cawthon777

He didn't so much win it as he stole it from Cornette and McMahon announced him as champion to test the crowd reaction. This kind of stuff really isn't a big deal. It has happened pretty freqently. IIRC, even Nash "won" the title from Trips in 03 just for the same outcome to occur.

Check the first link in the sig.

Batista is a definate. Same with Benoit. Taker & Heidenreich, IMO, won't be in it. Matt Hardy won't be in it. I don't think he's scheduling a WWE comeback until much closer to Mania. RVD won't be in it due to his knee injury / surgery. I wouldn't mind seeing some new / old faces that we haven't seen in a while. Not the Honkytonk Man but someone like that. This might see the return of the Dudley Boyz, coming in one after the other, and hitting a 3D to pop the crowd. From 2000 to 04, they've yet to be in the Rumble match, despite being on the card.

Yeah, I noticed that myself. The only problem there is that 3 of those 4 guys are already in (Eddie / Rey over Reigns / Jindrak) ... which makes it incredibly dumb to have the match. Either 1) it wasn't a qualifier and all the newsboards are saying it was because they are sheep that follow PWInsider and 1wrestling or 2) it was a qualifier and someone in the WWE is a moron (well, probably more than someone).

If a poster was ever made for that, I would kill to see it. I believe that the match was planned and obviously both men knew about it but, IIRC, Bret said in his shoot that he had no idea that it was ever scheduled.

From reading the report, it seemed like they broke during a tag title match (a match I have no record of aside from this one source). Here's a link to the post. http://groups-beta.google.com/group/rec.sp...8896b6b47dd722a

Last night in Tupelo, Hardcore Holly went over Danny Basham to qualify.

Vader was over. Period. You could argue he should have won the strap at Summer Slam and blame Shawn. Or you could argue he should have won the strap at Survivor Series and blame Vader himself for being injured going into the match with Sid. Either way, I would have preferred Vader with the belt than Sid with the belt.

Order of elimination: Perfect by Hogan after throwing Perfect into the corner (32:37) Koko by Hogan via a backdrop (37:32) Luke by Hogan (37:45) Anderson & Blanchard by Hogan via a double clothesline (38:26) the Warlord by Hogan via a clothesline (38:43) Savage & Bad News by Hogan (38:48), afterwards, Savage argued the elimination with Hogan until Miss Elizabeth came to the ring to settle things down and have the two shake hands Bossman via Hogan, who was still at ringside, pulling down the top rope as Bossman ran the ropes (45:00) So that's a total of 9.

I agree with you on that one but Benoit / HHH / HBK seems to be a popular pick. Didn't that win the top spot on a PWInsider poll for feud of the year?

I don't know if I would agree in saying it's a better match than the 96-97 stuff but the SNME match and Shawn winning the title crushed me since I was an 11-year old Bulldog mark.

From memory - The Ironmen of the Rumble: 88 - Bret 89 - Perfect 90 - Dibiase 91 - Martel (with Valentine a close second, IIRC) 92 - Flair 93 - Backlund 94 - either HBK or Bigelow 95 - HBK / Bulldog 96 - HHH (with Bob Holly a close second) My memory gets fuzzy after there. Benoit holds the record at 1:01:34. Backlund is the 1st runner up at 1:01:10 (93). Flair is third but I haven't yet sat through the whole match to time everything out. And since we're talking about Rumbles, here are a few of the forgotten ones. WWF @ St. Louis, MO - Arena - October 4, 1987 The One Man Gang won a Royal Rumble when both he and the Junkyard Dog went over the top at the same time after 12 minutes; pre-match stipulations stated the winner would earn a world title shot for the next show in St. Louis on 11/7 but OMG's title shot was announced during intermission, angering fans credit: The Observer Meltzer claims the first winner was JYD so maybe there is a Rumble that predates the 87 version. Btw, the St. Louis Rumble apparently blew. WWF @ New York City, NY - Madison Square Garden - January 17, 1994 (9,000) Owen Hart won a 30-man Royal Rumble match at 1:10:17 by last eliminating Fatu; order of entry: Diesel, Mo, Butch, the 1-2-3 Kid (the Kid suffered a leg injury from his elimination which caused him to miss the PPV Rumble), Scott Steiner, Iron Mike Sharpe, Samu, Bob Backlund, Jeff Jarrett, Virgil, Bam Bam Bigelow, Randy Savage, Adam Bomb, Sgt. Slaughter, Crush, Mabel, Jim Powers, Bastion Booger, Luke, Owen Hart, Rick Martel, Bret Hart, IRS, Johnny Polo, Scott Putski, Fatu, Marty Jannetty, Bart Gunn, Shawn Michaels, and Doink the Clown; the final four men in the ring were Shawn Michaels, Bret, Owen, and Samu; Bret was eliminated after Fatu returned ringside; Michaels was eliminated after Razor Ramon came ringside; after the bout, Bret returned ringside to fight off the Headshrinkers and celebrate Owen's victory WWF @ Osaka, Japan - Osaka Castle Hall - May 9, 1994 The Undertaker won an 18-man Royal Rumble match by eliminating Bam Bam Bigelow at 46:15; participants included (in order of entry): Rick Martel, Bob Backlund, Jinsei Shinzaki, Adam Bomb, 1-2-3 Kid, Masashi Aoyagi, Tatanka, Billy Gunn, Nobukazu Hirai, Bart Gunn, Owen Hart, Bam Bam Bigelow, Randy Savage, Samu, the Undertaker, Fatu, Bret Hart, & Doink the Clown USWA @ Memphis, TN - January 3, 1996 Doug Gilbert won a Royal Rumble match; due to pre-match stipulations, Gilbert earned a spot in the WWF's Royal Rumble on 1/21 in Fresno WWF @ White Plains, NY - Westchester County Civic Center - November 20, 1996 (2,075) Rocky Miavia won a 20-man Royal Rumble match - Yep. Rocky debuts on the 17th and wins a Rumble 3 days later. FMW @ Kawasaki, Japan - Kawasaki Stadium - September 28, 1997 Tetsuhiro Kuroda won a 12-man Royal Rumble match at 28:49; other participants included Flying Kid Ichihara, Ricky Fuji, the Headhunters, Hideko Hosaka, Koji Nakagawa, Alexander Otsuka, Mr. Pogo II, Super Leather, & Minoru Tanaka - Not WWF, I know. I only mentioned it because it hosted the Shamrock / Vader no holds barred match and both of those guys were under contract at the time. And then of course the Smackdown Rumble from last year.

