El Presidente

Prologue: In December of 2008, the National Wrestling Alliance was devastated by the news that the undefeated NWA Heavyweight Champion, Brock Lesnar, suffered a career-threatening neck injury while wrestling in Japan against Satoshi Kojima. The following week, a sold-out audience stood still as J.J. Dillon announced to the world that Lesnar's injury would keep him out of the ring for a minimum of one year, and because of the NWA's policy that the Big Gold must be defended at least once within a 90 day period, Dillon was forced to strip the NWA Heavyweight Championship from possibly the greatest champion of all time. Dillon wished Lesnar a speedy recovery, and hoped to see him back in the ring to reclaim his championship and his glory at some point in 2009.

Despite the sadness for Lesnar's injury, which came at a terrible time considering his record-breaking career was just starting to hit its peak, the chains had to keep moving. It was then that J.J. Dillon announced that to kick off the new year, a royal rumble would be held to crown a new NWA Heavyweight Champion, and it would feature thirty of the greatest superstars in the world, from ten different NWA hand-picked promotions. Dillon ran down the promotions that would be involved: Calgary Stampede, Eastern Championship Wrestling, Honolulu Championship Wrestling, Imperio De Lucha Azteca (Konnan apparently reached an agreement with Dillon over his stars competing in the U.S. after the Eddy Guerrero controversy in 2002), Memphis Championship Wrestling, NWA: Los Angeles, NWA: Motor City, Ric Flair Promotions, Titan Wrestling Entertainment, and, of course, World Class Championship Wrestling. Each promotion would be allowed to enter three wrestlers, which Dillon gave them complete control over, and this was surely shaping up to be one of the biggest matches in NWA history. With that said...

Jim Ross: " Hello everyone, WCCW's Jim Ross here with Memphis's own, Jerry "The King" Lawler. And King, what a HUGE night this is gonna' be for the NWA... and for wrestlin' in general! "

Jerry "The King" Lawler: " It sure is, JR. And this could be a huge night for ANY of the promotions participating, and as you know, that includes my own baby, Memphis Championship Wrestling. "

Jim Ross: " Well, let's not forget that WCCW entered three men in this contest who have ALL held the Big Gold at some point in their careers, and as far as I'm concerned, the belt's BOUND to come back where it belongs, and that's in World Class Championship Wrestlin'. "

Jerry "The King" Lawler: " Well, I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree on this one. "

The cameras move from the announce table to the ring, to reveal TWE's own Howard Finkel, who has been introducing the rumble match for over a decade now, standing in the middle of the ring with a microphone.

Howard Finkel: " The following contest... is the ROYAL... RUMBLE... MATCH. The winner of this bout, will be crowned the NEWWWW... NWA.. HEAVYWEIGHT.. CHAMPION.. of the world. Superstars will enter the ring every TWO minutes. And now, let's find out.. who drew the NUMBER ONE spot. "

Jim Ross: " It's Eddy Guerrero, King! And I think we all remember the controversy in 2002 when ILA last challenged for the Big Gold. When Konnan interrupted the main event between Kurt Angle and Eddy Guerrero after Eddy's defeat and refused to EVER let any of his wrestlers compete in the United States again. "

Jerry "The King" Lawler: " Oh boy, I do remember that, and I gotta' admit, I was quite surprised to hear that ILA would be taking part in this match, but HEY.. it's a free chance to win the Big Gold, and nobody's gonna' pass that up. "

Eddy awaits in the ring, warming up and jumping around, ready for action, as second competitor makes his way out. Then, to everyone's surprise, including Eddy's, Whatever by Our Lady Peace hits over the PA..

Jim Ross: " BAH' GAWD, KING, IT'S ANOTHER MEMBER OF ILA, IT'S CHRIS BENOIT! "

Jerry "The King" Lawler: " WELL... I guess this is the NWA's punishment for ILA. "

Eddy stops jumping around in the ring as his good friend and fellow ILA wrestler, Chris Benoit, starts heading down to the ring. Obviously, neither man seems happy about this from the start, and the crowd is completely on their side, overpowering JR and Jerry Lawler's commenting with their thunderous boo's, forcing them to have to scream to each other.

Jim Ross: " YOU CAN TELL BY THE REACTION OF THIS CROWD, KING, THEY'RE NOT HAPPY ABOUT THIS. "

Benoit slides into the ring and stands right in front of his friend as his music stops. Immediately, the bell rings, and both competitors hesitate for a moment. Eddy finally breaks the ice by extending his arm out, shaking hands with Benoit and signaling that the match is going to be under way. Despite their great friendship, these two have had some fantastic matches in ILA, and their in-ring chemistry showed immediately as they locked up in some fantastic chain mat wrestling, which the crowd welcomed with applause. Benoit then charged towards Guerrero, but Eddy bent over and lifted Benoit over his head, forcing him to go flying over the top rope, but only to the apron.

