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Post by randomone on Nov 22, 2018 10:07:22 GMT -6
Surprise, jerks! I've been working on this for a bit & it's going to be like every other Countdown and will conclude on the night of the Rumble next year. I'm going to rank every World Title match from worst to first (ECW excluded), then do the same with every Royal Rumble match. The plan originally was to rank every Rumble match in history, but there are more pointless matches on a Rumble card it seems than even WrestleMania, so I decided to cut it back just a little in that regard. Anyways, hope you enjoy & hope this starts some debate. So get that Casio 10 second clock running, get ready to countdown & in your best Vince McMahon voice, say it loud "IT'S TIME TO RUMBLE!! IT'S TIME...FOR THE ROYAL RUMBLE!!!!"
39. Kurt Angle vs Mark Henry (06) So this gets the worst World Title spot due to not only the placement, but the pairing, the finish, everything. It was a really bad match that, for some reason, was the main event of the 2006 Rumble. Well, the reason was due to the return of The Undertaker, who came back on a horse drawn carriage, as he then proceeded to make the ring collapse to end the show. This was more about the post match than the actual match, but the actual match ended when Angle hit a school boy on Henry to win, what a horse shit ending (little did we know an actual horse would be coming down the aisle soon, that’s some sad irony there). I know they were I guess trying to keep Henry strong as it was sort of a lucky win for Kurt. Just not good all around. Then again, it did set up Kurt vs Taker the next month, which ruled, so there’s that.
38. Scott Steiner vs Triple H (03) So obviously this is the most memorable in terms of worst World title matches, but the reason I didn’t put it last was because it’s so comically bad, it’s still incredibly watchable. Steiner was gassed quick and stuck to what he knew, suplexes, that’s…about…it. It says something when the crowd turns on you and is seemingly rooting for….Triple H, in 2003!! What baffles me even more was they decided to do this again next month. It’s like they stuck with the “if first you don’t succeed, try, try again.” Yeah, that didn’t work either. We were at a snail’s pace for nearly 20 minutes, only to get a DQ finish, which I would usually be more annoyed, but let’s face it; I couldn’t imagine them putting the title on this version of Scott Steiner. This is just brutal to watch, but entertaining simply from a train wreck standpoint.
37. Brock Lesnar vs Hardcore Holly (04) So the reason this match happened, was Brock botched a powerbomb the year prior and broke Holly’s neck. That’s what it took to get Bob Holly a World Title shot, a broken neck. It’s sad this was his only shot, but this match was very slow & boring, with the exception of the brawling early & the hot start from Holly. Aside from that, it was rest holds until Brock came back & hit his finish for the win. This was a Smackdown match without the commercial break. It just seems odd looking back on this as Brock’s run was winding down and a 6 minute match with Hardcore was in his last 3 PPV matches. Thank goodness for that good match the following month with Eddie, because the Mania match, as we know, was also a giant stinker.
36. Undertaker vs Yokozuna (94) If you asked me to make this list when I was a kid, I’d rank this so friggin high. I thought this was the coolest thing ever as a 7 year old. I didn’t care one second about the actual wrestling, I watched the Undertaker get essentially murdered by all these bad guys, the urn gets popped open, green smoke blew out, then a lightning bolt hit a casket (first time they’d done that), then The Undertaker resurrected!! Cut to 2018 and I’m 31, this was just silly & goofy. The match was a whole bunch of nothing, but Taker was so over & Yoko was such a despised heel, that no one cared. There’s absolutely nothing noteworthy about the wrestling match, it’s all about The Headshrinkers, Kabuki, Tenryu, Adam Bomb, Crush, Jeff Jarrett, Diesel, Bam Bam all coming to the ring & beating up Taker, this begs the question WHERE THE HELL WERE THE GOOD GUYS??? Visually awesome as a kid, but the sheer goofiness looking back, I can’t rank it any higher.
35. Kurt Angle vs Big Show vs JBL (05) By this point in the never ending JBL title reign, I was over it. I liked it at the start, liked he was this dick heel always lucking out with wins, whether it be against Eddie, Undertaker, Booker T, all 3 of them combined, you name it. This just felt like them throwing out the last remaining top stars on the brand to have JBL luck into another win against. It seemed like they were just spinning wheels trying to get to Mania and Cena. This was your stereotypical triple threat, but worked Big Show’s size into it, however his comeback wasn’t all that impressive. You then add in the Bashams, Mark Jindrak, Luther Reigns, Orlando Jordan, all interfering in separate spots & it’s just like enough already. The match itself didn’t suck, it was just Kurt was a heel and needed his running buddies involved, then JBL needed his Cabinet, it’s just too much.
34. Sheamus vs Randy Orton (10) So this one was a snoozer as Sheamus was still super new to the main roster & was fresh off his World Title win over Cena the previous month. Orton was in this weird limbo as he was getting a babyface pop, but he was also a heel. It’s boring rest holds that suck the wind out of this thing quick and it’s from both guys. It’s a weird dynamic as usually a heel slaps on a rest hold to draw heat from the crowd and let the babyface build a comeback, but both are heels so we get more rest holds than usual. We get a Cody Rhodes run in to lead to the weak ass DQ finish as Orton was about to win with the RKO. The super slow pace really brought this match down big time. Instead of letting Sheamus getting any sort of rub from this match, he looked like a dork. Orton would ultimately beat up Legacy, something that probably should’ve happened months prior.
33. Brock Lesnar vs Kane vs Braun Strowman (18) The problem with this triple threat was that no one gave a shit and it went too long, 11 minutes, which doesn’t seem that long, but when you consider what Brock matches have become and you consider the challengers, this could’ve gone 6 and I’d have been fine. It’s what you’d expect from 3 big dudes, brawling, finishers, kick outs, repeat until Brock pins Kane, someone who hasn’t had a meaningful match in years. I understand at this point and time not pinning Braun, but you aren’t going to get huge pops or shock when Brock pins Kane. This is exactly what you’d expect, which isn’t necessarily a good thing. I’m never going to dislike a brawl with finishers, but when you’ve seen it over & over again with Brock, it loses its entire appeal. Brock shows up once every few months now and even that feels like too much.
32. John Cena vs Edge (06) So the reason this match is up as high as it is (I know, it’s only 32) was because these two had great chemistry together & they could have a great match despite how annoyed I was at the result. 3 weeks prior Edge won the title from cashing in the MITB, thus ending Cena’s long & what had become hated reign by most fans. I was so happy when Edge won the title because despite being a Cena fan, I was over him winning every single time. In those 3 weeks Edge became such an arrogant prick, hell, he had a live sex celebration & drew a huge rating! Cut to the Rumble and Cena got this holier than thou entrance walking from the heavens on this stage to the ring, then Edge, the champ, kicked his ass for a majority of it, only for Super Cena to return and no sell all of it, lock in an STF for the….tap?? That was it??? Edge’s reign was 3 weeks? I was so angry that it made me dislike the Cena push even more, which I know is what they weren’t going for. It seemed like Edge winning was a palate cleanse, but it felt more like a place holder. The match was good, albeit short, just like Edge’s title reign. Luckily he had a longer one later & we’d get some great matches with these two. This night pissed me off though.
31. John Cena vs JBL (09) Arguably one of the dumbest angles they had done with HBK was when he admitted to making bad investments and became JBL’s employee to help him win the WWE Title from Cena. While the commitment Shawn had to this ludicrous storyline was admirable, it’s still so dumb, even for pro wrestling standards. The match though was exactly what you’d expect, dastardly heel coming within a hair of winning the title only to be denied at the very last moment. It wasn’t great, it wasn’t bad, it was right smack in the middle. Shawn hit Sweet Chin Music on both men, but placed JBL’s arm over Cena and left, thus sort of living up to his end of the bargain. Of course it’s Super Cena, so he kicked out, hit his finish and retained, but still. I just can’t get over the fact that Shawn Michaels, one of the most popular & successful wrestlers ever, fell on hard times & turned to…..JBL? That just feels weird to even type let alone watch play out on TV. This was the exact opposite of the Jericho/HBK feud from the previous year that had me glued to the TV watching how they’d advance the storyline week by week. This one was more of a please let this dumb storyline end soon. Luckily it did the following month where Shawn won his freedom back? Ugh.
30. Bret Hart vs Undertaker (96) With the exception of a few matches, I think it can be collectively agreed upon that 1996 was a pretty weak year for the WWF. Aside from maybe a MSG show in the early 90s, I don’t think these two had wrestled before, especially not on PPV, so you’d think this was going to be a pretty good match, but sadly, it wasn’t. This was so unbelievably boring & it disappoints me to write that. Taker obviously moves slow with the character, but it seemed even more so in this match. It’s weird the most notable thing of this match was Bret tearing off the Phantom mask of Taker, who was rocking it due to Mable smashing his face. This went 28 friggin minutes, moved at a glacial pace & it ends…..in a friggin DQ!! That should surprise no one since you had to keep both strong, but Diesel interfering could’ve happened 14 minutes in and it would’ve had the same effect. Why this went as long as it did just baffles me. This was a really boring snoozer between two of the all time greats. I guess sometimes it just doesn’t click under the circumstances. Obviously when these two wrestled at Summerslam 1997 it was much better, but we’re a long way from that at this show.
