Royal Rumble (2007)

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Royal Rumble
AT&T Center
Attendance13,500[1]
Buy rate525,000[2]
Pay-per-view chronology
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No Way Out
Royal Rumble chronology
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2006 		Next →
2008

The 2007 Royal Rumble was the 20th annual

ECW World Championship at WrestleMania 23
, marking the first time that three titles were an option.

Five

Mr. Kennedy for the World Heavyweight Championship, which Batista won by pinfall after executing a Batista Bomb. The featured match on the ECW brand was between Bobby Lashley and Test for the ECW World Championship, which Lashley won after Test was counted out
.

Production

Background

AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas
.

The

AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas, and was the second Royal Rumble held in San Antonio after the 1997 event. It featured wrestlers from the Raw, SmackDown!, and ECW brands, which was the first Royal Rumble to include ECW, a relaunch of the former Extreme Championship Wrestling promotion that became WWE's third brand in May 2006.[4][5]

The Royal Rumble match generally features 30 wrestlers and the winner traditionally earns a

ECW World Championship at WrestleMania 23. This marked the first time that the ECW World Championship was a choice for the winner of the match, subsequently marking the first time that the winner had a choice between three world championships.[4]

Storylines

The event comprised six matches, as well as one

dark match, that resulted from scripted storylines. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers on the Raw, SmackDown, and ECW brands, while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television shows, Raw, SmackDown, and ECW.[8][9][10]

The main feud heading into the Royal Rumble on Raw was between WWE Champion John Cena and Umaga. At the previous pay-per-view event, New Year's Revolution, Cena defeated Umaga to end his undefeated streak and retain the WWE Championship.[11][12] The night after on Raw, Armando Alejandro Estrada, Umaga's manager, asked for a rematch, which Cena agreed to. Later that night, during a match between Cena and The Great Khali, Umaga interfered and attacked Cena.[13] The following week, the official contract signing for their rematch at the Royal Rumble took place. After it was announced that Estrada could choose the match type, Estrada chose the match to be a Last Man Standing match. Cena signed the contract and proceeded to attack both Umaga and Estrada.[14] On the January 22 episode of Raw, after Cena was eliminated from a Battle Royal, Umaga attacked Cena, and injured his spleen, which was portrayed as real as part of their storyline.[15]

The predominant feud on the SmackDown! brand was between

Beat the Clock Sprint began. Wrestlers competed in single matches, and the wrestler to win a match in the shortest amount of time would then become the number one contender to the World Heavyweight Championship at the Royal Rumble. Mr. Kennedy, who defeated Chris Benoit in nearly five minutes, had the shortest time at the end of the show.[16] The following week, the Sprint continued. In the final match, between The Undertaker and The Miz, Kennedy interfered by pulling The Miz out of the ring. After performing the Tombstone piledriver on The Miz, The Undertaker went for the pin attempt. Time, however, ran out and Kennedy became the winner of the Sprint.[17] The following week after on SmackDown!, The Undertaker was put in a match with Kennedy, where if he won, he would be added to the title match at the Royal Rumble. During the match, after Kennedy attacked Batista, who was at ringside. Batista retaliated against Kennedy, causing The Undertaker to get disqualified.[18]
Thus, the match at the Royal Rumble remained a singles match between Batista and Kennedy.

The main feud on the ECW brand was between Bobby Lashley and Test, with the two feuding over the ECW Championship. Rob Van Dam won an online poll against Test and Sabu to earn a title shot on the January 2 episode of ECW, which ended in no-contest.[19] Van Dam was given another title match the next week. Test interfered in the match, and attacked both men.[20] A Triple Threat match for the title occurred on the January 16 episode of ECW between Lashley, Van Dam, and Test. Lashley won, but was beaten down afterwards by Test.[21] A title match between Lashley and Test was then made for the Royal Rumble. A week after that match was made, on the January 23 episode of ECW, Lashley defeated Test in another title match.[22]

Event

Other on-screen personnel[23]
Role: Name:
English
commentators
 Jim Ross (Raw)
Jerry Lawler
(Raw / Royal Rumble)
Michael Cole
(SmackDown! / Royal Rumble)
John "Bradshaw" Layfield

