WWE Royal Rumble 2009 Review
Jack Swagger(c) def. Matt Hardy(10:27)
Thoughts: This was really the only possible match that could open the show and Swagger and Hardy definitely put on a solid match. There was nothing spectacular or overly flashy, but that’s still a vast improvement over some of the nonsensical booking and plodding matches that had surrounded the ECW Championship over it's last few years. Swagger continued to improve with every match and a high profile win over Matt Hardy at a big pay-per-view like the Royal Rumble definitely added to the credibility to his, at the time, young career. Had Christian not returned only a few weeks after this, then Swagger would've been a good choice as the face of ECW. As far as the match here, good stuff, but nothing spectacular.
Rating: ***
Melina def. Beth Phoenix(c)(5:57)
Thoughts: I'll just say it: Beth Phoenix was one of the most dominant woman in WWE and one of the main reasons is that she can flat out go in the ring and while Melina may not have been as physically intimidating as Beth, she proved in this match, she can do things with her body that we had NEVER seen from ANYONE in WWE. The combination of both of their respective skills made this as good of a match as you can have in six minutes. I really hope one day either Beth or Melina return to WWE as their presence would really bring a lot of attention to the Divas division because let's be honest, other than Paige and AJ Lee, nobody gives a damn about the Divas division right now.
Rating: **1/4
John Cena(c) def. John Bradshaw Layfield(15:29)
Thoughts: There are really two factors to consider when rating this match. The first is that the match itself was passable, which is certainly not a given any time JBL is in the ring. Based solely on in-ring action, I would've probably given this match somewhere between ** and **½. But what made this match special and what made it memorable was the booking and the involvement of Shawn Michaels. Yes, overbooking is usually a mistake. Yes, outside interference usually ruins the flow of a match and diminishes its overall quality. But in some rare cases (cough*raven&stevievsthepitbulls*cough), overbooking and outside interference can tell a story that could not be told in any other way. The build to this match focused just as much on Shawn Michaels as it did on John Cena or JBL, so it was only fitting that Michaels should play such a critical role in the finish. Michaels theoretically did his job, but it's obvious that JBL wasn't all that pleased with the final outcome. Thankfully, they didn't stretch the Michaels/JBL feud to that year's Wrestlemania and Michaels faced Undertaker in a instant classic. Funny enough, right before this match, Taker confronted Michaels. Anyway, like I said, solid in-ring work between Cena and JBL, but it's Shawn who made this match memorable.
Rating: ***1/4
Edge def. Jeff Hardy(c)(19:19)
Thoughts: I thought that one competitor’s brother might get involved in this match. When Vickie announced that the match was a No DQ Match, I was almost certain that one competitor’s brother would interfere in the match. And I knew that interference would cost Jeff Hardy the WWE Championship. That’s exactly what happened… but I was still TOTALLY shocked when it did. Because it wasn’t Christian that made an appearance like I thought it would be. It was Matt Hardy. And with one chair shot, Matt instantly became more interesting than he had ever been at any point in his singles career, including the time that his love life set the IWC on fire. But this… this was freaking INSANE. Matt Hardy became the most hated man in the WWE Universe and I'm sure he felt the terrible wrath of every fat lonely emo chick on the planet. And as was the case with the World Heavyweight Championship Match, it was the booking in this match that turned it from a good match into a great match.
Rating: ***3/4
Randy Orton def. 29 other competitors; last eliminating Triple H(58:40)
Thoughts: I really don't understand why people don't like this Rumble as much as they do others. It had some great action for start to finish and 10 of the competitors lasted a half hour or longer(give or take a few seconds). The biggest problem I've heard from people about this match is that there were way too many people still in the match when #30 came out. I can understand why people don't like that, but I personally think it's great; it gives you the impression the first time you watch it that anyone can win and just maybe they won't go with the one your expecting the most. Speaking of which, the winner of this match was very obvious if you saw the RAW before this, so it really doesn't come as any surprise that Randy Orton won here. Predictability aside, this was a great Rumble match; maybe not as good as 08's and 07's, but still a great Rumble in it of itself.
Rating: ****
Final Rating:
3.25 out of 5
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