February 5, 2007 Observer Newsletter: WWE Royal Rumble, Doug Gentry
The WWE’s official Road to Wrestlemania season started with a lot of momentum, as the Undertaker and Shawn Michaels’ climax of the Royal Rumble was as hot as any Rumble finish in history.
There were few real surprises on the Rumble, held 1/28 in San Antonio at the AT&T Center, before a legitimate sellout crowd announced as 16,118 fans (about 13,500 paid and about 15,000 total). Going in, the candidates to win the Rumble were really only four people, Edge, Randy Orton, Undertaker and Shawn Michaels, and they were the final four left in the ring. And all three champions figured to retain their titles.
It was already obvious Batista vs. Undertaker would main event at Mania with the World title vs. the Wrestlemania streak. As noted here before, when the idea for this was first broached in the fall, the plan at that time was for Batista to go over. Since that time, Undertaker has gained a tremendous amount of steam. Batista, while generally performing subpar to poorly, and this show was not an exception, hasn’t really lost steam, but he’s not hot either.
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Dave Meltzer is the founder and lead writer on the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the weekly constant when it comes to news and reviews in pro wrestling and mixed martial arts for more than 40 years. Dave also co-hosts Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and had had bylines for The National, Yahoo Sports, MMA Fighting and others.