Featuring:
Rey Mysterio
Chris Benoit
Batista
Triple H
Shawn Michaels
Test
Eddie Guerrero
Undertaker
Brock Lesnar
Kurt Angle
Mick Foley
Christian
Chris Jericho
Bobby Lashley
Rob Van Dam
Goldust
…many more
DVD Release Date: January 8, 2008
Rating: Not Rated
Running Time: 851 Minutes on 5 discs
The Event
By now wrestling fans know what the Royal Rumble is and just how important it is to the array of PPVs that litter each year. It is one of the “big four” and always shall be. Actually in terms of importance, I’d say that it is close behind WrestleMania and ahead of Survivor Series and Summerslam in that order. It’s the time of year that fans get to see wrestlers they’d never imagine in the ring together, possibly face off. Everyone has seen some of the classic match-ups that have littered different Rumbles. Demolition Ax versus Demolition Smash. Mankind versus Terry Funk in a pull apart brawl. And the Ultimate Warrior versus the immortal Hulk Hogan.
Each year the Rumbles would see some of the same old faces and then some newer ones jumping into the fray. All one has to do is look at the overall combined roster of every Rumble to see that any and every big name in wrestling has shown up in one or more. Randy Savage. Dusty Rhodes. Shawn Michaels. The Undertaker. Andre the Giant. John Cena. Doink. Ted Dibiase. Batista. The list could literally go on for hours, but it just means that the Royal Rumble may be even bigger then WrestleMania in the eyes of some fans, and every year it just gets better.
The past few years of the Rumble have seen some phenomenal moments as there were times when people thought the torch was being passed onto the new generation of superstars. That was until two legends ended up being the final two just last year and proving that the classics can always prevail. A few wrestlers also proved that size doesn’t always matter in those kinds of matches because their small statures didn’t mean that they were at disadvantages. As long as your heart was strong and you put your everything into it, anything was possible.
The first Rumble in this set is from 2003 and saw a lot of changes since we last saw wrestlers tossing one another up and over the top rope. The WWE had split into two separate brands now having some wrestlers on Raw and others just on SmackDown. It had gone from the superstars simply trying to win it all for a main event shot at WrestleMania to them also trying to show loyalty and make sure their brand proved superior. The Rumble in 2004 was one of the matches that proved even the smallest of competitors can do whatever is necessary to win it all as the “Rabid Wolverine” Chris Benoit went in at number one and made it all the way to the end taking out the biggest competitor to win it all…the Big Show.
2005 saw and undercard full of great matches as there was a casket match, a triple threat match for the WWE Championship, and a fantastic singles match between Shawn Michaels and Edge. It was the theme of this Rumble that really made it a fun PPV as the two brands acted as gangs and made sure that their show came out on top. And when it all came down to the ending, it happened to be Raw Vs. SmackDown. In 2006, Rey Mysterio went a step further showing that you didn’t have to be big in size in order to hold your own with the big boys. The littlest big man took on all comers and persevered to make a lifelong dream come true. 2007 took the brand extension to a new level as ECW had been rekindled and now saw some extreme competitors including Tommy Dreamer and the Sandman making their mark in the battle royal.
~ Big Show Vs. Brock Lesnar
~ Terri Interviews Chris Jericho
~ World Tag Team Championship Match: Lance Storm & William Regal (c) Vs. Dudley Boyz
~ Dawn Marie Vs. Torrie Wilson
~ Stephanie McMahon runs into Trish Stratus
~ World Heavyweight Championship Match: Triple H (c) Vs. Scott Steiner
~ WWE Championship Match: Kurt Angle (c) Vs. Chris Benoit
~ Kane and RVD In The Hallway
~ Royal Rumble Match – Here was the first Royal Rumble since the brand extension split back in 2002 which meant there would be an equal fifteen competitors from Raw and fifteen from SmackDown. It kind of paved the way for the next few years and the brands squaring off against one another although in recent years that seems to have gone out the window as we are back to “every man for himself.”
