Well, it’s been one hell of a long time since I’ve gotten up the energy to do up one of these, but considering it’s the Rumble & everything that just happened tonite (yes, I’m writing this at 1am, so technically it IS the 26th, that and I just didn’t want to have two columns from the same date) I’m kinda fired up to see what happens on RAW tonite & SmackDown on Thursday nite.
First, big cheers for the WWE for finally giving SOMETHING to Chris Benoit. Though I’m not the biggest fan of the guy, his ring work is damn solid. So I guess it was just finally his time to be the guy to win the damn thing. He did something that only 2 other men in WWF history have ever done…and that is to last through the entire rumble match. The first man in and being the last man standing. Oh, and the others…you may ask? None other than Shawn Michaels & Vince McMahon. I’m not going to go into a real long list of good stuff that happened in this Rumble, but just a couple of things I wanted to touch on…
1.) Excellent finish with Benoit kinda using the ropes to almost suplex Show out of the ring, while staying on the apron.
2.) John Cena was MAD over. Did you hear the pop when his music hit? I don’t know why they didn’t give this guy the win, it’s obviously what the fans wanted.
3.) Welcome back, Mick Foley. Mrs. Foley’s baby boy is back! At least for a little while anyway.
4.) While I’m on welcome backs, a long awaited welcome back is on it’s way soon to the Deadman. Seems like Deadman, Inc. is gonna be back in business real soon…hopefully by tonite’s RAW. And to this Taker fan, there was no better sound to my ears than that gong.
and finally, 5.) Back to John Cena on this one….did anyone notice how Cena landed on his elimination? I seriously hope his knee is ok. It’d be a shame if he had to take some time off because of a bum knee when he’s obviously just coming into his own on SmackDown & really carrying that show.
And while the Rumble was lots of fun to watch, as we cheered & clapped for the eliminations of Mark Henry, Rikishi, Matt Morgan, Kane, Goldberg & The Big Show, the rest of the card kind of left a little to be desired. Sure, the interviews between Cena & RVD, Brock & Goldberg, Eric Bischoff & Paul Heyman, and even the comic relief from Stone Cold Steve Austin all made for a good night of sports entertainment. The major problems in this PPV were what happened IN the ring.
First, let’s look at the WWE Championship match between Brock Lesnar & Thurman “My friends call me Sparky” Plugg. All match long, Sparky is working on Lesnar, applying the damn full nelson to apparently injure Brock’s neck. What a load of crap that was! And this was even a match I was almost looking forward to seeing! Brock came out of that match looking like an even bigger wuss than he did going into it. He hit the F5 out of nowhere for the win.
As for bad endings, the Last Man Standing match for the World Heavyweight Championship between Shawn Michaels & Triple H left all the fans in the FU Center chanting “Bullshit!”. To have a Last Man Standing match end in a draw doesn’t get you anywhere. We’re still where we were before, still believing that Shawn can beat H, but he just seems to choose not to. He hit that Sweet Chin Music almost out of instinct, as it was portrayed, then collapsed. I mean the guy got up after a 9½ count after a pedigree. What the hell kept him down after he hit his own finisher? Michaels is doing such a good job at putting other guys’ stuff over that it’s really getting me pissed off that they don’t just put the damn belt on him.
The other matches on the card were prettymuch what you’d expect. The only gripe I have with any of those would have to be Eddie’s savage beating on Chavo Jr. & Sr. If they’re not careful, they’ll turn him heel & make Chavo a face. (Which I don’t really think is the objective here.)
And with that, I’m gonna call it a night. Fun Rumble, fun night…decent show that diserves to be picked up on DVD when it comes out. Watch RAW tonite. That’s it, I’m outta here.
Marcs Two Cents 
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