{"id":3350,"date":"2015-01-26T14:32:56","date_gmt":"2015-01-26T19:32:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hardwoodandhollywood.com\/pop-culture-spin\/?p=3350"},"modified":"2015-01-26T14:35:04","modified_gmt":"2015-01-26T19:35:04","slug":"second-annual-wwe-royal-rumble-diary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hardwoodandhollywood.com\/pop-culture-spin\/2015\/01\/26\/second-annual-wwe-royal-rumble-diary\/","title":{"rendered":"The Second Annual WWE Royal Rumble Diary"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Royal-Rumble-645x370\"<\/a><\/p>\n

8:00 pm- <\/strong>We\u2019re coming to you live from Estero, Florida for the second annual Royal Rumble running diary. Joining me is \u2026 wait, am I really watching the Royal Rumble alone? Wow, how sad is that? I\u2019m 23-years-old and I\u2019ve been waiting all day for a wrestling pay-per-view that I\u2019m watching all by myself. I swear, I have a social life. I have a girlfriend and everything. She\u2019s even pretty!<\/p>\n

I\u2019m a one man wolfpack tonight but that won\u2019t stop me from drinking a few vodka and Cokes, eating half a bag of Cheese Mix Munchies, caring way too much about a scripted event, and even keeping a running diary for it. I\u2019m giddy with anticipation!<\/p>\n

8:05<\/strong>– The first match of the night is a tag team bout between the New Age Outlaws, who got a cheap pop from the Philadelphia crowd for coming out wearing Philly Fanatic hats, and recent NXT call-ups The Ascension, who are a cheap rip off of the Legion of Doom and Demolition. The Outlaws and the Legion of Doom never had a chance to have a rematch of their contest at the 1998 Royal Rumble, so this will have to do.<\/p>\n

8:10- <\/strong>\u201cYou still got it\u201d chants from the Philly crowd directed at Billy Gunn. I can\u2019t speak with complete certainty, but I don\u2019t think he\u2019d be getting that same love if he was a part of a Smoking Gunn\u2019s reunion with his \u201cbrother\u201d Bart Gunn. Hey, speaking of Bart Gunn:<\/p>\n

[youtube]https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=S652hvQaWfY[\/youtube]<\/p>\n

8:14<\/strong>– The Ascension gets the victory after hitting Billy Gunn with some sort of high-low maneuver that has an intimidating name on Billy Gunn. I\u2019m underwhelmed. Oh well, it\u2019s early.<\/p>\n

8:18- <\/strong>Flashing back to Raw from last week, we take a look at John Cena\u2019s win over Seth Rollins, Big Show and Kane with the help of Sting. This package is coming early as if the WWE is pleading with us to stay with the show until they get to the matches that actually matter. Video package is accompanied by dueling \u201cLet\u2019s Go Cena\u201d and \u201cCena Sucks\u201d chants.<\/p>\n

8:20- <\/strong>In the back, Stephanie and Triple H are discussing John Cena\u2019s victory on Monday Night Raw over Seth Rollins, Big Show and Kane, and, more importantly, Sting\u2019s involvement in the outcome of said match. As of this moment, we know one WrestleMania match for sure. Triple H vs. Sting seems to be a sure thing, and in all likelihood it will be a good enough match with all-time great build-up. Paul Heyman joins Stephanie and Hunter in the back and talks about how his client, Brock Lesnar, could be the solution to their Sting problem. I\u2019ve been watching wrestling since I was four and over those twenty-ish years I\u2019ve figured out pro wrestling pretty well. I\u2019m not sure why Heyman got involved in that conversation.<\/p>\n

8:21- <\/strong>Now it\u2019s time for the Tag Team Titles match: The Miz and Damien Mizdow challenging the champs, The Usos. The Miz\/Mizdow and Uso rivalry has been going on for two months and if it weren\u2019t for Damien Mizdow\u2019s always-fun antics<\/a>, I can guarantee the crowd would\u2019ve turned on this rivalry quicker than a hiccup (\u00a9 Jim Ross).<\/p>\n

