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Alexander Tejeda
Brooklyn, NY
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One of the better shows this year or in awhile. I couldn't think of a better way than 2 icons ending up in the ring with Undertaker and Shawn Michaels. Undertaker winning it was even better. I hope Undertaker vs. Cena instead of Undertaker vs. Batista unless Undertaker wins the belt from Batista. I hope Undertaker vs. Cena if Undertaker loses but don't see it. Who does everybody like for Undertaker fights at Wrestlemania everybody please respond. Hardys vs. MNM was good and enjoyed. Test vs. Lashley was a joke putting it politely. Cena vs. Umaga was better than last time. oyal Rumble was good. Overall I give Royal Rumble a 8 out of 10.
Thanks Tom
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This was the most surprising Rumble that I've ever seen; and for once I mean surprising in a positive manner. The Rumble itself stacks up with any they've ever put on, and the final two competitors (Michaels/Undertaker) put on a show that would make an average Rumble worth the forty dollars to see. With that said, looking at the undercard there did not seem much to look forward to, on paper at least it looked like WWE would put another one-match card out for their audience to see. Well, the tag match to begin the show was phenomenal, and I wish we could've seen another ten minutes. Where could we take that ten minutes from? Well cancel out the ECW match. How is it that a guy can worm his way into a title match (rather inexplicably), and just walk away like he didn't want the belt? Following that was the Smackdown contribution, and after seeing the match I am a Ken Kennedy fan. The guy puts on a show, and should be main-eventing Wrestlemania with the Undertaker, not Batista. Kennedy is such a performer that the last moments of the match saw a very audible Kennedy chant. What happened to Batista, the mega babyface? The Umaga/Cena match was almost a throwback to the Attitude matches. They have done a phenomenal job of working around Cena's inability to work (not to be redundant) by using the Austin/Rock formula of having him tell a story in the ring. I dislike/like however the way in which he won. I think it was great that Umaga lost because of strangulation. It is obviously something that is believable in stopping a monster, but in that same token, if one is trying to be realistic with the finish, how in the hell can you suspend the disbelief that a normal person would not stop another person from being strangled? I guess with this being "McMahonland" I can overlook that last point simply because them turning out cards like this are a rarity, and it beats the hell out of anything to come out of ECW since Heyman closed it down at the beginning of the decade.
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The Royal Rumble 2007
by Joel Croyle
The Matches...
MNM vs. Hardyz
To be honest I am still unsure as to why we had this match. I guess there is a feud here but it seems lackluster lately. The match between these four was great as it always is, but just because I love pizza and ribs doesn't mean I want it every night and every day for 3 months straight. Again Nitro showcased his arsenal. he gets better every single time out and both Hardyz help to elevate MNM. Melina looked smokin' hot tonight. Even my wife commented on how great her hair looked. Solid match.
Test vs. Bobby Lashley
This one was a hard pill to swallow. To turn a catch phrase - Fear Nothing, Regret Less...this was more like Expect Nothing, Get less. To be fair, the beginning of the bout was solid with both men showing off some tremendous power moves. Test has improved greatly since being back. Lashley can honestly learn a lot from those around him, including Stephanie McMahon's original boy toy Andrew. The ending was horrible. As much as I hate to admit it, I have been following the deplorable blunderings of ECW this past month, and Test was an all out warmonger in securing the ECW gold, why the hell would he just walk out after a basic clothesline type maneuver? It really "creatively" made no sense...ahh, and that is where everything begins to come together, isn't it?
Batista vs. Mr. Kennedy
Great match from top to bottom. With the exception of the rumble, the best match on the card. I can tell you that at the bar I was at Kennedy was over as a face...People want him on top, a good guy, and a champion. Batista did a lot of no selling I thought, not a good tactic in the 2nd biggest PPV of the year. All in all a good bout.
John Cena vs. Umaga (Last man standing)
I really liked the booking in this match. I know I am going out on a limb but the ending with Umaga passing out and all of the things they did with the tables and ring posts and such really reminded me of Bret Hart and Stone Cold Steve Austin so many years ago when Steve passed out. To me this match absolutely made Umaga while still solidifying Cena. I wouldn't be surprised at all if we see Undertaker choose to face Cena at WM23.