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Post by randomone on Nov 27, 2018 18:46:15 GMT -6
29. Batista vs Mr. Kennedy (07) This is kind of a weird one because this was an ok match, it’s just incredibly forgettable. This felt like a SD TV match without a commercial (I know I’ve said that already, it won’t be the last so strap in). Kennedy did everything you’d expect, piss off the babyface, cheat, pull out some near falls, only to ultimately get bulldozed by The Animal. What made this unique was the crowd turned towards the end & there’s loud Kennedy chants. Batista wasn’t doing anything wrong, he was still a very good babyface, but it’s just one of those cases where whatever happened in this one, there were chants for the heel. What made this match hurt a bit was the match prior was so unbelievably bad (Test vs Lashley) that it probably put the crowd in an ornery mood & they probably just wanted to throw a curveball with their chants. Batista won with his finish and you probably forgot all about this match.
28. The Miz vs Randy Orton (11) When Miz won the title on RAW from Orton, I popped huge because I’d followed him dating back to the Real World days, he was always entertaining, so to see him win the title was pretty awesome. With that said, Miz wasn’t a main event level guy & it showed in his matches, big time. Miz has no doubt improved immensely over time, but in early 2011, he simply wasn’t there yet and having this match go 20 minutes was a huge mistake IMO. I could see them wanting Miz to show he could hang, but this long of a match & at this slow of a pace, it just wasn’t working. Not to mention the finish was friggin awful considering how long the match went. Nexus boys ran out & got involved, leading to CM Punk to hit Orton with a GTS and putting Miz on top of him. Why did you need 20 minutes to get to that finish?
27. Daniel Bryan vs Mark Henry vs Big Show (12) Was there really anything better in WWE than heel overly hyped Daniel Bryan in 2012? After he won the title by cashing in MITB, he was as arrogant as ever, but the thing I loved was his character was totally oblivious to it. So you lock him in a cage with 2 monsters and you’d assume he’s screwed, but he obviously wasn’t. He was the only redeeming part of this match though as had this been just Show & Henry, it would’ve been brutal. Instead the monsters tried to catch the fly and ultimately Bryan avoided a chokeslam with a tornado DDT off the cage & after Henry got hit with a KO punch, the race to the top of the cage was on between Show & Bryan and you clearly know who won that one. Bryan fought his way out of Show’s clutches and retained in a relatively quick match, however it went the right time. It wasn’t anything special, but the character of Daniel Bryan made it work.
26. Alberto Del Rio vs Big Show (13) It’s odd that this Last Man Standing match was a result of Del Rio winning the title from Show a few weeks earlier on Smackdown in….a Last Man Standing match. Did they not want Show to get pinned, as if that would’ve made him weak? How long as Show been with the company up to this point? I digress, as the story of this one was like the one on SD, how in the hell would Del Rio ground the big man? This was your standard Last Man Standing match and I was completely fine with it. There’s one point where Del Rio got messed up badly when he smacked his head off the concrete in a pretty sick table spot. He somehow made it up at 9, knocked loopy I assume, but Ricardo interferes & gets the shit beat out of him long enough for Del Rio to regain his senses and starts waffling Show with chair shots. The crowd was into this as we then got the clever spot of taping Show’s feet to the bottom rope so much that he couldn’t get up. This was one of those rare circumstances where the WWE didn’t book their babyface as a moron. Del Rio outsmarted the giant & it resulted in a pretty damn entertaining match. Underrated Rumble opener.
25. Shawn Michaels vs Sid (97) Ok, so this match gets ranked in the Top 25 due solely for the build. You couldn’t have scripted a better one as Shawn lost the title to Sid at MSG, then the question was, could Shawn regain the title on his home turf, the Alamo Dome? Sid clocking Jose Lothario with a camera was done really well as they made you think it was this major heel move & checking on his mentor is what cost Shawn the title. So when the time came in this match where Shawn leveled Sid with a camera, then a superkick, it made sense, Sid had it coming. I know the match wasn’t anything special and their match at Survivor Series I liked a lot more, but the build was great. They had the camera on Shawn walking backstage then to the ring to a massive pop, then the pop when he won were great. I know this was a super predictable win, but sometimes that’s a good thing. Of course Shawn would ultimately lose his smile & Sid ended up with the title again within a month, but still, this change was perfect.
24. Randy Orton vs Triple H (05) This match suffered from the far too common theme of good match, crappy story. I still get annoyed that Orton won the title at Summerslam, to a huge pop, then Evolution turns the very next night. Why not build Trips’ hatred that Orton won the title, something he obsessed over, then snaps and turns? Instead Orton was treated as a joke from the start & he lost the title within a month. So when this rematch happened, I had a little hope that Randy would win the title back, but at this point lost a lot of his momentum as a babyface, so it wouldn’t have made sense, heel Orton, obviously is better. So let’s get to the story of the match, Randy was seemingly concussed, so it made him stagger around the ring & ultimately cost him the match. It just came off as stupid, as Trips would level Orton with a clothesline & pedigree to retain. If Orton was concussed & stumbling, why not stop the match? It’s just a weird story they told for an otherwise good match.
23. Undertaker vs Rey Mysterio (10) So this match was a lot of fun due to the contrasting styles & the fact that we didn’t get this match very often, something you couldn’t say about too many guys in WWE. Prior to this match, I only remember 1 other time Rey & Taker wrestled (could be more, not sure), so I was actually really looking forward to this one when they announced it. I liked that it wasn’t a squash & Rey got in offense that Taker would normally not see with other opponents. This was the classic hit & run and pray you don’t get caught & destroyed strategy from Rey. We’d see Rey constantly avoid the Last Ride until he tried a 619, but was caught and planted with a powerbomb to give Taker the win. I loved that neither held back despite the size differential & it was just a cool visual because you always saw Rey with guys like Show, Kane, Khali, Henry, JBL, Batista, etc, but never Undertaker. If you want an underrated fun 10-11 minute match that absolutely no one talks about, but should, I’d suggest this one.
22. John Cena vs Randy Orton (14) I believe this was Round 394 in the never ending feud between these two. Thing is, both of these guys could’ve done 450 splashes, 30 table bumps, ladders, etc, the crowd would’ve still shat all over it for one reason, neither were Daniel Bryan. Then again, it’s just “the fans expressing themselves” as the robots on commentary would lead you to believe instead of shitty booking keeping Bryan as far away from the title picture as possible. This is your typical Randy vs Cena match, very good, entertaining, slow in some spots, but picks up, you name it, they have a blueprint, and it works, so why deviate from it. You have two of the biggest stars in the last 15 years and maybe 4 people in the crowd care? That might be a generous number. The crowd chanted This Is Awful & in a way it was, not the wrestling, but the booking & the crowd knew it. So when Bray Wyatt and his crew ran down & cost Cena the match, the heels became the babyfaces & we got Thank You Wyatt chants as Randy retained. This is a match I’d recommend because of how unique the reaction was. It’s not bizarre, it’s fitting, because the crowd wanted Bryan, they didn’t get it, so they revolted.
21. Shawn Michaels vs Triple H (04) I think what would make this match more enjoyable would be if you put it on 1.5 speed to make it go faster, because while this was a good match, it moved at a snail’s pace, then again, it moved nowhere near as slow as their Hell in a Cell match later in the year at Bad Blood. The thing lacking in this one was the drama. Go back to Summerslam 2002, there was an insane amount of drama, then Shawn won the title at Survivor Series, then lost in the following month. 1 year later and we don’t have enough drama to care about these two in a Last Man Standing match with a bullshit non finish. So without the crowd feeding off every moment, waiting anxiously at what will happen next, it’s sadly just another match in this long feud. Both men bled, a lot & both KO’d each other at the same time, so Triple H retained as the chants of bullshit reigned and they booed loudly. I don’t care who the participants are, if you have a fucking tie in a Last Man Standing match, fans are going to be pissed. This match was ok, but could’ve & should’ve been so much better. JR tried to save it on commentary saying the fans were angry that Shawn didn’t win, but it was the finish along with the pace of the match they were pissed about.
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Post by The Original Kid Cairo on Nov 27, 2018 21:39:58 GMT -6
Salute to you! Great concept. Loving it.
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Post by randomone on Dec 4, 2018 23:25:59 GMT -6
20. Ultimate Warrior vs Sgt. Slaughter (91) It’s interesting that what made this match so enjoyable was a person who wasn’t even in it, Macho King Randy Savage. The feud with Warrior & himself was just about to reach its boiling point and this really set the stage for their match at Mania. Earlier in the night the Sensational Queen tried to seduce Warrior in a really weird segment, leading to Warrior spitting and saying Macho couldn’t have a title shot. I loved that they did this though because if Warrior retained the title, he already said Macho couldn’t have a shot, so why the hell wouldn’t Savage interfere and cost Warrior the title? It was a smart move from the heel & the beating he put on Warrior was awesome. Leveling him with lighting equipment at the entrance way & tossing him back in the ring. Slaughter would gain the advantage until Warrior fought back, however it was Savage who returned and fucking waffled Warrior in the face with the scepter leading to Slaughter hitting a weak looking elbow for the win. The Iraqi sympathizer won the title, Piper damn near cried on commentary and it was great storytelling all around. This is a rare case where I didn’t care one bit about work rate because everything else was built so great. If you haven’t seen this in a while, pop it in and watch everything but the actual wrestling, which I know sounds weird, but it really is entertaining. Not to mention it doesn’t end with “Hulk must pose”.
