Tonight begins the road to WrestleMania XXVIII! The pieces will start to come together for WWE's biggest PPV of all time. The improbable World Heavyweight Champion will face two Titans in a steel cage, the WWE Champion will go up against a Show Off who has his number, and 30 men will face off in a match to determine who will challenge for the holder of either of those titles. Read on for my thoughts on the show as it happens.
Not looking forward to this commentary team calling things.
That's certainly starting things off with a bang.
Fingers crossed that Bryan retains here. Henry's hurt and Big Show's Big Show (and 39 with a lot of titles and main events already under his belt).
This story's pretty good, I have to say.
Hoping for the best here with Henry's injuries. He deserves tons of props for competing lately.
Now Bryan's on offense. All hope is not lost.
Good story here with these competitors.
Ugh. Trending talk.
Ouch. Big Show's crushing him. As strong as they've booked him compared to Bryan, not much else would be believable.
Bad commentary. These three men are fighting for the World Title in a cage on PPV and they're talking about love.
If Big Show wins, I riot. Occupy WWE, the whole nine yards.
I'd love to see Bryan beat Show clean some day.
As unstoppable as Show's been, I don't think anyone thinks he'll tap.
No way this is ending this early. Unless Henry's hurt worse than I thought. Show's not exactly Mr. Stamina, so that's a real problem.
That was disappointing, though the ending spot was cool.
And the crowd goes "meh". Hopefully Henry gets and takes time off to heal, because he could only do so much here and the match wasn't as good as it could have been because of it.
I'd guess we've got more from Bryan and Show upcoming. As long as Bryan doesn't get squashed and
Lots of Taker shots there. Foreshadowing? Good video package all in all.
Fashionable non-conformity on display.
Not a bad Cena package, Just not my thing.
I'm sensing a color theme with this team. But didn't Beth and Brie face off on Superstars?
Well, Tamina's kind of in orange.
Damn you, Eve Torres and your dance moves mid-match.
And the underrated Divas show their stuff. Just keep Alicia out of there.
Twitter better be ponying up a lot of cash as much as they get plugged.
I'm pretty much giving up on the whole "commentators consistently being face or heel" thing.
That was kind of embarrassing. It was pretty obviously choreographed.
I was really hoping for Beth and/or Natalya taking out the Bellas after that tag.
Eve was pretty quick to showing up backstage. Maybe if she'd used that energy in her match, her team would have won?
Not exactly a rousing ovation for Cena.
Hey, even when he's in a big personal match, Cena's all energy out to the ring.
Maybe Cena IS heel for continuing his shtick even when booed, as some have speculated.
Hopefully this is just Round 1 of Cena/Kane (i.e. Cena doesn't dispose of him easily).
Cry more, St. Louis.
Kane seems to be in pretty good shape. The time off did him good.
It's saying something that even when defending the honor of fan-favorite Zack Ryder and a Diva, some fans boo Cena.
This is a better performance than I expected. This isn't the same plodding big guy I remember from months back.
Nice counter by Cena.
They're not really going to have Kane tap are they?
And nice sidewalk slam.
Kane can move. I'll give him that.
"This guy put my friend in a wheelchair and tried to suffocate me, but I'm going to play to the crowd a bit more."
And that's why you don't taunt in a match with Kane.
Maybe Cena really is playing to the crowd to tick off the anti-Cena contingent.
Yep. Count-out. If you're going to do something like that, I'd have preferred more of a fight beforehand. They can still make it up if this brawl continues well.
Uh-oh. He found the locker room.
Yeah, we're really getting into the horror movie stuff now.
If only the Big O were here...
Damn. Not bad for continuing things, other than the "cool" fans crapping on it.
As much as I like the Cena and Rock video packages, maybe we should get a little more action on the show we paid $44.95 for?
There's a reason cinemas put all the ads before the uninterrupted movie.
I thought of adding a skit with McIntyre on my preview column but I didn't want to get it out too late. Glad he's not in the Rumble given his losses recently.
Also glad Clay might not be in the Rumble, because he'd have to be eliminated and that would hurt his momentum some I think.
Yeah, we're going to look back at this some day and wonder what the heck they were thinking.
HA. I like the Funkasaurus logo.
Thanks for coming, Drew.
Drew's got way too much talent to only be used in a role like this. I hope he does something of worth sooner rather than later.
Advertising your TV show on a PPV? Check. Focus on Triple H? Check.
Wow, we are already at the WWE Title match, aren't we?
Interesting... let's see what comes of it.
Ugh. Commentary.
Here's your shot, Show Off. His entrance is at least Title-worthy.
More guys like Punk and Ziggler, please. They clearly want to do their best here.
He did say Vickie would be banned from ringside.
Great start. These two can actually wrestle and put on an impressive showcase.
Yikes. That was kind of scary.
I love the elbow drops spot for some reason. Fits his character well.
NICE Sleeper to Anaconda Vise spot.
