Hello and welcome to the second edition of The Final Cut in as many days, the column that brought you such mark-out moments as "KICK HIS F'N HEAD IN FOLEY!" and "BENOIT! BENOIT! BENOIT! BENOIT! BENOIT! OH MY GOD! BENOIT!" I'm blaming the alcohol and I'm sticking to it! Those kind people at Sentanta Sports asked us to kindly part with 15.
99 GBP (14.
99 GBP ordering by remote) for the privilege of watching the Royal Rumble, and after the recent standards of pay-per-views from World Wrestling Entertainment some of us, including me, were questioning our generosity.
[World Tag Team Championship] Tables Match Ric Flair & Batista vs.
The Dudley Boyz It turned out to be D'von who would take the plunge through the table, was there really any doubt that a Dudley would not go through? Giving Batista a couple of seconds to talk on the mic, as they walked down the aisle, was a nice idea.
His mic work is coming along just fine.
This match was a typical crowd warm up match on a pay-per-view.
Fast Personally I would have knocked this feud on the head right at the end of this tag team match, but knowing The Dudley Boyz are the number one face tag team in World Wrestling Entertainment this is not going to happen any time soon.
I know that a lot of people thought that this match was boring, dire and dead through out, and they may have a point but the match did what it was asked to do and that is warm up the crowd.
On a side note.
Ric looked like he hurt himself when the table smashed him in the face.
Winner: Ric Flair & Batista [WWE Cruiserweight Championship] Rey Mysterio vs.
Jamie Noble Every match that was on the card, apart from the rumble and the Triple H/HBK match, had one thing in common, they were all too short.
The average length was about 8-10 minutes.
This match did not have time to unravel as it could of done, just when it could have got interesting the match was ended with a rather mundane fashion.
But there was one good thing to come out of this dire match.
Nidia "accidentally" grabbed Noble's leg as he came off the ropes.
I have a feeling we may have witnessed the seeds being sown for the eventual turn by Nidia on Jamie.
Winner: Rey Mysterio [Family Feud] Eddie Guerrero Vs Chavo Guerrero Jr The feud leading up to this match was booked, as I said before, absolutely fantastic and the match itself more than matched the exception's set by the greatness of the booking.
Eddie attempting to keep his cool and trying to out-wrestle Chavito only made the match that much more enjoyable to watch.
Eddie walked out of the ring with an unexpected win but not before beating the hell out of his nephew and his brother.
This is not over.
I do believe that if World Wrestling Entertainment continue to book and push this feud as they have done then this feud could run comfortably right up until No Way Out on the 15th of February.
Winner: Eddie Guerrero [WWE Championship] Brock Lesnar vs.
Hardcore Holly I actually went to the toilet and then made myself a sandwich (making sure I washed my hands thoroughly!) I came back and caught about two minutes of the match and from what I saw it really was not that bad at all.
Yes, the match was very shot but I think it was just about the right amount of time to show if Brock can carry someone like Hardcore to a decent match.
Coming to the end of the match Brock started slipping which is probably why the ending was so rushed.
But up until the last 30 seconds Brock was dragging Holly up to his level and kept him there easily.
Let us prey that Holly returns from whence he came.
Winner: Hardcore Holly, ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Erm, I mean Brock Lesnar [World Heavyweight Championship] Last Man Standing Match Triple H vs.
Shawn Michaels This match was scheduled to be the match of the night and it is extremely difficult to decide whether this excellent match got the award or if Chavo Guerrero and Eddie Guerrero's classic encounter got it instead.
Whenever Shawn Michael's wrestles Triple H on a pay-per-view, which seems to be every month these days, Shawn Michaels always pulls out a huge high spot move.
And this match offered no exception.
Within the first ten minutes or so Shawn Michaels executed an awesome looking asai moonsault and went straight through the Spanish announce team's commentary table.
The ending spoiled what could have been a plain match of the night winner in my eyes.
A double knock-out was not the best of finishes but considering that both wrestlers needed to save face, I think that they made a wise choice.
Hey! It was either that or have Evolution interfere! Winner: Triple H [The Royal Rumble Match] The rumble match was billed the greatest rumble match in it's entire history.
Did it manage to deliver? Oh you bet your life it delivered.
Sure it was void of surprise wrestlers that we have come to accustom the rumble with over the years, and yes it was shorter than normal, but damn it was a good one! When the buzzer sounded for wrestler number __ to enter the rumble the place went black and the gong from the Undertaker's old phenom music played and then it stopped as the fans exploded in response, sadly it was Spike who came out and not The Deadman.
Kane sold it brilliantly by screaming "I buried you alive!" This plants a nice little seed for Taker to return and he must surely be returning with his old Phenom gimmick.
But there was a truly great mark-out moment to come.
The buzzer sounded and Test's music played.
Test did not come out and they went backstage to see him unconscious and Austin screaming at someone who could not be seen.
Austin insisted that the mystery man take Test's place.
30 seconds later Mick Foley's music played as he came storming down the ramp and beat the hell out of Randy Orton all over the place.
Randy Orton hit Mick with some great chair shots and sold Mick's beating like there was no tomorrow.
This has got me interested into what will go down on Raw.
Chris Benoit.
The man who has been lost in the shuffle over and over again did what only Shawn Michaels has done and went from number one in the rumble and won the thing by lifting Big Show out.
When Benoit won the rumble he went nuts and the fans reacted which made me smile.
NOBODY deserves this more than Chris Benoit does.
Winner: Chris Benoit The majority of the writing community has condemned the Royal Rumble as a poor or dire showing but I have to disagree with this.