Jerry "The King" Lawler: " That would've been a rather un-lucky start for Benoit! "

The Rabid Wolverine slides back into the ring behind Eddy and grabs him from behind, locking in his arms and nailing him with a german suplex. Benoit holds on to the maneuver and goes for another two germans on Eddy before pointing to the outside. He grabbed Guerrero back up off the ground by his hair and with one hand, carelessly tossed him over the top rope, but once again, no eliminations yet as Eddy managed to hold on to the top rope and land on the apron himself. Benoit was a bit more astute than his opponent, though, and he immediately sprinted towards him, looking to throw him off the apron. Once The Wolverine reached his target, however, Eddy slid himself through the second and third rope and shoulder blocked him in the mid section, then catapulted himself over the top rope for an impressive flying sunset flip. Eddy springs back up and shouts "WOOOOO!" as he nails the maneuver and livens up the crowd once again. Then, the countdown begins.

Jim Ross: " It's the biggest man in the competition, King! It's Paul Wight! "

Jerry "The King" Lawler: " "THE GREAT!" ... I wouldn't want to be in Benoit's or Eddy's shoes right now, I'll tell ya' that much. I've faced some big guys in my day, but Wight is just from another planet! "

Jim Ross: " And in case you all forgot, Wight is the first former NWA Heavyweight Champion to enter the competition. "

Eddy takes his attention off of Benoit, who was just starting to regain his energy and get up in the corner, and turns directly towards the big man as he stands tall on the apron before walking over the top rope and into the ring. Eddy goes right after him with a series of shots to the head, and he is immediately aided by Benoit in double teaming Wight. With Guerrero attacking him from the right and Benoit from the left, it wasn't looking very good for the five hundred pounder, who finally dropped to one knee when the shots started to take their toll.

Jim Ross: " He could be outta' here soon! "

In perfect timing with JR's comment, Wight screams and stands back up, grabbing each of his opponents by their necks with his hands.

Jerry "The King" Lawler: " I wouldn't say that just yet. "

He tosses Benoit to the corner with his left hand, and focuses solely on Guerrero, raising him up and dropping him down with a chokeslam with the help of his left hand. With Eddy seemingly out of action for a bit, due to the impact, Benoit comes running back towards Wight and nails him on the chest with four backhand chops. Once again, however, The Great doesn't seem to be too affected by the shots he's taking. He grabs The Rabid Wolvering by his neck and lifts him up off the ground, but Benoit shocks everybody when he uses the chokeslam to his advantage, grabbing a hold of Wight's arm and using his momentum to carry him down and lock in the Crippler Crossface!

Jim Ross: " Textbook reversal by Benoit, King! "

Benoit has the Crossface locked in, and Wight seems to be in a world of hurt, screaming from the pain. The Wolverine seems to have the big man in a terrible predicament, as there are no rope breaks in the royal rumble, and he could end up seriously hurt if the maneuver is locked in for so long. Meanwhile, Eddy Guerrero gets back up to his feet, and, noticing the situation, he climbs out to the apron and to the top rope closest to the action. He takes a moment to get the crowd involved from the turnbuckle, then leaps off for a Frog Splash. Paul Wight notices Guerrero's intentions, and uses every inch of strength he had left to push himself and Benoit forward, forcing Guerrero to land on both men and not only on Wight, and forcing Benoit to release the hold. The impact puts all three men down, and the countdown starts again.

Cage comes walking out to the ramp with his always-so-cocky smile, loving the negative reaction he's hearing from the crowd.

Jim Ross: " You've gotta' hand it to Christian Cage, King, this guy's been on a path to success ever since the infamous SPLIT of Sex and Steele. "

Jerry "The King" Lawler: " No doubt about it, JR, he's a sleeper coming into this match, and I wouldn't sleep on Hardcastle, either. "

Jim Ross: " Well, trust me, that ain't gonna' happen as long as WCCW has something to do with it, the Big Gold's not goin' back to Calgary. "

Jerry "The King" Lawler: " ... That's because it's destined to come to Memphis! "

Jim Ross: " Oh, please. "

Upon noticing the weak conditions of the other three competitors currently in the match, Christian sprints down to the ring and tries to take advantage of them at the best of his abilities. He grabs a hold of Guerrero and gets him up on his feet, locking him in for an unprettier. Eddy quickly fights back and pushes Cage into the ropes, catching him on the way back with a beautiful dropkick. Guerrero grabs Christian up off the mat by his head, and swings towards the outside, but Cage nicely rolls through and counters, tossing Guerrero over the top rope. Eddy manages to land on the apron for a second time tonight, this time, though, he looks to be hanging on by a thread as he grasps the top rope with all of his strength as his feet are nearly touching the floor.

Jerry "The King" Lawler: " Looks like we might have our very first elimination, JR! "

Christian Cage, as usual, lets his arrogance get the best of him, as he starts celebrating Eddy's elimination before it even officially happens. Guerrero takes the opportunity to flip himself back into the ring, where he curls up into a ball and rests near the turnbuckle. By this point, Benoit is back up on his feet. The Wolverine catches Cage by surprise as he locks his arms around him in from behind and delivers a single release german suplex. Benoit takes a second to look around, and notices that he's the only man standing in the ring, as Eddy, Cage, and Wight are all still trying to recover from the action. After looking around for a few seconds, Benoit signals for the end with a "cut throat." and starts walking towards the turnbuckle.

