Blog #4: January 28, 2009

The Royal Rumble has come and past so what better to do than rundown my opinion of the pay-per-view.

To start with, the ECW Championship was successfully retained by Jack Swaggaa (as he is referred to by Matt Striker) against challenger and former champion Matt Hardy. By the point that Matt was sitting on the ring steps in what appeared to be tears (don't cry Matt, it's only the title of a company that was bought out years ago and is used as a label to rake in more cash) I was certain he would be the one costing Jeff the WWE Championship later in the evening. Decent match, even though it was extremely predictable.

Next up, the Women's title match. Since Beth Phoenix is involved, it might be entertaining. Beth powerhoused her way through and Melina wins with a roll-up. Hmm. I don't know why I saw more with this match but what more can you want, two girls get in the ring and duke it out. Melina is the new Women's champ which is a shame since Beth is the best female wrestler they've got.

Cena vs. JBL for the World Heavyweight Championship. This wasn't a bad match because there were scenarios in which either one of these guys could have ended up walking out with the title. It was also good to see this classic fued from when Cena one his first WWE Championship against JBL in 2005 rehatched. Of course now, the role of Shawn Michaels was added. With both men down, HBK set up Sweet Chin Music. At this point, I knew it would be for JBL and I was right. I figured Cena had won and the Bradshaw/Michaels relationship was done. Then, out of nowhere, Michaels hit Cena with a superkick as well. Now I was convinced JBL would win the title and lose it at No Way Out's Elimination Chamber. It was a seemingly short match with a lot of back and forth but wasn't too bad. Just a little short for a World title match. In the end, Cena hit Bradshaw with the FU (or Throwback?, I believe it was only referred to as his patented finisher by Michael Cole) and retained the belt.

Finally, the match before the Rumble. Jeff Hardy vs. Edge for the WWE Championship. Before the match, Vickie Guerrero announced it would be a no DQ match. Bunch of big spots in this match as you would expect. Jeff comes out looking a bit like Vampiro. Why WWE makes a big deal out of Jeff wearing face paint is confusing to me. Not only has he been painting his face for about 7 years or so, he first wore it in WWE in 2003. Face paint aside, the biggest spot of the match was probably on Chavo Guerrero, whom Jeff jumped off a ladder onto and through a table. So for everyone that thought Chavito would be in the Rumble, I think his chances are very slim right now. As Jeff ascended the top rope for the Swanton Bomb, I looked and listened for the cheering fans spotting Matt. Soon enough, Matt ran in and hit his brother with a steel chair, costing him the title. Nobody who has been following this storyline can honestly tell me that when Matt got in the ring, they had no idea what was going on. Anyway, so Edge is now a 7-time champion, which I find hard to believe that 7 title reigns of Edge went by that quick.

Last but completely out of the question of being least, the 2009 Royal Rumble match. Drawing the dreaded numbers one and two were Rey Mysterio and John Morrison. The match included a funny spot by Cryme Tyme where JTG duped Shad to get into the match. JTG actually lasted much longer than I thought he would. Push for Cryme Tyme on the horizon? My hopeful winner Goldust was cheated by his brother Cody Rhodes and was only in for about a minute. You may have won this battle Cody, but you will never stop (breaths in deeply) Goldust. For the record, Goldust and Snitsky had some of the best comic chemestry I have seen in quite a while. Took me back to the days when Goldust teamed with Booker T. Speaking of comedy, Santino Marella made history on Sunday by beating a record that had been held since 1989 by The Warlord. He lasted only two seconds in the match by being quickly eliminated by Hulk Hogan. This year, Santino was in and out so quick that if you blinked you would have missed it. Santino did something I didn't think was possible, he managed to last a shorter time than two seconds in the ring and I guess I'm proud of him. One of the unannounced entries ended up being none other than Rob Van Dam. Sadly, we won't see RVD making a full return to the ring. It was merely a one-time deal like when he fought Santino on the Raw 15th Anniversary show. I had major deja vu when Big Show picked R-Truth up over his head and threw him out of the ring. For those who don't know, R-Truth (then known as K-Kwik) was eliminated by the same man in the very same way in the 2001 Royal Rumble. I assume this was a bit of a homage kind of moment to that or a complete coincidence. By the end of the match, the four guys I knew would be in there were there. Randy Orton, Ted DiBiase, Cody Rhodes, and Triple H. It came as a bit of a suprise to me that Rhodes and DiBiase were among the final four in the match. I assumed they would have been eliminated earlier by Triple H. Of course the Legend Killer picked up the win by dumping Triple H over the ropes.