8:28- <\/strong>It\u2019s been a pretty blah match so far, but then again, how many different variations of this match are there? We\u2019ve seen just about every one on Raw and Smackdown over the last eight weeks. The Miz is teasing the crowd by not tagging in Mizdow. I\u2019m not the biggest Miz fan, but he\u2019s doing his job getting Mizdow over. That doesn\u2019t mean it was okay that he main-evented a WrestleMania.<\/p>\n

8:31- <\/strong>One of the Usos\u2014I won\u2019t pretend to know which one it was\u2014was just a fraction of a rotation away from breaking his neck and ruining the entire night when he attempted a flying cross body over the top rope. Seriously, that could\u2019ve been Sid Vicious level bad<\/a>.<\/p>\n

8:34- <\/strong>The Usos get the win over Miz and Mizdow, though it was really a one-man show. Mizdow didn\u2019t even get into the match. I\u2019m still underwhelmed. I\u2019m ready to be overwhelmed, or even just whelmed. Another drink should help.<\/p>\n

8:38- <\/strong>A backstage segment with J & J Security\u2014 Jamie Noble and Joey Mercury, the henchmen for the Authority and the modern day Pat Patterson and Gerald Briscoe \u2014 and Money In The Bank holder Seth Rollins delivers. Rollins gets a big pop for proclaiming he\u2019s tired of being called the future of the WWE. He claims he is the \u201cright now.\u201d It\u2019s kinda tough to disagree. I\u2019ve said the same thing of Dolph Ziggler so maybe take this statement with a grain of salt, but Rollins has some Shawn Michaels potential. Anyway, a Divas tag team match is up next, and that\u2019s a perfect time for me to take a squirt and get another drink. Again, I promise I have a girlfriend, and not the kind that Manti Te\u2019o had.<\/p>\n

8:50- <\/strong>Son of a bitch, I\u2019m already out of snacks.<\/p>\n

8:55- <\/strong>The Bella Twins won the Divas match, but the return of the pre-Rumble interviews. This was the second best part of early Royal Rumble pay-per-views, coming in just behind listening to Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan on commentary. You really find out what guys are ready to be a headliner with stuff like this. Let\u2019s just say Fandango still has some work to do.<\/p>\n

9:00- <\/strong>Time for the triple threat match for the WWE World Heavyweight Title. Good job by WWE for putting this match together in a way where I\u2019m genuinely unsure of who is going to win. That kind of match happens maybe three times a year, and it\u2019s only mid-January. Really, as long as this match and the Rumble deliver it won\u2019t even matter that the first hour of the show stunk so bad that they\u2019ll need Duke \u201cThe Dumpster\u201d Droese to come pick it up.<\/p>\n

John Cena comes to the ring with a chorus of boos and the majority of the crowd singing \u201cJohn Cena Sucks\u201d to his theme song. JBL chalks it up by saying the Philly crowd is having fun. You know what I think would be fun? If the announcers just acknowledged that most WWE fans are tired of Cena\u2019s shtick. The traditional heels in this match\u2014Rollins and the champion Lesnar\u2014got far more positive reactions from the crowd.<\/p>\n

9:05- <\/strong>In traditional Lesnar match fashion, the contest starts with a barrage of German suplexes from the champ, including one to both members of J & J Security at the same time. All the suplex\u2019s are greeted with \u201cLet\u2019s Go Lesnar\u201d chants. I can\u2019t help but think that it\u2019s a more than a coincidence that Brock\u2019s bread and butter is the German<\/em> suplex and he also happens to looks exactly like what Adolf Hitler envisioned as the Master Race.<\/p>\n

9:15- <\/strong>Some good action so far, most of which Brock Lesnar has controlled. J & J Security is still sprawled out ringside after the double German suplex. It\u2019s only been about five years since they fought competitively in the WWE and they\u2019re taking longer to recover than most WWE refs would. After a nine year layoff, The Rock won the WWE Title. These guys can\u2019t even take a freaking suplex anymore? Why wouldn\u2019t The Authority hire a better security team? Why does this bother me so much?<\/p>\n

