Royal Rumble 2002

[zones.]

alright, so i just watched the '02 royal rumble over again.. and honestly, i had forgotten all about wwe/f from 2001 to probably around 2004 so re-watching this match was kinda 'fresh' i suppose.

i have a feeling i may be one of few, but i think this was one of the best royal rumbles overall. with the hardys and lita jumping taker/taker MAULING the 3 mentioned. maven capitalizing on takers abuse on the hardys and getting what, if i recall, was his biggest PPV moment with the company. kane LEGIT lifting the big show and throwing him over the top. stone cold and angles nice showing, hell even a pre-tna famed christian had a nice run. up to, and this is the point i was getting to, curt henning lasting until the final 3.

now im sure im NOT alone on this one, but i would have LOVED to see henning win that rumble rather then triple h. not only because we all know henning had always deserved to be wold champion, but because i think henning vs jericho would have been amazing... even with curt being 43 at the time. those two would have put on a clinic at wrestlemania for the biggest prize in the business.

so my question is, who agrees? im not saying triple h winning was bad so im not expecting a short history lesson as to why it was done right, i just want to know who else watched that match and had there fingers crossed for henning/jericho for the undisputed title?

 

[anvilx8]

Well,

I'll agree. It really was a great rumble match! Plenty of surprises such as Perfect returning.

However, I do remember HHH winning being one of the most predictable rumble wins of all time... so I was let down with that happening. BUT, I was also pumped to see him vs. Jericho set for Mania, cuz I had mania tix.

 

[GutCheck21]

I remember watching Royal Rumble 02 and Curt Henning music hits. Right away I wanted Mr.Perfect to win and go onto WM. Seeing him being the final four and still looking like he go it made me convinced hecould put on a hell of match at WM. Plus him never being a WWE Champion before his passing just stings a little.

 

[zones.]

Well,

I'll agree. It really was a great rumble match! Plenty of surprises such as Perfect returning.

However, I do remember HHH winning being one of the most predictable rumble wins of all time... so I was let down with that happening. BUT, I was also pumped to see him vs. Jericho set for Mania, cuz I had mania tix.

yea same way i felt. like i said, i had forgotten about what events were actually transpiring in that time period. hell, i knew jericho had beaten rock and austin to become undisputed champ, but not remember when it was, i was watching the match like "ok, everyones here but the rock so im sure he was champ" but yea as soon as triple h entered it was pretty obvious he was gonna take over considering where he came in.

I remember watching Royal Rumble 02 and Curt Henning music hits. Right away I wanted Mr.Perfect to win and go onto WM. Seeing him being the final four and still looking like he go it made me convinced hecould put on a hell of match at WM. Plus him never being a WWE Champion before his passing just stings a little.

exactly! and he looked great for being in his 40s, but then again so does the rock now. nevertheless, it would have been amazing for the fans to finally see henning raise the big belt. but, in the end, i guess him never getting it is one of the things that added to his prestige. never grabbing the brass ring is more intriguing then touching it once when you look back at MOST stories.

 

[NotoriousMEAT]

Triple H really had all the momentum at that point. Just go back and watch his return on the first Smackdown of 02 in MSG if you need proof. I think him winning was the right call. But I do agree that Mr. Perfect should have at least been on the Mania card! I always wished that he and Kurt Angle would have faced off in Toronto.

 

[Swarles Barkley]

Triple H really had all the momentum at that point. Just go back and watch his return on the first Smackdown of 02 in MSG if you need proof. I think him winning was the right call. But I do agree that Mr. Perfect should have at least been on the Mania card! I always wished that he and Kurt Angle would have faced off in Toronto.

He was on the show, but sadly it was in the pre-show in a rather forgettable six-man tag. I really wish he would have been on the card. I remember the pop he got when he came out for the match. It was one of the biggest of the night. I think him and Angle would have been great.

 

[dukes07]

I am watching 02 WWF right now. Perfect returning was cool and so was the fact that he lasted a long time (and I am still a bit bitter about how the WCW guys got treated in the Rumble, or in WWF/E for that matter). However, soon after the PPV he started jobbing pretty quickly. He got decimated by Kane and then Tazz during the Draft Show. Fairly quickly, despite some vignettes here and there he became a non-factor.

 

[zones.]

Triple H really had all the momentum at that point. Just go back and watch his return on the first Smackdown of 02 in MSG if you need proof. I think him winning was the right call. But I do agree that Mr. Perfect should have at least been on the Mania card! I always wished that he and Kurt Angle would have faced off in Toronto.

you know, i didnt even think about angle. that would have been great too. i really just wish we could have seen henning show off the way we know he was able to before he passed. i mean, obviously they brought him back for a big reason... any other legends, returning for one night or any amount of time aside, always just make there rumble appearance and dont do all that much. henning entered that match and really ran with it. i honestly dont remember who he was put into a program with following that rumble, but that just tells me it probably wasnt much to be excited about. WWE had some great known workers at that time with triple h, angle, jericho, edge though i think he really took off in like 2004? and of course the showstopper himself HBK.

i think thats just another example of WWE wasting what they had.