I like that Ziggler's using an old-school move like the sleeper and making it look legitimate. Talented guy.
That powerbomb! Punk and Ziggler are getting to do what they can do. Nice.
These two can GO.
Yeah, not time to end this one yet.
I almost thought we were in for a new champ.
OUCH.
And here's where the shenanigans will start it looks like.
That was going pretty well. Not crazy about Ziggler tapping so soon.
Possible screwjob incoming?
Why didn't you go for the Zig Zag?
I think I might be ok with Ziggler walking out with the gold here, if it doesn't hurt Punk for Mania.
OH SHI-
That was kind of weird, but I don't guess it hurt things too much. Ziggler didn't look out of place in the WWE Title picture, so hopefully this match pushes him up to being a legitimate contender.
It certainly looked intentional by Punk.
Anyway, Punk and Ziggler mostly did pretty well. I would have liked a longer clash with less storyline stuff, but can't get everything you want.
I might check some of those YouTube shows out, but I don't think I'll realistically be able to cover them.
I hope we don't get the predictable Orton win. There are other people who could make more of that boost in credibility.
YAY! The giant letters are back.
Good Miz promo as always. Another guy I want to see moving up in the world instead of the same-old, same-old.
Now that makes sense to start things off.
Riley can make himself here.
It's actually the 24th anniversary, but WWE's fast and loose with the facts.
Nice start. Good to see some athletes in good shape doing what they do best.
Welp, so much for Riley headlining Mania.
HAHA. NICE taunting by Miz.
Ha. He gained a total of 2 spots on Miz with that win.
I don't think that was 90 seconds...
I don't see Rhodes winning from #4, sadly.
Good start by the up-and-coming IC Champ.
I was half-expecting Goldust. Maybe later?
Gabriel can fly and move.
Yeah, we're a long way from 90 seconds.
Someone goofed with the TitanTron.
Primo's a house of fire.
Sorry, R-Truth.
Haha. That's why you don't taunt near the ropes.
If Miz is smart, he'll stay down there a while and avoid elimination.
I hope that's Foley TRYING to be methodical in his walk to the ring.
It's a damn shame Cody Rhodes is being pummelled by a half-crippled middle-aged author.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Please tell me Ricardo's going to do this regularly.
Looks like we're in for a lot of comedy tonight.
Well, that was fun while it lasted. Ricardo's look is scary, though.
This gets weirder by the second.
Sports entertainment!
YES! YES! Good to end the Foley debacle early.
If only we could end the Booker debacle.
Kofi can go as well.
Really, now?
Damn right, Cole.
Thank you, Cody, indeed.
I'll give the Legends credit: the crowd responded to the nostalgia. If there were 40 entrants, I think I'd be more forgiving of these spots being given out like candy.
I was wondering where he'd been lately.
Not exactly someone I wanted to see tonight.
Hunico on the other hand, especially with that awesome bike, I'm good with.
Yes, "0/10" guy, we see your sign. Very original and clever, much like "Fail" and Trollface.
Let's just turn it into the nostalgia and comedy show already, so the wrestling fans won't be confused with what's happening when they tune in.
Nice by Kofi.
And here's someone who has actually worked hard enough to be in this match on merit.
I'm not amused here. There's a reason these guys don't wrestle regularly.
At least Cody got heat from it.
No Khali or Booker. Good. Let's get Hornswoggle and whoever else out of the way, too.
This is really happening.
I thought she was pregnant? I don't understand things anymore!
If she's not competing with the men, we're missing out on something here. She could destroy the Divas single-handedly.
Maybe now business will pick up.
I'm fine with Road Dogg going in, due to his recent work as a Producer. It's the other non-regular performer picks I'm not happy with.
Hey, let's just keep changing people's music too.
Oh... well, it's not Hornswoggle.
God, I hope this guy doesn't win. He could headline Mania without winning here.
Well, so much for Barrett being the guy to headline.
So #30 is Horswoggle. Great.
No taunting here from Y2J.
Jericho's not a kid anymore.
Oh. But... they... said Hornswoggle was in it. I give up trying to understand things.
Oh, thank goodness. Didn't want someone talented like Rhodes, Miz, or Ziggler winning. They had all been out there a while, though.
PHEW.
Jericho and Sheamus I'm fine with.
Now that all the BS is out of the way (hopefully), let's settle it.
GREAT spot with the bulldog.
And maybe even better spots with Sheamus near the ropes.
Crazy time to remember it, but I was going to write Sheamus vs. Finlay for the next PPV on my preview column.
I thought we were going to get an HBK homage there for a second.
I smell a double ending.
Nice stuff from these two.
And Sheamus is going to WrestleMania, fellas. I would have been ok with Jericho, but this was better long-term.
Irish eyes are smiling for the Celtic Warrior to close the show.
Looks like that's it for the Rumble. I'll be back for Raw tomorrow, and a news post will be up later tonight. Thanks for reading!
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