The History Of The Royal Rumble Part 1

NeroTheExtreme

I figured it's only fitting seeing as the Survivor Series recall was received well enough, so I decided to do a retrospective post for the Royal Rumble, after all, the time is ticking now. So enough of the jibber jabber. And lets get to where it all began in...

1988: A brainchild of Pat Patterson, Vince decides to experiment this on the USA Network. The idea of 20 men drawing numbers at random and every two minutes another joins. The concept? The Royal Rumble. Also the contract signing of Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant for Saturday Nights Main Event the following month took place here as well as the Dino Bravo Benchpress Record where Jesse Ventura would controversially aid by helping him press 712lbs. For all you fact freaks, Bret Hart and Tito Santana would draw numbers #1 and #2 and Bret would hold the first ever longativity record at over 20 minutes. While Hacksaw Jim Duggan would win the first Rumble.

1989: Given it's success, Vince decides to give The Royal Rumble it's Pay Per View debut in the Summit, Houston, TX the following January as the winner and the longest person in the rumble would feature in the OPENING match! Proving that if it didn't happen on PPV, It didn't happen! The Super Posedown between Ravishing Rick Rude and The Ultimate Warrior would take place here and nobody could have forseen the Tag Team Champions, Demolition drawing numbers #1 and #2 and going toe to toe! Ted Dibiase draws number 30 and many suspecting that he bought his number. Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage have their first confrontation. And Big John Studd makes his comeback and ends up winning the rumble.

1990: A pretty lacklustre event this year with the Bushwhackers V Rougeau Brothers opening the event as well as a boring interview with Sapphire and Sensational Sherri. Now wasn't the world waiting for that?! A surprisingly good submission match came out of Greg Valentine and Ronnie Garvin and The Genius would get his first haircut in a series of them that year. As for the Rumble itself, it was merely match buildups to Wrestlemania VI which would see Savage and Rhodes, Bad News Brown and Roddy Piper and of course, the big one as Hulk Hogan and The Ultimate Warrior go head to head for the first time. And Ted Dibiase who drew #30 the previous year, drew #1 this year! Fact Freaks: Curt Hennig was pencilled in to win this Rumble, but Hogan and his political power put a stop to it and Perfect was given number 30 and the last man out. Nearly fourteen years later and nobody knows why Hogan needed the win, but he got it.

1991: And a bleak period for WWE begins right here. With it's attempt to get in the spirit during the Gulf War, we had a championship match where The Ultimate Warrior goes against American Turncoat, Sgt Slaughter. In a scene of tastelessness, Warrior tears up the Iraqi flag and shoves it down Slaughters throat. Anything to get ratings I guess. A good opener with the Rockers going against The Orient Express to get the crowd going. And a so-so rumble being the first one for The Undertaker. Bret Hart drawing #1 again and lasting about 20 minutes again, and Hulk Hogan picking up the victory for the second year in a row, boring most smart marks in the process. Funny moment as 12 years on and nobody has beaten Bushwhacker Luke who still has record for the shortest lasting Rumble participant at less than two seconds!

1992: Now there was a reason to watch the Rumble after two years of what seemed to be a novelty wearing off. The then, WWF title was at stake after being forfeited in November at Tuesday In Texas. Also the New Foundatin make their first appearance in the WWF with Jim Neidhart teaming with Owen Hart. Neidhart would be gone by their next PPV though. Roddy Piper wins his first title beating Jacques Rougeau better known then as "The Mountie". Then we come to the actual Rumble itself, which had its fair share of replacements, including one for Marty Janetty, who had to bail due to a botched bladejob from the Barber Shop three days beforehand. Ric Flair draws #3 and goes on for over an hour to be crowned the Undisputed WWF champion (Chris Jericho please take note, you weren't the first, and neither was Flair for that matter).

1993: After the previous year. It was determined that in order to make the Royal Rumble important. A title shot was given to the winner of it. We would also witness the PPV debut of one Scott Steiner. Bret Hart and Scott Hall went at a pretty decent title match. While Shawn Michaels and former tag team partner Marty Janetty too, gave a pretty decent showing after Janetty had pretty much been on the shelf for an entire year. The Rumble itself was filled with old fogeys, including a returning Bob Backlund who would beat Ric Flair's longetivity record by going OVER an hour. He wouldn't win it though. As then 450lb Yokozuna was being heavily pushed and won the Rumble by kicking out of a Savage pin that sent him over the top. Why Savage pinned him in a Royal Rumble match was anyones guess. Lex Luger also graced the crowd with his presence after the abortion that was the WBF (please, don't ask!)

