I just got back from the Royal Rumble. I got a really long story.
I got into the city at 4:45, and waited for the guy from craigslist to show up and give me my ticket. He eventually does and I go back to MSG and wonder around for a half an hour, looking at all the banners. During this time, I see a small group of guys come out with cardboard boxes filled with papers. Once they take them out, I see they are here to promote the next TNA PPV, Against All Odds or Sacirifice or Lockdown or whatever shitty thing TNA does. So those idiots made me laugh.
At 5:30, my dad and stepmom, who love in NYC, want to see me and treat me to a delicious steak dinner. So we go to this place, Keen's chophouse, and there are long clay pipes all over the ceiling. This place looks straight out of 1920. So I get a 50 DOLLAR FILET MIGNON, and though small, it was ridiculously rich and juicy and wonderful. When I go to the bathroom now at 6:30, my friend Ross calls me. He asks me if I'm on line. I say no, I'm eating a filet mignon. He says I should hurry up or I'll never get in on time. So I must skip dessert (which I learn was butterscotch ice cream and cinnamon apples, what a shame) and go back to MSG.
Its 7 now, and there is a large line, about 3-4 people wide, outside the main entrance. I ask if this is the line to pick up tickets, and I am told this is the line to get in. So I walk ALL THE WAY AROUND MADISON SQUARE GARDEN to the back of the line. 45 minutes later, I get in just in time to see the last minute of Yang/Moore vs. Deuce & Domino. Tazz and Styles come out and are loved, Coach and Cole come out and are booed, and JR and King are loved. Lillian sings the star spangled banner, they show an awesome opening video, CUE THE PYRO AND BALLYHOO, and the Royal Rumble begins. From where I was seated, I couldn't see people coming out of the entrance, but what I could see, the fans there were fucking crazy.
RIC FUCKING FLAIR VS. MVP: I'm guessing they showed this on air, but there was a GREAT GREAT GREAT promo video about Flair's road to retirement. Flair is universally loved except for two guys a few rows behind me, who booed all the faces and cheered all the heels. They were extremely annoying, and I'm guessing they like TNA. Flair's promo was not one of his best but everyone loved it. MVP got many cheers and boos. The crows the entire night rarely booed anyone. Deuce & Domino got more boos then MVP, even. A fine little match. Recurring theme throughout the night: Ten counts. I think there was one in every match.
JERICHO VS. JBL: Jericho got a giant reaction for his intro, but then was quickly shown to be JUST A GUY. This match got the least amount of heat for anything, but both guys were trying really hard. Or beating the shit out of each other. I know with HD they have to work snug but alot of stuff looked brutal. People hated the DQ finish, but loved JBL being choked out. JBL sold like a champ all the way back. Worst match on the show, but is was a solid brawl.
Everyone loved Ashley and Santino. Everyone.
EDGE VS. REY: Crowd was 70-30 Edge. I would actually say that Edge got the 2nd biggest reaction on the show after HHH, or he tied with Cena. Every time Edge did anything a roar would just erupt from the crowd. Rey got alot of boos. I always figured he was universally loved, but only the kids supported him here. No matter how battered Rey was, they refused to cheer for him. The only time there was alot of support for Rey was when he hit Vicki. The assholes in back of me chanted "Check the beaner's papers!" and "Rey's on HGH!" I guess they forgot Rey's from San Deigo and Edge was on the same pharmacy list. But what should I expect, they like TNA. They also chanted "You fucked up" for the doublestomp. God I hated them. Except for the final part in the rumble, this match had the most heat. It was also the best match, and these two also worked very snug but not stiff. Get great sequence. Both of those guys are just so great.
Only when Santino started ranting against the Mets and Yankees did the crowd spew venom at him. He is the best thing on telelvision. Maria, even from far away, looks like a goddess. Can't wait for Playboy. Oily guy was cheered and then soundly booed.
JEFF HARDY VS. RANDY ORTON: The crowd loved Hardy, just loved him. Orton got many cheers as well, but he was still booed out of the building louder than anyone else before him. Jeff Hardy really is amazing, and Orton is much better at keeping a crowd alive then he was earlier in the year. Even though there was still a crowd killing chinlock thrown in there. That moonsault looked really, really bad, and the ending seemed rush and abrupt, but it was still a pretty good match. Seems stupid for Jeff to fall down to one RKO, but then, Randy never hit it on Jeff until then, so it makes perfect sense.
THE ROYAL RUMBLE: Undertaker got a huge pop. His entrance live gave me chills. When he came out first I knew HBK would be second. God they are so, so great. Just ring generals. Whenever someone new would come in, HBK would always be there to bump for them. He was pulling a 92 Flair. Santino coming in was great. Then Khali came. He was the only person on the entire show that was UNIVERSALLY DESTESTED. No one liked him, and everyone was glad to see him go. Johnny Nitro comes in got a really big pop, and then after he got in the ring no one cared about him. This happened to a bunch of guys: Shelton, Chavo, Palumbo, Carlito, Big Daddy V, and Cody. Hardcore Holly came out to crickets. There were only a few guys that got no noise at all when they came out: Holly, Snitsky, Henry, and Elijah Burke. Noble got a pretty loud chant before lasting 10 seconds. I think he was lying on the floor and may have gotten hurt, but I couldn't see from my angle. Punk a very loud pop for his intro, twice as loud then Palumbo or Carlito, but after he hit like 30 knees in a row people stopped caring. Dreamer got a bigger pop then Foley, and they hated it when Dreamer got knocked over early. Batista also got alot of noise but a bunch of boos, in the early video and when he came in. Batista is still pretty bad, mostly because everything he does is just jerky and not smooth. There were a bunch of times were he would start running, go 2 steps, stop, go back to steps, and start running again. Snuka and Piper were great nostalia bits, but jesus did they suck. Piper was HUUUUUUUUUGE.Hornswaggle got a monster pop, and so did Kennedy. People were PISSED that Shelton got kicked out that early. Finlay is a full fledged babyface now. Triple H got the biggest pop of the night. No one expected Cena, so everyone popped, and he was only booed when he went after HHH. The final three, with the staredown between HHH, Cena, and Batista was so electric. The ending wasn't as good as last years, but the beginning with Taker and HBK just being amazing was well worth it. After HHH got dumped, the place went crazy and I bolted to catch my train back.
Overall, best 100 bucks I ever spent.
And I almost forgot: On the big screens outside of the Garden, they kept showing videos for UFC 81 with Brock's debut. That will be BUYS.