New York City, NY - January 2008
CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Coming into this show, the WWE Champion was Randy Orton, the World Heavyweight Champion was Edge, the United States Champion was MVP, the Intercontinental Champion was Jeff Hardy, and the ECW Champion was Chavo Guerrero. Beth Pheonix was the WWE Women's Champion, The Miz and John Morrison held the WWE Tag Team Championships, and the World Tag Team Champions were Hardcore Holly and Cody Rhodes.
If I saw this show, I don't remember it - though its possible I did. Madison Square Garden always makes for a great setting for any wrestling show and it gives a warm reception to the first wrestler to appear on the card - "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair. Flair was in the midst of his final run in the WWE with every one of his matches being fought under the stipulation that if he lost, he'd be forced to retire. His opponent tonight is the United States Champion, MVP. MVP controls the majority of the match and credit has to go to Flair for taking some his stiff and brutal offense, including an absolutely nasty big boot to the jaw in the corner. This match is rescued by Flair being so popular but I kinda wish he'd actually done something dirty to get the win as MVP shouldn't have been losing to a 57 year old man and part of the fun of Flair avoiding retirement should've been him using all of his years of experience to cheat his way to victory (until he couldn't against Michaels at WrestleMania). Instead, he basically just gets beaten down for 5-6 minutes and then magically applies the Figure Four and MVP taps out without suffering any prior damage to his knee. (1.5/5)
Next up, Chris Jericho vs. JBL. Jericho is in tremendous shape, lean and mean, while JBL looks flabby. Still, JBL was never a "body" guy so it doesn't really matter. I like how heated this one was, Jericho taking the fight to JBL and refusing to back down despite knowing he was going toe-to-toe with one of the best brawlers of the time. Even after getting seriously bloodied, Jericho remains in this fight. I'm wondering how Vince felt about the "color" they got but considering that this feud, if I recall correctly, ended well before Mania, I'm guessing he wasn't super pleased by what these two tried to do here, which was almost a tip-of-the-cap to the ultra gory match JBL had with Eddie Guerrero a 3-4 years prior. Despite it being a DQ finish, I dug it as Jericho basically just threw away the match - which he was already wrestling with somewhat reckless abandon - and delivered a devastating (and unprotected) chairshot to JBL's skull. Jericho then followed it up with by tossing a chair into JBL's face back in the ring for good measure. (3/5)
The World Heavyweight Championship was on the line next as Edge defended his title against Rey Mysterio. This match has a strong reputation of being one of Edge's best non-gimmick singles match and I'd have to agree - even though I think much of the match's best moments of storytelling come from Mysterio, who does an expert job of selling a damaged knee while still winning over the crowd (who were somewhat anti-Rey to start things) through hope spots and high-risk maneuvers. I'm not sure I would consider this a must-see classic as it really comes across a bit more like a strong TV match rather than an all-time great PPV match, but its a fun 15 minutes of action that accomplishes what it needs to by getting tons of heat on Edge and Vickie while still making it clear that Mysterio is no push-over - though, with Mysterio taking a big spear to the mat to lose, its not like he was necessarily "screwed" or lost due to overt interference. By this point, the seeds had already been planted for Edge/Taker at WrestleMania so very few believed Rey had a real chance of winning the title here, but kudos to Edge and Rey for still making this a quality contest. (3/5)
After some "cool down the crowd" segments including a Kennedy/Flair/HBK/HHH/Batista moment backstage and Maria doing the Kiss Cam (only to get interrupted by Santino), its time for our next contest - Randy Orton defending the WWE Championship against Jeff Hardy. This might've been Jeff Hardy's peak popularity time and there were considerable rumors that he'd be getting the WWE Championship at some point, but - spoiler alert - it doesn't end up happening on this night and wouldn't at WrestleMania either. Still, there are moments when it seems like Hardy might pull it out and Orton and him have good chemistry. The first great spot is a baseball slide dropkick to Orton that sends him neck-first into the barricade. It looks absolutely brutal and is a great example of what Orton giving a shit looks like. As the match goes on, Hardy hits a number