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Royal
Rumble Preview
01-15-03
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Some people
get excited about Christmas.
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This year,
the Rumble comes to you from the Fleet Center in Boston, a
good town for wrestling. The crowd tends to be older, more
hip to the heels and enjoys longer, more violent matches.
Think of them as Philadelphia fans, with just a touch more
class.
The undercard
is not the strongest they have put together in recent months.
The Dudleys vs. Regal and Storm will probably be an entertaining
match, and it was built to rather well. I am most excited
in seeing whether or not the Dudleys get their win here, which
would seem a natural, but the belt has been bouncing around
too much recently, so I would say that the Storm and Regal
hold on.
Torrie
vs. Dawn Marie. Let me break it down like this: this
will suck, but it will end the storyline once and for all
times. This was a terrible feud, though I did enjoy some of
the gratuitous T&A it provided, but with the killing off
of Al Wilson, it can now end. By the way, this is not the
first time the WWE has killed off a character and not the
real being. When Pepper, Al Snow's Chihuahua got eaten, the
WWF put up a little blurb on the website saying that he had
"gone on to pursue other projects."
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Sorry.
Still stuck on Torrie vs. Dawn Marie
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Big
Show vs. Brock could be interesting. The match will
likely suck, except for the visual of Brock putting Big Show
down with the F5 again, but the way they present the storyline
will be interesting, as Heyman always has a few tricks up
his sleeve. Brock has to win, but they'll be tricky about
it.
The
Return of the Undertaker will be an event of some
kind, but the hints they have been dropping indicate that
he will be coming back as old school, purple-gloved, Dead
Man Undertaker, which would make me very happy.
HHH
vs. Steiner for the Bling-Bling belt. You know, this
has been built up nicely, though the fight on Monday wasn't
very good. They may be able to put on a match that the fans
will like, and that has a good amount of drama. I will say
this: there is no way Steiner walks out of the building with
the belt. Nope, not going to happen. Triple H won't job after
giving up so much to Steiner over the course of the build
up, and Steiner is not the answer to the WWE's problems, and
I think they know that. Triple H wins in a screwy ending of
some sort.
Angle
vs. Benoit for Angle's WWE Championship. Yep, this
will be the match of the night guaranteed. We've seen this
match a dozen times before, but Angle is the best worker in
the world, Benoit is in the top five, and they have a style
that meshes so well. Look for a strong ground attack from
both men. Angle is still hurting, but he's put on great matches
before in this kind of condition. Angle wins, just to set
up for the Showdown in Seattle: Angle vs Lesnar.
Which
brings us to the Royal Rumble itself. It is well-built this
year, with not just everybody fighting to get #30, but the
Michaels/Jericho working for #1 and #2 is a nice touch, and
will open the match with a strong match up. I look at this
as a weaker Rumble over-all, especially with the contestants
they have announced.
As far
as the winner: Brock Lesnar is the only choice. They way they
have built the Lesnar vs Heyman feud dictates that he has
to win the Rumble to get the shot at Mania. There is a dark
horse, as I think that RAW may want the win, and giving it
to Jericho may be an option.
I'd say
this show has potential, though there are a couple of areas
that are likely to be bowling shoe ugly. Angle vs. Benoit
will steal the show, as usual, and that the Rumble itself
should be pretty good. All in all, it should be a decent show,
though I doubt it will approach the level of WrestleMania
or SummerSlam from last year.
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