I am watching 02 WWF right now. Perfect returning was cool and so was the fact that he lasted a long time (and I am still a bit bitter about how the WCW guys got treated in the Rumble, or in WWF/E for that matter). However, soon after the PPV he started jobbing pretty quickly. He got decimated by Kane and then Tazz during the Draft Show. Fairly quickly, despite some vignettes here and there he became a non-factor.

right, i figured he disappeared post-rumble. i knew there was a reason why i didnt remember him making any noise after that. and yea the WCW guys got embarrassed. i think saturn could have been bigger in the WWE if he was used better. that whole radicals thing never sat too well with me either way. i feel the most pain for maven though. you go thru tough enough and win but for what? the general wrestling fan cant tell you anything about that man, he went nowhere.

on a side note though, it was funny seeing albert come out with too cools music. id completely forgotten about that stint, considering mr tensai had so many different angles as they tried desperately to make him seem like a monster.

 

[Wolf Pac]

Mr. Perfect's return at the Royal Rumble was amazing. When his music hit he received such a nice pop from the crowd, and when he entered the ring he put a stop to Austin & HHH's dominance as they were the only two left in the ring and they teamed together to eliminate every new entrant that came before Perfect. Then as the match went on he went on to be one of the final 3 and he had the fourth longest time in the Rumble match, he couldn't have asked for a better return. Should he have won the Royal Rumble though? No. Triple H was the right call, he needed to get his revenge on Jericho for what happened in that tag match the previous year, but Perfect was never main event material anyway, he was a mid-carder at best. Perfect never had that larger than life persona that guys like Hogan, Austin, HHH, Rock had, so he wouldn't have drawn a dime as champion, but still he did deserve better than what he got after his Royal Rumble performance. It would've been nice for the WWE to give him one last run with the IC Title and put him in some potentially awesome feuds with guys like RVD, Edge, Regal over the belt.

 

[fenderjapan]

The 02 Royal Rumble was the first PPV I ever saw live on PPV.

I watched it live with a buddy of mine.

I remember it being awesome, but the only specific thing I remember from it without the aid of wikipedia is Mr. Perfect's return, and how awesome it was.

I was just watching one of his Sunday Night Heat matches, with RVD, and thought to myself...its really a shame they werent able to do more with him the second time around. I realize that its partially his fault for his demons but Mr Perfect was a main event, WWE Championship caliber talent.

 

[relentless1]

i thought they dropped the ball with henning, he was having a mini feud with austin, i remember he had a main event match with austin and on his way out ran into the nWo and i thought it wouldve been so awesome had he rejoined the nWo that night, i mean they brought big show and x pac back in why not henning?? i thought they kinda missed that boat with henning for sure, great rumble showing though

 

[EastCoastFan]

When Curt Hennig returned to WWE in 2002, he was pretty much a high-profile jobber. I don't remember him ever winning a match during that run. He was over 40 and injuries had taken their toll on him. It didn't help that he defected to WCW during the Monday Night Wars. Vince probably rehired him because he was a good hand in the ring and getting a victory over "Mr. Perfect" could help give guys credibility.

 

[SaveUsCMPunk]

This is probably the first time I correctly predicted the winner of the Royal Rumble match. (Probably the easiest to predict.)Triple H returned on Raw to a huge ovation in MSG. He comes back after close to 8 months on the sidelines, wins the Rumble and goes on to defeat the man who was in the tag match in which he got injured. Stephanie, now "divorced" from Triple H, has aligned herself with Triple H's arch enemy Chris Jericho. It only made sense that Triple H would win. Chris Jericho beat the Rock and Stone Cold at the previous two PPVs. He needed another big name face for Wrestlemania. Mr. Perfect was positioned as a heel after the Rumble. I watched the Mr. Perfect DVD and they said he wanted to give back and help out the younger talent. Yeah, he did a fair number of jobs this run, but at least he never jobbed to Funaki or Essa Rios. (Unless it was on Jakked or something.) I actually really enjoyed early 2002 WWF and later WWE. It still had that Attitude Era, must watch feel to it.

On the subject of other former WCW talents, (The Radicalz) I didn't become a fan of Saturn until he started saying crazy things followed by "You're Welcome!" It probably helped get him over more with the more casual fans as well.