This Rumble showed just how much the WWE was all about big guys at the time as the final four in the match were Kane, Undertaker, Batista, and Brock Lesnar. It was a big brawl near the end and Lesnar ended up proving that he belonged with big boys by taking out the Undertaker and winning it all. One of my favorite moments from this Rumble is Maven trying his dropkick to Taker like he did last year when he eliminated him. It of course failed to work and Maven got chokeslammed for his futile efforts.
~ Tables Match for the World Tag Team Championship: Batista & Ric Flair (c) Vs. Dudley Boyz – This would mark the fifth Royal Rumble in a row where the Dudleyz competed in a tag-team match and the fourth in a row when they challenged for the tag-team titles.
~ Josh Mathews Interviews John Cena backstage
~ WWE Cruiserweight Championship Match: Rey Mysterio (c) Vs. Jamie Noble
~ Eddie Guerrero Vs. Chavo Guerrero Story
~ Eddie Guerrero Vs. Chavo Guerrero
~ Josh Mathews Interviews Chris Benoit Backstage
~ Brock Lesnar Vs. Hardcore Holly Story
~ WWE Championship Match: Brock Lesnar (c) Vs. Hardcore Holly
~ Triple H and Shawn Michaels Prepare For Their Match
~ Triple H Vs. Shawn Michaels Story
~ Last Man Standing Match: Triple H Vs. Shawn Michaels
~ Eric Bischoff / Paul Heyman / Stone Cold Steve Austin Confrontation In The Ring
~ Terri Interviews Goldberg in Locker Room
~ Royal Rumble Match – This is one of the truly classic Rumbles in history as the late Chris Benoit entered at number one and made it all the way through to the end claiming victory. A young Randy Orton entered at number two and lasted well over thirty minutes, but it came down to the Vanilla Midget in Benoit and the giant in the Big Show. Show was incredibly fresh entering the match at number 24, but Benoit held on for the win and got the big man over the top rope. It really was a great moment (at the time of course) considering how hard and long Benoit had worked to get to the top. Now he was finally there. My, how quickly the mighty would fall. This match would also lead the way to the much anticipated/much hated Goldberg/Lesnar match at WrestleMania.
~ Shawn Michaels Vs. Edge
~ Eddie Guerrero and Ric Flair Pick Their Numbers
~ Heidenreich Talks To Snitsky In His Locker Room
~ Casket Match: Undertaker Vs. Heidenreich
~ Theodore Long Confronts Eddie Guerrero
~ Eric Bischoff with Christian and Tyson Tomko in the Co-General Managers’ Office
~ Triple Threat Match for the WWE Championship: JBL (c) Vs. Big Show Vs. Kurt Angle
~ Batista with Carlito in the Hallway
~ World Championship Match: Triple H Vs. Randy Orton
~ Nunzio Runs Into Kurt Angle in the Hallway
~ JBL Celebrates in the Co-General’s Manager’s Office
~ Royal Rumble Match – The theme for the 2005 Rumble was that of West Side Story and it made for some great commercials leading up to the event. One of the greatest moments in this match had the SmackDown and Raw superstars pair up with one another and face off in the center of the ring ala the gang fights from the film. The ending of the match came down to two up and comers in John Cena and Batista. When it came down to it, the men had eliminated each other with referees calling it one for Cena and one for Batista.
Vince McMahon then ran down and ordered the men to go back into the ring and restart the match. After a few minutes, Batista eventually tossed Cena over and was on his way to main event WrestleMania. Mr. McMahon’s entrance into the ring turned out to be not so simple. As he went to slide into the ring, he slammed his leg into the apron and tore his quadriceps muscle causing him to chastise the final two competitors while sitting down.
~ WWE Cruiserweight Championship Invitational: Kid Kash (c) Vs. Funaki Vs. Jamie Noble Vs. Nunzio Vs. Paul London Vs. Gregory Helms
~ Mr. McMahon Supervises Royal Rumble Number Drawings – It’s quite a shame that they don’t show the numbers being picked every year like they used to in the late eighties and early nineties. It always made for some interesting moments and some hilarious situations such as Ted Dibiase trying to buy a better number in the match.
