The Greatest Royal Rumble match of All-Time

[Slyfox696]

12 World Champions. A combined 39 World Championship runs. 179 total titles in all won by 26 of the 30 entrants. Was the 2009 Royal Rumble not the greatest Royal Rumble match of all time?

Ignore for a moment how incredible the in-ring work of the match was for a moment (and it was incredible). Let's just talk about the star power that was in this match. A combined 39 World Title reigns. That's phenomenal. 179 total reigns. All but FOUR people in the match were champions at some point in their career. Of the four who were not, Kozlov has competed for a World title and Jim Duggan is a former Royal Rumble winner. The star power in this match was simply incredible. I remember watching it and thinking "DAMN, there are a lot of World champions in this match". There were 12. 12 World Champions.

Now, I'm sure several of you will try to present evidence of other Rumble matches, but keep this in mind when you do. Those Champions and their title runs were WWF/E only. That doesn't take into account titles won in other companies. So, Rey Mysterio's Cruiserweight titles from WCW were not included.

And, let's address the in-ring quality for a moment. The story of the Rumble was magnificent. First, you had the video package before the match, with the different significance of numbers, one of which was the Warlord's record ejection...which was broken by the WWE's number one comedy heel, Santino. You had MANY people get thrown over the top rope, just to skin the cat, or hang on to get back in. It became a recurring theme, one that Mysterio himself did over probably 10 times...and one that even the Big Show did at one point. You had Rey last 40 minutes +, hearkening back to his 2006 Rumble win, which he set the record time for. Each fresh guy came in and did damage. Even the crowd was hot as fire last night, with almost every wrestler coming to the ring with a great pop.

In my mind, the 2009 Royal Rumble may be the greatest Royal Rumble match in the history of the WWE. What do you think? Has there been a bigger star power match? A better match?

Spoiler: Championships

Rey Mysterio - World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
WWE Cruiserweight Championship (3 times)
WWE Tag Team Championship (4 times) - with Edge (1), Rob Van Dam (1), Eddie Guerrero (1), and Batista (1)

John Morrison - ECW Championship (1 time)
WWE Intercontinental Championship (2 times)
World Tag Team Championship (1 time, current) – with The Miz
WWE Tag Team Championship (4 times) – with Joey Mercury (3) and The Miz (1)

Carlito - WWE Intercontinental Championship (1 time)
WWE Tag Team Championship (1 time, current) – with Primo Colón
WWE United States Championship (1 time)

MVP - WWE Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Matt Hardy
WWE United States Championship (1 time)

The Great Khali - World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

Triple H - WWF/E Championship (7 times)1
WWF European Championship (2 times)
WWF/E Intercontinental Championship (5 times)
WWF Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Stone Cold Steve Austin
World Heavyweight Championship (5 times)

Randy Orton - World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Edge
WWE Championship (2 times)
WWE Intercontinental Championship (1 time)

Ted DiBiase Jr. - World Tag Team Championship (2 times)

Chris Jericho - WCW World Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
WWF European Championship (1 time)
WWF Hardcore Championship (1 time)
WWF/E Intercontinental Championship (8 times)
WWF Undisputed Championship (1 time)
WWF/E World Tag Team Championship (3 times) – with Chris Benoit (1), The Rock (1), and Christian (1)
World Heavyweight Championship (2 times)

Miz - World Tag Team Championship (1 time, current) – with John Morrison
WWE Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with John Morrison

Finlay - WWE United States Championship (1 time)

Cody Rhodes - World Tag Team Championship (3 times) – with Hardcore Holly (1)and Ted DiBiase (2)

Undertaker - WCW Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Kane
WWF/E Championship (4 times)
WWF Hardcore Championship (1 time)
WWF Tag Team Championship (6 times) – with Steve Austin (1), The Big Show (2), The Rock (1) and Kane (2)
World Heavyweight Championship (2 times)

Goldust - WWF Hardcore Championship (9 times)
WWF Intercontinental Championship (3 times)
World Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Booker T

CM Punk - ECW Championship (1 time)
World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Kofi Kingston
WWE Intercontinental Championship (1 time, current)

Mark Henry - ECW Championship (1 time)
WWF European Championship (1 time)

Shelton Benjamin - WWE Intercontinental Championship (3 times)
WWE Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Charlie Haas
WWE United States Championship (1 time, current)

William Regal - World Tag Team Championship (4 times) - with Lance Storm (2), Eugene (1), and Tajiri (1)
WWF Hardcore Championship (5 times)
WWF/E European Championship (4 times)
WWF/E Intercontinental Championship (2 times)

