History of the Royal Rumble with KB

[alans613]

Yes, you're exactly right about the Harley Race vs. King Haku match at Royal Rumble '89. Race was the face by default. There was an article hyping this match also in an old WWF Magazine around this time. I've watched the Race-Haku match a ton of times. It's not perfect but I like it, mostly for the mystique around it due to it being edited off of the VHS release. I also noticed the line that Gorilla mentioned about "A hush has fallen over The Summit". I also thought the line he said about Heenan taking an 85% cut of each of his wrestlers' pay was hysterical along with Jesse's reaction to it. It kind of seemed like Gorilla and Jesse were mostly burying Race during the end of the match. There was way too much filler on the rest of the show, especially with umpteen segments of Rumble participants. The "Super Posedown" was a waste of time. The opening 6-man tag was good. The women's match was kind of boring and lead nowhere following this show since the Women's Title was abandoned a short time later, as Sherri would a few months later morph into the "Queen". I thought it was cool that the legendary Hall of Famer "Big" John Studd was the Rumble winner, which was the crowning moment of his WWF career, even though he left shortly after Wrestlemania V. I also liked Demolition starting the Rumble and the advancement of The Mega-Powers as they began to explode a few weeks later, planting the seeds for Wrestlemania V. I give the '89 Rumble a B+, mostly for the Race-Haku match, the opening 6-man, and the Rumble.

 

[theHeadliner]

The 1993 Rumble, the IC match between Shawn and Marty, Marty was fired the next day because he was apparently under the influence of something and still drunk. I guess they were having great matches on the road up to this point, but they threw Sherri into the mix just for the Rumble and it screwed both of them up, psychology-wise, timing, spots, etc. The kicker was the agents all called Vince from the road telling him Shawn and Marty were having the best match of the night and would steal the show at the PPV. Vince came up to them afterwards and said he was disappointed and heard they were going to tear the house down (I thought it was a good match, better than the ones they had later as it had more offense from both guys, as opposed to the later ones where Shawn barely hits 2 moves the whole time). Shawn walked off with Vince and Marty went the other way. Apparently, Shawn told Vince Marty was all fucked up on drugs and alcohol, and that Shawn had to carry Marty on his back the whole way thru the match, that he was screwing up the timing and the spots. Marty was then fired. A few months later Mr. Perfect and Vince called Marty, and Mr. Perfect talked to Vince and convinced him to bring Marty back, and that the story Shawn told might not have been true. I will say in Bret's book, he said this "Marty showed up drunk and unkempt from a night of hard partying, and Vince fired him as soon as he walked thru the curtain, but giving him credit the fans didn't notice." A few words are off but that's the gist of what Bret said. Other wrestlers at that time said Marty would show up still drunk and wacked out on drugs all the time in the dressing room, so maybe Shawn was right.

 

[FlairFan2003]

Royal Rumble 1999
Date: January 24, 1999
Location: Arrowhead Pond, Anaheim, California
Attendance: 14,800
Commentators: Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler

The company is in full control of the Monday Night Wars at this point as WCW is managing to find ways previously unimaginable to mess up their company. We’re about three weeks after the Fingerpoke of Doom here, so to say the people are annoyed with WCW is an understatement. In essence, the WWF has a free show here where they can more or less do whatever they want as long as the ending works and they’ll be praised for it.

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Not exactly true...RAW was ahead in the ratings but the numbers were very close in Nov-Dec 98. During Jan-Feb 99 Nitro twice topped 5.0 in ratings and held solid numbers into April-May, and was still in the 4-4.5 range into the summer. Certainly by the end of spring WWE was ahead but the margin at the time of RR 99 was razor thin. WCW SuperBrawl PPV in Feb drew big numbers also.

 

[HeenanGorilla]

Jesse says if he were in there he’d go to a neutral corner. Gorilla says if Jesse were in there he’d be out of there. And people wonder why Monsoon got some strange looks at times.

That was a GREAT line by Monsoon. The fact that you don't see it is a disappointment to say the least. I disagree with some of your opinions--JYD, for example--but, for the most part, enjoy your recaps. Actually, that's not true. I enjoy reading about old PPVs from my childhood--it's not like you add any original insight or entertainment...or anything at all. WrestleZone Hall of Famer surprised me; but, then I realized that's like being the smartest kid in the remedial class.

Shame to see such good, innocent, smart commentary be bashed by someone who could learn a lot, just to be mentioned in a "couldn't lace his boots" reference. You have a chance to really do something here, and you fall flat on your face. Improve.

 

[Very Average]

Royal Rumble 2000
Date: January 23, 2000
Location: Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York
Attendance: 19,200
Commentators: Jerry Lawler, Jim Ross

At this point, the wars are over. WCW is practically dead and the WWF just keeps pouring it on. The main thing that’s different than last year though is simple: Austin is gone. With the company so far ahead that they would have to be WCW to manage to lose the lead they had built up, Austin was finally allowed to take the nearly yearlong break that he so badly needed to get his neck fixed once and for all.

With him out of the way, the Rock and HHH have stepped up. To all Rock fans, get this through your heads: without Austin taking this time off, Rock would be a fairly big star at best. He’s not bigger than Austin, he never was bigger than Austin, and he never will be bigger than Austin. He got as big as he got because of Austin not being there and that’s all there is to it.

