WWE Royal Rumble 2012 Preview
WWE Royal Rumble 2012 Preview
By John Canton, Andrew Johnson & Christian Michael
John Canton: I’ve always loved the Royal Rumble pay per view. I showed that love last year when I recapped every Royal Rumble match. The concept of the match is wonderful. Even if you think you know what might happen, there’s always a very good chance that something crazy will happen. I didn’t think Cena would win in 2008 or Edge in 2010 because they both made surprise returns. Could there be a surprise winner this year? You never know. The sad thing about the Rumble is that the winner doesn’t really get to “main event” WrestleMania anymore (especially this year), but it’s still one of my favorite matches and I know I’m going to enjoy it like I do every year. Right now there are only four announced matches. I’d expect some kind of midcard match to be added as a buffer to some of the big ones on the card, but I’m not going to guess what they will be.
Christian Michael: It’s that time of year again when we hop on the Road to WrestleMania and this Sunday the first stop will be the Royal Rumble. I love the fact that the Rumble takes place on the week between the NFL Conference Championship games and the Super Bowl. It gives me something to watch on the first Sunday since August with no football. The Royal Rumble is my second favorite event of the year and usually even my non-wrestling fan friends like to watch it. Let’s see what this year’s event has in store for us.
Andrew Johnson: First off, I want to welcome everyone and thank them for taking the time to read this entire preview. I also want to thank John and Christian for their time. But, I want to especially thank Christian for stepping down from the weekly Smackdown review, because now that I’ve taken over people are finally starting to like me. It only took about three years, but whatever.
John Canton: Before we start, just a quick explanation about the preview team. To end last year we had the entire TJR writing staff writing these previews, but it got to be too much. We’ll still be doing columns with the entire staff, such as January’s staff predictions for 2012 and more to come, but for the previews it’s a three man team. After me, the two most senior writers at TJR are Andrew Johnson and Christian Michael, both of whom have covered Smackdown for the site, so they are joining me for the previews. Let’s roll.
Christian Michael: I think we were all expecting this match to take place but not in the confines of a Steel Cage. I think it’s a curious move on WWE’s part to have the match in a cage but one that would lead you to believe that Bryan is retaining the Championship. Bryan has been doing great since he won the gold and begun his heel turn. The match will not be a technical masterpiece because of the two big men but should have enough drama and brutality to keep it entertaining. I think the cage was put in place to give Bryan a “cheap” victory. A victory where he can escape the cage while Henry and Show are knocked out or fighting each other. I hope that after this match Bryan can feud with someone that can match his work rate.
Predicted Winner and STILL World Heavyweight Champion – Daniel Bryan
Andrew Johnson: Watching this feud unfold weekly has been nothing short of a treat. I tend to go on about these guys in my weekly Smacking Of WWE Smackdown report, and for good reason. This three-way feud has been fantastic. Sure we might have had to suffer through Big Show’s blubbering moon face, but we’ve also gotten week after week of exciting main events without a real finish. Bryan defended his title three weeks in a row, successfully I might add, and never really won a match. That’s insane. And while most people might say “Oh, they’re booking him bad, they’re making him look like a weak champion,” guess what, no they’re not. He’s had matches with guys who are generally his own size since being champion and he’s housed all of them. He’s not a weak champion, he’s just a small guy that has to contend with f**king giants. How else is he supposed to get the win? A tickle contests?
The problem isn’t that he’s being booked weak (because he isn’t) it’s that fan expectation is so conditional upon what they’ve seen before. For the past decade we’ve gotten used to seeing a guy like John Cena rise above hate and other obstacles in his path. Cena has taken on several opponents when the odds are supposedly stacked against him (Khali, Big Show, Edge on Big Show’s back, 30 goddamn members of Nexus at once) and he has always come out on top. Shawn Michaels defeating Vader at SummerSlam, Hogan slamming Andre, Rey Mysterio beating literally anyone; we are used to the champions overcoming the odds and winning no matter what. So when we see a small guy going against a bigger opponent, our reaction is usually “Cena wins, yawn” instead of “Holy shit he’s going to die” like it should be.
In reality Bryan is doing what everyone should be doing when they’re up against tanks; trying to win the match by any means necessary. This doesn’t really make him a Lex Luthor type evil villain rubbing his hands together and making a suit out of kryptonite. He’s actually more like Darth Vader; a guy who believes so hard that he’s doing the right thing that he’s willing to orchestrate devious acts and personally sacrifice the one thing that he truly appreciates just to get the job done.
In fact, nobody in this match is inherently evil, at least in the Vince McMahon beating up his own daughter way. They all have a legitimate reason for their actions. Big Show is mad because he was shamed by a guy literally ¼ his size, and his title reign was a joke. Mark Henry is pissed because he’s big and strong and wearing angry black man boots, he’s been taken off the top of the mountain faster then he thought, and now someone else has the prize he’s spent the better part of 10 years chasing. Daniel Bryan genuinely believes he’s the best wrestler of the bunch and he’s willing to go to any lengths to keep the one thing that validates that belief. It’s not good versus evil versus kind good but acting evil. It’s just good story telling. They’re human beings with axes to grind, just like all of us. It’s the kind of story telling we should be expecting instead of the easy overcoming the odds bullshit we’ve seen a million times. So the addition of a steel cage with two big warthogs trying to keep the other from winning while the little guy is trying to sneak out of the cage for another win isn’t played, it makes sense. I’m looking forward to this.