Jim Ross: " Where's he goin', King!? "

Jerry "The King" Lawler: " He's going to the top! "

Benoit makes it to the top rope and looks around to decide who is target is going to be. Just before he leaps off, the countdown starts once again.

Benoit jumps off and nails Paul Wight with a swandive headbutt, re-assuring that the big man's agony would continue and that he would be kept out of action for as long as possible. Then, the crowd turned to the titantron as the countdown neared the end.

Jim Ross: " IT'S ONE OF YER OWN, KING! "

Jerry "The King" Lawler: " Damn luck of the draw! I've got faith in Matt, though, let me tell ya'. He knows ALLLL about overcoming the odds. Matter of fact, he had to defeat the Music City MASTODON, Mable, just to get here! "

Jim Ross: " Don't get too excited, King, if Hardy even stands a CHANCE of lastin' in this match.. it's 'cause no WCCW wrestler is out there yet. I know how y'all do it in Memphis, don't get me wrong, but it sure ain't nothin' like Texas. "

Lawler ignores the comment and the focus is back on the ring, where Benoit and Eddy Guerrero are now both up, and are trying to work together to get a very weak Paul Wight out of the ring. Meanwhile, Hardy slips right in and tries to blend in with the pack, throwing Christian Cage into the corner and starting a fight of his own against one half of the most popular tag team in Calgary. Benoit and Guerrero seem to be on a mission to get Wight out of the ring, as they have him pinned against the ropes, and are both pushing with every inch of strength they have, Benoit near his upper body, and Eddy by his legs.

Jerry "The King" Lawler: " Are they crazy? There's no WAY they're gonna' be able to lift something THAT big. "

It appears that Lawler is right. Despite the obvious efforts, it seems like an impossible task to lift "The Great" Wight over the top rope. Angered by the results, both Benoit and Guerrero start unleashing a series of chops and punches to the head of the big man, continuining to push him towards the ropes, where Wight seems to now have found some sort of comfort leaning between the middle and top rope, taking hits from ILA's finest. Meanwhile, Hardy and Cage continue their little brawl in the top left corner of the screen, going back and forth, exchanging all sorts of strikes to each other's upper bodies. Here, the match hit a somewhat boring point, and the crowd's excitement hit its lowest point. Fast forward about a minute, and the countdown is once again taking up the entire titantron.

Jerry "The King" Lawler: " I've got a feeling this is gonna' be someone HUGE, JR. "

Jim Ross: " Bah' gawd, King, you were right! "

Jerry "The King" Lawler: " Ha ha! I told you. "

A huge entrant, in fact, especially in size, the recently crowned ECW champion, Baldo The Destroyer, comes power walking down to the ring, but doesn't catch the attention of any of the competitors in the ring. He enters freely and has a moment to choose who he'd like to attack. With almost no hesitation, Baldo breaks up the on-going brawl between Guerrero/Benoit and Paul Wight, apparently coming to the aid of "The Great" by knocking Eddy out unconscious with a yakuza kick, then following up by catching a running Benoit with a Baldo Bomb right in the middle of the ring. Wight takes this chance to finally regain some of his energy, and starts pulling himself up using the top rope for leverage. However, just when it seems like Wight is finally going to start taking control of this match, Baldo turns towards him and charges with all he's got, clothelining him right over the top rope and to the outside! The giant hits the floor with both of his feet, and by the look on his face, and the crowd's reaction, you can easily tell that this isn't something he was expecting to happen so early, if at all.

Jim Ross: " I CAN'T BELIEVE IT, KING, HE'S GONE! The biggest man in the rumble, a former two-time NWA Heavyweight Champion... and he's the first one out. "

Jerry "The King" Lawler: " Just like THAT. Benoit and Guerrero couldn't do it in ten minutes, Baldo did it in ONE. "

Jim Ross: " I am just shocked to see Paul Wight be the first man to get ELIMINATED. "

Jerry "The King" Lawler: " Well... that's just the way things go sometimes. "

Wight is obviously unhappy about what just transpired in the ring, but he seems to be taking out his aggression on the wrong person, one of the referees out at ringside. After his short burst of anger, Wight walks back up the ramp for the ultimate walk of shame, and you can tell by the look in his eyes that he is definitely disappointed about his performance here so far, and most of the credit for that HAS to be given to The Rabid Wolverine. Back in the ring, Baldo is still pumped up from Wight's eliminaiton, and tries to keep his momentum going by grabbing Matt Hardy from behind by his hair, and tossing him in the direction of the ropes.

Jerry "The King" Lawler: " Not like this! "

Luckily for Lawler, and MCW's chances, Hardy doesn't go over, but instead bounces on the ropes and falls back down to the mat. Meanwhile, Eddy manages to climb up to the top rope, undetected by the competition. He waits for the right moment, then jumps off and nails The Destroyer with a missile dropkick. He springs back up to his feet and hits a standing dropkick on Christian Cage before pounding on his chest and shouting something in mexican to get the crowd behind him.

