated Test by count out. This match lost all of its steam by having Test job cleanly to Lashley the Tuesday before the pay per view. Not that the Test/Lashley contest had any momentum going into it at all. This match did not disappoint the fans’ low expectations of the match. They were just horrendous in the ring together. If watching the horror show called the ECW World title match wasn’t bad enough, the ending of the contest was so asinine that it made the actual match seem brilliant (hint of sarcasm). The WWE had Test pull a Honky Tonk Man, and walked out in the middle of the contest. This made absolutely NO sense. First off, Test was going for the title, not defending the belt. You wouldn’t walk out on the match when you know that you wouldn’t leave with the title. Second, Test’s character isn’t a chicken shit heel. If they were to use this ending, then they should have used this ending last Tuesday, and saved the clean pinfall lose for the Rumble. If the fans didn’t care about Test before, they sure aren’t going to care about him now.

Unlike Test, one wrestler that the fans who watched the show will probably now care more about is Mr. Ken Kennedy. This leads us to the U-G-L-Y, UGLY part of the show. The ugly part of the show can be summed up in one word- Batista! He is awful! A wrestler of the limited experience that Ken Kennedy has should not have to carry a main event star like Batista. It should be the other way around. Instead, this generation’s Ultimate Warrior was carried to a decent match. The match had no business being anywhere close to an average match. While it is way too soon for Mr. Kennedy to win the World Heavyweight Championship, he proved on this night to be the seen as the next possible breakout star of the company. Not only did his ring work show at the Rumble show that he is capable of breaking into the next level, but the fans in attendance noticed as well. Despite being viewed as THE star of the SmackDown! brand, Batista was the second most popular wrestler in the match. The audio easily picked up the cheers of “Kennedy! Kennedy! Kennedy!” Usually the Royal Rumble battle royal help to create a new star, this year our newest star is coming from the undercard, and his name is Mr. Kennedy……Kennedy.

Now, for the really good! Umaga fought John Cena in a Last Man Standing match. If the SmackDown! match made Kennedy possibly the breakout star of 2007, this match solidified Cena as great performer and may have possibly put Umaga into the early Undertaker/Kane “superstar with a short life gimmick only to have long legs.” The match was wildly entertaining. The WWE may have found its niche in getting great matches out of John Cena when he’s in the ring against guys who can’t carry him. Put him in a situation where he can brawl and use a massive amount of weapons. It’s the old Paul Heyman/ECW formula. Emphasize their strengths, and hide their weaknesses. The WWE did that beautifully in this match. While the fans may not like Cena because of his “character” and lack of technical wrestling skills, they should respect him for being the hardest working wrestler in the company.

Despite his monster push, I could never get past the point of remembering that the big, bad Umaga is played by the same guy who played Jamal in 3 Minute Warning. This Sunday may have changed all of that. In this match, Umaga played the role of Steve Austin during his WrestleMania 13 match against Bret Hart. He came in as a heel, and while he may stay a bad guy after this match, Umaga’s stock has soared after this bout. Both men beat the living daylights out of each other. Umaga was really awesome. Each time Cena beat the hell out of him, Umaga came back for more. It was pretty incredible. Just when you thought the match would end, Umaga would get back up. Eventually, John Cena choked out Umaga with the broken ring rope. Umaga looked like Jabba the Hutt when Princess Leia was choking him with the long chain in “Return of the Jedi.” This match was such a back and forth nail biter, that if Umaga was Edge, you could easily have seen the title change hands.

The Royal Rumble battle royal was one of the best Rumbles in years. This year’s Rumble was pretty different then past Rumbles. You didn’t have any tag team partners go tooth and nail at each other. There was no inter-promotional feud set up for WrestleMania. There was no star born in this year’s match. The only semblance of a new feud will probably be between Kane and King Booker. After Kane tossed Booker out of the ring, King Booker came back into the ring, and dumped Kane from the match. There was some pleasant surprises to come out of this match. Men, such as Rob Van Dam and CM Punk, who are thought to be in the dog house, managed to stay in the ring for a while.

Perhaps the best part of the Royal Rumble match was the ending. With the favorites, Michaels, Orton, Edge, and the Undertaker as the last men in the match, who the winner would be was still in doubt. A case could have been made for any of these wrestlers being in the main event at WrestleMania. Shawn Michaels would be able to provide John Cena with a tremendous worker that could carry Cena to a possible Match of the Year candidate. Edge would be rewarded for his MVP season of 2006 with a spot in the WrestleMania main event. A spot that he should have been given last year. A fight between Orton and Cena would pit the two men that the WWE considers their future. A win by the Undertaker would pit the Undertaker against Batista in a WrestleMania winning streak vs. the World title match at the biggest show of the year.

The WWE furthered some dissention between Edge and Orton as they argued towards the end of the match. Their disagreements could lead to a war between Team Rated RKO at WrestleMania. Shawn Michaels eliminated both men from the match. The DeadMan and the hometown favorite were the final two men in the ring. Unlike in every other Royal Rumble battle royal match, this time the winner wasn’t crowned two minutes after the next to last man was eliminated. Shawn and the Undertaker battled each other for over eight minutes. Each man swapped elimination attempts over the other. The crowd was buzzing, as each man almost eliminated the other. The match could have gone either way. However, in the end, the only man to enter the ring at the number thirty position, the Undertaker, won the Royal Rumble.

It was a very good night of wrestling that was extremely entertaining. Like any good show, it left people leaving the event with questions of what will happen next. Now that the Undertaker has won the Rumble and will be facing Batista for SmackDown’s belt, the question remains, who will fight John Cena for the WWE World title? It’s questions like this that will have the fans tuning into Monday Night RAW. Having fans watching their product is exactly what the WWE wanted. In that sense, the Royal Rumble should be a major success. Only time, and the ratings will tell.