Winner: Daniel Bryan
John Canton: I really hope this isn’t the opening match of the card, but what else would there be? The other three are bigger matches. I guess it depends on if they add new matches, which I suspect. There’s no reason why Big Show or Mark Henry should win here. Daniel Bryan is arguably the best character in all of WWE right now. Scratch that, he IS the best character in WWE right now. They are “giving him the ball” so to speak and he’s taking it to the house in a big way. I love what they’re doing with him. He’s that flukey kind of heel champion that WWE loves to book, but he’s also got the ability to end anybody with a submission hold. The big guys are there to take eachother out, which will allow Bryan to escape with the title one more time. It’s the obvious finish. Guess what, though? It’s the right finish. Don’t be silly, WWE. Do the right thing. Daniel Bryan retains.
Winner: Daniel Bryan
Christian Michael: Raise your hand if you want Cena to turn heel. Ok, put your hand down because this feud is the beginning of it in my opinion. Kane’s whole “embrace the hate” motto will lead Cena to do just that. I think he’ll finally snap and go heel especially since we all know he’s going to be booed out of the building at WrestleMania. The build up to this match has been interesting. Kane’s done a lot of damage to Cena’s buddy Zack Ryder causing Cena to go ballistic and show a real mean streak. I like angry Cena much more than corny Cena. The match should be a pretty good brawl. I don’t think there will be a clean finish because Cena will still need something to do at the next PPV unless they intend to have The Rock appear and screw Cena out of the WWE Championship in an Elimination Chamber Match but that’s not logical. I think Cena goes off the deep end and gets himself disqualified.
Predicted Winner- Kane
Andrew Johnson: In the midst of sounding like a typical Internet Wrestling Fan stereotype equipped with a MITB CM Punk t-shirt I bought for $300 because the guy on Ebay said it was one of the ones sold at the show and that’s SO TOTALLY WORTH IT, I’m not looking forward to this match. But, unlike the typical Internet Wrestling Fan equipped with a YouTube account he uses to post “CENA SUCKS” videos with about a full bag of Cheeto crumbs smeared on the CM Punk shirt he was told was sold at the MITB show but really wasn’t, it has nothing to do with the wrestling. It also has nothing to do with the fact that Kane is trying to get Cena to EMBRACE THE HATE IN ALL CAPS while Cena makes angry diarrhea poopy emoticon faces. I’m just past this whole idea of having to change John Cena, and all this storyline has been since day one is “Yeah we know you want Cena to be heel, but he’s not going to be so shut up.” It’s just this declaration by WWE that they are aware of the fact that people hate the poor guy, even when he’s doing his best to make everyone like him. But, the thing is that the fans aren’t really booing John Cena. They’re actually booing the WWE.
Take that promo where Kane’s whole point weighed on the fact that people chant CENA SUCKS every chance they get. It shouldn’t have taken much. The WWE fans have been booing Cena so long it’s conceivable that he’s already dealing with severe emotional problems. Rising above hate is a good thing, but he’s been rising above it for almost a decade. That kind of thing takes its toll. So the one time the WWE needs the fans to boo him so they can move the story foreword, what happened? The crowd flip-flopped. They couldn’t decide on whether they should go along with what Kane was suggesting or if they should tell WWE they could stick their meta storytelling in their ear. It’s teenage rebellion. So they had to stop relying on the fans to build the story and they shifted the focus to Zack Ryder being murdered by the Firestarter and John Cena (maybe) embracing something that closely resembles hate. What I’m saying is that this story that had a basic and goofy yet excusable premise has spiraled out of control into I Know What You Did Last Summer level insanity, and we have no one to blame but ourselves because we f**ked up the only time they asked us to be a part of something. Way to go, everyone.
(On a side note, I can even look past the ridiculousness of it all because honestly I don’t want pro-wrestling to be like real life. This whole “Reality Era” that people on the Internet tried to make a thing was over way before it started, and I’m thankful for that. I don’t need wrestlers calling each other by there real names and making Colt Cabana references. I don’t know how many of you live in reality, but it sucks. I don’t watch WWE so that I can get another dose of how shitty the real world is. If pro-wrestling wants me to believe Kane summon fire, fine, I’ll buy that Kane summon fire. But, why couldn’t he have just done that to Ryder in the first place instead of watching him change a tire for an hour? He wears a ton of product in his hair, he would have gone up like a roman candle dipped in gasoline.)
So where do we go from here? Either Cena embraces the hate, starts wearing green and becomes an unstable lunatic, or he doesn’t embrace it and continues being an emotionally repressed yuck machine that will eventually snap one day when someone accidentally spills a soda on him. The Rock is three months away, is Kane just trying to get him ready? Is he a demonic version of Mickey from Rocky? I don’t know, and frankly I’ve stopped caring at this point. I don’t need all this Zack Ryder subplot and attempts at exercising the anger out of John Cena. They tried, and I’m just not buying it. At this point I just want to see a five-knuckle-shuffle and some ring posts explode.
