There has been some talk on different sites about WWE rebranding ECW after WrestleMania this year. Let’s face it; the ECW brand has been the red headed step-child of WWE since it was restarted in 2006 & hasn’t really shined as a legitimate brand. Yes, stars have been spawned from it (CM Punk, John Morrison, & Sheamus come to mind). But beyond that, who or what has the ECW brand really helped?

Some people have asked me what I would do differently regarding ECW. If given a time machine & a WWE writing job, the answer would be a lot. But since I have neither of those things, let’s talk about it here. We begin with Rebooking the ECW One Night Stand 2006 PPV & events which transpired after. There are two key changes to the PPV card I would make:

World Heavyweight Championship Match – Sabu vs. Rey Mysterio (C)

Instead of ending this match in a no contest, I would have put Sabu over Mysterio, thus making Sabu the World Heavyweight Champion on the SmackDown! brand.

WWE Title Match & Ending of PPV – RVD vs. John Cena (C)

I would have put RVD over John Cena without the interference from Edge. The PPV could have then ended with RVD & Sabu both laying claim to be the ECW Champion.

Now, there are 2 ways to go from there.

The first would be to have WWE Champion RVD vs. World Champion Sabu in the first episode of ECW TV to determine an undisputed ECW Champion. That match as the main event would have ensured a strong rating for the debut of ECW on Sci-Fi.

But why settle for a high TV rating when you can milk the angle for a month & get a high PPV buy rate? Let’s pretend RVD & Sabu didn’t get busted for possession & WWE went this route. For a month, you’d have RVD & Sabu laying claim to the vacant ECW Championship. Naturally, both men could get in their rematches with their respective One Night Stand 2006 opponents as well as new challengers to their belts; both would retain their championships leading up to Vengeance & both men would be featured on all 3 brands of WWE programming.

At Vengeance, your main event becomes WWE Champion RVD vs. World Heavyweight Champion Sabu for the ECW Championship (you could also do title for title & for the ECW Championship, but that seems like overkill & takes away from the ECW Title) in an ECW style match. The winner becomes the first ECW Champion under the WWE umbrella & the brand can then be built around them. After the PPV, both men can drop the Raw & SmackDown! Titles and remain on the ECW show.

What does following this path accomplish? This does a few things; attracts more of the old ECW fanbase, legitimizes ECW stars in the minds of WWE fans, & makes the vacant ECW Championship seem like a championship worth fighting for.

As for the winner of the match, I would have had RVD win the ECW Championship at Vengeance against Sabu & have a long run with the belt up until WrestleMania the following year.

If you enjoyed this piece, let me know. I would like to follow it up with a “passing the torch” article. Until next time, stay extreme.

Bloodsport : ECW’s Most Violent Matches.

Hardcore History: The Extremely Unauthorized Story of the ECW book.

Terry Funk: More Than Just Hardcore book.

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This past week after the WWE Royal Rumble and after Edge making a “surprise” appearance and making a surprise win of the Rumble match, we saw both Raw and SmackDown entrances for the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view in a couple of weeks.

If you didn’t read my thoughts on the WWE Royal Rumble pay-per-view, I am surprise that Edge won the Rumble. One thing I am surprised at is it seems like they are still building towards a Edge/Jericho match at WrestleMania. Why would I say that? Shawn Michaels didn’t win the Royal Rumble. Shawn Michaels didn’t win his match to get into the Raw Elimination Chamber. And Shawn Michaels wants to face the Undertaker at WrestleMania. I can see, and I would like to see, but I’ll be surprise if this happens that Michaels screws the Dead Man somehow at the PPV, costing him the World Heavyweight title.

That’s what I would like to see, but that’s a few weeks in advance. But to look at it more, on Raw, Edge commented on Jericho. How those two once were Unified Tag Team Champions then Edge got injured, and Chris Jericho was happy about that. Jericho said that he and the Big Show were better tag champs than he and Edge would ever have made. That made Edge upset. And on SmackDown, Jericho came out during Edge’s talk segment, “the Cutting Edge.”

I may be reading into it a little too much, but I think the WWE Creative may be doing something that they’ve been teasing since the summer. Granted if this happens, I can see Edge winning the World Heavyweight title from Jericho, but it would set up a feud that could be brought into the summer if Jericho doesn’t leave to tour with Fozzy. But either way, it would still be awesome seeing Jericho holding the World title for a few weeks and seeing him and Edge face each other at WrestleMania, adding the World title on top of it!