of big high-risk maneuvers, all selling the story that he's willing to do whatever it takes to win the title. Orton, meanwhile, tries to keep the match ground-based, which doesn't always make for the most exciting offense out of him but does play into the clash of styles. The finish "comes out of nowhere" a bit as Hardy attempts a Twist of Fate but gets it countered into an RKO. I'm not sure the "outta nowhere" thing was a "thing" yet, but if not, maybe you can point to this victory as one of the first major examples of it as the crowd is silenced by Orton landing the move and ending the match so abruptly. While this match doesn't usually get the same level of accolades as the Edge/Mysterio match, its every bit as good, maybe even slightly better. (3/5)
Its Royal Rumble time - Shawn Michaels and the Undertaker kicking things off in a "rematch" from the previous year's final 2. Its the first clever touch in a match that was loaded with nice little moments, especially considering that, at the time, the projected winner was Triple H and not too many fans were excited about it. So, to please the NYC crowd, the Rumble was built around interactions and the star power that the WWE had on its roster, starting things off with HBK and the Deadman and rounding out with Batista at #8 (with hometown hero Tommy Dreamer also getting a spotlight in the opening 10). What's sorta fun about this match is watching HBK and Taker serve as the bedrock of a 30+ minute match, taking bumps and selling for all sorts of talent - from Hardcore Holly to CM Punk, who gets an awesome spotlight by hitting running knees on just about everybody before getting clobbered by Taker. Now, there are some stinkers in this match - Chuck Palumbo, Snitsky - but at least they're big dudes, so their eliminations feel like big deals. In another nice moment to appease the NYC hardcore, Jimmy Snuka comes out and, soon after, Roddy Piper shows up to renew their rivalry only for both of them to get eliminated by Kane. At the time, Piper and Snuka making appearances seemed a bit cloying and it hasn't exactly aged well considering that Snuka is now recognized by some as a murderer, but if you can ignore that - its an unexpected surprise and put a smile on my face. Mick Foley comes in soon after. I think he wrestled maybe once or twice more for the WWE, but is incredibly out of place in here. Like, its more believable that Snitsky could win the Rumble than Foley at this point. What's even crazier to think about is that this dude became TNA/NWA Champion later in the year. Yeah. Not a good move. As the numbers climbed we got more guys that had zero chance of winning - Big Daddy V, Chavo, Elijah Burke - until Triple H comes out at #29. Oh, the Michaels and Taker eliminations are great too as they subtly tease their impending WrestleMania match without going full bore on it. This was an absolutely brilliant move because he was the favorite and when he comes in and starts tossing motherfucks, it sets the table for #30 - JOHN CENA! At the time, Cena was considered a huge longshot and practically nobody was predicting he'd be back as he had suffered a significant injury (I forgot what kind) and wasn't expected back for several months beyond this match. Triple H's facial expression to seeing Cena is brilliant too. As much as I've criticized him over the years on this blog, I've got to give credit to Triple H here - he knew his character and he reacted to Cena stealing his thunder perfectly. Things eventually whittle down to Cena, Batista, and Triple H and we get each man performing their requisite "taunt" to eachother like this was a game of Revenge. Good stuff. After Bats gets the outs, its down to Triple H and Cena and eventually Cena counters a pedigree attempt to toss Triple H with an AA to the outside. Again, there's not many guys that you can point to that Triple H put over with 100% effort, but Cena might be the guy that he did it for if you look at the results of WrestleMania 22 and this Rumble match. This was an above-average Rumble match to me, a good mix of fun, a good group of talent, and an all-time great shocking surprise winner. (3.5/5)
The 2008 Royal Rumble is one of the better shows I've watched this year, buoyed by two solid World Championship matches and one of the most memorable, goosebump-inspiring Rumble finishes of all time, plus a bit of a hidden gem in Jericho and JBL's wild brawl. With a solid Kwang Score of 2.8-out-of-5 and mostly above-average matches throughout the show (and, had I reviewed this in 2008, its possible I'd have been a bit more kind to the Flair/MVP opener), this is one I think is worth checking out in pieces.
FINAL RATING - Watch It...With Remote in Hand
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