2006 Royal Rumble Thoughts

   The 2006 Royal Rumble had some very questionable matches and outcomes in my opinion.  Weeks earlier at New Year's Revolution after surviving the Elimination Chamber, WWE Champion John Cena was forced to defend the Title against Edge, who was cashing in his "Money In the Bank" contract.  Edge was the new Champion and while that was a great moment and a rematch at the Royal Rumble was expected, I disliked Edge losing the Title so quickly.  There were a few other forgettable matches and once again to my dissatisfaction, the Rumble match was not the main event.  The biggest glaring problem of all was how forced everything felt.  We were just two months removed from the untimely death of Eddie Guerrero.  Everything revolved around him and I felt they were exploiting his death, almost to the detriment of the Rumble winner.  

Pre-Show Match - Finlay vs. Brian Kendrick

   This match aired on Sunday Night Heat, right before the show kicked off.  It was an odd match in the way that it had no storyline tie-ins.  Kendrick was partners with Paul London, in pursuit of the Smackdown Tag Team Championships held by MNM, while Finlay's character was that of a tough Irish fighter.  Finlay won the match and there's nothing more I can say here. 

Cruiserweight Title - Cruiserweight Open Match

Kid Kash vs. Funaki vs. Gregory Hemls vs. Jamie Noble vs. Nunzio vs. Paul London

    Though tag team partners with Brian Kendrick, Paul London was also pursuing the Cruiserweight Title held by Champion at the time, Kid Kash.  The most memorable spot here was when London performed a Shooting Star Press to the outside on all of his opponents.  Helms had shed his Hurricane persona and got a little more serious and it paid off, as he became the new Cruiserweight Champion,

Mickie James vs. Ashley Massaro  

 The angle of Trish Stratus vs. Mickie James had fantastic story telling.  Unlike the Sable/Tori stalker story years prior, there was so much depth to this one.  Mickie took things to new lengths to portray a woman that had straight up lost her mind due to her fondness of her idol. Trish arguably had a lot more natural charisma than Sable did and Mickie James had that "It factor" that Tori did not.  Ashley Massaro was a friend of Trish and was concerned for her safety. Mickie took exception to this and used Ashley as a pawn in her twisted game.  Trish was the referee for this match and stayed impartial. Mickie won and later earned herself a shot at Trish's Women's Championship.  

JBL vs. The Boogeyman

   The Boogeyman had his eyes on JBL and his assistant Jillian Hall.  At the time, Jillian had a hideous growth on her face that no one was supposed to talk about.  Of course, everyone did!  The Boogeyman was known for doing gross things including eating worms, which made everyone turn in disgust.  Not to be outdone, the Boogeyman decided to eat Jillian's growth.  Wrestling, what can I say?  I can't make this up, yet someone was sick and twisted enough to do it.  The Boogeyman defeated JBL in just minutes and stuffed worms down Jillian's throat. Yeah, that happened!

Royal Rumble Match

   Earlier in the evening, wrestlers were shown choosing their numbers, which was one of my favorite things about the earlier Rumbles.  Rey Misterio was shown, looked at his number, looked up, and mentioned how Eddie Guerrero used to like to do things like this.  The exploitation of Eddie's death continued because based on this moment, everyone knew Rey got stuck with a low number and ultimately would likely win the match.  Rey started the Rumble as the number two entrant, along with number one Triple H.  They fought each other throughout the match but briefly teamed up to eliminate the annoying health guru Simon Dean.

   The ring then started to fill up with superstars, including Ric Flair, Big Show, Bobby Lashley, & Kane.  The Raw Tag Team Champions Big Show and Kane teamed up to eliminate others but soon targeted each other.  Triple H took advantage of this and eliminated both from the match.  More wrestlers entered the Rumble, such as Chris Benoit, Booker T, and making his comeback to WWE, Tatanka!  When Rob Van Dam entered at number 20, he cleaned house and eliminated several participants.  Meanwhile, both Triple H and Rey were still in there from the beginning.  Shawn Michaels entered at number 25 and after eliminating a few others, Vince McMahon's music played. This distracted HBK and with his attention towards the ramp, Shane McMahon, who was not a competitor in the match, eliminated Michaels.  Michaels came back into the ring to deal with Shane but Triple H prevented it.  For his troubles, Triple H was treated to some Sweet Chin Music.

   Randy Orton entered at number 30.  The final four were Orton, RVD, and the two men that started it all, Triple H and Rey Misterio.  RVD and Rey teamed together to try and take out the former Evolution allies.  The high flyers were briefly in control and RVD went up to the top rope, intending on delivering a Five Star Frog Splash to Orton.  The Game threw Rey into the corner, which eliminated RVD.  Rey escaped a double team and executed a 619 on both men.  After being eliminated by Rey, an irate Triple H returned to the ring and attacked Rey.  Though it looked like easy pickens for Orton, Rey was able to eliminate the Legend Killer and won the Royal Rumble.  In addition, Rey also became the new record holder for length of time in a Rumble, with 1:02:12, beating the previous record holder Chris Benoit by just 42 seconds.

   Everyone saw Rey winning a mile away and knew it was inevitable he would become a Champion at WrestleMania months later.  To reiterate, the entire thing felt forced.  It was bad enough Rey was so much smaller than every other competitor but his reign also failed because he was booked to look extremely weak.  There's a difference between being portrayed as weak and portrayed as an underdog.  Unfortunately, it was the former.

WWE Title - Edge vs. John Cena

   Edge made history by cashing in "Money In the Bank" to win the WWE Title from John Cena.  In between two long reigns by Cena, there was a bit of hot potato with the Championship.  I know some people dislike that term but I dislike many unnecessary Title changes in a short period of time.  While I enjoyed the actual match, I didn't like that Cena won it back in just three weeks.  Cena ended up defending the Title against Triple H at WrestleMania, whereas Edge competed against Mick Foley.  I would have rather they waited the full year for Edge to cash in if they didn't feel Edge/Foley should headline, instead of a worthless 3 week reign for the Rated R Superstar.

World Title - Kurt Angle vs. Mark Henry

   Earlier in the month, Batista was forced to relinquish the World Title due to injury.  A Battle Royal on Smackdown was to determine a new World Champion and Kurt Angle was the winner.  Henry was the last to be eliminated so he wanted a chance at the Title against Angle in a one on one match.  The match was historic, as it was the first time two Olympians battled in a WWE ring.  Although Henry had the strength advantage, it wasn't enough to put Kurt Angle away.

   Angle won the match but during his celebration, the lights went out.  The Undertaker then appeared, riding out ominously on a horse-drawn carriage.  He approached Angle and suddenly the ring collapsed, as if it were the Undertaker issuing a challenge for the Title.  I would have preferred that match happening at WrestleMania instead of No Way Out based on the calibre of it.  If they were still set on Rey winning at WrestleMania, Angle wasn't needed as Rey's personal feud with Randy Orton would suffice.  Also, Angle would have been a much better opponent for the Undertaker than Mark Henry.  This Royal Rumble certainly had its ups and downs but at the end of the day, it just wasn't up to par with others.

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