Kofi Kingston - World Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with CM Punk
WWE Intercontinental Championship (1 time)

Kane - ECW Championship (1 time)
WCW Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with The Undertaker
WWF Championship (1 time)
WWF Hardcore Championship (1 time)
WWF/E Intercontinental Championship (2 times)
WWF/E World Tag Team Championship (9 times) – with Mankind (2), X-Pac (2), The Undertaker (2), The Hurricane (1), Rob Van Dam (1), and The Big Show (1)

Ron Killings - WWF Hardcore Championship (2 times)

Rob Van Dam - ECW World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
World Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Kane (1) and Booker T (1)
WWE Championship (1 time)
WWE European Championship (1 time)
WWE Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Rey Mysterio
WWF/E Hardcore Championship (4 times)
WWF/E Intercontinental Championship (6 times)

Brian Kendrick - World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Paul London
WWE Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Paul London

Dolph Ziggler - World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – as a member of the Spirit Squad

Santino Marella - WWE Intercontinental Championship (2 times)

The Big Show - ECW World Championship (1 time)
WWE United States Championship (1 time)
WWF/E Championship (2 times)
WWF Hardcore Championship (3 times)
WWF/E World Tag Team Championship (3 times) – with The Undertaker (2) and Kane (1)

 

[klunderbunker]

Oddly enough when I opened this thread, Taker's Biker music came on.

You very well may be right here, but I have one that could give it a run for its money: 1992. WHile I haven't run the numbers on the total amount of titles because I'm limited with time at the moment, I did manage to find the following world champions in it (yes I know not all of them are WWE): Flair, Michaels, Von Erich, Taker, Savage, Hogan, Slaughter, Iron Sheik (as Colonel Mustafa) and Sid Justice, and also DiBiase who very technically was champion from Feb 5th-Feb 7th of 1988. Also you can throw in other names that weren't World champions but were amazing talents such as British Bulldog, Santana, Big Boss Man, Piper who had already won the IC belt that night so he was hot at the time, Roberts, Duggan, and Rick Martel.

When you look at it, the following wrestlers are the only ones in this match to not hold a title in the WWF/E: Barbarian, Hercules, Jake Roberts, Jim Duggan (unless you count the King's Crown), Snuka, Berzerker, Skinner and Warlord. Now when you compare that to last night, 1992 had 8 non champions, while 2009 had 5. That matches up very favorably indeed. When you consider the people that haven't won titles, only Barbarian, Berzerker, Skinner and Warlord would be considered filler.

The area where this may fall down a notch is in the in ring work. I haven't watched this match in a good long time, but I remember it working very well indeed, mainly thanks to Ric Flair. The story of the match was Flair against the world, and in my opinion he delivered to no end. According to the commentary he was in the match over one hour and eliminated several people throughout the night to win both the Rumble and the title, which brings me to the main point.

The Royal Rumble for a good number of years has been about the right to wrestle for the World Title at Wrestlemania, which is a great feature to say the least. All night long you can hear JR and King saying over and over that this match is the biggest match of these people's lives and that may be the case. However, 1992 was bigger than that. it wasn't about getting to fight for the title. It was about getting the title right now, and defending it at Wrestlemania. How can you get more drama than that? There's next to no way that it can be argued that it's more prestigious to wrestle for a chance at something rather than wrestling for that something right now. The key to this match for me though is in the commentary. Heenan and Monsoon are at their all time best here on the mics as they argue all night long about Flair. The comedy aspect presents a nice balance to the drama in the ring to make it enjoyable as well.

Finally, last night's Rumble had a major flaw for me: it was relatively obvious who was going to win and had been for a fair while up until then. In 1992, the great swerve was pulled when Flair was given the title over Hulk Hogan, the defending two time winner. The fans were stunned to see their hero be defeated by this newcomer and it worked beautifully. Not sure if you can count it or not, but Flair's post match promo is god like at least.

Overall I'm not sure which was better, but I'd rather watch 92 than 2009 later on, as I was entertained by last night's Rumble, but not enthralled by it. Last night's was likely more star studded, but by no means does that mean it's best.

 

[Tenta]

I believe the 2009 RR was the second best Royal Rumble ever. I believe it was astounding, the skin the cats were great, you even had the 450 pound Big Show skinning the cat. In a way, though, even watching someone like the Big Show do that, while as amazing as it is to see, kind of takes away from all of the other contestant's ability to skin the cat.