 

[thebarber]

Helmsley winning was the right decision, the angle following with Jericho and Steph was shit booking. That match shouldn't have headlined Mania, another argument for another time.

Hennig fared well and looked really good, so WWE could have easily utilised Hennig at Mania 18 in a much better way instead of the pre show tag dark match. The card was putrid, I think Kurt Angle vs Mr Perfect could have been booked and been a sleeper hit on the undercard. Angles match at 18 was rubbish, such a waste for a guy who was hugely over. Kane could have just got involved in the Hardocre title novelty rubbsih that ran throughout Mania 18, Hennig vs Angle would have been a great opener

 

[dukes07]

I actually thought the card was really good:

DDP v. Christian, Edge v. Booker T, RVD v. Regal, Hogan v. Rock, Jericho v. HHH, and even Hall v. Austin. Kane v. Angle, was not very good, but I have seen worse (Bossman v. Undertaker coming to mind).

What hurt WM X-8 was the lack of build on some matches. I was more interested in the midcard matches and they got very little build. Then one thing I have noticed about WM: The lack of time a lot of matches get. It is a near four hour show and yet so many matches get short-changed, so many potentially great ones get maybe ten minutes. Then we get an hour of crappy music, recaps and long-ass entrances. I swear that the "lesser" PPV's, there is more time.

As for Trips winning the Rumble. Agree. He was the logical choice. I am just finishing March 02 for my WWF/E run and my God was the Jericho/HHH angle one of worst that I have ever seen leading into a main event at WM. Stephanie at this point had jumped the shark.

According to Jericho he wanted to have had sex with her while Trips was out, to make him look more like the dastardly heel. It was nixed because HHH was supposedly too smart to be fooled by something like this, and so we got stuck with a really bad angle.

BTW as an aside, I despise HHH, and will have very little positive to say about him, though I respect some of his work in the ring, I think he is as bad as Hogan in keeping people down.

Too bad about Hall v. Austin too. Austin did not want to job, they tried to keep him happy. He left anyway. So, you not only appeased a troubled star but you help derail a potentially great angle....of course, Hall will be gone in a month anyway and Nash will get hurt taking a dump. But the potential was still there. Oh well.

 

[The Brain]

Triple H really had all the momentum at that point. Just go back and watch his return on the first Smackdown of 02 in MSG if you need proof. I think him winning was the right call. But I do agree that Mr. Perfect should have at least been on the Mania card! I always wished that he and Kurt Angle would have faced off in Toronto.

This is exactly right. Triple H returned from his quad injury to one of the loudest ovations we've ever heard. The fans were 100% behind him and he was the obvious choice to win the Rumble. I love Mr. Perfect as much as anybody but there's just no way he should have won the Rumble. I thought he looked great in there as one of the final four participants along with Triple H, Steve Austin, and Kurt Angle (the tradmark gum swat while getting double teamed against the ropes was pretty awesome). He looked like he fit right in with the top guys at the time. I was also hoping for Mr. Perfect vs. Kurt Angle at WrestleMania. That seemed like it would have been a great feud. Unfortunately the WWF didn't have big plans for Perfect in 2002 and he never did anything special.

 

[HBsam31]

I always was a huge Mr. Perfect fan, and it was awesome to see him return at the 02 Rumble. When he made it to the final four I found myself really hoping he could pull off the upset. In the end though it was HHH's Rumble to win. He had huge momentum at that time, and like The Brain said, he returned to one of the loudest ovations I have ever heard. Perfect had a really strong showing, and he looked like he never lost a step, but HHH winning was the right move.

 

[Mr. Book This Section]

[YOUTUBE]3aRp36VWpd4[/YOUTUBE]

It actually was a good match. I unlike some never was big on Mr. Perfect but I enjoyed his return. I remember watching him in the final four. It stunned me. I thought he would win. My prediction before the show was The Game and I guess I was right.

 

[The Perfect Max]

I enjoyed the 2002 Royal Rumble, but not as much as other guys here did. It was entertaining, Maven eliminating The Undertaker and getting the shit beaten out of him, the return of Mr Perfect was probably my favourite return in the rumble's history, and of course Triple H overcoming an injury most thought had ended his career to win the Rumble.

But, I'm conflicted with your question. On one hand, I would have loved to have seen Mr Perfect win the Rumble and face Chris Jericho for the Undisputed WWF Championship at WrestleMania X8. The match would have been fantastic, as these two guys are brilliant in the ring, two of the best I think, and together they would've gelled well. Plus, Hennig wasn't used correctly by the WWE. Albiet, he was an Intercontinental Champion, but I don't think it should have stopped there. Even if he didn't win the title at WrestleMania X8, I would have liked to have seen it.

