Royal Rumble (2007) was the twentieth annual
Royal Rumble professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by
World Wrestling Entertainment
(WWE).
It
took place on January 28, 2007 at the AT&T Center
in San Antonio,
Texas
.
This marked the first time that the new
ECW brand
participated in the
Royal Rumble
match. The winner of the Royal Rumble won a championship match
for his choice of either the
WWE
Championship, the
World Heavyweight
Championship, or the
ECW World
Championship at
WrestleMania 23.
Unlike previous years, there was an uneven distribution of
participants in the Royal Rumble match between the brands (with
thirteen from
Raw, ten from
SmackDown!, and seven from
ECW).
The
main event was the
annual 30-man Royal Rumble match, which featured participants from
all three brands.
The Undertaker, the
thirtieth entrant, won the match by last eliminating
Shawn Michaels, the twenty-third entrant. The
primary match on the Raw brand was a
Last
Man Standing match for the WWE Championship between
John Cena and
Umaga.
Cena won the match and retained the title after Umaga was unable to
get to his feet before the
referee counted to ten. The
predominant match on the SmackDown! brand was
Batista versus
Mr.
Kennedy for the World Heavyweight Championship, which Batista
won by
pinfall after
executing a
Batista Bomb.
The featured match on the ECW brand was between
Bobby Lashley and
Test for the ECW Championship, which Lashley
won after Test was
counted out.
Background
The main
feud heading
into the Royal Rumble on the
Raw brand was
between
John Cena and
Umaga, with the two feuding over the
WWE Championship. At the previous
pay-per-view event,
New
Year's Revolution, Cena defeated Umaga to end his undefeated
streak and retain the WWE Championship. The night after on
Raw,
Armando Alejandro
Estrada, Umaga's manager, asked for a rematch, which Cena
agreed to. Later that night, during a match between Cena and
The Great Khali, Umaga interfered
and attacked Cena. The following week, on the January 15 edition of
Raw, the official contract signing for their rematch at
the Royal Rumble took place. After it was announced that Estrada
could choose the
match type, Estrada chose
the match to be a
Last
Man Standing match. Cena signed the contract and proceeded to
attack both Umaga and Estrada. On the January 22 edition of
Raw, after Cena was eliminated from a
Battle Royal, Umaga
attacked Cena, and injured his
spleen, which
was portrayed as real as part of their storyline.
The predominant feud on the
SmackDown! brand was between
Batista and
Mr.
Kennedy, with the two battling over the
World Heavyweight
Championship. On the January 5 edition of
SmackDown!,
a
Beat the
Clock Sprint began. Wrestlers competed in single matches, and
the wrestler to win a match in the shortest amount of time would
then become the number one contender to the World Heavyweight
Championship at the Royal Rumble. Mr. Kennedy, who defeated
Chris Benoit in nearly five minutes,
had the shortest time at the end of the show. The following week,
the Sprint continued. In the final match, between
The Undertaker and
The Miz, Kennedy interfered by pulling The Miz
out of the ring. After performing the
Tombstone
piledriver on The Miz, The Undertaker went for the pin attempt.
Time, however, ran out and Kennedy became the winner of the Sprint.
The week after, on the January 19 edition of
SmackDown!,
The Undertaker was put in a match with Kennedy, where if he won, he
would be added to the title match at the Royal Rumble. During the
match, after Kennedy attacked Batista, who was at ringside. Batista
retaliated against Kennedy, causing The Undertaker to get
disqualified. Thus,
the match at the Royal Rumble remained a singles match between
Batista and Kennedy.
The main feud on the
ECW brand was
between
Bobby Lashley and
Test, with the two feuding over the
ECW Championship.
Rob Van Dam won an online poll against Test and
Sabu to earn a title shot on the January
2 edition of
ECW, which ended in no-contest. Van Dam was
given another title match the next week. Test interfered in the
match, and attacked both men. A
Triple Threat match for the title occurred on the January 16
edition of
ECW between Lashley, Van Dam, and Test. Lashley
won, but was beaten down afterwards by Test. A title match between
Lashley and Test was then made for the Royal Rumble. A week after
that match was made, on the January 23 edition of
ECW,
Lashley defeated Test in another title match.
