LIVE Royal Rumble thoughts

10:46 - Well, for the first time since 2006 we have a Royal Rumble winner who has never held the World Championship and has never main evented WrestleMania. Pretty exciting stuff. Well done.

10:42 - FOR THE LOVE OF GOD THANK GOODNESS!!!! I legitimately thought they might actually give Santino the win right there. Interesting booking for the end, though. Hey, so much for those people who said it was obvious that Cena or Triple H would win!

10:40 - Orton, Barrett, Del Rio are left. And, ugh, Santino, right?

10:38 - Orton has quite the shiner. And Del Rio is now in the ring. Somebody please remember about Santino!

10:36 - No Triple H? Fine by me. Will they also forget that Santino was never eliminated?

10:35 - BOTH World title losers entered themselves in the Rumble. Could Triple H be #40? And does Del Rio win because they forgot he never entered the ring?

10:28 - Only four more guys left. Any surprises left? Triple H?

10:26 - Miz is sitting in on commentary, which leads me to believe that a Raw guy is winning. Increases Cena's chances, for sure.

10:23 - Great "Let's Go Diesel!" chant.

10:22 - Surprise entrant #2 - DIESEL! This would have been an AWESOME surprise if PulseWrestling didn't post it on Twitter last night.

10:20 - My prediction comes true. One of the losers in one of the World title matches enters himself into the Rumble. Could we see Orton as well?

10:17 - Hornswoggle now out. Hilarity to cease.

10:14 - Methinks Swagger eliminates Swoggle.

10:12 - Is Kofi Kingston the first person to come out with pyro?

10:08 - Annnnnnd there goes Punk. Sadness.

10:05 - Does Punk survive Cena's onslaught? I say yes. The rest of Nexus? Nope.

10:02 - First surprise entrant -- BOOKER T!!!

9:58 - Matt Striker finally brings up the smartest thing to do - stand outside and wait for the next entrant, and then try to fight off the Nexus.

9:57 - This isn't a bad strategy generally speaking. The #1 and #2 guys agree not to fight, but instead to stand a united front as each person comes in. It's a two on one game, and you individually eliminate each person.

9:55 - They may individually eliminate a few people before either Cena or a surprise entrant (Triple H?) comes out.

9:54 - I'm a bit surprised that Morrison didn't survive the Nexus culling. My guess is that they fully clear the ring and Cena comes out.

9:48 - My bet is either Ezekiel Jackson, Mason Ryan, Sheamus, or Big Show are out next to eliminate Henry.

9:47 - Few Superstars are so consistently humiliated on TV as Chavo, so it was nice to see him get a proud Rumble moment.

9:44 - "If this guy looks like this at 23, imagine what he's going to look like at 60!" Another great line.

9:42 - John Morrison is utterly amazing. The fact that the camera was on him the whole time, and that easily could have gone wrong, is rather impressive. Great stuff.

9:41 - Place exploded for Morrison's entrance. Thank God he didn't slip on the ring apron.

9:40 - I love DiBiase's move of following the person when they run against the ropes.

9:35 - Surprised to see Justin Gabriel eliminated so early and quickly.

9:32 - Well, I was partly right. I said I thought Bryan and Del Rio would be the first two in the ring. Ended up being Punk and Bryan. By the way, I like Punk beginning the Rumble, which was alluded to on Monday.

9:30 - Rather intriguing beginning to the Rumble.

9:27 - It's Rumble time!! Let's see who's #1 and 2!

9:23 - Whoever came up with this "By the Numbers" vignette for the Royal Rumble is brilliant. It's fun, informative, and makes the Rumble sound legitimately special and prestigious. Plus it's easy enough to update each year.

9:21 - Is there any Diva who doesn't know how to slap? Damn!

