Wrestling Forum banner

2nd Favorite Royal Rumble match

1K views 18 replies 16 participants last post by  The People's H2O 
#1 ·
I think everyone can agree that the 1992 Royal Rumble is the best 1 ever. Flair's win, Heenan's commentary, the star power, the fact the belt was on the line.

What everyone's in disagreement with, it seems, is the 2nd best Royal Rumble match. To me it's 2001. Kane's performance plus the 3rd win of Stone Cold.

Interested to hear all your thoughts on this manner.
 
#11 ·
Royal Rumble 1994 is another favourite Rumble of mine. It was the first wrestling PPV VHS that I ever bought, so it has a special place in my heart and I really loved that Rumble match. The Bret "injury" angle, Diesel dominating the Rumble, he was so over that night, Kabuki and Tenryu being hired as mercenaries by Fuji to take out Luger, Shawn Michaels' performance especially with him and Marty Jannetty just throwing bombs at each other when Jannetty enters, the way Bret and Luger eliminate Michaels and Fatu irish whipping them towards each other, Michaels leap frogging over Fatu only for both guys to get backdropped over the top rope outside, leaving it down to the final two and the ending of course. I also loved Vince and Ted Dibiase's commentary throughout the night, thought they had good chemistry. The look on Scott's face when he enters #1 is hilarious, lol. Perfect way to sell being the first entrant of the match although I think Scott was really upset over being asked to fight Rick or something like that. Would've been cool if they did pull a "Demolition" and did fight each other but I understand them refusing out of brotherly love. Great Rumble and a fun PPV.
 
#2 ·
The 2000 Rumble for me, the undercard was fantastic, Tazz/Kurt Angle, Hardyz/Dudleyz tables match and of course the Triple H/Cactus Jack street fight.

I really enjoyed the Rumble itself, I thought the build before it, and its ending was fantastic, doubly so on Raw the next night when it was shown The Rock's feet touched the ground.

The Rock won. The Rock should have won. it was great.
 
#3 ·
2007 was great start to finish. Especially the finish of the Rumble match HBK vs Undertaker as the final two, having not face each other in any capacity since 1998 it was madness watching them go at it for the Wrestlemania main event shot. Planted the seeds for their epic matches to come as well.
 
#8 · (Edited)
Unpopular opinion but 1992 doesn't even crack my top 5.

It was a great Rumble, don't deny that, but I thought there were better Rumbles than 1992 like 2001 and 2004 for example and I think star power is such an overrated aspect into what makes a great Rumble match just like surprise entrants and unpredictable winners. You saw how well star power worked out for this year's Rumble match.

My favourite Rumble is one without much star power, surprise entrants and an unpredictable winner: 1998.

This Rumble had a great story with Austin being a marked man, it worked out perfectly for his hot rise and was a fun ride for me to be on. The build to the Rumble with Austin going after everybody on Raw, factions/tag teams like Los Boricuas, The Godwinns, The Nation Of Domination hunting for Austin backstage on the PPV just before the Royal Rumble match was also great. I was amused by the foam middle finger that Austin left for The NOD in his locker room and The Boricuas beating up Skull, thinking he was Austin, lol. There was also story progression between Rock and Farooq with Rock eliminating Farooq from behind, continuing to build heat between the two and Rock eventually taking over The Nation, kicking Farooq out and Triple H & Owen's feud with Triple H and Chyna, who weren't participants, costing Owen the Rumble by causing his elimination. The Rock also lasted 51 minutes in the match, which was also great for his rise, making him the second MVP of the match behind Austin and those two would be the final two of the Rumble, so it was a glimpse into the future between the two guys who would go on to define the Attitude Era. You had excellent moments like Austin's entrance, where everybody in the ring stops fighting each other and turns to the entrance, waiting for him to come out so they can beat him up and eliminate him, only for Austin to sneak into the ring from the crowd and eliminate Marc Mero and a couple of other guys, which sold Austin as a marked man perfectly. The GOAT entrance in Rumble history. Rock lasting for 51 minutes in the Rumble as already mentioned, elevating him. The 3 Faces Of Foley entering the match, Cactus Jack and Chainsaw Charlie starting the match and going hardcore in the Rumble before 2001 did it. Owen running in and eliminating Jeff Jarrett as Jarrett was strutting which got a big pop from the crowd. Owen was the second most over guy in that match. Ken Shamrock standing up to the biggest dog in the match without no fear, Kurrgan, and with a bunch of other guys, eliminating the big guy, which also got a pop from the crowd. Kama Mustafa shoving Ahmed Johnson on his way out, which was just a randomly funny moment, lol. Triple H and Chyna eliminating Owen with Triple H's crutch, which was also kinda funny but as I said before, advanced their feud. Rock surprising and eliminating Farooq from behind, Austin hitting Rock with the Stunner and then throwing him out to win. Mike Tyson watching the match from the skybox, showing his reactions especially showing him marking out for Austin's win and then Michael Cole interviewing him after the match to get his thoughts on Austin winning, in which he makes a hilarious botch calling him "Cole Stone", setting up the iconic segment between him and Austin the next night. Another awesome moment was that 3 of the final 4 were Austin, Rock and Dude Love, the three guys who would go on to define the Attitude Era and defeat Monday Nitro together. When you have a Rumble like that, that's really only focused on one guy and the match still turns out entertaining for it's moments and the story/storyline building, being part of one of the greatest Wrestlemania builds of all time, none of those other things like surprise entrants, surprise wins, star power are even relevant. It was a helluva fun Rumble to watch for me.

