– Thanks to Mike McMahon of Steelcage.net for the following live notes from last night’s WWE Royal Rumble in Boston:
The Rumble was a really good show that the live audience ate up. I’ve obviously been to quite a few WWE events in my day, and outside of Wrestlemania 14 in the same venue, I’m not sure I’ve been to a hotter show in Boston
– The crowd was a legit sellout. The only seats tarped off were those behind the set.
– The live crowd was really into the Ziggler-Edge opening bout. I’d say for more than half the match, the majority of the building was standing. Those two obviously put on a helluva show Ziggler, despite being eaten up on Smackdown heading into the event, was really over with the crowd in Boston. A lot of people were chanting “Christian!” on the ref-bump spot that resulted in Edge using the spear.
– The crowd was a little quiet to start Miz-Orton, but I think that’s because everyone was so hot for the Ziggler-Edge match. As we got to the finish, when Nexus came out, the crowd woke up big time and popped huge for the finish.
– The crowd was really disappointed to get Eve as the fourth addition to the Divas’ match. Obviously most thought it was going to be Awesome Kong, and there were even “Kong!” chants before Eve was announced.
– I was surprised how hot the crowd was at the start of the Rumble. Obviously it was going to be a long match before the payoff with the finish. I think having CM Punk come out as entry No. 1 helped in that regard, because the crowd was into him. I liked the Nexus-Corre brawl to start the match. The “smart” fans in the crowd were electric with Bryan-Punk to start.
– Booker T received a HUGE reaction. Kevin Nash had a huge pop as well. Considering the surprises were not really well kept and at least everyone around me knew they were coming, the reaction was enormous for both men. That says a lot to how over they are. Especially in Nash’s case – he’s been off of WWE television for what? Six years?
– Another really good pop for Chavo Guerrero’s three-amigos suplex spot. The crowd was really into that. Popped huge for every attempt. Good to see Chavo get a quality PPV spot, too.
– It was really entertaining to me to watch some of the younger fans (and some of the … well, less intelligent) who were genuinely pissed off that Miz eliminated John Cena. There was one woman in front of me – she was in her 20′s at least, maybe 30′s – screaming at her friend that Miz wasn’t in the Rumble and Cena should NOT have been eliminated. Then went on a tirade about how no referee saw that? Why didn’t they just look at the replay on the screen? … Hey lady, it’s a work. Don’t have a heart attack here.
– I think some in the crowd were disappointed that Triple H didn’t make his return at the Rumble. I wasn’t as surprised. It really didn’t make much sense for Triple H to return unless he was going to win the match. At No. 37, people around me were counting off who still wasn’t in, trying to see if Triple H was a possibility. Poor Kane got a lesser reaction because I think some people were disappointed.
– Del Rio winning the Rumble was expected from me, but got a good pop. I just assumed with his build and promos heading into the match meant he was going to win it. A nice little swerve at the end with Santino, that had some in the crowd wondering what was actually happening … one guy yelled, “What the (expletive) is going on!?!?!”
– After the show went off the air, Del Rio and his ring announcer, Ricardo Rodriguez, walked slowly up the aisle and spent a lot of time right by the stage. The camera man seemed to signal for Rodriguez to keep talking while they recorded. Then at one point, Charles Robinson looked like he gave Rodriguez the wrap-up signal. At one point, Rodriguez was on a long (1-2 minute) filibuster (in Spanish, of course) where all I understood was “Rumble” and “Wrestlemania.” Then the pair walked to the back and Justin Roberts thanked us all for coming.
