Your Favorite Rumble Moment

[bxbigshow]

In no particular order after the first one...

2001- When Maven eliminated The Undertaking and the full on raping he recieved because of it. UT throwing Maven through the popcorn stand was great.

When HHH and Stone Cold were going toe to toe, The Hurricane came in and grabbed both of their throats as if he was going to chokeslam them. Hilarious.

Royal Rumble 2000- Nothing better than Road Dogg hiding throughout the match. When he clutched the ring post was specifically funny.

Someone mentioned it but the Too Cool dance seemed to make me laugh.

When Mr. Perfect and Goldust returned.

 

[bko]

I've pretty much seen every Rumble, and one from recent memory that come to mind for me would be...

-2009: CM Punk, from the time He enters to about the time Triple H comes in was just awesome. Well Video's speak louder then words. Definitely brang the mark out in me, classic example of why CM Punk may be one of the best al rounders in the business today...
[YOUTUBE]CqPLSmMH52Q[/YOUTUBE]

 

[legendkiller1979]

I have to agree that Demolition drawing numbers 1 and 2 in 1989 has to be the best moment. You have to understand that this was unheard of at the time. They WWF didn't have matches that deviated from the typical face vs heel format. Not only did this happen but it was the tag team champions. Not just any tag team champions but the team that was in the midst of the longest title reign in history. To see two face wrestlers to at it at the rumble would have been good enough but this was off the charts as far as unpredictability and excitement. Not even Hulk Hogan compared to this confrontation because this was a confrontation that fans thought they would never ever see. This was so much more exciting than any surprise return the rumble has given us.

 

[TheKarmaEffect]

I liked the unpredictability and humor of the Rumble. In 1989 I know everyone brought up Ax and Smash getting 1 and 2, and then after beating on each other, Andre the Giant, at the time THE king of the battle royal was #3. Shenanigans went on backstage that allowed the Twin Towers to come in back to back and the Million Dollar Man to "allegedly" buy #30 (and the next year he hilariously drew #1).

2001, My fave year. Kane's elimination streak, Drew Carey "eliminating" the Hardys by watching them go over and out and then when Kane comes out he's asking the Hardys to come back only to offer Kane a bribe before getting saved by Raven. The Honky Tonk Man serenading the crowd only to find out Kane wasn't a music lover. The Hardcore portion of the Rumble. The Hurricane trying to dbl-Hurrichokeslam Austin and HHH only to have them laugh and toss him. The untiting of the Brothers of Destruction and the deer in the headlights look on Scotty 2 Hottys face, and then Austin's bad assedness in storming out ready to face them only to get jumped by HHH.

The Rumble used to be about unpredictability, some of the best humor, and telling pretty complete and compelling stories from beginning to end. These days to me it seems like let's have 1-25 of somewhat entertaining filler if we can and set up for whoever this years big return is and try to have the most epic final four or final two we can. I miss the complete stories of what used to be my favorite event. The last great story in a Rumble was CM Punk trying to save people in between eliminations except Zack Ryder who has potential! He really has...and then just beats him and tosses him. Classic. I love the HHH confrontation but wish it had come a few eliminations later and I wish they had feuded for 5 or 6 #'s instead of HHH just tossing him.

And I want an unexpected winner like when Big John Studd won in 1989. We won't see it, we'll see a cookie cutter way to bring someone back and their attempt at an epic final 4 or 2, but I still wish to see a full story with many arcs. That would help set up this great road to Mania that Vince says he wants to bring back. Maybe for once let the Elimination Chambers set the title matches and make a Rumble where 30 guys have a chance to be the man to end The Streak and get a shot at the Undertaker. Something different. I'd love that personally. Just my opinion.

 

[Hulk Hogan's Brother]

My favorite Rumble moment has to be Austin vs Bret in 1997. Austin had eliminated a ton of people in the match. He was alone in the ring and resting in a corner when suddenly Bret's guitar riff hit the arena. Austin's reaction is gold here, it was like shit was about to get real all of a sudden. The Austin-Bret rivalry was great back in the day and it provided us fans with lots of great moments. Austin's look when Bret enters was the best thing about the match. The match itself was not so stellar if I remember correctly apart from the screwy ending of course.

The other great moment came in Royal Rumble 2007 when HBK and Undertaker were both down and Taker sat up and HBK kipped up at the same time. That was pretty cool to watch. In hindsight it was perhaps an indication of the things to come.

I also liked Punk's promo last year in the Rumble. It was not expected to say the least but I feel Punk should have lasted longer in the Rumble. Also liked HBK kicking the shit out of the referees when he got eliminated. Refs getting beaten up is always pretty funny.

 

[Davi323]

I liked the fact that in 1995, not only did Shawn Michaels win from the #1 position, the last guy eliminated was The British Bulldog, who was #2.

