IWE Royal Rumble (2012)
From Iwe
| Royal Rumble (2012) | ||
 The poster featuring Justin Black | ||
| Imformation | ||
| Promotion | IWE | |
| Date | January 22, 2012 | |
| Venue | Scottrade Center | |
| City | St. Louis, Missouri | |
| Pay-per-view chronology | ||
| TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs (2011) | Royal Rumble (2012) | Elimination Chamber (2012) |
| Royal Rumble chronology | ||
| Royal Rumble (2011) | Royal Rumble (2012) | TBA |
Royal Rumble (2012) was the twenty-fifth annual Royal Rumble professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by IWE. It took place on January 29, 2012 at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Missouri and featured talent from both the Raw and SmackDown brands. As has been customary since 1993, the Royal Rumble match winner received a match at that year's WrestleMania (in this instance: WrestleMania XXVIII) for his choice at either the IWE Championship or the World Heavyweight Championship.
Six professional wrestling matches were featured on the event's supercard, a scheduling of more than one main event. The main event was the annual 30-competitor Royal Rumble match which featured wrestlers from both brands. Sheamus, the twenty-second entrant, won the match by last eliminating Khris Jericho, the twenty-ninth entrant. The primary match on the Raw brand was between Justin Eldridge and Nick Kessler for the IWE Championship, which Eldridge won to retain the title. The primary match on the SmackDown brand was a Triple Threat Steel Cage match for the World Heavyweight Championship between the reigning champion Kody Brown, Big Show and Steven Larson, which Brown won to retain the championship. The featured match on the undercard was between Dustin Simpson and Kane, which ended in a double countout.
The event received 443,000 pay-per-view buys, down from 446,000 buys the previous year's event received.
Contents |
Background
Royal Rumble will feature professional wrestling matches which involve different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds, plots, and storylines that will play out on IWE's television programs. Wrestlers portray villains or heroes as they follow a series of events that build tension and culminate in a wrestling match or series of matches. Traditionally, the main event of this event is the Royal Rumble match.
The main event from Raw will feature Justin Eldridge defending his IWE Championship against Nick Kessler. On the December 26, 2011 episode of Raw, Eldridge was put into a gauntlet match by Interim Raw General Manager John Laurinaitis. If Charlie Wilson, Kessler, or Steven Larson defeated Eldridge, he would receive a championship match the next week. Ultimately, Kessler won the match after Eldridge was distracted by Laurinaitis throwing out Lynn Lehr and Wilson from ringside. The next week, during the championship match, Eldridge was counted out as a result of another intervention by Laurinaitis. However, since titles cannot change hands via countout, Eldridge retained the championship. After the match, Laurinaitis told Eldridge he would defend his championship against Kessler again at Royal Rumble with himself as the special guest referee. The following week, Eldridge took on Wilson in a singles match, Laurinaitis added a stipulation that if Wilson lost, he and Lynn Lehr would be banned from ringside. Eldridge won the match; thus, Lehr and Wilson are banned from ringside during the championship match. However, the week after, Laurinaitis revealed that he is using this opportunity to cost Eldridge his title for disrespecting him.
Another rivalry from Raw features Dustin Simpson against Kane. Upon returning to the IWE, Kane attacked Dustin Simpson during his match against Steven Larson and though Larson was the reason for his absence, left him alone. While Simpson assumed that he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time the first time he attacked, Kane continued to attack Simpson revealing that his actions are so that Simpson can embrace the hatred within caused by the anti-Simpson crowd who continues to boo Simpson. When he failed to embrace it, Kane not only continued his attacks on Simpson but began to direct his attention to his close friend Zack Nuss, whose attacks injured Nuss and ended up costing Nuss his United States Championship when John Laurinaitis put him in a match against Charlie Wilson without clearing him first. After Laurinaitis put Simpson in a match against Kane at the Royal Rumble, he then booked Simpson a match against Wilson the same night he won the United States Championship where he proceeded to aggressively attack Wilson for taking advantage of an injured Nuss. During the attack, Kane appeared on the Titantron pleased by Simpson giving into his hatred of Wilson's actions and hopes to see his hatred at their match. The next week, during a Falls Count Anywhere match (where--as per John Laurinaitis--if Simpson got involved, Nuss would be forced to forfeit his U.S. Championship rematch clause), Kane had choke slammed Nuss through the stage further injuring him. During the aftermath, Nicole Bergman (Ryder's storyline girlfriend) had blamed Simpson for Nuss' injuries due to getting him mixed up in Simpson and Kane's feud. Simpson then proceeded to knock the microphone out of interviewer Josh Mathews' hand, and had a very angered look on his face after the ambulance had taken Nuss out.