2001 is my second favourite Rumble.

2004, 1997 and 2002 or 1999 make up the rest of my top 5.
 
#6 ·
2001.

Drew Carey was more fun than any of Lo Down would've been.

The hardcore portion was a fun 5 minutes before Kane went crazy.

Honky Tonk Man was comical.

There was a down period half way in, but you get that with every rumble.

Seeing Big Show for the first time in 6 months was ok and continuity with him taking him out of the match. Continuity is something I feel is dead in recent ones.

Undertaker coming out to support Kane was great, Scotty 2 Hottys face still makes me laugh.

Then it's down to the big guns towards the end, and a returning Haku and em... Billy Gunn lol.

The Austin/Hunter brawl was fun.

Kane eliminated the fucking Rock! He was seriously robbed. It was certainly his year and his record should never have been beaten, pretty much instantly became Kane's match after this 50+ minute performance. Least he got the Hardcore title as a booby prize I guess.
 
#12 ·
Since we're technically counting out the 1992 rumble match, I'll go with the 2004 rumble match.

You had a great winner in Chris Benoit, who had an amazing performance. You had Randy Orton, Kurt Angle, Chris Jericho, and Big Show delivering solid performances. You had the surprise return of Mick Foley, who had an entertaining brawl with Orton. You had plenty of awesome in-ring action throughout the whole rumble match. Lastly, you had one of the best endings in rumble history when Benoit eliminated Big Show! I still get emotional watching that ending :mark:

I'll give the 2003 rumble match a shout-out. It's also a favorite rumble of mine that tends to be highly underrated. You had a good winner in Brock Lesnar. You had Chris Jericho, Rob Van Dam, Matt Hardy, and Kane delivering solid performances. There were plenty of talents that survived in the rumble match for a while. The ring remained full for the second half, which is good because it actually feels like a rumble match. The in-ring action was enjoyable throughout the whole contest. There were also plenty of good moments in this one as well. You had Jericho and Christian screwing Michaels over at the start of the match. You had Edge spearing his brother after Christian teased an alliance between them. You had Jericho eliminating Edge and Christian after skinning the cat in order to be the final man in the ring. You had RVD coming out shortly afterwards to fight Jericho alone in the ring. You had Cena rapping only to be interrupted by RVD. You had the Hardy Boyz fighting it out after Jeff came out. You had Shannon Moore constantly interfering to help out Matt Hardy only to get his ass whooped repeatedly. You had Rikishi doing the Stink Face to Jamal only to get his ass kicked by him moments because it pissed him off :)lol). You had Undertaker returning. You had Kane tricking his tag team partner by tossing out RVD in order to eliminate him. Lastly, you had the awesome exchange of the final 4.

Come to think about it, you can't go wrong with any of the rumble matches between 2003 through 2009. They were all pretty solid. There was a great streak of rumble matches during the years surrounding the Ruthless Aggression Era :eek:
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top