Post by jibbuttkiss on Jun 18, 2021 21:43:23 GMT 1
*Pre-booking notes:
- John Cena is not cleared to compete due to injuries sustained at New Years Revolution
- Undertaker returned on SmackDown after Kurt Angle won the vacated World Heavyweight Championship in a four way against Benoit, Booker T, and Randy Orton
- The Champions as of this event are: Edge as WWE Champion, Kurt Angle as World Heavyweight Champion, Shelton Benjamin as Intercontinental Champion, Booker T as United States Champion, Kane and Big Show as RAW Tag Champs, MNM as SmackDown Tag Champs, Trish Stratus as Women's Champ, Kid Kash as Cruiserweight Champion.
- Batista was injured and out of action for this Mania, and therefore will not be booked in a match for the event
- I will be including the RAW and SmackDown after Mania
- HHH will have started slowly turning face after New Years Revolution, where he would last til the end of the Chamber match with John Cena
- The Chamber match at New Years Revolution would have been: Cena vs HHH vs Shawn Michaels vs Mick Foley vs Shelton Benjamin vs Ric Flair instead of what it was, and Foley will have eliminated Flair, only for Flair to attack him before leaving the chamber causing Mick to get eliminated as well, to build up to a match between the two of them down the road
Royal Rumble 2006 Card:
Rebooked Card:
Original Card:
- Rey Mysterio wins the Rumble match after eliminating Randy Orton, lasting over an hour as the second entrant in the match
- Kurt Angle retains the Heavyweight Championship after getting DQ'd for beating up Mark Henry with a chair, Undertaker returns after the match and challenges Kurt Angle for a title match
- John Cena defeats Edge via submission with the STFU to win the WWE Championship for a second time
- Mickie James defeats Ashley Massaro with Trish Stratus as the referee
- Gregory Helms wins a four way to retain the Cruiserweight Championship
- The Boogeyman defeats JBL
Rebooked Card:
- Rey Mysterio wins the Rumble match after elimination Shawn Michaels, after both of them enter at numbers 1 and 2, and lasting the whole match.
- Kurt Angle retains the Heavyweight Championship against Undertaker via pinfall after a roll-up, Taker tells Angle he's not done with him yet after the match, and begrudgingly shakes his hand
- Edge retains the championship against HHH after interference from the McMahon family
- Trish Stratus retains the Women's Championship against Melina with unwanted help from Mickie James
Booking the Actual Show:
Opener: Trish Stratus(c) vs Melina for the Women's Championship
This one was more than slightly difficult considering how weak the women's division was at this time. This is really just a filler for Trish to defend her title against someone competent going into Mania with her program with Mickie, and I believe these two even had a match at Survivor Series a couple months prior that wasn't TOO terrible, so I figure (or hope) that these two can have a fine little match to open the show, probably clocking in at about 12 and a half, maybe 13 minutes. For the finish, Trish would win with a Chick Kick after a minor distraction from Mickie to Melina, but would show clear confusion and disappointment at this as Mickie joined her in the ring to celebrate her victory
Segment: Kane and Big Show picking numbers for the Rumble
Cut to backstage with Vince and Shane McMahon, along with Jonathon Coachmen. The RAW Tag Champs Big Show and Kane enter to pick their Rumble numbers from the tumbler cage. They each pick their numbers, and by coincidence they end up being #19 (Kane) and #20. (Big Show) Big Show remarks over how he'll be impossible to eliminate due to his size and power, but Kane reminds him that he's not so small himself, and has the record (at the time he did) for most eliminations in a single Rumble match. In the end, they both agree half jokingly that it's every man for himself and that they'll have to wait and see what happens, though there is clearly a competitive tension between them as they leave the room.
Match #2: Edge (c) vs HHH for the WWE Championship
After the Chamber match at New Years Revolution, Edge cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase on a bloodied and broken John Cena, spearing him twice to win his first WWE Championship. Unfortunately, the Rated R Superstars first rain was only a couple of weeks long, as he dropped it right back to John at the Rumble via submission. While this did not hurt Edge in the long run at all really, and even freed him up for one of his best matches of all time against Mick Foley at WrestleMania 22, it's still not the route I would have chosen for him.
