WWE Heat: Rumble Pre-Show Edition
Sunday Week 4 January 2005
American Airlines Center
Dallas, TX
21,000 SOLD OUT
Juventud Guerrera vs Rodney Mack
Juventud continues to try to prove himself against heavweights to try and elevate the cruiserweight division as the champion. This match gets us going as people continue to pile in to the arena for the PPV. About half the crowd are here for Heat. Juventud gets the win over Rodney Mack to open up Heat.
Rating: 53
Rob Conway vs Jamie Noble
Jamie Noble gets the victory over Conway
Rating: 57
Rhyno & Johnny Stamboli vs The Hurricane & D-Von Dudley
More fans coming in as we are almost at full capacity. The buzz in the arena gets louder and louder as we go on tonight on Heat. The Hurricane pins Rhyno. This match got a decent reaction from the crowd as the hype in the building continues to build.
Rating: 58
Orlando Jordan vs Christian
Tonight's Heat main event live on SpikeTV has Orlando Jordan taking on Christian. Christian gets the victory
Rating: 62
Heat goes off the air after this match and we switch to PPV.
61 Rated Heat. Drew 313K viewer which stays consistent with it's last rating.
WWE Royal Rumble 2005
Sunday Week 4 January 2005
Location: American Airlines Center
Attendance: 21,000 SOLD OUT
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- Kevin Nash comes in the arena. He is interviewed on his way in about the Royal Rumble tonight and the rumors circulating about a potential ground shaking debut tonight in the Rumble match. Nash says don't believe everything you hear, it is mentioned that people are saying it is a former WCW wrestler. This slightly changes the expression on Big Kev's face and he leaves.
- Mick Foley is also interviewed before being interrupted by Shane McMahon. Both men exchange words but go their separate ways.
Spike Dudley vs Val Venis
The first match of the 2005 Royal Rumble PPV begins. Val Venis gets the victory. Decent crowd reaction but they didn't click and that was unfortunate for the opening match of a PPV. Should've been on Heat in hindsight.
Rating: 48
-The Big Show cuts a promo backstage saying he is ready to win the Royal Rumble tonight
-HBK is interviewed about his match against Kurt Angle and asked about how much of a disadvantage he will be at for the Rumble as he has the last match before the Rumble match. Shawn says it's no problem for the Showstopper.
-We recap what has gone on between Shawn & Angle. From Shawn winning the #1 contendership, to the fatal 4 way match that HBK won. We see how it seemed to be a respectful feud at first before Kurt Angle's actions on the previous episode of Smackdown
Shannon Moore vs Chavo Guerrero vs A-Train
A big chance for someone to score a PPV win and payday in this interesting triple threat. Chavo Guerrero gets the victory. Shannon Moore continues to struggle this year with a record 1-7 following this match. Chavo carried the match and scored a good PPV win.
Rating: 71
-Rikishi was interviewed he says he is not in the Rumble and causes destruction backstage.
Kanyon & Billy Kidman vs Stevie Richards and Vader
Kanyon gets the victory pinning Vader.
Rating: 53
-"The Legend Killer" Randy Orton arrives at the building to a loud pop culminating in a mix of cheers and boos. We have not seen Randy Orton since the first Raw of '05. Nobody knows where his allegiance lies since the absolute imlosion of Evolution. He is interviewed, he promises he will make a big splash in the Rumble tonight.
-We go to a video recap of Kane's performance when he pinned Flair in a tag match on Smackdown before RVD is interviewed about his match with Kane tonight.
NO DQ 6 Man Tag: Charlie Haas, Bubba Ray Dudley & Rikishi vs Bradshaw, LA Park & Doug Basham
Lawler questions if Bradshaw taking another match after working one last night is smart before he enters the Rumble, but JR says that Bradshaw just loves to fight and has no problem working matches whenever. This one broke down fairly quick into the match, turning into an all out brawl, Rikishi bled about 5 minutes into the match, a quickly paced slugfest of a bout. Rikishi pinned Doug Basham to get the victory.
Rating: 65
The Ultimate Warrior vs Booker T
Warrior is 3-0 on the year, wrestling against a returning Booker T. Booker T gets a good performance out of the Warrior and Warrior ends up getting the victory.
Rating: 67
- We see footage of the Full Blooded Italians and some other WWE superstars backstage getting ready to watch the rest of the show tonight, we see a furious Goldberg come in and lay out everybody, the announcers say that it seems Goldberg is not in the Rumble.
