Having drifted away from wrestling and the WWE (it used to be WWF until the Pandas took the F) I often drift back in around this time of year in time for the Rumble. However I'm in the mood for Nostalgia and what better way to build up to the Royal Rumble than a count down of my favourite Royal Rumbles;
No 10
1990
A rather decent undercard sees Ronnie Garvin beat Greg Valentine and Jim Duggan get a DQ win over the heel Big Bossman. The Bushwhackers get a win over The Fabulous Rougeaus and Brutus Beefcake has a rather fun match with The Genius. All fun and wets the appetite for the main event.
Ted DiBiase enters first and does the first memorably long stint of anyone in a rumble lasting forty four minutes and he's the MVP of this match. He keeps everything together, has tremendous psychology and at one point saves Dusty Rhodes from falling out of the ring at the wrong point. Some Wrestlemania angles are built up such as Demolition taking on the Colossal Connection, Roddy Piper eliminating Bad News Brown but this Rumble is remembered for one thing. Hulk Hogan and Ultimate Warrior tangling in the ring for the first time building up to that years Wrestlemania.
No 9
1991
The opening match is one of my favourite matches of all time as The Rockers take on The Orient Express. But the big thing about the undercard is Ultimate Warrior turning down a title challenge from Macho King Randy Savage, which results in Savage costing Warrior the title and Sgt Slaughter becoming Champ. This would lead to a classic Wrestlemania match and in keeping with the story Warrior would run Savage out of the building leaving a vacant spot in the Rumble which wasn't filled.
The Rumble itself is rather fun with Greg Valentine and Rick Martel putting in memorable performances, Martel in particular is in wonderful heel mode as he gets a heel push which would end later that year - his elimination of Jake Roberts is heel brilliance. Undertaker makes a memorable first appearance eliminating Bret Hart within seconds and he's rocking this early incarnation of his dead man gimmick. The British Bulldog gets a good showing as he lasts a while and finally eliminates Martel. Things turn a bit obvious when Hogan turns up and beats the heels to win but its a firm favourite.
No 8
2005
At this point WWE had split in two with half the roster on Raw and half on Smackdown, usually going into a Rumble its pretty obvious who the winner will be but here we have two potential winners. Raw had been building up Batista for a title shot and Smackdown John Cena. The undercard is fun with JBL surviving a triple thread match, Edge and Shaun Michaels opening the show, Undertaker in a casket match and HHH against Randy Orton.
Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit start things off, the crowd is hot for Eddie and go nuts when he's eliminated, we have the infamous Puder incident at the start and we have a good Royal Rumble which perhaps makes the best use of the brand split. Shaun Michaels and Kurt Angle have a brilliant cameo setting up a Wrestlemania match. When things get down to Cena and Batista its a coin toss who will win and theres a fantastic swerve of them both falling out together and a restart of the final two with Batista winning. Lots of good stuff to be had here.
No 7
1998
A cracking undercard sees Shaun Michaels retain the title against The Undertaker who ended the show being burnt in a casket by Kane setting up a Wrestlemania match. The New Age Outlaws take on LOD, Rock retaining the Intercontinental title over Ken Shamrock and Vader against Goldust make up the rest of the matches.
What a Rumble, Mick Foley gets three entries as Cactus Jack, Mankind and Dude Love - a brilliant swerve I was gutted when Cactus Jack went out so early. The Rock enters early and gets the lengthy heel position push and a good start after getting put in a trash can and thrown through the ropes by Cactus Jack and Chainsaw Charlie - plus we start things off with a chainsaw in the ring! Its all about Steve Austin as he starts his epic push that would net him the title at Wrestlemania, entering through the crowd after attacking his opponents for the previous few weeks he's a man on a mission and his win sends the crowd wild stunning The Rock over the top rope.
No 6
2001
This was a Royal Rumble that was marketed as "The Most Star Studded" of all time, debatable but it was a good one. You can tell WWE had a good roster at this as no one pulled double duty and it was still a good undercard. The Dudleys beat Bono and Christian in a good match, Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit tear the house down in a great ladder match. A woman's championship match is used to build up a feud for Wrestlemania and the title match is a fantastic storyline match between Kurt Angle and HHH with Steve Austin interfering to cost HHH.
The Rumble though is all about Kane who enters early, is the runner up, eliminates eleven people and when it got down to him and the all conquering Steve Austin there was a feeling for a few seconds that he could win. The Rock puts in a brilliant performance, theres a cameo from the Big Show returning from injury, Rikishi is at the height of his heel push, Steve Austin has a brilliant out of ring fight with HHH and Undertaker makes up the list of headliners. But despite the big names this Rumble is up high because of Kane and that brief "he might actually win" moment.