9:19- <\/strong>Just an absolutely incredible sequence of WWE action right there. The play-by-play: Cena speared Lesnar through the barricade, then smashed the steel steps into his head, and then through him on top of the announce table. Then, with Lesnar out cold on the table, Rollins delivers a flying elbow drop off the top rope. All of that warranted a well-deserved \u201cThis Is Awesome\u201d chant from the crowd. I don\u2019t even care who wins this match anymore. I\u2019m now overwhelmed.<\/p>\n

9:22- <\/strong>Heyman calling for doctors for Brock, and I\u2019ll be honest, I\u2019m not sure if it\u2019s legit or not. Brock was already turning purple before that sequence. He might be the color of an eggplant for all we know.<\/p>\n

9:23- <\/strong>J & J Security is finally back up after taking an 18 minute nap. They disrupt a Cena pinning sequence, but suffer a double Attitude Adjustment for their trouble. These guys stink at their job. Meanwhile, EMT\u2019s bringing a stretcher out for Lesnar.<\/p>\n

9:30- <\/strong>Another awesome sequence. Moments after Michael Cole tells us that Lesnar is suffering from a broken rib, Brock comes in and gives what may have been the most hellacious German suplex ever to Rollins. After Brock cleared out Cena, Rollins clocked Lesnar twice in the head with his Money in the Bank brief case. Rollins would be on top if his patented Curb Stomp finished, but Brock countered it, hit the F-5 on Rollins and retains the title. Wow, I\u2019m still overwhelmed. That was on the short list of triple threat matches in professional wrestling history, right up there with the WrestleMania XX triple threat between Triple H, Shawn Michaels and Chris Benoit. Actually, WWE pretends that match never happened, so I guess this one moves into the number one spot. I need to compose myself before the Rumble.<\/p>\n

9:38- <\/strong>While I was composing myself some popcorn showed up in my bedroom. Weird. Anyways, here we go; the Royal Rumble. I\u2019m unhealthily excited.<\/p>\n

9:40- <\/strong>Miz and R-Truth enter 1 and 2 respectively. It\u2019s been at least six months since R-Truth had the chance to do his pre-match rap. I\u2019m happy to have him back in my life. I wish my friend Weston, a casual WWE fan, was here. He appreciates R-Truth more than anybody I know, and last year his picks for the Rumble were Truth, Dolph Ziggler and Goldust.<\/p>\n

9:42- <\/strong>Hey now, here\u2019s a swerve! Bubba Dudley, ladies and gentlemen! A huge crowd pop and ECW chants follow. And continue all the way through Bubba and R-Truth\u2014apparently filling in for D-Von Dudley\u2014teaming up and hitting the 3-D on The Miz.<\/p>\n

9:47- <\/strong>Bubba gets rid of R-Truth and The Miz, and now he\u2019s left to face Luke Harper and the first guy who actually has a chance\u2014albeit an outside one\u2014to win the Royal Rumble. Bray Wyatt joins his former Wyatt Family brethren and they eventually get rid of an apparently alone Dudley Boy.<\/p>\n

9:48- <\/strong>Curtis Axel comes out next, but is attacked by Erick Rowan during his entrance. Rowan didn\u2019t qualify for the Rumble, but he comes down anyway. I guess we\u2019re operating as if Rowan is in the Rumble now. The Royal Rumble: where getting your ass kicked on the way to the ring not only costs you your pride, but also your chance to compete for a title match.<\/p>\n

9:52- <\/strong>Wyatt throws out both Harper and Rowan. Next out is The Boogeyman. Cole beat me to the punch with the Eater of Worlds vs. Eater of Worms<\/a> line. The Boogeyman\u2019s time in the Rumble match was about the same amount of time he was actually relevant during his first WWE run. Sin Cara and Zack Ryder are eliminated back to back by Wyatt. We can start calling Bray the Eater of Jobbers.<\/p>\n

9:56- <\/strong>The pop of the night goes to Daniel Bryan, who enters number ten. Bryan vs. Bray \u2026 oh, this is good now. These two had a match of the year candidate at the Royal Rumble last year. After that match, the Rumble went to crap. Kind of the opposite of how this year\u2019s has been going.<\/p>\n

