Royal Rumble 1994: Where Does It Rank?

[Mitch Henessey]

I was watching my Royal Rumble Anthology DVD set, and I decided to go back to 1994. This is when Bret Hart and Lex Luger eliminated each other at the same time, thus co-winning the Royal Rumble. Bret of course went on to wrestlemania 10 to have a match with Owen, which he lost. Luger wrestled Yokozuna for the WWF championship later on. He lost by a DQ because he shoved the special guest ref, Mr.Perfect. Then in the main event, The Hitman defeated Yokozuna for the title with special guest ref, Rowdy Piper. Now back to Bret and Lex co-winning the rumble. This is the only time this has ever happened in the history of the Royal Rumble. So I'm wondering where does it rank among other great Royal Rumble moments? Is it up there with Shawn entering at #1, and winning the whole thing in 1995? Or Benoit coming in at #1, and winning in 2004? Or Austin winning by pulling a fast-one on Bret Hart in 1997? The only other time I remeber something similar like this happening was in 2005 with Cena and Batista. But then Vince came to the ring, and they did a sudden death type thing which Batista won. So where does the 1994 Royal Rumble rank on the all-time list?​

 

[Deadman4ever34]

the Rumble match itself was uneventful, had a few moments, Hart`s entrance and Diesel`s dominance. other than that the match itself was a uneventful Rumble. I think the WWF Championship match saved that PPV from a total disaster, but was still a average PPV.

 

[Space Volcano]

The greatest RR ever was Royal Rumble 1992, where Ric Flair defeated the entire WWF, to become not only the RealWorld Champion, but the WWF Champion as well. It's significance is also for the fact that that the WWF had an acknowledged NWA product winning their title.

 

[OWEN-ing It All]

Seeing as this is my favorite Rumble, it ranks highly with me. Great matches from start to finish. Bam-Tatanka was a great opener. The Tag Title Match was sick and was the last straw for Bret and Owen. Razor vs. IRS was great, underrated match. The casket match was awesome. The Rumble was a great match, even if the ending was dissapointing. But a very good idea.

This event laid the groundwork for the feuds that would occur for the rest of the year. So it's importance is greater than most PPV's prior to it and since.

Owen-Bret, HBK-Diesel, Undertaker-Yoko, Razor-HBK, etc, etc. Plus it featured the debut of Bob Holly and the return of Bob Backlund (a prelude of things to come). This event from a storyline standpoint, was one of the most significant in history.


But the best? It's tough to decide.

The first few don't even get my consideration 88-91.

92 had a great rumble, but some of the matches were weak.
93 good show, all around.
95 had great matches and a good rumble.....my only knock against 95 is the length, it was like 30 minutes......that was lame and although the ending was great, the match suffered because of the length.
96....matches could've been better, great rumble
97......rumble was great, matches were nothing special
98....Other than the IC Match, the matches were awful. Yes even the casket match, and the Rumble was one of the worst, until.....
99.....Until this atrocious show happened, worst rumble match by far......stupid ending. The "I Quit" Match was sick, and some of the undercard was entertaining, but not great.
00.....great matches, terrible rumble match
01.....This is probably THE BEST OVERALL Rumble, the matches were great and the rumble match was choreographed extremely well, you could tell they put a ton of effort into this one. Only bad thing was having Austin win, they should've let Kane have it, they crippled his push.
02.....decent show, very predictable. Loved Mr. Perfect being back though.
03....so-so, again very predictable
04....Great show I thought. I thought Orton should've won, but that's another story.
05.....Matches were decent, Rumble sucked
06....Great Rumble, some good matches
07....could've and should've been better
08....see above
09.....Great show, predictable rumble winner, but a deserving win....5 years in the making.

So I guess 2001 is IMO the best and 94 is my favorite. So I'd rank those 1 and 2.

 

[SAVE_YOURSELVES_111]

'88---Neat way to introduce the concept, and caught the attentnion of many.
'89---The Rumble itself was good the first 2/3, but died badly when Hogan & Savage were out. The rest of the show was decent.

The first few don't even get my consideration 88-91.

Really eh...well...

'90---A really fun Rumble, which of course set the tone for the infamous Hogan/Warrior angle. The rest of the show was a downer, with the acception of the Garvin/Valentine match, and Perfect's attack on Beefcake.

'91---This Rumble was VERY good, so I don't see why this doesen't get consideration. Bossman/Barbarian was a surprise, Rockers/Orient Express RULED, Virgil's face turn was awesome, and the championship match, despite my disagreements with it, still shocked everyone. The Rumble itself was decent, but nothing I'd call great!

'92---I agree some of the matches were weak, but Piper winning the I-C title was priceless! It's a moment, I'll never forget. And the Rumble itself was one of the best! Amazing performance from Naitch.

'93---An overall fun show, with the debut of the Steiner's, and Bret vs. Razor, but Bam Bam/Bossman was BLEH, but it served its purpose of putting the Bammer over, and Janetty/Michaels was craptacular! The Rumble itself was quite good, but got predictable toward the end.

'94---I can agree this Rumble was good from a storyline standpoint, but Taker/Yoko was beyond awful, Razor/IRS was decent, Tatanka/Bammer was forgettable, but Quebecers/Hart's RULED, not just for storytelling, but for a match as well. The Rumble itself, is memorable for its ending, Diesel's performance, the pop Bret got when he hobbled out. As an entire match, I didn't think it was special at all. And Bob Holly, YAY, the decade of bland mediocrity begins.

'95---Rumble itself, only memorable for Shawn's performance. The matches on the other hand were good. I enjoyed Razor/JJ, Kid & Holly/Tatanka & Bammer, and of course Bret/Diesel ('Taker/IRS was meh!). Show overall was good.

'96---Good Rumble, with another memorable performance from Shawn. 'Taker/Bret really showcased 'Taker in a 'wrestling' light, Razor/Goldust was awful but had a great angle leading into it, the rest of the show was forgettable.

'97---Rumble is memorable from a storyline standpoint only, and delivered NOTHING special, outside of the seeds for Bret's turn, and Austin's popularity.

'98---This one was pretty damn bad, this was the most forgone conclusion and most predictable Rumble ever, BUT, it had to be done, but I enjoyed the Casket Match, it wasn't 'Taker/Shawn's best match, but it was still good.

'99---This Rumble was DREADFUL! Up and down the card, with the major acception of the I Quit match! But that's ALL this Rumble was good for. Sure the swerve at the end was good enough, again from a story standpoint it worked, but it doesen't hold up well at ALL!

'00---I enjoyed this Rumble match, it wasn't the best, but I enjoyed it. The undercard was very enjoyable, especially the main event streetfight.

'01---This one ranks quite high for me as well, the Rumble itself was fun from begining to end, and the undercard matches were all awesome! This is probably my favourite.


'02---Outside of Perfect's performance, and the Jericho/Rock main event this one did nothing for me.

'03---Benoit/Angle, nothing else!!

'04---AMAZING RUMBLE! Almost perfect! Eddie getting his revenge on Chavo was AMAZING!

'05---Forgettable, and boring.

'06---Memorable for the Rumble itself, and nothing else.

'07---The sequence between Shawn & Taker was awesome!! As for the rest of the show, it didn't produce anything special.

'08---Nice swerve with Cena's return, but I hated the booking on this entire show.

'09---I enjoyed this show greatly for some reason as well. It was predictable, but told a good story nonetheless.

So for me, it's 2001 all the way!