Tuesday 31 January 2012

Lo-Down Wrestling’s Fav Five: January 2012


Time for me to debut a new feature in which I name my top 5 wrestlers from WWE and TNA over the last month. I know I got this from Booker T but, unlike Booker, it won’t change from minute to minute, just month to month.

5. Kane
Kane, since he has come back re-masked, has been trying to get John Cena to “Embrace the Hate” by attacking Zack Ryder and scaring Eve Torres at every opportunity. I enjoyed the segments involving them on RAW on the 9th January despite Zack taking decades to change the tyre, and Kane disappearing like Batman when he was attacking Cena before that. Kane, along with Cena, Ryder and Torres, are now one of the things that I look forward every week on RAW.
4. Bobby Roode
I know that I constantly mention that Austin Aries is the best thing in TNA right now (and he still is); however, he hasn’t really been on TV that much so I can’t put him in my Fav Five. The second best thing in TNA at the minute has been World Champion Bobby Roode. Whilst I would have liked his heel turn to be more gradual like Daniel Bryan’s, Roode has been performing brilliantly on the mic on Impact, pissing off everybody including Sting and his own family. I think that Impact has slowly improved over the last month and one of the reasons is because of Roode.
3. John Laurinaitis
I know that he’s not a wrestler but I have really enjoyed watching John Laurinaitis (did you know that he’s the Executive Vice President of Talent Relations and the interim RAW GM?) as he has evolved into a credible foil to Punk. What I like about Laurinaitis is the way that he kept on “inadvertently” screwing Punk over in his matches. Then Laurinaitis, aware of his job being under review, had a good role at the Rumble match then had a massive stroke of luck when The Undertaker interrupted his job review when he was about to get fired by Triple H. I’m glad that he didn’t get fired as I like Laurinaitis to continue in his role.
2. Chris Jericho
Chris Jericho was been absolutely brilliant since his return and yet he has only said one sentence since then. Jericho is excellent at playing the crowd as he showed when he returned on the 2nd January. He spent over 8 minutes running round being happy and not saying a word then going off managing to get the crowd go from cheering him to booing him. Two weeks later, he was in a 6-man tag match with CM Punk and Daniel Bryan against Dolph Ziggler, David Otunga and Mark Henry. In probably the best hot tag ever, Punk tags in Jericho, he goes round playing to the crowd, slap-tags Bryan and goes off. He was the runner-up at the Rumble to Sheamus and is starting a possible Wrestlemania feud with Punk so the next few weeks involving Jericho will be very interesting.
1. Daniel Bryan
I know a lot of people think that Chris Jericho is the best thing going in the WWE right now. However, for me, it’s Daniel Bryan on Smackdown. His gradual heel turn since becoming World Heavyweight Champion has been awesome. Plus, I didn’t think that he had the mic skills that he has been showing in him. What I like most about Daniel Bryan is that we all know that he’s a heel, but he is at the stage that he doesn’t believe so. Bryan is using his head as well as his superb technicial skills to help him stay the Champion, provoking Mark Henry and lumberjacks in matches to inadvertently help him out. The best was when Bryan got his new love AJ to come to ringside when he faced The Big Show, and Show accidentally ran her over. Bryan sensed an opportunity and went mental at Show calling him reckless and a bastard. I have been really impressed with Daniel Bryan and I hope that he stays Champion until Wrestlemania.

Royal Rumble 2012: The Stats



After an entertaining Royal Rumble last night, I thought I would give the facts and figures from the Rumble match.

Order of Entrances

Order
Participant
Brand
1
The Miz
RAW
2
Alex Riley
RAW
3
R-Truth
RAW
4
Cody Rhodes
Smackdown
5
Justin Gabriel
Smackdown
6
Primo
RAW
7
Mick Foley
RAW
8
Ricardo Rodriguez
RAW
9
Santino Marella
RAW
10
Epico
RAW
11
Kofi Kingston
RAW
12
Jerry Lawler
RAW
13
Ezekiel Jackson
Smackdown
14
Jinder Mahal
Smackdown
15
The Great Khali
Smackdown
16
Hunico
Smackdown
17
Booker T
Smackdown
18
Dolph Ziggler
RAW
19
Hacksaw Jim Duggan
Legend
20
Michael Cole
RAW
21
Kharma
RAW
22
Sheamus
Smackdown
23
Road Dogg Jesse James
Legend
24
Jey Uso
Smackdown
25
Jack Swagger
RAW
26
Wade Barrett
Smackdown
27
David Otunga
RAW
28
Randy Orton
Smackdown
29
Chris Jericho
RAW
30
The Big Show
Smackdown

