Austin101

Austin101's "WWF ROYAL RUMBLE 96" Review:


This was the first Royal Rumble match to include theme music for all 30 entrants as they came down to the ring.

This was the first pay-per-view event to feature the Free for All, a free preshow for pay-per-view events.

This was also the first Rumble event to have a WWF Title match AFTER the Rumble match itself.

Live on PPV from Fresno, California.

Mr. Perfect joins Vince McMahon to call the action on this night.

This like the 95 Rumble was a PPV I watched a lot when I was younger so it holds a good place in my collection.

In the Free for All match: Duke Droese defeated Hunter Hearst Helmsley by disqualification (6:25)

Helmsley was disqualified after using brass knuckles.

The winner of the match earned the right to enter at #30 while the loser of the match was forced to enter at #1.


Now onto the ppv event....



1) Jeff Jarrett vs Ahmed Johnson


For the second straight year Double J opens the Rumble PPV. This time around he's not winning the Intercontinental title against Razor, he's just going up against Ahmed Johnson in a singles match to open the PPV. Double J tried to scoop him up from the corner and Ahmed has none of that. Ahmed feels the neccessary urge to scream each time he performs a power move. Ahmed Johnson isn't the best worker in the world incase anyone is wondering and for some reason when I was younger I thought he was. Strange. Either way there was a spot where Double J keeps trying to attack Ahmed but he runs it off in almost Hulk Hogan like (You can't hurt me) type fasdhion. Some of the fans don't take to this all that well and they boo. Double J after throwing Ahmed into the steel steps remains in control and then Ahmed Johnson fights back like he always does and as soon as Double J starts to feel threatened he gets his guitar and hits Ahmed over the head with it and gets himself Dq'd at 6:40. Not a bad opener.


**


-A Women's Championship match between Aja Kong and then champion Alundra Blayze was to take place, as had been advertised in WWF Magazine. However, the match was scrapped after Blayze was fired.



2) The Smokin' Gunns (Billy and Bart) vs The Bodydonnas (Skip and Zip) (w/Sunny) for the WWF Tag Team Championship

Sunny looked as good as ever here. This tag match flowed pretty decently and there was a spot where Billy "accidentally" knocked Sunny off the ring apron and Sunny pretended she was dying on the outside to distract the Gunns who she'd later manage. Bart pinned Zip at 11:14 to retain the tag titles after Billy helped reverse the Bodydonnas' double suplex attempt on Bart into a small package from Bart on Zip.


** 1/4




3) Goldust (w/Marlena) vs Razor Ramon for the WWF Intercontinental Championship

Marlena (Terri) made her debut here at the Rumble and this match was spent with a lot of back and forth offence and A LOT of Goldust mind games. He acted his queer self a lot by prancing around and even feeling Razor's chest with both his hands as Perfect mentions his disgust. This was supposed to get to Razor and obvioussly it did before the match and during it. Goldust pinned Ramon after The 1-2-3 Kid came and hit Ramon with a top rope Spinning Heel Kick while Marlena distracted the referee to become the new IC Champion at 14:17.

** 3/4




4) The 1996 Royal Rumble Match

This was a much better Rumble match then the year previous, in bold are guys who could have logically won at this point.

1 Hunter Hearst Helmsley
2 Henry Godwinn
3 Bob Backlund
4 Jerry Lawler
5 Bob Holly
6 King Mabel
7 Jake Roberts
8 Dory Funk,
9 Yokozuna
10 1-2-3 Kid
11 Takao Omori
12 Savio Vega
13 Vader
14 Doug Gilbert
15 Squat Team #1
16 Squat Team #2
17 Owen Hart
18 Shawn Michaels
19 Hakushi
20 Tatanka
21 Aldo Montoya
22 Diesel
23 Kama
24 The Ringmaster
25 Barry Horowitz
26 Fatu
27 Isaac Yankem
28 Marty Jannetty
29 The British Bulldog
30 Duke Droese

Now compare that to the year before, much better. You could argue about HHH, but he had a good performance in this match and was on the rise despite still being some what of a jobber. The blue blood gimmick worked.

Interesting to see guys like Kane, Steve Austin, Rikishi, The Godfather in this match under different and unsuccessful persona's. Steve Austin who was the Ring Master was so creative that even though his perfomance was forgettable he immitated both HBK and Diesel with both there respective taunts. Hillarious.

Helmsley and Henry Godwin who they called the "Hog Farmer" here started the match. Backlund, Mable, and the King who was such a great heel (and hillarious) were some of the next entrants.

There was a great spot where Jake Roberts came out, he brought out his snake, clearing the ring. Roberts put the snake on Jerry Lawler who ran off and hid under the ring for almost half an hour before being found by Shawn Michaels after a long while and then being eliminated.

I found this very interesting....After Shawn Michaels had eliminated Vader, Yokozuna, and the 1-2-3 Kid, Vader re-entered the ring and eliminated Shawn Michaels, Bob Holly, and Hunter Hearst Helmsley (Owen Hart was only thrown through the ropes both times). However, unlike previous instances where eliminations by eliminated wrestlers stood (e.g. Big Boss Man's elimination by Hulk Hogan in 1989), none of these eliminations were deemed official and WWF President Gorilla Monsoon forced Vader to get out of the ring. So things changed up a bit from this point on.

The final two men were Shawn Michaels and Diesel. Michaels hit Diesel with Sweet Chin Music that sent Diesel over the top rope to win his second straight Rumble at 58:49.


*** 1/4





5) Main Event- Bret "The Hitman" Hart vs The Undertaker (w/Paul Bearer) for the WWF Title.

I really, really like this match, I do. Some people think it's to slow and it is VERY slow but it's slow in a good way. These two have amazing chemistry together as shown here and at One Night Only and Summerslam 97. (Both of those were better matches though) This really shouldn't have been the main event as the Rumble should have but it was unique I guess for a change of pace. Hart was disqualified after Diesel came out and pulled referee Earl Hebner before he could make a 3-count for The Undertaker following a Tombstone Piledriver at 28:31, so Bret kept the title. Taker had his "mask" in this match after being squashed by Mable earlier in 1995 and Diesel fingered The Undertaker going to the back. (Which was very different for this time period.) Great match, pretty good show.



**** 1/4




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Final PPV Rating for RR 1996= 7/10

A great WWF Title match from Bret as he continues to be a star at these Rumble PPV events carrying the work load so well like he always did. A pretty good Royal Rumble match (Miles better then the year before it) a pretty good IC Title match and a couple decent matches justify the 7/10 rating.

Up next from Austin101: Royal Rumble 1997 (stay tuned).....

Feedback as always if you want to discuss.