Royal Rumble 2006 was the nineteenth annual Royal Rumble professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It took place on January 29 2006 in the AmericanAirlines Arena in Miami, Florida. The event had an ancient Roman theme, similar to WrestleMania IX based on the advertisement for the event portraying Vince McMahon as Julius Caesar along with his family.

The main event for Royal Rumble was for the World Heavyweight Championship between Kurt Angle and Mark Henry which Angle won.^[1] The main matches on the undercard were John Cena versus Edge for the WWE Championship^[2] and the 2006 Royal Rumble match which No. 2 entrant Rey Mysterio won.^[3]

Report

Background

The main feud heading into the Royal Rumble was between John Cena and Edge battling over the WWE Championship. The whole thing started at New Year's Revolution 2006 when Cena won an Elimination Chamber also involving 5 other superstars, then right after Cena retained his WWE Championship,^[4] Vince McMahon came out and said that Edge was cashing in his Money in the Bank briefcase that he won at WrestleMania 21.^[5] Then Edge walked down the ramp speared Cena twice and pinned Cena to become WWE Champion.^[6][7] Then the next night Edge held a live sex celebration which got smashed up by Cena and Cena delivered an FU on Lita and sent a message to Edge.^[8]

The secondary feud was between Kurt Angle and Mark Henry over the World Heavyweight Championship. The World Heavyweight Championship was originally held by Batista. He defended the title against Henry at a SmackDown! live event in a steel cage match. Henry was disqualified in the match and Batista retained the title but his triceps were injured.^[9] As a result, he was forced to vacate the title on January 13 edition of SmackDown!. Later on, a 20-man battle royal was arranged to determine the new World Heavyweight Champion. RAW superstar Kurt Angle won the battle royal last eliminating Mark Henry and winning the vacant title^[10][11] thus also starting a rivalry between the two. This also made Angle leave RAW and shift to SmackDown!.

Event

Before the event went live on pay-per-view, [Dave Finlay|Finlay]] defeated Brian Kendrick in a HEAT match after a Celtic Cross.^[12]

The opening match was a 6-Way Cruiserweight Open match for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship which was held by Kid Kash at the time. He issued an open challenge to all previous Cruiserweight Champions for the title. Funaki, Jamie Noble, Nunzio, Paul London and RAW superstar Gregory Helms joined the match to challenge Kid Kash for the Cruiserweight Championship. In the beginning, everyone thought that Paul London would win the match after he hit all of the challengers a breath-taking shooting star press. Gregory Helms caught and drove him to the mat with a vicious flying neckbreaker. Kid Kash seized the opportunity and nailed London with a Dead Level. He covered London but Nunzio and Funaki broke up the count. Jamie Noble held Funaki in the dragon sleeper. Helms hit Noble a shining wizard but Noble avoided the move. Helms threw Noble out of the ring and then pinned Funaki after a shining wizard to win the Cruiserweight title.^[13][14][12]

The second match was a divas match between Mickie James and Ashley Massaro. Trish Stratus was the Special Guest Referee of this match. Before the match started, Mickie told Trish backstage that she loved her. While the match started, Ashley worked over Mickie's arm. While Ashley pounded Mickie into the corner, Trish pulled Mickie. Mickie would later up work out on Ashley's back and neck. Ashley made a comeback in the match but finally Mickie powerbombed her to win the match.^[15][12]

The third match was between The Boogeyman and John "Bradshaw" Layfield. JBL was supported by his valet Jillian Hall. In the match, JBL tried to do everything to measure out Boogeyman. Finally, JBL had Boogeyman measured and went for the Clothesline from Hell but he whiffed on the move and was sent crashing shoulder first into the post. Boogeyman nailed JBL with a pumphandle slam to win the match. After the match, he tried to throw worms in JBL's mouth but JBL threw his valet Jillian into the ring and Boogeyman threw worms in her mouth.^[16][12]

The fourth match was the 2006 Royal Rumble match. Triple H drew as the No. 1 entrant while Rey Mysterio drew No. 2. Mysterio came out to the ring in a lowrider to pay tribute to his late friend Eddie Guerrero who came to the ring in lowriders. Mysterio and Triple H fought off each other in the beginning of the match. Later on, the two teamed up to eliminate No. 3 entrant Simon Dean. Mysterio eliminated No. 4 entrant Psicosis on his own. Ric Flair drew No. 5 but he made a mistake by charging Triple H as Flair stood near the ropes. Triple H simply sidestepped the charge and eliminated Flair from the match. No. 6 entrant was Big Show and No. 7 entrant was Jonathan Coachman. Coach was quicly eliminated with a swat of Big Show's hand. Bobby Lashley drew No. 8 while Big Show's World Tag Team Championship partner at the time, Kane drew. No. 9.

