I'll be ordering it too. They always get my money for the rumble and Wrestlemania.

Punk has a non-zero (but not great) chance of retaining but absolutely zero chance of winning clean imo.

I've got a feeling that the rumble will jerk the curtain btw. For the past couple years they've opened with world title matches at the rumble and Wrestlemania, and with Punk/Dwayne surely main eventing, plus the chance of a Dolph cash-in, I can see them opening with the rumble, as AIDS as that may be.

i would give you 10k:1 against that if i had anything.

Lol. I'll take 100/1 if you wanna offer that.

Actually WHC will probably open but if Dolph's gonna cash in then it makes more sense to do it after the rumble.

My predictions are Dwayne/Cena/ADR/Rhodes Scholars btw. I agree with LKJ though that they might give the rumble win to the WHC contender and have Cena win the Elimination Chamber. Probably Sheamus or Barrett (one time?) in that case.

I do think there's a chance the Rumble still goes on last. If that happens, it will be a huge tell that the one who doesn't leave with the WWE title between Rock and Punk is suddenly a big favorite to be the Rumble winner. If the Rumble does go on last then I think it's a situation where Cena is the favorite, but that Sheamus/Barrett/Orton/Miz have non-zero chances of winning, with possible longshots to whoever isn't a tag champion anymore between Daniel Bryan and Cody Rhodes.

Smart money is on Cena, but with two world title matches it does open up quite a few other people as non-zero possibilities.

****! Sorry.

those surprise entrants are terrible (for the purposes of being surprise entrants). they've only been gone a couple years, they're not former world champs or anything, and they're not going to get a lolstalgic reaction like diesel or road dogg or hacksaw. they're a step above someone like vladimir kozlov being a 'surprise entrant', but not by much.

99:1 on rumble jerking is fair.

Both of those entrants are miles better than Road Dogg.

But will they get a "you still got it" like Road Dogg did?

road dogg is and was awesome.... he drew more in attitude era in the tag team division than most guys draw as champions today

and i think rumble jerking never happens. i hope it doesnt anyway. what a joke it would be

Did the Road Dogg actually draw anybody though? Like was there anyone watching who wouldn't have been watching if he wasn't there?

I didn't mind him at the time and thought he was a decent enough surprise entrant, but to use a drawing argument in his defence seems a bit weak.

Btw I don't know who the surprise entrants are gonna be (except the one that got spoilered outside of tags) and would it appreciate it if it stayed that way. I mean I'm not really a spoiler tard and realise I put myself at risk by reading the threads but surprise entrants are part of the fun of the rumble for me.

Edit - Just to clarify, when I said I wasn't a spoiler tard I meant I'm not overly bothered if I get spoilered. I wasn't calling people who read spoilers tards . (Just reread my post and thought it wasn't clear.)

Road Dogg got over by creating a catchy intro that fans liked. That was pretty much the beginning and end of what was good about him. That and he was paired with Billy Gunn, who he was of course better than. He certainly did his job well as a midcard role player, but even during a down period he wouldn't be a viable top guy in a company.

Well said.

How does he not take Cena with the first pick?

Lol I missed that. Yeah huge lol at not taking Cena #1. Draft format should have probably been one guy gets Cena, other guy makes his 8 picks, then first guy makes his other 7 picks.

you are definitely overstating your second sentence and understating your first, but there is truth here.

its not actually disagreeing with me too much, and i loved seeing him back mostly because of how good his entrances were

Yeah. Same place I listed the Punk odds earlier has Cena and the field as the same price

I mean Road Dogg's entrance never varied. It was well done but it was essentially the exact same thing over and over again so it wasn't like cutting promos. There's just only so much to be impressed by.

But again I always sort of liked him, even in hindsight he's alright, and I've seen shoot interviews with him where he seems like a cool guy. I just don't care about ever seeing him show up again, that's all.

a huge testament to his character that he lol'ed at how popular he got by just doing that entrance when interviewed on the WWE Attitude dvd that came out a few months ago. he seemed to realize it was a big joke and people are ******s. def. a cool guy.

road dogg's rumble strat where he hugged the bottom rope for 20 minutes was amazing

Does anyone know if WWE is planning on showing any preliminary matches on Sunday Night Heat before the Rumble kicks off?

Cesaro-Miz is on the pre-show. Sunday Night Heat doesn't exist anymore, does it?

No, just making an old school reference after the all the talk about surprise Rumble entrants from that era.