Winner, by embracing hate: John Cena
John Canton: Anything other than a Cena win here is stupid. I think it’s safe to say that nearly every person watching this PPV is going to be watching WrestleMania as well. The Cena/Rock match at WrestleMania 28 is one of the biggest matches in the history of WWE with as much buildup as any match I can ever remember. Over one year of build. It’s unprecedented. The reason for the feud with Kane is to make Cena look tougher. You can’t do that by having the guy lose. I’m surprised there isn’t a No DQ stipulation or something to allow them to brawl because that’s what this should be. A straight up wrestling match between two guys like this won’t be pretty. The only reason for Kane to win is if there’s a rematch at February’s Elimination Chamber, but even if there is I’d have Cena win this match. He’s the main event of WrestleMania 28. He shouldn’t be losing to anybody before that night. Yes, imagine that. I want Cena to be booked like a Superman. Why? Because it’s the right thing to do. And no, I don’t foresee Cena turning heel. This story is being done to make him more aggressive and give him more toughness instead of the comedy routine he does once in a while. I like it. Why? Because once again it’s the right thing to do.
Winner: John Cena
Christian Michael: What WWE is trying to do here is recreate Austin vs. McMahon but it isn’t going to happen. As great as Punk is he isn’t Stone Cold Steve Austin and Vince McMahon is infinitely better than Laurinaitis. I will give Laurinaitis his due as he has gotten better in recent weeks, that emotionless expression while taking the GTS notwithstanding. Laurinaitis’ involvement will ruin what could have been a classic match between Punk and Ziggler. Ziggler is just there so Punk can have someone to wrestle. It’s only a matter of time before he gets a real Championship feud. Laurinaitis will try his hardest to screw Punk but it’ll probably backfire and Punk will walk out with the gold.
Predicted Winner and STILL WWE Champion- CM Punk
Andrew Johnson: Watching CM Punk for the past few months has been kind of frustrating. Not because he’s not a great wrestler, because he is. I just don’t know where this guy came from. He’s not the anarchist that ran down the entire structure of the WWE while wearing a Stone Cold t-shirt. He’s not the guy that united a whole (WWE) universe behind him as he challenged the establishment. He’s not dropping pipe bombs. He’s just… not CM Punk. I really don’t know any other way to put it. He’s gone from breaking kayfabe to being buddies with all the other good guys while systematically calling everyone he doesn’t like gay.
There’s a weird dynamic with the WWE fans that I’ve noticed. The majority of them don’t want to cheer for a guy who works hard and gives back to the community and stands up for what he believes in because caring about people and what they think is lame. But, you have a guy like Punk who runs his mouth, bitches and moans, and constantly makes self-serving decisions that benefit no one but himself, and everyone cheers and loves him. How does that make sense? John Laurinaitis might be incompetent boob, but he’s at least well meaning. He’s also the boss, and if I were in his position I’d absolutely be pissed at the guy that’s constantly trying to undermine my authority. It doesn’t matter that he has poor judgment, he’s the boss and if he fails he doesn’t need some trashy subordinate running him down. CM Punk might be “fighting authority” but the truth is he’s completely out of line. If he inspires you to stand up to your incompetent boss, you’re not going to get a match with them to try and settle the score. You’re going to get f**king fired. So you know, good luck with that.
So I’m over Punk, but I’m way into Ziggler right now. His #showoff gimmick is cool as hell, and I’ll never get bored watching him do crunches before dropping elbows on people. Next he should do jumping jacks before a drop kick or fill out his federal taxes between moves. Ziggler is my favorite WWE Superstar not named Cody Rhodes, and I want to see him become the biggest star in the world, but not right now. This isn’t his feud. It’s CM Punk vs. Big Johnny, and Ziggler is Stephanie McMahon’s dog. Or he’s Jericho, and Vickie’s the dog. Whatever.
Winner: CM Punk
John Canton: I strongly believe that CM Punk will win the match here. They’ve done a lot to put Ziggler on his level by having him beat Punk four times with screwy finishes on television, which is a strong sign that Punk will get his win here. The wrinkle that’s been thrown in is that interim Raw GM John Laurinaitis is the guest referee. We also know that on Monday his status as GM will be evaluated by COO Triple H, so the ability to blatantly cheat to help Ziggler is thrown out the window. Or is it? The two scenarios out there are that Laurinaitis will cost Punk the match which would also potentially cost himself his job or call it down the middle and possibly keep his job. What will be? I’m leaning towards the “call it down the middle” idea. Laurinaitis’ best strength in the GM is playing the guy that changes his mind a lot. You never really know what he’s thinking about. They’ve done a good job of setting it up that people are picking one option or the other for the most part.
As for the match, I really wish this was a straight up wrestling match. One of my favorite matches in WWE history happened at the 2003 Royal Rumble as Kurt Angle defended the WWE Title against Chris Benoit. It was a match that featured two of the best workers ever. They had built up a good rivalry and they had a classic. Angle, the champion, retained the title. Both guys were better for having the match, though, because of how great it was. I think Punk and Ziggler have talent close to that. However, due to the storyline hanging above the match with Laurinaitis in the picture it has made Ziggler look like an afterthought, as I’ve said weekly in the Raw Deal and Andrew mentioned up above. Here’s to hoping they get 15-20 minutes of great wrestling in there before the finish, which I’m assuming leads to a CM Punk victory as previously mentioned. I just want to see two of the best show why they are at the level they are at. Give them a chance to shine and they will.