19. Randy Orton vs Jeff Hardy (08) What disappoints me about this match is that it’ll forever be remembered as the Jeff Harvey match. Poor Mike Adamle, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t miss him at times. The only thing I’d say harmed the match was the ending. Orton literally hit an RKO out of nowhere and ended it, momentum and everything. It seems like they were building toward something and Orton just hit his finish and that was it. I think had this gone 5, even 10 minutes longer, they could’ve built this into something really special, instead it falls in the pretty good category instead of great. That said Hardy was so friggin over that I think the crowd was pissed he lost altogether. On one hand I almost wish he would’ve won the title, but cut to a few months later and he got popped a second time & suspended 60 days. So having Jeff win the title a year later was the right call. With the exception of the sudden finish too soon, this was a very good match up to that point.
18. Edge vs Rey Mysterio (08) So unlike the other title match on this show, this was a good match with a great ending. Vickie friggin Guerrero was such an awesome character and this was the night that she really shined as she came to the ring in her wheelchair to cheer on her lover, Edge (such a weird thing to type, but I loved the entire La Familia run). Edge & Rey had such great chemistry whether it was tag partners or opponents, they just clicked. Edge was arguably the greatest sleazy heel in the last 12-13 years. The MSG crowd did boo Rey though, which is odd, but then again, it’s MSG. The end was perfect as Rey leapfrogged Edge who fell into the ropes, Rey went for a 619 and A MIRACLE OCCURS and Vickie rises from her wheelchair and holds onto Edge, taking the 619 from Rey! She collapses on the floor as Rey is shocked, giving Edge enough time to recover as Rey looked for a West Coast Pop, but Edge hit a spear in mid air for the win. It was visually awesome whenever Edge hit the spear in a unique way & this was perfect. This isn’t going to be on either man’s best of lists, but still as solid of a title match as you’ll get, especially that ending.
17. Bret Hart vs Razor Ramon (93) Pre-match we see earlier on Mania how Razor beat the shit out of Owen Hart by clotheslining him out of his chair during an interview, then creamed him with a garbage can. I loved that attack so much for some reason. Maybe because it was 1993 and we didn’t get attacks like that very often for the WWF? I do think Razor’s run working with main event guys in late 92 and early 93 is forgotten about as he was a rookie in the WWF and was thrown right in there with the heavy hitters, more than holding his own. I know there isn’t anything major in this match for the most part, but I just really enjoyed these two working with each other. While their match at the KOTR later in the year I think was a better one, this match is still incredibly watchable. The way Bret was able to lock on the Sharpshooter for the win sort of made it known that he could lock it in out of nowhere. What’s the most shocking is this was Razor’s only shot at the WWF title, which is just baffling. As silly as the WWF might have been in 1993 with wacky characters and such, this was an enjoyable title match as (aside from Bret involved at Mania) the rest of the years title picture was dominated by Yoko, Luger & Hogan. So this was the best WWF Title match of the year for PPVs.
16. Shawn Michaels vs Undertaker (98) The match that took Shawn out for 5 years was a pretty entertaining casket match as DX was in full swing, the build had been great & this was going on last. Unfortunately HBK got backdropped over the top early & clipped his lower back on the casket and that’s sadly what’s most memorable to me about this one, despite the fact that Kane set a casket on fire later in the match. Obviously this one wouldn’t touch their Cell match or the brawl at Ground Zero, but it was still a solid final chapter (at least at this time) for the feud. This was classic heel Shawn at his finest as he was the arrogant dick, who was too cocky & got the shit beat out of him. Ultimately we get run-ins from the Outlaws and…….Los Boricuas? (guess they needed guys to bump & didn’t want The Nation to do it? Still an odd choice) The crowd actually chanted for Kane, who Taker randomly reunited with on RAW, so when the Big Red Machine shows up, they clean house. Shawn meanwhile bails out of the casket as Kane turns on his brother (who saw that coming? Everyone? Oh, ok) and chokeslams him into the casket to end it. It’s very fitting that Shawn did pretty much nothing to win this match and that’s how it should’ve been for the top heel. Anyways we get Kane going all choppy choppy with an axe, lights it on fire & Taker is never heard from again…..until the following month. The match still holds up, the bells & whistles don’t harm the match & it’s a nice set up for Mania between the brothers and a sad beginning of the end for Shawn’s career in the 90s.
15. CM Punk vs Dolph Ziggler (12) The stipulation here was good old Johnny Ace was the outside enforcer, so you knew he was getting involved, which he did. I did enjoy the Punk/Johnny feud and the crowd really did think Punk was going to get screwed out of the title here. This was an excellent match with reversals aplenty and once we got to false finishes, the crowd was biting at every one of them. How amazing is it that the crowd thought Ziggler would win the title? He avoided a GTS with a Fame Asser for a 2, but couldn’t avoid it again and Punk hit his GTS to win it. This really was everything you could’ve asked for in a title match. Champion at a disadvantage, despite the heel authority figure faking he’s a “good guy”, the challenger was great & after everything thrown against him, the champ retained. Give this a watch again, you’ll dig it.
14. AJ Styles vs Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn (18) So you could say this one is ranked higher than it probably should, but I really enjoyed this match & the whole feud. Probably because I’m a big fan of everyone in it. It wasn’t a triple threat match, it was a handicap and unlike a triple threat when you assume best friends would come to blows, they were going to be happy for one another if either won. The match wasn’t anything you couldn’t see on Smackdown each week, it’s more of the acting & over the top arrogance from Sami & KO that made this as entertaining as it was. There were some near falls & times when the title might change, but you never really believed that AJ was going to lose, seeing as KO & Sami were in a feud with Shane McMahon at the time. So even at a 2 on 1, it was more of a wait & see how AJ wins instead of can he pull this off. Ultimately we get the classic “he wasn’t the legal man” story and it led to AJ pinning KO, despite Sami being legal, to retain. It advanced the Sami/KO/Shane feud and we got a very good match out of it with a hot crowd.
13. Edge vs Dolph Ziggler (11) I loved the stipulation to this one as Edge’s scorned lover Vickie Guerrero made the stip that the spear was banned, so the Rated R Superstar had to figure out another way to win. I was really sad when Edge’s career ended a few months later, he was always one of my favorites, but I was happy he got this feud with Ziggler in before his career abruptly finished because these matches were friggin great. I re-watched this match this week and while I remember the Edge vs Vickie feud, what I didn’t remember was a random Kelly Kelly run-in to chase Vickie to the back (the hell was that??). While this was happening, Dolph had hit his finisher and came within a millisecond away from winning the title and the crowd bought it. This wasn’t a case where the challenger wasn’t believable. The cards were so stacked in Dolph’s favor that it was seemingly impossible for Edge to retain. Luckily there was a ref bump, which allowed Edge to hit a banned spear (something that’d cost him the title after the show on SD), then took a page out of Christian’s playbook and nailed an Un-prettier for the win. This was such a hot opener and everyone bit after each near fall. This show is usually forgotten about due to the long Rumble and boring ass Miz/Orton match, so I’d recommend watching this match again because it was far & away the highlight of the PPV.
12. The Rock vs CM Punk (13) The element of surprise is a thing that’s been missing in wrestling for years, especially WWE. Once they get tunnel vision on something, they’re going with it, no matter how predictable it might be. So when John Cena set up a WrestleMania match at Mania 28 a year in advance against The Rock, you knew they were just spinning wheels until they got there. Cut to a year later and seeing as there were talks of a rematch the next night, you knew Rock vs Cena 2 would take place at Mania 29, so it was just a matter of how would they get there. Sadly this meant it was clobberin’ time for CM Punk, who was in the middle of an amazing title reign & even better pairing with Paul Heyman. It resulted in a very good match on this show, but it was one of the most predictable wins arguably ever, especially considering Cena had won the Royal Rumble before this match. If they wanted some surprise, have Punk weasel his way out of this again, screw Rock out of the title with a DQ win. It’d piss so many people off, but you wouldn’t expect it. Instead Rock comes in and pins Punk clean, ending his yearlong plus title reign and then beat him the following month for good measure too. Why couldn’t Rocky just win it the next month? It just annoyed me that they’d spent all this time devoted to Punk as champ, then Rock comes back & wins the title. Those gripes aside, like I said, the match was very good, so it’s not like Rock came in & put out a stinker, he & Punk for the two times they wrestled worked really well. I just wish they had gotten to their Cena/Rock 2 destination in a much more clever way, one that didn't involve the title. I know the first one didn't have the title involved & honestly, the second didn't need it either, they're names are more than enough to do the trick.
11. Kurt Angle vs Triple H (01) This was such a great build for the match as Kurt was being managed by his “business advisor” and Vince’s new “friend” Trish Stratus, while Trips had Steph in his corner. We’re right before the Steph/Trish showdown at No Way Out, so that added to this match big time & made it fine that this was a heel vs heel title match. We got a back & forth early at a much slower pace than you’d assume, but once this got going, it was great. We get the predictable albeit delightful Trish vs Steph catfight as Vince came out to separate the two and we’re back to Trips & Kurt. We get some close near falls for HHH as he almost won the title, but we get a ref bump not once, but twice. Then we get Trips hitting a Pedigree, but no ref means Stone Cold comes out and beats up Hunter, nails a Stunner and puts Kurt on top of Hunter to ultimately retain. Was there too much gaga in this one? Definitely, but I enjoyed this match a whole bunch. Kurt was still in his lucky title reign, Triple H & Austin furthered their feud and the ladies continued as well. It is amazing that we’re just a few months away from Mania and at that show Kurt wouldn’t have his title, Triple H and Austin wouldn’t be feuding anymore and we’d somehow end up with Rock/Austin in one of the best Mania main events ever. Booking in the Attitude Era happened so damn fast.
