Ranking every WWE Royal Rumble PPV in history

28. WWE Royal Rumble 2006

Match card & results

• Cruiserweight Open for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship: Gregory Helms def. Kid Kash (c), Funaki, Jamie Noble, Nunzio and Paul London
• Mickie James def. Ashley
• The Boogeyman def. JBL
• Rey Mysterio wins 30-Man Royal Rumble Match
• WWE Championship Match: John Cena def. Edge (c)
• World Heavyweight Championship Match: Kurt Angle (c) def. Mark Henry

It’s always strange to me when the Royal Rumble match is put in the middle of the show but that was the case in 2006. Perhaps they felt the show needed a kick in the backside after the first three matches of the show. Wow. The Cruiserweight Open, which went with the Texas Tornado style, featured a few good spots but the storytelling was pretty weak. The Mickie James vs. Ashley match was as bad as you think it would be given Ashley’s limitations in the ring and this was only used to further the Mickie and Trish storyline. This could have been on RAW and not in a prime spot. But it actually wasn’t as bad as The Boogeyman versus JBL, which went under two minutes and was simply awful.

To Rey Mysterio, the Royal Rumble match was all about honoring his friend Eddie Guerrero, who had passed a few months earlier. The segment when Rey picked his number was really uncomfortable, almost as uncomfortable as watching Vince pine over the Divas. Rey drew number two and Triple H drew number one and both were still in the match near the end. However, if you really go back and watch, Mysterio lays around for A LOT of that match and his run isn’t nearly as impressive. Even with a full ring at points, there were still too many dead spots in the match. The whole Mysterio thing just seemed forced.

Edge and John Cena continued their rivalry in the next match and this wasn’t their best. They played up Edge as NOT being a transitional champion, which obviously meant he was going to lose, which is exactly what happened in an average affair. But it was still better than the main event for the World Heavyweight Championship between Mark Henry and Kurt Angle, which only went on last to set up the return of The Undertaker. Pretty weak show overall.