WWE Tag Titles: The Hit Squad (Hardcore Holly & Ken Shamrock) (c) vs Edge & Eddie Guerrero
It seems we may have the formation of a superteam tonight. Both men multiple time tag team champions and we have seen Edge find success with different partners over the last few years and we have also seen them have alot of tag battles over the last few years. Eddie Guerrero pins Hardcore Holly to win the WWE Tag Titles. Eddie & Edge on paper looks like a team that will hold onto those titles for a long time.
Rating: 75
-Chris Jericho is backstage and cuts a promo on his match against Batista up next.
- We see a video highlighting the Undertaker's previous Royal Rumble performances as he is hyped as one of the favorites.
- Another video is played this time of Rey Mysterio with the announcers talking about how his style could potentially favor him in this match.
- We see an awesome well put together WWE hype video for the match for Kurt Angle vs Shawn Michaels.
WWE Intercontinental Title: Batista (c) vs Chris Jericho
It's now time for the announced matches and we start out with the Animal defending against Y2J. Batista has looked impressive this year so far while Jericho's form has been inconsistent. Batista gets the victory successfully defending his title winning in 09:33 after a Batista Bomb.
Rating: 82
WWE United States Title: RVD (c) vs Kane
Oddsmakers have Kane heavily favored to win this one. In another fast paced matchup, RVD defeated Kane in 12:55 pulling off what some would consider an upset. after the Five-Star Frog Splash. Champions are 2-0 on the night will Mick Foley retain?
Rating:85
WWE Heavyweight: Mick Foley (c) vs Shane McMahon
The bell rings and Shane quickly goes out Foley. These two went back and forth in another fast paced brawl with Shane McMahon getting the victory in 14:57. Ladies and Gentlemen, Shane McMahon is your new WWE Heavyweight Champion.
Rating: 76
World Heavyweight: Kurt Angle (c) vs Shawn Michaels
A great match between these two as anyone would expect. The crowd was on fire in the arena as these two battled back and forth. Kurt Angle successfully defended defeating Shawn Michaels in 26:54
Rating: 99
Royal Rumble
Batista & Ultimate Warrior start off at #1 and #2. Batista eliminated Warrior. Orton, Michaels, Eddie, Foley, Regal, Angle and Edge were all the next entrants. Batista eliminated Michaels & Foley at around the 20 minute mark. The Undertaker entered at #10. Eddie Guerrero eliminated by his new partner as tag champs Edge, and after Eddie and Edge were arguing Randy Orton came up and send Edge out right after Eddie. Hardcore Holly & John Cena came in next. Regal, Taker and Holly were all elimated by Batista in 3 minutes. Jericho was #13, followed by Test and Kane. Kurt Angle was eliminated by Batista about 30 minutes in. Shane was #16 and Lesnar #17. Jericho, Orton & Cena all eliminated by Batista around the 40 minute mark. Billy Gunn at #18, Benoit at #19. Test and Shane McMahon eliminated by Batista within 10 seconds of each other. Booker T as #2. Batista eliminated Lesnar just a minute after he eliminated Test & Shane. He then threw Billy Gunn out after Shelton, Triple H and Big Show entered, followed by Bradshaw. Kane was elminated by Batista, Benoit was eliminated by Shelton, Shelton was eliminated by Booker T. Rey Mysterio was in at #25 followed by Tajiri at #26. Booker T eliminated Triple H around the 60 minute mark. Bradshaw eliminated Big Show before being eliminated by Booker T. Booker T was then eliminated by Batista. Flair was #28, Nash was #29 and STING!! was the #30th entrant a huge signing from TNA and one that some said would never happen. Batista eliminated Nash 10 minutes later. Sting and Ric Flair faced off in an amazing moment, Ric Flair ended up eliminating Ric Flair. Rey Mysterio was then eliminated by Batista, followed by Tajiri and RVD. Ric Flair was left with Batista and Batista sent out Flair to cap off an absolutely insane performance to win the Royal Rumble match, set a new iron man record @ 78:14 the whole length of the Rumble. Batista shatters Kane's record of 11 eliminations in the Royal Rumble eliminating 20 competitors in just an absolutely stunning performance that put the whole wrestling world on notice. Batista will be main eventing wrestlemania 21. The final four were Batista, Ric Flair, Tajiri & Rey Mysterio.
Batista earns the right to challenge for a title of his choice in the main event of Wrestlemania 21.
Rating: 86
85 Rated show increases popularity in 26 regions. Drew 2.34 million viewers. An absolutely stunning performance by Batista.
