Royal Rumble 2009 Buyrate Surpasses 2008
According to WWE's Q1 2010 performance report (see PDF file here), the 2010 Royal Rumble garnered approximate 462,000 PPV buys. This figure is up from last year's show, which drew 450,000 buys.
Royal Rumble Statistics
Shawn Michaels' six eliminations in this year's Royal Rumble match gives him 37 for his career, beating Steve Austin's previous record of 36. The list goes on with Undertaker at 35 eliminations, Kane at 34 and Triple H with 26.
Regarding most time spent in a Royal Rumble match in a wrestler's career, Triple H is leading at 231 minutes and 12 seconds, Shawn Michaels is second with 213 minutes and 34 seconds while Kane comes in at number three with 173 minutes and 46 seconds.
News from WWE Conference Call – Survivor Series Being Discontinued & More
- McMahon's opening statement - nothing major, but confident in future business growth with Mattel and THQ partnerships.
- Also, lots of talk on expanding in China. Doing the "old syndicated" format of moving into local markets before national TV.
- WWE says Royal Rumble PPV buys "strong response" despite PPV price increase.
- Meeting with RedBox this week to get WWE DVDs in rental market.
- WWE wants TV network within year and a half. McMahon - "If things happen as we hope, it will be a really big game-changer."
- During today's WWE conference call, Vince McMahon said that the WWE Survivor Series title is "obsolete." He added that the title has "outlasted its usage." He said they do not intend to use the name going forward. This past November's Survivor Series PPV did a shockingly low number. Obviously WWE doesn't think this was due to poor buildup on TV.
Backstage Royal Rumble Joke
There was a joke going around backstage at Sunday's Royal Rumble pay-per-view in Atlanta among the WWE talents to avoid all taxis, a rib at the incident with Gregory Helms and Chris Jericho.
Helms Lost $5000 From the Royal Rumble & Perhaps Facing Wellness Violation?
As noted before, Gregory Helms was found with a single soma pill in his bag when arrested with Chris Jericho. If Helms didn't have a prescription for the drug like he claimed and even though the police aren't charging him for it, WWE would be forced to suspend him for 60 days on his second Wellness violation. WWE's current policy says that every prescription a wrestler has is supposed to be filed ahead of time with Dr. David Black. All prescriptions are supposed to be written by the company doctors who travel with the WWE crew. Helms has a previous violation against him for his name coming up in the Signature Pharmacy scandal in 2007 and has never failed a WWE drug test.
There has been a lot of talk backstage regarding Helms' future with WWE after the incident. Based on the success of the Royal Rumble PPV which he was pulled from, Helms missed out on a payoff from the show that would have been around $5,000.
It's said that Helms was apologetic to WWE officials for the incident.
Backstage News From the Royal Rumble
- The Royal Rumble PPV in Atlanta at the Philips Arena drew an advanced sellout announced at 16,697 fans with about 13,500 paying for a gate of $800,000.
- Several WWE Superstars were brought into the Royal Rumble on Sunday and didn't know until the day of the show whether or not they were in the Rumble match, given the empty spots and any last minute changes.
- Chris Jericho was saying that his black eye came from an accidental shot in his match with R-Truth at the Smackdown tapings in Cincinnati. It was believed by some that the black eye came from his taxi incident with Gregory Helms.
Original Ending And Piece of Trivia About This Year’s Royal Rumble
-This year's Royal Rumble match was the third shortest Rumble match ever at just over 49 minutes long. The 1988 and 1995 Rumbles are the other two shortest.
- The original ending for the 30-man Royal Rumble match on Sunday had Edge eliminating Chris Jericho to get the win. WWE decided to change the finish and have Edge eliminate John Cena last.
Jim Ross Blog
Jim Ross has updated his blog at JRsBarBQ.com and here are the highlights:
- Enjoyed watching the Royal Rumble on PPV as the show closing last few minutes really made the show for me.
- CM Punk had a memorable Rumble match. Great mic work. Punk's hairy chest, as I pointed out during the show on Twitter, makes him look even more like a villain. Punk had a stellar night.
- Edge was the star of the night and him winning the Royal Rumble disrupts the Road to Wrestlemania and makes February's Elimination Chamber PPV more intriguing. That PPV is only 3 weeks way. I like the episodic way that several issues are progressing.
- Anxious to see the Hitman=McMahon confrontation Monday night on Raw from Nashville. I'll miss being there with King as we always went downtown to Jack's BBQ near the Grand Old Opry for lunch.
Beth Phoenix Comments on Being The Second Woman to Enter The Royal Rumble
Last night at the Royal Rumble, Beth Phoenix became the second woman ever to compete in the annual 30-"man" battle royal. The Glamazon spoke to WWE.com last night about the experience and had some very harsh words for the first woman to enter the Rumble, former Diva Joanie "Chyna" Laurer.
Phoenix told WWE.com, “Despite Chyna’s accomplishments [in the Rumble]. I eliminated The Great Khali. Seven-foot-three, 420 pounds. No small feat."
She then rips into Chyna, questioning whether she's a man or woman. "I am WWE’s Glamazon. Chyna was WWE’s Ninth Wonder of the World … mostly called so because people wondered whether she was a man or a woman. I often wonder this, myself.”
Phoenix admits that she used to look up to Chyna, but would destroy her today if the two ever fought in the ring.
“Chyna would have had a slight size advantage in her primebut I’ll tell you what Chyna was missing and that was heart ... Chyna got comfortable, she got soft in her position. I’m quite the opposite. I get better and better. In the ring, toe-to-toe with me, Chyna doesn’t compare.”
WWE Did Not Allow Visitors Backstage To Hide Edge’s Return
Presumably to keep the wrestling industry guessing--and definitely to help preserve the surprise of Edge's return--WWE did not extend backstage access to visitors.
Prior to the show, Bill Behrens Tweeted, "Planned to visit friends backstage at WWE's Rumble In Atlanta but got called. No guests backstage this show! Win the Rumble Bourne!"
Having been out of action since July 2009 with an achilles tendon injury, Edge returned Sunday to win the 2010 Royal Rumble.
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