Jim Ross: " Listen to this capacity crowd, King, they love him! "

Jerry "The King" Lawler: " Yeah, and for what reason, I don't know. "

Eddy looks to capitalize on his momentum, and grabs Matt Hardy off the ground. Hardy seems to be a likeable target because of his long hair and the ease that his opponents have to grab him by it. Eddy then pushes forward towards the ropes, but Hardy inables him to throw him out by countering the attempt with a backdrop.

One of Honolulu's most popular stars, Rocky, comes running out to the ramp, all oiled up and ready to compete. With the cameras focusing on Rocky's entrance, however, we are unable to see what's happening in the ring.

Jerry "The King" Lawler: " NO! HANG ON, MATT! "

The cameras switch back to the squared circle, where we only catch the end of Matt Hardy's elimination, as he's pushed over the top rope by Chris Benoit. An instant replay shows that Benoit surprised Matt Hardy from behind, near the ropes, and simply tossed him over.

Jim Ross: " ... He's outta' here, King. How do ya' like THAT!? "

Rocky passes by an angry Hardy and slows down for a moment, before heading into the ring and taking everyone by storm with his fresh energy. He blocks a right hand from Cage and unleashes a flurry of shots of his own, sending Christian down. Baldo spins him around, but has his right hand blocked as well, and he's also nailed with a series of Rocky's signature punches. To capitalize on his effort, Johnson runs towards the ropes and clothelines The Destroyer down.

Jerry "The King" Lawler: " Rocky's on FIRE! "

Guerrero finally puts an end to Rocky's mean streak, flipping him around, kicking him in the gut, and lifting him off the ground for a brainbuster. Rocky rolls through and lands behind Eddy, then grabs him by his hair with his right hand and charges towards the ropes, tossing Guerrero over the top, but once again, only on to the apron. Johnson notices immediately, and sprints back towards his opponent, but Eddy catches him with a shoulder block through the ropes. Benoit notices the situation, but also sees it as an opportunity to eliminate another contestant. He heads towards Eddy, and surprisingly aids Rocky in trying to eliminate his fellow ILA superstar.

Jim Ross: " Benoit's going after his only ally in this match, King! "

Jerry "The King" Lawler: " Shows what kind of teamwork Konnan teaches those guys in Mexico, huh? I'll tell you one thing, you'd NEVER see this done in Memphis. "

Jim Ross: " Well, us Texans stick together pretty well ourselves. "

Benoit and Rocky start pushing a weakened Eddy, who seems to be barely hanging on, clasping the top rope with both of his hands and constantly looking behind him to see how close he is to the ground. Just when things started to look back for Latino Heat, Christian Cage hits Benoit from behind with a double axe handle and Eddy's given a chance to slide back into the ring to catch his breath. The action slows down for a bit here. Guerrero, Rocky, and Baldo all take a short break from the action, while Christian Cage stomps on Rocky Johnson in the bottom right corner of the screen. Then, the countdown begins again.

NWA: Motor City's first entrant in the rumble, Raven, makes his way out to the the ramp with a steel chair in hand. The officials try to stop Raven from bringing a foreign object into the ring, but they were obviously crazy in thinking that he'd comply. Raven slides under the bottom rope and enters the ring. He waits for someone else to attack him first. To no surprise, Raven's former stable-mate from his ECW days, Baldo The Destroyer, is the first to strike, and also the first to be caught by a hard shot on the head with that steel chair.

Jim Ross: " This isn't right, King. I hate these motor city goons. "

Christian Cage charges towards Raven as well, but he also eats a stiff chair shot right to the head. Just seconds after nailing Cage, Raven is spun around by Chris Benoit, who pulls the steel chair away from him and tosses it to the outside. He kicks Raven in the gut, then follows that up with a snap suplex. All of a sudden, Eddy Guerrero comes sprinting towards Benoit out of nowhere. He grabs him by his head and tights and throws him at full force into the ropes. The Wolverine goes right over, but refuses to let go of the top rope with his right hand, and eventually pulls himself up to the apron.

Jerry "The King" Lawler: " How many times is that gonna' happen, JR? .. I guess that luchadore style really helps in a match like this. "

Raven takes advantage of the situation, spinning Eddy around and planting him in the middle of the ring with the Evenflow DDT. The Motor City star looks around for a second to see that every other competitor in the match is either knocked out or regaining energy in a corner, and stretches out his arms for his signature taunt. He then stomps his way towards Rocky and grabs him up by his head. He pushes him into the turnbuckle, then grabs him by the inside of his thigh and starts trying to push him over the turnbuckle and to the outside. Unable to get the job done, Raven throws in some quick strikes to weaken Rocky's mid-section nand aid towards the elimination, but to no avail. As Rocky starts fighting back, everyone seems to be regaining consciousness and getting back up. The confusion leaves Raven alone for just a second, and allows him to undetectedly crawl up into the corner and grab something from underneath the ring with just one hand. The clock counts down again.