Hmm........ I'm a bit puzzled. You see, to qualify my point, I have to know two things:

1. Am I allowed to World Title reigns that would happen later? I'm going to use the 1992 Royal Rumble. Am I allowed to count Shawn Michael's reigns as World Champion, or do they not count because he did not have them when he participated?

2. Can I count WCW title reigns, as well?

3. Are you counting the ECW title, as well? This really only applies to John Morrison and Mark Henry, but still.

If so, while you are correct in stating the amount of World Champions, I think it's only fair to take into account the type of reigns each champion had. Kane had his title reign for one night (unless you're counting his ECW title reign. In which case, even that's a bit dubious, as it's seen as far less prestigious. Also, if you're counting Mark Henry and Morrison, I will make the argument that the ECW title is not a true world title. But that's another topic for another time). Punk's reign as World Champion, though I love his work, was lukewarm at best. Rey Mysterio's reign as World Champion was seen as extremely fluky. Even the Big Show never had a reign that lasted longer than a month, I believe (Again, unless you're counting the ECW title).

When you look at the 1992 Royal Rumble.... My, you had Ric Flair, Hogan, Savage, Taker, HBK, the Iron Sheik (yes, yes, I know, as Col. Mustafa), who went on to had long reigns with the strap and be standard bearers for their companies. Then you had transitional champions like Sgt. Slaughter and Sid Justice, who for my money, made better champions than the likes of Punk and Mark Henry. But even out of that context, count the number of HOF wrestlers who never got the chance to wear the gold. Roddy Piper, Ted Dibiase (Well, he had it for like a day, but it's never officially counted), Snake Roberts (I always use to love when the Undertaker called him that), Jimmy Snuka, Jim Duggan, Rick Martel, Nikolai Volkoff.

I guess my point is this: While I agree to an extent, and believe the 2009 Royal Rumble was one of the best, I'm not really sure if you can compare the two eras. I think it's safe to say that Vince has become MUCH more experimental in how he views the World Heavyweight Title. Not that he sees it as a prop, but he's more willing to let others have a run as champion. Back in the 90s, unless you were one of Vince's muscle men (Or you were Ric Flair or Randy Savage), there was no way you were going to be able to get a run with the title. Do you really think that if Jake Roberts were a member of this era, that Vince wouldn't give Jake a run with the title? What about Roddy Piper? It's like comparing apples to oranges. Different eras, and different standards for a World Champion.

 

[Tenta]

While I'm at it.... one more point....

You see, there's one more thing the Rumble lacked... It lacked that type of performance that leaves you on the edge of your seat, the kind that makes you root for the guy, whether he's face or heel. I know, you'd probably say Randy Orton, but at not time did you ever feel like Randy Orton was in serious danger. Now, the Nature Boy is a completely different story. I tell you, as entertaining as that 1992 Rumble was, Flair absolutely made that Rumble what it was. No matter what was going on, you always had your eyes on Ric Flair. The camera constantly panned to him, and his escapes elicted gasps, as nearly everyone tried to get Flair out. He was just so damn entertaining. And that pop when he won.... It was like nothing I'd ever heard before. This year's Rumble liked that type of Rumble performance for the ages. Flair's performance was probably the best ever, and in my humble opinion, will never be doubled.

WOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Zeitgeist]

Everything was great about last night's rumble except the ending. For a while the ring was packed full of guys, I left the room for about 5 minutes, come back in, and my GF tells me there's only 5 people left. Sorry, but I thought it was lame that Orton's plan actually worked. Even an alliance of 3 guys shouldn't really hold-up in a ring full of 30 of the top competitors. I understand why he won, it adds a new layer to the issue with Mr. McMahon, and even if they try to fire Orton, now he legally has a match at WrestleMania. And I'm huge Orton fan so I'm not upset to see him win per se, I just thought it was a lackluster ending to a great rumble.

 

[Blue Chipper]

In addition to arguably the most star dominance and possibly the most excellent in-ring work in a Rumble match, it also featured the most imaginativeness.

Royal Rumble 09 had, hands down, the most creativness in any given Rumble match to date. This is pretty obvious to me. It wasn't just a small part of the rumble match, the whole thing was evenly original. There were spots in the Rumble match that have never been attempted before. Rey mysterio was flinged over the rope and he leaped on John Morrison's & the Miz's back to prevent elimination. Superstars were skinning the cat on multiple occasions with several guys, one was the Big Show, yes, the Big Show. HHH slung Randy over the top rope while in the pedigree position. No doubt, Rumble 09 was the most innovated rumble match ever.

