January 28, 2007

Royal Rumble: Buy or Sell?

By John Miller

Other than WrestleMania, the Royal Rumble is the most anticipated pay-per-view of the year. The Royal Rumble match gives the event a unique feeling, and in the past, the undercard has featured classics such as Kurt Angle vs. Chris Benoit in 2003, Benoit and Chris Jericho’s 2001 ladder match, Triple-H vs. Cactus Jack in their brutal 2000 street fight, and The Rock vs. Mankind in the infamous 1999 “I Quit” match.

Does this year’s Rumble have the same juice as previous years? Let’s break it down…

The Hardys (Matt & Jeff) vs. MNM (Johnny Nitro & Joey Mercury): There’s nothing terribly exciting about this feud, but sadly, the match could steal the show. Methinks WWE should have held off on the Hardys’ first reunion match for this show or Mania.

WWE Champion John Cena vs. Umaga (Last Man Standing): A no-rules, crazy brawl is much more Cena’s style, so it could be worse. Umaga is a truly pitiful challenger though. He has absolutely no shot at victory.

World Heavyweight Champion Batista vs. Mr. Kennedy: Kennedy is an interesting challenger and a change of pace. He’ll have to carry Batista. I’m not expecting much here either.

ECW World Champion Bobby Lashley vs. Test: Test? Really? He’s the best they could come up with? And no offense to Lashley, but he’s pretty green for a world champ. This match exposes the ECW roster’s lack of depth.

The Royal Rumble match: The key to any great Rumble match is tight booking. Take Benoit’s win in 2004; no more than five or six guys were in the ring at once, and the timing of new entrants was perfect.

Last year, there was little doubt Rey Mysterio would win. Fortunately, there’s definite intrigue this year. Shawn Michaels, the Undertaker, Randy Orton, and Edge are all possible victors. With solid booking, this match shouldn’t disappoint.

Buy or Sell? Until Monday, I didn’t realize the Rumble was this week; that’s not a good sign. WWE simply has is too many pay-per-views. Raw, WWE’s self-proclaimed “flagship show,” had New Year’s Revolution on Jan. 7, leaving WWE a mere three weeks to build the second-biggest PPV of the year.

WWE is clearly banking on the Rumble match to sell the show, so it had better be fun. The rest of the card looks mediocre. If you’re dying to see the Rumble match, then by all means, buy the show. However, I will pass. The undercard doesn’t do it for me, and the high probability that Taker or HBK will win the Rumble isn’t overly enticing.