Buildup to the Match:
For my version of things, John Cena would be declared injured the RAW after NYR by Vince McMahon himself, and would not be available for the Royal Rumble to invoke his rematch on Edge for the title. Due to this, HHH, the second contender for the title due to being the last man that Cena eliminated from the Chamber match, would be announced as Edge's opponent for the WWE Title at the Royal Rumble. Vince would announce this on RAW with a certain smugness, remarking on how no matter who walks out of the Rumble as champion, it would be someone he could control instead of some common thug like John Cena. Edge would then come out with Lita and his newly won WWE Championship, to thank Vince and kiss his ass, but also to try and weasel his way out of his match with HHH at the Rumble. Vince would tell Edge, seemingly reluctantly, that he couldn't in conscience allow the second biggest event of the year to happen without a WWE Championship match, but as a consolation, would give Edge the night off for that RAW for some R&R. Edge would thank Vince, again kissing his ass while doing so, and leave the ring, only to be attacked from behind the curtain when he reaches the stage at the top of the ramp, by none other than HHH. HHH beats Edge up real bad, maybe even bloodying him up, before grabbing a mic and condemning Edge for trying to deny him his well deserved title shot, before turning to Vince and saying "Nobody controls me, not even you." Over the following weeks Vince would repeatedly try and recruit HHH to his side, failing to do so every time, and putting HHH in more and more compromising positions every time, putting him in Handicap matches against the Spirit Squad and even the Tag Team Champions Kane and Big Show. On the Final RAW before the Rumble, HHH would come out before the show even went on air, with no music or entrance or anything, sledgehammer in hands, and get on the mic to claim he was hijacking the show for the night, and wasn't leaving until Vince and Shane answered him. When the show came on air, he would inform the viewers at home of this, screaming in rage the whole time he does so. This would all be done to make the whole event feel unscripted and spontaneous. Vince, Shane, and Stephanie would all come. Vince would try and calm Hunter down, obviously failing to do so, and would lose his temper, telling HHH that he was ungrateful, and that he offered him everything he could possibly want and more, even giving him a championship match at the Rumble against Edge despite his constant rebukes to Vince's offers. HHH would retort by saying that all he did was take control of his own career, and refused to be controlled by his father-in-law and boss. He would also say that Vince didn't "give" him a championship match, that he earned it by lasting longer than anyone else in the chamber match, and that Vince was forced to give him a shot due to circumstance. He would say that Edge earned NOTHING by cashing in on an already broken man, who despite how HHH felt about him, had rightfully retained his championship, and that Edge was a paper champion and he would prove it at the Rumble by beating him and becoming WWE Champion once again. Stephanie would then get on the mic, clearly emotional, and would plead Hunter to hear her father out, that he only wanted what was best for both of them and that she couldn't stand the infighting anymore. Hunter would make it clear to Stephanie that while he still cared about and loved her, she was blinded by her loyalty to her father and her brother, and that Vince was the devil incarnate and Hunter would never work with him again. Vince would finally completely lose it on Hunter, screaming "You're damn right I'm the Devil!" and that as long as he lived, Hunter would never win the WWE Championship again, and to get the hell out of his ring. HHH would say that he wasn't going anywhere, and that if Vince wanted him gone, he and his douchebag son would have to come and do it themselves. Vince would rip his jacket off and undo his tie in a rage, before storming down the ramp toward the ring. When he made it halfway down, The Spirit Squad would suddenly come in from behind to attack HHH, only for him to see it coming and take all of them out with the sledgehammer. He would then get on the mic saying "fine, you don't wanna come down here and face me? Then I'm going to destroy this set: the ring, the tables, the stage, this whole damn show will be in pieces by the time me and my hammer are done with it!" and would begin smashing up ring with his hammer, then the tables, then the barricades, the ramp, all before Vince would call security down to take down HHH. He would take out a good majority of them, but eventually there would be too many, and HHH would be detained and removed from the arena for the rest of the show, until during the main event, during a non title match between Edge and Ric Flair, Hunter would run in to hit Edge in the back of the knee with the hammer, only to get chased out by security, but do enough damage to allow Flair a submission victory over the champion via Figure Four Leglock.