Order of Eliminations

Order
Participant
Eliminated by
1
Alex Riley
The Miz
2
R-Truth
The Miz
3
Primo
Mick Foley
4
Justin Gabriel
Mick Foley and Ricardo Rodriguez
5
Ricardo Rodriguez
Santino Marella
6
Epico
Mick Foley
7
Santino Marella
Cody Rhodes
8
Mick Foley
Cody Rhodes
9
Jerry Lawler
Cody Rhodes
10
Jinder Mahal
Great Khali
11
Ezekiel Jackson
Great Khali
12
Hacksaw Jim Duggan
Cody Rhodes
13
Booker T
Cody Rhodes/ Dolph Ziggler
14
The Great Khali
Cody Rhodes/ Dolph Ziggler
15
Michael Cole
Booker T/
Jerry Lawler
16
Hunico
Kharma
17
Kharma
Dolph Ziggler
18
Kofi Kingston
Sheamus
19
Road Dogg Jesse James
Wade Barrett
20
Jey Uso
Randy Orton
21
Wade Barrett
Randy Orton
22
David Otunga
Chris Jericho
23
Jack Swagger
The Big Show
24
Cody Rhodes
The Big Show
25
The Miz
The Big Show
26
Dolph Ziggler
The Big Show
27
The Big Show
Randy Orton
28
Randy Orton
Chris Jericho
29
Chris Jericho
Sheamus
30
Sheamus
WINNER

Top 3 Wrestlers with the Most Eliminations
1.      Cody Rhodes with 6 (including 2 assists with Dolph Ziggler)
2.      The Big Show, Mick Foley, Randy Orton and Dolph Ziggler all with 3

Top 3 Wrestlers Who Spent the Most Time in the Rumble
1.      The Miz (45 minutes and 40 seconds)
2.      Cody Rhodes (41 minutes and 57 seconds)
3.      Sheamus (22 minutes and 20 seconds)

Top 3 Wrestlers Who Spent the Least Time in the Rumble
1.      Epico (11 seconds)
2.      Jerry Lawler (43 seconds)
3.      Hacksaw Jim Duggan (57 seconds)

Other Facts and Figures

·         Sheamus is the first European-born wrestler to win the Rumble. The last American to win it was Randy Orton in 2009.
·         Sheamus won it at number 22.  The last person to do so was Triple H in 2002.
·         The Wrestlemania XXVIII logo was pointed to 6 times during the match.

Monday 30 January 2012

Royal Rumble 2012 Review


The Road to Wrestlemania officially starts with the 25th Royal Rumble from the Scotrrade Center in St Louis. Who will win the Rumble and how many times will the Wrestlemania XXVIII logo be pointed at? Let’s take a look.

We start the Rumble with a triple threat steel cage match between The Big Show, Mark Henry and Daniel Bryan for the World Heavyweight Championship. I have been really impressed with Daniel Bryan since he became World Heavyweight Champion but it will be tough to deal with two 400+lb wrestlers inside a steel cage. There was funny bit when Show made his entrance and he tried to give his hat to a little girl. Unfortunately, the girl got shy and didn’t want it so Show gave it to her sister instead. Bryan, being literally half the weight of Mark Henry, tried to escape the cage at the beginning but was pulled down by Henry and hit with a spear by Show. Some of the highlights of the match include Show continually splashing Henry up against the cage, Bryan constantly trying to climb the cage only to pulled down, and Bryan hitting the LeBell Lock on Show only for Henry to kick Bryan in the face. Henry picked up Bryan to do a World’s Strongest Slam but was hit by the WMD by Show. Bryan almost escapes from the cage but is stopped by Show, who had Bryan dangling in mid air, which was a cool moment. Bryan managed to get out of Show’s grip and fall to the floor, getting the victory. I quite enjoyed this match and I was impressed with Mark Henry. Henry has been working through an injury, which he aggravated last week, so I wasn’t expecting him to do much. However, he did more than I thought he would, so fair play to him. In terms of Bryan, it might be a lucky win, but what I like about him is he’s an opportunist and he knew that, being the lightest, he had a better of winning by escaping the cage. Therefore, well done to Daniel Bryan.
Winner: Daniel Bryan                                                 Predictions: 1 for 1 (good start!)