But to be honest, it was nice seeing matches this past week on Monday Night Raw. How Raw is normally the more entertainment show. This past week, we did see a lot more wrestling than we normally do see, and I enjoyed that. Even thought it seems like such matches like John Cena/Cody Rhodes was more of a squash match than anything, I still enjoyed Raw.

And Bret Hart made another appearance on Raw. It seems like they are going towards a Mr. McMahon/Batista versus Bret Hart/John Cena match at WrestleMania. I would rather see a tag match with those two over having another Batista/Cena match and having McMahon/Hart in their respected corners. But that’s my personal opinion.

Gee’s, it seems like this past week, they’re doing a lot of build-up for WrestleMania. And if they are going towards what they’re teasing, I may enjoy WrestleMania this year. This is Eric Darsie from Minnesota, going to wrap this up for I can enjoy the Super Bowl, goodbye!

Check out more of Eric’s blogs at http://jericholic2009.blogspot.com.

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For the next couple of weeks as we get closer to WWE WrestleMania 26 at the University of Phoenix stadium in Phoenix, Arizona, I will put up blogs predicting what I think the card will be at “the grand daddy of em’ all.” This blog will focus on the Main Event predictions for WrestleMania 26. Who will be the Raw brand main event, who will be the SmackDown main event and who will be that “special” main event match the fans want to see. Then once the matches are announced we will see just how well I did looking into the “WrestleMania future.”

“The road to WrestleMania” kicked off on Sunday night with the Royal Rumble pay per view. The Rumble match itself gave us the first official main event superstar for “the grand daddy of em’ all” with the returning Edge winning the Royal Rumble match. It was shocking to many that the WWE immediately put the “Rated R Superstar” in the main event position after missing most of 2009 due to an injury.

Now who the “Rated R Superstar” will face is a whole different story. For months rumors were that when he returned he would return as a face to take on Chris Jericho at WrestleMania while the other rumor was he would return on the Raw brand. The Raw brand scenario seems to be the way the WWE creative team is building towards and it’s not certain yet whether or not Edge is a heel or face yet. I’m hoping Edge is back as a heel as he is one of, if not the best heel in the wrestling business today.

As for whom he will face at WrestleMania? Well, that comes down to a whole bunch of scenarios as it will all come down to the WWE Championship Elimination Chamber match at (of course) the newly titled Elimination Chamber PP. There are two potential winners I see coming out of this match. It’s either going to be Sheamus retaining the title to take on a face Edge or it’s going to be Triple H taking on a heel Edge. The third prediction for the Raw brand main event will be a triple threat match with Sheamus taking on Edge and Triple H for the WWE Championship. I see the latter of the three being the more potential match for WrestleMania 26.

We have seen many Triple Threat matches at the WrestleMania’s in the last decade. But the WWE is not going to put in a new superstar like Sheamus in the ring by himself with another veteran for WrestleMania. They have put a lot of time into him recently by making his the WWE Champion and need to continue to build him as a main eventer by putting him in the ring with two veterans like Triple H and Edge. Plus it wouldn’t be a WrestleMania main event without Triple H…right?

Triple H has been in a World Title main event for WM 16, WM 18, WM 19, WM 20, WM 21, WM 22, WM 24, and WM 25. Eight of the last ten WrestleMania’s had Triple H in the world title picture. At WrestleMania 17 they had Austin/Rock II for the WWE Championship while he took on The Undertaker and at WrestleMania 23 he was injured that January. The rumor for WrestleMania 23 was that we were going to get Triple H/Cena II up until that injury, if that was the case that would have made 9 out of 10 WrestleMania’s had “The Game” in the World Title picture. But I digress…

When it comes to the SmackDown main event the rumor is that there will be an Elimination Chamber match at the (of course) Elimination Chamber PPV for the #1 contender to The Undertaker’s World Heavyweight Championship. The winner will get the title shot at WrestleMania 26 to try and stop The Undertaker’s undefeated streak. It’s safe to say we will see guys like Chris Jericho, CM Punk, Batista, Rey Mysterio, throw in a John Morrison/Drew McIntyre or even ECW Champion Christian and you will have five of the six competitors.

