(Note: I began reviewing pro wrestling PPVs on a message board since the advent of the WWE Network. These are not quite structured well, but more of a result of random notetaking).
2008 Royal Rumble Review
(Originally Posted on February 24, 2014)
January 27, 2008
New York, NY
Background: The WWE was in a transition period here as 2007 was far from their best year. John Cena, who had been the longest reigning WWE Champion in almost 20 years, suffered an injury that had him vacate the title and had him missing Wrestlemania. Hell, 2007 was basically the year of the injury. On the Smackdown side, Undertaker won his first World Title in 5 years and tore his pectoral, missing most of the year. Edge came in and snatched the title with a Money in the Bank Contract…only to get hurt byKane. This led to a Great Khali title reign best forgotten. On the Raw side, Triple H tore his other quad in January, and he wouldn’t return until Summerslam. I already mentioned Cena. Not injury related, but Rob Van Dam and Booker T also left the company.
We won’t even get into the worst 2007 tragedy, which was the Chris Benoit situation.
The ECW Brand had suffered through 2007 despite being an entertaining show. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t what original ECW fans had in mind.
Overall, WWE just had tons of issues.
Some new stars were coming up though. Mr. Kennedy, MVP, CM Punk, Umaga and John Morrison were making names for themselves. Some old favorites returned, such as Chris Jericho. 2008 looked like a bright year. With New Year’s Revolution gone, the Royal Rumble was the first PPV of 2008.
The Card
Michael Cole tells us that this is the first ever PPV that is in HD. I think that’s a bit crazy that HD was happening six years ago.
I love the tunnel entrance for MSG. Shame we’ll never see that again.
Career Threatening Match
Ric Flair vs. MVP
This was a few weeks after Vince McMahon told Flair that the next time he loses his career was over. This is one of those exceptions to the rule of a match being less interesting when you know who will win. We all know Flair is winning.
I do think this speaks volumes about how MVP was thought of, considering one of Ric Flair’s final matches was against him.
Flair starts out by telling NY how much of an honor it was to wrestle in Madison Square Garden. MVP interrupts.
MVP was pretty damn over as a heel. I’m surprised that he didn’t become a top guy, but I felt the same about Mr. Kennedy at the time too.
I wonder if Charles Robinson did all the late Ric Flair matches.
Ric Flair def. MVP by Submission in 7:48. Flair counters the Playmaker into the Figure Four. Pretty good match. Flair could still go even at 59 years old, and MVP was a good heel here.
We get some Vince and Hornswoggle stuff, as at this point he was still Vince’s son. He’s trying to get Hornswoggle to distrust Finlay.
Oh man Mike Adamle debut. Totally forgot this. He hypes up JBL vs. Jericho, which even today to me is a bit of a mind boggling feud.
Chris Jericho vs. JBL
Jericho had returned back in November as part of the Save.Us campaign, which led to a match with World Champion Randy Orton. Orton threw Jericho into Smackdown commentator JBL, and JBL cost Jericho the title. The angle took an extreme turn quickly, including JBL hanging Jericho at one point. JBL claimed that he was the real savior of WWE, not Jericho. This was also JBL’s return to active competition after retiring back in 2006. I like JBL and I like Jericho, but this feud really didn’t need to happen and I’m still confused on why it did, especially with a hanging angle in there.
The match is rather forgettable until the end, as Jericho goes nuts.
JBL def. Chris Jericho by DQ in 9:23. The match is rather forgettable until the end, as Jericho goes nuts. Wearing the crimson mask, he bashes JBL with a chair and actually hangs JBL back. Once again, this feud really didn’t need to be this violent.
We see Ashley Massaro trying to take to Maria. Santino is funny here. He’s Maria’s boyfriend, and he isn’t happy that Ashley wants Maria to be in Playboy.
World Heavyweight Championship
Edge© vs. Rey Mysterio
Edge had taken over Smackdown as the top guy in 2007, but injuries messed that up. He returned at Survivor Series and beat Undertaker and Batista in a three way match using the Edgeheads (Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkins) as decoys to win the title.
There’s also a love interest with Edge and Vickie Guerrero, which I always thought was weird since he was with Lita two years prior.
Fans were not into Mysterio here, for some reason. Edge was one of the hottest heels the business had seen in quite a while, he was practically what WWE was hoping Randy Orton would eventually become. Edge gets cheered in his introduction. A “Let’s Go Edge” chant breaks out as well.
Mysterio does botch a couple of moves here. I wonder if he was hurting here, as he would do an injury angle at No Way Out and not even be at Wrestlemania.