Winner: CM Punk
Christian Michael: I’m so glad that they returned this match to 30 Superstars. 40 was just too much. This is my favorite match of the year even though it doesn’t mean what it used to. WWE can proclaim all they want that the Rumble winner goes to the Main Event of WrestleMania, but that’s not true. WrestleManias 22, 23, 24, 26 and 27 all saw the Royal Rumble winner NOT in the Main Event. It was even worse last year when Alberto Del Rio and Edge battled in the opening match. This year’s winner won’t be in the Main Event either as we all know that The Rock and Cena’s match is the Main Event. The Royal Rumble Match just doesn’t mean what it used to because of that and because next month someone will win a chance to get a Championship Match at WrestleMania in an Elimination Chamber Match. Still, I get very excited for this match.
So, who’s going to win? As much as I’d like to see a first timer like Ziggler (I think he’ll find his way into this match just like he did last year after having a World Heavyweight Championship Match) or Cody Rhodes win it, I think two former World Champions are the favorites: Randy Orton and Chris Jericho. The Rumble will be in Orton’s hometown and will portray the returning hero after being out with an injury. Jericho said the world as we know it will end at the Rumble. Making a bold statement like that means he plans on doing something big and winning the Rumble would be big. WWE has been rumored to want to do Punk vs. Jericho at WrestleMania and this would be the easiest way to get there. Orton has already won a Rumble while Jericho has not and that’s why I lean towards Jericho. I’m sure there will be a few surprises along the way and Mick Foley’s involvement in the match should be fun.
Most Eliminations – Brodus Clay
Person That Lasts the Longest – The Miz
Final Four – Chris Jericho, Brodus Clay, Randy Orton and Cody Rhodes
Winner – Chris Jericho
The Royal Rumble always makes for a fun night. So sit back, enjoy and Let’s Go G-MEN!!!!
Andrew Johnson: This is the one match John said “go a few paragraphs on” but I honestly can’t think of much to say. I’m not the fantasy booking type (because it’s dumb) so I’m not going to try and come up with a moment for moment plan of the Rumble, but there are a few things I’d like to see happen:
- Cody Rhodes needs to look like a beast. I’m not saying he needs to win, or he needs to get the most eliminations, but I want to see him drop a few guys not named Tyler Reks. He needs to toss big names, like Orton or Sheamus. Cody Rhodes is awesome and I want to see him do well so maybe this is wishful thinking, but I just don’t want to get to a point where he’s near the cusp of being one of the main guys and then I blink my eyes and he’s suddenly Ken Kennedy. Just kidding, he’ll never be Ken Kennedy. Cody has talent.
- If there’s no Funkasaurus, I riot (in my living room, because duh).
- I want Mick Foley to matter. I’m not saying he needs to be in there long, or he needs to get like 10 eliminations, I just want it to be a moment that leads to a future moment. I love Mick, and I want to see him on my TV as much as possible. Even if he’s on 30 Rock having to share screen time with Charlie Bit My Finger, I’m comforted knowing that he’s there. A lead up to something at WrestleMania would be awesome, because that assures many Foley moments for weeks to come. And that’s good. Really good.
Other than that there’s no rhyme or reason to my picks. Just gut instinct really. Let’s not over analyze it.
Most eliminations: Sheamus
Person that lasts the longest in the match: Cody Rhodes
Final four: Cody Rhodes, Wade Barrett, Randy Orton, Chris Jericho
Winner: Chris Jericho
John Canton: It’s hard to write this like a regular match because it’s a match that will get close to an hour of time with 90 second intervals for each participant (assuming they stick with that) and 30 different superstars in the match. There’s no listing of who is in the match although some of the favorites that are in it have spoke about it in promos. All we know is that “everybody” is eligible to be in it, even guys who wrestled earlier in the night and possibly the WWE & World Champions as well. There are so many ways that this could go down, so I’ll have to break up my ideas the best way I can. I’m going to do something similar to Andrew with some bullet point predictions.
- Chris Jericho hasn’t had a real match since returning. I know that fantasy bookers are thinking he could be number 30, have a few guys eliminate eachother and then he walks into the ring as the winner of the match. I think that would be a crappy ending. If he’s going to be in a top match at WrestleMania they need to showcase him here. I think he’ll be one of the first five competitors and last all the way until the very end in a similar way to Ric Flair’s performance twenty years ago. Will he win? That’s to come.
- Hornswoggle will be in the match. I won’t find it funny. Vince McMahon will.
- I think Cody Rhodes will be eliminated by his brother Goldust, who will be a surprise in the sense that he’s not a regular on camera performer these days. There’s a very strong rumor that they will wrestle at the Elimination Chamber PPV similar to Cody’s feud with Booker T. It won’t be at WrestleMania because they’re doing a Money in the Bank match at WrestleMania with Cody as a favorite to win that.
- A lot of people ask me for surprise entrants. I don’t feel like guessing. I didn’t get the sense that Booker or Nash were showing up last year. That surprised me. I want to be surprised again. I guess the Road Dogg could be one because he works backstage in WWE now, but is that a big enough name for people?