Royal Rumble qualification matches
Event
Before the event went live on
pay-per-view,
JTG
defeated
Lance Cade in a
dark match.
Preliminary matches
The first match that aired was a
tag team
match between
The Hardys (
Matt and
Jeff) and
MNM (
Joey Mercury and
Johnny Nitro). The match went back and
forth until MNM took control by attacking Matt's injured jaw
repeatedly. The Hardys gained the advantage briefly, but lost it
when Nitro countered an
aerial attack by
Jeff. Jeff finally tagged Matt, who beat down both Mercury and
Nitro. The finish came when Matt hit the
Twist of Fate,
and Jeff hit the
Swanton
Bomb on Nitro. Jeff then pinned Nitro for the victory.
The second match was between
ECW World
Champion Bobby Lashley and
Test for the
ECW World Championship. Test used several
illegal moves, and took control after driving Lashley's shoulder
into the ringpost. He continued to attack the shoulder until
Lashley fought back with several powerful moves. Test rolled out of
the ring, and allowed himself to be
counted out. Lashley won,
and retained his title. He came after Test, however, brought him
back into the ring, and continued to beat him down.
Main event matches
The third match was between
World Heavyweight
Champion Batista and
Mr. Kennedy for the
World Heavyweight
Championship. Batista gained an early advantage by overpowering
Kennedy until Kennedy injured Batista's knee by using the steel
steps. Kennedy continued to attack Batista's knees, and applied
various submission
holds that target the knee.
Batista fought back, still favoring the knee, until Kennedy pushed
Batista into the
referee, and hit a
low blow. Kennedy
had a clear advantage and had Batista pinned for over a
three-count, but the match went on due the referee being
knocked out. Batista
eventually rose and hit a
clothesline, and
a
Batista Bomb for the
pinfall to retain the
title as the referee had since woken up.
The fourth match was the
Last
Man Standing match between
John Cena
and
Umaga for the
WWE Championship. Umaga dominated Cena,
gaining the advantage by using powerful moves, and attacking Cena's
bandaged ribs. Cena tried to fight back using the steel steps, but
Umaga quickly recovered, and continued the beat down. Cena managed
to hit a low blow, a
bulldog onto the steel
steps, a
spin-out
powerbomb, and the
Five Knuckle
Shuffle all onto Umaga. Umaga regained control when Cena
attempted an
FU onto
the steps, and collapsed, hitting his head on the steps. Cena
avoided a
running headbutt
drop, and hit Umaga in the head with a
television monitor. Umaga got up, but missed a
running
splash
through the announce table. Umaga got up again as his
manager,
Armando Alejandro Estrada, detached one of
the top turnbuckles for Umaga to use. Cena avoided the attack, hit
an FU, and choked Umaga using the loose ring rope. Umaga failed to
answer the referee's count of ten, and Cena retained the
title.
The final match was the Royal Rumble match.
Kane, the tenth entrant, dominated the match
upon entering, and eliminated
Tommy
Dreamer and
Sabu, hitting the latter
with a
chokeslam through a table Sabu had
earlier set up.
The Sandman, entering
fifteen, used his signature
Singapore Cane in
the match before being quickly eliminated by
King Booker.
Randy
Orton and
Edge worked together to
eliminate the Hardys. After Booker was eliminated by Kane, he
returned to the ring, eliminated Kane, and continued to beat him
down. It took the combined effort of eight men to eliminate
Viscera after
Shawn Michaels hit him with a
superkick.
The Great
Khali, entering twenty-eighth, dominated upon entering the
match, and eliminated seven men. Entering last was
The Undertaker, who immediately fought with,
and eliminated Khali. He then eliminated
Montel Vontavious Porter, leaving
four in the match: Edge, Orton, Michaels, and The Undertaker. Orton
caught Edge trying to attack him, but the two soon reconciled, and
worked together on The Undertaker. Michaels, who was outside of the
ring, came back in, and eliminated both Orton and Edge. The
remaining two exchanged attacks until the end, when The Undertaker
hit a chokeslam, but Michaels came back with a superkick. Michaels
went for another superkick, but The Undertaker avoided it, and
eliminated Michaels to win the match. The Undertaker is the first
competitor to win the Rumble match from slot 30 (what is considered
to be the "easiest" spot to win from, despite no one having done so
in any previous match).
