WWE Monday Night Raw on Jan. 21 featured two "Beat the Clock" matches in which the winner with the best time earned the chance to pick their spot in the Royal Rumble on Sunday. Randy Orton, Antonio Cesaro, The Miz and Dolph Ziggler were the four men involved.
The first match pitted Randy Orton against U.S. Champion Antonio Cesaro, and the two put on a great match. Orton took the win in just over 11 minutes, when Cesaro turned to look at the clock and then turned back into an RKO.
The next match pitted The Miz against Dolph Ziggler. The Miz has gotten a strong push since Ric Flair passed the torch to him last week and he began using the figure four leg lock. Dolph Ziggler said before the match that he planned to win this Beat the Clock challenge, win the Royal Rumble and fight for both world titles at Wrestlemania.
With just under a minute left, Big E Langston interfered to help Ziggler pick up the pin and the win. This means Ziggler gets to choose when he comes into the Royal Rumble on Sunday. Ziggler, who also holds the Money in the Bank briefcase, could conceivably cash in his briefcase for the world title and use a Royal Rumble win to get a WWE Championship match.
However, before he got his chance, Sheamus and Wade Barrett had to beat a time of 10:56 to earn the chance. With just under one minute left in the match, Sheamus set up for the Brogue kick, but Ziggler, AJ Lee and Big E Langston ran down. Lee ran through the ring, distracting Sheamus and then neither man could finish the match on time, giving Dolph Ziggler the chance to choose his own spot in the Royal Rumble on Sunday.
Unfortunately, Vickie Guerrero let Dolph know he couldn't choose any number, but had to choose between one and two, changing the rules after the fact.
The WWE Royal Rumble takes place on Sunday, Jan. 27 at 8 p.m. EST on pay per view.
For e-mail updates whenever a new article is posted, please click here and then click the subscribe button. Also feel free to follow me on: Twitter @starvingdogs, GooglePlus or join my group on Facebook.
Comments