10:02- <\/strong>Would you judge someone if they told you they kind of enjoyed Stardust\u2019s music? I\u2019m asking for a friend.<\/p>\n

10:04- <\/strong>It\u2019s him, it\u2019s him, it\u2019s DDP. Shit, that works better when he says it<\/a>. Anyway, Diamond Dallas Page enters the rumble at #14, joining Bryan, Bray, Fandango and Stardust.<\/p>\n

10:06- <\/strong>Another pseudo favorite, Rusev enters the fray at #15. We\u2019re at the halfway point. From the way Rusev treated Page, it looks like he dislikes DDP Yoga just as much as he does the United States of America.<\/p>\n

10:07- <\/strong>Daniel Bryan has been eliminated from the Royal Rumble. Oh boy, this night is about to go downhill as quick as Drake goes from 0 to 100.<\/p>\n

10:14- <\/strong>It took just seven minutes for the crowd to fully hijack the Rumble. Reigns\u2019 music hits and there isn\u2019t even a sliver of positive feedback from the crowd. I would\u2019ve gotten a better reaction from the Philly crowd. And just so it\u2019s known, I\u2019m all fine and good with a vocal crowd, but if they don\u2019t give love to Ambrose and Ziggler and a bunch of other guys who are deserving of love, I\u2019m going to be very disappointed.<\/p>\n

10:16- <\/strong>The first bit of positivity shown from the crowd since Bryan\u2019s elimination was for Mizdow, who almost gave up his spot for The Miz. Reigns shoved The Miz off of the apron and Mizdow enters to a big reaction from the crowd. Bray Wyatt, now acting as the Eater of Positive Crowd Reactions, eliminates Mizdow pretty quickly.<\/p>\n

10:19- <\/strong>JBL tells us that Butch Reed was the first man ever eliminated from the Rumble. I\u2019m glad he\u2019s here. Ryback enters shortly after, and the crowd actually gets into some \u201cFeed Me More\u201d chants.<\/p>\n

10:21- <\/strong>Damn! I had 10:04 in the \u201cWhen Will The Crowd Chant for CM Punk the First Time\u201d Pool. Actually, I guess I win since I\u2019m the only one here.<\/p>\n

10:23- <\/strong>A full blown pop for Dean Ambrose, who enters at number 25, and I\u2019m hopeful there won\u2019t be any more prolonged booing for the foreseeable future. Even though the crowd was firmly in Daniel Bryan\u2019s corner, this match could be fine if Ambrose, Ziggler or maybe even Bray Wyatt come out on top.<\/p>\n

10:27- <\/strong>Four guys have won from #27, and Intercontinental Champion Bad News Barrett enters at that number this year to yet another positive reaction from the very vocal Philly crowd. The ring is filling up quickly; right now it\u2019s Reigns, Wyatt, Ambrose, Barrett, Big E, Rusev, Jack Swagger, Kane and Ryback.<\/p>\n

10:30- <\/strong>Big Show enters at number 29, and that means Dolph Ziggler is coming in at number thirty. Of course, since Show is the biggest guy in the match, we have to go through the utterly ridiculous, \u201cEight guys try to eliminate the biggest guy in the match, and then he pushes every single one of them off!\u201d routine. Big Show, Yokozuna, The Great Khali and Andre The Giant are on the Mount Rushmore of that stupid Royal Rumble ploy. \u201cWe Want Ziggler,\u201d chants start to pop up before he even enters the match. I\u2019m officially at the stage of the Rumble where I\u2019m nervous. Just so everyone knows, my girlfriend\u2019s name is Maria and she isn\u2019t imaginary.<\/p>\n

10:36- <\/strong>We\u2019ve officially reached the point in the show where the crowd isn\u2019t going to be happy with any result. Kudos to WWE\u2019s creative team. After checking last year\u2019s running diary<\/a>, this point came exactly six minutes later than it did last year. We\u2019re down to the Final Four, and it\u2019s Big Show, Kane, Roman Reigns and Rusev\u2014who we aren\u2019t supposed to know is still in the match. To get here, Big Show and Kane eliminated Dolph Ziggler, Dean Ambrose and Bray Wyatt, the only three guys besides Daniel Bryan who would\u2019ve definitely gotten some love from the crowd as Rumble winners.<\/p>\n