Who will be the sixth competitor? This is a rather easy choice if you watched Raw on Monday night. I think it’s safe to say that the WWE creative team is doing a “Shawn Michaels being overly obsessed with facing The Undertaker at WrestleMania” storyline. It sure came off that way if you watched the Royal Rumble too. So it would make sense as having HBK as the 6th competitor for the SmackDown Elimination Chamber match for the right to face The Undertaker at WrestleMania 26.

I do believe the WWE is going to pull the trigger on the Shawn Michaels/Undertaker match at WrestleMania again as it was one of the Top 3 matches in WrestleMania history without a doubt. It probably is #2 just behind Savage/Steamboat from WrestleMania 3. To do it again, one year later, is the right thing for WWE to do. It’s the match the fans want to see at the biggest pay per view all year.

Finally for the third and final main event match at WrestleMania. At all the WrestleMania’s you get the two World Title matches and that one “special” match. Last year you had the two title matches and Undertaker/Shawn Michaels. At WrestleMania 24 you have the two title matches and Michaels/Flair. I believe that at this year’s WrestleMania, it will be John Cena vs. Batista.

Now that match alone is going to be pretty huge as Cena & Batista were the two guys the WWE strapped the rocket ship on in the 2000s. WrestleMania 21 was the blast off of another chapter in the history of the WWE and these guys were the focal point of that generation. These two alone at WrestleMania will be a big deal but I feel like the WWE is going to make it a bigger deal thanks to the actions at the end of Raw on Monday night.

At the end of Raw on February 1st, Batista came to aid of Vince McMahon as he was getting beat down by Bret “The Hitman” Hart. It’s been pretty clear that there was going to be some sort of McMahon/Hart storyline heading into WrestleMania this year. It’s also very clear that Bret Hart, due to his concussion and stroke, can not take bumps anymore in the ring.

With that being said the third and final Main Event match at WrestleMania 26 I feel will be between John Cena with Bret “The Hitman” Hart in his corner vs. Batista with Vince McMahon in his corner. I feel like this match is very similar to the Bobby Lashley/Umaga bout with Trump & McMahon from WrestleMania 23. It’s similar that there will be some sort of stipulation in that match that if Cena wins maybe Hart gets a street fight with McMahon and if Vince wins Bret will never be allowed back in the WWE again. Something will definitely be on the line for this one to make even more special.

Those are my main event predictions for WrestleMania 26. Here we our in the first part of February and I feel like I have a good idea on the WWE is heading right now to WrestleMania. It will be interesting to see how close I get with my predictions for the card as we get closer to the event itself and matches are announced.

For those keeping track at home here is what I predicted to be the Main Events for WrestleMania 26:

WWE Championship Match (Raw Main Event):

Triple Threat Match:

Sheamus (c) vs. Triple H vs. Edge

World Heavyweight Championship Match (SmackDown Main Event):

The Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels

“Specialty” Main Event Match:

John Cena (with Bret “The Hitman” Hart) vs. Batista (with Vince McMahon)

*Cena/Batista will have some sort of special stipulation to the match involving Hart & McMahon*

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Guys, you are NOT going to believe this!

One of my colleagues was taking a tour of Titan Tower recently when, with nobody the wiser, he snuck into the board room of WWE’s crack(ed up) writing staff, and he swiped Vince McMahon’s hand-written script for the 2010 Royal Rumble match!

I know, I know, it would be totally unscrupulous and wrong to post it here and spoil the annual classic to the world, but come on now. This is an incredible scoop!

So here, from the pen and mind of Vinnie Mac, to you, is what lies ahead on January 31.
******

FORMAT

Justin Roberts does formal intros, explaining the rules. If there’s one thing I can’t get enough of, it’s a man with a monotoned voice who whispers the first 85% of a sentence and then grunts the last three or four words. I have no idea why anyone misses Howard Finkel.

1. CM Punk
2. Matt Hardy
Give them ninety seconds to do some nifty reversals and false eliminations. Let the smarks have some memorable moments, so that they’ll be tempted to give the match no less than a *** rating when they write their blogs come Monday morning.

3. Finlay
Finlay’s all-pro, and the fans respect him, so let him mix it up with both Punk and Hardy, playing to their strengths. Tease some more eliminations. It’ll be like Christmas morning for those zit faced virgins.

