Royal Rumble 2006

First off, here is the Rumble order of entry and elimination.
in1 HHH, in2 Rey Mysterio, in3 Simon Dean, out1 Simon Dean (Rey and HHH), in4 Psicosis, out2 Psicosis (Rey), in5 Ric Flair, out3 Ric Flair (HHH), in6 Big Show, in7 Coach, out4 Coach (Big Show), in8 Bobby Lashley, in9 Kane, in10 Sylvain, out 5 Sylvain (Lashley), out 6 Lashley (Kane & Big Show), out 7 & 8 (HHH), in11 Carlito, in12 Chris Benoit, in13 Booker T, out 9 Booker T (injury?), in14 Joey Mercury, in15 Tatanka, in16 Johnny Nitro, in17 Trevor Murdoch, in18 Eugene, in19 Animal, in20 Rob Van Dam (Huge POP!), out10 Animal (RVD), in21 Orlando Jordan, in22 Chavo Guerrero, out11 Chavo (HHH), in23 Matt Hardy, out12 Tatanka, in24 Super Crazy, in25 HBK, out13 Murdoch (HBK), in26 Chris Masters, in27 Viscera, out14 Matt Hardy (Viscera), in28 Shelton Benjamin, out15 Eugene (Benoit), in29 Goldust, out16 Super Crazy (Rey), in30 Randy Orton, out17 Benoit (Orton), out18 Vis (Carlito & Masters), out19 Masters (Carlito), out20 Goldust (RVD), out21 Orlando (Orton), out22 Mercury (HBK), out23 Nitro (HBK), out24 Shelton (HBK), out25 HBK (Shane? is that allowed?), out26 Carlito (RVD), out27 RVD (Rey flung by HHH), out28 HHH (Rey), out29 Orton (Rey)

So, how was the Rumble Match? Well, I was certainly affected by the real-time reaction of the crowd, and I enjoyed watching Rey Mysterio win the Rumble after a two-on-one with former Evolution members Randy Orton and HHH. All the while I was thinking, “It’s two-on-one. C’mon, if Rey doesn’t win now, this is a big letdown…” and at the same time thinking “But this is HHH we are talking about…”. Therefore I was into the finish when it happened.

As a PPV, the first few matches were forgettable, the Main event matches weren’t that exciting, and Taker thinks he’s more important than Edge or Cena or Angle or Rey or the Rumble itself, for that matter. I was wondering for the longest time why they put the Rumble Match before the two title matches. I now understand why, it was all for the Undertaker segment and the ring collapsing. I guess it’s good to set up stories for the next few weeks, but not at the expense of the emotional high of Rey Mysterio winning.

Now you have to find an opponent for Rey at WrestleMania 22. Rey vs Angle? There is no interaction between the two since Angle won the title. What concerns me a little bit is the fact that WWE played a segment from the 2001-2005 Rumbles, and how Austin, HHH, Brock, Benoit and Batista have all won the Rumble and then went on to win their WrestleMania Main events and win the title. I’ve watched enough WWE to assume that when they point something out, usually the opposite happens, and in this case it would indicate that Rey will not go on to win his match at WrestleMania. It is nice that many of the top matchs are notdefinite at this point, it will be interesting to see how things unfold. Previous Rumble results made it easy to predict who would win at WrestleMania (HHH@WM18, Brock@WM19, Benoit@WM20, Batista@WM21). This year we don’t even know what the matches are going to be. And that is good too.

Notes:

I thought I was watching TNA for a second there with the Cruiserweight match… Ashley should not be in the ring. Man, what a waste of $250,000… Is the Boogyman so bad in the ring that he beats the longest reigning WWE champion in Smackdown history in 3 minutes?… Rey comes out with Eddie’s low rider and T-shirt. I wanted that T-shirt a while back… Eugene sort of surprise, I hope he’s better… Matt Hardy is dry humped by Vis. Somehow, I don’t feel too sorry for Matt… Shane McMahon’s dorky dane seems worse everytime I see it… Cool Cena entrance, that maybe should have been reserved for WrestleMania… Somehow, I’m not that upset with the Edge loss. I wasn’t that behind Edge winning it the way he did, and I would have hoped he would have won it with some build-up. That said, I have no clue what he will do at WrestleMania… I don’t like how Eddie’s name pops up every three seconds, and they should pay his family everytime an angle is used in connection with Eddie… HHH had some nice comedy when drawing his number. I wonder what would happen if he played the cool heel or a babyface with lots of comedy. We sorta saw it with Eugene in 2004…