First of all let’s talk about the United States title match during the pre-show between Antonio Cesaro and the Miz. This was a pretty basic match. Nothing really special about it. I went into this match figuring Antonio would keep the title and I was right. Rumor is the WWE is grooming Derrick Bateman with his patriotic all American gimmick to be the one to beat Cesaro but we’ll have to see about that when it comes. What really got me about the match was the injury to Miz’s ankle. For those of you who didn’t see it, basically Miz was on the top rope. Cesaro moved in and Miz, it appeared, tried to leapfrog him. However, the Miz’s left leg caught Cesaro throwing him off and causing him to land rather awkwardly on his right ankle.
The first match of the actual card was the World Heavyweight championship Last Man Standing match between Alberto Del Rio and the Big Show featuring a little Bret Hart cameo. First off, I hate seeing one of the top two titles open the show. I’ve always felt this hurts the credibility of the title and let’s face it, the WHC is pretty minimal compared to the WWE title as it is. Secondly, I’ve been enjoying ADR’s face turn. He’s played the part well and the only real problem I’ve had is the sudden humility which seemed to come out of nowhere just because he’s a face now. As for the match itself I found it pretty entertaining. Not the best last man standing match ever but there were a few good spots, especially Del Rio’s trip through a table on the stage. The ending makes sense given who ADR was fighting but it’s still rather unoriginal as John Cena did the same thing to Batista a few years ago.
I loved the little promos they did with some of the Rumble participants. Growing up on WWE in the late 80s and early 90s, I saw these types of promos all the time before the Royal Rumble and it was really cool to see it done again. Kudos to WWE on that one. I was very surprised by the tag team title match. Going into it I expect Team Rhodes Scholars to win it. However, surprisingly enough Kane and Daniel Bryan continued their winning ways. As for the match itself, eh. It wasn’t bad but nothing really stood out as it was the same match these four have had many times, proof once again that the WWE still has a lot of work to do before their tag division will be what it once was.
Rumor said there was supposed to be a Diva’s title match on the show but it got nixed for whatever reason. I could say a lot about that division, but that’s a rant for another time. The Rumble match itself…this remains one of my favorite matches all year and I love seeing the surprise entrances. I usually go out of my way to avoid those spoilers cause I’d rather be surprised. This year’s surprises included Goldust who put on a good showing including a fun bit of work with brother Cody, The Godfather who was pretty much there for his entrance…though why were his “ladies” dressed more conservatively than a lot of the regular divas? Anyway, one of the big surprises was the appearance of Chris Jericho who had a great performance lasting a long time in the match and proving that a few months off didn’t take anything away from him. I also want to briefly mention the performance of young Bo Dallas. For the few people who don’t already know this, Bo is the son of former WWE star Mike “IRS” Rotundo and nephew of Barry Windham. This was Bo’s first match on the main roster and the WWE gave him a lot of time in the match to really show what he could do. It was a pretty good performance and I’m interested to see what comes next for him though it looks like that will be a program with Wade Barrett…maybe. Then there’s the elephant in the room that everyone’s talking about: John Cena winning the Rumble. I admit, Cena was one of my predictions to win it along with Dolph Ziggler, Randy Orton, and Sheamus. Now unlike a lot of guys my age, I don’t really have a problem with John Cena and most of the issues I do have I don’t really blame him for but more Vince McMahon and WWE creative. However, I do agree with the people who were disappointed to see Cena win this one. I would have prefered to see something different but it is what it is. Regardless of my dislike for the ending, it was still a pretty fun Rumble match.
Also, Kofi Kingston’s announce table/chair spot was awesome.
Thus came the WWE championship match. Let me start by saying I’ve never been a big fan of the Rock. I know how much he did for the WWE during the Attitude era and I realize what a big star he’s become worldwide but I still never thought much of him. That being said, this was a very good match. Rock and CM Punk have good chemistry in the ring and they told a good story in there. Then the ending came and kind of ruined it. Lights go out, Shield interferes, Punk wins. Then of course we get McMahon coming out to strip Punk of the title until Rock insists on the match being restarted. Now personally I think it would’ve been better to just do a rematch later on down the line but whatever. Punk starts out strong and then Rock goes into a Superman mode of his own(seriously, how did he get so energetic out of the blue) and gets the win with the Rock Bottom. I hate seeing a guy who barely appears holding the top title but I know they’re building towards Rock/Cena II at Wrestlemania so I can’t say it was surprising.
So there you have it, the WWE 2013 Royal Rumble is in the books and the Road to Wrestlemania is upon us. As I said, overall I enjoyed the show but I really didn’t like some of the results. I’ll be back to talk more wrestling in the future so until then let’s see what the WWE does tonight on Raw.
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