Royal Rumble 2011 is in January, from Boston.
WWF Title: Edge v. Booker T
The road to Rumble 2K11 starts the night after Survivor Series when Bret (that’s Bret Hart, WWF Commissioner) hits the ring to open RAW, the announce telling us that he’s going to name Edge’s Rumble opponent.
Bret announces first some good news – he has signed an extension to his agreement with WWF; he will be staying on as commissioner past WM, all the way until Survivor Series 2011, which will be held at Madison Square Garden.
Second, he says he received a phone call last night after Survivor Series; it was from a former WWF Champion who works for another promotion. The caller said he was retiring from wrestling – but wanted one final match, and there’s no one in life Bret respects more than the fraternity of men who have held the WWF Title. Only 30 men in all the world have ever been World Wrestling Federation Heavyweight Champion; it is an elite group. It is a brotherhood. And Bret understands wanting one last match – he wanted one last match against Shawn Michaels, and got it at Mania. So when a former WWF Champion says he’s willing to leave his promotion and hundreds of thousands of dollars on the table to come back to WWF for one last match, that’s a conversation Bret has to take seriously.
They then play Booker Ts highlight package, the NWA career, his WWF tag title run with Bradshaw, and his beating Lashley to become the first ever African-American World Heavyweight Champion.
Bret says at the Rumble – Book will take on Edge; if he wins, he will vacate the belt the next night – and Mania will be a one night 8 man tournament for the WWF Title.
Book’s not around for the build – so he’ll get pushed by announce in contrast to Swagger – why did Swagger lose at Survivor Series? – inexperience, specifically, Edge’s experience advantage, and advantage he won’t have over the crafty, veteran Booker T.
Edge will just be Edge – Rated R, will bang your girl, can’t trust him – he’s in the Harts and the Clique, not a friend or a care in the world – Edge.
There can also be some excitement about the possibility of Wrestlemania being a tournament – that would be a fun, never before seen twist on Wrestlemania – there would be speculation on who the 8 men might be in such a tournament.
CM Punk v. Steve Regal
Who is less interested in Booker v. Edge is Punk. He sufficiently disapproves that at RAW’s close the night after Survivor Series, Joey tells us that Punk will appear on RAW next week – and he’s going to talk.
This is a big deal, Punk promos have been few and far between for over a year. He had been gone since losing to Danielson at Summer Slam, but returned postmatch last night to freak Edge out – Punk’s hair and beard are uncut and unkempt – what looks like permanent tattoos of Edge’s name are all over his body.
He hits the ring and sits down Indian style.
Punk brings the mic to his mouth as if he’ll speak – but doesn’t – he repeats that a couple of times until Bret enters.
Bret asks what he wants.
Punk points to the video wall, which plays Bret naming Booker to be Edge’s opponent at the Rumble.
Bret says Booker is a former WWF Champion and deserves that respect.
Punk stands and gets in Bret’s face and tells him he’s full of shit. Punk says he’s a two time WWF Champion, he never got a rematch, he has been chasing Edge for a year since he killed Maria, and Bret keeps protecting him.
Punk says first he thought it was just to save Edge’s ass because they’re both Hart Foundation – but really, really it’s about that belt – Punk’s won it twice and the only men in WWF history who ever won it three times are named Hart.
Punk says that’s what its about – its about protecting your family legacy.
Now Bret – who is slow to anger, gets in Punk’s face – at Survivor Series 4 years ago Punk threw the belt down, Punk’s girlfriend spit on the belt – Bret doesn’t give a damn what Edge did to her, she deserved it.
And what Punk deserves is nothing – maybe the fans have forgotten – but Bret hasn’t forgotten, better men than Punk have spent their whole careers chasing the WWF Title and never achieving it, Bret says Arn Anderson is in the back right now, and if Punk ever looked at Double A the wrong way he’d find out what those men think of him.
Bret says as long as he has anything to say about it – Punk will never get close to the WWF Title.
Bret says Punk will be working at the Rumble – however –
And the music for Underground hits – and out comes Regal, flanked by Empire and the Douchebags.
They get in the ring and surround Punk as Bret exists – Punk attacks some of the flanking wrestlers, but they get control and get a quick beating in.
Regal will carry the vocal end of this program – it’s the head trainer of Underground vs. the founder of GDI as far as he’s concerned, Regal says he’s there to prove supremacy of his style of wrestling and way of life.
The next step in that program actually involves Tyler Black.
Black joins GDI after Survivor Series in Low Ki’s exit program; that was referenced in the Survivor Series post. He’s a Punk fan, and is willing to say it despite Danielson’s blanket opposition to all matters Punk.
He’s also a fan of Fight Night – and after he ends Low Ki’s run, he rips off the number 6 on the giant sheets of paper that signify GDI matches they can request as part of the Steamboat settlement (only 5 matches left) and says he wants Fit Finlay.
Fit’s physical altercation with Young Money after they defeated Hooligans at Survivor Series apparently triggers his return to active status – Fit and his trainer Malenko were the face of Fight Night back when it first launched as the new NWA – and Black says he was glued to it every Friday.
We get one last “Fit and Regal sit alone in an empty arena and talk shop” promo as part of the build – Regal’s taking on Punk at the Rumble, Fit’s taking on this GDI kid Black – they get all grizzled and whatnot – leaving with a handshake.
Black goes over Fit on Fight Night – and as he exits he’s passed in the aisle by Punk.