(SmackDown! / Royal Rumble)
Joey Styles (ECW)
Tazz
(ECW)
Spanish commentators Carlos Cabrera
Hugo Savinovich
Interviewer
 Todd Grisham
Ring announcer Lilian Garcia
(Raw / Royal Rumble match)
Tony Chimel (SmackDown!)
Justin Roberts (ECW)
Referees Scott Armstrong (ECW)
Mike Chioda (Raw)
Jack Doan (Raw)
Chris Kay (SmackDown!)
Jim Korderas
(SmackDown!)
Nick Patrick (SmackDown!)
Charles Robinson (SmackDown!)
Mickie Henson (ECW)
Bingo machine tumbler Kelly Kelly (ECW)

Before the event went live on pay-per-view, JTG defeated Lance Cade in a dark match.[23]

Preliminary match

The first match that aired was a

Joey Mercury and Johnny Nitro). The match went back and forth until MNM took control by attacking Matt's injured jaw repeatedly. The Hardys gained the advantage briefly, but lost it when Nitro countered an aerial attack by Jeff. Jeff finally tagged Matt, who beat down both Mercury and Nitro. The finish came when Matt delivered a Twist of Fate and Jeff performed the Swanton Bomb on Nitro. Jeff then pinned Nitro for the victory.[24][25]

Main matches

The second match was Bobby Lashley against Test for the ECW World Championship. Test used many illegal moves, and took control after driving Lashley's shoulder into the ringpost. He continued to attack the shoulder until Lashley fought back with several powerful moves. Test rolled out of the ring, allowing himself to be counted out. Lashley won, and retained his title. He came after Test, however, brought him back into the ring, and continued to beat him down.[26][24]

The third match was between

lariat and a Batista Bomb to retain the title.[24][27]

In the fourth match,

television monitor. Umaga stood but missed a running splash through a broadcast table. Umaga got up again as his manager, Armando Alejandro Estrada, detached one of the turnbuckles for Umaga to use. Cena avoided the attack, executed an FU, and applied the STF on Umaga using the loose ring rope. Umaga failed to answer the referee's count of ten, and Cena retained the title.[28][24]

Main event match

The Undertaker, who won the 2007 Royal Rumble match.

The final match was the Royal Rumble match.

superkick on Viscera.[29][24] The Great Khali, entering twenty-eighth, dominated upon entering the match, eliminating seven men quickly. The Great Khali tried to pose in front of the camera, but botched it by posing the wrong way. Shawn Michaels had to tell Khali which way to pose. The Undertaker entered last, who immediately fought with, and eliminated Khali, then Montel Vontavious Porter, leaving Edge, Orton, Michaels, and Undertaker as the final four. Orton executed an RKO on Michaels, causing him to roll out of the ring under the ropes and leaving Edge, Orton, and the Undertaker. Orton caught Edge trying to attack him, but the two soon reconciled, working together on The Undertaker. Michaels, outside the ring, came back in, eliminating both Orton and Edge. The remaining two exchanged attacks until the end, when The Undertaker chokeslammed Michaels, who retaliated with Sweet Chin Music. Michaels attempted another Sweet Chin Music but Undertaker avoided it, then eliminated Michaels to win the match.[29][24]
The Undertaker became the first competitor to win the Rumble match from #30 (what is considered to be the "easiest" spot to win from, despite no one having done so in any previous match).

Reception

The AT&T Center has hosted many different events that have a variety of seating maximums. A basketball event, which has a smaller set-up than a wrestling event, can hold a maximum of 18,797 fans.

Canadian Online Explorer's professional wrestling sub website, Slam! Wrestling, rated the entire event 7.5 out of 10 points, due to the event not lasting its entire three hours and many mishaps that occurred during the Royal Rumble match, which they also rated a 7.5.[24] The last man standing match between John Cena and Umaga was widely praised.[32] The Royal Rumble 2007 was released on DVD on February 27, 2007 and was distributed by WWE.[33] The DVD debuted on Billboard's Top DVD sales chart at #3 on March 24, 2007.[34] The DVD remained on the chart for 13 consecutive weeks until June 16, 2007 when its final rank was at #10.[35]

Aftermath

The shows following the Royal Rumble surrounded

Mr. Kennedy, earlier that week on Raw.[41]