- I’d assume Undertaker returns after the Royal Rumble. Only reason to put him in the match is if Triple H (his possible WrestleMania opponent) is in the match and he eliminates Undertaker to set up their next match in Miami. If they were both in they should have been advertised.
- I don’t believe The Rock, Brock Lesnar, Steve Austin, Batista or any other potential huge name is going to be in the match. Austin’s not wrestling. If Rock was going to be there, they should have advertised it. Lesnar is more of an outside shot, but I think if he returns to WWE it will be later in the year.
- I assume that Christian will return here. As far as I know he should be recovered from his ankle injury. He might have been recovered a few weeks back, but it’s likely they wanted to save him for this. It will be great to see him back in action assuming he’s a part of this match.
- There will be a spot in the match where Brodus Clay does his Funkasaurus dance similar to Rikishi in the 2000 Rumble. How about a surprise appearance by Rikishi for a dance off? Could be funny.
- From the earlier matches on the card, I think Kane and Ziggler are locks to be in the match. I doubt CM Punk, Big Show or Mark Henry would be in it. John Cena is a possibility although there’s no point unless he’s there to go after Kane because their match doesn’t end in a clean manner. It would be funny if Daniel Bryan, the reigning World Champion, was it on the basis of him wanting to win just to prove he’s the best. It would add to his growing ego as the heel champ.
- I’m a little upset that I can’t make my “Mark Henry is a threat to win” jokes this year. They didn’t really put over any midcarder via battle royal wins or dominant performances on Raw or Smackdown. Perhaps Mason Ryan could have filled that role as somebody I could joke about winning that really has no chance, but the booking was lazy this year. You ruined my fun, McMahon.
- Randy Orton will enter in the final third of the match. He’s coming off back injury that sidelined him for a month. It would be wise to protect him. I’d expect him to be the one to eliminate Wade Barrett. If Daniel Bryan is in the match for some reason, they should have Orton eliminate him too.
- My pick for number 30 is Mick Foley. I think he’ll eliminate Dolph Ziggler, who I think will enter the match in the final third and both of them will be in the final four. I have a feeling that will be a WrestleMania match based off their promo on Raw a couple of weeks ago. Foley will eliminate Ziggler, leaving people to think that maybe the returning veteran will win. I don’t think so. Chris Jericho will toss him out, leaving us with two.
- I think Randy Orton will win the Royal Rumble. It’s obvious that the two clear favorites are Randy Orton and Chris Jericho. I’m hoping that at WrestleMania the WWE Title match is Punk vs. Jericho and World Title match is Bryan vs. Orton, so does it really matter who wins? Not really. I think each guy is going to get that title shot no matter what happens. I’m going with Orton for three reasons:
1) When he lost the title to Mark Henry in the fall I believe it was done with the idea that he’d get the title back at WrestleMania. That’s how WWE books these things. It doesn’t matter that he won in 2009. They’re focused on this WrestleMania.
2) Last year a heel won. Traditionally babyfaces win. Throw in the fact that it’s in Randy’s hometown of St. Louis and I think the show will end with a triumphant Orton celebrating with the crowd. A babyface ending is a nice way to end your second biggest show (in terms of viewers it is) of the year.
3) By booking it this way, Orton gets the win while Jericho shows that he dominated the match, claiming that he is still the best in the world. There’s plenty of time for him to become the number one contender to face CM Punk. The guy that wins the Rumble always gets put over huge. That doesn’t mean he has to be the biggest star of the match. That honor can go to Chris Jericho.
Most eliminations: Chris Jericho (My second choice would be Sheamus)
Person that lasts the longest: Chris Jericho
Final four: Randy Orton, Dolph Ziggler, Mick Foley, Chris Jericho
Winner: Randy Orton
Can you tell I love the Royal Rumble? It would be so much fun to book this match. Here’s hoping it’s a memorable one once again. It’s actually the same poll I put in Canton’s Corner two weeks ago. Jericho won with 60% of the vote after over 3,000 votes. Now that the Rumble is actually here, who will the winner be?
I won’t be doing a Canton’s Corner column this weekend. When there’s a WWE PPV that means no Canton’s Corner. I’ll be back live on Sunday night to write about the Royal Rumble at thejohnreport.net so join me for that or read about it after you watch the show. Any questions or comments? Send them to john@thejohnreport.net.
Follow us on Twitter: John @johnreport, Andrew @TheAEJohnson & Christian @Christian_973.
Enjoy the Royal Rumble!
Is there any way both Y2J and Randy win, maybe that’s the twist that there talking about one winner from SD and one from Raw?
Most Eliminations – Kane
Person That Lasts the Longest – Chris Jericho (most of that time out of the ring)
Final Four – Chris Jericho, Kane, Wade Barrett, Snoop’s bodyguard
Funny how if Henry was in he’d actually be a threat to win. Funny how things change huh.
I’d say Orton wins Rumble. Jericho gets his shot by winning an Elim Chamber #1 contender match for Punk’s title. Pretty easy to do it that way.
Boy, that would be lackluster if Orton won it again.
I think that there is actually a chance that the Rock actually wins it as a surprise entrant. He IS a “Superstar” after all. That would definitely be an interesting twist.
Of course, like you said John, WWE would likely advertise it if he was going to be involved. But, they’ve done stranger things before. Cena was unadvertised when he won, and he was still the biggest draw in WWE at the time. Plus, Royal Rumble does pretty good on buyrates anyway.