4. Yoshi Tatsu
Give the impression that we’re elevating talent by having Tatsu go hog wild with kicks and crazy flippy dippy crap. Just for a goof, have Tatsu and Matt hit some old Hardy Boyz double team move on Punk, just to reference the Punk-Jeff Hardy feud from last summer. Those fourteen year old wallflowers who buy the fluorescent armbands will feel really special.

5. Carlito
Continue the glorified stunt show and make those Hot Pocket snarfing smarks feel like we’re totally changing our course. Then have Punk toss out Tatsu after a cheap shot, just to show them who’s boss. If there’s anything funnier than pulling the rug out from under the high expectations of these pale geeks, then I don’t want to know what it is.

6. John Morrison
Morrison has a DVD coming out in February, so it’s showcase time! Moonlight drive for Carlito, Starship Pain for Punk. Let Morrison and Hardy work together, despite being mortal enemies three years ago. Like the kids at home are gonna remember.

7. Jack Swagger
Fans aren’t buying his push. Must be the Deliverance Shuffle™ he does on the way to the ring. Let’s reinforce his need to be pushed by having him dump Finlay. Then the WCW fans that we haven’t demoralized can boo Swags. Have Punk and Hardy keep going at it some more so that the tweener-kids can be distracted from that “wrestling” crap.

8. Kofi Kingston
Time to clear the dead wood! Look, my wife’s running for Senate. We need a black man to go over strong, so that we can swing some votes our way. Adios Carlito and Swagger! Anytime the fans go “BOOM! BOOM!”, I’m closer to a positive blurb in Jet magazine. Credibility, here I come!

9. Dolph Ziggler
Let him wear Matt down with the sleeper hold, and have him actually knock Hardy out with it. Then let Punk dump Hardy with ease. Why? Because I’m secretly delighted by the anguished shrieks of teenage girls, that’s why. It’s the only common ground that Lawler and I have. Also, Kofi and JoMo can tee off on Punk, because DVD sales and minority votes are a key to booking any match.

10. Evan Bourne
Listen carefully: stuntman dive onto Ziggler and Morrison, stuntman elimination when Punk sends him flying. Hear that sound? That’s the pissed off virgins again. Between them and the Hardyphiles, it’s like ebb and flow.

11. R-Truth
Yeah, like I’m going to forget that he once made an album called “InVinceAble” and tried to hand out freebies in the parking lot of Raw a few years back. Ziggler sends Grandmaster Flash out within 45 seconds. Kofi then attacks Ziggler out of racial equality, or something. I need to pay attention more when Linda goes on about ‘political ethics’ or who-what.

12. Mark Henry
More showcasing! Let’s see those Connecticut Democrats call us racist if we have TWO blacks dominating at the same time! Boom boom legdrop by Kingston on Ziggler, World’s Strongest Slam on Punk. Then have Morrison dance with Kofi and Henry to demonstrate that WWE promotes harmony between races. We’re practically civil rights pioneers at this point!

13. William Regal
We need a plausible way to get Morrison tossed out so that he doesn’t outshine DX, Show, Cena, and Batista later. So he dumps out Regal, and then Punk dumps him moments later. Now the fans are catching on that Punk might go the distance. They’ll think we’re pushing him! HAH!

14. Kane
This is where Michael Cole earns his money: he screams about his record breaking year in 2001, where he made eleven dump-outs. Kane’s been in a face-load of Rumbles, which Lawler can hype. It doesn’t change the fact that he’s never once won, but who cares? He chokeslams everyone in the ring, saving Henry for last for the ‘monster pop’. Then he does the pyro thingie with his arms, because it’s more important than actually tossing someone out. The kids’ll love it!

15. Chris Jericho
Now the virgins can stop crying, because here comes their mascot. We’ll throw em a bone and let Jericho end Kofi’s night right about here. We’ll even let Jericho avoid the chokeslam and hit Kane with the Codebreaker. Note those sporadic pops from the disheveled smarks. Remember this lesson: no matter how many times you ground your kids, you can still win their love back with ice cream. It made me the shrewd father that I was for my three kids. Three? Two? Right, two.

