ROYAL RUMBLE GETS ROCKED, FAN BACKLASH

The WWE made history last night by hosting one of its most successful and hyped events not named WrestleMania. The undercard didn't feature too much action, as the Royal Rumble match and the return of The Rock to take on reigning WWE Champ Cm Punk were the two hyped matched which took up most of the card. For those who missed the Rumble, the undercard had Kane and Daniel Bryan retain their tag team championships, and World Champion and former Rumble winner Alberto Del Rio retained his belt over The Big Show. Prior to the World Championship match Bret "The Hitman" voiced his approval of World Champion Del Rio, calling him a Mexican Hitman. The undercard could definitely be described as forgettable; however the two main events certainly left an impact on wresting fans worldwide, for both positive and negative reasons.

The Royal Rumble match started off with a bang. Dolph Ziggler was the number one entry and would be met by the first big surprise of the night, the returning Chris Jericho. Other surprise entries in the Rumble included: Goldust, The Godfather, and former World Champion Rey Mysterio. The Rumble came down to former 12 time Heavyweight Champion John Cena and the young dominant power house Ryback.  John Cena would eliminate Ryback to win his second Royal Rumble, becoming the first multiple time winner since Stone Cold Steve Austin who is the only three time winner in Royal Rumble history. This was the first of two match endings that featured a strong mixed reaction by fans throughout out the world.

---

The main event featured The Rock, in only his third match since returning to WWE Television on February 14th 2011, vs Cm Punk, who had held the WWE title for 434 straight since winning the title in November of 2011. This was a dream match for fans worldwide to see two icons of their generation’s fighter the richest prize in all of sports entertainment, the WWE Championship. After a false finish which had fans believing Punk had retained his title when the lights went out and The Rock ended up through a table Vince McMahon restarted the match, and The Rock captured the championship for the 10th time in his career, and the first time since losing to Brock Lesner in 2002. Many fans were irate that Punk's streak was ended in this manner; however Cm Punk had beaten everyone the company through his way in his 434 days as champion. Short of facing the Undertaker in a streak vs. streak match at WrestleMania, Punk had done all that he could with the longest run with the WWE title in over 25 years. I truly believe the backlash that the wrestling "marks" is truly uncalled for, after all in the words of Jay-Z "it's only entertainment. The same sore loser attitude that Patriots fan exhibited after losing to the Ravens was one display and was petty to say the least. For the record I love Cm Punk and rooted for him with my "Knees to faces" Punk shirt on, and yes it's not fair for Dwayne Johnson to use wrestling to become a movie star just to comeback and end one of the greatest title runs in history. The same fans that rooted for Punk and expressed this backlash are the same fans that couldn't wait to see the Great One lay the smack down on John Cena’s candy ass last year at WrestleMania 28. I will say now that the people have turned on the people's champion yet again, these people better feel comfortable rooting for John Cena at WrestleMania 29 when he most likely gets his rematch with The Rock. I am a firm believer in actions speak louder than words, and with everyone’s actions and reactions on display for the world to see displaying their displeasure with The Rock, you people have for lack of a better term have joined the CeNation.

-Joe Passarelli