Okay, here are my "8 Days Before the Royal Rumble Predictions." Note, I did one of these in the "Fantasy Book" thread, but...I have too much time on my hands, so I'm doing another one.
Cruiserweight Championship
As soon as the PPV starts up, the crowd erupts at the start of Rey Mysterio's entrance music. He launches up out of the stage, Cruiserweight Title, strapped around his waist and does his little schtick on the way to the ring. Jamie Noble comes out second, basically dragging Nidia to the ring with him.
The match is a fast-paced affair with Rey hitting a lot of aerial moves while Jamie tries in vain to ground him. At one point, the ref takes a nasty bump after Rey swings too wide on a flying headscissor. Jamie rolls out of the ring and grabs Nidia's cane. He comes in the ring and blasts Rey in the head with it, then hits the Tigerbomb. While he goes over to revive the referee, Nidia feels her way into the ring. She grabs the cane, and Jamie comes over, pretending to be concerned for her safety. She lifts the cane off the canvas very quickly, catching him in the groin, leading him to double over onto the middle rope. As the ref regains his feet, Nidia rolls out of the ring and Rey hits the 619/West Coast Pop combination to retain the belt.
After the match, Noble goes after Nidia, berating her for costing him the match. She just hauls off and smacks him in the face and walks off without the cane.
COLE: Nidia's walking off without the cane!
TAZZ: Don't you get it, Cole? Nidia was faking all along!
COLE: Jamie Noble has been busted!
World Tag Team Championship
The bombs drop, and the crowd stays hot as the Dudley Boyz come to the ring. Ric Flair and Batista come to the ring with the belts for what's probably the last time (or so JR and the King would have you believe).
Fairly common match. Everybody hits their high spots (Wazzup, Flair's corner bump, a big spinebuster from Batista, etc.), and the end comes after the Dudleyz take Batista out of the ring and set Flair up for the 3D. Bubba has his back to Batista, though, and the big man runs in to take Bubba down with a big clothesline. D-Von ends up just flapjacking Flair and turning his attention to Batista. As the two of them brawl to the floor, Flair drags himself over toward Bubba and goes for the cover. Bubba's out at two, and Flair doesn't believe it. While he argues with the ref, Bubba slips up behind him, Bubba Bomb, one two three, the Dudleys win the belts for the 8,549,176,320th time!
After the match, Flair and Batista get in each other's faces, but end up walking off together, unified.
Los Guerreros Go To War
Awful title to the match, I know, but I'm just taking it from WWE.com. This one has at least three-and-a-half stars written all over it, as long as they're given at least ten minutes. If the rumors about Eddie getting the NWO title shot are true, expect them to get it.
Eddie dominates the early-going, clearly steaming from the fact that Chavo has been beating the hell out of him on a fairly regular basis over the last few weeks. The tide turns after Chavo dodges a frogsplash and goes on the offensive. Later, Chavo sets up for his brainbuster, but Eddie reverses it into his rolling vertical suplexes. Both men stay down for an eight count before they get to their feet. They exchange punches before Chavo takes his uncle down to one knee. He springs to the top rope and hits a big cross body off the top rope, but Eddie rolls through it and grabs a handful of tights. One, two, three! Eddie wins it.
After the match, Chavo just gets up and storms out of the ring while the announcers speculate that a victory like that just catapulted Eddie into the main-event sphere on SmackDown!
WWE Championship
SQUASH! If this match goes more than fifteen minutes, I'll be surprised. I expect Hardcore to get in a lot of offense early, but then Brock "hulks up" and just takes him apart. After he hits the F5 for a convincing victory, the announcers speculate on who could possibly stop the "Manster" and take that WWE Title from him.
World Heavyweight Championship: Last Man Standing
This will probably end up being the Match of the Year to this point (even though it'll only be the 25th day of 2004). Lots of back-and-forth action, lots of seven-, eight-, and nine-counts. As the match winds down, each man has hit his finisher but has been unable to end it. Frustrated, Triple H goes for his trusty sledgehammer. Trips is oblivious that, at the same time, HBK has gone under the ring and retrieved a ladder. They both re-enter the ring at the same time and realize that they're now staring down their opponent's trademark weapon.
After they exchange blows, HBK manages to wrest the sledgehammer from Triple H and clock him with it. Trips stays down for a nine-count but gets back up. HBK tries for Sweet Chin Music, but HHH catches his foot and kicks him in the midsection. He goes for the Pedigree, but HBK backdrops his way out. He grabs the ladder and lays it down in the middle of the ring. He grabs HHH off the canvas, hooks him...PEDIGREE ON THE LADDER! The ref counts to ten, and HBK wins the World Title!
The Royal Rumble Match
I'm not going to write out the whole match like I did last time, because that would take too much time. Here's how I booked it before, and I'm not changing the ending:
Quote:
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Originally Posted by loopydate
Down to three now, and Benoit and Cena decide it's probably in their best interests to take out the relatively-fresh (and freakin'-huge) Kane. A couple of big boots, and both SmackDown main eventers go down. Cena back to his feet...backdrop to the floor!
Chris Benoit vs. Kane. One man gets a shot at their brand's champion in the main event of Wrestlemania, the other gets...well...nothing. As Benoit closes in on the 65-minute mark, he can barely hold himself up on the ropes. Kane presses him and prepares to toss him out, but the lights go out in the arena. A bell tolls, and the lights are back on, but the TitanTron is just showing the words "I'm coming for you!" Kane, freaked-out, drops Benoit and starts screaming at the ringside crew, demanding to know who put that up there. While he's distracted, Benoit does a legtrip, sending him toppling to the concrete and winning the Rumble!
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Here's how the aftermath plays out:
The fact that Flair, Batista, and Trips all lost their belts while Orton retained his by default sets up the first rift in Evolution that will eventually lead to the group's collapse as Orton touts himself as the best member of the group, since he has the belt.
HBK goes into a feud with Jericho that leads to a match between the two at Wrestlemania.
Brock continues to appear invincible, taking out SmackDown midcarders, and beating Eddie Guerrero (with help from Kurt Angle) at No Way Out to build up the tension for his Mania match with Benoit.
Obviously, Undertaker is the one who's toying with Kane, and their feud culminates at Mania.
Cena, after an impressive showing at the Rumble finally forces Heyman into giving him a proper shot at Big Show's belt, and he unseats him at No Way Out, leading into a title match against Rhyno (I hope) at WMXX.