Black Widow
01-27-2009, 04:00 PM
RANDY Orton winning the 2009 Royal Rumble, with a major assist from his Legacy partners Ted DiBiase and Cody Rhodes, was the most obvious ending for the WWE’s first PPV of the year.
But as often is the case in wrestling, the obvious finish was also exactly the right one to do.
Orton’s victory solidifies his position as the WWE’s top star and confirms Legacy as the company’s latest version of Evolution or The Four Horseman – a main event heel unit greater than the sum of their parts, who’ll always work together even when it is supposedly ‘every man for himself’.
Best of all, the Rumble winner’s GUARANTEED WrestleMania title shot – played up on commentary throughout the night – means Vince McMahon can’t completely fire him after last week’s punt to the head on Raw.
This sort of success isn’t new to Randy Orton.
In 2004 he became the youngest world champion in WWE history at just 24-years-old.
He’s headlined countless PPV events against some of the biggest names in wrestling history.
He even beat John Cena and Triple H to retain the WWE championship at last year’s WrestleMania.
But it is NOW that is truly his time. The point where people can really say Randy Orton is the top star in the wrestling business today.
Elsewhere on these pages, Paul Heyman perfectly sums up why and how Orton is the right choice to lead the WWE into Mania’s 25th anniversary.
Our job here is now to review the Royal Rumble, a PPV that extended the WWE’s superb run of big events in 2008 into 2009.
The Rumble match, as in almost every year, was perfectly booked and executed – the reason why many wrestling fans love this show more than any other.
This time around the comedy was toned down – only Santino’s record-breaking one-second elimination and ‘I’m Dolph Ziggler’ stuck out – and the surprises were limited to only a hugely popular Rob Van Dam return.
Instead the 2009 Rumble was all about the wrestling.
And thanks to the sheer amount of ‘skinning the cat’ going on – when a superstar is thrown out but holds onto the top rope to avoid elimination – there seemed to be a record number of wrestlers in the ring at most times.
Indeed the most noticeable thing about this year’s event was when Big Show entered as the 30th and final competitor – EVERY major star competing in the match was still in the ring.
That included Rey Mysterio, Triple H, Chris Jericho, RVD, Undertaker, Kane, CM Punk and all three members of Legacy.
No1 entrant Rey lasted 49:24 before being taken out by Show, who also eliminated Jim Duggan, R-Truth, Punk and Mike Knox.
The Giant now looks to go back to feuding with The Undertaker – who dumped JTG, Shelton Benjamin and Jericho – after trading blows with The Phenom in the match and taking him out in a fit of petulance after his own elimination at the hands of Orton.
After around an hour of action, and the removal of Taker and Show, it came down to just Triple H and Legacy.
Sadly Hunter made the classic Rumble mistake on not following through on an elimination.
Thinking he’d got rid of Orton, Triple H booted out DiBiase then Rhodes only for Randy – whose feet in fact had never touched the ground – to get back in and dump Hunter over for the victory.
It was a good solid ending to a good solid match.
Elsewhere the PPV saw four titles on the line.
Jack Swagger retained his ECW strap clean against Matt Hardy in the opener, which was the first sign of bigger things to come for Matt.
Then Melina got lucky against Beth Phoenix to claim the women’s title. Both were enjoyable bouts without setting Detroit alight.
That job was left to Shawn Michaels, who stole the first half of the PPV by simply standing at ringside and looking sad.
JBL had promised his ‘destitute’ employee Michaels that should he win Cena’s title, HBK’s debts would be paid off, he’d be free of his duties and he’d be part of the Royal Rumble match.
After a pep talk from Undertaker telling him to do the right thing, Shawn was conflicted for the entire duration of the bout.
When he finally entered the ring after the expected ref bump, Michaels hit Sweet Chin Music on both JBL and Cena, before leaving his employer’s arm on top of the champion for the pin.
However like his former D-Generation X partner Triple H, HBK didn’t follow up – walking off before the count, allowing Cena to kick out on 2 and hit the FU to retain his title.
The reason became clear in the next match, when it was obvious WWE deemed this the night Jeff Hardy would lose his title due to interference instead of John Cena.
The big surprise was that the crucial chair shot to Jeff’s head did not come from Edge, Vickie or Chavo Guerrero – but from Hardy’s brother Matt.
This was the shock of the night, but enough seeds had been sown in fans’ heads for it to still make perfect sense.
Last time Jeff and Matt feuded it was mid-card filler, now they’re firmly main event material with the possibility of a classic Cain v Abel storyline.
And, just like with Randy’s victory, it feels like the time is right.
