So the Royal Rumble is upon us. We wanted to do a podcast with predictions etc. but Ari’s voice sounds like … well, to say it sounds like a frog would be kind lol. But we’ve had a decent buildup with a good Raw – the Rock gets the best ticket in the house, which after a night of being banned from the building gets him backstage access, an entrance, and everything … just to get beaten down by the Shield. We saw one of the best comedy bits in a long time as Kane and Daniel Bryan – “You are the valedictorian!” “No you are the valedictorian!” – graduate from anger management, and get an arena full of wrestling fans to hug it out. It sounds like the Royal Rumble Fan Fest as well has been a unique event, particularly some of the ‘shooting straight’ panels they’re piloting this year, the two most prominent featuring Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels speaking about the “Montreal Screwjob” incident (look it up) from 1997, and the Degeneration X Panel.
But we are now two short hours from the event itself and while we’re not so very able to TALK (although we might try after the event/tomorrow sometime if Ari is up to it) about it, we still wanted to offer our predictions. So here, to the best of our ability, we go.
Free Pre-Show Match: US CHAMPION ANTONIO CESARO VS. THE MIZ
SARAH: I haven’t seen enough of a push behind the Miz as a face … yet … to fancy he’s going to win this. He’s got Ric Flair’s Figure Four, but Cesaro is still where it’s at for now. I could see this ending being “schmozzy” to continue the feud, but WWE has a lot going behind Cesaro, while Miz’s push, to the extent he has one going on, is relatively new and not taking with the fans as WWE might have hoped.
ARI: Yeah I’ll go with Cesaro, I think the Miz gets the next one, here’s the thing, they want to get the Miz over but Cesaro hasn’t had the title for that long yet and they like him too.
TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS TEAM HELL NO VS. TEAM RHODES SCHOLARS
SARAH: I’m going Team Rhodes Scholars here. I have surprisingly enjoyed Hell No’s run, but I think whatever push the tag team division could have gotten from them – and whatever push they could have gotten from working together – is coming to an end. It’s time to put the titles on what honestly is a more longterm tag team, and set Daniel Bryan and Kane up for whatever business they’re heading to at Wrestlemania (each other?).
ARI: Yeah, I’ll go with that too. It almost feels too easy, but … there’s not a lot left for Team Hell No if they’re winning, if they’re losing it’s a whole new dynamic, sets up the inevitable bust-up.
Last Man Standing Match: WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION ALBERTO DEL RIO VS. BIG SHOW
SARAH: I’m going with Del Rio here. WWE’s done well by both of these men but I don’t think they crowned Del Rio just to have him lose a couple of weeks later. I don’t think he’s going into Wrestlemania as champion – I look for him to lose around the Elimination Chamber – but he’s got at least a few more weeks left in him.
ARI: I think Del Rio wins and I think it’s something similar to the last one where Big Show isn’t exactly knocked out but he’s somehow rendered unable to stand upright.
*** NOTE: We have discussed the possibility here of Dolph Ziggler cashing his Money in the Bank in on the exhausted winner of this barn-burning match; it wouldn’t surprise either of us, though neither of us are willing to put all our eggs in this basket.
WWE CHAMPION CM PUNK VS. THE ROCK (CM Punk loses the title if The Shield interferes)
SARAH: The Rock wins what I predict will be an incredibly strong early Match of the Year contender. CM Punk will not be hurt for losing the belt here, he’s had just a fantastic reign, there’s no harm in doing the job to the Great One, and the obvious booking with the Rock scheduled to be around for a few months is to have him march to Wrestlemania as Champ.
ARI: You’re right, it’s just so incredibly neat and tidy for it to be Rock here and someone else at Mania. But I kinda want to disagree with you and I’m going to go with it. I’ve had the feeling for awhile that it’s just a little too perfect and neat for the Rock to win first match over Punk. Now that I think of it, you think he’s going to do that so that Cena can win it off of him at Mania. I don’t know that they would have Cena go over the Rock to close Mania.
30-MAN ROYAL RUMBLE MATCH
SARAH: I’m going with John Cena’s redemption story after a ‘lousy’ 2012 starting here. I suspect WWE’s endgame at this point is Rock vs. John Cena for the WWE Title at Wrestlemania 29 – with that in mind, the quickest road between Points A and B is through the Rumble, which Cena will win. Dark horse prediction to Dolph Ziggler, who has promised to cash in both his Rumble Win and Money in the Bank to win both titles at WM 29.
ARI: (as our son is chanting ‘Cena, Cena’ in the background) What a surprise, the women and children are for Cena. 🙂 Shawn Michaels and Steve Austin, I guess they have some repeat winners. The fact that Ziggler called winning the Rumble and having two title shots to cash in suggests to me it probably won’t happen, okay that’s bluster. Usually that’s your cue it’s not going to happen. Yeah, I pick Cena if only because it seems a little too easy but I can’t thnk of anything that makes more sense. Maybe that’s just a failure of creativity on my part.
Or WWE’s creative team … 😉
And in terms of potential surprises, take note only 18 participants have been named in the Rumble so far, and Mark Henry, Carlito, Shelton Benjamin and other former WWE standouts have all been seen in the Phoenix area. It’s going to be a happening, dontcha dare miss it! XOXO
In This Very Ring 