Royal Rumble
The match was one of the best rumbles I've seen and I truly have seen them all. I loved this compared to last year - I felt last year was forced and this wasn't. CM Punk showed a great deal here as did Finlay, Kane, Orton, Edge, and I can't believe I am going to say this...MVP. He was in there with "the big boys" near the end and showed a lot of great in ring psychology. I hate the Miz, but I applaud WWE or the miz himself for doing a Bushwhacker job. Undertaker and Shawn Michaels, ending the rumble in San Antonio, both having a big reason to win the rumble - FANTASTIC BOOKING. The only thing I would honestly have changed would be to have Kane stay in till the end as well as Carlito. Undertaker winning the rumble seems like it can only go two ways - either the dead man wants one last run with the WWE title or he is retiring and whomever he faces will give him his one and only/final loss at WM23.
The Angles
The back stage vignettes
The stuff in the back was really funny. Kelly Kelly was used the right way. Booker T, Edge and Orton have fantastic comedic timing. Even Coach and Teddy did some great bits.
Other Angles
It seems that Masters and Carlito really is finally over - they didn't even come in contact in the rumble, smart move for both men.
It seems they really should have fully pulled the trigger on Orton and Edge's assumed eventual break-up tonight. I do see a possible title switch to the Hardyz though before hand which could easily stem from RKO ejecting the Hardyz from the match.
I liked that in a way they finally put the cap on Undertaker and Khali. It really had never come to a good close but now they can close the coffin on that one.
Finlay and Booker have great chemistry, so does Flair and Finlay and a three way match between these vets at WM23 could be great.
I see a very good Money in the bank match if they take what they had at the rumble and roll with it - how about Jeff Hardy, Matt Hardy, Nitro, CM Punk, RVD and Mercury in the biggest ladder match of the year.
They did some nice stuff between Edge and Matt and also Matt and Helms. Helms is just one of the best talents ever in the WWE.
It was sad that Kendrick and London didn't even make an appearance, that goes fro Cryme Tyme too.. Frankly, I was surprised they didn't do something with K and L and Ashley given that "The road to wrestlemania starts at the Royal Rumble" and Ashley's Playboy issue comes out near WM23.
Overall
Tonight's PPV was easily better than anything from last year, I include all the big four in that statement. I hope that the WWE keeps going like this, elevating their product.
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I ordered my first PPV since last year Wrestlermaina. The Royal Rumble match it self was worth the $40 bucks. The Undertaker and HBK gave me my moneys worth both men gave me a great 10 minutes of hard work. I hope the young guys and the other so called main eventers were watching. Plus HBK and Undertaker showed that the fans don't care if it's face Vs face. As long as the matches are good that all the fans care about. They should have a double main event at Wrestlemaina and it should be all 4 faces in the main event. I would love to see Undertaker VS the Animal and HBK VS John Cena. That would be the main events worth paying for. The WWE really showed they could careless about ECW because you had two Smackdown broadcasters and one Raw broadcaster. I mean instead of JBL broadcasting Tazz should have. been representing ECW.
As for the rest of the Rumble I was not impressed. The work in the matches was good. Plus can the referee count any slower to a 10 count I could count to ten by time he counts to five. I hope the WWE stay away from last man standing matches there are just to many spots that are really fake. For example that ring steps shot was so fake I mean you can see he hit the ring post and here it why bother with the spot.
It's bad enough Test is on a PPV card what make it worse is he is in a championship match. Plus Lashley I think he is a good worker but the way the WWE books ECW if you are the ECW champion does it count for anything? Plus Just and case there were any real fans of ECW watching they got another reminder to stop watching. They treated Sandman, Sabu and Dreamer the WWE think they are garbage and they booked them like that. I think Sandman broke the Bushwhacker record for fast to be thrown out.
As for the Hardy Jeff should be putting the IC belt on the line on PPVS not teaming with his brother.
Joe from New York Queens