Disagree with that 100%, Rock at the time of Austin leaving was just as big as him, in some ways it perhaps hurt The Rock as he never got the big victory over Austin, I remember hearing rumors that Austin was turning heel to put over The Rock at WM16 to repay him for WM15.

As for Triple H, I consider him underrated next to Austin and Rock, he was just as good, just didn't get the same plaudits because he was heel. Quite unfair on both Rock and Triple H there in my opinion.

 

[klunderbunker]

Disagree with that 100%, Rock at the time of Austin leaving was just as big as him, in some ways it perhaps hurt The Rock as he never got the big victory over Austin, I remember hearing rumors that Austin was turning heel to put over The Rock at WM16 to repay him for WM15.

As for Triple H, I consider him underrated next to Austin and Rock, he was just as good, just didn't get the same plaudits because he was heel. Quite unfair on both Rock and Triple H there in my opinion.

Rock was not at Austin's level when Austin left. At Summerslam 1999, Rock fought Billy Gunn. At No Mercy 1999, Rock fought British Bulldog. He was main eventing around the time, but those matches are dipping down into the midcard.

As for Rock becoming as big as Austin, I stand by what I said: Austin leaving left the void that Rock filled and filled very well. If Austin is there though, the attention and the time are on him and there's no need for the new alpha male in Rock.

 

[Very Average]

Rock was not at Austin's level when Austin left. At Summerslam 1999, Rock fought Billy Gunn. At No Mercy 1999, Rock fought British Bulldog. He was main eventing around the time, but those matches are dipping down into the midcard.

As for Rock becoming as big as Austin, I stand by what I said: Austin leaving left the void that Rock filled and filled very well. If Austin is there though, the attention and the time are on him and there's no need for the new alpha male in Rock.

He was fighting nobody's yes you're right....I wonder if that was more to do with the fact Austin was leaving and they HAD to focus more on Austin than The Rock to get what they could out of him before he left. Rock's booking was terrible after he left the Corporation, he got screwed out of the WWF Title more times than Austin ever did and to have the guy who was at least number 2, if not number 1/joint number 1 feuding with Billy Gunn, British Bulldog and Al Snow is beyond a joke. That's like a John Cena or Roman Reigns feuding with Bo Dallas or Curt Hawkins.

Both from memory and re-watching Raw's and Smackdown's at that time, Rock was just as popular as Austin. Not turning this into a who is bigger thread but to insinuate/say Rock would not have been as big had Austin stayed is wrong.

I believe (if you're interested) that if Austin had not taken 10 months off Rock would have become WWF champion and had the re-match with Austin and defeated him (face vs face), perhaps even winning the title from him. The booking would have been similar to the end of 2000/beginning of 2001 where Austin didn't main event every PPV (No Mercy 2000, No Way Out 2001) as even Austin had said he felt he was getting a little stale before he took time off. Maybe then WM17 could have been Austin vs Triple H in Texas, a perfect time for Austin to regain the title.

So, had Austin been healthy, how do you see the main event scene of 2000 playing out?

 

[klunderbunker]

He was fighting nobody's yes you're right....I wonder if that was more to do with the fact Austin was leaving and they HAD to focus more on Austin than The Rock to get what they could out of him before he left. Rock's booking was terrible after he left the Corporation, he got screwed out of the WWF Title more times than Austin ever did and to have the guy who was at least number 2, if not number 1/joint number 1 feuding with Billy Gunn, British Bulldog and Al Snow is beyond a joke. That's like a John Cena or Roman Reigns feuding with Bo Dallas or Curt Hawkins.

Both from memory and re-watching Raw's and Smackdown's at that time, Rock was just as popular as Austin. Not turning this into a who is bigger thread but to insinuate/say Rock would not have been as big had Austin stayed is wrong.

I believe (if you're interested) that if Austin had not taken 10 months off Rock would have become WWF champion and had the re-match with Austin and defeated him (face vs face), perhaps even winning the title from him. The booking would have been similar to the end of 2000/beginning of 2001 where Austin didn't main event every PPV (No Mercy 2000, No Way Out 2001) as even Austin had said he felt he was getting a little stale before he took time off. Maybe then WM17 could have been Austin vs Triple H in Texas, a perfect time for Austin to regain the title.

So, had Austin been healthy, how do you see the main event scene of 2000 playing out?

Rock wouldn't have gotten that big. He just wouldn't have.

He would have gotten more World Title reigns though and eventually gotten a win over Austin, though I'm not sure I can picture it being a straight face vs. face match, not without turning the crowd on one of them. Rock would have gotten to the main event permanently though, one way or another.

 

[Very Average]

Rock wouldn't have gotten that big. He just wouldn't have.

He would have gotten more World Title reigns though and eventually gotten a win over Austin, though I'm not sure I can picture it being a straight face vs. face match, not without turning the crowd on one of them. Rock would have gotten to the main event permanently though, one way or another.

Rock would have become just as big as he did, you are entitled to your opinion on who is the bigger star overall but Rock was a massive star before Austin left in 1999. No reason whatsoever to think that would not continue in 2000, I stated before Austin leaving hurt The Rock slightly as he never got the big win over Stone Cold, beating him in 2000 would have been massive.

I think they would have either done face v face (a la WM17) or have Austin as the heel as I have read on a few other sites Austin himself left he was getting a little stale and that Rock was going to surpass him popularity wise. Watch the Raw's and Smackdown's from October and November 1999 and the crowd reaction for both backs up that Rock was at least equal with Austin at the time.