Match 1: World Heavyweight Championship – Edge (c) vs. Dolph Ziggler
Assistant general manager Vickie Guerrero made the ruling that if Edge used the Spear, he would be disqualified. With this, Edge had to change his game plan as he took on the up and coming Dolph Ziggler who happened to have Vickie at ringside. Lots of good early holds and striking from both men and then they kicked it up a notch once Vickie came into play. She tried to distract Edge which ultimately led to Kelly Kelly coming out and taking her out. Afterwards, the stunned Edge gets nailed by Ziggler with the Zig Zag which wasn’t enough to take him out. Ziggler later applies his finishing submission which leads to the referee being knocked down as Edge then took advantage by nailing an unseen Spear and then a Killswitch to pick up the win. Good and hot opening championship match to kick off the night.
Winner: Edge
Rating: ***1/4
Match 2: WWE Championship – The Miz (c) vs. Randy Orton
In a rematch from the TLC PPV a month earlier, Miz defends his title with Alex Riley in his corner against Randy Orton. Following a hot opening match isn’t easy and considering it’s an Orton match, I don’t see much happening. Lots of slow back and forth action with Orton mostly dominating throughout, basically what you would expect from an Orton match. Things finally get hot when The New Nexus comes out and distracts both Orton and the referee which leads to Orton tossing Riley over the top rope and onto everyone. Miz gets in but Orton nails an RKO but only gets drilled with a GTS by CM Punk who entered the ring with a blind referee under the ring. He places Miz over Orton and Miz picks up the win. Just about what you would expect from these two, a slow match that seemingly dragged on but still had it’s fun moments. Miz looked pretty strong and sneaky here with Riley in the background as Orton looked strong as well as he dominated Miz more than the better half of the match while not making himself look too dominant. Decent affair but nothing too special with the exception of the last couple minutes.
Winner: The Miz
Rating: **1/2
Match 3: Divas Championship – Natalya (c) vs. Layla vs. Michelle McCool vs. Eve
Originally a handicap match, the anonymous Raw GM made the announcement that Eve would be added to the match and it will now be a fatal four way. I honestly was expecting the usual Divas match here but to my pleasant surprise, the match itself was good. Natalya showed off her wrestling abilities by applying a double Sharpshooter while McCool kept the wheel spinning by accidentally kicking Layla’s jaw off. The end result came when Eve pinned Layla as McCool had Natalya pinned but the referee only saw Eve’s pin attempt which gave her the victory. Afterwards, Eve walks out with the title in her hands with tears flowing down her face. A fun and different Divas match than what we’re normally accustomed to seeing.
Winner: Eve
Rating: *3/4
Match 4: 2011 Royal Rumble
For the first time ever, the Royal Rumble is now designed to fit 40 competitors. CM Punk starts off the match but only to be greeted by The Corre who surround the ring and try to take out CM Punk before the match even begins until The New Nexus arrive just in time to make the save and a brawl ensues. This leads to the anonymous Raw GM making the announcement that order must be restored or the teams must forfeit their spots in the match. This leads to Daniel Bryan coming out as the second entry and here we go! Reviewing a match like this is tough since there are so many moments and so many competitors that I don’t know where to start and what to say so I’ll get to the highlights. John Morrison looked like an absolute star in this match as he used his unbelievable risk taking abilities to survive the match such as hanging on the ringside barricade after being tossed out by William Regal. This is before being eliminated by The New Nexus. Punk was determined to win the Rumble and head to WrestleMania by having his group help him eliminate anyone and everyone in his way. This technique lasted him a long time in the match as he along with his group dominated a good part of the Rumble as they eliminated entry after entry to the point where they were the only ones in the ring. However, Khali came out and eliminated Husky Harris but this only led to the entry of Mason Ryan and Khali was quickly eliminated. They even got to eliminated Booker T who made a brief appearance before being tossed. I should mention that the crowd popped big time for Booker’s appearance. After, John Cena came out and single handedly took out the New Nexus and the Rumble unofficially starts over here with Cena being the only man in the ring. Cena eliminated a good amount of men who tried to step in his way along with Hornswoggle as they both played around to the crowd until Kofi Kingston came out and things got serious as guys like Sheamus and even Diesal stepped into the fray. The war in the ring waged on and on as Alberto Del Rio, Randy Orton, and Kane finally stepped in as the entries were finally done with. Alex Riley entered as well and was accompanied by The Miz as Riley caused a distraction and Miz ran in and eliminated Cena. Cena was furious but either way, he was finally out. The final men were Orton, Del Rio, and Barrett. Del Rio easily eliminated Barrett and Orton tried to blindside Del Rio and eliminate him but Del Rio was able to flip him over and out of the ring! Del Rio celebrates his win until he is told that Santino Marella has not yet been eliminated! Marella nails Del Rio with the Cobra and tries to eliminate Del Rio but he ends up flipping Marella out! Del Rio is the 2011 Royal Rumble winner! Fantastic ending to a pretty great Rumble. Superstars were pushed, guys looked strong, and Del Rio is a star.
Winner: Alberto Del Rio
Rating: ****
Overall Show Thoughts and Rating:
The undercard was pretty weak but it was to be expected considering this is the Royal Rumble and the Rumble match is pretty much the meat of the show. The Rumble match didn’t disappoint but wasn’t anything too special with the big exception being Alberto Del Rio who definitely has a big future on the horizon. Decent show with a fun Rumble match.
Rating: 6/10