As always the Royal Rumble never fails to disappoint me, even though I watched the first two matches of the card on a very poor live stream online (the guy running it was displaying "certain photos" of Chyna in a "certain movie" she was in up on the screen while I was watching with my friend's 7 year old brother. Thanks pal.) Thus concludes my review of the 22nd annual Royal Rumble. Onward to WrestleMania 25!

Blog #3: January 22, 2009

Hello once again. This is Nate2764 and this is my third wrestling blog.

My favorite wrestling pay-per-view is only a matter of a few days away. That's right, the Royal Rumble. On the day after the 2007 Royal Rumble, I made a claim that John Cena would walk out the winner and, somehow miraculously, I was right. This year, however, is more of a difficult choice for me. I've narrowed it down to three men. First, Triple H. Yes, I agree Triple H shouldn't win this year's because it has been too soon since he won his last. Fans no longer want to see a Hogan, Michaels, or Austin win Rumbles for two years straight. They want to see someone new win every year. Even though Triple H has been over as the top guy to be competing for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania, I don't think he will be the winner of the rumble but I have a feeling that he will once again be the last man to be thrown over the top rope this year.

My second pick to win would be Chris Jericho. After being fired on Raw by Stephanie McMahon a week ago, Jericho was given his job back this past Monday, slipping back into the rumble. While this story doesn't seem like one that get him to winning the match, I will assume we will see something involving Jericho's little apology on Sunday. Could a face turn be on the horizon for the former savior?

And finally, my final decision for the winner of the 2009 Royal Rumble, Randy Orton. With Randy Orton's ongoing dispute with forming his Legacy stable, I assumed he would not win the rumble and instead be placed in a separate angle involving somebody standing up to him and his cronies. With his punting Mr. McMahon on Monday, this could be the type of momentum and heel heat he needs to be the upset of a victor. I have been saying for quite some time that we need a heel to win the rumble since the last time this happened was when Vince McMahon won in 1999, 10 years ago. Between a face Triple H, a tweener Jericho, and a heel Orton, I'll put my bet on the heel.

WWE has recently been making several budget cuts and releases as I mentioned in my last blog. It was a "damn" shame when I heard the tragic news that one of my favorites, Ron Simmons, had been released. Along with him was long-time personality with WWE and the man who would rally kids up for watching G.I. Joe on Saturday mornings, Sgt. Slaughter was also released. WWE Diva Victoria also parted ways with WWE recently. I think the dust has cleared and we can come out from hiding, this slew of talent releases is done.

The Jeff Hardy attacks continue with many speculating who is behind them. Most recently, the WWE Champion was involved in a pyro accident (which still makes little sense, pyro causes very little harm or Goldberg would have never been able to stand in it!) Many appeared to be very upset about the segment and videos quickly sprouted up all over YouTube. Some people apparently are unaware that wrestling is scripted and are angered by anyone who finds the situation one bit funny. So without any futher introduction, my little gift to "those" fans.

Many are still speculating who this mysterious attacker is. Ever since they began, people have claimed it to be Christian but I'm beginning to think differently. Matt Hardy's recent ECW title loss to Jack Swagger (don't ask me, I don't write their storylines) leaves him with absolutly nothing to do. Even though we have seen the "jealous Hardy" fued done before back in 2002, there is a pretty good chace we will see it again. Since Christian hasn't even resigned with WWE to our knowledge, then it is doubtful he will be the one placed in the angle.

Another thing I should adress is the direction of the Michaels/JBL angle. It is obvious that the two will face each other in some way at 'Mania 25, but will Cena be included along with the World Heavyweight title? I don't think so. I think as soon as the two have a falling out due to Michaels not helping JBL win the title this Sunday, the two will go on to have their match in Houston. After the fued is done, Shawn will miraculously gain all his money back.

That's all for this blog. See you next time.

