WWE PPV Review: The Royal Rumble 2012

This year's Royal Rumble PPV was awesome!  Even though the ending was a bit of a letdown, there were still a ton of memorable moments and a very good WWE Championship match.  The Road to Wrestlemania has officially begun....



Alright marks...



IT'S SHOWTIME!



*NOTE: All WWE related photos courtesy of WWE.com



Match 1:: Steel Cage match for the World Heavyweight Championship: Daniel Bryan(c) vs. The Big Show vs. Mark Henry

• Solid opener with lots of great selling by Daniel Bryan, carrying the two behemoths to a very entertaining contest.
• Cool move by Mark Henry using the ropes to slingshot Bryan into the cage.

• The dramatic finish of the match saw Daniel Bryan dangling from the top of the cage and The Big Show trying his best to pull the champ back into the ring to no avail.  Pretty predictable ending but it was an awesome sight to see.

Winner and STILL World Heavyweight Champion: Daniel Bryan

Match Rating: ***

There was a really great video package about John Cena after the match that I thought showed the amount of dedication and hard work he has put in over the years.  Love him or hate him, he deserves your respect.





Match 2:: Divas tag team match: Divas Champion Beth Phoenix, The Bella Twins and Natalya vs. Kelly Kelly, Eve, Tamina and Alicia Fox

• Nice to see the divas given more then 3 minutes to put a match together.  I think they really showed that they can entertain just as good as the guys if given the right amount of time.
• Cool splash of everyone on the outside by Kelly Kelly.
• Beth Phoenix was just fucking awesome in the final moments of this match.  It seemed like she was definitely sending a message and I was drooling watching her do it. 

Winners: Team Beth via. Glam Slam to Kelly Kelly

Match Rating: **3/4

Up next, there was a quick backstage segment with Johnny Ace, Eve and Zack Ryder.  As soon as I noticed they were giving Ryder his own private room, I knew that his night was not going to end well.





Match 3: John Cena vs. Kane

• A decent back and forth wrestling match with lots of awesome storytelling but a bit of a letdown with all the hype going in.
• Not unlike most matches involving Cena, the crowd was pretty split throughout the match. 
• Kane was great tonight showing a true return to form.  I felt like I was watching the rebirth of The Big Red Machine that struck fear into the hearts of competitors in the late 90s.
• There was also a post match assault on Zack Ryder (as I predicted) and it was very well done.  Kane was downright sick in the final moments, taking out Zack right in front of Eve.  John Cena tries to run in for the save (a little too late) and gets a chokeslam for his efforts.  Cena's turn to the dark side seems as if it will be a very slow one, but I am still enjoying the ride in the meantime.

Winner: The match ended in a double countout after both men started brawling on the outside.

Match Rating: **

The Rock's video package was OK, but I found Cena's was done a little better.  I think the fact that his tribute highlighted a lot of his work outside the WWE, shows just how little he has meant to the growth of the company over the last 7 years.

Match 4: Brodus Clay vs. Drew McIntyre

• This match was pointless, I would have much rather both men have just competed in the rumble match later on.  This match was just another squash that should have been saved for Smackdown.

Winner: Brodus Clay

Match Rating: *3/4

Match 5:: WWE Championship match with special referee John Laurinaitis: CM Punk(c) vs. Dolph Ziggler

• Awesome match with lots of amazing offense by both men.
• More then a few awesome counters in this match including a Sick GTS counter by Dolph into a Fame Asser.
• I love that they limited Johnny's involvement in the match because it was just fucking amazing.  Anyone who doubts CM Punk's claim of being the best wrestler in the world needs to give this match a watch.
• Dolph Ziggler looked like a star tonight.  If Punk's the company's best overall wrestler, Dolph has become it's go-to performer.  Since the departure of Shawn Michaels, I think he has become the heir apparent to the show stealing throne.
• After trying slyly to screw Punk about three times, Laurinaitis finally gets knocked down long enough for Punk to hit the GTS on Ziggler.

Winner and STILL WWE Champion: CM Punk

Match Rating: ****

**Main Event**


The Royal Rumble match

• While it may have been a anti climatic at times, this was easily one of the more entertaining rumble matches I have ever seen.
• Ricardo Rodriguez entered the match hilariously as a poor man's version of Alberto Del Rio.  The guy is very funny and is one of the more underrated performers in the company.
• Kharma entering the match and owning Michael Cole was a cool way to book her return.  She also eliminated Hunico and hit Dolph Ziggler with the Implant Buster before being eliminated shortly after by Ziggler.
• Kofi Kingston delivered perhaps the most memorable spot in Royal Rumble history!  One that was so awesome, John Morrison has to be shitting himself as his great Spider-Man spot from last year has now been topped.

• Santino Marella and Mick Foley's Cobra/Socko showdown was the most entertaining moment of the night.  I couldn't help but smile at the pure genius of it. 

There was also this Road Dogg mark out moment....

• The final moments of the match saw Chris Jericho and Sheamus try and top the classic Undertaker/HBK ending from 2007.  The edge of your seat climax provided by both superstars should be commended, but the finish just pissed most people off.  I get that they want to position Sheamus to be the next breakout babyface, but not this way.  I don't think there was anyone that didn't want to see Jericho add the rumble to his already legendary resume.  It bothered me for the rest of the night and ruined what was an awesome PPV for me.  It annoyed me to the point that the first words out of my mouth when I awoke the next morning were "fucking Sheamus!?".  Still, I'm happy for him and over it at this point and I hope they have something awesome planned to make up for the disappointment they left us with here.

Winner: Sheamus by last eliminating Chris Jericho

Match Rating: ***1/2

Final thoughts: It was a decent show top to bottom.  The Punk-Ziggler match lived up to the lofty expectations I had for it and the rumble provided enough classic moments to make up for the letdown of Sheamus winning.  The number 30 entrant to the rumble match was also a big disappointment, I was rooting for the return of The Undertaker and was left with the second appearance of The Big Show.  It was also a little weird that they did not involve Kane at all given his historic value to the match.  He has now missed his first rumble in 13 years.

Overall PPV score: 7/10





PPV Awards


Match of the night: CM Punk vs. Dolph Ziggler
Performer of the night: CM Punk
Moment of the night: Kofi walking on his hands to avoid elimination
Promo of the night: Nothing too memorable here
Surprise of the night: The return of Kharma




Let me know what you liked/disliked about the PPV




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