Full of energy, Jeff Hardy comes sprinting down to the ring and slides in at an incredibly fast speed. He starts attacking everyone in sight with right hand after right hand, but it appears that he's entered this match at the wrong time. After nailing every competitor in this match with a right hand, he swung at Raven, who opened up his hand and threw some kind of a powder or flour in Jeff Hardy's eyes, blinding him completely. Hardy starts swinging carelessly to emphasize the severity of the powder attack, which allows Raven to pick him up by his pants with his left hand and by his hair with his right, and toss him right over the top rope and to the outside. An unfortunate early couple of eliminations for both Hardy Boyz.

Jim Ross: " Are you kiddin' me? That can't be legal. "

Jerry "The King" Lawler: " OF COURSE that's not legal, but who's gonna' call it on him? Are you? "

Jim Ross: " Yer damn right I am. "

JR takes his headset off and stands at the announce table, showing a lot of courage by shouting at Raven. Before too long, Raven actually hears JR's voice and turns his attenion towards wrestling's favor commentator, shouting some insults his way also. Lawler tries to talk some sense into his partner.

Jerry "The King" Lawler: " Oh will you sit down! "

Ross ignores Lawler's advice and continues to shout at Raven, letting him know that he isn't pleased about the way he eliminated Jeff Hardy just a few moments ago. Eventually, JR would prove to be a huge distraction for Raven. Baldo takes the opportunity to grab him from behind and throw him towards the ropes. Half of Raven's body goes over, but the bottom half stays in and allows him to push himself back into the ring. Baldo walks over and chokes him out with his foot near the bottom rope. Meanwhile, Benoit and Guerrero seem to be back on the same page, as they work together on Christian Cage. Rocky interrupts them and starts brawling with Benoit. All of a sudden, in the middle of a dead moment, Baldo picks Raven up by his neck, in the same position he'd have him in for a Baldo Bomb. He lifts him up and starts heading towards the bottom right turnbuckle. Once he reaches it, he pushes Raven against the ropes and tries to drop him over the top. Raven fights back by kicking his legs around a bit. The countdown begins once again as Raven is almost eliminated.

Before the next entrant could even come in, Raven is eliminated by Baldo, who manages to push him over with that choke hold. After the elimination, the clock is nearly down to the end, and Baldo is flexing and taunting the crowd as he's just eliminated his former mentor, and the second man tonight.

As the clock finally reaches the end, a familiar music plays on the PA, and JR stands up at the announce table, as he knows who's making his way out to the ring.

The WCCW Heavyweight Champion, and one of the favorites to win this match, "Mean" Mark Callous, comes confidently walking out to the ramp.

Jim Ross: " HERE WE GO, KING, BUSINESS IS ABOUT TO PICK UP. "

Jerry "The King" Lawler: " Sit down, will ya'? You keep getting up, it's making me feel weird. "

JR hypes Callous for his entire walk up the ramp. Then, Callous finally arrives to the ring and interrupts Baldo's celebration early. Immediately upon entering, Callous goes right after ECW's big man, knocking him around with a series of right hands. He's interrupted by Christian Cage from behind, but Callous easily shakes him off and grabs a hold of him by his head. Then, he effortlessly tosses him towards the ropes and sends him flying over with ease.

The crowd can feel the momentum swinging all the way in Callous's direction. He heads back in Baldo's direction, but is once again stopped from taking him out, this time by Rocky Johnson. Rocky turns Callous around and starts nailing him on the head with his signature right hands. The shots seem to be doing more damage to Rocky than to Callous, and are only making the WCCW champion angrier. Rocky then runs to the ropes and charges towards Callous, but gets caught with a big boot to the head. Eddy Guerrero comes out of nowhere and jumps on Callous's back, holding him into a headlock and wrapping his legs around him. Callous doesn't seem to get too worried, though, and simply drops back and lands on Guerrero, forcing him to release the hold. Benoit comes to the aid of his friend, but Callous gets right back up and kicks The Wolverine in the gut, then places his head in between his legs and nails him with a Last Ride.

Jim Ross: " He's takin' everyone out, King! "

Jerry "The King" Lawler: " Not everyone. "

Baldo found himself free because of the various distractions for Callous, and approaches him from behind. He grabs him by his hair with one hand and tosses him towards the ropes with all of his strength. Surprisingly, Callous stomps on the ground and doesn't go very far off of The Destroyer's throw. He angrily turns his head back in Baldo's direction and points at him. For the first time tonight, and possibly in his career, Baldo seems to be begging his opponent to spare him. To no surprise, Callous doesn't listen, or care. He walks towards the bigger Baldo and starts nailing him with a series of very hard, close fisted right hands. He continues to punch him until he backs him into the ropes. Then, he shows great awareness by sliding out of the way at the last second when he notices Chris Benoit running at full speed behind him. Benoit leaps and ends up nailing Baldo right on the head with a flying forearm, which sends him reeling back, bending backwards over the top rope, but trying desperately to stay in.

The crowd doesn't really pay attention to the countdown. Callous big boots Baldo as he was fighting to stay in and flips him over the top rope.

