Review by Adam Stephen Kelly
UK Certification 15 | UK RRP £17.99 | DVD Region 2 | Runtime 176 minutes
2011 got off to a fantastic start with one of the biggest pay-per-view events of the year: the Royal Rumble. And this was no ordinary 30-man melee where competitors would be eliminated by being thrown over the top rope with both feet touching the floor, but the biggest match of its kind in WWE history. For the very first time ever, the Royal Rumble would contain 40 Superstars, all vying for a shot at a WWE Title of their choice and an opportunity to main event WrestleMania. Yes indeed, the Road to WrestleMania 27 began on that cold night in January with a consistently entertaining show that was book-ended by two great matches.
World Heavyweight Championship: Edge (c) vs. Dolph Ziggler
???2011 had only just got underway and already we had a match that I believe we'll be seeing on the next edition of WWE Best Pay-Per-View Matches on DVD and Blu-ray. This World Heavyweight Championship encounter between Edge and Ziggler really set both the tone and bar for the evening and it was only the very first pay-per-view bout of the year. I've always been a fan of Ziggler and would one day like to see him break out and capture a World Title (I refuse to include his apparently official five-minute reign that followed this event). He's had consistently good matches over the last couple of years and this was definitely no exception. Both champion and challenger worked each other over for a good 20 minutes before the finish and pretty much exhausted the crowd by providing a number of very close pinfall attempts. An exciting opener, and for once Vickie Guerrero's presence actually added to the match: her ruling as the Assistant General Manager that Edge could not use the Spear or he would automatically lose his championship was very interesting indeed and resulted in the return of the Edgecator, the now-retired Rated R Superstar's modified Sharpshooter submission hold, which I hadn't seen him use in many years. He also unleashed the Killswitch, paying tribute to his best friend Christian, which was a nice touch. This match was as close to four stars as you can get, and it became closer still when Guerrero got to her feet after an attack from Kelly Kelly with one of her fake eyelashes hanging off.
WWE Championship: The Miz (c) vs. Randy Orton
???I'm not normally a fan of finishes involving ref bumps, but I really liked the conclusion of this WWE Title bout where Orton threw Alex Riley, The Miz's apprentice, over the top rope to send him flying into the New Nexus who had walked down to ringside. Referee Jack Doan was down for but a moment, but it was enough time for Orton to counter the Skull Crushing Finale into an RKO, only for CM Punk to slide into the ring and nail the GTS to allow the champion to retain. This was smart booking as it allowed the Punk/Orton rivalry that would run up to May to simmer, while also giving the WWE Champion yet another lucky victory to fit in with his character. As for the match itself – compared to the opening contest – it was a solid outing but on the lower end of three stars rather than bordering on four, and was a little too similar to their Tables Match in December at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs.
Divas Championship Fatal Four Way: Natalya (c) vs. Eve vs. Michelle McCool vs. Layla
??Originally scheduled to be a 2-on-1 Handicap Match with LayCool challenging Natalya, the anonymous RAW General Manager decided to mix things up to avoid the potential of McCool and Layla once again being crowned co-champions, and so Eve became a fourth participant. This probably worked out a lot better than another LayCool Handicap Match would have and was surprisingly decent, with an unexpected brand new champ coming out the other side in the form of the lovely Eve.
40-Man Royal Rumble Match ????
Each year the Royal Rumble match itself is billed as the biggest and most star-studded of all time, but none of those previous statements reigned as true as this year's as 40 Superstars entered the squared circle for over an hour of chaotic action that saw a relative newcomer claim victory. Even though Alberto Del Rio had proclaimed that winning the Royal Rumble and going to the main event of WrestleMania was his destiny (although he actually opened the show in his World Heavyweight Title match against Edge), I never expected him to actually be given the ball so early in his WWE career.
This bout was one of the most memorable in recent years and featured a number of highly entertaining moments, from the absolutely incredible spot where John Morrison saved himself from elimination by somehow latching onto the crowd barrier to prevent his feet touching the floor, to Hornswoggle's Attitude Adjustment on Tyson Kidd, Chavo Guerrero's multiple Suplex tribute to his late uncle Eddie, and the returns of Booker T and Diesel. There was a bit of everything in this year's match and, aside from the poor commentary from the three-man team of Matt Striker, Jerry Lawler and Michael Cole, proved to be one of the most entertaining in quite some time. The 2010 Royal Rumble was also worth four stars, yet still this topped it.
EXTRAS ? Included are Alberto Del Rio's Royal Rumble victory celebration from RAW on January 31, as well as Todd Grisham's home video exclusive interview with then-new Divas Champion, Eve.