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Post by randomone on Dec 10, 2018 17:22:07 GMT -6
10. Edge vs Jeff Hardy (09) The Jeff Hardy title win was a long time coming over the course of 2008, he would always seem to come up short before being screwed over one way or another, so when he finally won the title at Armageddon in December of 08, the celebration was nuts & Jeff finally won the big one. Cut to the Rumble and we have a very good title match between these two long time rivals and the end result came with a pretty shocking heel turn (unfortunately the feud became really stupid though, remember when Matt supposedly killed Jeff’s dog in a fire?) and a much needed one because Matt was doing absolutely nothing. Sadly Matt really didn’t do anything else of note in this heel turn after this, but this show at least was pretty crazy seeing not only him smack Jeff in the head with a chair, but standing there as Edge of all people, covered him for the win. Apparently Christian was rumored to be the one to return here and help Edge (something Bruce Prichard just said on his podcast wasn't actually true, but whatever), but they went with Matt. I actually like the way they went as aside from a weak ass Hardy feud in late 01, we never have gotten a true Hardy vs Hardy storyline. Edge of course lucked his way into another title, something that worked great since that was something his character would do.
9. John Cena vs Umaga (07) This was the match that showed that Umaga could really hang in the title picture and damn this match was a war. The image of Cena wrapping the ring rope around the throat of Umaga, choking him out to win it is a memorable one as he finally slayed the monster. Umaga, for lack of a better word, really was a bulldozer & I liked it as it made him an eventually threat for the champ. The story focused on Cena trying to avoid all the high impact offense by the Samoan Bulldozer, as Umaga would charge & miss many a time in this one as Cena hit the crap out of him with multiple weapon shots. I did love the charging Umaga on the announcer’s tables, but missed & crashed through one. Nothing would keep Umaga down so Cena had to get creative, thus the ring rope spot. It took multiple attempts because Umaga kept getting up. This is a serious underrated gem in terms of title matches on Rumble PPVs. It really still holds up and it’s one that isn’t talked about all that much.
8. The Rock vs Chris Jericho (02) This ended up being the final time we’d get to see these two wrestle on PPV and it’s kind of sad because these two were friggin great together. They wrestled each other so much the past few months, but I never got tired of it because the promos were top notch, the matches were great, you couldn’t have a better babyface & Jericho’s heel turn wasn’t ruined yet by Stephanie & Triple H getting involved. The match was exactly what you’d expect from the two, a great back & forth, brawling, near falls, with the build up to this really playing that The Rock would win it. Instead we see that Jericho’s win wasn’t a fluke the previous month & he retained via shenanigans, of course. The only thing I hated about this match was stupid Nick Patrick, heel referee, something I hated in WCW, appeared here tonight. We get Christian & Lance Storm showing up, only to get beat up, then a ref bump by Hebner, then we get Nick Patrick who couldn’t count to 3? Luckily The Rock beat him up quick, but it allowed Jericho to hit a low blow & steal a win. I would’ve preferred the Team Canada run in and that be it, I could’ve gone without Patrick. I guess this was Nick Patrick making it up to Jericho after all those times he dicked him over late 96 in WCW. The Rock will forever be a top babyface, but this win was big for Jericho as it advanced him as a heel World Champ, while his feud with Rocky the previous year was focused on him being able to win the big one.
7. The Rock vs Mankind (99) So I obviously don’t have to tell you how brutal this match is. It was rough to watch when I saw it in 1999 on PPV and even more uncomfortable now knowing everything we know about concussions & what not. It’s the scene Beyond the Mat has become synonymous with (that and Dennis Stamp) where Mick Foley is getting beaten horribly with a steel chair, handcuffed while his children are ringside watching. It really is unsettling watching this back, but it was the Attitude Era and it’s exactly what they were going for. The Rock & Mick beat the living shit out of one another, fighting down the aisle & taking falls off ladders onto lighting structures, giving People’s Elbow’s with chairs covering their faces, then countless unprotected chair shots to the dome. Up until the handcuffs, it was your typical match between these two and that’s not a bad thing, I loved this feud. It was obviously a memorable match, but I can’t rank it any higher simply because like I said, it’s an uncomfortable watch. The ending was silly because Mick was unconscious from what seemed like 80 shots and we get a voice over the speakers saying I Quit (it was from when Mick said it on Heat earlier that night). It was an out to get to the next match in this series, but damn, it’s still a rough one. God bless Mick Foley, he put everything out there for the fans. I was in shock as a teenager seeing this and I’m still in shock after all these years later.
6. Bret Hart vs Diesel (95) I will preface this by saying I’ve read reviews saying this match was just ok, that they’ve had better ones, way too much interference, etc. While I’d agree their Survivor Series match was better, I really love this match and honestly, I think it’s due to the amount of times I’ve seen it growing up. Royal Rumble 95 was the one wrestling VHS I had down at my grandparents as a kid, so I’d watch it all the time, for a while it was Summerslam 92, but it then was this show. Watching it back now, I still love it, but more so due to the ring psychology. These were the top two babyfaces of the company, but had to constantly thwart off interference from all the top heels, wanting their revenge at some point in the match. It seemed like every time there was interference (Shawn, Owen, Backlund), we’d have a reset. I do think there should’ve at least been a winner though; there was interference the whole match, only for like the 3rd or 4th time, then a DQ is called? That’s a cop out and honestly, Diesel should won this one. He was going to be your champ headed into Mania, give him the win. Watch this one again, seriously, as there isn’t a ton of things to really brag about in WWF during 1995 about, but the Diesel/Bret feud is one of them.
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Post by randomone on Dec 16, 2018 17:28:05 GMT -6
5. Kevin Owens vs Roman Reigns (17) So, as you’ll see, we’re at the Top 5 Title matches in Rumble history and we still have the two matches from the 2017 Rumble left. I’m as shocked as you are that this match is as high as it is, but considering the talent involved, it really shouldn’t. Jericho in a shark cage makes all the sense in the world (unlike Enzo in a cage during Cass/Show) as the match starts with a brawl right away, so it allows Owens to set up his tower of chairs, but they do it so early they try to have you forget about it, which I like. Reigns tried to fight back, but Owens cut him off & nailed a frog splash from the top to the floor through a table, which was sick. Jericho of course got involved with brass knucks, but it wasn’t enough for KO to win. This is wild back & forth action with big move after big move (only the second match of the night mind you) culminating in KO being tossed off the top through his chair tower. As if KO wasn’t dead enough, he took another table bump before Strowman interfered & cost Roman the match (I forgot that feud was going on that early to be honest). It was a lazy way for KO to win, but he’s a heel, what do you expect, Roman to get pinned clean? Vince ain’t having that. The match over-delivered big time as I was anticipating just another TV match without a commercial, instead we got a great hard hitting back & forth battle with some shenanigans & a whole lot of cool spots thrown in. That overrides the Braun interference in my book.
4. Cactus Jack vs Triple H (00) You could easily say that Rock vs Mankind the previous year was the most brutal title match in the history of the Rumble, but I’m going with this one. This had everything you’d want in a Street Fight set in MSG. Mick Foley was on his last few months of being an active competitor and he went out swinging to start the millennium as this match was so violent & hard hitting, I loved every second of it. Triple H on the other hand, proved that he could hang in this sort of match & didn’t depend on interference or bullshit DQs/countouts to get out of this one. Instead Trips took everything that Cactus threw at him starting with the barbed wire shot that busted Trips open as he’s wearing the ol’ crimson mask for the rest of this one. He ate a barbed wire shot flush to the face but Cactus only would get a close 2. I sort of liked how Trips targeted the knee of Cactus before going for the handcuffs like we saw the year prior. Ironically it was The Rock who saved Mick from a similar brain bashing with a chair as Cactus got free from the cuffs and they crashed on the announce table with a piledriver (table didn’t break I AM THE TABLE!!) Then comes the tacks, something I don’t think we’ve seen since Hell in a Cell in 98 and like that match, it was Cactus who took the fall onto them and ultimately ate a Pedigree on the tacks to give Hunter the win. This was a fucking war & one that really set the stage for WWF going into the year 2000. This was one of the best brawls/street fights ever.
3. John Cena vs AJ Styles (17) So these next three really are a tossup for greatest World Title Match in Rumble history. If you have any of these in your top spot, you’ll get zero argument from me as these are some of the best matches not just in Rumble history but WWE history. So this was the match where Cena won his 16th title and damn was it a good one. 24 minutes of nonstop action from these two as they were kicking out of finishers early & often. Yes I think kicking out of finishers too much is WAY overdone in wrestling, but when it comes to big matches like this one, I’m ok with it. It took literally everything Cena had to put AJ away as every way he had won previously wasn’t good enough, including the AA from the second rope. AJ also was able to hit a Styles Clash off the ropes, but sold his injuries in the match, which caused him to be unable to follow up with a pin. Go figure, selling wonderfully tells a great story! I did love the rolling AA’s from Cena as he countered a springboard flying AJ and caught him with the finish. The crowd was on fire and luckily they weren’t burn out from the Reigns/Jericho fantastic match either, so I loved every second of this. Easily their best match with each other and it’s my favorite AJ match in the WWE. I’d have to really dig deep for my favorite Cena singles matches, but this is way up there. We bitch a lot about the WWE creative (or lack thereof) in recent years especially, but this wasn’t bogged down by ref bumps or dumb run ins, instead we were treated to an all time classic.
