ROYAL RUMBLE

So I didn't get a chance to catch Smackdown, nor did Ari get a chance to make his RR predictions - it was a busy weekend for both of us, but what else is new? But the rest of this week should go more smoothly now that a play I've been directing (which has been taking up much of my time) is in production and so my job as director has lightened up a bit.

Thoughts on the Royal Rumble though -

First the matches were all decent and I think there was sufficient drama attached to all of them where the wrestling maybe wouldn't add up. Matt Hardy-Jack Swagger was a sufficiently strong match wrestling-wise where Matt's frustration at losing to Swagger at the end foretold some of the events of later in the evening. Likewise I was disappointed at the lack of Rosa Mendez's involvement in the women's match after all the buildup of her, but the wrestling between Melina and Beth made up for it.

The promo with JBL and Shawn Michaels - in which JBL offered Shawn a chance to enter the Royal Rumble if he helped him beat Cena, and the Undertaker confronted Shawn with the observation that "Sometimes getting into Heaven can be Hell" teased a whole bunch of possible scenarios - Michaels vs. JBL for the title next month, or Taker-Michaels at Wrestlemania as the two men most associated with the WM event, etc. etc. etc. It went the way one would predict, with Shawn attempting to help JBL win the title, though Cena ended up with the duke, but it made it a bit less predictable, and how Shawn went about it - superkicking both wrestlers - was gold. I enjoyed it.

Jeff Hardy vs. Edge was great. I wish I'd been more vocal at thinking Matt Hardy was the perpetrator with the Jeff Hardy incidents of recent weeks - I'd thought that at the start, since after months of really doing their own thing, all of a sudden you see the Hardys together all over the place. But the rumours of Christian's return made him as the perp make sense, since Matt still did have his own stuff going on while Christian would need a logical entry point back into the WWE. So I bought into that hype with Matt as a darkhorse possibility for Jeff's attacker. That's what came to fruition last night as Edge beat Jeff Hardy for the WWE title with Matt's help - figure that out Jeff, you're so low in your brother's esteem that he'd rather see the man who stole his girlfriend of 5 years as world champ than you. Anyway, good stuff.

The Rumble match, minus the one-off return of RVD, was what I expected in terms of the final four, and Randy Orton as the eventual winner at the expense of Triple H as the last man eliminated. They obviously ignored the stipulation from Trips' Smackdown match that he'd have to enter #1 in the Rumble if he lost on Friday, but he was in there a good long time and it was a decent Rumble. Lots of guys stayed in the ring a long time - there were still 15 men wrestling when #30 came out, which was a switch as they don't usually let the ring get that full. The Rumble doesn't need a whole lot of twists and surprises though as the match creates its own drama. I'm satisfied with the winner, and I'm amused at the Warlord's dubious 'shortest amount of time in the Rumble match' record being broken by Santino Marella, who was eliminated I'd say within a second of hitting the ring.

A good match which left several questions for the coming week - will the McMahons' actions to retaliate against Randy Orton for punting Vince McMahon last week involve revoking his WM title spot? What's Matt Hardy's reason for costing his brother his world title (I assume jealousy)? It should be a good week. Stay tuned for all the coverage - as well as later today or tomorrow, on top of my comments on Raw, my thoughts on an interview Julie Hart gave regarding her ex-husband Bret's recent autobiography, and his revelation of several marital affairs. As soon as I get to listen to it, as it was apparently quite a good interview - be sure and check it out yourself at http://www.unholymatrimonyshow.com. Talk atcha later!