Mysterio is getting booed out of the building here.
I think Edge tried to bust out a Brock Lock there. Match revolves around Mysterio’s knee.
Mysterio does some things I don’t remember him doing in other matches. A top rope double stomp for example. A sweet slide under the bottom rope into a Tornado DDT was also a great spot.
Edge def. Rey Mysterio by pin to retain the title at 12:34. There is a great finish here. Vickie comes out of her wheelchair to pull the ref out when Mysterio had the title won. Edge goes for a spear, but Mysterio dodges to go for a 619. Mysterio ends up hitting Vickie with the 619 as she was protecting Edge, distracting Rey. Rey goes for a springboard…something…but he’s speared in midair. That spot has been copied, but it was incredible to see for the first time. Good match, crowd though hated Mysterio and I don’t remember why. Maybe because of just how awesome Edge was at this point.
Kennedy is in Flair’s locker room congratulating him. Looks like he’s about to challenge Flair at No Way Out until HBK comes into the picture. HHH and Batista eventually join them, all talking about how the best man will win the Rumble.
Maria comes out to accept the Playboy deal. Somehow we get Big Dick Johnson dancing in Patriots 19-0 body painting. This was right before the Giants-Pats Superbowl. Anyway….
Mike Adamle with the classic Jeff Harvey line. But…it’s fixed! How disappointing.
Anyway, one of my favorite promo vids happen here for Hardy vs. Orton. Unfortunately, the music is different for the Network as well! Original theme was Rooftops by Lost Prophets. I don’t know what this is. Sigh.
WWE Championship
Randy Orton© vs. Jeff Hardy
Jeff had been getting a megapush beginning in November, even beating HHH to get this title shot. Fans were very behind Jeff Hardy here, and I even believed he had a shot to win the title here. Orton was finally reaching his potential as a dick heel with that Viper focus and beginning his best two year run. He injured Matt Hardy in the build-up, and Jeff hit a Swanton off the stage the Raw before this.
Hardy gets a lot of near falls in this and the fans are with him the whole way. Orton is playing a great heel.
Hardy starts hitting some risky stuff, a flying bodypress off the apron comes first.
Orton even gets creative in his restholds. A leg grapevine and a headlock?
Jeff eventually hits a moonsault off the top rope onto the floor, which looked as sick as I remember it.
Randy Orton def. Jeff Hardy by pin to retain the title in 14:03. Orton and Hardy get back into the ring after the moonsault, and a Hardy Twist of Fate attempt turns into a RKO. I remember not being happy at the time, but the finish made sense. It showed Jeff could hang in a World Title match main event, and put over Orton’s RKO is a legit finisher that shouldn’t be kicked out of a billion times. Jeff’s time will come.
The Royal Rumble
We’ve got six commentators for this one.
At the time, the smart money was on HHH winning. Undertaker winning a 2nd in a row was also a popular choice. Mr. Kennedy was the IWC darkhorse that in hindsight didn’t stand a chance.
Also, it was assumed Big Show would return after being gone for a year.
Michael Buffer doing the “Let’s Get Ready to Rumble” bit was great.
#1 and #2 were the last two of the 2007 Royal Rumble…Taker and HBK. Buffer introduces HBK as The Heartbreak Kid and not Shawn Michaels, which is a bit funny. Nonetheless, one of the all-time great starts and one of the little things that made the Taker-HBK rivalry that much better over the last two years of HBK’s career.
#3 is the comedy Santino spot…which had him trying to pretend to be as tough as Taker and HBK. He gets superkicked in 10 seconds and is gone.
#4 is The Great Khali. Gets the “You Can’t Wrestle Chant”. Taker eliminates him before #5. One great thing about this Rumble is HBK is on Taker at all points. Everytime Taker tries to eliminate someone, HBK is right behind him.
#5 is One-Half the Tag Champs, Hardcore Holly. John Morrison, half of the other Tag Champs follows at #6. Tommy Dreamer gets in at #7 to a good response.
Batista comes in pretty early at #8. Early face-off with Undertaker. They had feuded for most of 07. Dreamer tries to get involved, but he gets dumped by Batista for his trouble.
Hornswoggle comes in at #9…and just hides under the ring. People were worried he would be winning after that…
We get Chuck Palumbo at #10, who was doing a biker gimmick. An injured Jamie Noble is #11, who was feuding with Palumbo at the time. Palumbo gets rid of him quickly.
#12 is CM Punk, who a few days earlier lost his ECW World Title to Chavo Guerrero. He gets rid of Palumbo.
