From Wikipedia: In sports, a Most Valuable Player (MVP) award is an honor typically bestowed upon the best performing player or players on a specific team, in an entire league, or for a particular contest or series of contests. Initially used in professional sports, the term is now also commonly used in amateur sports, as well as in other completely unrelated fields of endeavor such as business and music awards.

When it comes to pro-wrestling, i've decided to closely balance the kayfabed accomplishments of all the fictional characters involved in the Rumble with the accolades of their real-life performers, so this list is a mix-up of how everyone was booked and how everyone actually performed.

(Dis) Honorable Mentions:

The Miz - Entered #1 - Eliminated #25 by Big Show - Time in Match 45:40 - 2 Eliminations.

The Miz wasn't only the number one entrant this year at the rumble, he also managed to last longer than anyone else on the match, despite all of this he had absolutely no presence in this match beyond the first 7 minutes which is quite a big feat.

Big Show - Entered #30 - Eliminated #27 by Orton - Time in Match 01:52 - 4 Eliminations.

When Jericho came at #29 i was expecting something big for #30, big as in an Undertaker return a Brock Lesnar appearence or a glass shattering Stone Cold entrance. I did get something big, big as in "The World's Largest Athlete" and words cannot describe how much i hated it.

If this list was completely unbiased The Big Show would probably have made it as high as number 3, after all in less than 2 minutes he eliminated Miz, Rhodes and Ziggler who accounted for a combined 107 minutes of rumble time. Looks like he also eliminated Jack Swagger, who i don't remember being in the match at all.

Check out the list after the jump...

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Hogan has been busy the last few days. Last night, as with fellow WWE HOF and current talent for that poorly run outfit in mid-Florida Ric Flair, Hogan was a guest voice on The Cleveland Show. Like Flair, he was sporting an old WWF belt, Flair had the big Gold Belt he's been synonymous with his entire career. The Hulkster also gave several interviews and as previously reported here at CSS, he actually wrestled in London, England.

More of Hogan's tall tales after the break.

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No big introduction this week, folks. Everything that can be said about the Royal Rumble has already been stated, both by others and by myself. I don't wish to rehash anything here, so let's jump right into the nights festivities.

Punk! Johnny Ace! Ziggler! Trips! WWE Championship! Control of Raw!

CM Punk retained the WWE Championship in a shenanigan filled finish last night (Sun., Jan. 29, 2012). The match was less about him facing Dolph Ziggler as it was to further his issues with John Laurinaitis. It accomplished that in spades. The new face of the WWE hates the man in charge of Raw, and these two have been absolutely great together. The big issue with tonight is that Triple H will make his return to our television. Is he going to hit the brakes on one of the best feuds, or will he continue the story as the second coming of Vince McMahon? As much as I am afraid of everything coming crashing down, I still have hope. Maybe I am an idiot for it, but after last night I feel encouraged. Johnny Ace did not screw Punk out of the title, but he made himself a part of the match in the best way possible. There are plenty of ways that this can go bad. But there are plenty more that this could work wonderfully, as well.

And for everyone complaining that Ziggler got the worst end of the booking stick, calm down. He was always the third wheel in this. Dolph is a role player, and he played it exceptionally well. Admire him for what he did with what he was given. His time will come soon enough. I don't expect him to be tossed out of the title picture just yet.

The rest of the show after the jump.

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As I finished watching the WWE Royal Rumble pay-per-view (PPV) last night (Sun., Jan. 29, 2012) I stared at my screen in silence. Top to bottom, it was a great show. Certainly not the best I have ever seen, but extremely entertaining nonetheless. I wish I could have watched it live to interact with all the great fans here on Cageside Seats but when I could I quickly fired up my browser with anticipation to see what everyone had said.

It seems you all weren't as impressed as I was.

Questions quickly arose about why Sheamus was victorious. What did he do to deserve it? Why wouldn't they give it to Chris Jericho or Randy Orton? How could the WWE ruin the entire show? Why, oh why must the fans suffer through such humanity?

In order: he is a hard worker who is popular, neither of them need it, they didn't, and Jesus f*cking Christ stop it.

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During the last Monday Night Raw before the 25th WWE Royal Rumble, Chris Jericho held his talk show 'The Highlight Reel' (with less talking, as usual). But before he ended the segment, he made everyone aware with one thing: It's gonna be 'the end of the world as we know it' when he appears on the 30-man Rumble match. Wrestling fans and the IWC of course went ecstatic and looked forward to what will the Ayatollah of Rock and Rollah has in store.