Who knows? Anything can happen in the WWE!!! (Right Vince?)
they could do something similar to the 1994 Rumble when Lex Luger and Bret Hart both won when their feet hit the floor “at the same time”, then on Raw HHH announces that Orton goes after Bryan, Jericho gets Punk
to quote myself, I don’t THINK this will happen, as it makes Elimn. Chamber pointless, just saying it’s a possibility
Not only can I read about the Royal Rumble, but if I click on the ad to the right I can save 15% on my car insurance with Geico. Win win.
Am I the only one that thinks Jericho will cost CM Punk his championship? Or that The Rock will make a special appearance in order to eliminate John Cena from the Rumble?
And now the ad is not there anymore…weird.
Really hoping Orton doesn’t win it… I actually, would be thrilled if it was someone totally out of left field. Both Y2J and Orton are favourites… Why not give us something different?
Also, I know everyone is banking on Jericho/Punk at WM… But part of me is really hoping they throw us a nice curve ball here and have it be Jericho/Taker instead.
On a complete side note, what about the ‘she’ in Jericho’s videos? That reveal could play into the Rumble too.
My five picks are The Miz, Jericho, Randy Orton, Triple H or John Cena. Hard to narrow it down to one. Surprise entrants might include The Rock, Batista or Brock Lesnar. Whatever happens I just hope that this is a solid PPV and a great kick start to The Road To WrestleMania.
I would fuckin hate it if cena wins clean over Kane. That would be a total waste of Kane. Let Kane annihilate Cena. Have Cena go nuts and get himself DQ’d. Kane wins and Cena’s story goes in a better angle.
They just don’t need Cena to win to make him look like a maniac. There are ways around it.
World Title Match- I voted for Daniel Bryan and keep the belt and defend it at Wrestlemania against most likely Orton.
Cena/Kane- I voted for Cena to win this match in a aggressive manner.
WWE Title Match- I voted for Punk to win this match but I hope that it’s a great back and forth match that helps soildify himself in the main event level.
Royal Rumble Match- I voted for Jericho to win and go on to face Punk at Wrestlemania. But wouldn’t be surprised if Orton wins.
Most Eliminations- Sheamus
Person last the Longest- Chris Jericho
Final Four- Orton, Barrett, Ziggler, Jericho
The Rock is not a WWE Superstar, he is a Gueststar. He wants to be known as Dwayne Johnson & DWAYNE JOHNSON IS A FILMSTAR.
Doing nothing for WWE for the last 7 years & getting a Wrestlemania 28 match with Cena is ENOUGH; & now you think that he may WIN THE ROYAL RUMBLE MATCH?!! I wanna copy a Vicky Guerrero line, “Excuse Me …. I said Excuse Me!”.
Thats how much I hate this idea.
From left field – Drew Mcintyre wins the RR. He is getting air time, crowd reactions and is VKM Chosen One remember???
@Steve
Hell to the motherfucking no!
Much better than the War and Peace sized previews you did last year. And Andrew Johnson’s writing has improved tenfold since he’s been given Smackdown so kudos to him.
And how come the Funkasaurus only got one vote in the poll, seven less than Hornswoggle. I know he’s not winning but c’mon.
Theres a few things people seem to be forgetting, Jerichos promo said “she holds the key to my return” and now he finally said “it’s the end of the world as we know it” – that’s going to play out over the next coming weeks. I think it would be bigger if Jericho won the rumble because it would give him more build.
Orton could just walk into the championship match and no one would blink an eyelid.
I would love to see Bryan enter and say he’s going to win so he can take the night off at Wrestlemania, I want it every year but it never happens. Would be a great heel thing to say.
I’ve said before that Rocky as a surprise entrant would be great and to have him throw out Cena would be even better. Then I realized this is WWE and I can almost see them playing Rock’s music, Cena turns to wait for him, gets thrown out, and Hornswoggle appears and laughs and runs under the ring.
Totally off topic but i got to say this can everyone please stop talking bout how being the #1 entrant is any worse than being the #2 entrant they start the match together!
Rikishi in a surprise dance off, John?!?!?!?!?!?
That’s kinda tough since he’s dead!
@The Game
Rikishi is very much alive. You must have him confused for Umaga.
Ha. The ads are generated randomly. Not up to me what they are.
Consider the phrase ” for the first time, every superstar will be eligible”. Who hasn’t been eligible before? Women? Midgets? The Honky Tonk Man? No, world champs. They don’t want to end JL-Punk yet. Punk gets screwed, Ziegler becomes champ, Punk wins Rumble. Plus then Punk upstages Jericho, planting a WM seed. Just a thought.
Surprised none of the writers mentioned Jericho saying “the world is gonna end as you know it”. Was he only implying that he will win the Rumble or is he planning something much bigger that will start this Sunday?
The Boogeyman makes a surprise entrance at the Rumble 2 scare da shit out of those lil kids lol.
Like I said before, Triple H is going to win the Royal Rumble. I don’t care if it defies current logic, but all signs friggin point to it. I’d like to know Mr. Canton’s idea on this. Since “everybody” is eligible to participate, Triple H will come in because he is still a “superstar”. He is supposed to appear next week on Raw as well, meaning he can cut a promo about his win. He could also displace Johnny Ace. Hell, the HHH-ster may even turn heel and act as a heel authority figure who abuses his powers and face CM Punk at WM. Does anybody else agree on this? I’d like to know because otherwise, I think I will have the last laugh!
