Royal Rumble Suprise, Hardy and RVD Fallout

The road to WrestleMania 25 has officially begun.

Overall, it was a very solid Rumble this year with some nice twists.

Matt Hardy betrays brother and costs Jeff the title.

In what might have been the most surprising event of the night, Matt Hardy cost his little brother Jeff the WWE title after a brutal chair shot to the head. This was bittersweet for me personally.

I am a long time Hardy Boyz fan and HATED the first attempt at Hardy vs. Hardy when they tried in 2001, around the time of the Hardy/Undertaker feud. This could be very hit or miss for the WWE as it is obvious that some sort of reunion will happen sometime after this feud is over.

Personally, I feel neither Matt nor Jeff have the mic skills needed to make this a memorable rivalry. The reason I believe Matt will give for his attacks will either be jealousy or that Matt always stands up for Jeff, but not vice versa.

It will be interesting to see how they combine this with Jeff and WWE title contention, especially at NWO. Will Matt interfere again and cost Jeff the title? Or will Jeff pass up title contention to get revenge on big brother?

The other part of this storyline that didn’t play out to predictions was the return of Christian Cage. So now leaves the question, how will they bring Cage back? To me, he needs to be brought back in some form of storyline, not just a sudden return. The obvious storyline would be some form of relation to Edge, either friend or rival.

I thought that maybe the Matt Hardy actions tonight could be to cloud the storyline of attacks on Jeff. It’s assumed now, but not confirmed that Matt was behind the attacks. They could try to still make Christian behind the attacks though, having Matt acting out of jealousy over losing earlier in the evening. Jeff wouldn’t believe Matt, even with Matt swearing it wasn’t him. This may be wishful thinking on my part though. Either way it will be interesting how they play out this new twist.

The other surprise was the return of RVD.

Assuming he stays around for a while, he could be in some exciting matches. I have thought of possible feuds RVD could be a part of, depending on which brand he is with.

Raw: RVD feuding with Y2J. They exchanged words after RVD was eliminated, and with Jericho being heel and RVD face, it seems like a seed could have been planted.

SD: RVD vs. Shelton Benjamin. While there were no seeds planted at RR, I think this would be a great rivalry. Benjamin needs to have a contender for the US championship that he has now held for six or seven months. Who better that RVD to challenge for the title? I would prefer to see this match-up, but RVD vs. Y2J seems more likely.

I expect a lot of surprises and twist leading to WM. This is a milestone WM 25, I think Vince is going to pull out all the stops and this is just the beginning.

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