~ Mickie James Confronts Trish Stratus Before Her Match
~ Mickie James Vs. Ashley (Guest Referee: Trish Stratus)
~ Big Show and Rey Mysterio Pick Their Numbers
~ The Boogeyman vs. JBL
~ Shelton Benjamin and MNM Pick Their Numbers
~ Royal Rumble Match – Having the Rumble match itself in the middle of the card is by far one of the worst ideas imaginable (see 1998). It is the significant match every year at this PPV and the main reason people either buy tickets or order the event. It gets everyone pumped up and ends each year on a high note that people can go home happy about. No, again this year they put it smack dab in the middle and took away any excitement that might have been created by having two more matches after it.
This year started out with Triple H entering first and the miniscule Rey Mysterio coming in second. When all had come and gone; Mysterio, Trips, and a very fresh Randy Orton #30) remained. Mysterio had fought through a double-team and eliminated Triple H only to receive a tremendous beat down from the king of kings. Now with a tremendous advantage, Orton figured to have things in control but couldn’t overcome the heart of the littlest big man as Mysterio eliminated a shocked Orton to win it all.
~ WWE Championship Match: Edge (c) Vs. John Cena
~ Todd Grisham Interviews Edge and Lita
~ Josh Mathews Interviews Kurt Angle
~ World Heavyweight Championship Match: Kurt Angle (c) vs. Mark Henry
~ The Hardys Vs. MNM
~ WrestleMania 23 “All Grown Up” Vignette
~ ECW World Championship Match: Bobby Lashley (c) Vs. Test
~ John Cena in the Trainer’s Room
~ World Heavyweight Championship Match: Batista (c) Vs. Mr. Kennedy
~ Last Man Standing Match for the WWE Championship: John Cena (c) Vs. Umaga
~ Royal Rumble Match – There was a bit of a different feel to this year’s Rumble as a lot of ECW participants were throwing their hats into the ring for the first time ever. Sandman and Sabu are two of them with Sabu actually being eliminated in harsh fashion thanks to Kane chokeslamming him through a table. Seeing the traditional “big man” being eliminated by a large number of entrants working together is always nice too. It proved to be a difficult task considering eight men joined forces to take out Viscera.
The ending of the match saw a couple giants as the Great Khali and Undertaker squared off but the final four saw Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, and tag-team partners Edge and Randy Orton remaining. It seemed kind of strange because I know that Edge entered early at number five, but it just seemed like the ending of the match saw entrants that joined the match much further into it then usual (Taker entered at 30, Michaels at 23, and Orton at 16). It was a really hot ending though seeing Rated RKO get eliminated and leaving the two legends to face off against one another. After a nice face-off between the two, the Undertaker became the first entrant to draw number thirty and win the Rumble. It also marked his first win in match. The crowd wasn’t too fond of the finish, but I thought it was a nice sendoff to a rather lackluster Rumble.
The Video
The events are shown in 1.33:1 Full Screen format and they look really good. The WWE began sometime in this new millennium really making sure that their DVDs were presented in the best quality and it truly shows in this set. Each event looks absolutely beautiful and you see next to none or absolutely no pixilation whatsoever.
The Audio
The events are heard in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and all come through sounding great. Every bit of pyro, announcing, and all the entrance music can be heard clearly. Of course some of the annoying dubbed over entrance themes get to sounding quite cheesy, but it’s not like you hear them for long.
Special Features
None
The Inside Pulse
This volume of the anthology proved to be a bit more enjoyable then the third simply because the Rumble matches got a little better and the undercards just got seemingly larger every year. I enjoyed all the PPVs included in this set but 2005 would have to be my favorite. The promos leading up to it are vivid in my mind because it was classic seeing the superstars singing against one another. The theme was perfect and the thirty man match just stayed awesome throughout. Again there are no special features included but once again, you don’t need them. Five full PPVs is more then enough for the price you’ll pay for this set and you might as well pick it up or simply buy all four together in one set package. Just get it and before you know it, you’ll be throwing your younger siblings off the bed and onto the floor hoping your mom comes in and orders you to restart the match because of a technicality. I just hope she doesn’t break something along the way.