Coming in at Number 29, Chris Jericho made his presence felt - something that the whole wrestling fandom really waited to see for almost a month of trolling us over. As we moved along, we came down to the final two - Jericho and Sheamus, one of the great wrestlers of this generation. We were all hanging onto our seats hoping that Y2J wins the match - the first for his career. But the match ended and our winner is...

SHEAMUS!

In my opinion, Sheamus deserves every bit of winning the Rumble and headline Wrestlemania going against whoever he chooses (the WWE Champ or the World Heavyweight Champ). However, this is a perfect example how good the WWE in pulling off swerves up to the last minute. Sure, we'll be able to spoil ourselves with dirt sheets post-Rumble, but that leaves us one question in mind?

What's gonna happen to Chris Jericho's quest on 'ending the world as we know it?'

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most of u will say its crazy idea but i have my points.....

1.The wrestler who will defeat undertaker will become icon or face of wwe for many years

2. wwe will not going to defeat undertaker with some old guy like triple h or already a top superstar like john cena.

3. wwe need a young wrestle who can work in wwe for many years like drew mcintyre.

4. when looking at the past of drew mcintyre from wikipedia it is clear that sheamus and mcintyre are equally talented.

5. sheamus is a 2 time champion and a royal rumble winner while mcintyre is not in the main event.

6.wwe is not pushed mcintyre maybe they are waiting for right time.

7.drew mcintyre is a chosen one so may be he is the chosen one to defeat taker at wrestlemania .

8.most important thing is that undefeated streak of drew mcintyre in smackdown is ended by undertaker.

9.why wwe chose undertaker to end drew mcintyres streak???

10. it may be possible that undertaker vs mcintyre at wrestlemania 29 in 2013.

Say "what" again

Ah, here we are. The most electrifying match in ALL of sports entertainment, the Royal Rumble. There has been plenty said about the match, both here on Cageside and around the Internet. There is little that I can add that will increase the excitement.

I will say this, though. The Rumble contains all the reasons why I love pro wrestling. It is 30 storylines all intertwined. It is filled with a bunch of small, individual moments, either funny or exciting; heroic or villainous. All the individual cogs of the WWE come together for a grander story. There is no brand split in the Royal Rumble. There are 30 wrestlers together for the greatest gimmick in sports entertainment.

And emerging from that, there is a single winner.

Who will it be this year? No one knows for sure. But we all know that it will be a damn fun time watching.

The rest of the card after the jump.

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Edited and promoted to the front page by CagesideSeats.com.

In every Royal Rumble match since its inception, there has been one man who has lasted longer than all the rest. We'll call him the "Iron Man" of the Rumble match.

So who do you guys think will survive for the longest time in the 2012 Royal Rumble and be this year's "Iron Man?" And how long will that time be?

Here are the wrestlers who earned that distinction from previous Royal Rumble events. Each wrestler's name is preceded by their entrance number for the match. The names of any Royal Rumble winners will be in bold.

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The third edition of Wednesday Night Revival is upon us, and I think it's the best one yet! Last week THE END OF THE WORLD - RPW's first pay-per-view - was announced, and this week the first qualifier for the RPW Heavyweight Title took place between John "The Brand" Brandenburg and Damien Wolfe! Those on the mailing get this and all shows in pdf format, and they look way better. The formatting of the pinfalls especially is a lot more dramatic!

Revival Pro Wrestling is an e-wrestling fed for Cagesiders that pits your created characters against one another in a quest for glory, gold, and laughs! Every character in the show below is played by a commenter (or lurker) from these pages. If you want in on the action (or just want to watch), email me at jonknapik@gmail.com!

Check out the show after the jump!

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Well, it isn't really that I don't get why others do, but I do not particularly care for Dolph Zigger.

There, I said it, I'm sure to get plenty of grief for it! That's not to say he sucks- he doesn't. As a wrestler, he doesn't have any massive deficiencies that are apparent, that detract from his matches. He possesses a decent enough ring repertoire, and unlike John Cena or CM Punk (and others, I am sure) he isn't repetitive- I've noticed being fairly choreographed in not the moves that they use, but in the order that they do them in, to the point of being able to call what move is next in the string of combos. People like to say that he's the best seller the WWE has on their roster today. I personally like Evan Bourne better, but I'm not going to disagree that he makes other guys look good. On the microphone, I don't think that he is as great as some other people seem to say he is, but I think he certainly can hold his own. But, outside of these things I don't think Dolph Ziggler is anything particularly special. Many at Cageside Seats, obviously, feel different.

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