My Royal Rumble Opinion... and some predictions...

2011's Rumble Logo

It is one week until my favorite PPV of the year, the ROYAL RUMBLE... I love this PPV, and I'm going to give you my opinion on this year's Rumble match... and my predictions for the top 3 matches at this year's event...

Follow me after the jump, it's going to be fun...

The Classic Logo

First things first, I'm going to post my predictions for the 2 big championship matches this year...

The World Heavyweight Championship

Edge defending against Dolph Ziggler
Prediction: Edge... like they would put this title on Ziggler just yet

The WWE Championship

The Miz defending against Randy Orton
Prediction: The Miz... I expected The Miz to be Champ until Wrestlemania

THE MATCH

Now, before I get into this year's, for those that don't know the rules or history, I'm going to explain why the Rumble is one of the MOST important matches of the year......

First the Rules... traditional, the Rumble match has had 30 participants, whose order is chosen randomly, usually in by numbers in a bingo cage. The Superstars that drew #1 & #2 start, while each of the others come out in order of their numbers one at a time, until all 30 have made it to the match. Participants are eliminated by being thrown over the top rope and both feet MUST touch the floor, and eliminations can happen at any time by any number of wrestlers. The last man(or woman... explain later) left is the winner of the Royal Rumble and is entitled to a main event championship match at that year's Wrestlemania... with only a handful of exceptions...(also later)

Some fun or weird facts about the Rumble...

-There have been more winners at #1(Shawn Michaels & Chris Benoit) & #2(Vince McMahon & Rey Mysterio) than winners at #30(John Cena & Undertaker)
-Rey Mysterio holds two records at the Rumble, one for being the smallest to win it & the longest time in the match with a time of 1:02.12... and he is the only masked wrestler to win it
-Conversely, Santino Marella holds the record for shortest time in Rumble at 1.8 seconds, beating the previous held by The Warlord's 2.0 sec that held for 20 years
-The most profitable number is #27, there have been 4 winners
-Two women have entered: Chyna & Beth Phoenix... Beth even eliminated the 7'2 425lbs Great Khali by herself
-There is one TV actor now TV host that has entered back in 2001: Drew Carey. Drew entered at #4, and entered the ring when #'s 1-3(Matt & Jeff Hardy and Ron "Farooq" Simmons) were eliminating each at once... Drew waved to the crowd until the next countdown started, then faced the entrance and smiling and motioning the next guy to "bring it on"... then #5... and a big wall of fire with Kane coming to the ring... Drew Carey then became 1 of only 9 to eliminate himself after getting the fuck out of there...
-Speaking of Kane, he holds the record for most Rumbles in a row(this year will be 13) & the record for most elimination in a single Rumble with 11... strangely enough in 2001 when he should be credited with 12 since he scared Drew shitless... that should count
-Stone Cold Steve Austin is the only man to win 3 Rumbles
-Mick Foley holds the record for most appearances in a single Rumble match with 3, where he entered as all 3 of his personalities: Cactus Jack, Mankind, and Dude Love... and still couldn't win...
-Strange fact... every winner of the Royal Rumble has held a WWE World title except for 3... Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Big John Studd, and Lex Luger... though let it be noted that he did hold the WCW World title
-Strange fact... 1992, the winner didn't receive a title shot, they BECAME champion after it was forced to be vacated... and the winner was #3 17 World Champion Ric Flair, who was responsible for getting it vacated in the first place
-Strange fact... 3 times in history have the last two hit the floor at the same time. 1994) Lex Luger & Bret Hart, ruled a tie, and they both got a shot, Luger failed, but Bret succeeded. 2000) The Rock & Big Show, Rock declared winner but footage showed he hit first... title match became 4 corners at WM2000 with Rock/Show/Foley/Triple H. 2005) Batista & John Cena, officials forced those two to go again and Batista won.
-Strange fact... in 2005, both Batista and John Cena, after tying at the Rumble, went on to each win their brand's World title, respectively giving them their first World title wins the same night

And the big stat...
      The Title shot stipulation was added in 1993, after Ric Flair won the title in 1992's Rumble match...
How many have won the title because of it?
    -Of the 17 WM Rumble Winner title shots, 11 have won(64.7%)
    -Winners of the 1997 & 1999 Rumbles were stripped of their wins, 1997 Steve Austin because he was eliminated, but refs didn't see it, 1999 Vince McMahon tried to give it up so The Rock didn't have to defend, by it was rewards to Austin instead because he was the last eliminated
    -the last three winners of the Royal Rumble have FAILED... John Cena in 2008 cashed in at No Way Out & got a Triple Threat rematch at WM24 and Failed both times... 2009 Randy Orton won thanks to Legacy, but FAILED to beat Triple H at WM25... 2010 Edge came back from injury early to win, but FAILED to beat Chris Jericho at WM26

And my favorite parts are you don't know what order they are in, and you never really know who might be in it...... 

Now what makes this year's different? If you haven't taken the poll --------> this year's Rumble will have 40 participants instead of 30. Which means this will automatically be the longest in history, it will suck even more for #1 & #2, and there are more spots for surprise returns and entrants... and I can't stress enough that this year's Wrestlemania is in Atlanta, GA, the home of the old WCW... and WWE owns rights to WCW... so you could see WCW Legends and WWE Hall of Famers make one time shots(or longer) in the Rumble match...

So what about my prediction... well, it's difficult since there are so many participants, but I always give & get leeway to pick multiple options... and in light of this year's 40, I'm going to pick 4 possiblities... and their brands
      -John Cena(RAW)
      -Kane(SmackDown)
      -Ted DiBiase(RAW)
      -Alberto Del Rio(SmackDown)
and one wild card...
      -Mark Henry(RAW)

And I'm pretty sure Kane's record for single Rumble eliminations will be broken...

And as soon as I get them, I will have second and third opinions updated in this post soon...

What do you think of this new 40-Man Royal Rumble? Who do you have winning it and going to WM27 in Atlanta? You get 4 picks and 1 wild card...

Post you opinions and comments down below... don't be shy fuckers...