The Actual Match:
The match itself would be a basic, well worked wrestling match, with a bit of an overbooked finish. HHH would spend the majority of the match working over Edge's bandaged leg, which would still be bandaged from the previous RAW, whereas Edge would be working Hunter's ribs which would still be injured from the chamber match. After about 18 minutes of wrestling, Edge would go for a Spear to Hunter out of the corner, only to get dodged and hit the referee instead, taking him out. Shane McMahon would run in to cost Hunter the match, only to get a Pedigree on the floor for his troubles. Edge would miss the Spear again and collide into the corner as HHH entered the ring, and eat a pedigree. The referee begins stirring as HHH makes the cover. He slowly counts one, then even more slowly counts two, and gets pulled out of the ring by Vince McMahon. Hunter would chase Vince around the ring for a bit, eventually catching him when he trips, and would pull out a sledgehammer from the steps, which JR would then explain he must have hidden there before the show in case of any shenanigans from the McMahon family. Vince would beg HHH not to hit him on his knees out on the ramp side of the floor. As Hunter raised hammer to hit Vince, Stephanie would suddenly appear and grab the hammer out of his hands. The two would get into a screaming match, with Stephanie in tears and clearly emotional. When Hunter entered the ring, he would immediately get speared by Edge, selling the ribs, and Edge would get the 3 count over Hunter to retain the championship. Overbooked, I know, but overbooking does have it's place sometimes, and this would be the beginning of the build to a big Mania match.
Backstage Segment: Ric Flair and Mick Foley drawing their Rumble Numbers
Cut to backstage. We see Coach, now joined by Teddy Long, near the tumbler cage. Ric Flair walks in, being Ric Flair, remarking the whole time about how great he is and how he'll win the Rumble match, and then go onto WrestleMania 22 and become a 17 time World Champion. He draws his number, and gets 27, and remarks on how it's the luckiest number in the Rumble, and it's a sign from God himself that the Nature Boy will win the Rumble again. Then, Mick Foley walks in, and a hush falls over the room. These men did not like each other at the time, and hadn't for years, and had a lot of real life heat that led to them feuding with each other much later down the road that year. Foley draws his number and gets 24. At this point, don't even script what the two say, just let them work each other up slowly by shooting and cutting promo's on each other and their past differences, and let it eventually degrade into a brawl between the two that security needs to break up. Make it clear that these two men cannot be in the same room with each other without wanting to kill one another, but in reality just let these two masters of their craft take some liberties and make things work themselves, because this is an example of when NOT to overbook something.
Match #3 Kurt Angle (c) vs Undertaker for the World Heavyweight Championship
At the beginning of 2006, Dave Batista was forced to relinquish his World Heavyweight Championship due to a tricep tear that required surgery. That same night, Kurt Angle won a battle royal to become the new World Heavyweight Champion, and was inserted into a short program with Mark Henry. While both men are talented, and there is definitely something to the idea of two Olympic athletes squaring off at a PPV, I never thought this was the right move for either man at all, and they had very little in the way of chemistry with each other, causing for some rather dull matches. Eventually Kurt would move onto a short program with Undertaker at No Way Out, where both men had their best match of that year against each other, and many thought it would lead into a Mania rematch, but alas it was not meant to be. Undertaker would return after the match against Henry at the Rumble and collapse the ring with his pseudo-supernatural powers, and challenge Kurt to the match at No Way Out.