This is my all time favorite Rumble, and for that exact reason. We kinda sorta knew that HBK had the stamina to go the distance, even if he wasn't the favorite to win. But to have the Bulldog last just as long? A so-called power guy? No way in hell! There is absolutely no way anyone could have predicted that Bulldog would be capable of doing that. It was at that Rumble that I first started to look at Davey Boy Smith the technical wrestler instead of just seeing him as a musclehead.

After that Rumble, I would have to go with the 1992 Rumble, when Ric Flair won the WWF championship. It was the only time that the Rumble itself was the championship match, and Flair entered at #3. Not quite #1 or #2, where they are in the entire match, but pretty damn close. The final four in that match was Sid Justice, Flair, Hogan and Savage. To see Flair win the WWF title, after watching him in the NWA/WCW was epic. Flair went into Hogan's company and won his belt.

 

[Theo Mays]

Man there are so many great Rumble moments. It is so hard to pick as the range is incredible. There is the epic encounter between HBK and Taker in 07 and hell they even started the 08 Rumble, the tie between Bret Hart and Lex Luger, Benoit and Michaels' incredible win from number 1, and CM Punk cutting a promo mid match. Those were the first to immediately come to mind. If I had to pick one it would be that of Bret Hart and Lex Luger. Being a Hitman mark like myself it was awesome to see Bret win the Rumble after it seemed nearly impossible after the beatdown he suffered from his kid brother, Owen. This was a first in the WWE (we would see it later with Cena and Batista), but unlike the previously mentioned this one actually ended in a tie and created an interesting scenario for Wrestlemania.

 

[The Mark of Zur-En-Arrh]

Mine are pretty random.

2001-Kane smashes The Honky Tonk Man with his own guitar

2001 is a Rumble that had some weird and wonderful additions to it. Big Show returned from injury, HHH beat the crap out of Austin on his way down the ramp, Drew Carey avoided a world class beat down. But my favourite moment in this Rumble, had to be when The Honky Tonk Man was a surprise entrant and was intent on playing his theme song the whole way through. Kane was the only superstar left in the ring at the time, and after about 1 minute of singing, the Big Red Machine had had enough. BLAM! Guitar to the head, goodbye Honky!

2004 - The Cat and Lamaar are eliminated simultaneously

Half way through the '04 Rumble, Ernest 'The Cat' Miller was an entrant, accompanied by his valet, Lamaar. Benoit and Orton were the only superstars in the ring at the time, completely spent having entered #1 and 2 respectively. Then these two hit the ring, and The Cat saw this as the perfect opportunity to show off his dance moves. So there he is, dancing away in the ring in front of an unimpressed audience, 'Somebody Call My Momma' playing in the arena, Taz singing along on commentary.

Orton and Benoit get up in unison, and remove these two annoyances from the Rumble altogether, however, as Benoit went to launch Lamaar, only his wig went........ shortly followed by the rest of Lamaar. I just found it hilarious to see a midget lose his hairpiece before being thrown from the ring.

 

[The Idiot]

The year: 1989. The first WWF PPV I ever watched. Howard Finkel is in the ring explaining the rules of the match. "A reminder...it is EVERY MAN FOR HIMSELF. And now the man who drew #1..." Demolition music hits and co-holder of the WWF tag team championship, Ax makes his way to the ring. Crowd seemed pretty amped up for this event, which wasn't uncommon back in those days.

"And now...the man who pulled #2...." the Demolition music hits again! "Co-holder of the WWF tag team championship, from Demolition.....SMASH!!" Monsoon and Ventura can't believe it!

Perfect way to start off the Royal Rumble and show everyone that it truly is every man for himself...as the tag champs stare at each other in the ring for a few seconds and then start throwing. Of course, Andre the Giant comes out as the 3rd man and once he steps in the ring....Ax and Smash team up on the Giant.

Like the OP said...every Royal Rumble is special and has given us great memories. For me, being a young kid and just getting into wrestling...this is something I'll always remember.

 

[The Eighties]

The best moment in my honest opinion would be Royal Rumble 2007 when Undertaker and Shawn Michaels were the two final Superstars in the Royal Rumble. They worked together against Edge and Randy Orton to take them out and now we finally get to see this dream match. It was ten years in the making since their feud on 1997 when Undertaker injured Shawn. The crowd was really into it. When the Royal Rumble ends its usually get special then elimination type of finish. That's not the case with these two. The WWE gave them time to put on a proper end to the Rumble. The feeling in the air was simply magic. This mini match gave us a taste of what was to come 2 years later with Wrestlemania 25.

This was certainly the best finishing sequence to a Rumble, as you say it was a mini-match, went about 12 minutes I think.

Hogan and Warrior clearing the ring and then squaring off was electric, it's the first time I can recall Hogan's popularity being surpassed.