The other half of the Tag Champs Cody Rhodes is next at #13. He’s got awful music. This is when he was a meat and potatoes babyface.
#14 is Umaga. Umaga was an awesome monster heel at this point. Holly seemingly stiffs him with chops, but Umaga no sells and Samoan Spikes him over the top rope.
#15 is bald Snitsky. Not nearly as good at the monster heel thing as Umaga was. #16 is Morrison’s tag partner, The Miz. Some faint Miz chants in there.
JR at this time mentions that Morrison reminds him of a young HBK…but isn’t sure about the heart. Interesting. Seemed right on the money.
#17 is Shelton Benjamin, who does some really cool jumping spots, and gets superkicked out by HBK 20 seconds later.
#18 is Superfly Jimmy Snuka. Gets the legends pop. Takes out everyone. Taker does the headbutt spot where he hurts himself. Roddy Piper follows at #19, and gets a massive reaction. Of course, we get Snuka vs. Piper. Piper was recovering from Hodgkin’s Disease here, and it’s amazing he was in the ring at Mania 14 months later.
#20 is Kane, and he dumps Piper and Snuka, to the chagrin of the crowd. Carlito follows at #21. Him spitting the apple at Cody right away was a nice spot. I think at this point we were past Carlito being any more than he was.
#22 is Mick Foley, who gets a great New York response. Huge Foley chants. He looks pretty solid here.
We get Kennedy at #23, and he gets a solid reaction as well. Didn’t remember that Kennedy used that running kick in the corner than Zack Ryder uses.
Takes starts kicking ass at this point. We get Big Daddy V at #24. During that, Taker eliminates Snitsky, but HBK kicks Taker out right afterwards. Kennedy then tosses HBK. Just like that, we were sure HHH was winning. HBK and Taker put in a really good half hour.
#25 is Mark Henry…who at this point still hadn’t been a total badass yet. That transformation would happen this year (2008).
Hornswoggle comes out from under the ring and takes out the Miz, which was hilarious.
#26 is ECW Champion Chavo Guerrero. Shows how low the ECW title had come…as last year the Rumble winner was allowed to challenge for the ECW Title. Kane takes out Morrison. Hornswoggle tries to take out Cody Rhodes…but Mark Henry pulls him in. Finalyis technically #27, but gets DQed for jumping the gun. We lose Hornswoggle and Finlay here. #28 is Elijah Burke. Chavo takes out Punk…which is probably Chavo’s career highlight.
#29 is HHH himself, leaving what probably is the Big Show at #30. Crowd pops for the Game. Seems obvious at this point it was coming to Batista vs. HHH. HHH takes out Rhodes, Big Daddy V and Cody Rhodes. He also sends Foley out…who clotheslines Burke out at the same time. HHH hits a little bit of everyone waiting for #30.
#30 is one of the best surprises WWE has ever done, as a recently injured John Cena comes out. Cena was slated to not be back till April or May. Complete stunner.
Cena takes out Carlito, Henry and Chavo. HHH, Kennedy, Umaga, Cena, Kane, Batista left. HHH and Cena go at it. Batista ends the Kennedy dream, and takes out Umaga as well. Batista and HHH eliminate Kane, leaving Batista, HHH and Cena. All three do their taunts.
Batista dominates early, so much for stamina being a factor. Cena eventually counters a Batista Bomb, and HHH clotheslines Batista out.
I didn’t even realize pointing at the Wrestlemania sign was even a thing at this point. Fans are solidly behind HHH here. Some obvious back and forth here. They both tease finishers and knock the other down. Cena teases the FU (AA) elimination spot, but HHH survives. HHH goes for the elimination, but Cena counters for the FU, to which HHH counters into a pedigree, to which Cena finishes it off with a FU elimination. John Cena wins the Royal Rumble, last eliminating Triple H at 51:26.
Very good Rumble overall. HBK and Taker carried it early on. The Snuka-Piper spots were nice. It lagged a bit between HBK and Taker being gone and HHH showing up. Cena surprise, while I didn’t like it at the time, was one of the best surprises WWE had ever done. HHH and Cena were #29 and #30, and were the last two remaining, which is how it should be storyline wise.
Last Thoughts and Grade
From top to bottom this is a solid Pay-Per-View. MVP vs. Flair was solid. JBL vs. Jericho was okay, but not bad. Edge vs. Rey had some tough moments but made up for it with Rey’s selling (unless he was really hurt, which he might have been) and spectacular finish. Orton vs. Hardy was done well. Rumble was good, surprise was shocking. A lot of good to very good, but I would say nothing great.
Final Grade: B+