After a really good video about John Cena in preparation of his Wrestlemania match against The Rock, we get a 8-Divas tag match with Beth Phoenix, Natalya and The Bella Twins (all wearing green) taking on Kelly Kelly, Tamina, Alicia Fox and Eve Torres (who I thought would be at Zack Ryder’s hospital bedside).  Some of the highlights (tho there isn’t many) include Beth countering a moonsault by Eve and the Bellas doing Twin Magic (for a change) which I swear was right in front of the ref. Kelly gets tagged in and we get a brawl between the Divas outside the ring which Kelly ends up doing a cross body onto all of them, which Michael Cole called “Divas Dominos”. Kelly drags one of the Bellas (Brie I think) back inside and Beth tags herself  in by literally slapping Brie’s shoulder off. Brie’s face was brilliant as Beth told her “to get out of my ring.” One Glam Slam on Kelly later and Beth gets the victory for her team. This actually wasn’t a bad match; all of them got some time in the ring and I thought that this match would take up no more than 4 lines of this review. We all know how good Beth, Natalya and, to a lesser extent, Tamina are but the match did show how good the Divas can be if given the time (this match lasted about 5 minutes, which is about 4 minutes longer than they normally get). However, I fully expect the WWE to do 60-90 second matches with them on RAW in the near future.
Winners: Legion Divas of Doom and The Bellas        Predictions: N/A

Now I know why Eve wasn’t at Zack Ryder’s bedside because Zack is at the Rumble in a wheelchair where he bumps into John Laurinaitis (did you know that he’s the Executive Vice President of Talent Relations and the interim RAW GM?) who has given Zack his own room with a buffet (nice!) Eve arrives and lays into Laurinaitis for what he’s done to Zack recently and says that she hopes that he gets fired on RAW. Laurinaitis walks off, saying “Well that’s gratitude for you”. Nice little segment tho it does seem that Zack has become a walking catchphrase machine.

Next up is John Cena taking on Kane. Cena goes flying out the blocks and attacks Kane. Cena tries to go for the AA but his knee buckles and he falls forward. This gives Kane a chance to dominate things for a while. Cena tried a couple of times to shift the momentum but Kane managed to stop it before it had a chance to get going.  Kane hits his suffocation move but Cena counters it into a crossface, which Kane powers out of. Kane tries to hit the chokeslam but Cena gets out of it only to get a big boot instead. Cena hits the 5-knuckle shuffle off the top turnbuckle then tries to hit the AA but Kane elbows him in the face and then kicks Cena out of the ring. Kane follows him and they go up the entrance way and the referee Mike Chioda counts to 10, making the match end in a double countout. Meanwhile, Cena and Kane keep on fighting up the entrance way and then backstage. Kane attacks Cena with a chair and leaves him in a heap. Kane then notices that he’s outside Zack Ryder’s room, so he goes in and attacks Ryder, and pushes him back to the ring. Eve Torres and pleads with Kane not to attack Ryder. However, Kane hits Ryder with a tombstone piledriver and turns his attention on Eve before Cena comes back and gets hit with a chokeslam and then Kane leaves the ring. I know that I predicted that Cena would win but this makes more sense as it makes Kane look strong and it protects Cena as well. It was a decent match and I do wonder what they will do next. In terms of my predictions, because it ended in a double countout, I have to employ the Show/Henry Vengeance Rule and count this as a loss.
Winner: Double Countout (so no-one)                                    Predictions: 1 for 2

After another really good video showcasing The Rock, we get Brodus “Funkasaurus” Clay taking on Drew McIntyre. I loved McIntyre asking how we can take Brodus seriously (er, we don’t). McIntyre uses his head and distracts Clay by blowing a kiss to his girls and then assaulting him. McIntyre hits Clay with a clothesline against the turnbuckle twice but Clay no-sells it. Clay hits a suplex sending McIntyre flying across the ring, splashes him against the turnbuckle then hits the What the Fuck Funk to get the win. It’s the usual 1 minute match from Brodus. However, he can’t keep on squashing people in 60 seconds otherwise he will be in danger of going stale. As for McIntyre, as a fellow Scot (I was born in Edinburgh, about 85 miles away from McIntyre’s home town of Ayr) I do feel sorry for him. I don’t get what the WWE are doing with him. He has been performing really well on Superstars then, as soon as he goes to Smackdown, goes on a losing streak, including losing to fucking Santino. Hopefully, McIntyre will get a win soon.
Winner: Brodus Clay                                                  Predictions: N/A

