Headlines for Saturday and Sunday, January 24 & 25, 2009
- Randy Orton has won the 2009 Royal Rumble and has his ticket set for the
championship match at WrestleMania XXV. Orton, helped by his Legacy members
Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase finished off Triple H to secure his victory. Big
Show and Undertaker were the other two members left as the final six. Rob
Van Dam was a surprise entry and got a thunderous ovation from the crowd but
was eliminated by Chris Jericho. Santino Marella lasted a second - or even
less - after Kane clotheslined him over the top rope as soon as he hit the
ring. Dolph Ziggler also lasted a few seconds and so did The Brian Kendrick
who were eliminated by Kane and Triple H respectively.
In other matches from the show, Jack Swagger retained his ECW title by
defeating Matt Hardy in the opening match; Melina won the Women's title by
defeating Beth Phoenix; John Cena pinned JBL after the FU also to retain his
WWE title. HBK super kicked both JBL and Cena and put JBL on top for the
cover but Cena kicked out; Edge became the new WWE champion by defeating
Jeff Hardy after Matt Hardy interfered and turned on his brother. The match
was changed to a no DQ before it started by Vickie Guerrero.
- Prior to the Royal Rumble, Jimmy Wang Yang defeated Paul Burchill in a dark match.
- A couple of weeks ago, Republican Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rell
announced that WWE Chief Executive Officer Linda McMahon was being nominated
to the state Board of Education. The appointment needs legislative approval
and now the announcement of McMahon is causing a bit of trouble as residents
are wondering what the Governor is doing asking the WWE chief to be on a
board that sets education policy and standards for the children of her home
state. The Advocate newspaper took several quotes from different people
regarding the announcement. "What's next? Stone Cold Steve Austin to be head
of the state police?" said one Stamford resident. "I have no knowledge of
Ms. McMahon and whether she'd serve the governor's purposes," Stamford
Superintendent Joshua Starr said. "I don't know what experiences she has in
education." The governor is pulling for McMahon's appointment and news was
revealed that the two knew each other since she was a lieutenant governor
and has contributed to her campaigns. The confirmation hearing is on
February 5 and the Chief Executive Officer has declined interviews,
providing only an e-mail statement. "I recently met with the governor and
expressed my willingness to help be an advocate for a stronger education
system in our state and in our country. I am pleased that this discussion
led to this appointment, " McMahon said.
- Poll results: Are you going to order the Royal Rumble PPV?
Yes - 61%
No - 39%
- Ever since the movie 'The Wrestler' came out, WWE tried to distance itself from it and a WWE spokesman even said that that's not the way WWE does business anymore and it's very different from what the company stands for today. Director Darren Aronofsky even gave WWE Chairman Vince McMahon a private screening of the movie and McMahon hated the way pro wrestling was portrayed, disliking the movie all the way. But now that Mickey Rourke won a Golden Globe and is now an Academy Award nominee, WWE is jumping on 'The
Wrestler' bandwagon. On Smackdown! yesterday WWE ran a brief look at the movie, their first acknowledgment of it since the movie came out. And on WWE.COM there's also a video of Lilian Garcia, Mark Henry and Ric Flair all
praising the movie. It's funny how a couple of nominations at the biggest movie awards ceremony of the year can change the outlook of a company's view on a movie!