@MVF
After Ziggler’s schmuck World Title reign last year, I don’t think WWE intends to have Ziggler have another short reign. I mean, this guy will prob get a long title reign anyways, and he may be a favorite to win the MITB match at WM anyways. I just want to note something else. Ziggler to me is alot more credible than Cody Rhodes as a World Champion. Right now, I’d say Ziggler is 90% built up (he is lacking that top-tier championship feud that ensures his spot in the main event crowd), but Rhodes is 70% built up (he still is IC champ, and hasn’t had any upper-midcard feuds. Ziggler faced Edge last year, and he got some rub from that as well.
I know this is overplayed but this is how I see the end of DBry’s match.
Big Show knocks Mark out for twenty. He grabs a “trying to escape” Daniel Bryan, stands on the top rope and attempts to chokeslam him straight through the ring floor.
Suddenly AJ comes running out with her sweet and injured self (sporting a neck brace or something). She talks Big Show into not chokeslamming her bf, and Big Show acts conflicted for a while before he lets go of DBry. Before he can climb down. DBry drop kicks him in the gut forcing him to fall down awkwardly. Then DBry moves on to beating the life out of him with a chair. AJ screams for DBry to stop, but of course he doesn’t. Instead he orders the refs to give him the chain that locks the steel cage, and uses it to draw lines across Show’s skull and body.
Then he either pins him or locks him in the LaBelle and forces Show to pass out. He then gets the win and goes for an over the top celebration within the ring.
AJ gets in but runs past DBry and goes to check on Show. DBry notices and tries to pull her away. She fights back, but DBry just shouts at her to listen to him and get away from Show. She reluctantly follows him out of the ring and backstage.
Yes. Bombard me with the soap opera-y feeling, but forgive me for caring even a tiny bit about the love fest that WWE’s been cooking up between AJ and Bryan for a while now. I see this “relationship” with AJ as Dainel’s final rung towards complete heel-dom. He needs the sweet and innocent person to destroy when the time comes for him to turn into a truly heartless man.
In the end….I CAN’T WAIT FOR SUNDAY!!!! (Side Note Fact: This is honestly the first Royal Rumble match up – the 30 man match – for me, since forever, where I truly don’t know who’s walking out as the winner)
@John Canton
Just last week I thought I was tripping balls when I bought something online then came here and an ad for the site I was just on was telling me to buy more shit at a discount not offered to me the first time around. I was like WHAT THE HAYELL?!? This site is becoming self aware. Don’t let Skynet win!
@Romeo
Yea Cody hasn’t had any upper mid card feuds, I hated when he was feuding with that jobber Randy Orton
I could be wrong, but I think I heard Lauranitis say something on Raw about every superstar being eligible this year…so I’m thinking one possible scenario could be one of the champions winning the rumble, and unifying the two titles at Wrestlemania.
Devastated they didnt show Cena’s angry face on the raw recap from smackdown ;p
punk to win the rumble after being screwed by HHH.
Jericho wins the Rumble. Holds off naming who he will face at WM until after Elimination Chamber. Here’s the kicker, he’s in the Elimination Chamber match for one of the titles – which he wins. Unifies the titles at WM!
But seriously, I’d like to see Barrett win the Rumble. Sets up a very nice scenario with a four-way match for WHC at WM (Barrett, Orton, Bryan & Sheamus).
Jericho can’t not do anything after his promo on Raw, it kind of takes the wind out of his sails, if he doesn’t interfere in Punk Ziggler, win the rumble, or at least reveal who “she” is
I’m leaning more and more towards a unification match at Mania with Jericho winning both the Rumble and then adding himself to a Chamber match?
‘Reclaiming what is his’ could be the undisputed title?
Can also see something silly like Binny Mac winning after re registering as a ‘superstar’
Or Vinny Mac…
@British Bulldog
Never actually thought about that, got a lot of merit behind it.
It’s the end of the world as we know it – having two titles?
Possible. I like it.
I disagree with Orton winning the Rumble because it’s in St. Louis. WWE hasn’t given Superstars much love when they’re wrestling on a PPV in front of their home crowd. In 2011, we saw Punk win at Money In The Bank in Chicago, but we also saw Beth Phoenix lose at Night of Champions in Buffalo and Zack Ryder didn’t get a chance to wrestle for the US Championship at Survivor Series at MSG.
Orton will be in the Final 4, but they’ll book Jericho toss out Orton in order to use the St. Louis crowd to get Jericho over as a heel.
Orton should win the rumble and unify the whc and wwe title at WM. Then, he will go out again and rko the rock and cena to end the show. Orton will hold both title until WM29 where he will face the undertaker to end the streak. If wwe knows how to book things right, they should do this because no one is better than randy orton.
My predictions are:
Bryan to retain, Punk retain, Cena to win & Jericho to win the rumble.
I think Daniel Bryan will be involved in the Rumble as an entrant to stir up a match with Orton for Wrestlemania and possibly Hacksaw Jim Duggan seen as he won the 1st and this is the 25th anniversary.
Must say, Orton doesn’t even make my top 5 winners.