10:42- <\/strong>Kane and Big Show turn on each other after Show tried to eliminate Kane, and of course this leads to Reigns eliminating both Kane and Big Show. Kane and Big Show kiss and make up, and then decide to come back into the ring and attack Reigns, but The Rock, Reigns\u2019 real life cousin, comes down for the save. Reigns quickly tosses out The Bulgarian Brute after he comes back into the ring, and now Reigns has officially won the Rumble match.<\/p>\n

The Rock raises Reigns\u2019 hand in victory, but even The Great One\u2019s presence can\u2019t change the fact that the crowd has the same level of disdain for this finish as they did the finish of last year\u2019s Royal Rumble. Shit, even The Rock was surprised by the negative reaction. WWE will certainly try to use The Rock as much as they can to get Roman Reigns over with the crowd, but if tonight is any indicator it won\u2019t work. Will WWE stick to their guns, or call an audible and make things right just like they had to last year? Stay tuned, I’ll be here throughout WrestleMania season to walk you through it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

8:00 pm- We\u2019re coming to you live from Estero, Florida for the second annual Royal Rumble running diary. Joining me is \u2026 wait, am I really watching the Royal Rumble alone? Wow, how sad is that? I\u2019m 23-years-old and I\u2019ve been waiting all day for a wrestling pay-per-view that I\u2019m watching all by myself. I<\/p>\n

Read More<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":158,"featured_media":3360,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[411],"tags":[1602,1604,1227,1587,1560,569,1600,1224,1590,1225,1592,1593,1077,1226,1601,1229,1595,1597,1599,1596,570,1231,1603,1234,1598,1586,1588,1558,1232,1230,1078,1556,1222,1585,1591,1584,1557,1589,1221,1430,1594,2418,1583],"class_list":{"0":"post-3350","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wwe","8":"tag-bad-news-barrett","9":"tag-bella-twins","10":"tag-big-show","11":"tag-billy-gunn","12":"tag-bray-wyatt","13":"tag-brock-lesnar","14":"tag-bubba-dudley","15":"tag-cm-punk","16":"tag-damien-mizdow","17":"tag-daniel-bryan","18":"tag-ddp","19":"tag-ddp-yoga","20":"tag-dean-ambrose","21":"tag-dolph-ziggler","22":"tag-ecw","23":"tag-erick-rowan","24":"tag-jamie-noble","25":"tag-jbl","26":"tag-jerry-lawler","27":"tag-joey-mercury","28":"tag-john-cena","29":"tag-kane","30":"tag-legion-of-doom","31":"tag-luke-harper","32":"tag-michael-cole","33":"tag-new-age-outlaws","34":"tag-road-dogg","35":"tag-roman-reigns","36":"tag-rusev","37":"tag-ryback","38":"tag-seth-rollins","39":"tag-shawn-michaels","40":"tag-stephanie-mcmahon","41":"tag-sting","42":"tag-the-miz","43":"tag-the-rock","44":"tag-the-undertaker","45":"tag-the-usos","46":"tag-triple-h","47":"tag-vince-mcmahon","48":"tag-wrestlemania","49":"tag-wwe","50":"tag-wwe-royal-rumble"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hardwoodandhollywood.com\/pop-culture-spin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3350","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hardwoodandhollywood.com\/pop-culture-spin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hardwoodandhollywood.com\/pop-culture-spin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hardwoodandhollywood.com\/pop-culture-spin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/158"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hardwoodandhollywood.com\/pop-culture-spin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3350"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.hardwoodandhollywood.com\/pop-culture-spin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3350\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hardwoodandhollywood.com\/pop-culture-spin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hardwoodandhollywood.com\/pop-culture-spin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hardwoodandhollywood.com\/pop-culture-spin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hardwoodandhollywood.com\/pop-culture-spin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}