Jim Ross: " Here's the young guy from LA, King, one of the breakout stars of 2008, John Cena. But I don't envy him ONE BIT, havin' to go into that ring with a MEAN Mark Callous. "

Jerry "The King" Lawler: " I can't believe I'm saying this, but the way Callous is tossing guys over the top right now, I wouldn't wanna' be him either. "

Cena comes sprinting down to the ring, full of energy, but doesn't really know what he's getting himself into. He steps in a ring that's being owned by Mark Callous and tries to stay out of the big man's way, starting a brawl with Rocky Johnson in the corner. Meanwhile, Callous continues on to go on an absolute tear. He grabs Chris Benoit by his neck with one hand and drags him towards the ropes, where he lifts him up and tries to drop him over with a chokeslam. Eddy Guerrero comes rushing over to the aid of his friend and dropkicks Callous's knees, forcing him to release the hold and bring Benoit back into the ring. Somehow, though, Callous grabs a hold of Benoit's neck once again from one knee, then stands up and grabs a hold of Eddy's neck with the other hand.

Jim Ross: " Bah' gawd, he's gonna' send 'em both over! "

Eddy and Benoit counter by each kicking Callous's gut, then running to the ropes for extra speed and catching him with a double shoulder block. The crowd erupts as Callous has finally been taken down. Then, all of a sudden, Eddy Guerrero shockingly turns on his fellow ILA superstar and best friend, Chris Benoit. He grabs waits for the perfect moment to grab him by his head and tights and quickly throws him right over the top rope and to the outside. It all happened so fast that Benoit and the crowd are still a bit stunned to even realize that the elimination had occured. Eddy shrugs in the ring, trying to justify himself to Benoit.

After a slow start, it seems like the eliminations are starting to come pretty quickly. Benoit is obviously upset at ringside as he walks away, and Eddy seems to be feeling a lot of regret in the ring. Guerrero tries to shout some apologies to Benoit, but doesn't realize that Mark Callous has gotten back to his feet and is impatiently waiting for Latino Heat to turn around. Once Eddy does, Callous comes forward with his right hand and grabs Eddy's neck. He drags him towards the ropes, and with the aid of his left, he lifts Guerrero up and over the top, chokeslamming him down to the padded part of the floor on the outside, but eliminating him in the process.

Callous notices that Rocky Johnson and John Cena are having their little brawl near the ropes, with Cena trying to lift Rocky up over the top rope by the inside of his thigh. The WCCW champ stomps towards the duo and takes the crowd by surprise again when he grabs the back of Cena's thigh and lifts him up with enough strength to carry him AND Rocky over the top rope, eliminating both of them. The clock starts counting down once again.

All of a sudden, Mean Mark Callous is the only man left in a ring that was just packed with NWA superstars. He fixes his leather glove as he waits for the next entrant to make his way out to the ring.

Jim Ross: " You're looking at the next NWA Heavyweight Champion, King. "

Jerry "The King" Lawler: " There's still a long way to go, JR, and A LOT of guys who can take Callous down. I'm not worried. "

Jerry "The King" Lawler: " HERE WE GO, JR, IT'S MEMPHIS... VERSUS TEXAS. I TOLD you not to get too excited. There's no WAY Callous can lift The Mastodon over the top rope. "

Jim Ross: " If I remember correctly, you said the same thing about Baldo The Destroyer, and what happened to him? "

Jerry "The King" Lawler: " Are you comparing MY Mable to that.. useless piece of lard of Baldo. "

Jim Ross: " I believe I am. "

Before JR and King's argument could get out of hand, there's action in the ring to follow. Mable enters by climbing over the top rope, and both men are staring each other down in the middle of the ring, sizing each other up. Finally, Callous swings the first punch, but Mable answers right back and the two start exchanging hard shots in the middle of the ring. Mable has the best of the encounter and irish whips Callous across the ring, but Mean Mark comes flying at him with a clotheline on the way back and knocks The Music City Mastodon down on his huge ass for a massive thump that's heard throughout the arena.

Jim Ross: " YES! "

Callous gets a bit too cocky after he's able to knock down the Mastodon, and picks the big man back up to his feet. He drags him to the ropes and firmly grabs his neck with his right hand in position for a chokeslam. Obviously, Mable was too big to be lifted up by Callous's sole right hand, and the attempt at an elimination is failed miserably. Mable turns the momentum around with a couple of hard chops to the back of Callous's head, and manages to find a way to push him into the ropes to start unloading a series of hard back and forehand chops to the chest. The Mastodon has all of a sudden swung the momentum his way, and is starting to lay down a massive beating on "Mean" Mark Callous.

Jerry "The King" Lawler: " Here you go, JR, how do you like that? "

Jim Ross: " I don't! I don't like it! "

Mable has Callous pushed back first against the ropes, gripping the top rope in desperation. The clock starts ticking down again, catching Mable's attention for a second.

