ROYAL RUMBLE
The 2012 Royal Rumble comes to you live from St. Louis, Missouri.
Video package hyping that the winner gets a WrestleMania 28 title match.
Steel Cage Match: World Heavyweight Championship: (C) Daniel Bryan d. Mark Henry vs. Big Show (C)
Bryan applied the LeBell Lock on Show, but Henry got the breakup. Big Show got up and KO’d Henry, but Bryan made the save on the pinfall attempt. Bryan climbs over the top, but Show climbs up and stops him at the very top, grabbing Bryan’s arm as he’s now on the outside. Bryan dropped down for the win at 10 minutes. Decent match, but nothing special.
Beth Phoenix, Natalya, Brie Bella & Nikki Bella d. Kelly Kelly, Eve, Alicia Fox & Tamina (D)
Kelly went for a pinfall on one of the Bellas before all hell broke loose. Kelly went up top and hit a splash on some Divas on the outside. Beth eventually tagged herself in and hit the Glam Slam for the pinfall at 7 minutes.
Backstage, Zack Ryder is in a wheelchair. John Laurinaitis has a room set up for Ryder to watch the show. Eve came in and said she hopes Ace gets fired on Monday. Ace wasn’t happy with her attitude. Eve countered by calling him an ass, then Ryder said WWWYKI to end the segment.
Kane d. John Cena (D+)
Cena out to a very mixed reaction. “Let’s Go Cena/Cena Sucks” start immediately. Cena avoided the chokeslam, and went on a bit of a run. As he winded up the “you can’t see me,” Kane grabbed him by the throat to a nice pop. Cena eventually made another comeback and hit a 5-Knuckle Shuffle off the top rope, but Kane avoided the following AA. Kane tossed Cena out of the ring, and the two fought up the ramp for the countout finish at 10 minutes. Backstage, Kane lands a series of chairshots to knock Cena out. He looks up and sees he’s in front of Ryder’s room, so he kicks in the door and smothers Ryder with his glove before wheeling him down to the ring. He tossed Ryder into the ring as Eve begs Kane not to hurt him. Kane hits a Tombstone Piledriver on Ryder, as Cena runs out to try and make the same. Instead, Cena gets laid out with a chokeslam. Ryder is carted out of the building again. Overall, a weak match, but an excellent job of building Kane to be a monster. Reports have a rematch booked at Elimination Chamber, probably with some kind of stipulation.
Brodus Clay d. Drew McIntyre (F)
Clay hit a few moves before hitting What Da Funk? running crossbody splash for the pinfall at 1 minute.
WWE Championship: (C) CM Punk d. Dolph Ziggler w/ John Laurinaitis as Special Guest Referee (B-)
Before the match, Ace says he’ll be the outside referee, and calls another ref in to go inside the ring. Vickie Guerrero came down with Ziggler, but was tossed by Ace because she was banned from the match a few weeks ago on Raw. Before the match, Laurinaitis threw Vickie out as Cole mentioned that she was banned for it from a match on Raw weeks ago. Punk hit his elbow drop from the top, but they do the ref-gets-bumped spot. Punk put Ziggler into the Anaconda Vice and was tapping out, but Ace is checking on the ref that got knocked out. Punk is pissed. Ace tosses the ref back into the ring. Ziggler treid to get the upperhand, but Punk hits a GTS, causing Ziggler’s legs to hit Ace in the head in the process. Punk went for another GTS, but Ziggler countered with a Fameasser. Great spot. That was an excellent nearfall. Ziggler went for the Fameasser again, but Punk caught him and gave him the slingshot into the turnbuckle. As Ziggler turns around, Punk hits another GTS for the pinfall at 15 minutes as both refs counted the pin. Overall, a very well done match.
Justin Roberts announces the Royal Rumble rules. 90 second intervals. Pre-match, Miz comes out and says he’s been doubted his whole career, but keeps proving people wrong. He says he’s the first one in, but will be the last one out.
