As I seem to say every year, the Royal Rumble is probably my favorite event WWE produces. Sure, all WWE's effort goes into Wrestlemania, but the uniqueness of the Rumble match provides a charm that all the pomp and circumstance of Wrestlemania just can't match. This is the first WWE show that I've bought since One Night Stand and RVD's last night with WWE. Plus, with the Rumble itself being a guaranteed draw, it has opened the door for the WWE to experiment with the show's title matches. While these experiments have mostly ended in disaster (Steiner, Bob Holly, Test, Mark Henry), sometimes something sticks and some magic happens, for instance the title match of the 2003 Rumble, which if you can get past the path that one of its participants tragically took, remains one of the best matches I have ever seen and, I believe set the stage for a memorable Wrestlemania moment a year later, even if that moment has become somewhat infamous today. This year's Rumble finally provides Jeff Hardy an opportunity to step into a WWE Title match on PPV. Plus, The 2008 incarmation of the Royal Rumble comes with the added bonus that its undercard doesn't look like its been written down on a napkin seven minutes prior to the show. It also benefits of one of the biggest shockers in recent memory, which unless you've been really out of the loop, you already knew about, that being the impossibly fast return of John Cena from injury.

This is the first WWE PPV to be broadcast in High Definition... which has little, if any, affect on the DVD (outside of, perhaps, a larger price tag at Best Buy (like $25, compared to the usual $19 or sale price of $15. I swallowed my integrity and got it at Wal Mart for cheap). Its from the familiar setting of Madison Square Garden and as is typical for the Garden, its a good crowd. The announce teams have switched up, with JBL making the selfish decision to return to the ring, instead of continuing to be about the best damn announcer around, even if he has a tendancy to yell a bit much. His spot carrying Michael Cole is inadequately filled by Jonathan Coachman. Coach isn't really all that bad, but JBL was vastly superior and the Cole-Coach team leaves much to be desired. JR and King handle the Raw side and its unlikely, if you're reading this review, tha you don't know what you're getting with them. Also, unless Joey Styles and Tazz get paid by the word, they have the best job in the world. they get a front row seat for the whole show and only have to do one little bit and add the occasional comment on the Rumble match. WWE has also added formwe American Gladiators commentator Mike Adamle. Why they did this is uncertain. Adamle has not aged very well from his AG days and seems flat out uncomfortable doing his thing, which I'm not sure how to describe. Its worth noting that if my ears don't decieve me, that Adamle's "Jeff Harvey" is edited out. The commentary on the Rumble match itself is actually handled by everyone, which seems to have all the making of a catastro****, but actually works out pretty well. I haven't watched the two bonuses, but one is advertised as a match between Jeff Hardy and Randy Orton for the Intercontinetal Title, but its not much of a match, really, but it should contain one of Hardy's suicidal dives. The other is label Triple H talks to John Cena, its pretty unlikely that I'll ever watch it. On to the show.