The distraction allows Callous to try and fight back, hitting Mable with two right hands, but The Mastodon answered right back with a hard knee to the gut that sends Callous back into the ropes again. This time, howevever, Mable looks to capitalize on the opportunity. He runs across the ring to the opposite ropes and sprints towards Callous at the fastest speed anyone's probably ever seen him move. The crowd stands in anticipation of a big moment, and they aren't disappointed.

Mable shocks everybody by leaping off the ground at a surprisingly high angle in the direction of Callous, who out-smarts the big man and lies down, pulling the top rope down and forcing Mable to go flying to the outside for a MASSIVE drop. Once again, out of nowhere, Mark Callous is the only man in the ring.

Jim Ross: " YES! Texas prevails AGAIN, King. "

Jerry "The King" Lawler: " ...... "

Jim Ross: " What happened? Cat got yer tongue!? "

Jerry "The King" Lawler: " I'm just... I'm speechless. Maybe I should've put my son in this match. "

Jim Ross: " Size doesn't always matter, King! Maybe you SHOULD have. "

As the intense moment between JR and King is put on hold, the next entrant is revealed. The music isn't a very familiar one, but the crowd erupts at the sight of yet another massive individual walking through the ramp.

Just by looking at Callous's expression, it's easy to tell that he's not pleased to see yet another man that has a size advantage on him. Sapp walks to the ring like a man on a mission. He steps in and immediately starts unleashing hard right after hard right to Callous, eventually knocking him down with a powerful lariat. The crowd surprisingly erupted into a "Sapp!" chant as he completely dominates Callous and capitalizes on a series of strikes with a nice powerslam.

Jim Ross: " Let me give you a statistic to think about, King. Mark Callous has 6 of the 11 eliminations so far in the royal rumble. "

Jerry "The King" Lawler: " Well let me give you something to think about - Bob Sapp is man handling Mark Callous right now. "

Jim Ross: " Isn't that what MABLE was doing when he got his ass thrown... right over the top rope!? "

That obviously shuts Lawler up right away. Back in the ring, Bob Sapp signals to the crowd that he's getting ready to eliminate Callous as he points to the outside and gets the crowd chanting "Sapp!" again. The HCW champion wastes no time and picks Callous right up by his head. He drags him towards the ropes, then grabs his head with both of his hands and starts charging backwards towards the ropes opposite to him and with a tight grip on Callous's head. Just when they were about to reach the ropes, Mark Callous outsmarts his opponent and counters the attempt by hooking Sapp's legs up and putting him in a scoop slam position by the ropes. The momentum Sapp had used to carry him all the way there already put him in a tough position, and now Callous holds him in perfect position for a scoop slam over the top rope. He toys with the crowd for a little, but eventually drops Sapp right over the top rope and eliminates him before dropping back down to the ground himself, obviously hurting from having to lift some huge bodies here already.

Callous lays in the ring as he actually has some time to recover before the next person comes out. At this point, Jerry Lawler stood up at the announce table and started shouting at Callous, with JR shouting in his ear.

Jerry "The King" Lawler: " Is somebody gonna' kick this guy's ass or am I gonna' have to go in there and do it myself!? "

Jim Ross: " YOU MUST BE OUTTA' YER MIND! "

Callous hears Lawler's words, and despite his lack of energy, he springs up off the ground and turns his attention to Memphis's cornerstone. The two start trading insults , and Lawler takes his headset off and puts his guard up, challenging Callous to a fight. The crowd surprisingly gets into it and starts backing up Lawler with some "MEMPHIS!" chants. This sets Callous off and makes him slide under the bottom rope and to the outside. He confidently walks right over to the announce table, and is standing directly in front of Jerry Lawler for a heated staredown. Lawler's cocky smile shows a lot of courage, and distracts Mark Callous from noticing that the clock is ticking down behind him.

#BOOM#

The pyros set off and out comes a very respected wrestler, but a huge underdog in this type of match..

Mark Callous turns away from Jerry Lawler and looks up at the ramp from the announce table, smiling as he listens to Mysterio's music... but can't seem to get a clear view of him from that far. He heads back into the ring and tries to look from a closer position, even squinting. Before he could even realize that Rey wasn't on the ramp, the crowd is erupting when Mysterio shows up right behind Callous going full speed and catching him with a dropkick to the back that sends him flying into the second rope, setting himself up for Rey to hit a beautiful 619 that sends Callous reeling back. The crowd is going crazy for ILA's only wrestler left, and the smallest man in the rumble, stepping up and taking down the dominant "Mean" Mark Callous.

Jerry "The King" Lawler: " Go Rey! Wouldn't it be something to see "Mean" Mark Callous get eliminated by Rey Mysterio! You gotta' love those luchadores sometimes. "

JR's anger shows just by the sole fact that he doesn't reply to Lawler's comment. Meanwhile, Rey Mysterio climbs up to the top rope and doesn't hesitate to leap off and nail Mark Callous with a fantastic corkscrew swanton bomb. Mysterio gets carried away with his momentum and picks Callous up by his head, trying to throw him into the ropes, but to no avail. Callous doesn't even move, and Mysterio notices that he's gotten himself into some trouble. Callous grabs Rey's mask and tosses him towards the outside with one hand, turning his back to him and raising his arm up in victory. Mysterio, however, hangs on to the top rope and slides himself back to the apron and inside the ring. Callouss confidently raises his arm, obviously thinking that he's eliminated Mysterio. The crowd, however, got quite loud and allowed Callous to realize that Rey had somehow hung on. Frustrated, Mark high stepped all the way to Mysterio, and choked him against the turnbuckle while trying to give a bit of a push to get him over the top. Rey somehow manages to hang on for dear life without being eliminated quickly by the bigger man.