9:18 - While I think Natalya is probably your best bet for Divas Champ, I think Eve is great and is greatly underutilized. She's a legitimately tough girl through her Judo training, she's incredibly hot, she's got a realistic build that doesn't give young women body issues (but at the same time is tall and fit, satisfying WWE's vision of what a woman should look like), and she is probably the most natural speaker on the Divas roster. Congrats to her.

9:14 - Interesting predicament with Lay-Cool. You have two heels who legitimately like each other and don't want to inflict harm on each other. Good sense of loyalty.

9:11 - Proof that the Anonymous GM is at least somewhat over -- I was on my way to the bathroom, heard the beeping, and came back to the TV room.

9:09 - I don't know what to do. It's the Divas match and the last match before the Rumble, and I don't have to pee yet!

9:07 - Ironically, isn't this fake Cody Rhodes injury what ACTUALLY happened to the Undertaker?

9:03 - I am rather impressed with Alex Riley's vertical leaping ability. The Nexus interference was a bit surprising. And moderately disappointing, as I think a Cena/Punk WrestleMania feud is a lot more entertaining than an Orton/Punk one. But I think this points to Cena facing Miz for the WWE Championship and Orton facing Punk. I think Orton will likely interfere in the Rumble to eliminate Punk later on tonight.

8:53 - "I think sometimes people mistake his kindness for a weakness." C'mon, that was pretty funny.

8:52 - Haha, Striker called Orton "lanky."

8:50 - The announcers are at least a little more on their game this match. Cole and Lawler seem more emotionally invested in this match. It's clear in their performance.

8:40 - I still don't get the briefcase Alex Riley carries around. I understand it's a replacement for the Money in the Bank briefcase, but what's supposed to be inside? And how does it relate to his character? And do they even frequently use it?

8:38 - Come to think of it, wouldn't Kaitlyn have made more sense as the person to beat up Vickie?

8:33 - If they're going with the WWE Championship match next, this has to be the first time they've ever opened a PPV with both World title matches. But, again, this leaves open the possibility that one (or both) of the losers will enter the Rumble. Curious booking, though. I figured they'd go with the Divas match next.

8:29 - The match got off to a slow start, but once things picked up during the final sequence. The fans really got into the portion where Edge hit the Spear, and to his credit Cole did a great job of making sure the viewing audience knew that Edge was acting afterwards (and shame on the camera men for not zooming in on Edge smiling and winking at the audience). And Edge hitting the Unprettier was a nice shout out to Christian (which I'm sure will get people talking). The Kelly appearance is still strange. Did Vickie recently do something to her that I'm forgetting about? Or are they going to pair her with Edge?

8:26 - I really wish they would quit it with the "We've got a new champion!" bit. Even if the match DOES actually end, it still completely takes you out of the moment because you're inclined to believe the opponent will kick out. And I'm wondering where this Kelly thing is going.

8:23 - With his plethora of former finishing moves, Edge has a lot of tricks up his sleeve.

8:14 - Almost 15 minutes into the show and the audience finally woke up.

8:07 - On the other hand, with so few undercard matches, there are only so many matches that can start off the show. They probably don't want to open with the Divas match or do two World title matches in a row, so there are only so many options.

8:04 - Starting the night off with the World Heavyweight Championship match. That's surprising, which seems to support my theory that the loser of one of the world title matches will enter himself in the Rumble. By giving so much time between the matches, the loser will have time to recuperate. I do hope and expect Edge to win this. Speaking of Edge, he's wearing SLIGHTLY modified tights (seems to be more black and red) which makes me happy. And the jacket. But no sunglasses and he's mostly clean shaven, so that disappoints me.

Check back shortly for my LIVE Royal Rumble thoughts. Over the weekend I decided to watch the 2009 and 2010 Royal Rumbles, and I came to notice that in both years Triple H made his entrance just after another Superstar eliminated a flurry of people (in 2009 it was Vladmir Kozlov, in 2010 it was CM Punk) and promptly eliminated that person. The H is expected to return tonight -- what are the chances he continues that trend?