Austin101's "WWF ROYAL RUMBLE 1994" Review:
Live on PPV from Providence, Rhode Island at the Providence Civic Center, a great crowd on hand.
Vince McMahon opens the show running down some of the card and then "Money, money, money, money, money" hits and Vince acts surprised that Dibiase will join him for commentary during the broadcast. Dibiase says something along the lines of "You could be workin for me McMahon, ahahaha" and then Vince says "That is a laugh, moving on." Pretty funny.
1) Tatanka vs Bam Bam Bigelow (w/Luna Vachon)
Both these men would perform twice on the night and compete in the Rumble match. Bam Bam sold this during the actual Rumble as he had fatigue upon entering and all the way throughout. In this match the pace was pretty good and it was the first singles opener at a Royal Rumble PPV event in quite some time. Back and forth action throughout and a funny spot comes when Bam Bam immiates Tatanka's hop around the ring and half the crowd laughs, while the other half boo's. Gold. I loved Bam Bam's work. Bam Bam has a much better match here at this event then he did in the one against the Bossman the year before and Tatanka ends up beating Bigelow after a high cross body off the top rope at 8:12. Good opener.
** 1/2
2) The Quebecers (Jacques and Pierre) (w/Johnny Polo) vs Bret Hart and Owen Hart for the WWF Tag Team Championship
Bret and Owen always work well together and on there own as that is no secret. At the 1993 Survivor Series to make a long story short, Owen turned on Bret and Bret said he'd never fight Owen under any circumstances then over the holidays they "patched things up" and they challenged the Quebecers for the tag gold. How nice.
Didn't sound to intriguing but if there was any doubters before the match there shouldn't of been any after this tag bout. Not only was this match very good but Owen turns on Bret FOR GOOD after this match and it sets up one of the best matches of all time at Wrestlemania 10 between the two. Bret and Owen work together at the beginning of this tag team contest but that would be the end of all that as the Quebecers dominate pretty much from the beginning till the end. They keep Bret in there corner and poor little brother Owen is on the outside BAGGING for a tag in the ring. The Quebecers focused on Bret's knee until Bret tried to gain control and attempted to apply the Sharpshooter. He was not able to stand, so the referee Tim White (god rest his soul) stopped the match and awarded the victory to the Quebecers at 16:48. The fans weren't happy and neither was Owen apparently as he kicks Bret's leg out of his leg.
(said by Owen on the big screen after the match in an interview) Owen screams "WHAT ABOUT MEEEEE!!!!" and starts the whole jealousy angle.
God this was a great tag team match though for while it lasted, much better then anyone would have anticipated. It's a personal favourite of mine so I might rate it higher then others, but hey it's MY REVIEW so I can.
*** 3/4
3) Razor Ramon vs Irwin R. Schyster for the WWF Intercontinental Championship
Razor and Irwin had some pretty solid chemistry in the ring. IRS is a good worker and so is Scott Hall so that is no surprise.
During this match, the referee Joey Marella (RIP) was knocked out. Shawn Michaels came out and hit Ramon with his fake IC title. IRS pinned Ramon, however, referee Earl Hebner came down, informed Marella about what happened, and the match was restarted. I find it funny that Earl is always the "GOOD GUY" in this time period boy would that turn different in the next decade. (despite his chatacter remaining a "FACE")
Razor Ramon pinned I.R.S after a Razor's Edge at 11:30 to keep the IC title belt to the fans delight.