Therefore, when you combined the great creativness, in-ring work, and star power, you get arguably, and personally, the best Rumble match ever that was exciting from beginning to end.

 

[Pickle]

-If you wanted to impress me, make Rob Van Damn number 30 and let him win the damn Rumble.
-Put the belt on Orton at the next PPV and have Rob Van Damn wrestle Orton at Wrestlemania for the World title following the story line of RVD getting revenge for the punt kick Orton gave him a few years back.
-Besides, WHERE WAS CHRISTIAN? Have him help Edge win the title and later give him #29 instead of Jim Duggan eliminating a few big names THEN the Royal Rumble would have had some great moments on the PPV.

You thought the rumble was bad because the guys you like didn't win? Even though the guys you like are not even employed with the company? That seems odd.

I thought the rumble was great because the in-ring work was better than any I've ever seen in a battle royale. It was more creative than any battle royale I've ever seen. And the talent pool was amazing and there were multiple people that could have won.

It could be argued that the predictability of Orton's win brought the rumble down a bit. And it may be true. But many of the past Rumbles have been booked around one guy. Focusing on your future Wrestlemania headliner is probably a good idea.

The only thing I would have added is a McMahon family appearance after Orton won.

 

[Blue Chipper]

The Rumble match set a high standard that will be very tough to break by the future RRs. It had every element that you could possibly want- innovation, big names, great in-ring work, nice spots, and a ton of awesome superstar interaction.

I wanted to tackle this particular post because it is flooded with misguided opinions.

Are you guys serious? Or are you just pulling my leg? You guys think this was the best Royal Rumble yet or the best PPV in the last year.
Did I watch another PPV?

This thread is soley about the Rumble match itself, not the overall p.p.v.

I don't buy PPV's hardly anymore, in fact this is the first PPV I've bought since the Royal Rumble last year. PPV's usually leave me jaded and confused. Wandering if I just watched a PPV I just paid 40$ for or and over-hyped WWE television show. Laying this kind of bread down for something that one is expecting more out of was bit of a bummer.
I quit getting PPV's about 8years ago. Figure in the fact that the prices have practically doubled from about 10yrs ago and the fact that the wrestling companies were using PPV's (WCW included) as just another wrestling show to further or end story lines make me sick. Vince, we're paying 40$ for your PPVs, you can at leaste do a little more for my money.

Nothing about this specific section of your post provides any substance, just your opinion, that's misguided. You're swaying away from the topic.

If you wanted to impress me, make Rob Van Damn number 30 and let him win the damn Rumble.

That would be an awful decision on so many levels, but again this has little to do with the topic, more to do with your bashfull, rambling opinion.

Everyone knew Randy Orton was going to win the whole thing. With the suttle hints of Orton not ever winning the Rumble, the rest of Legacy in the Rumble and to further the "Vince Mcmahon head punt" story line, it was no surprise.
Don't get me wrong, Randy Orton is the best heel (besides Edge) in wrestling today. But we've seen the Randy Orton story line with Cena.

Probably not a shocker to over 3/4ths of the IWC. But, probably a major shocker to most WWE fans. Yes, and it was a good move.

Adding Vince Mcmahon to the mix isn't going to make it any better. Put the belt on Orton at the next PPV and have Rob Van Damn wrestle Orton at Wrestlemania for the World title following the story line of RVD getting revenge for the punt kick Orton gave him a few years back.
There's no built up story lines, drama or excitement leading into PPVs anymore. Hell, Raw is ho-hum at best most weeks.

This is just your opinion, which is heavily smarky and misguided.

The only swerve from last nights PPV that suprised me was turning Matt Hardy against Jeff.

This is, again, about the Rumble match itself.


I think Slyfox is spot on; this years Rumble took the cake.

 

[Slyfox696]

You very well may be right here, but I have one that could give it a run for its money: 1992. WHile I haven't run the numbers on the total amount of titles because I'm limited with time at the moment, I did manage to find the following world champions in it (yes I know not all of them are WWE): Flair, Michaels, Von Erich, Taker, Savage, Hogan, Slaughter, Iron Sheik (as Colonel Mustafa) and Sid Justice, and also DiBiase who very technically was champion from Feb 5th-Feb 7th of 1988.

Shawn Michaels hadn't been champion in 1992. That came after.

When you look at it, the following wrestlers are the only ones in this match to not hold a title in the WWF/E: Barbarian, Hercules, Jake Roberts, Jim Duggan (unless you count the King's Crown), Snuka, Berzerker, Skinner and Warlord.

