Royal Rumble 2010 Confirmed Matches & Mini-Preview
Find out what matches are currently scheduled to take place at The Royal Rumble 2010.
On January 31, one of the most exciting annual WWE Pay-per-Views will descend upon the Phillips Center in Atlanta, Georgia – the Royal Rumble. This year’s event will see battles for the Women’s, ECW, WWE, and World Championship belts, as well as the highly-anticipated 30-man Battle Royale for a title shot at Wrestlemania 26.
Let’s take a look at the matches:
WWE Womens Championship Match
Singles Match
Michelle McCool (c)
Vs.
Mickie James
As in keeping with the tradition that talented and athletic women in the WWE are generally saddled with atrocious storylines, this rivalry has been particularly head-scratching.
McCool, the champion and heel in this matchup, has been taunting James for the past several weeks about her “weight problem”.
Apparently, in the WWE universe, one only needs to weigh about 130 pounds to have a serious “weight problem”, as Mickie James is anything but overweight.
Also, as pointed out by WWEblog editor JayD, the fact that McCool has battled anorexia in the past makes this storyline nothing short of creepy.
McCool got the better of James last week when she shoved a pig-shaped cake in Mickie’s face, with an assist from Beth Phoenix, during one particularly terrible segment.
Interestingly, the perpetual heel Phoenix seemed briefly torn over who to help during last week’s confrontation. Only time will tell if she will play a role in McCool’s title defense at the Rumble.
ECW Championship Match
Singles Match
Christian (c)
Vs.
Ezekiel Jackson
Christian has been king of the ECW mountain for some time now, but will face a stiff challenge at the Rumble against Ezekiel Jackson.
As with many “monster” wrestlers, Jackson hasn’t had much to do lately except destroy lesser opponents in squash matches.
But in a minor surprise, Jackson recently won the ECW Homecoming Tournament to get a shot against Christian at the Rumble.
There hasn’t been much time to establish a Christian/Jackson rivalry. Christian has already worked his way through a few rivalries without being dethroned, but he will have his hands full against Ezekiel’s power advantage.
There may be distractions weighing on Jackson’s mind, however, that could tip the scales in Christian’s favor.
Before he won the Homecoming tourney, he’s had more problems with Vladimir Koslov, his former Ruthless Roundtable partner, than anybody else on the ECW roster.
Jackson can seemingly still count on William Regal’s assistance, but will Koslov appear to throw a wrench into Ezekiel’s title plans?
WWE Heavyweight Championship Match
Singles Match
The Undertaker (c)
Vs.
Rey Mysterio
This rivalry, on the other hand, has been well established in recent weeks, thanks in no small part to both wrestlers’ personal issues. The crowd is sure to be divided, as both wrestlers are popular fan favourites.
Rey has been pushed to reclaim championship status after his suspension for violating WWE’s wellness policy, which caused him to lose the Intercontinental Title to John Morrison a couple of months ago.
He is also not at 100% and may be out of action for some time after this match to recuperate.
Also, many rumors have been swirling around regarding Taker’s possible upcoming retirement, due to injury and health reasons.
The difficulty of participating at a high level for many years, as the Undertaker has, can take its toll on the greatest of athletes, and 2010 may be his swan song.
The wild card in this matchup is Batista, who has a strong rivalry against both Rey and the Undertaker.
There is no love lost between these three men and one likely storyline will have Batista facing the Taker at WrestleMania in an effort to break his undefeated streak.
What that may mean for the Undertaker’s championship defense at the Rumble is anyone’s guess.
WWE Championship Match
Singles Match
Sheamus (c)
Vs.
Randy Orton
In an apparent effort to save the WWE fans from yet another instance of Sheamus competing against his only established rival, John Cena, the writers have pitted him against another monster heel, Randy Orton, at the Rumble.
The only two things that these competitors have in common are that the fans have no love for either of them and they both hate John Cena.
This was made clearly evident at last week’s Raw when all three men ended up in a wild free-for-all, which resulted in John Cena as the only man left standing and Sheamus and Orton sprawled out on the canvas.
How the fans view this matchup will be interesting, as it is probably inevitable that either Sheamus or Orton will become an (extremely) temporary fan favorite.
Many view Sheamus as somewhat of a false champion, as he won the title from John Cena in a tables match by rather luckily pushing him through a table from the top rope, rather than slamming him through one.
Sheamus would certainly get a large push if he manages to defeat an always-dangerous Randy Orton, who has been somewhat distracted of late by the ever-growing dissension in Legacy. An appearance by Rhodes and DiBiase may either singlehandedly ruin Orton’s title chances or guarantee them.
The Royal Rumble Match
30 Man Over the top rope Battle Royal Match
View the full list of confirmed participants here.
This year’s Royal Rumble match has 24 confirmed participants, which leaves 6 as ‘surprise’ entrants.
Usually the bulk of ‘surprise’ entrants consist of wrestlers not quite famous enough to warrant mention, but the WWE always manages to slip in 1 or 2 that are pretty big surprises.
In the past these have included Rob van Dam, the Honky Tonk Man, Rikishi, and Goldust, among others. One rumor includes Edge as being a surprise entrant this year, but it is not publicly known if he is fit to wrestle.
As is often advertised, the winner of the Royal Rumble match will get a title shot of their choice against the WWE Champion, World Heavyweight Champion, or ECW Champion, at WrestleMania 26.
The myriad number of possible storylines are too numerous to sort through here. However, it does warrant mentioning that the current WWE Champion’s main rival (regardless of who takes the title in the earlier match) is John Cena, the current World Heavyweight Champion’s main rival (again regardless of who wins the title earlier in the night) is Batista, and the current ECW Champion’s main rival is probably William Regal, all of whom will be competing the Royal Rumble match.
The End Bit
There you have it folks – the 2010 Royal Rumble preview, brought to you by GRuz and WWEBlog.
Please check out my Royal Rumble Predictions article, where I break down each individual match and offer my expert prognostication as to their outcomes.
Also, don’t forget to follow our LIVE results, as they happen, here on WWEBlog on January 31.
Thanks and we hope to see you there!
