Ranking every WWE Royal Rumble PPV in history
By Luke Norris
24. WWE Royal Rumble 2008
Match card & results
- Career Threatening Match: Ric Flair def. MVP
- JBL def. Chris Jericho
- World Heavyweight Championship Match: Edge (c) def. Rey Mysterio
- WWE Championship Match: Randy Orton (c) def. Jeff Hardy
- John Cena wins 30-Man Royal Rumble Match
The start of the 2008 Royal Rumble actually made me pretty sad. This was when the Ric Flair retirement angle was put into place and he looked really bad in this match. MVP did his best to carry the match but this was not a good start. Things did get better in the second match with Chris Jericho and JBL but the highlight here was probably the blade job from Jericho and the post-match activity.
Now, maybe it’s just me but I’ve just never been into the Rey Mysterio thing. I’m not saying that the guy can’t work because he really is an amazing athlete but I find all of his matches to be the exact same. Sure, the little guy trying to overcome the odds thing is fun for a while but it just gets repetitive. His match versus Edge here was simply average. The ending was entertaining enough but it’s largely forgettable. On the other hand, the WWE Championship bout with Randy Orton and Jeff Hardy was pretty solid. Orton was able to dictate the match very well and made Hardy look very good in the loss. I could do without the standing ovation thing but everything else worked nicely.
As for the Royal Rumble match itself, it was actually very good. The Madison Square Garden crowd certainly helped matters and this was just a lot of fun. Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker kicking things off was a great decision and the stuff between Rowdy Roddy Piper and Superfly Jimmy Snuka was a nice blast from the past. Even the other competitors in the ring stopped to watch. Seriously, go back and watch and you’ll see CM Punk sitting in the ring with a huge smile on his face. The surprise return of John Cena was done very well, even if it was obvious that he was going to win when he entered at number 30. The final three in the match were Cena, Triple H and Batista. Not bad at all.