Royal Rumble Predictions And Notes

[Guest TSMAdmin]

The build-up for Royal Rumble this year has been pretty much the same for every other pay per view show WWE has done in the last year: slow. And disappointing, to say the least. This Rumble has to be the least hyped Royal Rumble in years, which actually is one of the biggest problems with this company. The event may be hit or miss. It won't be as bad as Armageddon was, but I really don't think it'll be as good as the previous few PPVs were. Let's take a look at a match by match break down:

 

[1]Scott Steiner vs. Triple H for the Raw World title. I have no idea who's going over. Logic would say it would be Steiner, as the angle has been building for the heel Hunter to "finally get his in the end". But this is HHH, who doesn't job for anyone, so it's hard to say. What's easy to say, though, is that this match is going to be a real stinker. Triple H is working on two bad wheels, and Steiner's wind is really bad. House show reports have him being described as similar to Ultimate Warrior, with a big entrance pop that dies down when people remember just how crappy of a wrestler this guy is. He's look horrible. And what's amazing is that these guys are going to be going twenty minutes, not three or five or whatever like some people would suggest. If you need evidence of that, just look at the Shawn/Trips match from Armageddon, where you had two guys who shouldn't even have been out there, doing a 40:00 match.

PREDICTION: Steiner wins by DQ, maybe 15-16 minutes in length. Match might be * if they get lucky

WHERE THEY GO FROM HERE: The program has been really good so far, so if this match doesn't kill all of their heat they may go to a match at WrestleMania with Steiner going over for the belt. Other than that, Trips may do something with Nash or with both Nash and Shawn, although I think the Shawn/Trips card has been really played at this point, and Nash might not even be ready. I don't see Steiner having any other opponents for Mania.

 

[2]Kurt Angle vs. Chris Benoit for the Smackdown title. Well, this is obviously going to be the best match on the card. Angle may be a little rusty coming off his injury, but a rusty Kurt Angle is better than a million Scott Steiners, so to speak.

PREDICTION: Angle wins be cheating, match goes cloes to 30 minutes. They cut down the length of the Rumble and I think that time will be dumped into this match. Should be about ****1/4 to ****1/2 depending how Angle is feeling.

WHERE THEY GO FROM HERE: Angle will be facing Brock for the title at WrestleMania. Benoit, I don't know. Back into the mid-card, I suppose. He never really turned face, and could easily be a heel after this point again, so there's about a million guys he could work with at Mania. Maybe Eddie, maybe Rey, maybe Edge, maybe someone like John Cena.

 

[3]The Rumble match. They're going 1 minute intervals instead of 2 this year, so the Rumble is going to be shorter. Brock Lesnar is winning this, definitely. They may try to throw a swerve in there on us with someone else taking it, but I don't see who or even why they would bother. No major participants are announced other than a few Raw guys, including Jericho and Shawn. I would imagine with the shorter RUmble span too, Brock will end up 'drawing' an early number and winning in that way. Steve Austin's participation in the Rumble is a possibility, and if that's going to happen they'll cut an angle for it at the Anniversary show. Undertaker, doing the tired Dead Man gimmick again, could somehow be involved too. Same with Mysterio, but I think they might wait for him.

PREDICTION: Brock wins it, drawing an early number and dumping either Steve Austin, Shawn Michaels, or some major heel (but who?) at the end.

WHERE THEY GO FROM HERE: Brock wins the title from Angle at WrestleMania. Austin, I don't know. He'll have to play a major part of Mania this year, because that was one of his biggest beefs when walking out last year. If Hogan were around they could do him against Hogan, but that's not likely going to happen. Him vs. Hunter is a possibility, but they are like oil and water in terms of getting along, so forget about it. I don't know. Undertaker will probably be working Big Show, as I don't see anything else for him on the horizon, and they need to do the revenge program with him. Shawn will more than likely wrestle at Mania. Maybe against some sort of combination of Hunter or Nash. Maybe against Jericho. It's hard to predict something for everyone else involved here. I dunno what they hell they are going to do with Booker. I'm also curious to how they are going to address Damaja being in the Rumble.

 

[4]Brock vs. Big Show. Brock is winning here definitely unless they try the swerve. It'll be kept short, believe me.

PREDICTION: Undertaker re-emerges as the Dead Man and interferes againts Show, setting up their Mania match. Brock finishes Show with the F5 in about 5 minutes. Might be another * match.

WHERE THEY FROM HERE: Brock against Angle at WM, and Taker against Show.

 

[5]Torrie vs. Dawn Marie. It'll be kept short. Hopefully it'll kill the Al Wilson thing for good.

PREDICTION: Torrie wins clean in about 3 minutes. I don't know how Al is going to get involved. Maybe he'll cost Dawn Marie the match and get 'divorced'. I hope to God they don't show divorce proceedings clips on TV too. It's gonna be a DUD.

WHERE THEY GO FROM HERE: Who cares.

 

Other possible matches include Regal & Storm vs. either Dudleyz or Booker & Goldust for the Raw Tag belts, Los Guerreros vs. B2 & Cena for the Smackdown Tag titles, and maybe a Heat match involving Kidman and the Cruiserweight belt, or something like that. All and all, it's going to be a one-match show hinged on that and 'surprises' (Taker, Mysterio, Austin, etc.) so we'll see what happens. It certainly won't be one of the better Rumble PPVs, but it'll be a definite improvement over Armageddon.

 

If you're interested in reading articles like this one and the tape reviews I put up on the site, then I suggest you pick up a subscription to the Touch Of Evil newsletter. It's jam-packed with opinion columns, retro reviews, biographies, you name it, and it's there. Check it out.

 

JUST GIMME A KISS