16. Shawn Michaels
Time to make the kiddies happy again! Shawn gets to carry four guys (equivalent to one Nash), and let them bounce off of his forearm smashes. Since Shawn’s getting older, this can take up all ninety seconds. Which is good, because now I’m out of ideas.

17. Santino Marella
Comedy spot, Shawn chucks him. More forearm smashes. Jeez, I wish I hadn’t alienated Pat Patterson. He was great at booking these things. Have Shawn throw in a crotch chop too, that’ll eat up some time.

18. The Hurricane
Comedy spot, Shawn chucks him. More forearm smashes. Jeez, I wish I hadn’t alienated Pat Patterson. He was great at booking these things. Have Shawn throw in a crotch chop too, that’ll eat up some time.

19. Drew McIntyre
Comedy spot, Shaw—oops, booking autopilot fail! Ha ha, sorry, I didn’t realize that we were on someone that I wanna actually push! Let Drew toss Mark Henry out. Anytime you throw a 400 pounder out, the fans instantly buy you as a threat. Remember when Cena dumped out Viscera in 2005? I know I’m not the only one!

20. Cody Rhodes
Now we’re in the “take a corner, pretend to be throwing somebody out” phrase. That’s when all but two guys go to the corners and ropes, and the remaining two are highlighted in the ring. It keeps the ADD-addled fans from getting confused. Anyway, Cody tussles with Michaels and actually hits the Cross Rhodes. If they can stretch this out ninety seconds, we may yet get hailed as geniuses.

21. Edge
Gotta set up Edge-Jericho for Mania, so Edge goes nuts and throws Jericho out as revenge for the heinous act of choosing a different partner after Edge got hurt for the 17th time. To everyone in the ring: DON’T TOUCH EDGE! He’s delicate! Edge then eliminates himself by diving onto Jericho out of “vengeance-induced madness”. PLEASE, Chris, make sure he doesn’t hit the floor too hard? If his ACLs were any more frail, he’d be on the injured list for a WNBA team.

22. The Miz
Back to corner mode. This time, Miz does a routine with Shawn in center ring, hitting the Skull Crushing Finale. Look, it’s not complicated. If you want complicated, you should have ordered Genesis, okay?

23. Shelton Benjamin
Benjamin hits some crazy stuff on everyone. This will give the guys time to lay around and sell the exhaustion of holding onto the ropes for five minutes at a time. Then Miz can dump out Benjamin when he’s not looking. There’s a metaphor in there about stuck up white people taking advantage of hard working blacks, and I’m sure the voters will see it.

24. MVP
MVP and Miz have a feud, unless we killed it off and I forgot. No, it’s still on, never mind. Let em trade off stuff while everyone else plays dead. No one ever wonders why fresh guys don’t dump out the borderline comatose guys on the mat. Never.

25. Ted Dibiase
Legacy double team time! Bye bye Kane! The fans will be SHOCKED that he didn’t win it! What a boon for this stud team to throw out a true legend of Royal Rumbles! Rhodes and Dibiase then shake hands, because there’s no dissension at all! Cole and Lawler will emphasize this like they’re selling Mighty Putty while hepped up on crank. If I don’t hear the phrase “Marine-like skills” from Cole at least twice, I will NOT be happy!

26. Big Show
Headbutts for all!

27. Batista
Clotheslines and spinebusters for all!

28. John Cena
Shoulder tackles for all! Also, he dumps Punk, because it’s funny. The more these brats argue on message boards and YouTube response videos, the more my stock remains stable. Commence the whining!

29. Zack Ryder
Ryder in, Ryder out, courtesy of Cena. Zack’s fresh, 24 years old, and has an interesting gimmick, but I’m sure he’s not worth making into a credible threat. Also, Batista tosses out MVP for reasons that will become clear.

30. Triple H
Ok, so we got seven heels (Ziggler, McIntyre, Rhodes, Dibiase, Batista, Show, Miz) against DX and Cena. Let’s watch the heroes overcome the odds! First, Ziggler goes after a Pedigree (I’d forgotten Dolph was still in there, quite frankly). Then DX and Cena can gang up on Show and send him packing. He’s been in there eight minutes anyway, so I’m sure he’s winded. Then Rhodes and Dibiase can try dumping Cena out, but there will be a miscue and both men are sent to the floor instead! TENSION! Cena can then “salute” Dibiase, as a nod to the Marine films! Insider references!