That's in the historical context. I'm talking about when the match happened.

Now when you compare that to last night, 1992 had 8 non champions, while 2009 had 5.

They had 4, not 5.

The area where this may fall down a notch is in the in ring work. I haven't watched this match in a good long time, but I remember it working very well indeed, mainly thanks to Ric Flair.

The Ric Flair Royal Rumble quality is SO overrated. I mean, if you were to play a drinking game on the number of times that Flair did his silly face flop, you'd be falling down drunk by entrant number 11.

The Royal Rumble wasn't that good.

Finally, last night's Rumble had a major flaw for me: it was relatively obvious who was going to win and had been for a fair while up until then. In 1992, the great swerve was pulled when Flair was given the title over Hulk Hogan, the defending two time winner. The fans were stunned to see their hero be defeated by this newcomer and it worked beautifully. Not sure if you can count it or not, but Flair's post match promo is god like at least.

A swerve? Are you kidding? Ric Flair had the best booking of ANYONE entering the WWF in the history of the WWF. I was 7 years old, and I knew that the title was going to either Hogan or Flair.

Poor point klunker.

1. Am I allowed to World Title reigns that would happen later? I'm going to use the 1992 Royal Rumble. Am I allowed to count Shawn Michael's reigns as World Champion, or do they not count because he did not have them when he participated?

They do not count. Because fans don't take that into consideration when watching the match.

So, take that out.

2. Can I count WCW title reigns, as well?

Once again, no. If I had done that, I'm sure there would be several more reigns for last nights Rumble.

3. Are you counting the ECW title, as well? This really only applies to John Morrison and Mark Henry, but still.

It is officially a World Title, so yes.

If so, while you are correct in stating the amount of World Champions, I think it's only fair to take into account the type of reigns each champion had. Kane had his title reign for one night (unless you're counting his ECW title reign. In which case, even that's a bit dubious, as it's seen as far less prestigious. Also, if you're counting Mark Henry and Morrison, I will make the argument that the ECW title is not a true world title. But that's another topic for another time). Punk's reign as World Champion, though I love his work, was lukewarm at best. Rey Mysterio's reign as World Champion was seen as extremely fluky. Even the Big Show never had a reign that lasted longer than a month, I believe (Again, unless you're counting the ECW title).

While it may be fair, I don't think it changes anything.

I mean, if you want to take that into account, then we need to take into account all the World Champions that WEREN'T in the Rumble, because they were in other matches. JBL, Michaels, Cena, Edge, and Hardy were all World Champions who weren't in the Royal Rumble match. As opposed to, let's say, the 1992 Royal Rumble, when ALL the top names were in the match.

While I'm at it.... one more point....

You see, there's one more thing the Rumble lacked... It lacked that type of performance that leaves you on the edge of your seat, the kind that makes you root for the guy, whether he's face or heel. I know, you'd probably say Randy Orton, but at not time did you ever feel like Randy Orton was in serious danger. Now, the Nature Boy is a completely different story. I tell you, as entertaining as that 1992 Rumble was, Flair absolutely made that Rumble what it was. No matter what was going on, you always had your eyes on Ric Flair. The camera constantly panned to him, and his escapes elicted gasps, as nearly everyone tried to get Flair out. He was just so damn entertaining. And that pop when he won.... It was like nothing I'd ever heard before. This year's Rumble liked that type of Rumble performance for the ages. Flair's performance was probably the best ever, and in my humble opinion, will never be doubled.

I disagree vehemently. The '92 Royal Rumble is INCREDIBLY overrated, mostly because Flair does win the title. But, the match itself was awful. Like I said, Flair's face flop was done so often, it was ridiculous that any one man could fall like that repeatedly.

If you want to compare star power, the '93 Rumble had more star power than the '92, if I remember correctly.

Everything was great about last night's rumble except the ending. For a while the ring was packed full of guys, I left the room for about 5 minutes, come back in, and my GF tells me there's only 5 people left. Sorry, but I thought it was lame that Orton's plan actually worked. Even an alliance of 3 guys shouldn't really hold-up in a ring full of 30 of the top competitors. I understand why he won, it adds a new layer to the issue with Mr. McMahon, and even if they try to fire Orton, now he legally has a match at WrestleMania. And I'm huge Orton fan so I'm not upset to see him win per se, I just thought it was a lackluster ending to a great rumble.

In a match where everyone is against each other, having people who work together and win doesn't make sense?

