Royal Rumble 2007 PPV Review

Posted in In My Head by Jack at 04:48, Jan 29 2007

It?s Royal Rumble time one again. I must admit this event is one of my favorites. Like the Survivor Series, and WrestleMania, the event as a long history that goes back to my childhood. Unlike the Survivor Series, (which has undergone several format changes), the Royal Rumble has remained true to its original concept. A shot to headline WrestleMania is once again on the line, as well as a well built up match between Cena and Umaga. Tonight?s show has just the right gimmicks and match-ups to be a great show, lets see if it can live up to Rumbles past.

The show opens up with a nice recap of Royal Rumbles past, followed by highlights from matches of tonight?s lot of hopefuls. Pyro and the familiar voices of J.R., Jerry Lawler, JBL, Michael Cole, Tazz and Joey Styles start the show just prior to MNM hitting the ring.

Match 1: Hardys vs. MNM
MNM starts out with some quick tag outs, and some basic brawling. As the advantage swings in the Hardy?s favored, the match still remains a basic punch and kick fest with very little in the way of aerial entertainment. Still the action moves smoothly, and the crowd is enjoying what they see. The match goes on for longer than I would have thought, but once they neared the finish, the action really picked up, and one well executed false finish, and real finish later, the Hardys find themselves with a win. Again I though this was a little long, but it was still a good effort on the part of all participants and the show is off to a good start.

We then go backstage for a Royal Rumble number drawing, and a little storyline building between Edge and Orton. Both draw numbers but keep them secret. The segment is followed by a cute video package with children acting as the younger versions of WWE stars, and then a Test/RVD highlight.

Match 2: ECW World Champion Bobby Lashley vs. Test
The match opens up with a great show of strength by Lashley, who goes to his arsenal of high impact moves every early. The two manage to avoid the boring punch and kick fest I feared would occur. However in avoiding it, the two instead decided to use wear-down/rest holds very early in the match instead. Fortunately the two get going again before the crowd got restless. In an unexpected, and inexplicable twist, Test opts to take a ten count rather than try to win the championship. Lashley throws test back in the ring after the match and hit his finisher, but there is no salvaging the match at this point. Ending matches like this on a PPV is just terrible.

Next it?s backstage for Cena?s physical, and a little interaction with him and Vince McMahan, who makes it clear he hopes Cena loses tonight.

Match 3: World Heavyweight Champion Batista vs. Mr. Kennedy
Both men go to strikes from the start of the match, with Batista taking an early advantage. Kennedy is able to reverse the momentum when he begins working on Batista?s knee, which becomes the story of the match. Kennedy carries the bulk of the match, but in the end Batista hit a desperation spine buster to get the win. If they wanted to put the belt on Kennedy, he certainly was putting on a match worthy of a title change. That was not to be the case however, and the finish came so quickly, and with so little build up that it wasn?t very satisfying. That combined with the fact the Kennedy seemed to be a much better worker than Batista, made the finish feel even stranger. This was a good match, but Batista just didn?t do much here, and as a result it turned into a Kennedy showcase.

Once again it?s Rumble number picking time, again without anyone revealing their number. A Cena vs. Umaga video package is then played prior to the next match.

Match 4: WWE Champion John Cena vs. Umaga (Last Man Standing Match)
The match starts out with the two going right at each other, with Umaga getting the early advantage by attacking Cena?s injured ribs. Umaga remains in control for the majority of the match, working a slow but effective pace for this style of match. In fact he only lost control by way of low blows, or steel stair strikes from Cena. Cena does his best Shawn Michaels impression here taking a huge beating throughout the match. When Cena finally mounts a comeback towards the end of the match, it takes, tables, steel steps and a disassembled ring in order to keep Umaga down for the 10 count. This match was well done, with Cena doing a good job of selling, and Umaga keeping the action moving at a pace that made the last man standing format seem all the more real.

Once again we go backstage for more number drawing, this time with Sandman Ric Flair, and sadly Extreme Expose. An excellent video package showing endings of Rumbles fast is then played prior to the night?s main event.

Match 5: 30-Man Royal Rumble Match
I?ll spare you an entrant-by-entrant rundown of the rumble and just give you the highlights. The match started with Ric Flair and Finlay followed by Kenny Dykstra, and Matt Hardy. As one might expect the match was primarily a punch and kick affair with various people clinging to the ropes for dear life. Things picked up a bit when Edge and Kane hit the ring, as they each eliminated a few of their opponents rather quickly. The next big moment in the match was when Kahli hit the ring late and dropped everyone with a series of head buts and chops and then goes on to clear out most of the ring. His reign of terror is ended by the Undertaker, leaving Orton, Edge, and a knocked-out-on-the-floor Shawn Michaels. The Orton & Edge vs. Taker portion of the match was great, and showed that all three are in fact at the top of their game. They even had time to continue to foreshadow the inevitable break up of the tag team champions. Eventually Michaels re-entered the fray and eliminated both Orton and Edge, leaving Michaels vs. the Undertaker as the final of the Rumble. What followed were a few more minutes of wrestling magic that had the crowd on its feet from start to finish. In the end, Undertaker was able to counter Michael?s Sweet Chin Music, enabling him to dump Michaels over the top rope, sending The Undertaker to yet another WrestleMania main event.

This may be the easiest summery of a PPV I have written in a long time. This show was good. From start to finish everyone got their moneys worth. The show was so good in fact that the ridiculous ending of Lashley/Test can be forgiven. If your looking for a WWE PPV worth spending money to see this is it. Tonight Kennedy shows us why he?s sure to be a top draw one day, and Edge, Orton, Undertaker, and Michaels show us why they already are. Do yourself a favor and buy this one.