Finale:
That leaves Cena, Michaels, Hunter, McIntyre, Miz, and Batista. Who’s least important, least important, hmmm. In any scenario, according to me, the least important person is always the Intercontinental champion. Sorry, Drew. The Attitude Adjustment ends your evening. Cena will begin to celebrate, and the Miz can sneak up and chuck him out, thus making Miz a bigger heel for eliminating the crowd favorite. Yes, I just typed that last sentence with a straight face.

DX now gangs up on Batista and Miz, keeping them at bay, using crotch chops to break up any potential fan narcolepsy. After a false heel comeback that nobody will see coming, Hunter and Shawn collectively dump Batista. In the blink of an eye, Hunter then dumps Shawn to prevent him from facing Undertaker at Wrestlemania! TENSION! Shawn stares at Hunter from the floor, making the same sad face he used to make when I’d say “Shawn, I really need you to put Vader over tonight”. Miz will then slowly rise, giving the smarks hope that he’ll dump Hunter and that we’ll be elevating a new star. PSYCH! Pedigree on Miz, goodbye Miz, HUNTER WINS! Man, I had too much fun writing that.

Afterward, Shawn and Hunter celebrate together, because we only do happy endings for our shows now. Besides, Shawn’s such a sap these days. Ever since we convinced him that peeing in the cup for Hunter at drug screening time was A-OK by his Savior, life’s been easy.

Speaking of easy, I know Wrestlemania 26 will have an easy time shattering buyrate records with a Triple H-Sheamus main event for the coveted WWE Title. The only problem will be coming up with a tagline for the event.

Is “VOTE FOR LINDA” too tacky?

When he isn’t watching WWE, TNA, or his beloved Philadelphia Eagles and Phillies, Justin Henry can be found writing. It is his passion as well as his goal in life to become a well-regarded (as well as well-paid) columnist or author. Subscribe to The Cynical Examination, his wrestling blog, at http://www.facebook.com.

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It’s that time of year again…the Road to WWE WrestleMania begins this coming Sunday at the Royal Rumble. If you’re not familiar with the Rumble match itself, it’s a 30 man over the top rope elimination match. Once you go over the top rope & your feet touch the floor, you’re out. Two men start the match & a new competitor enters every 90 seconds. The winner goes on to face either the Raw or SmackDown! Champion at the main event of WrestleMania. Let’s look at the lineup:

WWE Women’s Title Match (SmackDown! Brand)
Michelle McCool (C) vs. Mickie James
The war between these two divas has been raging for a while. McCool has done everything from destroying Mickie’s ring attire to throwing food/drink at her to making fun of her in a parody of “Old McDonald” and a Looney Tunes cartoon. The catalyst for all of this? Apparently, Mickie is “overweight”. Gimme a break. If Bertha Faye was still around, I’d say go for it. But come on. *yawn* Despite months of taunting, I think you’re gonna see McCool retain the belt.

Predicted Winner: Michelle McCool
Who Will Win: The Audience once the match is over.

ECW Championship Match
Christian (C) vs. Ezekial Jackson w/William Regal
Christian is the longest reigning ECW Champion since ECW was resurrected as a WWE brand. In that time, he’s defeated the likes of Tommy Dreamer, William Regal, & Shelton Benjamin to stay on top of the land of extreme. Captain Charisma faces his biggest challenge yet…the monster Ezekial Jackson. Standing at 6′4″ weighing 309 lbs. & having mowed down just about everyone in his path since making his ECW debut, this is easily Christian’s biggest challenge to date.

Predicted Winner: Christian after a break down between Regal & Jackson.
Who Should Win: Christian. WWE seems to be intent on building the brand around him. Christian has a strong following & is a top merch. seller. Why ruin a good thing?

World Heavyweight Championship Match
The Undertaker (C) vs. Rey Mysterio
I can’t believe we’re actually going to see this. And no, I’m not excited about it. If Rey Mysterio of all people beats The Undertaker for the belt, I may quit watching WWE programming. Look for interference by Batista and/or Shawn Michaels in this match.

