Royal Rumble 2009: Good, but predictable

By Garth McLennan, Sports Editor

anuary 25" marked the beginning of the new
Age of Orton.
One of WWE’s biggest heels, Randy
Orton, won the 22™ annual Royal Rumble, which
automatically qualifies him to be in the main
event for the 25" WrestleMania in Houston,
Texas on April 5".

Orton entered the 30-man battle royale,
which is one of WWE’s premier events, in the
eighth spot and lasted 48:27 before eliminating
Triple H to win.

There were several matches on the
evening’s undercard. John Cena retained
the world heavyweight championship by
defeating JBL while Jeff Hardy lost the WWE

Championship to Edge in a no-disqualification
match. Also, Jack Swagger successfully
defended the ECW Championship against Matt
Hardy in his first title defence.

Overall, the PPV was good, but not great.
I’ve got nothing against Randy Orton, but it
was just too predictable. WWE is scripted
entertainment, but it’s still a lot of fun to get
caught up in. In the weeks prior to the Rumble,
WWE had been really building up both Orton
and Triple H. It was clear as well that Jeff Hardy
was going to lose the WWE title to Edge over
a month ago. The big rumour heading into the
Rumble was that Christian Cage, who has just
left TNA wrestling, would make his return by
screwing Hardy out of the title, but that didn’t
end up happening. Instead, Jeff’s real life brother

Matt turned heel by belting Jeff on the head with
a chair and allowing Edge to steal the win.

Aside from the Matt turn, it wasn’t hard
to see everything else coming. I mean, before
the Rumble started, they played a Randy Orton
promotional video to the audience.

There were some minor surprises thrown
in. Rob Van Dam, who had been out of action
for over a year, made a special return in Detroit,
where the Rumble was held, and lasted for a
while.

With Orton’s win the main event at
WrestleMania, it appears to be set with a match
between Orton and Cena for the world title.
Cena, who won the belt back at Survivor Series
from Chris Jericho, is the company’s biggest
face, or good guy, while Orton is easily their

top villain. They have feuded briefly before at
Summerslam and Unforgiven back in 2007, but
when Cena seriously injured his arm and needed
surgery, he missed four months and plans for the
feud to continue were scrapped. Ironically, Cena
returned and won the Royal Rumble last year.
Both Cena and Orton are members of the RAW
roster.

On the Smackdown side, their main event
appears to be Edge against Triple H. At the
biggest WrestleMania in history, there is no way
Triple H won’t be headlining it, and Edge won’t
drop the title in two months. A Matt Hardy vs.
Jeff Hardy grudge match also seems to be set as
well, and considering that both of them are up
and coming superstars who are very talented,
their contest could wind up stealing the show.

 

money back

  

waik in with your taxes, walk out with your money
and you could win $5,000 towards a road trip. visit refundroadtrip.ca

 

come in today or call
1-800-HRBLOCK (472-5625)

   

H&R BLOCK’