2. Brock Lesnar vs Seth Rollins vs John Cena (15) So I’ve said it before in the rankings and I’ll say it again, seeing how much of a friggin superstar Seth Rollins has become is so awesome. I first saw him at an indy show in 2004 in front of like 60 people and to see him in there with Cena and Brock, and more than hold his own, was so cool to watch. So Brock starts by doing Brock Things, launching dudes, but gets hit with an AA, but is basically right up. After some back & forth with Rollins & Cena, we get Brock back to murder guys , but luckily both guys take the fight to him. Rollins does kick out of a F5 (which I’m happy with because you’d expect him to just fall to it, but it makes him look legit, which he is) as Brock sets up a table, but eats multiple AA’s, which Brock kicks out of. We eventually get Rollins doing the Shane O’Mac leap of faith elbow through Brock on the announce table, which takes out The Beast for a brief time to allow Cena vs Rollins who both are excellent. Heyman is having a coronary on the floor as Cena almost wins it with the STF, but Joey & Jamie break it up. We get a Shield powerbomb from Seth and J&J, but Super Cena is up and destroys the fellas. Rollins almost wins it, but Brock rises from the dead & the motherfucker is pissed! This is when it kicks into an even higher gear as he’s on a rampage. I should also mention that he rises from the dead at the perfect time as it was right when Rollins hit a Phoenix Splash flush on the crotch of Cena as Brock came in and in one motion picked Seth up from the mat and German suplexed him, ultimately hitting Rollins with a F5 to win it. This was an amazing match, an all time classic that is given a boost because of Rollins being a hometown boy, but honestly, this would’ve been ranked this high even without the hometown stuff.
1. Kurt Angle vs Chris Benoit (03) This match is on a whole other level for me as these two went nonstop for 20 minutes. Rest holds were out the window in this one as these two beat the holy crap out of each other with wrestling move after wrestling move, counter after counter. Angle would hit rolling German suplexes and Benoit would counter a 3rd and hit his own rolling Germans, then Angle would counter, then Benoit would counter with a release German that Angle did a complete backflip from. So much stuff happened in this one that it really should’ve gotten more time, certainly more time compared to the Steiner/Trips debacle that took place before it. If you had any doubt as to whether Smackdown was the superior wrestling brand (something that should’ve been cleared up long before this match honestly), this was everything you’d want in a World Title match and then some. The two best technical wrestlers on the roster (arguably the World), no interference as Haas & Benjamin were sent to the back before the match. Kurt weaseled his way out of some matches before, but on this night, he proved why he was the best. The counters of Ankle Locks into Crossfaces and vice versa was really a thing of beauty to watch. At one point Benoit went up for a headbutt and shot the largest snot rocket ever at Kurt (watch this moment, it’s nuts) before Kurt popped up and hit a belly to belly off the top. Ultimately Kurt locked in his Ankle Lock and Benoit tried to get out multiple times until Kurt would grapevine the leg in the middle of the ring and Benoit had no choice but to tap. This is a match that flies by & doesn’t seem like 20 minutes, never for a second dragged and it’s a match I could watch at any time. It’s one of the greatest WWE matches in history and THE best World Title match in Rumble history. This was a flawless match from top to bottom. And the crowd gave Benoit a standing ovation after the match. I couldn’t imagine had this gone on first and Steiner/Trips went on second.
Up Next I start Ranking the actual Royal Rumble matches from worst to first.
Then I'm compiling the Ultimate Royal Rumble match. Should be fun, hope you guys enjoy!
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Post by randomone on Dec 20, 2018 15:23:18 GMT -6
We now come to the Countdown of every Royal Rumble in history starting from worst to first. One a day until we get to number one. With a few days taken off here & there (Christmas Eve, Day, New Years). But without any further ado, here it is, hope you enjoy folks!
32. Royal Rumble 1999 It really is a tossup between this & the next one as the worst Rumble’s ever. As far as I’m concerned these two are on another level of awful, so you could switch the two and you wouldn’t get an argument from me, I just went with this one. Vince McMahon was in the match for a few minutes despite being number 2. That was probably for the best, but with Austin number 1, we got 2 minutes of Austin vs McMahon, then Austin got beat up by the Corporation in the women’s restroom, taken to the hospital, drove back, holy smokes this was stupid (even in 99 when we all watched religiously no matter what). Only other reason it was noteworthy was Chyna was the first woman in the Rumble. There were long boring stretches with guys you’d see on Shotgun Saturday Night or Metal/Jakked, those level shows (Blue Meanie, Tiger Ali Singh, Gillberg, Droz, Dan Severn, Steve Blackman) and others that just dragged (Undertaker and his Ministry attacking Mabel, Kane getting put in a straightjacket by psych ward folks). It’s dumb for the sake of dumb. Vince had put a bounty on Austin that anyone who could eliminate him would get I believe 100K (could be wrong about the amount, I’m going off memory). That stip though was kind of an afterthought since Austin was taken to the hospital and didn’t come back until over ½ way through the damn match. I did enjoy the brief line by Vince on commentary saying he'd be fine with cutting the check to D'Lo. The less said about this Rumble, the better. Despite being in the Attitude Era, I hated this match. I was fine with Vince winning since it led to the next month’s show, but boy was it boring getting there. It did however give us the theme we'd all know & love (sometimes loathe) that being Vince McMahon's No Chance in Hell.
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Post by randomone on Dec 21, 2018 11:45:49 GMT -6
31. Royal Rumble 2015 You know what really makes a Rumble hot garbage? Eliminating the crowd’s hero (who the crowd revolted against the previous year for not even being in the damn thing) half way through the match. You know what’s even worse? Not having another hero the crowd could get behind. You know what tops the shit sandwich that is this Rumble? Forcing your golden boy down the fans throats, despite no one in attendance wanting it (hard to imagine they were just starting to do this in 2015 and it became a broken record after that). It’s like they learned nothing from the previous year (we’ll get there). I mean what did they expect? The second half competitors weren’t favorites at all to win it, so this was The Roman Show and you were going to suffer through it. I felt bad, it wasn’t Roman’s fault, it was the booking & Vince. The crowd totally turned on this match when Wyatt eliminated Bryan and no matter who came out after that, they were booed badly. Then we get to the ending where they try to salvage it with an appearance of The Rock to help Roman out against Big Show & Kane, two guys who tossed everyone not named Roman (or Rusev) out. Friggin Dolph Ziggler, who two months earlier was the sole survivor in the main event of Survivor Series, came off like a total goof, eliminated super quick. What’s sad is not even Dwayne could save this as the show ends with him raising Roman’s hand to huge boos. It’s not what Roman deserved, but it’s what WWE deserved. This wasn’t entertainingly bad like the 2014 Rumble was; it was just garbage all around. It only gets the bump from being THE WORST simply due to the crowd’s revolt against this one.
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Post by Positivity Peeps on Dec 21, 2018 17:42:19 GMT -6
Ah the Squared Circle Rumbel.
Good times...
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Post by randomone on Dec 22, 2018 14:56:05 GMT -6
30. Royal Rumble 1993 Ok, so it’s not that this Rumble was overall terrible, it’s just there weren’t any contenders aside from Macho Man & Yokozuna. While Flair was still there, he would be finishing up the following night (I think he already taped that match, so this was his actual last show), Undertaker was too busy in his fighting giants (ie Gonzalez) stage rather than main eventing, so it only left Yoko (who was still pretty new) & Savage. We’ll jump right to the end first as Macho Man & Yoko were the final two, Savage had him on the ropes, knocked Yoko down as the crowd popped (which, why? knocking down a 500 pounder makes it impossible to get him out), Savage, a veteran of the sport, someone who had been in previous Rumble’s, TRIED TO PIN YOKOZUNA!! He promptly got launched out of the ring & lost. I don’t have to tell you how dumb that was. The only feel good story of this Rumble was Bob Backlund going from number 2 until the Final 3. Crowd loved it & got behind him and I always liked that run, one that is never talked about. Meanwhile the rest of the field was filled with silly gimmick guys, tag teams who wouldn’t be around much longer & “youngsters” like Carlos Colon (who was like 50 in this thing, but Gorilla called him a youngster). WWF were in desperate need of main eventers, because this pretty much showed you how weak their roster was in one match. Sadly not even The Brain & Gorilla on commentary could save this as they were nowhere near the level they were on from the previous year. While the crowd loved this match (minus the dumb Caesar & Cleopatra nonsense prior to the match) & was in awe of Giant Gonzalez making his debut and essentially stopping the match to go after Taker, this Rumble certainly doesn't hold up one bit.
