WWE" Royal Rumble 2009 – DVD Review

DVD Reviews, Reviews, Top Story

royalrumble2009

The Royal Rumble is by far my favorite Pay Per View every year because it can just be so unpredictable. Over the years, and thanks to the internet, things haven’t been quite as predictable but it’s still a lot of fun. A small handful of matches kick the night off to determine some championships or just to get a few grudges out of the way. Then we get the big sendoff to the event as thirty superstars will make their way into the ring for a chance at main eventing the biggest wrestling event of the year, WrestleMania. It’s wild and nuts and out of hand and over the top (literally and figuratively) and just full of such suspense and intrigue that the match has no choice but to be fun. Sadly though some of the opening matches have gone down in quality over the years giving the event a hit-or-miss quality.

On January 25, 2009 at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan, one superstar would witness their dream come true as they would get the chance to compete for an opportunity to be in the main event at the granddaddy of them all, WrestleMania. Thirty superstars would enter the ring representing RAW, SmackDown, and ECW and one would remain standing by the time the night was over. But once they entered the ring, brand loyalty would go right out the window because it’s every man for himself. Trust your friends and get rid of your enemies. Don’t waste a second though because then it is time to get rid of your friends and trust your enemies.

The night, though, was full of other matches looking to determine a few grudges and see who would walk out with the different pieces of gold on that night. New up and comer Jack Swagger looked to hold onto his ECW Title but he’d have to make sure he could get past one of the dangerous Hardy Boyz in Matt. While Matt looked to gain gold, his brother Jeff attempted to hold onto it in a match for the WWE Title against the Rated “R” Superstar, Edge. Beth Phoenix and Melina showed there was no love lost as these former friends stepped into the ring to tangle over the Women’s Title. And last but not least, John Cena aimed to hold onto his World Heavyweight Title against JBL who had a secret weapon in his corner in the form of his employee, Shawn Michaels. It looked to be an event full of great action and ultimate surprises, but some things just failed to live up to the hype.

~ ECW Championship Match: Jack Swagger (c) Vs. Matt Hardy – Matt and Swagger have some really good chemistry in the ring because they are both guys that have a bit of size but can still be agile and pull off some nice moves. Swagger is just a beast that has a great future ahead of him if he continues the way he has started off his career. A nice fast-paced opener that would have set a nice tone for this PPV had the next two matches not stunk up the joint.

~ Women’s Championship Match: Beth Phoenix (c) Vs. Melina – Lots of botched spots makes this match just kind of awful from the very start. Now don’t get me wrong because Melina has gotten better in the ring, but there is no way she can even begin to compete with Phoenix and it shows throughout the entire match. Not only is it not a question of who should win this match, but it appears throughout that Melina can’t even do anything right. Damn shame she won the title here.

~ World Heavyweight Championship Match: John Cena (c) Vs. JBL – Shawn Michaels is still JBL’s employee here and is in his corner for this match. JBL feels that with his talent and the help of HBK, there is no reason he shouldn’t walk out with the title. While Cena and JBL tried to put on a decent match here; the whole intention of this was to further the storyline of Michaels being JBL’s employee. After a little bit of generic wrestling back and forth and the inevitable ref bump, HBK comes in superkicks both men so that he can keep his job and his dignity I guess. Blah blah.

~ WWE Championship Match: Jeff Hardy (c) Vs. Edge – Jeff and Edge have a very long history together and that is especially true in the tag team ranks. I really enjoyed this match because they put on and it’s built up even more by the fact that it is a no disqualification contest. Some brutal shots from each men makes things even better and it is a good back and forth contest until Matt comes out to of course help his brother against their common enemy and NO…swerve as he drills Jeff with a chair allowing Edge to take the title. What an excellent heel turn here because it leads to some great matches between the Hardys and it also delivers a lot of irony as well. Come on people, don’t you remember? Matt Hardy helped Edge. EDGE! The same dude that took his girlfriend from him in the wrestling world and in real life.

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~ Royal Rumble Match – No matter what some people may say about it, I always love this match. There are match-ups with wrestlers that you may never see again. Unpredictability still reigns supreme even if you can figure out who the winner will be weeks in advance. Surprise entrants always make for fun times as well as seeing how long some people can stay in the match or how short an amount of time someone is in it. To me there is never a dull moment and this year was no different.

Rey Mysterio and John Morrison are the first two out making for an interesting and pretty good match-up, but I miss the days when teammates would have to battle it out first like when Demolition did. The entire Rumble is just awesome and shows a lot of good spots throughout including some really innovative new ways to eliminate opponents. Seeing Rob Van Dam show up as the surprise entrant was just awesome too and made me cheer like a young kid. Fitting too with the event being in Detroit. The Final Four of the match is the only thing that really bugged me because it was Triple H, Cody Rhodes, Ted Dibiase, and Randy Orton. So Trips and the Legacy? Well, I hate that it seems almost too planned for those four to be the last remaining, but it still ended up being a great Rumble overall.

The event is shown in 1.33:1 Full Screen format and the WWE continues their awesome production values as everything looks great.

The event is heard in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and it also is flawless with commentary making great sounds out the center speaker allowing the pyro, entrance themes, and crowd noise to fill the room around you.

Todd Grisham Interviews The Surprise Royal Rumble Entrant – Grisham has a short interview with Rob Van Dam and RVD is still awesome. He talks about not coming back any time soon and also never going to any other “joke promotions.” (1:09)

RAW January 26, 2009: The Randy Orton Story – Stephanie McMahon confronts Orton and the Legacy about his winning the Royal Rumble and his pending lawsuits against the WWE. Orton continues on about his anger disorder and soon feels the wrath of Shane McMahon and the rest of the RAW roster. (8:29)

Trailers12 Rounds and The Best Of Saturday Night’s Main Event


It may be my favorite PPV each year, but so far this particular Royal Rumble doesn’t appear to be winning many awards. The Rumble match itself was decent enough even though it seemed predictable weeks before the event that Orton would end up winning the whole thing. Hardy/Swagger was a fun opener although I feel that they can end up putting on a really good match given another few shots and maybe five or ten more minutes. Hardy and Edge was fun with a great twist to end it all and setting up months of great matches between Jeff and Matt. The other two title matches are not much of anything and drag down the card a little early on before a nice finish. Overall it just didn’t come across as exciting as past Rumbles have so try a rental or grab your friend’s copy before running out and buying it when your ninety seconds is up.

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WWE Home Video presents Royal Rumble 2009. Featuring: Shawn Michaels, JBL, Matt Hardy, Edge, Jeff Hardy, Beth Phoenix, Jack Swagger, and many more. Running time: 180 minutes. Rating: PG. Released on DVD: February 24, 2009. Available at Amazon.com