Around the Ring: Royal Rumble the best in recent years

I am going to start this column off with a quick look back at this year's “Royal Rumble” event. The event got off to an excellent start with the tag match between the Hardy's and MNM. The only thing I don't get is how the Hardy's keep winning these matches when MNM needs some kind of retribution. Perhaps this is the end of these guys facing each other.

The next match, involving Lashley and Test for the ECW championship, was decent except those poor ECW workers got screwed by whomever gave the go-ahead for the ending. Test wants the belt bad but you're telling me that after a clothesline to the outside of the ring, he'll start walking back to the locker room without even thinking and get counted out? This is crap…even for the WWE's recent scripts.

The Kennedy/Batista match was actually quite entertaining. As much as I blasted Kennedy in the past, he sure had a good outing against Batista. The back and forth action kept my buds and I on the edge of our seats. It wasn't surprising that Kennedy didn't win, but a part of me thought it would have been cool to see.

Cena vs. Umaga was one match actually worth the price of the PPV. I couldn't believe the cool spots that happened in this match. I particularly enjoyed watching Umaga run across the announcer's tables and try to land on Cena. The ending, where Cena was choking out Umaga with the dismantled top rope, was well thought out and it still lets Umaga keep his image.

The Royal Rumble match itself was probably one of the best in recent years. The pace of the match was great and there were plenty of superstars in the ring at one time to make you not want to look away. The icing on the cake was watching HBK and the Undertaker fight at the end. I thought it was great when JBL said, “When was the last time you saw these two go at it,” and Lawler replied, “I don't know if we've ever seen it.” Doesn't The King remember the HBK/Undertaker Hell in the Cell where Michaels crashed into his broadcast table?

The Undertaker won the Rumble match and is now going on to face Batista for the World Championship. I think the championship vs. streak angle is going to be awesome and I can't wait to actually watch Smackdown to see how this develops.