As we approach the half way mark, JR and King give a run down of what's left to come in the second half of this rumble.

Jim Ross: " There's Rob Van Dam, the second representative of the Motor City, King. "

Jerry "The King" Lawler: " Enough about Motor City, JR. Let me give you something to think about - we're half way through the rumble, and we haven't seen a SINGLE participant from Ric Flair Promotions yet. I think I smell something fishy. "

Jim Ross: " I'll have ta' agree with you there, King, I wouldn't be surprised if that maniac of Flair paid off JJ Dillon to help out his chances! He must'a known that he wouldn't have a SHOT in hell of winnin' this match, ESPECIALLY the way Mark Callous is fightin' right now. "

RVD comes running down to the ring in a hurry, and immediately upon entering, he helps Mysterio out by getting Mark Callous off his back with a couple of his trademark punches. After a short flurry, though, Van Dam is taken out by a big boot from the texan.

Jim Ross: " THIS IS JUST A GOOD OLE' FASHIONED SLOBBER KNOCKER. "

Jerry "The King" Lawler: " ... What? "

Jim Ross: " ... It's a texas thing, you wouldn't git it. "

After failing to eliminate Mysterio, Callous set his sights on taking RVD out of the competition. Once again, however, the texan was unable to get the job done, as Van Dam used his great athleticism to hang on to the ropes as Callous was on the verge of pushing him over. Although he is still dominating the match at this point, Callous is visibly frustrated with the fact that he's been unable to eliminate two of his smallest opponents thus far in Van Dam and Mysterio. As Callous continues to toy around with them and beat them around the ring, the countdown begins again.

Jerry "The King" Lawler: " They must've heard us from the back, JR, they don't wanna' make it seem too suspicious. "

Jim Ross: " Well I'll tell ya' what.. this is their most dangerous guy, in my opinion. "

Jerry "The King" Lawler: " Are you kidding me? JR.. take it from a guy who's been in that ring quite a few times.. STING is their most dangerous guy, alright? "

Orton comes sprinting down to the ring and all of a sudden, there's four people inside the squared circle again, and the tables have quickly turned on Callous, who finds himself getting triple teamed by the younger and fresher participants and gets laid out by a spinning heel kick from RVD, followed by an RKO from Orton. At this point, all three men agree to lift the big man up and throw him over the top in a joined effort. With no hesitation, the trio picks Mark Callous off the ground and pushes him into the ropes, with Van Dam and Mysterio on his sides, and with Orton pushing from behind to try and lift him over. JR nearly has a seizure at ringside, shouting at Callous to attempt to ignite the spark back in him and save him from a sure elimination. With a sudden burst of energy, Callous elbows Mysterio off of him, then punches Van Dam to the ground, and starts exchanging shots with RFP's third generation superstar. He grabs him by the neck, looking for a chokeslam, but Orton counters and hits an RKO out of nowhere. All of a sudden, Mark Callous is down once again, as he finds himself at the receiving end of a second RKO from Orton in short time. Before Randy could even try to eliminate Callous, Van Dam interrupts and starts brawling with him, and the clock counts down again.

Jim Ross: " BAH GAWD, King, that's one BIG man. "

Jerry "The King" Lawler: " Let's see how long Mark Callous lasts NOW. "

Jim Ross: " I don't think he's got Mark Callous on his mind right now. Don't forget this guy's got some pretty brutal history with Randy Orton. "

Just as JR finishes saying that, Batista is in the ring and going right after Randy Orton with no hesitation, pushing Van Dam out of his way and knocking The Legend Killer around with a series of shots followed by a brutal spinebuster. He gives the crowd the thumbs down and signals for the sitout powerbomb, but is interruptd by an angered RVD, who starts hitting him over the head with some forearms. Van Dam pushes Batista back towards the ropes and runs to the opposite side of the ring, charging towards him and looking for an elimination. Batista, however, bends down and lifts Van Dam up as he approaches him, tossing him over the top easily.

Batista is visibly pumped up after getting his first elimination, and he goes right back after the rival Orton with incredibly fury, while Mysterio and Batista recover. After a short brawl, Batista set his sights on eliminating Orton, but the young gun was smart (and cheap) enough to ruin Batista's momentum with an eye rake. He looked for another RKO, this time on Batista, but the big man pushed him away before the move could be landed. By now, Mark Callous is back up to his feet, and he starts unleashing a series of hard rights to the face of TWE's former heavyweight champion.

Jim Ross: " Finally! It's the clash of the titans. "

Before long, Batista answered back with some shots of his own, and this became a full out brawl between the two.