After The Undertaker made his choice on February 5,

Umaga and Bobby Lashley joined the feud between Mr. McMahon and Donald Trump in the "Battle of the Billionaires" as their representatives respectively for the Hair vs. Hair match at WrestleMania.[43]

His Royal Rumble match marked the start of

ECW World Championship at No Way Out, which he won via disqualification, thus failing to win the title.[44][45] Kennedy won the Money in the Bank ladder match at WrestleMania, which gave him a world title shot at any time of his choosing for the year following.[46][47] Kennedy sustained an injury at a house show, however, that would leave him sidelined for five to seven months,[48] and was booked to lose his title shot to Edge on the May 7 episode of Raw.[49] Later results showed the injury to be much less severe,[50] but Kennedy had already lost his title shot. He returned to mid-card
status for the remainder of the year.

This was the last Royal Rumble ever to be in 4:3 format until January 2008 when it went to high definition.

Results

No.Results
dark match

Royal Rumble entrances and eliminations

  – Raw
  – SmackDown!
  – ECW
  – Winner
Draw[51] Entrant[51] Brand Order of elimination Eliminated by[51] Time[52] Eliminations
1 Ric Flair Raw 1 Edge 05:40 0
2
Finlay
 SmackDown! 12 Shawn Michaels 32:32 0
3 Kenny Dykstra Raw 2 Edge 04:05 0
4 Matt Hardy SmackDown! 9 Randy Orton 18:55 0
5 Edge Raw 28 Shawn Michaels 44:02 5
6 Tommy Dreamer ECW 3 Kane 06:41 0
7 Sabu ECW 4 05:27 0
8 Gregory Helms SmackDown! 5 King Booker 06:50 0
9 Shelton Benjamin Raw 14 Shawn Michaels 22:22 1
10 Kane1 SmackDown! 11 King Booker4 13:21 3
11 CM Punk ECW 22 The Great Khali 27:16 1
12
King Booker
 SmackDown! 10 Kane 09:23 3
13 Super Crazy Raw 7 Edge and Randy Orton 04:32 0
14 Jeff Hardy Raw 8 Edge 03:38 0
15 The Sandman ECW 6 King Booker 00:13 0
16 Randy Orton Raw 27 Shawn Michaels 27:14 2
17 Chris Benoit SmackDown! 19 The Great Khali 17:52 3
18 Rob Van Dam ECW 21 The Great Khali 15:27 2
19 Viscera Raw 13 Chris Benoit, CM Punk, Edge, Hardcore Holly, Johnny Nitro, Kevin Thorn, Rob Van Dam, Shawn Michaels, and Shelton Benjamin 2 06:22 0
20 Johnny Nitro Raw 15 Chris Benoit 06:18 1
21 Kevin Thorn ECW 16 Chris Benoit 06:15 1
22 Hardcore Holly ECW 18 The Great Khali 10:21 1
23 Shawn Michaels Raw 29 The Undertaker 24:11 5
24 Chris Masters Raw 17 Rob Van Dam 03:32 0
25
Chavo Guerrero
 SmackDown! 24 The Great Khali 06:24 0
26 Montel Vontavious Porter SmackDown! 26 The Undertaker 07:31 0
27
Carlito
 Raw 23 The Great Khali 03:19 0
28 The Great Khali Raw 25 The Undertaker 03:45 7
29 The Miz SmackDown! 20 The Great Khali 00:07 0
30 The Undertaker SmackDown! — Winner3 13:15 3
  1. Solofa Fatu
    (Rikishi)'s record for most Royal Rumble appearances. It was also his ninth-consecutive appearance, also billed as a record for Kane.
  2. ^ This Royal Rumble set a new record for the most wrestlers involved in an elimination, taking 9 men to throw Viscera over the top rope. This beat the previous record set in the 1994 Royal Rumble when it took 7 men to eliminate Viscera (then known as Mabel).[51]
  3. ^ The Undertaker was the first wrestler to win the Royal Rumble match at number 30.
  4. ^ King Booker was eliminated, but came back in and eliminated Kane.

Other on-screen personnel

Commentators
Ring announcer
Referees
Interviewers

References

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External links

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