Black looks back at him, a little wide eyed, as Punk gets in the ring and ends Fit’s WWF run in the same way he ended Matt Hardy’s – with a series of Go To Sleeps that only ends when he’s pulled off – here, its by Hooligans, Sheamus and Drew, they tend to their battered trainer as Punk exits.
That adds some steam to Punk/Regal, Steve’s got blood in his eye now as he talks about vengeance at the Rumble.
Glass Light Tube Match: John Cena v. Alex Riley
Oddly, it’s Alex Riley, enhancement talent in GDI, who pulls the number 5 off the sheets of paper (4 matches left) to challenge Cena in his hometown.
After Black’s win over Fit he is about to pull the sheet to request a match at the Rumble when he’s stopped by Riley – Riley says he respects all that Black’s done, but Riley’s been busting his ass in GDI, losing mainly, he admits, but getting better and trying real hard. Riley says he wants one match with Black for the right to go to Rumble.
Black says of course, they do a slip on the banana peel finish and Riley gets the shocking upset. He immediately pulls the sheet and calls out Cena.
At the number one contender battle royal, Cena slammed a light tube over Danielson’s head – Danielson told the GDI locker room to ignore it, there were bigger battles to be fought – but Riley can’t – WWF can’t think they can push around GDI – GDI is his family, even though they mainly kick his ass, and at the Rumble, he’s going to grab a light tube and crush Cena’s WWF face with it.
Who that particularly bothers is Mark Henry.
Henry’s been enhancement for years; really his only role in his career was as NOD bodyguard, if he’s had a PPV match I can’t recall it. But seemingly out of nowhere he incapacitates both members of DMW (note that real world Show is now wearing a WMD shirt, I keep trying to tell him that Batista/Cena were WMD, that he was DMW) and starts cutting angry promos. He focuses his anger on Riley, some scrub who doesn’t even work at WWF getting a match at the Rumble.
Henry says he doesn’t have a match at the Rumble. Like every year. But that doesn’t mean he isn’t going to Boston.
Rey Mysterio v. Bryan Danielson
One more GDI match; it’s just for the workrate. Danielson continues his “best wrestler in the world” gimmick – he beat Punk, he beat Low Ki – Rey also beat Low Ki and Rey has been on a roll, beating Nemeth in back to back PPVs coming out of Mania where he stayed undefeated.
Danielson rips the sheet (3 matches left for GDI) and challenged Rey. Like the previous Danielson matches, this draws the “dream match, never before on PPV, maybe never again” talk designed to get PPV buys from people who are me.
That’s half the card; here’s one more:
Tag Titles: Young Money v. Defiance
That was set up at Survivor Series; a Young Money win and they will go into Mania as champs for a full year, there has not been a year long tag title run since the Steiners almost 20 years ago. Killings is a heel, or at least heelish, where he's headed is a Ron Artest type heel, he's going to wind up changing his name to some version of Metta World Peace, but not yet. Kingston's a face and the "he takes it seriously, Killings goofs around" split gets furthered over Kingston's desire to hold the tag belts for a year - he really feels the historic importance of the Rumble match. Killings belches in his face, thrusts his pelvis, goes out for a smoke.
Defiance is Defiance.
Winners go to Mania: D1 v. Hooligans v. Empire v. Rotunda/Hennig
3 left:
IC: Johnny Nitro (w/Natty) v. Tyson Kidd (w/Harry)
-Bret calls the Clique to the ring, says he's tried to avoid an appearance of impropriety when taking this job; he knew all the knives would be out if he looked to harshly at the Clique. So he bit his tongue as they undertook the kind of juvenile idiocy that the Clique has always been known for. But when they tried to humiliate Linda McMahon the week before the Senate election. that was a step too far.
So its time for some Harts v. Clique, 2011 version.
Tyson and Harry attack - and we're on. Tyson/Nitro is going to be a helluva match, particuarly given the backstory with Nitro's tormenting the Hart kids when they were the Flock and Natty jumping to the Clique.
Miz winds up definitively going over Harry in the build; Bret gives him what he wants - a singles match at the Rumble - his opponent:
Miz v. Mystery Clique Opponent
Bret says another member of the Clique will be taking on the Miz at the Rumble - who could it be goes the speculation? Michaels? Waltman? Billy Gunn?
And finally:
Chavo Guerrero v. Dos Caras, Jr. (w/Ricardo and Vicki Guerrero)
We welcome Vicki to the show.
She's Eddy's widow, left destitute by the Guerrero family's spending; so when Caras, whose gimmick is he is wildly wealthy because his family is the greatest wrestling dynasty ever, pulls her out of the limo in this build - it's to demonstrate to Chavo the shambles of his family legacy.
Vicki doesn't want to be with Dos Caras - but he's taking care of her.
If Chavo wins - Dos Caras pays all of the Guerrero family debt. If Chavo wins, then Vicki will have to admit that Dos Caras is the heir to the greatest wrestling family of all time. You get this program - Vicki is miserable, Dos Caras is smarmy, Chavo is prideful. It's a wrestling angle.
That's the Rumble.
WWF Title: Edge v. Booker T
Rey Mysterio v. Bryan Danielson
IC: Johnny Nitro v. Tyson Kidd
Tags: Young Money v. Defiance
CM Punk v. Steve Regal
Chavo Guerrero v. Dos Caras, Jr.
Miz v. Mystery Clique Opponent
D1 v. Hooligans v. Empire v. Rotunda/Hennig
John Cena v. Alex Riley
Coming in January
