Royal Rumble- ...o?

Oh hello there, I didn't see you coming in. Sit down, don't have some coffee or tea (in accordance with the description up there /\


The Rumble is over, and it was surprising to say the least. Interesting as a whole, the reception was - to say the least- varying.


Kevin Nash made his return, surprisingly under the Diesel gimmick and Booker T made his return 11 entries earlier. Much to my shock and awe, they got the biggest pop of the night, even outclassing Cena.


Regardless of what I said earlier, Nash looked in better shape than he has been his entire TNA run. For the short time Booker was in there, he looked solid. While that was surprising, I'd call the final face-off to be more surprising.


Who could've guessed that it would be Alberto "Dos Caras, jr" Del Rio and SAN-f'n-TINO as final participants. Sure, creative has been upping Santino's in-ring credit as of late, having him "learn" Sambo and wrestling from Kozlov, of course making use of Anthony Carelli's past as a legitimate shoot fighter.


I longed for that moment btw, since the day he debuted as the goofball Italian, ignoring his previous gimmick of Boris Alexiev (Thank you Heyman!)


Anyways, Del Rio and Santino face off, Santino gets eliminated and Del Rio, a guy who's been there since what, September(?) gets to go and headline Wrestlemania. Of course, the general markitude is on the fence, because they don't like Del Rio's attitude. Durrr.


I for one am pleasantly surprised, as I didn't entirely expect him to actually win it. WWE is really taking this youth movement serious all of a sudden. Del Rio, to me, is a breath of fresh air waving through the locker room, but you already know that. c wut I did thar?


Not many other surprising things, Edge defeated Ziggler (with an Unprettier Killswitch no less) and Miz retained through outside interference. All fair, all fair.


Now yesterday came the big surprise. The new #1 contender to the WWE Championship has been named (with Del Rio setting his eye on Edge) and it's none other than Jerry Lawler. Yes, Jerry "The King" Lawler.


He will challenge Miz at No Way Out Elimination Chamber and I wouldn't even be surprised if he won it, only to lose it the day after. You know, just to have the one title he never got before on his resume.


For the rest, nothing eventful happened over the weekend and monday. The Bellas turned heel ... thus nothing eventful. Poor Bryan Danielson, you best hope you can get a world title reign soon.


Special props go out to John Morrison for having the most original way of not being eliminated from the Rumble. Let me run it down.


- John gets knocked off the apron
- John flings himself backward, turning in mid-air
- John holds himself to the barricade, climbs up
- John walks over the barricade
- John jumps from the barricade onto the steel steps
- John re-enters the ring.


his feet never touched the ground. Creative handling of spots is what we call such a thing. Jeff Hardy, take some fucking notes.


A new promo video aired, hyping a character appearance on the 21st of February 2011. All the secrecy ... a lot of people think  it's Sting, others think it's the Undertaker, and again others think it's "Seth Rollins". Seth Rollins, better known to true wrestling fans as ex-ROH World Champion Tyler Black. The one with the humongous neck.


Of course, WWE's secrets wouldn't be that if they didn't get smashed the next day and surely ... the location for RAW that day hypes the return of the Undertaker. Awesome.


Nevertheless, the NY Daily News, whose reputation is unknown to me, claims that Sting has signed a 1-year deal with WWE. If true, it' probably for his induction into the WWE Hall of Fame.


I can only draw one conclusion, based on videos of  sunday night that the Royal Rumble was probably the best they've put on in years. Mark out moments, swerves, acrobatics, ... all there. And the best of it all? It's not TNA.


~D.