I disagree with that. I've ALWAYS thought that more people should team up, and then fight it out amongst themselves at the end.

 

[klunderbunker]

So what if it came after Sly? He was still a world chamion at some time in his career. Big deal if he wasn't yet. Of course it's in the historical context. It's a match that's in the past! What am I supposed to do, judge it like it happened yesterday? The people in that match are always going to be remembered for what they've done since, not what they did at the time.

So what if he did the face flop that much? How many times last night did they do the skin the cat spot? You do it once or twice it's cool. You do it a ton of times, it gets pointless.

Oh of course. I forgot, you've known everything about wrestling since the dawn of time. You knew when you were 7. Good for you. Most of us didn't.

 

[Slyfox696]

So what if it came after Sly? He was still a world chamion at some time in his career. Big deal if he wasn't yet. Of course it's in the historical context. It's a match that's in the past! What am I supposed to do, judge it like it happened yesterday? The people in that match are always going to be remembered for what they've done since, not what they did at the time.

It matters, because trying to judge the starpower of a match, using accomplishments that happened years after is beyond silly. All the star power that was in the match last night, WAS the star power of the match. When I say "179 titles", that's at the time it happened, not 15 years after.

So what if he did the face flop that much? How many times last night did they do the skin the cat spot? You do it once or twice it's cool. You do it a ton of times, it gets pointless.

Except everyone was holding on, not just one person. It became a testament to how much all those guys wanted to win, and how they had spent so much time reviewing how to stay in the ring.

Flair's face flop was just a silly spot he did when he had nothing else to do. It served no purpose in the match, and was just ridiculous.

Oh of course. I forgot, you've known everything about wrestling since the dawn of time. You knew when you were 7. Good for you. Most of us didn't.

Did you not watch wrestling at the time? It's was PAINFULLY obvious. I mean, they had been building Flair up for months, he was the "REAL World's Champion", and had cost Hogan the belt. There was only two people who was going to win that match, possibly three. Hogan, Flair, and possibly Sid Justice. No one else had a shot, and everyone knew it. It's not about knowing everything about wrestling, it's about paying attention.

 

[klunderbunker]

Again, what's your point? I can't go back in time and tell you what I thought about the match. All i can tell you is what I think of it at the current moment. I see HBK as a world champion now and I always will and for a very good reason: he's a former world champion. When you look at the rosters for the matches they're equal to me. Not to mention, you're considering the ECW title a world title. That's a joke and you know it, so at the worst it equals out.

Kofi did his Boom Boom thing last night. Rey did his flips. RVD did his fingers. They're spots that get people over so they do them during the match. People pop for them so they do the spots. Flair's face flop is a known spot for him so it makes perfect sense for him to do it.

Alright Sly I'll give you that. 1992 had three possible winners. Last night there was one, 2 at the absolute most if you want to count HHH in the biggest stretch of all time. How is that exciting for a finish? If you didn't know Orton was going to win you had to be blind (fans in general, not you specifically). 1992 at least had soem drama to it. Last night's had next to none for the ending.

 

[Tenta]

Sly, while I respect with where you're coming from, i'm going to still have to politely disagree on a few things. First of all, I don't understand you're argument that if we don't consider the context of each champion's reign, that we have to include such names as Hardy, Edge, Cena, what have you. First of all, both Smackdown and Raw have champions. Of course some type of big name is going to be taken away from the Rumble, because the WWE still needs to have a decent undercard. No one in the right mind is going to pay $40 for one Royal Rumble. They have to build a solid undercard, which means both of the straps had to be defended. Now, in that same vein, in the 1992 Rumble, there WAS NO champion. The Rumble was for the WWF title, so of course every big time wrestler was going to be in that match. What'd you expect, for Hulk to say, "You know what, screw the WWF title. I want a match with the Undertaker to settle the score.... BROTHER!"? Of course all of the big names were going to be in this Rumble. And again, if we're going to measure it by World championships, look at the names we're adding to this....

The Great Khali?
Mark Henry?
CM Punk?
Kane?
John Morrison?
Rey Mysterio? (Granted, excellent worker, just not a main event player, in all reality, IMO)
RVD? (And please, don't start trying to defend RVD right now. You were, after all, on another thread not but a day ago saying he was the worst big time wrestler ever.)