Buildup to the Match:
For my retelling of things, Undertaker instead returns to SmackDown the night that Kurt wins the belt, which is in a fatal four way instead of a battle royal, and challenges Kurt to a match at the Royal Rumble. I would keep the buildup very simple and old school, never allowing both men to be in the same place at the same time, building up to the match with simple promo's on each other and vignettes of Angle training and Undertaker... doing whatever it is he would do to prepare for a big match. It's simple but with these two guys I don't think you need anything complex to make people wanna see them wrestle
Actual Match: Basically, I would just do the exact same match they had a month later at No Way Out, down to the finish and after match theatrics with both men. The victory would be clean for Angle, but just by the skin of his teeth, setting up for an eventual rematch down the road.
Royal Rumble Match:
Shawn Michaels would enter at 1, Mysterio at 2. For this match I'm obviously not gonna cover the whole thing, so I'll just nail the main bullet points for big angles and highlights from the match.
This one was more than slightly difficult considering how weak the women's division was at this time. This is really just a filler for Trish to defend her title against someone competent going into Mania with her program with Mickie, and I believe these two even had a match at Survivor Series a couple months prior that wasn't TOO terrible, so I figure (or hope) that these two can have a fine little match to open the show, probably clocking in at about 12 and a half, maybe 13 minutes. For the finish, Trish would win with a Chick Kick after a minor distraction from Mickie to Melina, but would show clear confusion and disappointment at this as Mickie joined her in the ring to celebrate her victory
Segment: Kane and Big Show picking numbers for the Rumble
Cut to backstage with Vince and Shane McMahon, along with Jonathon Coachmen. The RAW Tag Champs Big Show and Kane enter to pick their Rumble numbers from the tumbler cage. They each pick their numbers, and by coincidence they end up being #19 (Kane) and #20. (Big Show) Big Show remarks over how he'll be impossible to eliminate due to his size and power, but Kane reminds him that he's not so small himself, and has the record (at the time he did) for most eliminations in a single Rumble match. In the end, they both agree half jokingly that it's every man for himself and that they'll have to wait and see what happens, though there is clearly a competitive tension between them as they leave the room.
Match #2: Edge (c) vs HHH for the WWE Championship
After the Chamber match at New Years Revolution, Edge cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase on a bloodied and broken John Cena, spearing him twice to win his first WWE Championship. Unfortunately, the Rated R Superstars first rain was only a couple of weeks long, as he dropped it right back to John at the Rumble via submission. While this did not hurt Edge in the long run at all really, and even freed him up for one of his best matches of all time against Mick Foley at WrestleMania 22, it's still not the route I would have chosen for him.
Buildup to the Match:
For my version of things, John Cena would be declared injured the RAW after NYR by Vince McMahon himself, and would not be available for the Royal Rumble to invoke his rematch on Edge for the title. Due to this, HHH, the second contender for the title due to being the last man that Cena eliminated from the Chamber match, would be announced as Edge's opponent for the WWE Title at the Royal Rumble. Vince would announce this on RAW with a certain smugness, remarking on how no matter who walks out of the Rumble as champion, it would be someone he could control instead of some common thug like John Cena. Edge would then come out with Lita and his newly won WWE Championship, to thank Vince and kiss his ass, but also to try and weasel his way out of his match with HHH at the Rumble. Vince would tell Edge, seemingly reluctantly, that he couldn't in conscience allow the second biggest event of the year to happen without a WWE Championship match, but as a consolation, would give Edge the night off for that RAW for some R&R. Edge would thank Vince, again kissing his ass while doing so, and leave the ring, only to be attacked from behind the curtain when he reaches the stage at the top of the ramp, by none other than HHH. HHH beats Edge up real bad, maybe even bloodying him up, before grabbing a mic and condemning Edge for trying to deny him his well deserved title shot, before turning to Vince and saying "Nobody controls me, not even you." Over the following weeks Vince would repeatedly try and recruit HHH to his side, failing to do so every time, and putting HHH in more and more compromising positions every time, putting him in Handicap matches against the Spirit Squad and even the Tag Team Champions Kane and Big Show. On the Final RAW before the Rumble, HHH would come out