Next was the WWE Championship on the line with Dolph Ziggler challenging CM Punk with John Laurinaitis (did you know that he’s the Executive Vice President of Talent Relations and the interim RAW GM?) as the special guest referee. Laurinaitis comes out and announces that, to make it a fair match, he will referee from the outside, so Rod Zapata comes out to referee the match. Laurinaitis then goes out of the ring and sends Vickie Geurrero to the back, because she and Jack Swagger are barred from ringside. Early on, Punk tried to go for the Anaconda Vice but Ziggler gets away. Ziggler goes to the outside and Punk does a suicide dive, hitting Ziggler. Ziggler starts to get the upper hand and hits the sleeper. However, Punk tries to counter it into the Anaconda Vice but Ziggler gets out of it. Ziggler tries to hit a leg drop bulldog but Punk counters it into a powerbomb and gets a 2 count. Punk hits the running knee followed by the bulldog. Punk goes for the GTS but Ziggler gets out of it and catapults Punk towards the turnbuckle. However, Punk lands on the middle turnbuckle and hits a crossbody, which Ziggler manages to turn into a cover to get a 2 count. Punk bodyslams Ziggler and goes onto the top turnbuckle but stops to look at Laurinaitis, who is standing nearby and hasn’t done anything, worried that he might interfere. Punk hits the Macho Man elbow drop but only gets a 2 count. Punk tries again for the GTS but Ziggler gets out of it and pushes Punk into the ref, knocking him out and sending him to the floor. While Laurinaitis tends to the referee, Punk puts on the Anaconda Vice and Ziggler taps out but there is no referee. Punk is not happy at Laurinaitis, who argues that he’s tending to the referee. Ziggler takes advantage and does a roll up, which Punk counters into another roll up but there’s still no ref. Punk hits Ziggler in the face and goes to Laurinaitis, who is trying to get the referee back into the ring. While Punk and Laurinaitis get into an argument, Ziggler tries to attack Punk but Punk gets him onto his shoulders for the GTS and swings Ziggler round, accidently knocking Laurinaitis on the back of the head and out of the ring. Punk hits the GTS, but the referee is only starting to come to and Punk is getting irate at Laurinaitis, who thinks that Punk hit him on purpose. Punk goes for another GTS but Ziggler counters it into a leg drop bulldog. The referee is now able to continue and Punk kicks out at 2. Punk hits the GTS and the referee and Laurinaitis make the count at the same time to give Punk the victory. This was a really good match with lots of counters by both guys. I really liked Laurinaitis’ role in this, who acted relatively neutral throughout, although Punk might think differently. It makes Laurinaitis’ job review on RAW a lot more interesting.
Winner: CM Punk                                                                   Predictions: 2 for 3

Now we come to the Royal Rumble match. Thanks to losing a match against R-Truth, The Miz was drawn number 1 and number 2 was his NXT rookie, Alex Riley and we get our first look at the Wrestlemania XXVIII logo as both of them look at it before Miz hits Riley gets the Rumble underway.  Miz eliminates Riley and waits for number 3, who was R-Truth, who must have thought that his match must have been a waste of time because of the number that he drew. Later on, The Miz eliminates R-Truth after Primo comes in at number 6 (I’ll publish a list of the draw and order of eliminations after this article). R-Truth doesn’t take that too well, drags Miz out of the ring and hits the What’s Up? knocking out Miz. Mick Foley comes in at number 7 and, in a hilarious moment, Ricardo “Virgil” Rodriguez comes in at number 8. It was really funny because he comes out to Alberto Del Rio’s theme music in a battered used car, and does Del Rio’s entrance perfectly. I’m sure that he is announcing himself as he is walking down the entrance way with the wrestlers just looking at him bemused.

Going back to the match, Ricardo, with help from Foley, eliminates Justin Gabriel and he gets eliminated by Santino Marella, who came in at number 9. We fast forward to number 12 and we get our first surprise entrant who is Jerry Lawler, to Michael Cole’s chagrin. For those who don’t know, Lawler last entered in 1997 where he takes off his headset, gets in the ring, gets eliminated by Bret Hart almost immediately, and then goes back into commentary without missing a beat. So, I hoping he lasts a bit longer this time. It turns out to be about a minute longer as Cody Rhodes eliminates him but it was still a fun little moment. Then Booker T comes in at number 17 and I loved how it looked like he was wearing a suit throughout the entire broadcast and then he stands up revealing his wrestling gear and taking off his jacket and shirt. Just after that, Miz throws Kofi Kingston over the top rope but Kofi ends up with his hands on the floor, not feet. Miz pushes Kofi’s feet off the ring apron and Kofi does a walking handstand and he goes along to the steel steps and gets himself up. What a great move by Kofi Kingston and I think it might be better than John Morrison with his parkour antics last year.