Aftermath
The shows following the Royal Rumble surrounded
The Undertaker's choice of which champion to
face at
WrestleMania 23. The
Undertaker appeared on all three
brands, and stared down the champions.
Finally, on the February 5 edition of
Raw, The Undertaker
chose to face
Batista for the
World Heavyweight
Championship, and performed a
chokeslam on him, starting their rivalry. The
Undertaker won the title at WrestleMania, and their feud continued
until the May 11 edition of
SmackDown!, when The
Undertaker lost the title to
Edge, who
cashed in the Money in the Bank, that he won from
Mr. Kennedy, earlier that week on Raw.
After The Undertaker made his choice on February 5,
Shawn Michaels, Edge, and
Randy Orton all wanted to face Cena for his
title at WrestleMania. A
Triple Threat match was made between the three for the title
shot, which Michaels won after pinning Orton. Cena successfully
retained his title against Michaels at WrestleMania. They continued
to feud over the title with the addition of Orton and Edge, but
Cena remained champion. Soon after the Royal Rumble,
Umaga and Bobby Lashley joined the feud between
Mr. McMahon and
Donald Trump in the "Battle of the
Billionaires" as their representatives respectively for the
Hair
vs. Hair match at WrestleMania.
His Royal Rumble match marked the start of
Mr. Kennedy's
push to main-event status. He
went on to face
Bobby Lashley for the
ECW Championship at
No Way Out, which he won via
disqualification,
thus failing to win the title. Kennedy won the
Money in the Bank ladder
match at WrestleMania, which gave him a world title shot at any
time of his choosing for the year following. Kennedy sustained an
injury at a
house show, however, that
would leave him sidelined for five to seven months, and was
booked to
lose his title shot to Edge on the May 7 edition of
Raw.
Later results showed the injury to be much less severe, but Kennedy
had already lost his title shot. He returned to
mid-card status for
the remainder of the year.
Reception
The AT&T Center has hosted many different events that have a
variety of seating maximums. A Basketball event, which has a
smaller set-up than a wrestling event, can hold a maximum of 18,797
fans. Due to the Royal Rumble's production, the maximum standard
was lowered and the event drew 13,500 fans and received 491,000
pay-per-view buys. WWE made
$15.8 million from pay-per-view
revenues in their first quarter (which included the Royal Rumble,
No Way Out, and
WrestleMania) versus $17.1 million in 2006
for the same events, a $1.3 million difference. The
2006 Royal Rumble also resulted in
548,000 pay-per-view buys, 57,000 more than the 2007 Royal Rumble.
Canadian Online Explorer's
professional wrestling sub website, SLAM! Wrestling, rated the
entire event 7.5 out of 10 points, due to the event not lasting its
entire three hours and many mishaps that occurred during the Royal
Rumble match, which they also rated a 7.5. The Royal Rumble 2007
was released on
DVD on February 27, 2007 and was
distributed by WWE. The DVD debuted on
Billboard's Top DVD sales chart at
#3 on March 24, 2007. The DVD remained on the chart for 13
consecutive weeks until June 16, 2007 when its final rank was at
#10.
Results
Royal Rumble entrances and eliminations
Red
██ and "Raw" indicates a
Raw superstar, blue
██
and "SD!" indicates a
SmackDown! superstar, purple
██ and "ECW" indicates an
ECW superstar.
- King Booker returned to the ring after being eliminated and
eliminated Kane.
- Glenn Jacobs (Kane) made his
eleventh appearance in a Royal Rumble match, breaking his own and
Solofa Fatu (Rikishi)'s record for most
Royal Rumble appearances. It was also his ninth-consecutive
appearance, also billed as a record for Kane.
- This Royal Rumble set a new record for the most wrestlers
involved in an elimination, taking 8 men to throw Viscera over the top rope. This beat the
previous record set in the 1994
Royal Rumble when it took 7 men to eliminate Viscera (then
known as Mabel).
- The Undertaker was the first wrestler to win the Royal Rumble
match at number 30.
References
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