I know, the World Title is seen as the biggest achievement one can receive in the WWE. But can you seriously look at all of these names and say, "definite HOF material"? The only one I would even consider is Rey Mysterio. I think something should be said for a wrestler's ability to not only win a title, but to have a special "Hall of Fame" quality to him. For example, let's consider all of the names in the 1992 Royal Rumble. I'll say the name, and I'd like your honest opinion on if that wrestler is HOF material:

1992:
DiBiase
Flair
HBK
Tito Santana
Greg Valentine
Nikolai Volkoff
Roddy Piper
Jake Roberts
Jimmy Snuka
the Undertaker
Randy Savage (I know, he'll never be in the WWE HOF, but come one, seriously.)
The Iron Sheik
Rick Martel
Hulk Hogan
Sgt. Slaughter

And that is excluding some picks that are dicey, such as Davey Boy, Jim Duggan, Mike Rotunda, etc.)

Now, I'll name my opinion on wrestler's who I feel will end up in the HOF for this 2009 Royal Rumble. Feel free to add others you would include. I know, many wrestler's are waaay to early to pencil in right now, such as Little DiBiase and Cody Rhodes. But let's just try here

2009:
Rey Mysterio
Trips (Duh!)
Randy Orton
Ted DiBiase Jr. (There's talk he has that kind of talent, so I'll give you a present here)
Chris Jericho
Taker
Kane (See, another present. I feel he'll get the nod because of patient he was with Vince and the gimmicks he's been given)
The Big Show (I feel he'll get in)

So, if we are to compare, that's fifteen people I've mentioned for HOF material for 1992. And by my count, that's about 8 for 2009. Again, feel free to add and subtract as you see fit, but I think the amount of HOFers (Not even the WWE's HOF, but names from fans on this site) for 1992 highly outnumbers 2009.


As for how Flair was booked, yes, he was booked as a favorite. But after it was discovered Flair had drawn #3, I'm pretty sure most people believed Hogan was going to win. At that time, it was unthinkable that anyone that drew one through five "would be there at the end", as Gorilla Monsoon would have loved to rub in The Brain's face. Drawing one through ten might as well have been the kiss of death during that time period, not a given sign that man was going to win the Rumble. Had Flair drawn a number like 20 or 23, I'd agree with you. But the fact he drew #3 at that time (Not using hindsight)


Now, I'm going to say, you're right. Flair's performance in the Rumble is not the best of all time. I would actually say it's (please don't censor me for saying his name) Chris Benoit that had the best Rumble performance. I know, flair flopped over so many times, but the fact is, whether you wanted to admit it or not, your eyes were always on Ric Flair. He didn't need to skin the cat two hundred times to create drama... He did that perfectly just by his performance. Did it include a couple flops? Yes. Did it get laughs when he did them? I know I was laughing. It's funny to watch Flair do the flop thing. It's funny to watch him beg off Roddy Piper. And yet he was still a threat in the Rumble.... Everyone always went to Flair as soon as they got into the ring. I feel that Flair may have flopped around a bit, but it was entertainment. And you may not have liked it, which is great for you. But there are others (myself included) that would tell you it was an amazing performance. Perhaps the best ever.

 

[agentmichaelscarn]

Its really hard for me to say which Rumble was the best simply because I never really disected each one and watched them closely, I think Ive only seen each one once maybe twice but I will say that last nights was really good.

There were a couple things that bothered me though for one is even though there was a ton of star power as pointed out they all seemed to come into the match rather early. I wish it would have been spread out a little bit more cause the last 5 or so entrants were nothing special. Yeah you had the Big Show at 30 who isnt a nobody but I would have preferred to see either a surprise guy or somebody that you thought had a legit shot at winning.

My other complaint was the finish. Now I know it made sense for a couple reasons for one it really helped Legacy get over because they did play an instrumental part in HHH getting eliminated and another is it made Orton look like the opportunist or sneaky heel which is always good for a heel. But even though it made sense it doesnt mean that I have to like it. I would have preferred if HHH and Orton had a couple minutes of them straight up kinda like Cena and HHH last year. I just think that adds more drama to it instead of a quick elimination when a guy isnt looking. I know Im just nitpicking but those are a couple things I didnt like.

 

[The Mark of Zur-En-Arrh]

Rey mysterio was flinged over the rope and he leaped on John Morrison's & the Miz's back to prevent elimination.

I'm 99.9% certain that this year's Rumble was not the first time that Rey did that to avoid elimination. He did it in '06 when he won didn't he?

Superstars were skinning the cat on multiple occasions with several guys, one was the Big Show, yes, the Big Show.

Now i thought 'skinning the cat' was where you literally dangled from the rope, with your feet literally inches from the floor, whereas Big Show just flopped over the top rope and held onto it to avoid flopping off the apron immediately afterward. So, therefore he didn't skin the cat.

