WWE - Royal Rumble 2008: Steel Box Edition [DVD]

1. Ric Flair v MVP
Good, solid opener. The crowd absolutely loved Flair and why shouldnt they? MVP did well as the cocky arrogant heel and got a good heel reaction when he interrupted Flair's speech. As for the wrestling, a solid bout but nothing special. The right man won and got a great pop.
Wooooooooo!
7/10

2. Chris Jericho v JBL
This was a bit of a disappointment. Both wrestlers, while being great on the mic, never really got going in-ring wise throughout their feud, the chemistry just wasn't there. Forgettable match. JBL needs to hit the gym.
5/10

3. Edge (c) v Rey Mysterio for the World Heavyweight Championship
Great, fast-paced match. Crowd was solidly behind Edge though which was a bit weird seeing as he is the mega-heel (and does it oh so well) but we all know New York fans are 'intelligent wrestling fans'. Great finish sequence with the inevitable Vickie Guerrero getting involved and a great finishing move.
9/10

4. Jeff Hardy v Randy Orton (c) for the WWE Championship:
Man, Jeff Hardy is wayyyyy over. Good, solid match which proved to all that Hardy does indeed belong in the main event (at least, when he's not suspended for wellness policy violations). Very unpredictable ending in my opinion and some would say the wrong man won.
8/10

5. The Royal Rumble Match
Absolutely fantastic. Definitely the most enjoyable RR match since 2001. Great choice to start off with HBK and Undertaker, reminiscent of the 2007 finale. The action was fast-paced and kept picking up. Not to mention the massive surprise when the No. 30 entrance came out. Great ending and I personally didn't have a problem with the winner.
Kudos go to John Morrison and Undertaker for very good performances.
10/10

Overall, a highly enjoyable PPV and a must-get for all wrestling fans.

Match 1 - Ric Flair vs MVP (Career Ending Match)

If you know your wrestling then you'll know who wins this...if you dont and your fresh then this is a pretty good opening match up between the emotional Flair and the arrogant MVP, Flair thanks the crowd before the bell rings as he knows that thsi is the last time he'll ever wrestle in the wrestling mecca that is MSG. 6/10

Match 2 - Y2J vs JBL

This feud never seemed to happen really, this was the conclusion to there feud that lasted all of 3 weeks. A pretty good match from a brilliant brawler and a master of catch as catch can. two different styles that actually compliment each other. Jericho gets busted wide open and retaliates to end the match. 7/10

Match 3 - Edge (c) vs Rey Mysterio (World Heavyweight Championship)

A solid match up between the highest of high fliers and the R rated superstar. Edge has Vickie Guerrero in his pocket at the time and still does presently, Obviously a lot of history between Vickie and Rey here but everyone was pulling for Rey, overall a good matchup with Edge grounding Rey for the most part. Once Rey gets his legs back he makes a great comeback until an amazingly fast spear in mid air. 8/10 Its all about the ending.

Match 4 - Randy Orton vs Jeff Hardy (WWE Championship)

What a great match and build up, Randy playing the sadist and Jeff playing Jeff. Everyone is all over Jeff on this one, really believing his life long dream is coming true, and in hindsight he did, He has concreted himslef as a main eventer now and thats job done in my eyes. A very good match that swings both ways, Jeff does some incredible sequences here, but doesn't he always!!! A great finish to a great match. 9/10

Match 5 - 30 man Royal Rumble.

I was a huge fan of Royal Rumbles as a kid but through my teens I lost interest and thought they were predictable and not much action takes place....How wrong i was with this Royal Rumble. A great rumble, one of the best I have seen. Best opening to a Rumble ever with Taker and HBK. Worst thing about it was the god awful announcer. Just listen to him. The ending is one of the most shocking in recent memory.

BUT IT...ENJOY IT...KEEP IT...WATCH IT AGAIN AND AGAIN.

The Royal Rumble is always a PPV to look forawrd to, and this year in particulary was one to watch. In front of a sold out crowd in the World's Most Famous arena - Madison Square Garden, we had 2 WWE World Title matches on the line, a chance to see someone try and make history at Wrestlemania 24, a PPV return since Judgment Day 2006 for JBL, and a Career in jeapordy. This is the 2008 Royal Rumble.