30 Man Royal Rumble Match: Sheamus wins (B-)
I won’t go into play-by-play for this. Here’s the order of entry and elimination, courtesy of the PWTorch:
ORDER OF ENTRY
(1) The Miz
(2) Alex Riley
(3) R-Truth
(4) Cody Rhodes
(5) Justin Gabriel
(6) Primo
(7) Mick Foley
(8) Ricardo Rodriguez
(9) Santino
(10) Epico
(11) Kofi Kingston
(12) Jerry Lawler
(13) Ezekiel Jackson
(14) Jinder Mahal
(15) Great Khali
(16) Hunico
(17) Booker T
(18) Dolph Ziggler
(19) Hacksaw Jim Duggan
(20) Michael Cole
(21) Kharma
(22) Sheamus
(23) Road Dogg Jesse James
(24) Jey Uso
(25) Jack Swagger
(26) Wade Barrett
(27) David Otunga
(28) Randy Orton
(29) Chris Jericho
(30) Big Show
ORDER OF ELIMINATION
(1) Riley at 1:15 (Miz)
(2) Truth at 7:12 (Miz)
(3) Primo at 8:34 (Foley)
(4) Gabriel at 11:26 (Foley & Ricardo)
(5) Ricardo at 12:51 (Santino)
(6) Epico at 13:36 (Foley)
(7) Santino at 14:28 (Rhodes)
(8) Foley at 14:47 (Rhodes)
(9) Lawler at 17:31 (Rhodes)
(10) Mahal at 21:40 (Khali)
(11) Jackson at 21:55 (Khali)
(12) Duggan at 28:31 (Rhodes)
(13) Khali at 28:55 (Rhodes & Ziggler)
(14) Booker at 28:55 (Rhodes & Ziggler)
(15) Cole at 31:25 (Kharma)
(16) Hunico at 31:55 (Kharma)
(17) Kharma at 32:02 (Ziggler)
(18) Kingston at 33:12 (Sheamus)
(19) Road Dogg at 39:05 (Barrett)
(20) Uso at 42:37 (Orton)
(21) Barrett at 42:45 (Orton)
(22) Otunga at 43:33 (Jericho)
(23) Swagger at 45:08 (Show)
(24) Miz at 45:40 (Show)
(25) Rhodes at 45:40 (Show)
(26) Ziggler at 45:55 (Show)
(27) Show at 47:11 (Orton)
(28) Orton at 47:16 (Jericho)
(29) Jericho at 54:54 (Sheamus)
Foley came out in his Cactus Jack shirt, and hit some vintage moves on Rhodes. Santino gave Ricardo a wedgie before throwing him out. Later, Foley took out Socko as Santino brought out the Cobra for a good pop. Foley hit Socko and eliminated Santino. Kingston looked to be eliminated, but landed on his hands on the outside and hand-walked himself over to the steps to keep himself in. Very nice. Kharma returned at No. 21, but only lasted for about one minute. The Road Dogg Jesse James in at No. 23 to a big pop. Miz and Rhodes were in the ring for 40+ minutes. The final four are Jericho, Sheamus, Orton and Show. Show chokeslams Jericho, Sheamus hit Show in the back and Orton hit the RKO for the elimination. As Orton celebrates, Jericho knocks him out to leave just two. Both guys exchanged near eliminations for about 5 minutes. Sheamus hit the Brogue Kick for the win at 57 minutes. Overall, a decent match but nothing really memorable. The show ends with Sheamus celebrating.
Three Stars of the Show
* CM Punk
** Dolph Ziggler
*** Kane
Final Grade: C
A decent show, but nothing special or extraordinary. Kharma’s return was probably the most noteworthy, although that didn’t last all that long. Of note, last year at WrestleMania, Sheamus vs. Daniel Bryan was a dark match. I expect Sheamus to challenge for the WHC on SmackDown for ‘Mania, but it’s a guess as to whether it’s one-on-one or if they add to it in some way. On Raw, I still expect Punk to hold until Mania, with Jericho likely winning the Elimination Chamber to become the #1 Contender.