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Royal Rumble Review
by supermanlax
 On Sunday January 25, 2004 at Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Last weekends Royal Rumble was the first of four main WWE events that is joint between Smackdown and RAW the Royal Rumble. You would expect a lot from a event like that with so much hype and in my opinion overall Vince and the boys fell short.
WORLD TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP
The night opened with the Smackdown Tag straps on the line with the Dudley Boyz challenging the champions Ric Flair & Batista in a tables match. Normally I love a Tables match but it seemed like all the matches were rushed to ensure time for the Rumble and the match ended quite quickly with the champs retaining the belts, with Batista giving Devon a spine buster through a table.
CRUISERWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP
Another title on the line was the cruiserweight belt wit Champion Rey Mysterio taking on Jamie Noble with his blind girlfriend Nidia at ringside. As usual Rey got a nice pop from the crowd and the match had some nice high flying spots as is common with a Mysterio match. Nidia grabbed Nobles foot and tripped him up claiming she thought it was Rey and this lead to Rey hitting the 619 and the Dropping the Dime to finish of Noble and retain the Cruiserweight Championship. After the match Noble yelled at Nidia as they went to the backstage area.
GUERRERO FAMILY FEUD
The early part of the night also saw the Guererro family feud escalate with uncle Eddie taking on Chavo with Chavo Sr. at ringside. All in all a decent match with Eddie getting a huge pop from the crowd coming out in his custom low rider. Eddie won the match and then after the win proceeded to beat Chavo bloody, he even tied his own brother to the ropes by his neck tie and kicked him. Not a bad match to push a feud farther.
WWE CHAMPIONSHIP
WWE Champion Brock Lesnar defeated Hardcore Holly. Ok so while I was writing I actually forgot this match, that's how memorable it was. Basically they went back and forth before the match started Brock tried to F5 Holly into the ring post and Holly countered by driving Brock into the ring post instead. There were a lot of holds on the mat in this match which in most cases means we are killing time, or we aren't really that good and cant do much. Holly had Brock on the floor at one point in a full nelson trying to break his neck, but he released it to stop the count cause he obviously wanted to win the title. When Brock was on the apron getting back in Holly slapped on the full nelson again and Brock hung him up on the ropes. From there it was basically over cause Brock got back in hit the F5 and got the pin, retaining his title. And as of the 1/29 Smackdown Brocks next defense will be against Eddie Guererro since he won Smackdowns Rumble.
WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP
Old D-Generation X teammates The Heart Break Kid, Shawn Micheals and HHH faced each other in a last man standing match with the title one the line. The only way to win in this match was basically for one man to beat the ohter until he was unable to respond to a 10 count. The two put on a great show with the champion HHH gaining the early advantage and beating on HBK till he was unbelievably bloody, But in typical fashion HBK caught a second wind and fought back making the champion just as bloody. Now what would a WWE PPV be without someone going through the Spanish announcers table?
HBK was setting up to jump from the ring apron on to Triple H on the table but at the last minute Hunter moved. Ok so back in the ring after the two went back and forth, with both competitors being very spent HBK out of no where nailed his sweet chin music and dropped to the floor. Neither man could respond to the 10 count so it was a draw and Helmsley retained his title.
HBK refused to be carried out on a stretcher and walked out bloody and beaten to a major pop from the crowd.
ROYAL RUMBLE
The highlight of the night saw the 1st entrant Chris Benoit from Smackdown go the distance and outlasting 29 other competitors to earn a shot at the title currently held by HHH at Wrestlemania XX on March 14th at Madison Square Garden, in New York City, New York. Benoit eliminated the Big Show to win it all, and to be honest the match kept me guessing. There were a lot of possible outcomes. I personally thought Randy Orton and Benoit would in some way be eliminated at the same time to set up a match at the next PPV for the right to go to Mania. Of course I was proven wrong when the hardcore legend Mick Foley came out to a huge pop and eliminated both himself and Orton at the same time. Angle went pretty deep but not far enough I most likely see this leading to a heel turn or sorts with Kurt Angle getting frustrated with his shortcomings. Also look for the Taker to return for Mania as Kane was eliminated when he heard his brothers gong go off and the arena go dark, for those that don't remember Kane buried the Taker alive a few PPVs back.
For the most part the show was decent but could have been a lot better overall. I would have liked to see the beginning matches go a little longer, or not have been there at all. And there were some people in the Rumble that serve no purpose what so ever, with a roster so deep and talented why is Ernest Miller in the Rumble? Does Vince not have someone more deserving of some time? or a possible angle to build?
The WWE next PPV event on the road to Wrestlemania XX will be hosted by Smackdown. No Way Out will held on Sunday February 15, 2004 in San Francisco, California.
* Article by supermanlax
* Back to Issue #6 Frontpage
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