World Heavyweight Champion Daniel Bryan def. Big Show and Mark Henry (Triple Threat Steel Cage Match)
The big question coming into this match was whether Daniel Bryan would be given a longer run with the title or whether Mark Henry would take the strap. The steel cage stipulation made me favour the former and I was pleasantly surprised that Bryan once again escaped with the title. Show and Henry did a good job of beating up Bryan while he attempted to escape any chance he got. The finish was clever with Show unable to prevent Bryan from dropping to the floor. The one disappointment was the lack of action by Henry, who still might be injured, as Show was the only one that hit any convincing offense.
John Cena Promo
Didn’t we realise that Cena was such a caring and compassionate superstar? Or did we need to be reminded how passionate he is about wrestling? Either way, it was well put together and played well to Cena fans.
Divas Champion Beth Phoenix, Natalya & The Bella Twins def. Eve, Kelly Kelly, Alicia Fox & Tamina
My question about this match was: why waste time on this when the world heavyweight championship match could have gone for longer? Booker T calling the fight a “Diva-brook” was the best part of the match as the Kelly Kelly top rope dive was clearly telegraphed and wasn’t even very athletic. With Kharma returning in the rumble match, Beth destroying Kelly Kelly at the end set up Kharma as the next challenger but apart from that not much here.
John Cena vs. Kane (Double Count Out)
I’m surprised Cena used Benoit’s finisher the Crippler Crossface submission in this match that was pedestrian from both superstars. Kane choked and beat up Cena before inexplicably stopping just as he went to super-plex Cena from the top rope thus leading to the Cena come back. They then fought outside the ring to a double count-out and through to the back. Kane then attacked broken back (no sorry, just herniated disc) Zack Ryder and brought him back to the ring. He then destroyed Zack with a tombstone and Cena with a choke slam. It sets up the two for a match next pay-per-view but hopefully they can do more in ring and not rely on post-match antics to save them.
The Rock Promo
This promo was meant to show that the Rock was both a movie star and wrestler: cue copious gym work and shots of his toned upper body. He harped on about never really leaving the WWE and shining bright at Wrestlemania – yawn.
Brodus Clay def. Drew McIntyre
I read on a IWC post speculating about how they would work the Funkosaurus’ dance into the show and this was it. Clay squashed McIntyre after about 1 minute of offense and just kept dancing. The only surprise was that William Regal didn’t make an appearance to promote the feud.
WWE Champion CM Punk def. Dolph Ziggler (Special Guest Referee John Laurinaitis)
This was the best non-rumble match of the night. Johnny put himself outside the ring to seem impartial and even evicted Vicky as per the match on RAW a few weeks ago. Ziggler once again looked like main event material in this match with some of his offense but never seriously looked like he might pull out the win. The end was well booked with a ref bump and Johnny costing Punk the win after the anaconda vise, a roll up and a couple of GTSs, especially when Punk called Johnny “clown shoes”. Johnny then helped the ref with the 3 count after Punk kicked out of a zig zag and hit a final GTS. [Funnily, this is an almost identical end to the HBK vs British Bulldog WWE championship match with Mr Perfect as special guest referee at the King of the Ring pay-per-view in 1996.] Punk celebrated the win and Johnny just walked away.
Sheamus won the 30-Man Royal Rumble Match
With all the press surrounding Miz and him entering #1, the first half of rumble match was him and Cody Rhodes beating up clear non-winners. Some of the funnier moments were: Ricardo Rodriguez coming out as Del Rio; Mr Socko (Foley) vs. The Cobra (Santino); all the announcers entering the rumble; Kofi Kingston handstand walking back to the ring; and the return of Kharma. By the time Road Dogg came out, it looked like Miz might go all the way but when Show came in at #30, he cleared house and put an end to that. The final four had Show, Orton, Jericho and Sheamus squaring off. After a thunderous RKO to Show, Orton eliminated Show and was promptly up ended by Jericho. Jericho and Sheamus had some near wins but eventually a Brogue kick saw Jericho enter and leave at #29.
The interesting thing about this outcome is that it seems to contradict many predictions about Wrestlemania. Most IWC commentators had either Jericho winning and facing Punk at Wrestlemania or Orton winning in his home town and facing Bryan at Wrestlemania. This might be a deliberate swerve by WWE as it seems that one of those outcomes is now scuttled. They might have Sheamus putting his title opportunity on the line like Mysterio did against Orton but that would seem illogical and Sheamus has worked hard to earn his Wrestlemania moment. Other options could be: Jericho is no longer going to headline Wrestlemania (maybe he could win the Money in the Bank match which he created and get the title of Punk like that) or Orton might need more time off after his back injury. Either way, it was refreshing to see Sheamus win despite Jericho yet to win a rumble in his storied career and he will be good at Wrestlemania.
Overall this was one of the better pay-per-views in the past year or so. The rumble was fun because it was shorter, had some fun story lines and a serious end. Punk retained the title with Johnny Ace calling it straight in a strong match for Ziggler while Bryan retained the title in a match that reinforces his strong run with the title at the moment. Kane/Cena was predictably poor in terms of wrestling but continued the story line coherently and logically. The other matches were typical filler material. As usual, WWE has its thinking caps on leading up to Wrestlemania: may it continue up to Florida and beyond.
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