Okay, time for the Royal Rumble Rankings blog. Watched every single Rumble over a span of 5 days and this is how the rankings came out:
1. Royal Rumble 1992 - This is the end all, be all of Royal Rumbles. The World Heavyweight Championship is on the line and everyone is gunning for it. It also had the best line-up of competitors in the Royal Rumble. However, with that said, Ric Flair put on a show. He comes in at number three and everyone is gunning for him yet he still wins it. Bobby Heenan's commentary is great during this match. He's freaking out. The list of people in this match is a Who's Who of wrestling history which made it even more enjoyable to watch. Fun to see Shawn Michaels in his first televised appearance after his heel the weekend before when he attacked Marty Jannetty. Flair was the star of this match, though. First wrestler to go in with a number between 1 and 5 and be there at the end. At one point everyone was out and Flair was by himself but then Roddy Piper comes out and it's bedlam again. The real craziness happened after Hulk Hogan showed up. All the remaining major stars started arriving and went at it to end the match. Sid Justice, Hogan, and Flair. Justice eliminates Hogan, Hogan grabs Justice's hand, and Flair dumps Justice out to win the title. The crowd went nuts and then when Hogan and Justice had a staredown in the ring the crowd was chanting "Sid!" Flair's post-match interview was great too. Best Rumble of all time, period.
2. Royal Rumble 1989 - This one probably will come as a surprise. This match was great. Starts off with Demolition facing each other, then the story switches to Andre vs. Everyone before Jake the Snake scares him off with Damien. After that it turns into Hogan vs. Macho Man after Hogan eliminates Savage "on accident." When Hogan is eliminated by the Twin Towers and then fights Big Bossman to the back, the rest of the match revolves around Ted DiBiase and Akeem vs. Big John Studd. Despite the double teaming Studd still ends up winning. Great commentary from Jesse Ventura especially during the parts when Hogan was in the ring.
3. Royal Rumble 1996 - This match was excellent. Started off with Henry Godwinn dropping pig slop onto Triple-H, Jerry Lawler, and Mr. Bob Backlund. Then Jake the Snake scaring everyone out of the ring with Lucifer the snake. Soon after Yokozuna and King Mabel had a showdown followed by Vader and Yoko both fighting and teaming up. They then had a massive brawl and Shawn Michaels dumped them out only to have Vader go on the rampage before being thrown out of the ring by Gorilla Monsoon. Match was good until the end where Shawn Michaels superkicked Diesel out to win it.
4. Royal Rumble 2001 - Kane goes on the rampage and eliminates 11 people but still loses to Steve Austin. Austin was the man. He gets jumped by Triple-H and is bleeding everywhere only to come back in and kick everyone's ass. Ended up Rock, Kane, and Austin. Rock and Kane were in the longest while Austin was the most beat-up. Austin won using a steel chair against Kane. Surprise entrants were Honky Tonk Man, Drew Carey, and Haku. The Hardcore Rumble part was a plus as well as Carey's attempted bribery of Kane and the Kane/Undertaker reunion. Great Rumble. Not a dull moment in it.
5. Royal Rumble 1990 - The crowd is what made this match work. They went nuts for every face and booed every heel that came out. Started off with Ted DiBiase, Randy Savage, and Warlord vs. Jake Roberts, Roddy Piper, and Bret Hart. After that there were spots setting up Mania matches. However the big part was the Ultimate Warrior/Hulk Hogan showdown. Warrior was eliminated and Hogan eventually won the match over Mr. Perfect and "Ravishing" Rick Rude. The only bad part about this match was Tony Schiavone's annoying commentary which is why this isn't ranked higher.
6. Royal Rumble 1998 - Steve Austin vs. Everyone. That sums this Rumble up. However the cast of characters made this one highly amusing to watch. There was everything from sexual deviants, cowboys, barroom brawlers, bikers, and martial artists to punk rockers, inbred hicks, bondage sex freaks, and Nation of Islam separatists. This match had it all. The Rock was in for over fifty minutes but Austin won. Good match overall and amusing to watch.
7. Royal Rumble 1997 - Steve Austin dominated this Rumble. Came in at number five and threw out people left and right. Cool seeing Pierroth, Cibernetico, Latin Lover, and Mil Mascaras enter the fray. Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin got a massive reaction from the crowd. Terry Funk battling Mankind was great. Fake Diesel and Fake Razor Ramon were great to see too. Cool spot where Ahmed Johnson came in with a 2x4 and chased out Faarooq with it. Ended up with Funk/Mankind fighting on the floor. Austin was eliminated by Bret Hart but no one saw it. He comes back in and eliminated Undertaker, Vader, and Hart to win it. Hart was pissed and yelling at and yanking Vince McMahon's shirt. Great ending and cemented Austin as a major star, not just a star on the rise.