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Optimisn
Moderator
The Voice of Reason
Posts: 33,705
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Post by Optimisn on Dec 22, 2018 14:59:55 GMT -6
Ah the Squared Circle Rumbel. Good times... I thought there was going to be a riot. Luckily I wouldn't be able to participate with the amount of cock heat *TM Tommy Dreamer* surrounding me when Roman won. "IT'S STING!" #BuzzardTax
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Post by randomone on Dec 23, 2018 16:09:50 GMT -6
29. Royal Rumble 1991 USA, Hulk Must Pose. That about sums up this Rumble. There’s really not much to say about this one other than Rick Martel was the ironman, Macho Man didn’t show up because he bailed after the Warrior match & the towel flip from Perfect to Heenan was a thing of beauty. Aside from that we get Rumble debuts from The Undertaker, Nasty Boy Knobbs, Shane Douglas, Tugboat and…..Saba Simba, yeah. There was no one aside from Hogan who had a shot of winning this thing as he overcame Earthquake & Knobbs (being buddies with Hulk gets you in the Final 3, brother) to win and pose with the American flag. The Rumble itself wasn’t bad, it’s just zero drama made it just another match. It was a carbon copy of the previous year, except that one at least had a faceoff with Warrior & Hogan in it. This one ended with Hogan eliminating a guy who he had already got the best of in their feud for months previously. This is probably the shortest entry in this list, but it's simply because nothing happened.
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Post by randomone on Dec 24, 2018 15:23:01 GMT -6
Ok, I lied, you get one on Christmas Eve. Not tomorrow though.
28. Royal Rumble 1996 The biggest (and only) story heading into this Rumble was could Shawn Michaels win it for the second year, but this time, could he win it coming back from getting KO’d from the Owen Hart enzugiri on RAW? The answer, obviously, was yes, seeing as only Diesel was the other threat to him losing. To show you how shallow the WWF roster was at this time, they brought in people like the Squat Team, Doug Gilbert, Omori & Dory Funk Jr to go along with people like Hakushi, Barry Horowitz, Bob Backlund, Duke Droese, Isaac Yankem, Kama, Tatanka & King Mabel, all of which would be done wrestling in WWF for the most part pretty shortly after this show (at least in those gimmicks). It was such a watered down field, but it is what it is. Aside from Owen hitting another enzugiri and the Bulldog beating Shawn up, the only other stand out moment was the debut of Vader, who beat the crap out of people, including launching Doug Gilbert out of the ring with a press slam. Of course Shawn would eliminate Yoko & Vader together, but it was just a weak ass Rumble. Shawn won & we got to the Ironman, but the win to get there wasn’t all that impressive. It gets a bump due to how over Shawn was & I’m a sucker for random dudes in Rumble matches (mainly because Vince was on commentary trying to give these guys a legit chance at winning it). Mr. Perfect had the line of the night where he said Aldo Montoya was wearing his jock on the wrong part of his body during his entrance. Weak, albeit predictable Rumble, but Shawn was a star, even before he was World Champ.
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Post by randomone on Dec 26, 2018 9:57:03 GMT -6
27. Royal Rumble 1989 This was the most puzzling winner of arguably any Rumble in history. Big John Studd had made a comeback and this was really the only time he got to do anything before leaving again. Why in the world could Ted Dibiase or someone like that not steal this? There was nothing on the line & with Hulk already eliminated; there was no need for him to pose. You could've just had Dibiase talk shit on the microphone about the Mega Powers and have Hogan run him off or something, beat up Virgil, then pose, all while Macho is backstage pissed. Instead we got Studd waving to the crowd after winning it. The biggest moment came when the Mega Powers started to crack as Hogan “accidentally” eliminated Savage, which, again, I’ve said it before, who the hell could side with Hogan in this feud with Savage in 89? Hogan was a homewrecker and he also purposefully eliminated Savage, but he played it off like “what, I didn’t mean it!” Bullshit Terry, you know what you did to Macho. I was pretty shocked Hogan was ultimately eliminated by the Twin Towers though. Up to that point, the most surprising thing was Demolition drawing 1 and 2, something I wish happened more if a tag team is in a Rumble. The match itself is loaded with talent & Hall of Famers, but the winner left a lot to be desired, especially when you consider the field. It was fun at times, but after Macho & Hogan were gone, the momentum of the match stops dead and we're stuck with guys like Hercules, Studd, Beefer, Martel, Barbarian & Dibiase. Not exactly a strong finish in 89.
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Post by randomone on Dec 27, 2018 11:08:24 GMT -6
26. Royal Rumble 2000 Going back to predictable winners, this was one of the most obvious choices in any Rumble. The Rock was the only option here as there was no one else really in the main event picture, aside from Big Show, who would get in the Mania main event within the next month. With that aside, this was a relatively boring Rumble, which only gets a bump due to the MSG crowd. The early dominance from Rikishi, the Too Cool dance break mid match, the random Bob Backlund appearance, then the ending with Rock & Show falling over the top at the same time, but Rock held on (his feet clearly touched, but whatever) to win it. There were guys who I legit forgot were with the company still like the British Bulldog & Gangrel who were in it, as it really felt like a giant countdown until The Rock showed up. We did however get the greatest non-entrant elimination ever as Taka Michinoku got launched over the top & landed flat on his face (Lawler couldn't get enough of it). It was a weird thing when Kaientai & the Mean Street Posse would come out like 4 times during this match to pop the crowd at first, but by the 3rd time, they got zero reaction. Shows how much this Rumble was lacking when you rely on those heavy hitters. You take away Too Cool & Rikishi and The Rock from this match, this Rumble would've been in serious discussion for the bottom.
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Post by randomone on Dec 28, 2018 10:51:49 GMT -6
25. Royal Rumble 1994 This Rumble gets a bump simply for 2 reasons, one, Diesel’s run of tossing dudes and two, the unique ending. However, in that same regard, the reason it’s so low is also the ending because it’s lazy as shit. Vince just couldn’t quit Luger, so he dicked Bret over (again) and made him a co-winner. I don’t care if Bret won the title to end Mania that year, this show made Bret look super weak & Luger too for that matter. Having both guys feet hit at the same time, while clever in theory, should not have resulted in the clusterfuck we got at Mania 10. The crowd was clear, they wanted Bret to win, not Luger, his experiment should’ve ended at Summerslam 93, but it didn’t, it slowly dragged until Mania. While the Rumble gave us early entrances from the Steiners, we never got the showdown we had hoped between brothers. Instead we had to wait for Diesel to start tossing motherfuckers left & right, then we got a ton of heels team up to beat Doink up. Ultimately we had guys like Kabuki, Tenryu, Greg Valentine, Rick Martel, Sparky Plugg, Mo, Fatu, Adam Bomb, Marty, you name it, left with guys like Shawn, Bret & Luger. It was clear who the final two would be since most of the others had zero shot. Finkel announcing co-winners came off like a fart in church & it only worsens as the years go on. Bastion Booger was entered in the match, but never came out due to eating too much and getting sick, which was unfortunate because Booger was my pick (yes that's a Heenan joke, but I needed something to cheer me up after writing about how dull the ending of this was!)
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Post by randomone on Dec 29, 2018 17:45:24 GMT -6
24. Royal Rumble 1998 This was a one man show that gave us a brief glimpse into the future at the end of the match with two future all time greats squaring off. Stone Cold vs the world is what this Rumble should be named as there was no one even close to his level in this thing aside from maybe The Rock, who was still a year from his main event push. I’m not mentioning anything else other than Mick Foley coming out as Mankind, Dude Love & Cactus Jack, which I did enjoy greatly. Literally nothing happened in this thing noteworthy. You had The Nation of Domination, Headbangers, Godwinns, DOA, that's 1/3 of the field there. Then guys like Blackman, Mero, Kurrgan, Tom Brandi, Bradshaw, Ahmed Johnson, the friggin Honky Tonk Man, Jeff Jarrett, you get it, not many threats whatsoever. Guys like Vader, Shamrock & Owen were in it, but would main event the occasional RAW, not a threat to winning. The Rock & Stone Cold being the Final 2 made sense & Austin of course wins much to the jubilation of Mike Tyson in the suite. He was thrilled Cold Stone won it all and we were off running to Mania. There’s really nothing much else to say when you have a ton of lower card guys & only maybe 4 upper level guys in it this thing. The match did what it was supposed to do, make Stone Cold look unstoppable heading into Mania, mission accomplished.
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Post by randomone on Dec 30, 2018 16:57:56 GMT -6
23. Royal Rumble 1990 This could be another entry were I just write Hogan Must Pose and move on, but unlike the 91 Rumble, there was a major occurrence that happened in this, the highly anticipated face off between Hogan & Warrior, something that set the stage for the Ultimate Showdown at Mania. I loved the irony of them clearing the ring leading to the face off and Shawn Michaels was one of them quickly tossed, one of the future GOATs was in for like 12 seconds. The face off was everything you'd want because for the most part, they never swung or anything, instead they opted for running the ropes (testing cardio, really? With Warrior??) and then hit double clotheslines on each other. That was it, but it was all that was needed to make the fans want this showdown at Mania, so that was the only thing this Rumble needed to accomplish. I always wished Mr. Perfect had won this match, it meant nothing for Hogan to win, but would've meant a lot for Perfect. You could've have Warrior & Hogan tumble out together and have them eliminate each other. Instead the show must end with Hogan posing, so I get it, I didn't like it (at the time I loved it, don't get me wrong), but I understood.