1994: Bit of a buildup to this one. Undertaker got his rematch from Survivor Series in the form of a Coffin match. Scott Hall went against IRS after IRS decided to steal the gold chains from Hall, Bret and Owen had patched their differences and went against the Quebeccers for the tag titles and the winner of the Rumble of course, gets a title shot. However Undertaker lost his match and "died" and was lifted towards the ceiling (while Calloway was still in the coffin, it was actually Marty Janetty that was raised up), Owen turned on Bret for not tagging, Hall got his gold back after Michaels interfered with the bogus belt and for the first time, the time limit is dropped in the Rumble from 2 minutes to 1 minute and 30 seconds. The Rumble ending was one of the strangest at the time. With both Bret and Lex Luger going over the rope and hitting the floor at the same time. It was declared a draw and both men went on for the title shot at Wrestlemania X.

1995: Some strange stuff happening this year, with Sean Waltman and Bob Holly winning the belts! And Scott Hall dropping his one to Jeff Jarrett. Even after the match was restarted due to interference! Bret Hart and Kevin Nash had the long awaited Rematch from King Of The Ring only this time for a bigger prize. This would be the year where Michaels would draw #1 in the Rumble and win the whole thing! As amazing as that sounded, there would of course, be a catch! Yes folks, this was dubbed the fastest paced Royal Rumble as the intervals would be one minute! Which meant that Shawn only spent a total of 40 minutes in the Ring, not even a patch on Flairs performance three years earlier. This would be when the one foot on the floor rule would be invented.

1996: With the clique era in full force, we had Michaels and Nash in the Rumble, Hall defending his Intercontenental belt, and HHH on the verge of joining. Hall dropped the belt to Golddust just before Hall was about to bail for WCW. This was also the point where WWE agreed to give All Japan some tryouts during the Royal Rumble, as well as the returns of fogeys like Jake Roberts and Dory Funk! This would also have the appearances of the Undertaker wearing his goofy mask (last seen on Chris Nowinski!) and a slimmer, more technical wrestling nobody called the Ringmaster who looks kinda familiar! Shawn wins for the second year in a row, this time somewhat earning it. As Nash is thrown out by Michaels, one could see a Heel turn coming around soon enough.

1997: HHH opens for us against Golddust bringing Mr Hughes as his first bodyguard. He'd last 30 days before being replaced by Chyna. Also we had Faarroq going against Ahmed Johnson, a match that was meant to take place seven months earlier before Ahmed got injured. Boring match. Vader squares off against Undertaker when Paul Bearer switched sides earlier. Shawn gets his rematch with Sid to get his second title. Shawn once said that Sid was the biggest piece of Luggage he ever had to carry, although I remember Sid carrying that particular match. Rumble match is 1 minute and 30 seconds again this time around. Bret Screwjob #1 takes place as Bret dumped Austin over the ropes but Referee doesn't see this and Austin sneaks back in and dumps Bret to win his first Rumble.

1998: As Austin had been built up for the last year, it was time for the final step to take him to main event status. Although there wasn't quite a bounty on his head by this point. It may as well have been as Everyone wanted to try and take him out. Even Los Boriquas thought they levelled him, only to find it was Skull from the DOA. Undercard was a series of dud matches that kept the crowd less than interested. Meanwhile the title shot would be the match that put Shawn Michaels on the shelf. Michaels V Undertaker in a casket match. Shawn would be victorious with the help of DX helping him out of the casket. It would end with Kane setting the casket on fire with the Undertaker in it. Wasn't a great Rumble by any means, with Austin and Rock being the final two in the ring and Austin winning it for the second year in a row. It was the turning point for the WWE as it was mere weeks away from grabbing the ratings back.

To be continued...
Nero

NeroTheExtreme

1999: A re-invention of sorts as it would be the first Royal Rumble for a long time without any of it's long term major players. Shawn called it a career nine months earlier and Bret... well, we all know the story there. So it was a chance for the new blood to shine. A poor undercard to say the least though as we were stuck right in the middle of the Corporation and weeks away from the birth of the Ministry. The two saving graces of that year would be the championship match. Mick Foley was the current belt holder, and former champion, The Rock was the opponent. A serious change from last year as both guys were still in the middle of character development and the Rock was nowhere near over, in fact he'd be drawing chants of "Die Rocky Die" at PPV's! Mick Foley would make the mistake of having his family at ringside. He had no idea that Rock would throw in half the amount of chairshots that happened that night. Some of which were botched as Foley would state in his book. Rock regained the title by fair means or foul. It was revealed on RAW the next night that Foley actually didn't quit. The Rumble had a lot to follow up, and it did. With Austin having #1 picked for him, McMahon tried to pick #30 but then commissioner, Shawn Michaels vetoed it and made McMahon #2. Austin was taken out within a matter of minutes but would make it back for the last 30. McMahon made the mistake of coming back to Ringside to announce, he would be dragged in until they were the last two. But due to interference by The Rock, Vince dumped Austin over the top to win the Rumble. It should also be noted that this was the first Rumble where a female would compete in, as Chyna who drew #30.