** 1/4
4) Yokozuna (w/Mr. Fuji and Jim Cornette) vs The Undertaker (w/Paul Bearer) in a Casket match for the WWF Championship
These two did a much better job then you'd think and it was very physical. Taker did his routine moves and the steel chair even got involved as this was a casket match so there was no rules. Taker dominated most of the match until the shit load of WWF superstars started interfering and began to take the Deadman down. Still though Taker fought through it all but in the end it was to much for him to even withstand. Yokozuna ended up locking The Undertaker in the casket with the help of wrestlers such as Crush, The Great Kabuki, Tenryu, Bam Bam Bigelow, Adam Bomb, Jeff Jarrett, The Headshrinkers and Diesel at 14:20 to retain his WWF Title. It's a good thing Bret would end his misery of a reign at Wrestlemania 10 a couple short months after this. Okay it wasn't that dreadful but it was still pretty boring for the most part and Bret was a much better champion to not only watch but represent the company. After the match, the wrestlers wheeled the casket to the back. However, green mist began seeping out of the casket and Undertaker appeared on the video screen, announcing that they would see his rebirth soon. That soon meant about 8 months later at Summerslam 1994 when he confronted Dibiase's "Fake Undertaker" in the main event in what was a dreadful match. I liked this Casket match however enough to give it three stars. Was very good for who was involved and what was expected at the time and I liked how it was pretty unique and memorable overall.
***
5) Main Event- The 1994 Royal Rumble Match
First of all there was a break through performance in this Rumble match by Diesel (not by length this time that still belonged to Backlund) but he tied the WWF record for most eliminations, as he threw out seven consecutive men. Diesel was a heel but got "Diesel, Diesel, Diesel" chants as he left and was thrown out by five guys including Shawn Michaels who was his "ally" at the time. A lot of ongoing feuds came into play during the match. Crush and his former friend, Randy Savage fought each other until Crush eliminated Savage. The old Rockers (HBK and Jannetty) battled it out. Bam Bam got his revenge by quickly eliminating Doink (who annoyed him a lot in 1993) and the two would meet again in a mixed tag match at Wrestlemania 10.
Scott Steiner and Samu started in the ring though and Scott was quickly joined by brother and tag parter Rick. Owen does not get a good ovation quite obvioussly when he comes out due to his actions earlier in the night. Diesel then goes on his rampage and clears the ring.
There was an entry at #25 where no one came out and we were all led to believe it was Bret who had sustained the knee injury earlier in the night in the tag match with Owen. Bret came limping out though to a huge ovation at Entry # 27 and Dibiase and Vince did a good job putting over his guts and will to win. That #25 was later explained by Vince as Bastion Booger was unable to compete because he was "SICK." Okay? They couldn't come up with anything better? For instance when Sparkplug Bob Holly came out they said he was replacing the 123 Kid because he was hurt. So why not just NOT say that then, and then when entrant #25 was revealed just say that was the 123 Kid but he was told by doctors at the last minute not to compete. Oh well I guess it doesen't matter and I'm just reading to far into things. HBK, Fatu, Luger and Bret made the final four. HBK would make at least the final four for three consecutive years starting in this year (as he won the next two)
The final two participants, Bret Hart and Lex Luger, were declared co-winners of the Royal Rumble by WWF President Jack Tunney when they eliminated each other at the same time at 55:08. Some fans were dissapointed but it was a new concept at the time so that's to be expected. The WWF was a little unsure I think of who was more "OVER" (which is ridiculous) so they tested out fan reactions having both officials raise the hands of both Bret and Luger to see who would get a better ovation. Bret Hart clearly did even though Lex ran his whole "Lex Express" act in the summer of 1993. Luger never did get to carry the WWF Title as it was Bret they decided to go with and take the title back From Yoko the year after he lost it to him at Wrestlemania 9. This was a pretty good Royal Rumble as we saw domination from Diesel (which got him OVER), we got to see heart and determination from both winners and a very unique ending that would be remembered a lot better if it wasn't copied in 2005. (I think that however was a mistake though, at least that's what I read in the book "World Wrestling Insanity") In the end though this Rumble match was pretty entertaining and it did it's job.
*** 1/2
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Final PPV Rating for RR 1994= 8/10
Such a great and underrated PPV. A lot of controversy on this night with intereferences, a brother turning on a brother, two guys winning the rumble, the whole taker fiasco, the IRS-Ramon re-start. None the less a lot of great matches and not a single bad one is good enough to earn this Rumble a 8/10 rating.
Stay tuned because up next from Austin101 is
Royal Rumble 1995.
Feedback as always if you want to discuss.....