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In a 2017 interview with Devon "Hannibal" Nicholson, Heidenreich revealed that he was unnerved by the sight of caskets, owed to his brother being murdered while Heidenreich was in high school. For some reason, monster heels in Undertaker's crosshairs have crapped the proverbial brick at the sight of a casket, which Undertaker would use for his psychological advantage.īut it turned out that Heidenreich's fear was a legitimate one. And like some other monsters before him, the unhinged and imposing Heidenreich had a stated fear of caskets. The evening's second match would see The Undertaker in a familiar role - battling a heavyweight beast in a casket match. Killings also famously made off from WWE's catering spread with a plate of mahi-mahi, which he cheerfully devoured on camera. An unmasked Rey Mysterio was filmed carousing with the TNA crew (which included longtime friend Konnan), though his face was blurred out for legal reasons. Members of the TNA roster (including Ron "R-Truth" Killings, BG "Road Dogg" James, and others) crashed the shoot while bearing balloons and a tray of cookies, a sarcastic welcome wagon that was filmed for the amusement of the TNA audience. The commercial was filmed on a soundstage at Universal Studios in Orlando, which just so happened to be the home of a rival wrestling promotion. There was even an inspired ad campaign for the Rumble, depicting Raw and SmackDown superstars as the Jets and Sharks from West Side Story, singing their way into a dance fight. A very fun Royal Rumble was also a productive one, as the next class of main event stars were now due for their close-ups. But at least five? The creative team had their Wheaties that morning, that much was obvious.Īmong the quality in-ring action and the inspired backstage bits, WWE was positioning itself toward a bright future, bringing the Rumble match down to two men on the verge of greatness: Dave Batista and John Cena. Usually, you get maybe one truly awesome segment like that per PPV, if that. Eddie Guerrero picking Ric Flair's pocket, Snitsky and Heidenreich grunting at each other, Christian freestyling on John Cena ("Tomko, gimme a beat." "No."), Batista taking pleasure in giving Triple H bad news, and a drunken JBL being given sobering news - it all worked.
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No WWE pay-per-view had ever fired off so many hilarious and awesome bumper segments between matches, especially in bulk. But forget about the in-ring action for a moment, because as pretty great as the wrestling was, that's not why the 2005 Rumble ruled - it ruled because of the backstage segments. Was the 2005 Royal Rumble the best Rumble ever? Overall, it's in the discussion, with an excellent Rumble match following an undercard where three of the four matches rated well above average.