8. Royal Rumble 2006 - Rey Mysterio and Triple-H carried this match. They were the first two in and lasted over an hour in the match. Mysterio set the time record in winning over Triple-H. Tatanka, Road Warrior Animal, and Goldust all showing up were great surprises. There were a lot of guys that stayed in for long periods of time but the action flowed quite nicely and held the match together. Overall a good Rumble with a great upset ending.
9. Royal Rumble 2004 - This one was good but the 2006 Rumble was slightly better. Chris Benoit, yes that guy, drew number one and won it all. Benoit and rising star Randy Orton carried the first half of this match. After Kane was spooked by Undertaker's gong, Mick Foley came out and got into a wild brawl with Orton all around the arena. After Brock Lesnar interefered causing Goldberg's elimination the match turned into Big Show vs. Benoit, Kurt Angle, Rob Van Dam, Chris Jericho, and John Cena. Ended up with Benoit eliminating Big Show to win it and break Bob Backlund's endurance record. Good match with a great flow of action. The ending made Big Show look dominant but at the same time made Benoit look great going into Mania.
10. Royal Rumble 1991 - Hulk Hogan wins a fairly interesting Rumble match. Number 18 no-showed and it turned out it was Randy Savage being chased out of the arena by the Ultimate Warrior. The roster for this Rumble is stacked which is why I think I like it so much. The crowd was WAY into it too especially after the Sgt. Slaughter World Title win earlier in the show over Warrior thanks to Savage's interference. Rick Martel set the time record by being the first wrestler to be in a Rumble over 50 minutes. Greg Valentine was in for 44 minutes. And get a load of this list of other guys who were in over 30 minutes: Hercules, Tito Santana, and Davey Boy Smith. Also in over 20 minutes: Bret Hart, Kerry Von Erich, Shane Douglas, and *gasp* Earthquake. This was also Undertaker's Rumble debut. Hogan eliminated Quake to win it. Quite an enjoyable Rumble to watch.
11. Royal Rumble 1988 - The first Royal Rumble and definitely not the worst. The amusing thing about this is that half the wrestlers in this would be considered out of shape now days going by society's standards for fitness. Fans were really into it. Hacksaw won it over One Man Gang and Dino Bravo. Interesting to see the Ultimate Warrior when he first arrived in the WWF too.
12. Royal Rumble 1999 - This match should be higher but the long period between the Corporate Ambush on Steve Austin and the return of Austin/McMahon hurt this match. The parts with Austin in it were great. Everyone wanted the bounty to eliminate Austin and kept preventing each other from eliminating him which basically made McMahon's master plan backfire. Ended up with number 1 Austin against number 2 McMahon. Austin dominated but Rock interefered and caused McMahon to eliminate Austin. Great ending which made up for the boring parts (save for the Gillberg elimination) in the middle.
13. Royal Rumble 2011 - Instead of typing up another review, here's my review from the last blog:
WOW, what a match. Last year’s Rumble match was a horrible piece of garbage (save for CM Punk’s running commentary) but this one was the complete opposite. Before it even started the New Nexus and The Corre got into a gang brawl after Punk came out. This whole fight was better than the entire 2010 Rumble combined. All it took was a brawl to start it off with. Starts off with CM Punk and Daniel Bryan which would be the Main Event of WrestleMania in a perfect world since they are the two best in-ring wrestlers in the company. The best overall wrestlers were coming out in the beginning with Bryan, Punk, John Morrison, Ted Dibiase, William Regal, and Yoshi Tatsu all coming out early. Morrison did this awesome spot where he jumped onto the barricade and then jumped onto the stairs to avoid elimination. Probably will go down as the best Rumble moment ever. Then the New Nexus all arrived to help out Punk and they were in control for awhile. The group eliminated everyone that came out including Tyler Reks, Vladimir Kozlov, the returning Great Khali, and the returning Booker T. Booker got an awesome reaction. John Cena then came out and eliminated the entire New Nexus. Hornswaggle then came out and they formed an alliance with Kofi Kingston. However Jack Swagger and Sheamus broke that up. THANK GOD. The Cena Superhero Team-Up almost ruined the whole damn match for me. When Sheamus eliminated that Leprechaun it was the best moment of the match other than the Morrison spot. That’s when all the rest of the big time players started coming out including Rey Mysterio, Wade Barrett, Dolph Ziggler, Drew McIntyre, Big Show, Ezekiel Jackson, Alberto Del Rio, Randy Orton, and Kane. Diesel came out and was WAY OVER. I bet Dixie Carter was in shock when a guy who TNA probably thought couldn’t get over at his age anymore got over in mere minutes in a WWE ring. Yeah, I couldn’t believe it either. However I’m going to be biased here and say that Diesel kicked ass. I was a HUGE Diesel mark in 1994-1996. Right after that I went into Steve Austin mode after the 1996 King of the Ring tournament. Anyway at this point the only people who came out that I didn’t think had a shot were Jackson, Alex Riley, and Santino. Santino got knocked out to the floor early and stayed there. The Sheamus and Drew McIntyre "Celtic Connection" team-up was great too. I was actually liking them as a team to be honest. There were a few times when Orton and Cena had confrontations but the crowd wasn’t into it AT ALL. Ended up with Cena, Barrett, Del Rio, and Orton. Miz came in and eliminated Cena after Riley distracted him. They then ran out. Orton eliminated Barrett and then Del Rio eliminated Orton. As Del Rio was celebrating the greatest ending in Rumble history unfolded. Santino appears and gives Del Rio the COBRA! I WAS MARKING OUT! I called it the moment Santino got knocked out to the floor. However I was wrong about him winning in the biggest upset ever. Del Rio turned it around and eliminated him. Great ending and a HUGE push for Del Rio. He was my dark horse pick. I was dead on with my predictions except I had Del Rio and Punk flip-flopped. Great Rumble overall.