No 5
2003
We're back in the brand split era, the PPV starts off with Brock Lesnar and Big Show in a quick match for the final spot in the Rumble. The rest of the undercard is forgettable except for Kurt Angle Vs Chris Benoit which is a Wrestlemania level match.
The Rumble is brilliant, so many wrestlers I could watch for hours here and plenty of names, it reads like a whose who of wrestling. What raises this Rumble is the continuation of the Chris Jericho and Shaun Michaels angle building up for Wrestlemania, Shaun Michaels is made number 1 entrant so Jericho wants the second slot and to outlast him, he then proceeds to enter from behind and take Michaels out with a chair. From that point Jericho rules this Rumble like a panto villain and is brilliant. Rob Van Dam gets half an hour which gets a thumbs up from me, the Hardy brothers clash, Undertaker makes a return from injury and Brock Lesnar succeeds despite having the world against him.
No 4
1994
Another Rumble which is affected by the undercard, Bret and Owen Hard go for the tag titles with Owen turning on Bret completes a heel turn and potentially eliminates Bret from the Rumble. Yokozuna against Undertaker in a casket match turns into Undertaker Vs an army of heels and is rather fun.
This Rumble however is remembered for Diesel, who enters the ring eliminates those in the ring then proceeds to win the crowd over by eliminating the next few entrants within seconds until Randy Savage enters and puts a stop to it. The rest of the Rumble is fun as the later half of entrants fill the ring and a bit of trivia it has my favourite wrestling mistake. Greg Valentine falls off the apron leaving Rick Martel with nobody to eliminate him, he then picks Tatanka out and random runs at him and jumps over the ropes with Tatanka visually confused about what is happening. The final four is brilliant with Shaun Michaels & Fatus double elimination being brilliant. Someone doesn't come out making the viewer think Bret Hart isn't going to make it and then he limps out two numbers later. Good ending as the top two faces at the time are made co-winners building up nicely to the following Wrestlemania.
No 3
2007
A rather fun undercard whose highlights include The Hardys Vs MnM, Batista Vs Mr Kennedy and a bonkers Last Man Standing Match between Umaga and John Cena but this one is all about the Rumble Match.
Possibly this is the best end to a Rumble match ever, 10 or so people in the ring and out comes The Great Khali (when he's still being booked as a monster) who eliminated almost everyone in the ring until he's stood there dominant (brilliant moment when he's facing the wrong way and Shaun Michaels shouts "look at the camera dummy") with the survivors laying comatose when who comes out at number 30 but Undertaker. After a brief confrontation Undertaker eliminates him then MVP leaving Undertaker, Shaun Michaels, Edge and Randy Orton. After RKO are gone (after giving Undertaker some chair shots) its a shoot out between Undertaker and Michaels, either of them could have justifiably won a fantastic Rumble.
No 2
2004
Its very hard to talk about this Rumble because of whats happened outside of the ring since then. However at the time I was a big mark for the winner having watched him since 1997 in his WCW days. With Eddie winning earlier in the night there was a feeling a new era was dawning in WWE and at the time the Rumble felt like it was the moment it happened.
No 1
1992
Yes ladies and gentle readers this is my favourite Royal Rumble, due to Ric Flair interfering in title defences between Hulk Hogan and Undertaker the title was declared vacant and the new champion would be the winner of the Royal Rumble. The undercard gives the tag wrestlers something to do and actually tells one tale of the Rumble as Roddy Piper has two matches, he's in the Rumble and beats The Mountie for the Intercontinental belt giving him two title matches in the same night.
The Rumble starts out with the British Bulldog and Ted Dibiase, Bulldog getting a face push which would see him headline Summerslam later that year and he eliminates Dibiase before the third entrant gets to the ring! This is amazing never happened before stuff and sends the crowd wild, Ric Flair comes in next which sends Bobby Heenan insane - his commentary for this event is legendary. Theres so many big names here in what I think is the most star studded Rumble; Bulldog, Dibiase, Shaun Michaels fresh off splitting up The Rockers and turning heel, Rick Martel, Kerry Von Erich, Barry Darsow as Repo Man, Big Boss Man, Roddy Piper, Jake Roberts, Jimmy Snuka, Undertaker, Randy Savage, Sgt Slaughter, Sid Justice and Hulk Hogan. The ending is brilliant, at the time you still think Hogans going to win but the ultimate heel performance of Ric Flair endures and he has his first WWF title and gives one of his best promos to end the show.
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