Predicted Winner: Rey Mysterio via DQ, allowing ‘Taker to retain the championship.
Who Should Win: The Undertaker

WWE Title Match
Sheamus (C) vs. Randy Orton
Now this is cool. Sheamus has had quite a year. Coming over to Raw from the ECW brand, Sheamus shocked everyone by capturing his first WWE Title by defeating John Cena. Enter Randy Orton. When is the last time anywhere we’ve seen a heel vs. heel match, let alone a heel vs. heel match for the WWE Title? I honestly don’t know how to call this one. But if I were a betting man…

Predicted Winner: Randy Orton via DQ, allowing Sheamus to retain the championship.
Who Should Win: Randy Orton (It’s the least they could do for Orton considering he’s continually jobbed out to John Cena. And he’s a big merch. seller.)

30-Man Royal Rumble Match
Another that is impossible to call. But since we’re doing predictions…

Predicted Winner: Triple H, setting up Triple H vs. Sheamus for the WWE Title at WrestleMania.
Who Should Win: The Miz. Mark my words, 2010 is the Year of the Miz.

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One week prior to the Royal Rumble, he does an interview saying he won’t be at WrestleMania 24 then the next week he is winning the World Wrestling Entertainment Royal Rumble and scheduled to headline WrestleMania 24. Nobody expected John Cena to return to the WWE this soon, win the Royal Rumble, and go on to headline WrestleMania 24 and win a title shot of his choice.

In October 2007 when John Cena relinquished the WWE title due to injury, we were told he wouldn’t be back for seven months. During his time away, Cena had been out of the spotlight and was barely even mentioned on WWE programming. John Cena surprised everyone when he entered the Royal Rumble at number 30 and threw out Triple H to win the Rumble and immediately challenge Randy Orton for the same belt he never lost at WrestleMania 24.

The WWE Royal Rumble event itself was good, but nothing exceptional until Cena showed up. Like many, I felt deflated when Randy Orton beat Jeff Hardy and put an end to the Hardy-express. Obviously the result made a whole lot of sense with the way the Rumble match turned out. Not knowing about what was ahead, it just seemed like the show had lost its momentum and was on cruise control for awhile. I don’t mean to take anything away from the other matches which were all good, including JBL and Jericho who had a blood bath. However, I had a feeling that something different was up when the WWE Royal Rumble 2007’s final two started off the Rumble at one and two.

Shawn Michaels and the Undertaker picked up right where they left off at the 2007 Royal Rumble. It was a great way to start the Rumble since nobody watching the show expected either one of them to start the match. HBK would wind up eliminating Undertaker and extracting revenge for last year’s Rumble. I would normally assume that this means that the WWE picked up on what I have been screaming about since last year’s Rumble and put these two together at WrestleMania 24. However, that match didn’t come for another year.

The runaway fan favorite going into the Royal Rumble was (and usually is) Triple H. It wasn’t so much Triple H, but there was nobody else that seemed to be an obvious or close second choice. Not only was John Cena a shock to the crowd at 30, he wasn’t the only surprise entrant in the Royal Rumble.

Fresh off his stint signing autographs at a barber shop in New Jersey, WWE Hall of Fame wrestler Superfly Jimmy Snuka returned home to Madison Square Garden and tried his luck in the Rumble. The surprises continued, as fellow WWE Hall of Fame inductee Roddy Piper made a shocking return to the Rumble as well. It was quite a moment when the two men that sold out the Garden over twenty years ago were going toe to toe once again. I love when the WWE brings back a surprise legend or two for the Rumble and so did the crowd. Bringing back the hottest feud of my childhood if not for just two minutes was pure old school wrestling heaven.

I talked a lot about fan passion at the time on my radio show and in blogs yet the fan reaction to John Cena at the Rumble is something that people  still talk about today. The entrance itself is arguably the greatest Rumble entrance in the history of the match. The place went nuts in a way that rivaled Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock in their heyday. It was truly a historic WWE moment that helped solidify Cena’s WWE status as a WWE superstar.

The final four in the Rumble came down to Kane, Batista, Triple H, and Cena. Triple H and Batista united to throw Kane over the top rope. Triple H subsequently wound up eliminating Batista, which looked like would set up a WrestleMania 24 match between the two. It then came down to Triple H and Cena. After several minutes of failed attempts at elimination by both men, John Cena FU’d Triple H over the top rope to win the Rumble and go on to WrestleMania 24 and challenge for a WWE title of his choice.