before the show even went on air, with no music or entrance or anything, sledgehammer in hands, and get on the mic to claim he was hijacking the show for the night, and wasn't leaving until Vince and Shane answered him. When the show came on air, he would inform the viewers at home of this, screaming in rage the whole time he does so. This would all be done to make the whole event feel unscripted and spontaneous. Vince, Shane, and Stephanie would all come. Vince would try and calm Hunter down, obviously failing to do so, and would lose his temper, telling HHH that he was ungrateful, and that he offered him everything he could possibly want and more, even giving him a championship match at the Rumble against Edge despite his constant rebukes to Vince's offers. HHH would retort by saying that all he did was take control of his own career, and refused to be controlled by his father-in-law and boss. He would also say that Vince didn't "give" him a championship match, that he earned it by lasting longer than anyone else in the chamber match, and that Vince was forced to give him a shot due to circumstance. He would say that Edge earned NOTHING by cashing in on an already broken man, who despite how HHH felt about him, had rightfully retained his championship, and that Edge was a paper champion and he would prove it at the Rumble by beating him and becoming WWE Champion once again. Stephanie would then get on the mic, clearly emotional, and would plead Hunter to hear her father out, that he only wanted what was best for both of them and that she couldn't stand the infighting anymore. Hunter would make it clear to Stephanie that while he still cared about and loved her, she was blinded by her loyalty to her father and her brother, and that Vince was the devil incarnate and Hunter would never work with him again. Vince would finally completely lose it on Hunter, screaming "You're damn right I'm the Devil!" and that as long as he lived, Hunter would never win the WWE Championship again, and to get the hell out of his ring. HHH would say that he wasn't going anywhere, and that if Vince wanted him gone, he and his douchebag son would have to come and do it themselves. Vince would rip his jacket off and undo his tie in a rage, before storming down the ramp toward the ring. When he made it halfway down, The Spirit Squad would suddenly come in from behind to attack HHH, only for him to see it coming and take all of them out with the sledgehammer. He would then get on the mic saying "fine, you don't wanna come down here and face me? Then I'm going to destroy this set: the ring, the tables, the stage, this whole damn show will be in pieces by the time me and my hammer are done with it!" and would begin smashing up ring with his hammer, then the tables, then the barricades, the ramp, all before Vince would call security down to take down HHH. He would take out a good majority of them, but eventually there would be too many, and HHH would be detained and removed from the arena for the rest of the show, until during the main event, during a non title match between Edge and Ric Flair, Hunter would run in to hit Edge in the back of the knee with the hammer, only to get chased out by security, but do enough damage to allow Flair a submission victory over the champion via Figure Four Leglock.
The Actual Match:
The match itself would be a basic, well worked wrestling match, with a bit of an overbooked finish. HHH would spend the majority of the match working over Edge's bandaged leg, which would still be bandaged from the previous RAW, whereas Edge would be working Hunter's ribs which would still be injured from the chamber match. After about 18 minutes of wrestling, Edge would go for a Spear to Hunter out of the corner, only to get dodged and hit the referee instead, taking him out. Shane McMahon would run in to cost Hunter the match, only to get a Pedigree on the floor for his troubles. Edge would miss the Spear again and collide into the corner as HHH entered the ring, and eat a pedigree. The referee begins stirring as HHH makes the cover. He slowly counts one, then even more slowly counts two, and gets pulled out of the ring by Vince McMahon. Hunter would chase Vince around the ring for a bit, eventually catching him when he trips, and would pull out a sledgehammer from the steps, which JR would then explain he must have hidden there before the show in case of any shenanigans from the McMahon family. Vince would beg HHH not to hit him on his knees out on the ramp side of the floor. As Hunter raised hammer to hit Vince, Stephanie would suddenly appear and grab the hammer out of his hands. The two would get into a screaming match, with Stephanie in tears and clearly emotional. When Hunter entered the ring, he would immediately get speared by Edge, selling the ribs, and Edge would get the 3 count over Hunter to retain the championship. Overbooked, I know, but overbooking does have it's place sometimes, and this would be the beginning of the build to a big Mania match.