Saw these posted on 1wrestling and wanted to pass them along. I apologize if this has already been discussed (which I don't think it has). Backlash is May 1 this year. Looks like most of the buildup will take place on the other side of the ocean. WWE (Raw) @ Brisbane, Australia - Entertainment Center - April 7, 2005 WWE (Raw) @ Newcastle, Australia - Entertainment Centre - April 8, 2005 WWE (Smackdown!) @ Perth, Australia - Burswood Dome - April 8, 2005 WWE (Raw) @ Sydney, Australia - Super Dome - April 9, 2005 WWE (Smackdown!) @ Adelaide, Australia - Entertainment Centre - April 9, 2005 WWE (Smackdown!) @ Melbourne, Australia - Rod Laver Arena - April 10, 2005 WWE (Raw) @ Berlin, Germany - Max Schmeling Halle - April 20, 2005 WWE (Raw) @ Aberdeen, Scotland - Press & Journal Arena - April 21, 2005 WWE (Smackdown!) @ Dublin, Ireland - The Point - April 21, 2005 WWE (Raw) @ Edinburgh, Scotland - Royal Highland Centre - April 22, 2005 WWE (Smackdown!) @ London, England - Excell - April 22, 2005 WWE (Raw) @ Newcastle, England - Metro Radio Arena - April 23, 2005 WWE (Smackdown!) @ Bologna, Italy - Pallamalaguti - April 24, 2005 WWE (Raw) @ Hull, England - Arena - April 24, 2005 WWE (Smackdown!) @ Milan, Italy - Fila Foreum - April 24, 2005 WWE (Smackdown!) @ Cardiff, Wales - International Arena - April 25, 2005 WWE @ Birmingham, England - NEC Arena - April 25, 2005 Raw WWE @ Birmingham, England - NEC Arena - April 26, 2005 Smackdown! My best guess is there's another set of tapings in there somewhere.

Davey did beat Shawn on Battle of the WWF Superstars but it was via DQ, not pinfall.

I would think that the best bet for JBL at this point would be Cena.

Nope

It will only play a factor for the Internet wrestling community and that makes up a very small percentage of the fanbase. Hell, if something important happens and the spoilers get out, it might actually boost ratings.

They're doing Taker / Kane vs. Snitsky / Heidenreich at the 2 house show "super shows" in Anchorage in Hololulu. That may be a preview to one of the interpromotional matches at WrestleMania.

Piper - Piper took a few months off in 86. I'm assuming it was to do that dumb Hell Comes to Frog Town movie. Adrian Adonis began doing his own interview segment - The Flower Shop - in place of Piper's Pit. Piper comes back, a heel, and finds that his sidekick Bob Orton is now working with Adonis. Piper soon gets a beatdown from Orton, Don Muraco, and Adonis. Instant babyface (although anyone matched up against Adonis in 86 would be babyface by default). Lawler - I don't know that he ever did a turn. The fans just grew to turn him babyface because of his oversexed self and the fact he works with JR. The Coach / Snow stuff solidified Lawler as a face. Vader - Had a match with Bret on Friday Night's Main event after Bret beat Taker. Vader broke the Canadian flag (right then turning him face, pretty much). After the bout, the Patriot comes out to make the save against the Hart Foundation.

Depends on who you ask.

Just got word that the April 12 Smackdown taping is in Chicago. So it looks like they're coming back from Down Under, doing tapings, THEN heading to Europe.

That's not the best source. Plenty of things on that site have been found to be wrong. However, the story is true. I doubt very much that she gave birth in Saginaw. Maybe more like she was in Calgary and the birth caused Owen to stay home longer than expected. IIRC, they asked him what happend during an episode of Action Zone in the weeks following the PPV and that was his excuse. Of course, he made it sound more heelish and talked some smack about Gorilla Monsoon giving him a raw deal.

Meltzer is still saying Taker vs. Angle is penciled in for Mania while 1wrestling (Styles, specifically) says it will in fact be Angle vs. HBK. Whatever it is, we'll know after the Rumble.

My best guess is that there will be at least two sets of tapings. Maybe on in Australia?

Meltzer loves Flair. He hates Backlund - hence the WWF Champion not even appearing in the list. lol And Looney, I swear I didn't even read your post before writing the exact same thing.