And with that, another Royal Rumble is in the books. It was sort of a bummer Rumble in my opinion, as even with the return of Rob Van Dam, the match itself was a bit lame, and you could sense for most of the match that it was a "coming out" party if you will for Legacy and more importantly - Randy Orton.
Orton's win secures what should be a title match with John Cena at WrestleMania XXV, and I wouldn't doubt that Orton wins the title this time around, and even as a heel champ, I think that they are pushing him to being one of the more hated title holders in WWE history. The issue will be the talk about Cena heading into the match, and knowing that he likely even in Houston will get his share of cat-calls from the crowd. With that, ealry on I am thinking that Orton will walk out of Houston with the belt.
On the other hand, I felt that the Edge-Jeff Hardy match will get quite a few "Match of the Year" votes. I felt this was by far the best 1-on-1 match these two have ever had, and I would love to see this one again, but it appears that that won't happen with the company throwing the curve ball between Matt and Jeff Hardy. Here are some more random thoughts from this years edition of the Royal Rumble:
1. Talk About a Bury Job of Matt Hardy - Two straight clean losses to Jack Swagger should have tipped us all off that something was going to go down between Matt and Jeff Hardy, but it seemed odd that Matt, a guy on the rise in ECW as their champion, would take two quick and clean losses to the still very green Swagger. Seems now that Swagger will be the title holder for awhile.
2. I Never Knew She was THAT Flexible - The highlight of the women's title match between Beth Phoenix and Melina had to be Beth taking Melina's OWN leg and hitting her in the head with it. A wild sight and I can honestly say a move that I have never seen before. With that, I fully expect that we'll see Phoenix and Melina in a rematch at Mania, as these are the two best women wrestlers in the company right now.
3. JBL vs HBK at Mania; Is There Any Doubt? - I'm pretty sure we can book that one right now based on the way things went in the match between John Cena and John Bradshaw Layfield. Shawn Michaels played the old "who do I take out" delima, and in the end of the day, he kicked JBL first, then Cena for good measure. While Michaels for all intensive purposes "did his job," you can see a stip match with JBL and Michaels coming in Houston.
4. Does This Mean No Christian? - All the talk about the eventual title change to Edge did happen, but the thought was it would come out that Christian, who would be making his WWE return, would be the guy behind the attacks recently on Jeff Hardy. Instead, in an angle we've seen already I think twice, Matt turned on Jeff, thus setting up what will be another "brother vs brother" feud and putting the two in a match at WM 25. Maybe we won't see Christian till after Mania.
5. The Rumble Itself was a Snoozer - Yes, I am saying it - I thought this years version of the Rumble wasn't all that great. Most of the real heavy hitters came out quickly, leaving mostly mid-card or flat our jobber guys for the second half of the Rumble. Now I realize that every year can't be a winner, but knowing that Triple H and Randy Orton were the two favorites, having them out there most of the night was kinda stale. All I can say is I hope they continue to develop Orton's character.
Now that it's over, having Orton win was pretty much the only thing they could do with the storyline set forth Monday night, and now he'll be on his way to Mania to challenge Cena. They have had plenty of matches in the past, so it will be interesting to see what they do to freshen the storyline between the two.
Labels: 2009 royal rumble, john cena, randy orton, Rob Van Dam, triple h
