The Royal Rumble has always been one of my favorite - if not THE favorite - Pay-Per-View event held by the WWF/WWE and this one was no exception, as it started off with a huge splash...and I do mean huge! LOL While I've never been a fan of the "Golddust" character nor of the "Vader" character, this match was at least entertaining, and if nothing else, the conclusion of the match was worth sitting through the (remarkably short) rest of the match just to see it. I give kudos to all the parties involved for this one, as it was highly entertaining...much more so than I would've ever guessed. Next up was a match that I basically skipped through; I can admire "small people" for their athleticism and professionalism, but if I'm being honest here..."midget wrestling" (as it used to be known before the age of so-called 'political correctness') has always seemed like the equivalent of the clown act at the circus. They are highly-trained and very athletic individuals, yes..but their size and their antics just make them always seem like a joke. For some odd reason, the WWF decided to make "Sunny" (Tammy Lynn Sytch, convicted of manslaughter and now serving time in a federal prison) the "special guest referee" but she did nothing to enhance the match. Following this was a match between "The Rock" (Dwayne Johnson, as Rocky Maivia) vs Ken Shamrock. If you've followed the WWE, or Ken Shamrock, for any length of time, you know how this one would end, and sure enough... They made it (slightly) interesting, and the match itself was better than I was expecting, but still... Next was another tag-team match that was quite disappointing in its "script". I mean, the match itself was good enough, but for a referee to SEE that one of the partners was handcuffed to a ringpost, yet allow the match to continue...well, again, I know this is all scripted but that was just a big glaring stain on the entire card because nothing like that would ever actually happen in an actual sporting competition. Instead, even after seeing the handcuffed tag partner, the ref does nothing and you can imagine how the "match" ended. I know it's all a big story, and I know it's all scripted, but someone dropped the ball here; you could've written that aspect of the story to be a lot less obvious and a lot more interesting than what you gave us. Now we come to the "Rumble" in the Royal Rumble...and this is the best part of the entire event. Sure enough, it did not disappoint even though it started out with a couple of names that held little interest for me. But as the Rumble progressed, it got better and then when "Stone Cold" Steve Austin's music hit, and the "Texas Rattlesnake" made his appearance, the crowd "pop" was deafening. Just a great "rumble" with a lot of interesting characters (it was great to see my old nemesis, The Honky-Tonk Man in the ring again; he was always so much fun to hate!) and the conclusion of the Rumble itself...wow, that was classic. You had a feeling through the entire thing that you knew who it would come down to but still, the ending of the Rumble was just great. Gotta love Mike Tyson's response during his brief interview with Michael Cole: _"Intense... Cold Stone is my man..."_ (2:09:44) LOL Tyson must have had ice cream on his mind instead of the Royal Rumble! Unfortunately, that great Rumble was overshadowed by the foregone match with Vince McMahon's BoyToy, Michael Hickenbottom. The match, as is to be expected, focused almost exclusively on Hickenbottom's _"unparalleled athleticism and charisma"_ (ad nauseum) and for the most part seemed to be a squash match, where Hickenbottom was permitted to do pretty much everything while Mark Calloway (as "The Undertaker") stood there helplessly and let it happen. The match really was not that entertaining, but the conclusion of the match was certainly different. I'll give the WWF credit: They know how - and Vince isn't afraid to spend the money - to make a storyline grab your attention. All in all, the Royal Rumble this year was a great "Rumble" with a very entertaining conclusion; the "main event" match was again focused solely on Hickenbottom and for that reason alone should be (almost) completely ignored. Maybe watch the final 5 minutes just to see what happens...