WWE 2012 - Royal Rumble 2012 - St. Louis, MI - January 29, 2012 PPV (Blu-Ray)

Steel Cage Match: World Champion Daniel Bryan vs. Big Show vs. Mark Henry - A funny moment happened before the match where Big Show went to give his hat to a fan (Randy Orton's daughter) but he ended up scaring her to the point where Show had to laugh & say "I know your dad." Show & Henry both used their heavy weight & strength advantage at various times like sandwiching someone between themselves & the cage, tossing & slingshotting Bryan into the cage, and Show's powerful shoulder tackle. With Bryan being the smallest guy in the match, he tried to sneak out the cage but then resorted to his strength in wrestling like working over Show's legs to take him down while keeping both men down with various kicks, a tornado DDT from the top rope followed by the LaBell lock, and his superior speed that worked for him when trying to escape over the top. It was a good match & one the best match between Show & Henry throughout their entire feud but one thing to pay attention to was the visual between Show & Bryan at the end as it showed the strength of Big Show being able to hold onto Bryan & even curl his arm with Daniel hanging off it.

Eve Torres, Kelly Kelly, Tamina, Alicia Fox vs. Beth Phoenix, Natayla, Bella Twins - There really wasn't much to say here past the fact that all the diva teams have matching outfits (Teal never looked better IMO) & Cole having a one liner directed at Booker T that I couldn't help but laugh at. However the main story behind told here was re-establishing Beth Phoenix as the dominate diva towards the end where she just got fed up, gave an aggressive tag to her teammate telling her "GET OUT OF MY RING!" before taking care of business herself.

John Cena vs. Kane - Cena got his usual "mixed" reaction from the crowd as both men brawled in the ring to the floor & back in the ring. Kane was very dominate & always able to keep fighting off Cena's offense while staying a step ahead of him. Cena was able to make a comeback with being able to knock Kane off the top rope before doing his 5 Knuckle Shuffle from the top rope. The brawl continued all the way backstage..to Zach Ryder's dressing room who was in a wheelchair wearing a back brace. This was one of those matches that was more about continuing a storyline more than anything else as they were teasing a more aggressive Cena (who did embrace the hate) for weeks based off his actions on RAW but instead we got the same John Cena we're used to seeing with the same ending we've seen for weeks with Kane destroying Zack Ryder while Cena is unable to save him & has to deal with the aftermath.

Brodus Clay vs. Drew McIntyre - You got the same stuff you've gotten on free TV for a month now...Drew continues his losing streak while more time is spend on Brodus' dancing than the actual match. Another thing they should have saved for TV, not a pay per view.

WWE Champion C.M. Punk vs. Dolph Ziggler with Johnny Ace (sorry but I can't spell his real last name if my life depended on it) as the special referee - Before the match, it was made clear that with Triple H appearing on RAW the next night to evaluate & possibly fire John from his position at RAW General Manager, John decided to make himself the outside enforcer while having a regular referee in the ring & even removed Vickie Guerrero from ringside. Both men went back & forth throughout the match with some highlights being Punk's suicide dive onto Dolph on the outside, Dolph taking Punk's leg from under him while on the top rope causing a bad case of whiplash on Punk's neck, a series of counters & attempts that went from the sleeper to an anaconda vice back to the sleeper, and Punk countering the fameasser into a powerbomb that caused Dolph's head to bounce off the mat. The match itself was nothing more than a backdrop to continue the storyline between Ace & Punk but unlike how Cena vs. Kane was earlier, these two delivered a really good performance in the match itself so if you can get past the storyline they were pushing & just watched the action, this was a good encounter & definitely the match of the night.

Royal Rumble Battle Royal - The Rumble returns to the traditional format of 30 men & had some highlights like The Miz facing his past, Ricardo "Del Rio" which got him one of the loudest pops of the night, Socko vs. Cobra, the fact that EVERYBODY was eligible for the match, Kofi Kingston having the most memorable "saved himself from elimination" moment, various returns including one that really scared Michael Cole, the performances of The Miz & Cody Rhodes, the homecoming of Randy Orton, and the battle between the final two. This was one of those Rumbles that was missing a lot of things such as the heavy amount of main event/big name star power spread out throughout the match & the darkhorse that lasted longer than anyone expected but it did have it's entertaining & funny moments. It's not one of the best Rumble's in history but I've seen way worse.

It should also be noted that throughout the night, they did two big video packages putting over both John Cena & The Rock in the buildup to their WrestleMania match. The biggest issue here was that this PPV came off like a 3 Hour Pay Per View edition of RAW/SmackDown where we gotten things that we usually get on free TV with some stuff being things we have already seen or was shown for weeks before & after the event (the filler divas tag, the Brodus Clay squash, the long video packages for Rock vs. Cena, the ending & aftermath of Kane vs. Cena along with Punk vs. Dolph) with the best performances being the World Title matches while the Rumble was more about entertainment & comedic quality more than anything else. In the end, this isn't a Rumble PPV that's worth going of your way to see but it's worth a rental as I would expect this type of booking for a show like "Over The Limit" but not one of original big four PPV's & definitely not when your celebrating the 25th anniversary (although that's technically next year but I digress) of the event.

This DVD has been watched several times already. We have several WWE dvds and this one he goes to frequently.

I enjoy every year to see the royal rumble and who gos on to wrestle mania. i enjoying seeing the wrestlers that come back to this and try to win the 30 man match.