--This may contain SPOILERS--

Career Threatening Match
Ric Flair vs. MVP

This was the perfect match to start the night with. Ric does some nice mic work before hand to get the crowd how, whilst MVP interrupts it, to gain more heel heat. As for the match, I thought it was very good, nothing really botched, and just had a nice flow. A vast improvement from their match at Night of Champions. There was a nice false finish at about the 5 minute mark after MVP delivers an awesome boot, however after some nice back and forth action, Ric Flair locks in the Figure Four Leg Lock for the win at the 8 minute mark. Overall, a good start, although nothing too special.
MATCH RATING: 7.5

Chris Jericho vs. JBL

Okay, nothing really special at all. A pretty average match, although I did like Y2J's blade job, which did add to the match, and due to the storyline purposes I did like the DQ ending by Y2J at the9 minute mark. PLEASE NOTE: On the region 2 Dvd, due to the BBFC Policy and the Video Recordings Act of 1984 the aftermath where Y2J chokes out JBL has been cut.
MATCH RATING: 6

World Heavyweight Championship Match
(Champion) Edge w/ Vickie Guerrero vs. Rey Mysterio

Ever since they were a tag team, and their little square off in the 2003 Royal Rumble Match, I've always been wondering when these 2 will have a one on one match, and now we've got one. And the ONLY complaint I have is that it could've gone on for a good 4-5 mins longer as it ends only at 12:37. But thse 2 really show off here. Rey and Edge do a bit of chain wrestling before Rey hits a nice dive onto Edge over the top rope to the outside. But the bit of the match that truly stands out is the final 4 minutes, where the action really picks up, from Rey's top rope moves, to a dive under the ropes to Edge on the outside and connecting with a DDT, instead of the typical baseball slide, to Edge's Drop of the Dime counter into a spear in mid air. Top notch stuff.
MATCH RATING: 9

WWE Championship Match
(Champion) Randy Orton vs. Jeff Hardy

Now like with the Rey/ Edge match, this could've gone on for another 4-5 mins as it ended at the 14 minute mark. Also I kind of wish this match has a few false finishes, so we have Jeff kick out of the 1st RKO, he hits the Swanton, Orton kicks out, and then he hits a 2nd RKO for the win, that would've made the match a bit more intense. But what we got was absolutley fine. Infact it's very rare to have a match where pretty much every move has some kind of impact, like with Jeff's headlock takedown at the start of the match. I thnink it helped that the crowd was really into this. Anyway Jeff really shows his ability here, with an awesome, unique baseball slide (basically a kind of drop kick) that I swear almost breaks Orton's neck, then he dives over the top rope. Orton connects with an awesome drop kick, just as Jeff's in mid air about to hop over the ropes. Orton hits a suplex on the floor, then Jeff dives off the apron with a clothesline. Orton hits huge powerslam, but Jeff comes back with Whisper in the Wind and a nice top rope drop kick to Orton standing on the apron which he then falls off of. Jeff hits a moonsault (that does look awkward, watch it and see what i mean) but then Orton hits the RKO out of nowhere. It really was a sudden ending.
MATCH RATING: 9

2008 Royal Rumble Match

A very powerful introduction by Michael Buffer to begin with. We start off with Undertaker and Shawn Michaels, my opinion a good idea, get the crowd heated up. Khali got eliminated quickly which was very good. Dreamer comes out to a huge pop, which was nice. Batista comes out. John Morrison, now let me quickly note the performance he gave during this match, he was unbelievable. Also we have a few comical moments with Hornswoggle, who eliminates the Miz. Roddy Piper and Jimmy Snuka come in a suprise entrance that made all other wrestlers actually stop what they were doing for a moment. HBK and Taker get eliminated suprisingly in which Undertaker keeps up the momentum of the match with a leg drop to Snitsky through the announcer table. Shelton Benjamin only lasts for 18 seconds but he hits one hell on an opening move, the Triple H comes out, all top stars are out and every one's just like, who's number 30? Well props to WWE for really keeping this secret, out comes John Cena, to I swear the biggest pop since well over a year. It really was big, then they started booing him about 30 seconds, as if they were like "oh know we're cheering him, we're not ment to cheer for him". The final 2, HHH and Cena square off for a good 4 minutes of action until Cena wins with a nice FU to HHH over the top rope.
This match was so unpredictable and never had a dull moment or dead time like most recent rumbles. And people may probably disagree but...
MATCH RATING: 9.5

Overall, it was a great PPV, a great start to the year, and hopefully a hint of what's to come in the future, if that's the case we're in for a great year. Top notch stuff, well done WWE.