HHH slung Randy over the top rope while in the pedigree position. No doubt, Rumble 09 was the most innovated rumble match ever.

He did a backdrop, while having somebody's head between his legs......:yawn:

Therefore, when you combined the great creativness, in-ring work, and star power, you get arguably, and personally, the best Rumble match ever that was exciting from beginning to end.

Where was this creativity that everyone's talking about? On 3 occassions they had everyone stop fighting to prepare for the arrival of a superheavyweight. Taker and Big Show squared off 3 times, and 3 teams/stables joined forces to kick people's asses, except Miz/Morrison got beat in seconds once they tried it, Taker/Kane lasted a while and Legacy dominated. The ONLY things that distinguished this Rumble from others were the fact that a heel won, a stable ACTUALLY worked together to ensure one of them won it for the first time, and the ring was filled with 12 or so guys for the majority of the match, and nobody cleaned house once. Is that why we're praising this Rumble? The Rumble with one of THE most predictable outcomes ever?

There were a lot of former World champs in it. So what? Haven't we all spent the last year whining about pointless title reigns? And now we appreciate their value because a LOT of them were in the same Rumble?

A lot of guys avoided being thrown out by holding the top rope. And? If you remember last year, Punk and Morrison did that repeatedly as well, so basically everyone under 300lbs and Show with th exception of TBK and Santino decided to jump on that bandwagon. Big deal.

Basically, this Rumble was extremely repetitive, congested and we were given a clear indication who the winner would be some 2 hours before the match started. Is there anyone who honestly didn't think Orton would win? I'm not saying that i didn't enjoy this year's Rumble match, but these things let it down. The only thing i can see that made this Rumble special was Santino beating the Warlord's Rumble record of lasting 1.5 seconds, and that hasn't even been made official yet.

I found 2007 to be a far better Rumble, due to mainly to how it ended. The massive beat down of HBK and Taker by Rated RKO, followed by them both being eliminated in quick succession, and then the two legends battling it out.

(EDIT) I just thought. Neither Jesse nor Festus were involved in this year's Rumble. Mike 'who gives a shit' Knox got in, but not neither of those two. Of course Festus would only really be affective if he was #1 or #2. Also, Primo not getting a spot, does that mean he'll start bitching about not being pushed?

 

[Big Sexy]

There were a lot of former champions in this match because in the current WWE there are 9 titles, and these titles are changing hands on a more frequent basis then any other time in history. I'm sure the 08 and 07 Rumbles also had a shit ton of former champions.

For my money the best Rumble was the 1992 Royal Rumble. There a lot of superstars in that rumble that are currently in the Hall of Fame, as well as a few guys who are future Hall of Famers. It also had the element of surprise because most people thought that Hogan would win.

 

[KillBill]

This isn't the greatest Royal Rumble of all time, and its not even close. Sure maybe it had the most world champions, but when you have 3 world titles what do expect? Since you do have 3 titles, do not compare to earlier Rumbles when there was 1 title. Sure there were skin of the teeth moves, but you had a lot of smaller athletic guys to do it, with exception of big show. There wasn't a faceoff or moment that got me excited, like when it was was ax and smash, tag team champs, facing off after drawing 1 and 2, then having Andre at 3. That was 89 rumble, there was a lot of talent in that 1. Or Hogan Warrior at rr '90 for the first time. Or 92, flair being by himself halfway through, tired and beat, then piper comes out. This rumble didn't even have the full 2 minutes between each guy, so it was shorter. And there was no 1 on 1 at the end, everyone went out at once. 96 and '02 had tons of talent as well. I'm not saying this rumble was bad, it had some excitement, but dont base talent on world titles, cause half these guys would never sniff the belt if there weren't multiple titles.

 

[Jane]

This years Rumble was pretty damn good. Lots of talent and I always like it when lots of guys fill the ring, and at one point almost 15 guys were in there. I was getting annoyed with the guys like Triple H and Orton dominating, but they needed to show that their the best. They had enough guys that someone like Jericho could be thrown out and nobody even seemed to care, which is bad and good, but I was fine with it. I was annoyed with Triple H being last eliminated, especially after eliminating Legacy. He also eliminated Knox and Rey at the same time, as well as Miz and Morrison. Why does he always have to be the guy who tosses everybody? Give someone else a chance. But other than the dominance, I would say this would be one of the best of all time for the skill involved and the overall wrestling.