At the time, the WrestleMania 24 24 lineup looked like this:
John Cena vs. Randy Orton for the WWE Championship
Edge vs. … for the WWE World Championship
Triple H vs. Batista
JBL vs. Chris Jericho
Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels

As we know now, none of those matches took place at WM 24 except Orton-Cena with Triple H thrown in the mix for a Triple Threat Match.

Other 2008 Royal Rumble results saw….
Ric Flair defeated MVP in a non-title match
JBL defeated Chris Jericho via DQ
Edge defeated Rey Mysterio to retain the WWE World Championship
Randy Orton defeated Jeff Hardy to retain the WWE Championship

Order the WWE Royal Rumble 2008

Order the WWE Royal Rumble – The Complete Anthology, Vol. 1

Order the WWE Royal Rumble – The Complete Anthology, Vol. 2 (1993-1997)

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From the ring to your wall – WWE REAL.BIG Wall Graphics on sale now at Fat Head!

Randy Orton won one of the most predictable WWE Royal Rumbles and will go on to WrestleMania 25. Coming in as the most predictable favorite, Orton eliminated Triple H to earn a title shot of his choice at WrestleMania. In contrast to last year’s WWE Royal Rumble, the biggest surprise came on the Royal Rumble undercard.

As for the Rumble itself, it was probably one of the dullest Rumbles in history. I just found the match completely predictable and uncreative. Past Rumbles had really exciting twists and some unpredictable matchups. The only real surprise was the return of Rob Van Dam who entered the Rumble at #25. Otherwise, the Rumble was pretty bland in my opinion.

The Rumble came down to the Undertaker, Big Show, Triple H, and the Legacy. Big Show and Undertaker wound up eliminating each other. Show was already eliminated when he took out Taker ala: Sid-Hogan. Triple H then eliminated Ted DiBiase and Cody Rhodes. Rand Orton was then able to sneak up behind Triple H and dump him over to win the rumble match.

Randy Orton returns to the WWE title picture for the second year in a row. Orton defeated John Cena and Triple H in a successful title defense at WrestleMania 24. I think it is rather disappointing that the 25th WrestleMania is headlined by a match that we saw a year ago sans one wrestler. At the time I suspected that there was still something big in the bag, because Orton-Cena was not going to draw a monster buyrate on its own. HBK-Undertaker would be the something big in the bag that would wind up stealing the show at WrestleMania.

The big surprise on the Rumble came on the undercard. Edge regained the WWE championship by defeating Jeff Hardy. Most of us have been led to believe that Christian Cage would be a part of this match. Instead, it was Jeff’s brother Matt that would play a big part in the result. Matt turned on his brother, leveled him with a chair, and thus Edge took the pin and the title.

I was really surprised by the angle, yet a few callers on my radio show called this one over the last few weeks. This leads to a Matt Hardy vs. Jeff Hardy match at WrestleMania. The angle immediately brought into question the status of Christian Cage who had yet to debut, but was rumored to be wrestling Jeff at WrestleMania 25. The big irony here is that the angle resulted in Matt Hardy helping Edge win the world title. Many fans will remember the controversy between those two a few years ago regarding Edge-Lita affair.

John Cena retained the WWE world title against JBL. Shawn Michaels played a big part in the finish as predicted in an earlier column by me that year. Michaels hit the ring after a ref bump. Michaels stared down JBL and hit him with some Sweet Chin Music. Michaels followed up with another kick to Cena and placed JBL on top. Cena kicked out, fought back, hit an FU, and got the 1-2-3. The match was much better than I had expected and had a ton of heat.

Earlier in the night, the Undertaker and Shawn Michaels had a confrontation in the back. The confrontation teased a hopeful WrestleMania match. However, it looked at the time  like Taker would be wrestling Big Show as a result of the Rumble. Thank God we weren’t forced to watch Michaels will put his streak of great WrestleMania matches on the line against JBL at WM25. As ridiculous as the storyline was, I thought HBK is did a great job of making it must-see television.

Order the WWE: Royal Rumble 2009 DVD

Order the WWE Royal Rumble – The Complete Anthology, Vol. 1

Order the WWE Royal Rumble – The Complete Anthology, Vol. 2 (1993-1997)

Order the WWE Royal Rumble – The Complete Anthology, Vol. 3

From the ring to your wall – WWE REAL.BIG Wall Graphics on sale now at Fat Head!