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Post by randomone on Dec 31, 2018 10:29:04 GMT -6
22. Royal Rumble 2013 This falls in the discussion for most predictable Rumble win ever as Cena & Rock were set for a rematch from their last Mania, so of course step one to get there is having Cena win this, in a match in the middle of the show. This Rumble had very few moments that were memorable, but one was at the beginning as Chris Jericho returned at number 2 to battle the guy who sent him on his sabbatical Dolph Ziggler. I did enjoy the first four guys as Cody & Kofi were to follow, then we immediately got to the joke guys and the Rumble went down the tubes for a while. We got the Rhodes brothers battling, but it’s really a group of guys you’d see on Superstars or Main Event (was that a thing yet? You know what I mean), but we did get the first ever NXT entrant in a Rumble with Bo Dallas, who would ultimately knock out Wade Barrett. Once Cena is in, it’s essentially the Hogan run from the early 90s, he starts tossing guys. There was the funny spot where Bryan eliminated Kane and Bryan got knocked into Kane’s arms as the Mayor dropped DB. We did get some main event guys in the end, so it wasn’t all bad as you had a super over Ryback, Sheamus, Randy Orton, Cena, then Jericho & Ziggler still hanging tough. Ziggler eliminated Jericho, Ryback tossed Orton, then Ziggler got leveled by Sheamus. I did like the final 3, as Sheamus was eliminated by Ryback and the crowd kind of wanted him to win, but could you imagine Ryback vs The Rock at a Wrestlemania? Eh, probably a good thing Cena won this one. Rocky would’ve carved The Big Guy up had they went that way. If the ending of this wasn't really entertaining, this match would've been much lower.
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Post by randomone on Jan 1, 2019 10:41:13 GMT -6
21. Royal Rumble 2014 Looking back, I love this Rumble for one reason, it was a total shit show from the moment Rey Mysterio came through the curtain. Poor Rey drew #30 and he could’ve had it rain $100 bills on the crowd, they still were going to boo him mercilessly and shit on every single person in this match because of one reason, they weren’t Daniel Bryan. WWE didn’t give the crowd who they were chanting for (the entire night), they showed they didn’t give two shits about what the crowd wanted, they wanted Daniel Bryan and instead you got Batista, another guy who drew the short end of the stick. Dave didn’t do anything wrong! I felt bad for the guy, he was just doing his job, but again, it wasn’t Bryan. I think literally the only possible person who would've popped the crowd would've been had glass shattered and Stone Cold miraculously returned. It became comical at the end as the crowd was so riled up that it makes it one of the most fascinating matches to watch in WWE history. It’s rare to see this crowd so audibly pissed off and despite what WWE wants fans to believe, it wasn’t what was planned. They wanted fans to cheer Batista and they wanted Dave vs Orton at Mania. They wanted to bury the organic reaction Bryan had gotten and they wanted to show the fans they didn’t matter. It’s sort of embarrassing that Vince is so out of touch & lives in his bubble that he couldn’t see the main event of Mania in front of him. This is a below average Rumble that only gets bumped higher due to the turn of the fans which makes it so memorable.
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Post by randomone on Jan 2, 2019 15:02:19 GMT -6
20. Royal Rumble 2012 Ok, I’ll admit, there’s a lot of “who gives a shit” people in this Rumble, but for the most part, they made it fun, at least in certain spots. We got a Mick Foley appearance that led to a Mr. Socko vs The Cobra face off, we had Kharma eliminate Michael Cole (which is the strangest yet most satisfying things ever) since all 3 commentators were involved (Lawler and Book being the others). There’s just a long list of weak entrants minus Miz & Cody who were close to both being the Ironmen of this one. Orton, Jericho & Show were the final 3 to enter and were really the only threats. I didn’t think Sheamus would win this, so that’s why it gets a boost. It’s one of those very rare occasions where I was surprised by the winner. Had this Rumble not dragged to a snail’s pace & had a LOT less comedy & down time, then I’d bump it higher. I loved the ending when Jericho got Brogue Kicked to death falling to the floor to give Sheamus the win. This is an incredibly skippable Rumble, but I did like the winner. I'd be rambling more than usual if I went on any longer.
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Post by randomone on Jan 3, 2019 14:59:04 GMT -6
19. Royal Rumble 2009 This could be looked at as being rated too low, but it's a one story match with the rest of the match being pretty boring, at least to me. What I did love however, was the story of Triple H vs Legacy as it was the main focus really on this whole thing. Trips & Orton entering back to back early with the other Legacy members to follow set it up so that Triple H had to defeat his current rivals to win this & he narrowly did, but ultimately fell to the top villain. This is a great way to get a faction over as a dominant force, by using the Rumble match as a way to show how much of a unit they are. Sure we had guys like Taker, Punk, Show, some surprises like RVD returning, Santino breaking the Warlord’s record, Ziggler getting launched early in his Rumble debut, but it was really a focus on the Triple H vs Legacy rivalry. Hunter having to fight all 3 at the end made total sense and he damn near pulled it off, tossing the young guns until Orton, the most over heel on the roster at the time, won it. I dig the simple Rumble’s not the over booked, filled with nonsense ones. The simpler the better in some cases & this year was one of them, almost too simple, since really nothing else notable truly took place. The show needed to end with Orton pointing at the Mania sign & it did.
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Post by randomone on Jan 4, 2019 10:39:50 GMT -6
18. Royal Rumble 1997 While the 98 Rumble was Stone Cold Steve Austin’s coming out party as a future main eventer, this one was more of a preview of what was to come & also a way to push Bret Hart to his heel turn. This was a weird Rumble as I really enjoyed a few parts, was bored to tears by others, but it's a Rumble I've seen so much growing up that I love it more than I dislike it. Luckily Austin came in early and started launching a who’s who of guys you’d see on Superstars or Wrestling Challenge, sprinkled in with a few minutes of AAA guys involved (Cibernetico, Pierroth, Latin Lover, most notable one being Mil Mascaras, who eliminated himself), then Austin would go on another run of lower level guys before Bret’s music hit and we kicked into gear. The look on Austin’s face when his music hit is a lasting memory of this match. Had Austin came in at like 20 or something, this match would've been much lower, but I'm happy we got two stretches of him dominating guys. Also Bret eliminating Lawler with one punch and King not remembering he was in during the rest of the match was hysterical. We got guys like Mankind, Terry Funk, fake Diesel, Vader, Taker, Rocky Maivia, Flash Funk all at the end and it was a weird yet interesting combo of dudes. This was one of the cases where as the match itself played out, you knew Austin had to win, there was no way around it. Sure Bret was a favorite, but the way the match was going, Austin was the one who HAD to take it. He needed to steal this moment from Bret and getting eliminated without anyone seeing it, only to toss Vader, Taker, then Bret to win was a perfect ending. I know Austin didn’t get his title shot at Mania, but we got something even better in the I Quit match.
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Post by randomone on Jan 5, 2019 9:44:19 GMT -6
17. Royal Rumble 2005
If we were ranking greatest promo videos for a PPV, this would be my #1. It's so utterly ridiculous that it's hilarious. Wigs, singing, choreography, WIGS, bad lip syncing, WIGS!! and the clothes they wore. I posted the video for your viewing pleasure. Anyways, this was a pretty stacked Rumble that had a few highlights, but the overall silliness of the ending is what made this drop quite a bit. So Eddie & Benoit start and the two guys who had their Mania moment the previous year were a pretty fitting pick to kick this off. Sadly Daniel Puder was next and got his ass handed to him in a brutal beating by both guys and also Bob Holly who was in at 4. Cut to a few guys later and you have Edge, Mysterio, Shelton, Booker & Jericho come in from 7 through 11 and that’s a loaded ring right there. There was a lull really until Kurt Angle got eliminated by HBK and a pissed off Kurt returned and tossed HBK setting up their Mania classic. We’d get Snitsky with one of the coolest eliminations of Paul London, who did a shooting star off the apron from taking a clothesline. I was confused as to why Coach stayed in as long as he did, let alone why he was in this at all. We get down to Batista & Cena and we all know what happens next, the Bret/Luger dual elimination and that leads to Vince coming down with his angry walk, tearing both quads & sitting on the mat. Both guys would eliminate each other until Cena would get eliminated “officially” to give Big Dave the win. I don’t think the clusterfuck finish was necessary (it would’ve saved Vince a huge injury) and why couldn’t Cena just put up a strong fight and simply lose? There’s nothing wrong with that in my eyes. As long as you make Cena look strong in the actual match, having Batista eliminate him clean should be fine. Had there been a better ending, I would’ve bumped this higher, but I can’t. That commercial is a gem though.
