15 Best Matches To Ever Take Place At Royal Rumble
4. John Cena Vs. Umaga (Royal Rumble '07)
Right this second, someone on the internet is writing on social media or in a blog or in a column that John Cena is a completely inadequate sympathetic babyface that he is just not capable of playing that role. No argument will be made to the contrary in this column, as it relates specifically to 2015. We have long been conditioned that he is Superman and that he will always win. Yet, if you rewind to 2007, then it is a different story; and it is the difference in that story that allowed him to play very well the role of sympathetic babyface against Umaga. Umaga was never going to be WWE Champion. Anyone reading this column, now, can look back to then and see that pretty clearly. All the same, the Samoan Bulldozer was presented for almost an entire year as an unstoppable monster, stronger in his booking than even Rusev in modern times. The talented worker was able to make you question your previously held belief make you wonder about what was essentially a borderline undeniable truth. At New Year's Revolution in early January '07, Cena squeaked out a win by the skin of his teeth, setting up a rematch with Last Man Standing rules at the Royal Rumble. Sometimes in wrestling, it is not about the what; it is about the how. There is no doubt that unpredictability can help make a story more interesting, but it is not an essential element to storytelling it really isn't. The what in Cena-Umaga was the result. We all knew Cena was winning. The how was the important part. The success of that match was going to come down to how well they executed the story of Cena the modern Hulk Hogan overcoming considerable odds. How were they going to book it? They booked it extraordinarily well. It was a brutal battle, innovative and arguably superlative for its genre. Cena got his butt kicked, but he was crafty enough to beat the odds (and a good enough performer to make himself look vulnerable when the result never was).
"The Doc" Chad Matthews has written wrestling columns for over a decade. A physician by trade, Matthews began writing about wrestling as a hobby, but it became a passion. After 30 years as a wrestling fan, "The Doc" gives an unmatched analytical perspective on pro wrestling in the modern era. He is a long-time columnist for Lordsofpain.net and hosts a weekly podcast on the LOP Radio Network called "The Doc Says." His first book - The WrestleMania Era: The Book of Sports Entertainment - ranks the Top 90 wrestlers from 1983 to present day, was originally published in December 2013, and is now in its third edition.
Matthews lives in North Carolina with his wife, two kids, and two dogs.
