Undertaker and HBK: The Precursor Legacy
(How two men turned a pretty good Rumble into a legendary Rumble)
Storytelling: 3/5 Stars
Match Quality: 3/5 Stars
Finish: 5/5 Stars-the best finish in Rumble history
Winner: 5/5 Stars
Extracurricular: 3/5 Stars
TOTAL: 19/25 Stars
Great Moment You May Have Forgotten: The Orton Edge teaming up was great, but I'm going with Sabu becoming Kane's rag doll as he pushed him through a table. That Sabu placed there.
Moment You Wish You Weren't Reminded Of: I mean Kevin Thorn in general was bad, but Sandman's time in the Rumble was just disappointing and lackadaisical.
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Sometimes it's not about how you start, but its how you finish, and what better way to finish than a mini battle between the two best in-ring workers in WWE history.
In other Rumbles (2011, 2014), starting off hot and cooling off should not be the ideal place to go when you are trying to either create a new mega-star or cement the legacy of an existing mega-star. This match had all the makings of just another mediocre Rumble, with it's good and bad moments and questionable superstar choices, but it knew to play the audience at the right time and build up the momentum until we got what we always wanted, a one-on-one battle of titans of industry.
Kudos as well to the first Rumble announce team of JBL, Michael Cole, and Jerry Lawler. Long before the Anonymous GM, they played off each other pretty well, particular JBL's asinine quotes toward people such as Mil Mascaras (who probably deserve such ribbing, but man JBL is a great big prick).
The match starts pretty cool, with a nice Ric Flair/Finlay battle of senior citizens of wrestling. It then proceeds to have your typical mid card to "I'm just here so I won't get fined" talent, from Matt Hardy to Tommy Dreamer, Kenny Dykstra (who helped eliminate Flair mind you) to Edge (not a jobber, and also eliminated Flair, so don't mess with him). It also had The Shelton Benjamin Treatment, in his longest Rumble outing before being eliminated by...you guessed it...Michaels.
But then Kane showed up in his millionth straight Rumble and tore house down...again. He takes apart the ECW crew, including Sabu and his inability to use tables correctly. After this until about spot 23 the ring really just started to fill up...and we really mean fill up. CM Punk, King Booker, Super Crazy, Jeff Hardy, the Sandman, Randy Orton, The Phantom Menace Chris Benoit, RVD, Viscera, Johnny Nitro, Kevin Thorn (yea that was the Rumble winner for worst gimmick), and Hardcore Holly all put in a significant time and made some great moments yada yada yada.
But then Shawn Michaels came in at 23 and the momentum began to really pick up. Being on his hottest streak in a while as a member of the PG (D)-X with HHH, he knocked out Finlay, Benjamin of course, and super kicked Viscera's teeth out, allowing a "record" 8 people to eliminate him.
After a few more jobbers came in, number 28 was...wow I'm typing this...THE GREAT KHALI. He enters the ring and does his signature slow head butt, and perhaps most surprising to me..HE ELIMINATED NEARLY EVERYBODY!!! Holly, Benoit, Miz, who was in for a whole 7 seconds (yea that man main evented a Wrestlemania), RVD, CM Punk, Carlito, Chavo Guerrero. These men were just picked up with ease and made monkey wrenches to Khali... WHO WILL STOP THE IMMOBLE OBJECT.
GONG!!!!!
"Maybe there is someone....Maybe there is someone" At number 30, Undertaker brings us back to reality by pretending to be a dead man, and knocks some sense out of Khali, and then dollars, and then knocks him out of the ring. After that, he throws out MVP, who was furious, gives a chair to Orton, and you guessed it without watching, Orton smacks Taker's head open.
So we are left with Rated RKO, a knocked out Michaels, and a really knocked out Taker. The fun begins as those two begin to work on the pair, and hit an RKO OUTTA NOWHERE to Michaels. He's falls out of the ring, but bottom rope, while Taker takes one of his trademark beatings and survival instincts. Well naturally as heels always do, Edge and Orton kinda turn on each other, just enough to Michaels to regain his consciousness and eliminated the two of them.
At this point the crowd is at an all time frenzy, with these two legends lying a bloody mess. But that moment, when Taker sat up and Michaels kicked up, and we knew we were in for a slobberknocker. Now I won't spoil Wrestlemania 25 for the three of you who may not have watched it, but let's just say this was a 10 minute preview of what that legendary match was. Each of them were at multiple points of near elimination, rope hanging, borderline finishers that kept us on the Edge (pun) of our seats. The final sequence is great, with Michaels Sweet Chin Music to Taker, waits for him to crawl up and kick him again, and this time misses, exposing his butt to Taker who tosses him out in a desperate act of survival. And with that, Taker finally has his Rumble win, while Michaels proves once again he is the best in the business. Why couldn't all finishes be like that!
While the finish is out of this world spectacular, this match did lack a particular aura to it, thus keeping it out of the top three. And don't get me wrong, all the other great matches have memorable finishes to say the least, but this is the one that we look for when we are down to the wire and want a true ending showdown to satisfy the fans.
If you want to watch the first 40 minutes or so you can (here), but really just watch the last 20 and you'll be more than satisfied. Tomorrow's match is shockingly at number 3, deal with it. Much controversy to come, but hey...IT'S THE TOP THREE RUMBLES EVER!!! It's supposed to be controversial. Til tomorrow, happy hunting.