Bret hobbling to the ring at Rumble 94 gave me chills, I was a huge Bret fan as a kid an I loved how his guts were such a big part of his character, it was a great change from the superman top guy in Hogan.

Cena's return at Rumble 2008 was the last time (and the first time in a long time at the time) I have truly been surprised by something in modern wrestling.

 

[The Brain]

A lot of great moments have been mentioned here. Foley showing up in 2004, Cena’s surprise return in 2008, and HBK and Benoit winning from the number one spot are all good choices. I was pleasantly surprised to see a couple people going way back and mentioning Demolition drawing one and two in 1989. That was unique. I have a few more honorable mentions.

1990 Hogan/Warrior showdown: About 45 minutes into the Rumble the ring was cleared except for two men. For the first time Hulk Hogan and The Ultimate Warrior had crossed paths. The confrontation was brief before the next man entered the ring, but it was just enough to wet our appetites for the inevitable epic WrestleMania showdown.

1993 Giant Gonzalez: I know he’s become a laughing stock of the wrestling world, but Giant Gonzalez’s surprise debut at the 1993 rumble was pretty cool. At “nearly eight feet tall” (actually 7’7) Gonzalez towered over The Undertaker. It was quite a sight. This truly was the first time someone physically dominated Taker despite the announcer’s claim that every time is the first time.

2005 HBK/Angle: I made a quick reference to this in my original post. Since HBK returned in 2002 I was hoping for a match between him and Angle. Being on different shows the two didn’t have much opportunity to interact. Then HBK eliminated Angle from the rumble in 2005. It didn’t appear to be of much consequence until an enraged Angle charged back in the ring and eliminated HBK before applying the ankle lock outside the ring. Right there we knew to expect another WrestleMania classic in a couple months.

 

[Ruthless-RKO]

I could pick soo many!!! Now this may not be my favourite.. but it was damn hilarious to me...

Mick Foley entering the rumble match 3 times.. as Cactus Jack, him and Chainsaw Charlie(Terry Funk) were just too funny.. Then he enters as Mankind!! and he came straight back in to eliminate Chainsaw Charlie who eliminated Cactus Jack and then he got eliminated by Goldust.. but he had one more character to show us.. Dude Love!!!!

This was just funny!!

 

[TheRealDeal]

Kane eliminating Perry Saturn, Steve Blackman, Grand Master Sexy, Al Snow and Raven... It was just unexpected, you got Raven and Al Snow there just kicking each other then all of sudden Grand Master is out and Kane goes into this wild rage... His performance at the rumble was unbelievable and him eliminating the Honky Tonk Man was just hilarious..

Another one would be Vinnie Mac's shocking win.. It was a great rumble, it had great moments of Stone Cold coming back and cleaning house, but the ending just made it great..

 

[HailTheGillberg]

My two favorite moments both sprung from the 1999 Royal Rumble.

1) I loved when Kane entered the ring and just dominated everyone. Then, the guys in the white jackets came after him and he eliminated himself by exiting over the top rope.

2) I absolutely marked out when the lights went out and the Ministry of Darkness attacked (and eventually abducted) Mabel.

 

[mrpops]

Too many to list...

My fav is benoit winning it. Im a benoit fanboy and when he won i went apeshit.

It was mentioned once already but needs more love: Maven elimanating the undertaker! It was priceless. Maven was shocked, taker was shocked, the entire world was shocked. Then undertaker had that WTF look in his eyes and wanted to kill him. Then he did! And its still true to this day, maven was never elimanated from the royal rumble that year and hence got a title shot against jericho which was the best match he ever had. Its too bad they didnt push maven harder. He couldve been a cocky heel bragging about throwing taker out of the ring. But im getting off topic so ill stop now.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

Royal Rumble 1998 when Mick Foley came to the ring under all three of his personas. It was such a great Rumble for me personally and this was the icing on the cake. When he came in last as Dude Love I was in stitches, it started off such a great year, plus I'm a mark for Mick Foley.

Nice choice dude, that was a great moment. Foley is such a talented and entertaining guy and it was great to see all 3 of his personas in the Rumble match. That is probably the only time we will ever see anything like that! That would also be ny choice

My other pick was during the 1999 Royal Rumble where Austin made his return from the "hospital" having entered the Rumble at Number 1 opposite Vince McMahon, and the 2 of them fought back into the backstage area, where Austin was jumped in the bathroom area by The Corporation. It was great seeing Austin return to the arena driving the ambulance, I was marking out to see him take down Vinny Mac!

It may not be high on many other peoples lists of favourite RR moments, but it has always been memorable for me

 

[RJJ]

First of all, Maven didn't make his royal rumble debut in 2001, he made it in 2002, and yes he did eliminate the undertaker and it cost him his ass LOL. Now back to the topic, I'll say my favourite Royal Rumble moment is in 2000, when rock's music hit, and the whole crowd went absolutly nuts!! The MSG building almost went down!