Jericho, Sheamus, Undertaker, HHH and Christian.
Sheamus just seems to be killing time by destroying everybody. If we don’t get Sheamus/Barrett, it’s gotta be Shamoose.
The WHC match will be an interesting one, considering Henry blew his knee out (again) at Smackdown.
My picks: Bryan, Punk, Kane by DQ
Final four: Orton, Jericho, Rhodes, Ziggler Winner: Jericho
@Romeo
I don’t want HHH to win the Rumble, but I’d rather see HHH/Punk and Jericho/Undertaker at Mania. I’d prefer Jericho to win the Rumble, but not challenge any champion on Raw. He’s held every title, but he wants to do something more important: end the streak. This would end the world as we know it, the world of Undertaker being undefeated at Mania. They could save Jericho/Punk for Summerslam.
I understand it would be cool for HBK to be the ref for HHH/Taker, but I don’t need to see HHH/Taker for the third time at Mania. Let HHH put over Punk and give us a new opponent to attempt to end the streak.
Cena will in fact embrace the metamusil
@Kwyjibo on the Loose
That’s pretty funny.
It’s a far away chance, since WWE doesn’t like remembering things (or doesn’t like US remembering things). But do you guys remember the Cena/Punk match? do you guys remember that it was to be called the “WWE Undisputed Champion”?
Just saying.
Not to mention Jim Ross getting humiliated everytime they are in Oklahoma
I just came up with a new theory. I think Jericho will win the Rumble because of what he said: “it will be the end of the world as we know it”. I think you guys are right, he will win the WWE title somehow, then try to unify the world title as well. His video promo showed him winning and becoming the unified champion. Additionally, it would be the end of the “world title”. Jericho or the HHH-ster. Seems more like Jericho now though.
D-Bry vs Henry vs Show: D-Bry wins just because WWE kind of promoted the fact that he would be in a championship match at this WM. However, rather see Henry win.
Punk vs Ziggler: Punk wins. Ziggler is not WM main event material yet, but he’s getting there. Besides…
…Royal Rumble Match: Jericho wins, and gets his “Best In The World” style back from Punk, which is what I believe those video promos were about.
Cena vs Kane: Cena wins. If he did lose then it’ll be because Rock interfered which I think is a little too soon, or Ryder interferes to get revenge on Kane, but it backfires on Cena to a lost. Now Cena has to embrace the hate. Just my predictions.
Is the triple threat match still gonna happen, I mean after what happened at the end of Smackdown last night is Henry going to be able to compete ?
i think theyv defo sed every1 is elegible so they can put 1 or both ov the champs in ther. i rekn hhh will make an appearance. possibly enters with a few eliminations and left by himself then undertaker returns, the brawl and eliminate each otha(leading to ther much talkd about match at mania) . an orton or jericho win seems most likely. maybe jericho decides to challenge taker instead of a champ? wud b great! hhh cud turn heel on monday on punk and put himself in the world title match against punk after “tradn” a match with taker with jericho?
possible mania card…
heel hhh vs punk for wwe title
(hhh putn his in-ring career on the line maybe?)
dbryan vs orton for whc
jericho vs taker
rock vs cena
8 man money in the bank
now thats 1 stakd top card…!!
I think if they do have the World champions in the match, I’d like for something like this to happen. After D-Bry wins his match, he enters the Rumble thinking he is gonna make history. That is until he is eliminated by a certain Viper. Orton chucks Bryan out. Bryan sits outside looking heart broken, but then changes to furious. He rushes the ring and chucks out Orton ala Angle-Michaels ’05. He locks Orton in the Lebell Lock and has to be pulled away. This then leads to Bryan “apologising” to Orton, claiming that anyone would have done it, even Randy himself. Bryan tries to weasel out of it, until it finally happens. Bryan goes full heel when he tries to re-injure Orton’s back. This leads to Orton gaining a title shot, and eventually facing Bryan for the gold at ‘Mania. Sound good?
Hey again guys. Looks like everyone has their $$ on Y2J.
Pretty much has to be a Raw winner.
Daniel Bryan will obviously retain controversially in the steel cage. This half fills the chamber itself, adding Sheamus, Orton & Barrett. That’s when DBryan loses his title.
@Mayne28
If the whole feud is based on a catchphrase, I will bang myself against the wall.
I hope Bryan retains until Wrestlemania. I would like to see him use brains to win at the Rumble (and maybe put a long shift in for the rumble itself), and then use his submission skills to win convincingly at EC. Daniel Bryan will then be solidified as a legit main-eventer.
I also expect to see HHH, Punk, Shelton Benjamin, and maybe even the Undertaker in the Rumble.
Y2J for the victory.
Calm down dick fluffers, no championships will be united any time soon.
Way out of left field (actually a fusion of two suggested “twists” to the Rumble):
Final 4 are Jericho, Orton, either Cody or Ziggler, and yet-to-be-announced #30. Some combination results in all three being eliminated, and #30 is automatically in a “Title Match at Wrestlemania”. Foley out as #30. Announces right off the top of the ramp that he’s already decided what title he challenges for at Mania: “Raw GM”. They can designate #1 contenders for both Raw and SD at Elimination Chamber.
I’m dreaming, I know, but it’d be pretty sweet, right?