Chris Jericho vs. Evan Bourne at Fatal 4-Way (12:04)
A good promo from Jericho before the match starts. If I remember correctly it was the only match on the Fatal 4-Way card that wasn't announced beforehand. It was still the best match of the night, but some reviewers lowered the rating because it was neither build up nor was there any real story to it.
I'm not going to give a review of this match because there were so many spots and turns you lost count on some time and simply restricted yourself to watching those two work their magic. I counted ten 2-counts and I don't know how many reversals during this twelve minutes it was overwhelming.
Some of the high spots were Chris Jericho doing a picture perfect German Suplex, Bourne doing an impressive hurcanrana like thing on Jericho, who was sitting on the turnbuckle, from a standing position (Cole described it as a "6 foot vertical leap" and it very well could have been), Jericho rolling through a knee press form Bourne and turning it into the Walls of Jericho and Evan Bourne going for the Air Bourne, missing, landing on his feet and walking directly into a Codebreaker from Jericho.
The crowd was really into the match and gave a few "Y2J" as well as one "Let's go Jericho! Let's go Evan!" chant. Their reaction, in my opinion, made it even more exciting to watch.
My opinion: I actually watched that match after the Mysterio/Taker one (because it took forever to load) and thus seemed even mroe impressive. Untaker and Rey Mysterio worked good, but we saw nothing really new from either of them while we got a lot of different moves and back and forth action from Chris Jericho and Evan Bourne here. It was great to watch and had everything I want in a match.
Rating: ***3/4 - ****
MotY: Still in. Watching it again made me remember why I thought this match was so awesome in the first place.
Rey Mysterio vs. The Undertaker at the Royal Rumble (11:07)
The story here was the same as in most Mysterio-matches. Rey is the underdog but shows no fear in front of The Undertaker and says that he will defeat him despite the seize difference and all.
They start off with The Undertaker throwing Mysterio out of the ring seemingly effortless. Nice show of strength by Taker. Rey stands outside looking uncertain for a moment before he tries to get back in the ring. He jumps over the top rope only to be thrown back outside by Taker with a right hand. They brawl at ringside and Undertaker sets Rey up for the legdrop but misses ... and hits the second with Mysterios head between the third and second rope.
Back in the ring Undertaker tries to chokeslam Rey but he counters and sets up Taker for the 619 who catches him and tries a tombstone which Mysterio again counters. An attempted crossbody from the ropes is met by a big boot from the Phenom. They are outside again, Taker hits on Mysterio but then rans into the ringpost with on leg inside the ring. Mysterio dives Takers knee into the ringpost. Still outside the ring they go at each other once more with Rey landing a moonsault on Undertaker off the ropes. In return Taker throws Rey into the barricade.
In the ring the Phenom goes for the cover but it's only a 2-count. We now see that Takers nose is bleeding profoundly (I'd like to note that no one lookes after Undertaker and that the match isn't stopped because of the blood - something that seems unimaginable three-quarters of a year later). He picks Mysterio up and throws him onto the top rope what is followed by another cover and another kickout. But the underdog does a comeback and nails Taker to the mat who promptly sits up with the usual expression on his face. Mysterio is on the offence now, but get's only a 2-count.
The end comes when Undertaker goes for the tombstone the second time of the night. Rey wriggles out, sets him up for the 619 and hits home. Because that's still not enough Taker get's another (springboard) 619 directly after. The Undertaker though is still standing. Not giving up Mysterio jumps him again and in by getting a Last Ride. 1-2-3 and au revoir Rey Mysterio.
My opinion: A good relatively fast-paced match. It was a typical Rey Mysterio match but that doesn't mean that it was boring. I enjoyed watching them and there were a few good spots like Takers legdrop and the chokeslam-619-tombstone combo. They teased their finishers early on but didn't actually hit them until the end. What I disliked at little was the end: Mysterio was a good enough opponent of the Undertaker to be worth a Tombstone or at least a Chokeslam instead of a Last Ride. It's a superficial thing and looks only so I won't overly complain about it.
Rating: ***
MotY: Out. It was one of the (few) better matches of the year but to me it's no MotY candidate.
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