Stiva

How many "surprise" spots are left, two? Sheamus and Taker?

John Cena vs. Randy Orton Crowd doesn't want to see this anymore and they really tried but the finisher swapping at the end definitely seems like the only trick they had left in the bag, especially in matches with no stips. Wyatt/Cena starts rolling for Mania.

I often like Cena/Orton matches but man, it's the last thing "the Universe" wants at this point.

Brock Lesnar vs. Big Show I absolutely loved all of this from Lesnar's opening flurry, Show's selling, the KO punch, Lesnar bumping around big and then the F5 and beatdown with the chair to finish. It had a weird, shooty vibe to it but I really dug it

Daniel Bryan vs. Bray Wyatt Think that's the best I've seen Wyatt look on offense, especially his spots on the outside and his counters to Bryan's running charges. I guess a long Bryan match with a concussion angle is their attempt to stop the expectations of him entering the Rumble.

I don't envy the final two guys in the Rumble because they're going to be bombarded with "YES" and "Daniel Bryan" chants. Unless one of them is Bryan, of course.

Wyatt/Bryan at the Rumble seems to suggest that too.

Wasn't there a news bit saying that's exactly what Vince wants? Whether that remains true over the next 3 months is another matter all together, I'll admit. It should be Bryan though. If Batista is staying for 12 months, there's plenty opportunity to get the belt on him in the future. Lesnar doesn't need it to have a hot match at Mania. The best way they could go with it is Cena/Bryan II IMO but there's bound to be a million shitty twists and turns from now to Mania.

Man, that final segment was incredible. If they don't have Bryan in the main at Mania now then they need their heads examined.

Watching the 2003 Rumble now and the Show/Lesnar opener is such a great little match. Lesnar is obviously a freak but everytime he gets Show up for a belly to belly suplex, it's impressive and Show bumps really well all the way through. Lesnar returns the favour in kind with a great bump over the top rope and Heyman is excellent at ringside (as always). Show's face when Lesnar kicks out of the chokeslam is kind of silly but the finish with Lesnar hitting the F5 is great. I may need to watch late 02/early 03 Show as I thought he was really great here.

Working through all the Rumbles before the next one and man, the 92 Rumble is just a masterclass IMO. Just about every sequence is enjoyable, Flair's performance is incredible and only matched by Heenan in the booth. The Flair/Davey Boy story running through the first 20 minutes or so is my personal highlight and I love whenever they replicate something similar nowadays. I watched the 2000 and 2008 Rumbles after that since they're both in MSG with hot crowds. Cactus/HHH still holds up as this crazy war after about 10 minutes and the Pedigree into the tacks is still a fucking crazy spot. Foley really does all he can to make HHH look a million bucks; Hunter bleeds, gets piledriven on a table, hit with barbed wire and still comes out of it looking more bad ass than he could ever accomplish on his own so it's a bit sad that he apparently won't acknowledge Foley's efforts now. The 2000 Rumble itself is the perfect example of time killing before the main eventers come out. The story early on with Rikishi eliminating everyone is fun as is the pop for Backlund but it sort of plods along. 2008 Rumble is an event I really like. MVP/Flair is a far more enjoyable match than Kennedy/Flair a month later(obviously) and they really did fuck up MVP in 2008. JBL/Jericho is kind of bland with the exception of Jericho bleeding all over the place. The crowd is really hot for Rey/Edge but Edge is pretty shitty so it's not too great but Orton/Hardy is such a good match. Orton takes a bump off a baseball slide that convinces you for a second that he could be dead and after that, it's great. Orton keeps leaving the ring to catch his breath but Hardy keeps flying out after him in increasingly nutty ways and Orton really gets over that he's in serious trouble here. This was right in the period where Hardy's inherent sloppiness actually contributed to his matches because he'd end up kicking guys square in the face when he was aiming for their chest so it really looks like Orton is in a fight to keep his title. The snap RKO is a good finish too and again, had Hardy not got suspended, he would have been a lock to win MITB at Mania. The Rumble match itself is one of my favourites for some reason. The story of Michaels and Taker taking shots at each other where they can is fun, it uses Hornswoggle effectively, it even plays into the Palumbo/Noble story in a way that they wouldn't even attempt now and the pop for Cena is great. I'm not sure if it was because it was my first Rumble since my interest in wrestling was reinvigorated but I really like this show.

I THINK the World Class logo was visible when they went over to the Home Video tab.

I knew the general professionalism of the first 30 minutes couldn't last forever. What a company.

If they chant "Suck it!" at the end of this shit, I'll laugh so very hard.

I'd guess tonight will have an angle that runs similar to the house shows with maybe Bryan showing little glimmers of snapping out of it before Wyatt knocks it out of him. But who will be the guy who gets him out of it? Punk?

John Cena vs Randy Orton Thought this was largely unremarkable. Cena is an expert at figuring out crazy spots that fit perfectly with corporate WWE main events. WWE fucking up the caption and making it say "WWE World Heavyweigh Champion" is kind of perfect. Oh, here's Vince

Miz is a guy who needs an extended break from the company at this point. Not sure a heel turn and a feud with the interchangeable midcard babyfaces is going to do anything for him.

Can we get a singles push somewhere in there, though? We could always hope for Cody turning heel so we can get a Southern arena brawl in there somewhere

Also, I forgot to add it to my previous post but I hope WWE never takes the focus off tag wrestling. Goldust needs to be working tag matches for the next 3 years.

Real Americans vs. Big Show and Rey Mysterio vs Ryback and Curtis Axel vs. Rhodes Brothers I really enjoyed Axel for the time that he was in since he had some fun stuff with Show. It's amazing how Dustin will have only been active for 4 months of the year and will probably end up on people's end of year lists because he's so, so great. Cesaro is the best worker in this company and I'd like him to swing someone out of the ring at the Rumble as ridiculous as that is. Big Show isn't far behind Cesaro and his hot tag was great and the spot leading to the pin with him and Cesaro was awesome. Cody Rhodes has never looked better than he has in this team. This match just made me want a 25 minute Rhodes Brothers vs. Rey/Show match at the Rumble.

Big. E. Langston vs. Damien Sandow Big E is really fun and pulling down the straps is a guaranteed way to make me like you. Sandow is a guy who is good to watch but has been floating around ever since he failed to cash in MITB. As a result, that match came off as meaningless but it was perfectly fine regardless.

EDIT: double post I really like these packages putting the World Title over

AJ vs. Nattie I've seen Nattie look a lot worse than this. All this talk of AJ being buried seems destined for her to lose a rematch on Raw in 30 seconds rather than tonight.

I was thinking that Cena wins tonight and we get Cena/Bryan II at the Rumble but that seems like a Mania match to me so I expect Orton to win through some sort of shenanigans.

There's an episode of Sabrina the Teenage Witch where Billy Gunn is wrestling for reasons I couldn't possibly remember.