The main event from IWE SmackDown involves the World Heavyweight Champion Kody Brown defending his title in a Triple Threat Steel Cage match against Big Show and Steven Larson. The previous month at TLC: Tables, Ladders and Chairs, Big Show had defeated Larson to win the World Heavyweight Championship only for Larson to attack him after the match and Kody Brown cashing in his Money in the Bank briefcase to win the title from Big Show, who thus has the record for shortest time as the World Heavyweight Champion. Using his rematch clause, Big Show faced off against Brown only for Brown to agitate Larson who pushed Brown who ended up losing via disqualification and retaining his title. The following week Brown faced off against Big Show in a No Disqualification, No Count-Out match which ended in a No Contest when Brown's girlfriend, AJ Lee got injured when Big Show ran into her. The week afterwards, Larson finally got his rematch clause in a lumberjack match against Brown. However, that match became a no contest when the lumberjacks became too hostile because of how Brown had agitated them and erupted into a large brawl involving nearly everyone. Soon General Manager Theodore Long booked all three men into a Triple Threat Steel Cage match at the Royal Rumble.
As per tradition, the event will be highlighted by the Royal Rumble match, which will feature the traditional 30 entrants, a year after having a 40 man field. The winner will receive his choice of a IWE or World Heavyweight Championship match at WrestleMania XXVIII. IWE has announced that, for the first time, "Every IWE superstar is eligible to compete in the Rumble match."
Event
In a dark match prior to the PPV broadcast, Yoshi Tatsu defeated Devin Keller.
The opening televised match was a Triple Threat Steel Cage match with Kody Brown defending his World Heavyweight Championship against Steven Larson and Big Show. Brown retained by escaping the cage after he fell from Big Show's grasp (Brown was climbing out of the cage, and Show was trying to pull him back in over the top) and crashed to the arena floor.
The next match was an Eight-Diva tag team match with Kassi Austin, Nicole Bergman, Kelly Kelly and Tamina Snuka taking on The Gozelanski Twins (Crystal Gozelanski and Tierney Gozelanski) and The Divas of Doom (Divas Champion Chandra Denney and Shannon Furlong). The latter team won after Denney tagged herself in and hit Kelly Kelly with the glam slam, scoring the pinfall.
The following match was between Dustin Simpson and Kane. After a back and forth contest, the action would spill from the ring, and the match ended in a double count-out. After the match, Kane would continue his assault, hitting Simpson with multiple chair shots before attacking an injured Zack Nuss, who was watching the event from a private office. Kane dragged Nuss to the ring and hit him with a tombstone piledriver.
The next match was made after Dax Hoovestall requested a spot in the Royal Rumble, asking Smackdown GM Teddy Long for an opportunity to prove himself, so he gave him a match against a mystery opponent who turned out to be Aaron Jewels. Despite Hoovestall starting the match well, Jewels would quickly defeat him after a big splash.
Next was the IWE Championship match between reigning champion Justin Eldridge and Nick Kessler with John Laurinaitis as outside enforcer. As per the match stipulations, Kessler's tag team partner Charlie Wilson and manager Lynn Lehr were both banned from ringside. The first part of the match was a hold-for-hold encounter. Towards the latter part of the match Eldridge had Kessler beaten, but the referee was knocked out and unable to make the count. Eldridge would hit a second GTS and both the referee and John Laurinaitis counted to three and Eldridge retained his championship.
The main event of the night was the annual Royal Rumble match, where the winner would get a World Championship match of their choice at Wrestlemania XXVIII. The Miz was the first entry (a result of losing a match on Raw to B-Truth), and would last nearly 46 minutes. IWE legends Mick Foley, "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan, and Road Dogg were all special guest entries in the match. All three announcers that called the event (Jerry "The King" Lawler, Booker T, and Michael Cole) also entered the match at various points as official entries. Kharma was another surprise entry, making her the third female competitor to enter a Rumble. The final four consisted of Sheamus, 2009 Rumble winner Kevin McAlmond, Khris Jericho, and Big Show. Show and Orton were quickly eliminated, and Sheamus and Jericho would then go back and forth with attempted eliminations for over five minutes. Sheamus would eventually Brogue Kick Jericho off the ring apron (after Jericho held on to the top rope following an elimination attempt) and win the Rumble match. Sheamus ultimately chose to challenge for the World Heavyweight Championship at Wrestlemania XXVIII.