2000: Tables, Thumbtacks and Terror would be an understatement for this years Rumble. Opening up with the WWE debut of Tazz who would squash Kurt Angle like a bug with the Tazzmission. However the decision would be reversed the next night on RAW. A tables match featuring the Hardyz Vs the Dudleyz would see Jeff Hardy performing a swanton bomb off the top of the entranceway in Madison Square Garden and let's not forget the street fight between Triple H and Cactus Jack. A match that took a lot out of both men as Triple H landed on a wooden pallet the wrong way as a chunk of the wood pierced right through his leg. While Cactus Jack was pedigreed onto hundreds and thousands of thumbtacks that he had thrown onto the ring earlier in the match. Unfortunately i was eating a pizza whilst watching this live and Miss Rumble 2000 went under way. Now I'll quite happily watch a scantilly clad B.B, Terri Runnels or Kat! But when 80 year old Mae Young's saggy tits hung out that even the censor mark couldn't hide, well lets just say the Pizza had no trouble finding the nearest exit! A pretty good undercard as far as the Rumble is concerned, but the actual Rumble was nothing to write home about. Rock cuts a promo saying as long as he could get by Crash Holly and Headbanger Mosh, he has a pretty good chance of winning, as the crowd bursts into tears of laughter. Fun spot as Kaientai keep interfering every 15 minutes, but Taka gets flung out and whacks his head out the outside, and the arm bends in a way that just shouldn't bend! The Rock and the Big Show do a Michaels and Bulldog 95 finish as Rock slides back in for the win.

2001: If ever there was a ladder match to top the Shawn V Hall at Wrestlemania X, it would be this one! Chris Jericho Vs Chris Benoit. Lasting over 25 minute, it still sends the chills down me. Triple H tries to regain his gold from Kurt Angle in a less than impressive match as the crowd that were pumped from the Intercontinental ladder match, were then deflated by the boring Ivory V Chyna match which saw Chyna getting carried out on a stretcher in one of the poorest, most forgetable angles in history. Some funny spots before the rumble including Tiger Ali Singh getting replaced by none other than comedian Drew Carey. Listening to Singh referring to him as "Drew Curry" is too funny. While The Rock cuts another hilarious promo for the second Rumble in a row "Does Kane want to buy the Undertaker a box of chocolates?... Does the Undertaker wanna tweak Kane's big red nipple?? It doesn't matter!!!" Rumble time and Carey gets number 3 and eliminates himself within minutes at the sight of Kane. The highlight if the night would be the showdown between The Rock and Steve Austin, who would go on to Wrestlemania after being the last man standing.

2002: A homecoming for some and a street fight that we will never forget. Golddust returns for the first time in for years, Val Venis in almost a year after the RTC angle mercifully got the chop, and Mr Perfect returned to the WWE ring for the first time in nine years. A street fight between Vince McMahon and Ric Flair would prove to be one of the best seen for a long time considering the age of both guys. Chris Jericho went against The Rock for the title but the match would prove to be one of their weakest considering the matches they had the previous year. Jericho would hold on to the belt until Wrestlemania but the question was who is opponent would be. We were back to two minute intervals for the Rumble this year with some surprises, including the Undertaker going over thanks to none other than Tough Enough winner, Maven! Who would take a five minute pounding afterwards. And then we were left with the two who battled it out for the belt the previous year! Yup, Kurt Angle and Triple H were the final two, and it looked like Angle had it won, Triple H held onto the rope, snuck back in and dumped Angle over for the win and a huge crowd pop as it was the first PPV Triple H had taken part in for the first time in eight months since his quad injury.

2003: Big buildup for this one, it was the first Rumble since the brand extension. This meant that 15 RAW guys and 15 Smackdown guys were drawn for it and it would be the first time in almost a year they would share the same ring. Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit wrestle to what would probably be the best match of the entire year, while the PPV return of Scott Steiner was plonked with Triple H, with a lot of buildup that didn't really lead anywhere. The match ended with a DQ win for Scott Steiner which sent his main event status plummeting to the sound of a resounding splat. Undertaker returns for the first time in three months after being put on the shelf by the Big Show. A return of the Deadman is promised, but failed to deliver. Shawn Michaels is given #1 while Jericho picked #2. Shawn found himself over the top within a minute. But Jericho after lasting over 25 minutes went over the top due to interferance from Michaels. A lot of people predicting The Undertaker to go to the show this year. No dice as Brock Lesnar who drew #30 after beating the Big Show (as well as an impressive F5 on the 500 pounder) earlier on in the PPV for the slot which the Big Show was already pencilled in for, was the last man standing in the ring and would go against Kurt Angle in what is now considered to be a classic Wrestlemania match.

Cianan2

Nice one Nero....good job in helping me remember the old ones which i now realise i never saw!!!!!!!

Hey,i know you said when Stone cold was being bountied, was this when he was "feared by everyone" and when his music hit,every1 stopped fighting to go for him?? I love that one...he just pops outta the crowd and knocks everyone out!!!!

NeroTheExtreme

Yep, thats the one. And all the stables tried to take him out before the rumble.
The following year, Vince put a bounty on him (and then threw him out himself)

Nero

Gillie

Good 1 Nero!
Memories!