Backstage Segment: Ric Flair and Mick Foley drawing their Rumble Numbers
Cut to backstage. We see Coach, now joined by Teddy Long, near the tumbler cage. Ric Flair walks in, being Ric Flair, remarking the whole time about how great he is and how he'll win the Rumble match, and then go onto WrestleMania 22 and become a 17 time World Champion. He draws his number, and gets 27, and remarks on how it's the luckiest number in the Rumble, and it's a sign from God himself that the Nature Boy will win the Rumble again. Then, Mick Foley walks in, and a hush falls over the room. These men did not like each other at the time, and hadn't for years, and had a lot of real life heat that led to them feuding with each other much later down the road that year. Foley draws his number and gets 24. At this point, don't even script what the two say, just let them work each other up slowly by shooting and cutting promo's on each other and their past differences, and let it eventually degrade into a brawl between the two that security needs to break up. Make it clear that these two men cannot be in the same room with each other without wanting to kill one another, but in reality just let these two masters of their craft take some liberties and make things work themselves, because this is an example of when NOT to overbook something.
Match #3 Kurt Angle (c) vs Undertaker for the World Heavyweight Championship
At the beginning of 2006, Dave Batista was forced to relinquish his World Heavyweight Championship due to a tricep tear that required surgery. That same night, Kurt Angle won a battle royal to become the new World Heavyweight Champion, and was inserted into a short program with Mark Henry. While both men are talented, and there is definitely something to the idea of two Olympic athletes squaring off at a PPV, I never thought this was the right move for either man at all, and they had very little in the way of chemistry with each other, causing for some rather dull matches. Eventually Kurt would move onto a short program with Undertaker at No Way Out, where both men had their best match of that year against each other, and many thought it would lead into a Mania rematch, but alas it was not meant to be. Undertaker would return after the match against Henry at the Rumble and collapse the ring with his pseudo-supernatural powers, and challenge Kurt to the match at No Way Out.
Buildup to the Match:
For my retelling of things, Undertaker instead returns to SmackDown the night that Kurt wins the belt, which is in a fatal four way instead of a battle royal, and challenges Kurt to a match at the Royal Rumble. I would keep the buildup very simple and old school, never allowing both men to be in the same place at the same time, building up to the match with simple promo's on each other and vignettes of Angle training and Undertaker... doing whatever it is he would do to prepare for a big match. It's simple but with these two guys I don't think you need anything complex to make people wanna see them wrestle
Actual Match: Basically, I would just do the exact same match they had a month later at No Way Out, down to the finish and after match theatrics with both men. The victory would be clean for Angle, but just by the skin of his teeth, setting up for an eventual rematch down the road.
Royal Rumble Match:
Shawn Michaels would enter at 1, Mysterio at 2. For this match I'm obviously not gonna cover the whole thing, so I'll just nail the main bullet points for big angles and highlights from the match.
- Ric Flair entering early to eliminate Mick Foley, getting them both taken away by security again and ejected from the match and the arena
- Kane eliminating Big Show only to immediately get eliminated by Mysterio.
- Big Rumble returns for: Sabu, Hulk Hogan, Jeff Hardy for a Hardy Boyz reunion, (not sure if he was still under contract anywhere but I know he ended up joining the company just a couple of months later) Jerry Lawler, and Terry Funk
- Rey goes the distance with HBK instead of HHH
- Randy Orton getting a big spot where he RKO's everyone in the ring
- Bobby Lashley destroying and eliminating JBL
- Chris Benoit and Chavo Guerrero working as a team to dominate a good portion of the match
And with this Rumble we would begin the Road to WrestleMania, planting the seeds for several feuds in the process, ones that I think would have made much more sense than the ones we got. Let me know what you think and if you disagree with anything, let me know how you would have done it! If you enjoyed this, be sure to check out some of my work as a writer for the Last Word on Pro Wrestling, by clicking on the links provided here! Thank you!