OK most of the matches were short but considering this the Rumble and Triple H/HBK matches more than made up for that face.
With the first pay-per-view of the year being a very solid outing it will be interesting to see if No Way Out can hit the same mark that Royal Rumble did.
Until next time.
99 GBP (14.
99 GBP ordering by remote) for the privilege of watching the Royal Rumble, and after the recent standards of pay-per-views from World Wrestling Entertainment some of us, including me, were questioning our generosity.
[World Tag Team Championship] Tables Match Ric Flair & Batista vs.
The Dudley Boyz It turned out to be D'von who would take the plunge through the table, was there really any doubt that a Dudley would not go through? Giving Batista a couple of seconds to talk on the mic, as they walked down the aisle, was a nice idea.
His mic work is coming along just fine.
This match was a typical crowd warm up match on a pay-per-view.
Fast Personally I would have knocked this feud on the head right at the end of this tag team match, but knowing The Dudley Boyz are the number one face tag team in World Wrestling Entertainment this is not going to happen any time soon.
I know that a lot of people thought that this match was boring, dire and dead through out, and they may have a point but the match did what it was asked to do and that is warm up the crowd.
On a side note.
Ric looked like he hurt himself when the table smashed him in the face.
Winner: Ric Flair & Batista [WWE Cruiserweight Championship] Rey Mysterio vs.
Jamie Noble Every match that was on the card, apart from the rumble and the Triple H/HBK match, had one thing in common, they were all too short.
The average length was about 8-10 minutes.
This match did not have time to unravel as it could of done, just when it could have got interesting the match was ended with a rather mundane fashion.
But there was one good thing to come out of this dire match.
Nidia "accidentally" grabbed Noble's leg as he came off the ropes.
I have a feeling we may have witnessed the seeds being sown for the eventual turn by Nidia on Jamie.
Winner: Rey Mysterio [Family Feud] Eddie Guerrero Vs Chavo Guerrero Jr The feud leading up to this match was booked, as I said before, absolutely fantastic and the match itself more than matched the exception's set by the greatness of the booking.
Eddie attempting to keep his cool and trying to out-wrestle Chavito only made the match that much more enjoyable to watch.
Eddie walked out of the ring with an unexpected win but not before beating the hell out of his nephew and his brother.
This is not over.
I do believe that if World Wrestling Entertainment continue to book and push this feud as they have done then this feud could run comfortably right up until No Way Out on the 15th of February.
Winner: Eddie Guerrero [WWE Championship] Brock Lesnar vs.
Hardcore Holly I actually went to the toilet and then made myself a sandwich (making sure I washed my hands thoroughly!) I came back and caught about two minutes of the match and from what I saw it really was not that bad at all.
Yes, the match was very shot but I think it was just about the right amount of time to show if Brock can carry someone like Hardcore to a decent match.
Coming to the end of the match Brock started slipping which is probably why the ending was so rushed.
But up until the last 30 seconds Brock was dragging Holly up to his level and kept him there easily.
Let us prey that Holly returns from whence he came.
Winner: Hardcore Holly, ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Erm, I mean Brock Lesnar [World Heavyweight Championship] Last Man Standing Match Triple H vs.
Shawn Michaels This match was scheduled to be the match of the night and it is extremely difficult to decide whether this excellent match got the award or if Chavo Guerrero and Eddie Guerrero's classic encounter got it instead.
Whenever Shawn Michael's wrestles Triple H on a pay-per-view, which seems to be every month these days, Shawn Michaels always pulls out a huge high spot move.
And this match offered no exception.
Within the first ten minutes or so Shawn Michaels executed an awesome looking asai moonsault and went straight through the Spanish announce team's commentary table.
The ending spoiled what could have been a plain match of the night winner in my eyes.
A double knock-out was not the best of finishes but considering that both wrestlers needed to save face, I think that they made a wise choice.
Hey! It was either that or have Evolution interfere! Winner: Triple H [The Royal Rumble Match] The rumble match was billed the greatest rumble match in it's entire history.
Did it manage to deliver? Oh you bet your life it delivered.
Sure it was void of surprise wrestlers that we have come to accustom the rumble with over the years, and yes it was shorter than normal, but damn it was a good one! When the buzzer sounded for wrestler number __ to enter the rumble the place went black and the gong from the Undertaker's old phenom music played and then it stopped as the fans exploded in response, sadly it was Spike who came out and not The Deadman.
Kane sold it brilliantly by screaming "I buried you alive!" This plants a nice little seed for Taker to return and he must surely be returning with his old Phenom gimmick.
But there was a truly great mark-out moment to come.
The buzzer sounded and Test's music played.
Test did not come out and they went backstage to see him unconscious and Austin screaming at someone who could not be seen.
Austin insisted that the mystery man take Test's place.
30 seconds later Mick Foley's music played as he came storming down the ramp and beat the hell out of Randy Orton all over the place.
Randy Orton hit Mick with some great chair shots and sold Mick's beating like there was no tomorrow.
This has got me interested into what will go down on Raw.
Chris Benoit.
The man who has been lost in the shuffle over and over again did what only Shawn Michaels has done and went from number one in the rumble and won the thing by lifting Big Show out.
When Benoit won the rumble he went nuts and the fans reacted which made me smile.
NOBODY deserves this more than Chris Benoit does.
Winner: Chris Benoit The majority of the writing community has condemned the Royal Rumble as a poor or dire showing but I have to disagree with this.
OK most of the matches were short but considering this the Rumble and Triple H/HBK matches more than made up for that face.
With the first pay-per-view of the year being a very solid outing it will be interesting to see if No Way Out can hit the same mark that Royal Rumble did.
Until next time.
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