1. Ric Flair's Career is on the Line. Ric Flair vs MVP: Ric Flair is on the way to retirement... for realz this time and this is the MSG stop on his farewell tour. The story goes that if Flair loses, he's gone. Unfortunately for this match, no one buys that Flair's career is in any jeapordy until Wrestlemania, even when the ref counts to three, and without that drama, there isn't much to the match. MVP had a breakout year in 2007 and is one of WWE's rising stars, but there's only so much you can do with Flair these days. Its not a bad match, but its not good either and without the drama, is less than satisfying. Rating *1/2 Star out of 5.
2. Chris Jericho vs JBL: As I mentioned earlier, JBL has decided to return to wrestling. Jericho has also made a return after a lengthy hiatus, targeting Orton, but it, unfortunately, derailed pretty badly by now, partly because of JBL. JBL would cost Jericho the WWE Title in his match against Orton at a PPV. The video package highlights the really disturbing subtext to this feud, post-Beniot, which i may be reading too much into. But there's just a little too much referencing family and family man and strangling to be comfortable, these days. The match itself highlights the contrast in **** between JBL, who has never exacttly been the greatest wrestler in the world pre-retirement, and Jericho. Again, its not bad, but its not good either. Like the first match, its a bit below average for a PPV match, IMO. Jericho opens a vein, but it doesn't mean much really. Its worth noting that a screw-up in the match is noticeably edited, if you're paying attention. Rating *1/2 stars out of 5.
3. World Title Match: Rey Mysterio vs Edge. Disappointing. This match did not meet my expectation, but my expectations were very high. The background of this story continues the use of the late Eddie Guerrero as a plot device, which is uncomfortable. Edge, upon his return, has entered into a relationship with Vickie Guerrero to get his way (Somewhere along the line, Vickie became Smackdown's GM or something... and if you squint, she kinda looks like Lita, interestingly enough. I guess Edge has a type). I expected this to have a faster pace than it did and I just expected these two to have a better match. This is an average match especially for a PPV title match. As it stands, the best part of the match is the crowd going Candian and going predominantly Pro-Edge. Its worth noting that WWE has changed up their ring announcing for Title matches, doing them in a more boxing inspired way, after each wrestler has made their interest, which they have been doing on and off again since RVD won the title a while back. I like it, it gives the matches a big-time feel. Rating: **1/2
4. WWE Tite: Jeff Hardy vs Randy Orton: And we hit the first thing that I feel is actually good and PPV-quality. For whatever reason, WWE appears to have heard the cheers the Hardys, particularly Jeff, get no matter what WWE does to them and decided to give him a PPV title match opportunity. They also gave him a win over Triple H to set it up. It appears they stumbled into some magic, because the fans embraced Hardy, Hardy delivered both in the ring and on the mic in the build-up, also delivary some highlight reel moments on the way and even Orton seemed motivated and the feud seemed to grow on its own into something more than anyone expected. People bough in. Unfortunately, WWE's over long video package is shockingly poor. The idea behind it was solid, showing Orton as a guy who was destined from birth for greatness, born for the business, while Jeff as the guy who scratched and clawed and earned his way to this position, but the execution was poor. Its also odd that each man's victories over Triple H, Hardy to get the match, Orton to win the title are not mentioned, as it seems like they should the way the video goes. The match itself is good, Orton and Hardy look to have some good chemistry. It isn't a great match, but it wasn't really designed for that. Unfortunately the match, like the video, didn't really match the intense buid-up on Raw, IMO. Its still good, but the way it was built, something epic was expected and it doesn't come. The match is good, but it actually leaves a lot to be desired, IMO. I'd love to see these two lock up again. Rating: ***
5. The Royal Rumble: Going into this Rumble, there were two names that were clearly odds on favorites to win were Triple H and Undertaker, with heavy emphasis on Triple H. However, WWE's clever misdirection and John Cena's apparently Wolverine like healing ability throw everyone for a loop. Unfortunately, kinda like the Sixth Sense, when you know the big surprise ending, much of the charm is lost. Fortunately, this is another strong Rumble, even without the big surprise. The 90 second interval seems to be the magic number, even if I'm not positive they are strict on 90, because this is another lightning fast Rumble. They more or less have killed the conciet of a "random drawing" but its not much of an issue, because starting where last year's Rumble ended was cool. This is a good, borderline great Rumble and live I can see where people would really love it. Its a consistently engaging and entertaining Rumble, as WWE appears to have figured out how to keep things interesting throughout. Rating ***1/2.

Overall Thoughts: This is a very solid show for WWE, IMO, even if the ratings may not reflect it. Top-to-bottom, this is a more even show than last year's Rumble. The 2007 had a couple of good undercard matches and some outright bad stuff. This one lacks the outright bad, but the good isn't up to the good of last year's show. The Rumbles are about equal, IMO, though I'd edge 2007 ahead of 2008, since 07 doesn't rely on the a surprise. Overall, I'd say that this Rumble is a good show, not a great one. Don't expect too much from the undercard and you should be satisfied by the show.