On the other hand, I like Triple H. Even more so as a heel, but to see him return and come back to win the title of someone who has stolen his wife is great. It truly was a great story to see unfold, from the devastating injury to come back and win the title.

So, whilst Mr Perfect and Chris Jericho would have been great to see in-ring, I feel Triple H was still the better option overall.

 

[FlairFan2003]

Does anyone think Curt Henning could have won the Rumble ? Most of his career outside the AWA he was a mid carder. He had a brief run vs Hogan during the heyday of his cheesy Mr Perfect Gimmick and that was it, at least as a legit main eventer. Sporadically he would wrestle near the top of the card in entertaining feuds vs top guys like Brett Hart and Ric Flair and his run vs an up and coming still not a top main event star Shawn Michaels produced some good moments, but even this limited resume was pretty much all Pre 1998. Injuries limited his run in WWE the first time no doubt but even then he was a solid secondary heel in the IC Title scene, he did not have the main event presence that guys like Randy Savage, Ted DiBiase, or Roddy Piper had in similar roles. His best run post 1990 was in 1997 in WCW, which was short circuted after he appeared slow and incoherrent, slurring his speech, appearing almost immobile, on the final Nitro before Starrcade.

After that he was essentially a glorified jobber except for his brief Texas Redneck "Rap Is Crap" gimmick in 99, which I wouldnt call a high light.

When he was clean and healthy was he good ? Yes, very good, good enough he might have broken through to the top tier had the injuries and other issues not been so prevalent. By 2002 he was still talented but he was 5 years removed from his last legit push that put him near the top of the card with a career spent mostly as a secondary villain. Any idea of having him win the 02 Rumble is ludicrous. Certainly if WWE had wanted to catch lightening in a bottle with some aging star or retro act they could have used Hogan, Flair, or Nash, all bigger stars with much bigger careers than Henning.

I did enjoy his appearance at the show and believe WWE could have done more with him. His release was due to drinking and/or drugs I believe, not due to poor performance in the ring or lack of crowd reaction. Triple H, in his dramatic return, setting up a match vs Jericho (who already beat Rock & Austin) definately made best business sense as the winner.

 

[nutt]

I remember predicting the first two in the rumble being Rikishi and Goldust and everyone thinking I knew someone who was on creative when I got about half of the entrants from that point onward correct.

HHH was the original plan from the beginning to win. Predicted rumble match winners are usually the best Rumble matches (1993, 2001, 2013)

Does anyone think Curt Henning could have won the Rumble ? Most of his career outside the AWA he was a mid carder. He had a brief run vs Hogan during the heyday of his cheesy Mr Perfect Gimmick and that was it, at least as a legit main eventer. Sporadically he would wrestle near the top of the card in entertaining feuds vs top guys like Brett Hart and Ric Flair and his run vs an up and coming still not a top main event star Shawn Michaels produced some good moments, but even this limited resume was pretty much all Pre 1998. Injuries limited his run in WWE the first time no doubt but even then he was a solid secondary heel in the IC Title scene, he did not have the main event presence that guys like Randy Savage, Ted DiBiase, or Roddy Piper had in similar roles. His best run post 1990 was in 1997 in WCW, which was short circuted after he appeared slow and incoherrent, slurring his speech, appearing almost immobile, on the final Nitro before Starrcade.

After that he was essentially a glorified jobber except for his brief Texas Redneck "Rap Is Crap" gimmick in 99, which I wouldnt call a high light.

When he was clean and healthy was he good ? Yes, very good, good enough he might have broken through to the top tier had the injuries and other issues not been so prevalent. By 2002 he was still talented but he was 5 years removed from his last legit push that put him near the top of the card with a career spent mostly as a secondary villain. Any idea of having him win the 02 Rumble is ludicrous. Certainly if WWE had wanted to catch lightening in a bottle with some aging star or retro act they could have used Hogan, Flair, or Nash, all bigger stars with much bigger careers than Henning.

I did enjoy his appearance at the show and believe WWE could have done more with him. His release was due to drinking and/or drugs I believe, not due to poor performance in the ring or lack of crowd reaction. Triple H, in his dramatic return, setting up a match vs Jericho (who already beat Rock & Austin) definately made best business sense as the winner.

All I see here is spewed arrogance in your typing along with sheer ignorance.

Hennig was released in regards to the Plane ride from hell...you should do some digging via Google to know the story before you present yourself as an ignorant troll.

 

[sharu7]

Him getting pinned by Rikishi makes us think what the WWF viewed Mr.Perfect as..

They never viewed him as a main eventer...He should have atleast been on WM X8 instead of being on heat and getting pinned by Rikishi...

[YOUTUBE]-gEUgIQCCtw[/YOUTUBE]