So for that combination of great booking and great wrestling, from top to bottom, we give the 2009 Royal Rumble a rating of 9 out of 10.
The Sun
But as often is the case in wrestling, the obvious finish was also exactly the right one to do.
Orton’s victory solidifies his position as the WWE’s top star and confirms Legacy as the company’s latest version of Evolution or The Four Horseman – a main event heel unit greater than the sum of their parts, who’ll always work together even when it is supposedly ‘every man for himself’.
Best of all, the Rumble winner’s GUARANTEED WrestleMania title shot – played up on commentary throughout the night – means Vince McMahon can’t completely fire him after last week’s punt to the head on Raw.
This sort of success isn’t new to Randy Orton.
In 2004 he became the youngest world champion in WWE history at just 24-years-old.
He’s headlined countless PPV events against some of the biggest names in wrestling history.
He even beat John Cena and Triple H to retain the WWE championship at last year’s WrestleMania.
But it is NOW that is truly his time. The point where people can really say Randy Orton is the top star in the wrestling business today.
Elsewhere on these pages, Paul Heyman perfectly sums up why and how Orton is the right choice to lead the WWE into Mania’s 25th anniversary.
Our job here is now to review the Royal Rumble, a PPV that extended the WWE’s superb run of big events in 2008 into 2009.
The Rumble match, as in almost every year, was perfectly booked and executed – the reason why many wrestling fans love this show more than any other.
This time around the comedy was toned down – only Santino’s record-breaking one-second elimination and ‘I’m Dolph Ziggler’ stuck out – and the surprises were limited to only a hugely popular Rob Van Dam return.
Instead the 2009 Rumble was all about the wrestling.
And thanks to the sheer amount of ‘skinning the cat’ going on – when a superstar is thrown out but holds onto the top rope to avoid elimination – there seemed to be a record number of wrestlers in the ring at most times.
Indeed the most noticeable thing about this year’s event was when Big Show entered as the 30th and final competitor – EVERY major star competing in the match was still in the ring.
That included Rey Mysterio, Triple H, Chris Jericho, RVD, Undertaker, Kane, CM Punk and all three members of Legacy.
No1 entrant Rey lasted 49:24 before being taken out by Show, who also eliminated Jim Duggan, R-Truth, Punk and Mike Knox.
The Giant now looks to go back to feuding with The Undertaker – who dumped JTG, Shelton Benjamin and Jericho – after trading blows with The Phenom in the match and taking him out in a fit of petulance after his own elimination at the hands of Orton.
After around an hour of action, and the removal of Taker and Show, it came down to just Triple H and Legacy.
Sadly Hunter made the classic Rumble mistake on not following through on an elimination.
Thinking he’d got rid of Orton, Triple H booted out DiBiase then Rhodes only for Randy – whose feet in fact had never touched the ground – to get back in and dump Hunter over for the victory.
It was a good solid ending to a good solid match.
Elsewhere the PPV saw four titles on the line.
Jack Swagger retained his ECW strap clean against Matt Hardy in the opener, which was the first sign of bigger things to come for Matt.
Then Melina got lucky against Beth Phoenix to claim the women’s title. Both were enjoyable bouts without setting Detroit alight.
That job was left to Shawn Michaels, who stole the first half of the PPV by simply standing at ringside and looking sad.
JBL had promised his ‘destitute’ employee Michaels that should he win Cena’s title, HBK’s debts would be paid off, he’d be free of his duties and he’d be part of the Royal Rumble match.
After a pep talk from Undertaker telling him to do the right thing, Shawn was conflicted for the entire duration of the bout.
When he finally entered the ring after the expected ref bump, Michaels hit Sweet Chin Music on both JBL and Cena, before leaving his employer’s arm on top of the champion for the pin.
However like his former D-Generation X partner Triple H, HBK didn’t follow up – walking off before the count, allowing Cena to kick out on 2 and hit the FU to retain his title.
The reason became clear in the next match, when it was obvious WWE deemed this the night Jeff Hardy would lose his title due to interference instead of John Cena.
The big surprise was that the crucial chair shot to Jeff’s head did not come from Edge, Vickie or Chavo Guerrero – but from Hardy’s brother Matt.
This was the shock of the night, but enough seeds had been sown in fans’ heads for it to still make perfect sense.
Last time Jeff and Matt feuded it was mid-card filler, now they’re firmly main event material with the possibility of a classic Cain v Abel storyline.
And, just like with Randy’s victory, it feels like the time is right.
So for that combination of great booking and great wrestling, from top to bottom, we give the 2009 Royal Rumble a rating of 9 out of 10.
The Sun