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Post by randomone on Jan 6, 2019 16:18:39 GMT -6
16. Royal Rumble 2011 I’m trying to figure out if the Nexus/Corre feud wasn’t happening, would this have been a 30 man Rumble instead of 40? We start super strong actually with Punk & Bryan and it remains pretty entertaining for a bit until we get the guys you’d see on Superstars each week like Yoshi Tatsu, Chavo, JTG, Chris Masters along with some Nexus dudes like Husky Harris & Michael McGuillicutty who hadn’t gotten name changes or pushes yet. This lasts basically all the way til #20 when John Cena came out and started chucking job guys. We get a surprise return from Booker T, fresh off his TNA run, who is there to hit a spinaroonie, then get tossed. We get a prolonged comedy stretch with Cena & Hornswoggle, which luckily Sheamus put a stop to it by kicking out Swoggle. We get a stretch of serious guys like Rey, Barrett, Ziggler, then we get the pop of the night, at least to me, the return of Big Daddy Cool Diesel. I know Kevin Nash was coming from his Main Event Mafia run in TNA, but I nostalgic popped like a son of a bitch when I heard the engine hit. There are times I miss that era of the WWF & for a brief moment, it filled that void. So Diesel beats up guys but gets tossed before he does any real damage. Big Show came in to fill the giant spot and did his usually running through guys before getting eliminated by Big Zeke (Zeke!! This was during the 1 month they did something with him). Really the only thing that was memorable from there was Alex Riley accidentally getting eliminated too early, so Miz had to improvise later in the match and just jump in and toss Cena. Of course that led to a completely forgettable Mania main event. Now, you can hate me if you want and I know it’s been done to death since this moment, but I loved when Del Rio thought he won and Santino popped up and tossed Del Rio over the top. The celebration popped the crowd and I honestly enjoyed it. I know Del Rio would hold on, which he did, and toss Santino to win, but I dug the ending. That said, had this Rumble been a usual 30 man instead of a bloated 40, it would’ve been ranked higher, because I think had you taken out the massive amount of job guys & also the Cena/Swoggle stuff, it would’ve been a very solid match. The 40 man Rumble was fine to do, but this wasn't the year to do it with the lack of depth on the roster.
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Post by randomone on Jan 7, 2019 15:25:48 GMT -6
15. Royal Rumble 2018 (women’s) I'll be completely honest, I wasn't expecting much headed into this one as the main rosters track record when it came to battle royals was pretty damn awful, but I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this one. I don't know what that says about creative when you're expectations are so unbelievably low that any positives make it monumentally better (it means creative sucked for years when booking women). Granted there are certain aspects I hated, mainly Stephanie unnecessary commentary, but since it was the first Rumble and of course Steph has to be involved somehow, I'll cut it some slack. It was unique, had nostalgic pops, weird eliminations & luckily a good winner (before they buried Asuka). I did think WWE would be dumb enough to have Nikki Bella win at the end, so fortunately we avoided that disaster. I dug the Trish return, liked Lita being back (even if she almost killed herself on a moonsault), popped for Molly’s return, sorry not sorry I dug the Vickie Guerrero cameo and loved seeing Torrie on TV again, even if I didn’t miss her wrestling. There’s really nothing more you can say about this one, they got it right for being their first try at this. I don’t think it’ll go down in history or anything (despite WWE driving it home otherwise), but I’m happy WWE finally did this. The talent level has risen tremendously over the years and the girls deserved a spotlight like this. While in some cases situations of "first ever" involving the girls didn't deliver (Sasha/Charlotte Cell match I didn't like much at all), this one did, so good for everyone involved. To cap off the match & night, Ronda Rousey debuting made this a mainstream news worthy event, so it had to go on last.
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Post by randomone on Jan 8, 2019 18:42:10 GMT -6
14. Royal Rumble 1988 You’re probably asking yourself why the hell is this ranked so high? Answer is simple, nothing like this had been done by WWF before & despite it not being all that memorable and super slow, it really does hold up simply because of how unique it was in 1988. The Rumble wasn’t meant for main event guys like Hogan or Andre, so I was totally fine with Duggan winning this one as he got a big pop & it was an overall fun match. The thought of guys sticking around to like the 9th or 10th guy despite being number 1 or 2 was shocking to the announcers. I watched this recently again and it’s sort of nice not to have all the bells & whistles of a Rumble match, one that isn’t overbooked or filled with nonsense. The strangest thing in the whole match was Nikolai Volkoff jumping the gun and entering before his number was up. Duggan overcoming the odds against guys like Dino Bravo & One Man Gang was the exact finish you’d want in the first ever Rumble match. There always has to be the first & ranking it in the middle felt right.
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Post by randomone on Jan 9, 2019 10:23:10 GMT -6
13. Royal Rumble 2006 I really think if the story surrounding Rey winning this match wasn’t there, I’d have placed this much lower, but the back story of Rey winning this for Eddie Guerrero was a major reason why I enjoyed Rey coming out on top in this. Do I wish the circumstances were better for Mysterio to win this? Absolutely, but you take it away and it’s just another Rumble. There weren’t many major threats to win this one aside from Triple H & Randy Orton, who were luckily among the last 3 guys in there. We got a lot of down time in this it seemed. Nothing major happened until I’d say Shawn Michaels got eliminated by a returning Shane McMahon. RVD had a solid showing, but aside from that, there’s not a lot to note here. Trips & Rey went the distance and both eliminated 6 guys a piece and that’s fine, but if I asked you who did each man eliminate, could you tell me one or 2 guys without looking? Aside from Orton getting eliminated last, there really was pretty much nothing that went on. Rey winning it for Eddie and the crowd going absolutely batshit crazy for the greatest underdog in history winning was an amazing moment though, one that more than makes up for the lack of anything else otherwise. It’s enough to get it a somewhat high ranking. If you're going to watch it, watch after Orton comes out at 30 and go from there. Save yourself some time, you'll still get the feel good story of Rey at that point.
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Post by randomone on Jan 10, 2019 12:38:52 GMT -6
12. Royal Rumble 2017 I know it’s mean, but I loved the football length field we got for the entrance ramp as these guys cardio was tested and some were gassed before they even got to the ring! We start this one with Big Cass, who at this point was still over as a babyface & Chris Jericho, who was arguably the best heel on the roster. I sort of oddly liked the grab bag of guys to start as Kalisto, Mojo, Jack Gallagher & Mark Henry were to follow. I swear the only way you’d pick those guys would be from a tumbler. Granted aside from Gentleman Jack doing his umbrella spot, nothing memorable happened until Braun comes in and murders everyone until Big Show pops up and we get a brief Monster vs Giant moment until Braun gets rid of him within the 2 minutes. We do get the Tye Dillinger entrance at 10 which I popped for, but then Baron Corbin eliminated Strowman, which, whatever. The ring was loaded with guys when the 20th guy came out and it felt like ages since there were eliminations, it’s like they’re buying time until a major name came out. I think they loaded the ring up so Randy Orton could hit RKO’s on virtually everyone. Luckily Mr. Suplex comes out at 26 as Brock started launching dudes, the only reason he’s there. We then get Enzo at 27, which pissed me off because they could’ve given that spot to someone else, but he did get destroyed, so there is that. I dug the Goldberg, Taker, Reigns final 3 as having Roman come out at 30 really pissed people off and it was only to set up the Taker match. Thank God they didn’t have Roman win this for some reason as it would’ve been even worse. Luckily this was during the mind numbingly stupid angle of Orton being a member of the Wyatt’s, so Roman got ultimately eliminated to give Randall the somewhat surprise win. It was a gift I assume for having Brock beat the living shit out of him at Summerslam. Unfortunately the Mania title match with Randy & Wyatt was one of the worst title matches of all time. This match gets a bump due to how much fun the first half was as well was the end with the big names dominating in very entertaining fashion. Unfortunately what makes this Rumble fall in the rankings was the amount of stalling between eliminations and boring middle. You'd think they'd know how to sprinkle in eliminations from time to time, but it felt like the middle was stalling to see just how many guys can get packed in a ring. Don't do that, that's what battle royals are for, which, I know the Royal Rumble is like a battle r.....you know what, I'm over it, moving on. Positives outweighed the negatives in this one.
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Post by randomone on Jan 11, 2019 13:53:50 GMT -6
11. Royal Rumble 1995
This is a Rumble where the story far overshadows the participants involved, because honestly, this was the weakest Rumble of all time in terms of guys, but it’s one of the most memorable due to the start & finish. Half the field were tag guys, The Bushwhackers, Well Dunn, Heavenly Bodies, Smokin Gunns, Headshrinkers, Men on a Mission, the Blu Brothers that’s 14 right there, add to that Duke Droese, Aldo Montoya, Dick Murdoch, Mantaur, Adam Bomb, Crush, Rick Martel, Kwang, Doink, Henry Godwinn, King Kong Bundy that really left Backlund, Owen, Luger, Shawn & Bulldog as potential winners. Cut that down since Backlund and Owen were tossed immediately after Bret attacked each guy for revenge from his title match. So Bulldog, Lex or Shawn. Lex Express derailed a year ago, so having Bulldog and Shawn as the first two in and last two out was incredibly fitting. Shawn holding on by one hand and the Bulldog win fake out is arguably my favorite Rumble finish. It’s a quick Rumble and rightfully so, I couldn’t imagine this being an hour long match. I did love when Owen got eliminated off camera, it was when Timothy Well was entering, so it made it seem like the guy from Well Dunn got this huge pop. This is 100% a guilty pleasure match to watch, it has cheesy mid 90s gimmicks, a great heel win & an even better story. What I haven't even brought up yet was Pamela Anderson, who was supposed to accompany the winner to WrestleMania. The commercials leading up featured WWF Superstars leaving creepy messages on her answering machine about how she'll go with them. Todd Pettingill was backstage in her dressing room throughout the show like a giant nerd. Then you had Pam sit ringside mostly uninterested all while Uncle Jerry was making perv comments on commentary. It was Pam in her prime so there's that. When Shawn won & she stood behind him, she couldn't wait to bail out of that ring. As someone who loves nostalgia, this one is perfect as it's barely 30 minutes and you see exactly why WWF was going to start struggling big time in terms of characters.
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