Matches
| # | Match | Stipulations | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dark | Yoshi Tatsu defeated Devin Keller | Singles match | |
| 1 | Kody Brown (c) defeated Steven Larson and The Big Show | Triple Threat Steel Cage match for the World Heavyweight Championship | |
| 2 | The Gozelanski Twins and The Divas of Doom (Chandra Denney and Shannon defeated Kelly Kelly, Nicole, Kassi Austin, and Tamina | 8-Diva Tag team match | |
| 3 | Dustin Simpson fought Kane to a double countout | Singles match | |
| 4 | Brodus Clay (with Cameron Lynn and Faith Grover) defeated Dax Hoovestall | Singles match | |
| 5 | Justin Eldridge (c) defeated Nick Kessler | Singles Match for the IWE Championship with Special Guest Referee John Laurinaitis. Lynn Lehr and Charlie Wilson are banned from ringside. | |
| 6 | Sheamus won the 30-Man Royal Rumble, last eliminating Khris Jericho | Winner receives their choice of a IWE Championship or World Heavyweight Championship match at WrestleMania XXVIII | |
| (c) – refers to the champion(s) heading into the match | |||
Royal Rumble entrances and eliminations
Red ██ and "Raw" indicates a Raw wrestler, blue ██ and "SD" indicates a SmackDown wrestler, and beige and "Legend" indicates a special guest entrant
| Entry order | Entrant | Brand | Elimination order | Eliminated by |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Miz | Raw | 25 | Big Show |
| 2 | Alex Riley | Raw | 1 | The Miz |
| 3 | B-Truth | Raw | 2 | The Miz |
| 4 | Mark Semmler | SD | 24 | Big Show |
| 5 | Jeremiah Garcia | SD | 4 | Mick Foley and Ricardo Rodriguez |
| 6 | Primo | SD | 3 | Mick Foley |
| 7 | Mick Foley | Legend | 8 | Mark Semmler |
| 8 | Ricardo Rodriguez | Raw | 5 | Justin Black |
| 9 | Justin Black | Raw | 7 | Mark Semmler |
| 10 | Epico | SD | 6 | Mick Foley |
| 11 | Jose Serrano | Raw | 18 | Sheamus |
| 12 | Jerry Lawler | Legend | 9 | Mark Semmler |
| 13 | Russell Dalton | SD | 11 | The Great Khali |
| 14 | Jinder Mahal | SD | 10 | The Great Khali |
| 15 | The Great Khali | SD | 14 | Mark Semmler |
| 16 | Hunico | SD | 16 | Kharma |
| 17 | Booker T | SD | 13 | Mark Semmler |
| 18 | Nick Kessler | Raw | 26 | Big Show |
| 19 | Jim Duggan | Legend | 12 | Mark Semmler |
| 20 | Michael Cole | IWE | 15 | Jerry Lawer and Ta |
| 21 | Kharma | Diva | 17 | Nick Kessler |
| 22 | Sheamus | SD | — | — |
| 23 | Road Dogg | Legend | 19 | Daniel Gonzalez |
| 24 | Clay Bignell | SD | 20 | Kevin McAlmond |
| 25 | Charlie Wilson | Raw | 23 | Big Show |
| 26 | Daniel Gonzalez | SD | 21 | Kevin McAlmond |
| 27 | David Mahrt | Raw | 22 | Khris Jericho |
| 28 | Kevin McAlmond | SD | 28 | Khris Jericho |
| 29 | Khris Jericho | Raw | 29 | Sheamus |
| 30 | The Big Show | SD | 27 | Kevin McAlmond |
A. ^ Booker T and Jerry Lawler were both eliminated prior to Michael Cole's entrance. <sups>B.</sup> ^ Big Show assisted Sheamus in eliminating Charlie Wilson before entering the ring.