At 2:37
[YOUTUBE]PLjCv4S_470[/YOUTUBE]

 

[longlivetheBrood]

I love the comedy aspect of wrestling, so my favorite moment was probably the year that Bushwhacker Luke I think it was came down to the ring doing his arm-pumping thing, got in the ring and was pulled across the ring & eliminated. He hit the floor doing his arm thing and walked back up the aisle. A silly moment sure, but had me in stitches.

 

[Tastycles]

As cheesy as it is, I think that the Drew Carey segment was incredibly well done in 2001, and it was interesting to see Kane in what was basically a brief comedy role. However, I don't think that is my favourite moment on its own. Basically, the 2001 rumble is full of great moments like that, which on their own are insignificant, but in the grand scheme of things made for a great match with a patchwork of great moments - Haku's random return, Raven and Al Snow getting all the shit from under the ring, Kane twatting Honky Tonk Man with the guitar etc.

As for an actual individual moment, I think Punk's mid match promo, and the ending to both the 1994 and 95 Royal Rumbles has to be up there with the best.

 

[Calderownz]

I have a few moments that stick out for me.

Weirdly enough one of my biggest memories, is Randy Savage being eliminated in the 1993 Royal Rumble by Yokozuna. Just makes me laugh that a veteran like Savage would hit his elbow drop, go for a pinfall and then is "thrown" out of the ring from the pinning position. Not the best memory, but the funniest.

I also love the 1992 Rumble that saw Ric Flair win the entire thing, looking like a million bucks in the process. It's one of the rare times that WWF/WWE put an "outsider" completely over like that. It also is one of the most star-studded Rumbles ever, with Flair, Michaels, Ted DiBiase, British Bulldog, Tito Santana, Texas Tornado/Kerry Von Erich, Roddy Piper, Jake Roberts, Jim Duggan, Randy Savage, The Undertaker and a few others. Just a great overall Royal Rumble memory.

Also, I loved Chris Benoit winning the 2004 Royal Rumble. He just deserved it and it was well done. He was given the full treatment, like Flair. He wasn't some lucky guy who stumbled into winning. They put him over very well and I loved that he won. Great Rumble, overall.

 

[IrishCanadian25]

So the Jannetty / Michaels IC Title Match can't be used because it wasn't in the Rumble match itself? Bummer, my favorite match maybe ever.

1. Hart and Luger tie. Can you comprehend the risk they took here? These two guys had to hit the ropes PERFECTLY to ensure that their feet hit simultaneously from all those replay angles. NEVER saw this coming, and it set up one of the more entertaining angles leading to a Wrestlemania I've seen.

2. Cena Returns. For reasons already listed. Well done.

3. Savage eliminated self. In a fit of rage while attacking Jake Roberts, Randy Savage vaults over the top rope to go after his foe the Snake.

Edit: 4. Bob Backlund lasts an hour. Backlund survived like a true legend, I think in '92 or '93. His time was narrowly bested...by Flair...

 

[IrishCanadian25]

I have another to add. It's a gulty pleasure:

[YOUTUBE]V18rv0-AEV4[/YOUTUBE]

Rikishi elminated EVERYONE aside from Grandmaster Sexay. The clock counts down, and out comes Scotty 2 Hotty. Rather than fight, they dance. Rikishi was CRAZY over at this time, it was brilliant. He then double clotheslines Too Cool and tosses them. Done very well.

 

[CH David]

Punk has already been said, just hilarious work.

Another isn't a moment as it was almost an hour, but Kane in 2001 going for almost 54 minutes. I was 10 and was watching it live and seeing Kane just keep going throughout the match was awesome. I was jumping up and down because I was hoping Kane would win, and him being in the final 2 had me going crazy. We know that he got eliminated by Austin, but being that young, it is still fantastic.

My other favorite moment is the 2004 Rumble. Chris Benoit was in at 1 and went the distance. There was just something about the Rabid Wolverine that I always loved, and him winning was awesome. The fact that he didn't throw or duck under the Big Show for the win, but that he was able to drag Show over the ropes with the chokehold, locking in and holding on for dear life was just Benoit. So awesome.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

I love the comedy aspect of wrestling, so my favorite moment was probably the year that Bushwhacker Luke I think it was came down to the ring doing his arm-pumping thing, got in the ring and was pulled across the ring & eliminated. He hit the floor doing his arm thing and walked back up the aisle. A silly moment sure, but had me in stitches.

HAHA yeah that was brilliant. He was in the ring for about 5 seconds, so funny.

I also liked when Gillberg came into the Rumble one year and lasted about the same amount of time. Just pure comedy. Santino could have been booked in a similar way at this years Rumble if he hadnt been made into a more serious competitor lately