Dolph Ziggler comes in at number 18, followed by Hall of Famer Hacksaw Jim Duggan at number 19. I would mark out; the problem is, I really hate Jim Duggan so I’m praying that he doesn’t last too long. Thankfully, he lasts about 60 seconds before Cody Rhodes eliminates him (I owe you one, Cody). Cody Rhodes assists Dolph Ziggler in eliminating both the Great Khali and Booker T. The countdown for number 20 begins and it’s Michael fucking Cole (oh, god!) who dresses down to his orange singlet and his headguard.  Cole goes in and does absolutely nothing, number 21 is announced and it’s KHARMA!!! Ok, now I can mark the fuck out cos I loved Kharma’s brief run last year and I’m guessing she had her baby and is ready to kick some ass. Kharma does just that and proceeds to destroy Cole.  Cole goes over the top rope (not a good idea in a Rumble match) and pleads for mercy from Kharma. Meanwhile, Lawler and Booker get off commentary and pull Cole off the ring apron, eliminating him. Ziggler turns Kharma round and demands that she leaves the ring. Kharma responds by hitting an Implant Buster(!!!) on Ziggler and then Gorilla Presses Hunico out of the ring. Unfortunately for Kharma, this gave time for Ziggler to recover and eliminate Kharma. That was such a fun part of the Rumble.

Sheamus comes in at number 22 and kicks ass, eliminating Kofi then Road Dogg Jesse James comes in at number 23. We fast forward to number 26 and it’s Wade Barrett, who I would love to see win. On a side note, I hate his new theme music as the one he had for the Corre was a great song. Anyway, Barrett eliminates the Road Dogg then David Ortunga comes in at number 27 followed by hometown boy Randy Orton at number 28. Orton hits both Ziggler and Rhodes with a DDT then he eliminates Jey Uso, hits Barrett with a RKO then throws Barrett out. Number 29 is...my pick, Chris Jericho. It would have been nice if he came in at number 30 but that honour goes to the Big Show, who helps Sheamus eliminate Jack Swagger before he even gets in the ring.

There are now 7 wrestlers left in the ring and Show eliminates both The Miz and Cody Rhodes followed by Dolph Ziggler as seven now becomes the Final Four: Big Show, Chris Jericho, Randy Orton and Sheamus. Show is targeted by the other three and gets hit with a RKO before Orton throws Show over the top rope closely followed by Jericho eliminating Orton. We are now down to two: Jericho (that’s my pick right there) and Sheamus. Like the end of 2007 between Shawn Michaels and the Undetaker, we get a mini match here. Jericho tries a facebuster but Sheamus sends him to the turnbuckle and tries to eliminate him.  Jericho survives and gets a bit of momentum before Sheamus hits an Irish Curse Backbreaker. Sheamus then attempts to use the Irish Cross to eliminate Jericho but Jericho got out of it and clotheslines Sheamus over the top rope. However, Sheamus managed to hang on to the top rope and survives. Sheamus misses with a Brogue Kick and Jericho slaps on the Walls of Jericho, which is pointless because Sheamus can’t submit. Jericho lets it go and gets thrown over the top rope. However, Jericho holds on the top rope and is dangling for dear life. Jericho gets back up and they both end up on the top turnbuckle. They both get back in and Jericho hits the Codebreaker and then tries to pin Sheamus, which he can’t do either (Jericho should have brushed up on the Rumble rules). Jericho starts to slap Sheamus then tries another Codebreaker. However, Sheamus catches it and sends Jericho over the top rope. Jericho is once again dangling on real life; however, Sheamus is wise to it and Brogue Kicks Jericho off the apron to win the match. What?! No!!!! I was so fucking close!!!! Argh!! Ah well, I’m quite impressed with my pick as he ended up the runner up. Congratulations to Sheamus for being the first European wrestler to win the Royal Rumble. Also, congratulations to Corey Santiago (co-host of the Future Endeavors show), who I think is one of the few people who picked Sheamus to win.
Winner: Sheamus (damn it!)                                                   Predictions: 2 for 4

I really enjoyed this Rumble and there were some good matches on the undercard. As I mentioned earlier, I’m slightly critical of the Brodus Clay match only because Brodus can’t keep on squashing people, otherwise it will get stale. The title matches were really good ad the Divas was actually pretty decent.

