WWE Royal Rumble 2012: Champions Retain, Random Matches and Sheamus Stands Tall

Daniel Bryan vs. Mark Henry vs. Big Show

Daniel Bryan retained his title after the Big Show dropped him.

I thought this was a good match that saw the cage get a lot of use.

This was just not Mark Henry’s night, but with his potential injury that happened on SmackDown, it’s understandable that he was down for most of the match.

I like the way this match ended. It keeps the Big Show/Daniel Bryan feud alive for a little bit longer and it gives Mark Henry time to heal properly.

It was also an ending we’ve never really seen in a cage match before.

When Big Show climbed to the top of the cage I thought that something big was about to happen. I thought that Big Show was going to fall back into the ring or he was going to chokeslam Bryan from the very top.

Neither happened, but Big Show dropping Bryan to the outside was different.

A video package was shown next about John Cena.

It showed him doing media appearances, talking to fans, fans talking about him and how he was never going to change.

WrestleMania meant everything to him and he was ready for The Rock.

This was a nice little video that hyped Rock vs. Cena.

Beth Phoenix, Natalya and the Bellas vs. Kelly Kelly, Eve, Alicia Fox and Tamina

Beth Phoenix picked up the victory for the heels with the GlamSlam on Kelly Kelly.

The match saw each of the eight women get involved and the match actually wasn’t horrible.

It wasn’t good by any means, but it wasn’t the train wreck that the eight-Diva tag matches usual are.

I was surprised to see Kelly jump off the top rope and land on the other seven women on the outside. I had to rub my eyes to make sure I was still watching a WWE Diva’s match.

I almost forgot that Beth was the Diva’s champion as I can’t remember the last time I saw her get any television time.

This better be the start of a trend that sees the champion on Raw every week.

It would have been nice to see a hyped Divas Championship match instead of this, but at least the women of WWE got some PPV time.

Backstage, Zack Ryder arrived in a wheelchair and wearing a back brace.

John Laurinaitis then appeared to welcome him and inform him that he got his own dressing room with a television.

Eve then must have used a teleporter as she got there pretty quick to complain about what has happened over the past few weeks.

She said some big words that she probably didn’t know the meanings of and hoped that Laurinaitis was fired on Raw.

I’m still not a fan of Eve. I haven’t been since she won the last Divas Search in 2007.

As soon as I saw Ryder, though, I figured he’d be a part of the Kane/Cena match.

John Cena vs. Kane

The match ended in a double count-out when the two kept brawling on the ramp.

The brawl then made its way backstage where Kane beat Cena with chair.

They happened to be at Ryder’s dressing room as Kane went in and smothered him. He wheeled him out to the ring where he delivered a tombstone as Eve watched in horror.

Cena recovered enough from the chair shots to make his way to the ring to get chokeslammed.

I thought that this was a decent match. It was as expected, which was a brawl.

I enjoyed the ending as it continues this feud into the Elimination Chamber PPV.

It’s a bit bothersome that Kane’s victim is Zack Ryder, though. He worked incredibly hard to gain his spot and it was all but taken away since Ryder is apparently Cena’s only friend on the roster.

The way things are going it looks like Ryder may end up missing WrestleMania while John Cena will eventually beat Kane and main event the show with the Rock.

Speaking of the Rock, WWE gave the fans a video package on him as well.

He talked of WWE, movies and the millions. His fellow actors, directors, family and students at his old high school talked about him as well.

He paid tribute to his grandfather High Chief Peter Maivia and said he was ready for WrestleMania.

Another good little video, though I liked this one more than Cena’s.

Drew McIntyre vs. Brodus Clay

After a bit of offense from Drew McIntyre, the Funkasaurus ate another victim.

Apparently Teddy Long didn’t fire McIntyre, again. It’s a shame that someone with the talent of McIntyre is being buried like this.

I hope this “fired or not” storyline is going somewhere.

As for Brodus Clay, I’m highly disappointed that he wasn’t in the Royal Rumble match. It would have been great to see him go up against someone who wasn’t a jobber.

CM Punk vs. Dolph Ziggler: WWE Title Match with John Laurinaitis As The Referee

Turns out Laurinaitis won’t be the referee after all as he made himself the outside enforcer instead.

CM Punk eventually picked up the victory with the GTS to retain the WWE Championship. Laurinaitis even counted the three.

This was a good match with a weird ending.

When the referee went down I figured that Laurinaitis would step in but all he did was check on the other official.

In that time, Punk had the match won three times: with the Anaconda Vise, a roll-up and a GTS.

When the referee finally got up Ziggler hit a Fame-Asser and got very close to winning the title.

I don’t know what to make of Laurinaitis’ actions. He seemed like he was screwing Punk but at the same time counted the victory and handed the title to him.

I guess being on the verge of unemployment has caused Johnny Ace to have a change of heart.

With his performance review by Triple H, tomorrow’s Raw should be an interesting one.

The Royal Rumble Match

Coming into the match at No. 22, the winner of the Royal Rumble by eliminating Chris Jericho was the Great White, Sheamus!

While Miz lasted the longest around 45 minutes and Cody Rhodes around 40 minutes while also eliminating the most superstars at six, neither of them were able to stop the Celtic Warrior.

This year’s Rumble saw seven surprise entrants in Ricardo Rodriguez, Jerry Lawler, Booker T, Jim Duggan, the Great Khali, Michael Cole and the Road Dogg Jesse James.

The WWE Universe also witnessed the return of Kharma, who eliminated Hunico and Cole before being dumped out Dolph Ziggler.

We got to see a bit of comedy with Mick Foley and Santino Marella having an epic battle between Mr. Socko and the Cobra while Kofi Kingston gave the fans a memorable moment when he was thrown out and walked his way back into the ring with his hands.

The ending between Sheamus and Chris Jericho was great.

There were many near eliminations between them and I was at the edge of my seat for each one.

While I expected to see Y2J win this match, I was incredibly happy to see Sheamus win it.

He’s worked over the past year on SmackDown and has gotten over huge as a face.

He really deserved this!

Overall, I thought that WWE’s first PPV of the year was a good one.

Sure, it had it low points, but the low points were outweighed by the good ones.

The two title matches and Kane/Cena advanced their respective storylines very well while the random matches were just there to fill time.

The Rumble was the Rumble, but it featured some good moments and a hell of an ending.

I can’t wait for tomorrow night’s Raw; should be an intense night!