Blog #2: January 10, 2009

Hello once again wrestling fans! This past week has been a busy one for wrestling with lots to talk about so let's get started.

All the speculation came to an end when Christian Cage's contract with TNA finally expired. I think that Christian will soon resign with WWE within the next week or so and will make his return at February's pay-per-view No Way Out which most likely will mean Jeff Hardy will remain champion at the Royal Rumble. Christian's time away from WWE helped him improve on both his in-ring ability and mic skills. The "Hardy attackings" angle continues as Jeff was recently involved in another "accident". I will be interested to see how it all plays out in the end.

Goodbye, ladies! WWE released many performers this past week, the biggest of them all being Val Venis. Also released were D'Lo Brown, Kevin Thorn, and Bam Neely. I was hoping to see some of these guys more often on the return of WWE Superstars on WGN. Sadly they have become the first inductees into the 2009 Future Endeavors class.

TNA crowned new Tag Team Champions this week when "Black Machismo" Jay Lethal and Consequences Creed cashed in their Feast or Fired title shot (which is basically the same thing as Money in the Bank, but TNA will not admit it) to defeat Robert Roode and James Storm. Also, Mick Foley will make his in-ring return when he teams with A.J. Styles and Brother Devon against Booker T, Kevin Nash, and Scott Steiner of Main Event Mafia. I don't believe he has fought in a match since his arrival in TNA so this will be his first match back since he competed in the 2008 Royal Rumble match.

Speaking of the Royal Rumble match, the list of competitors has grown to 9 superstars. They are Triple H, Big Show, Shelton Benjamin, Vladimir Kozlov, The Undertaker, Chris Jericho, Randy Orton, Rey Mysterio, and Kofi Kingston. I'm still putting my faith in Orton to win the match but if the past has proven something, it is that anything can happen in the Rumble.

My First Blog

Happy New Year readers! 2008 has past us by and now we start down the road of 2009. This will be my first, full length blog here on the site so I will be discussing many topics in the wrestling world as the new year begins.

To start with, my favorite pay-per-view of the year is just around the corner, the Royal Rumble. By now, we should all have a pretty good idea about what the match card will be like. Two matches have already been announced to take place. I will predict that we will see two more matches added to the card besides the rumble itself. Edge will most likely challenge Jeff Hardy for the WWE Championship. The question is, what will Matt Hardy be doing this January 25? As you may recall, the ECW Champion Chavo Guerrero competed in last year's rumble (which I still don't quite understand why a world champion would be eligable) so Matt could do the same. What I believe will happen will be Matt Hardy defending the ECW title against the "All-American American" Jack Swagger. Even though he isn't gold on cutting promos (first few months all he could do was point at his face) he is pretty solid in the ring. He earned a title shot when defeating Ricky Ortiz a few weeks ago and has yet to use his chance at the gold (or in this case, silver).

So what about the Royal Rumble match? Which of the 30 will win this year? With Batista out with a torn hamstring, Raw's best bet of winning the match is Randy Orton. Over on SmackDown, Triple H will be the choice to win. I'll be extremely (no pun intended) suprised if someone from ECW wins. So it really just depends who gets eliminated from the match between those two first.

More big news in WWE right now is two TNA superstars plans to jump ship. Tyson Tomko has already fought a dark match against Paul Burchill. The other is Christain Cage. Since leaving WWE in 2005, Christian has become a former NWA World Champion. I personally hope to see Christian returning to WWE since I feel he has been misused latelty by TNA. I heard a rumor that they planned to have Christian be the one who attacked Jeff Hardy before Survivor Series and place him in a fued with Hardy leading into WrestleMania 25. This would probably have to mean that Christian would have to return at the Rumble to cost Hardy the title.

THQ disappointed me a bit by not including legends in SmackDown vs. Raw 2009. This year, they are giving back by creating Legends of WrestleMania. From what I've seen, the game looks very impressive thus far. Sadly, several legends will reportedly not be featured in the game. No suprise should be the abscence of Mick Foley after his jump to TNA over the summer. Then there is the rumored loss of Randy Savage and the tag team Demolition. If this is true, I think it is a real shame since Mach was one of the guys I was most excited about seeing when the game was announced.

I think I have covered most of what I was hoping to in this blog. Until next time...