In terms of the Rumble, there are two main criticisms. The first is I really hate it when the World Championship challengers go in the Rumble. They had your chance so I think they shouldn’t be in the Rumble. Also, why no Kane or Cena? I know Cena has The Rock at Wrestlemania but he wants his match at Wrestlemania to be for the WWE Championship, so he could have done what he did in 2008 and challenge CM Punk before Wrestlemania. As for Kane, I really wanted him to take part as I thought that he could be a potential runner-up. Kane was going for his fourteenth consecutive Rumble appearance. Plus, he was only 4 eliminations away from tying Shawn Michaels’ record of 39 eliminations, so I would have loved to have seen if Kane could tie or even break the record.

Otherwise, the fact that I wrote 1,165 words on this match (seriously, I did a word count) shows how much I enjoyed it. This is probably the funniest Rumble match that I have ever seen with Ricardo’s entrance, Santino’s Cobra against Foley’s Mr. Socko, and Cole’s elimantion. It was fucking awesome to see Kharma return and it was such a cool moment when she hit the Implant Buster on Dolph Ziggler then lifted Hunico out of the ring. Also, it was nice to see the entire commentary team have a go in the Rumble and they all did pretty decent. It would have been interesting to see the Spanish announcers of Marcelo Rodriguez and Carlos Carbera have a go as well as they don’t get to do much, except see their announce table get destroyed.

I really enjoyed this event and it has set up some potential Wrestlemania feuds between Sheamus and Bryan and Kharma and Beth Phoenix. The Road to Wrestlemania has officially begun and I, for one, am glad to be along for the ride.

Oh, and as a side note, the Wrestlemania logo was only pointed to five times, which is less than the amount of times John Cena alone did last year.

Sunday 29 January 2012

Royal Rumble 2012 Predictions


It’s time for the first WWE Pay-Per-View of the year as the Road to Wrestlemania begins with the Royal Rumble. After getting only one match wrong at TLC, I’m quite confident about how I will do on my predictions. Let’s look at the card.

The World Heavyweight Championship is on the line as Daniel Bryan defends his title against Big Show and Mark Henry in a steel cage. Bryan has been doing everything that he can to keep his title and it may look like that Bryan is screwed as he is confined into fighting the two biggest athletes in the WWE in a steel cage. However, one thing I like about Bryan is that he’s a very clever heel and I think that he will some way to win and retain the title.
Predicted Winner: Daniel Bryan

John Cena takes on Kane in what could be a very interesting match. We all know what Cena will be doing at Wrestlemania so the feud will not last that long. Plus, if Cena wants his match against The Rock to be for the WWE Championship, he needs one opportunity to do that, probably at Elimination Chamber.  I can see this continuing past the Rumble and I can probably see Cena winning this one. The question is, will Cena embrace the hate in the process?
Predicted Winner: John Cena

The WWE Championship is on the line as CM Punk defends his title against Dolph Ziggler with John Laurinaitis (did you know that he’s the Executive Vice President of Talent Relations and the interim RAW GM?) as the special guest referee. I’ve enjoyed the feud between Laurinaitis and Punk over the last few weeks and Laurinaitis admitting to Mick Foley that he intends to screw Punk over has made it interesting. However, Laurinaitis is going through a job review by Triple H the next day so that will be difficult. I can see Laurinaitis “inadvertently” screwing Punk over. However, I can see Punk finding some way to prevail.
Predicted Winner: CM Punk

Now it comes to the Royal Rumble match. I think that it could be a very interesting Rumble. We all know that The Miz comes in at number 1 and I think he could last a while. Cena has to enter in order to try and get the WWE Championship for his match with The Rock. I was discussing this with my brother during the week and one thing I would like to see is The Rock to come in and eliminate Cena. I don’t think that it will actually happen but I will seriously mark the fuck out if it did. In terms of the winner, I think that it will be “the end of the world as we know it” and Chris Jericho will win and go on to challenge CM Punk.
Predicted Winner: Chris Jericho

You normally get a small card for the Royal Rumble and I think that there will be another match announced, probably a Divas match. Also, we get to see the Wrestlemania XXVIII logo in the rafters for the first time and I wonder how many times a wrestler will point to it. In terms of the event, this is a good time for the WWE to set a high standard for the year, especially as we get on the road to Wrestlemania.