2008 Royal Rumble

Every year the unofficial official countdown to Wrestlemania starts with the Royal Rumble where the winner of the main event, the 30 man over the top battle royal, getting a shot at the Championship Belt at Wrestlemania. Headlining Wrestlemania is one of the biggest things that can happen to a WWE superstar during their career, even if they loose. After all, it's the biggest wrestling event of the year, and even non-wrestling fans know that Wrestlemania is to wrestling fans what the Super Bowl is to football fans.

Of course I forked out the $39.95 for the Pay Per View event. I have seven children who may very well be bigger wrestling fans than me, if I don't order these events there is bound to be a revolt and riot and there are more of them than there are of me. Besides, thanks to my TIVO it gives my youngest something to watch over and over and over and over ad nauseum that isn't Sponge Bob Square Pants.

With the Royal Rumble several rivalries that have been playing out over the weeks on TV came to head, at least they were supposed to. I think we will continue to see the aftermath of the matches for weeks to come.

The four matches leading up to the main event were impressive enough, but they were all overshadowed by the surprises that the Rumble itself provided.

Ric Flair won his match against MVP, ensuring that he would wrestle another day. Currently, he is working under the stipulation that as soon as he looses a match, he has to retire. Many fans will say that Flair should have retired long ago, that he is getting too old for wrestling. It's almost become a joke that he is still wrestling. Ric will be 59 years old this year. In my opinion if he wants to stay in the business he could use his talents and experience to manage a young and up and coming wrestler instead of abusing his body further.

Chris Jericho paid revenge on J.B.L. for brutal physical and verbal abuse. J.B.L. was declared the winner after a bloodied Jericho assaulted J.B.L. with a steal chair. Even though the match was over Jericho proceeded to return a favor to J.B.L. by strangling his with one of the equipment cables.

Randy Orton defeated Jeff Hardy in a hard fought match. I was a bit disappointed with this match, I expected much more intensity. I expected it to be more extreme. It was still a good match. I refuse to say that any wrestling match is bad because these athletes go out there and bruise up their bodies night after night to entertain the masses and they give all they got time after time. I wouldn't be surprised if both Orton and Hardy aren't still recovering from the swanton bomb of Jeff Hardy from 30 feet in the air.

Edge defeated Rey Mysterio. I will admit this is one story line and rivalry that I have not been following. The best I can put together is that it all has something to do with Eddie Guerrero's widow "dating" Edge and it offending Rey Mysterio. Some people may be enjoying this, but I find it almost offensive the way the way that Eddie Guerrero's name is getting thrown around in this storyline. It's been just over two years since Eddie's death, and his name is being thrown around in a soap opera-ish manner for ratings. It's bordering on disrespectful. I have no idea why Vicki and Chavo agreed to go along with this plot turn.

Any of these matches could have gone either way and those watching would not have been surprised. What was surprising was the Royal Rumble. The best description that I can use to explain the Rumble to non-wrestling fans is organized chaos. Every 90 seconds a wrestler enters the ring until all 30 participants have been called out. The idea is to be the last man standing after 29 of your opponents are thrown over the top rope. The only reason that the refs are out there is to make sure no one cheats and re-enters after they have been eliminated.

Some of the biggest names in the WWE participated including Triple H, Kane, Mick Foley, Shawn Michaels and Batista. Some of the biggest wrestlers participated including The Undertaker, Kane, Big Daddy V, Umaga, the Great Khali and the worlds strongest man, Mark Henry.

Surprise number one came when wrestling veterans Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka and Roddy "Rowdy" Piper came to the ring. There was a moment when the other men in the ring decided to take a break and watch these two legends battle it out one more time in the squared circle before both were eliminated by Kane simultaneously.

Surprise number two was the bigger of the two when the last athlete entered the ring. It put the entire crowd in live attendance on their feet. There was no official announcement that this competitor was even going to be in the Rumble. As far as anyone knew he was still on the injured list with a torn pectoral muscle that was suffered at the hands of Mr. Kennedy. The last man who entered the ring, and went on to defeat Batista and Triple H for a chance at the same title he had to relinquish in October because of his injury, was John Cena. If the Royal Rumble is any indication, Wrestlemania is starting to look very promising.