Big Show and Kane teamed up to eliminate Lashley and then the two targeted each other trying to chokeslam each other. Triple H took the advantage and eliminated both men from behind shocking the entire world. In addition, Tatanka and Rob Van Dam returned to WWE television in this Royal Rumble match with Tatanka drawing No. 15 while RVD drawing No. 20. Shawn Michaels entered No. 25 into the match and started attacking his enemies. He went on to eliminate Trevor Murdoch, Johnny Nitro and Shelton Benjamin which received him a spot to the final six.

As Michaels eliminated Benjamin from the match, Mr. McMahon's music hit which distracted Michaels. McMahon made his way to the ring while Shane (not an official entrant) eliminated Michaels from behind. Michaels returned to the ring and tried to attack Shane until Triple H beat him and Michaels superkicked Triple H. As a result, Triple H, Mysterio, Carlito, RVD and Randy Orton remained the final five participants. Carlito worked on RVD but RVD countered and threw him out of the ring with the final four participants remaining. Mysterio and RVD formed an alliance against two former Evolution partners Triple H and Orton. RVD tried to hit Orton a five-star frog splash but Triple H attacked RVD and then threw Mysterio into RVD which sent RVD crashing to the floor.

Triple H, Mysterio and Orton were the final three participants. Triple H and Orton teamed to eliminate Mysterio but failed to do so instead Mysterio hit both men a 619 and then eliminated Triple H from the match. Triple H returned to the ring and brutally assaulted Mysterio by knocking him into the steel steps and threw him back into the ring which helped Orton a lot. Orton tried to eliminate Mysterio but until Mysterio countered and surprisingly eliminated Orton to win the 2006 Royal Rumble match. Mysterio was very glad by winning the Royal Rumble match and he paid tribute to Eddie by winning the match saying that he had won the match for Eddie.^[3][12]

Results

• HEAT match: Finlay defeated Brian Kendrick (2:07)
  • Finlay pinned Kendrick after a Celtic Cross.
• Gregory Helms defeated Kid Kash (c), Funaki, Jamie Noble, Nunzio and Paul London in a 6-Way Cruiserweight match to win the WWE Cruiserweight Championship (7:40)
  • Helms pinned Funaki after a Shining Wizard.
  • This match was an open challenge by Kid Kash to all previous Cruiserweight Champions.
  • Helms was a RAW superstar coming into the match but following his win moved over to the SmackDown! brand.
• Mickie James defeated Ashley Massaro (w/Trish Stratus as Special Guest Referee) (7:44)
  • James pinned Massaro after a powerbomb.
• The Boogeyman defeated John "Bradshaw" Layfield (w/Jillian Hall) (1:54)
  • Boogeyman pinned JBL after a Pumphandle Slam.
• Rey Mysterio won the 2006 Royal Rumble (1:02:12)
  • Rey Mysterio and Randy Orton were the last two participants. Mysterio reversed Orton's toss attempt into a head scissors takedown over the top rope to win the Royal Rumble.
  • Mysterio came out to the ring in a lowrider in dedication to Eddie Guerrero, who entered the ring in lowriders.
• John Cena defeated Edge (w/Lita) to win the WWE Championship (14:02)
  • Cena forced Edge to submit with the STFU.
  • Cena entered the ring on a large steel catwalk-like scaffold that had been lowered from the ceiling.
• Kurt Angle defeated Mark Henry (w/Daivari) to retain the World Heavyweight Championship (9:29)
  • Angle pinned Henry with a roll-up after Mark Henry's head hit an exposed turnbuckle.
  • After the match, The Undertaker entered in a chariot and fired lighting from the cieling, collapsing the ring.

Royal Rumble entrances and eliminations

Red ██ indicates a RAW superstar, blue ██ indicates a SmackDown! superstar. A new entrant came out approximately every 90 seconds.

^ Shane McMahon was not a participant in the Rumble.

Other on-screen talent

Notes

• Rey Mysterio broke the record for lasting the longest in a Royal Rumble match, 1:02:12. The previous record was 1:01:34, set by Chris Benoit at the 2004 Royal Rumble. Mysterio also became the first superstar in WWE history under 200 pounds to ever win the Royal Rumble, as well as the first masked superstar to win.
• Glen Jacobs (Isaac Yankem D.D.S., Fake Diesel, Kane) made his tenth appearance in a Royal Rumble match, tying the record for most Royal Rumble appearances with Solofa Fatu (Fatu, The Sultan, Rikishi). It also marked his eighth consecutive appearance in the Royal Rumble as Kane, breaking the previous record of seven consecutive appearances held by himself, Owen Hart and Rick Martel.
• During the Rumble match, Shane McMahon came in and eliminated Shawn Michaels after being distracted by Vince McMahon. This marked the second consecutive year that Michaels was eliminated by somebody other than a qualified participant. In 2005, he was eliminated by Kurt Angle after having already eliminated Angle earlier.
• The Angle/Henry match marked the first time that two former Olympians battled for a world title in history.

References

External links

• Official 2006 Royal Rumble Website

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