14. Royal Rumble 1994 - Other than the Bret Hart/Lex Luger double elimination ending and Diesel's rampage this was just a by the books Rumble. Shawn Michaels was on another planet compared to everyone else as far as hanging on in the Rumble goes. He took it to another level in 1995 and 1996 but he was great, as usual. The Tenyru/Kabuki attack on Luger with wooden brooms and chairs was weak. That was hardcore for back then. Nothing match but Bam Bam Bigelow being in the longest was a nice surprise.
15. Royal Rumble 2007 - The ending with Shawn Michaels facing Undertaker was awesome and basically saved this Rumble. It was the best ending ever for a Rumble to be honest. Sabu getting chokeslammed through a table by Kane and Team Rated RKO, CM Punk, Shelton Benjamin, and Finlay lasting awhile were the only other things of note in this match. The ending along bumped this one way up on the list.
16. Royal Rumble 2002 - This Rumble had three parts to it. One was Undertaker's rampage which ended up with Maven shocking the world and eliminating him with Christian and Chuck Palumbo dominating the in-between period, second was Steve Austin's rampage, and the third part was Austin vs. Triple-H vs. Kurt Angle vs. Mr. Perfect which ended up with Triple-H winning over Angle. This would've been ranked much higher if it wasn't for the in-between period and the lackluster beginning before Taker arrived.
17. Royal Rumble 1993 - Nothing match that was highlighted by the Giant Gonzalez's debut attack on the Undertaker that was preceded by the awesome steel chair beatdown of Bob Backlund thanks to the most underrated wrestler in history, The Berzerker. Apperances by Jerry Lawler, Terry Taylor, Damien Demento, Max Moon, Papa Shango, and Repo Man were great. Highlight was Bob Backlund lasting over an hour. Crowd was way into him. Yokozuna won the match over Macho Man.
18. Royal Rumble 2009 - Legacy teams up to fight their way through the match and Randy Orton won it. Orton, Triple-H, and Mysterio were the three longest lasting wrestlers. Ted DiBiase Jr. and Cody Rhodes were also in there for a long time. At times there were around 15 wrestlers in the match but maybe 3 or 4 were actually moving around. That made it slow paced and that hurt the match overall.
19. Royal Rumble 2005 - There were two events that happened in this match One was the Smackdown vs. RAW showdown that ended when they all teamed up to elimianted Muhammed Hassan and the other was the start of the Rise of Batista. The botched ending when Batista and Cena fell out at the same time was improvised chaos. However Batista won when they restarted it. Simon Dean's antics were also highly amusing.
20. Royal Rumble 2000 - This Rumble was carried by five wrestlers: Test, Big Bossman, British Bulldog, Gangrel, and Edge. If it wasn't for them then this would be a nothing match with the highlight being constant run-ins by Kaientai and the Mean Street Posse. The Rock won after eliminated Big Show last. Kane was the only other contender to win other than those two.
21. Royal Rumble 1995 - A wrestler coming out every 60 seconds is a bad idea and this Rumble is why. Shawn Michaels and British Bulldog fought all the way through this after getting numbers 1 and 2. Ending was great with Michaels holding and Bulldog thinking he won but being eliminated during his celebration. Michaels held on and only foot touched which makes this the one foot rule Rumble. However the match was blah other than the ending.
22. Royal Rumble 2008 - Other than the moment when time stood still when Roddy Piper and Jimmy Snuka squared off, this was a nothing match. Batista, Umaga, Shawn Michaels, Undertaker, and Cody Rhodes were all in for a long time but nothing else stands out. Ended up with Cena beating Batista and Triple H at the end of it.
23. Royal Rumble 2003 - Brock Lesnar wins a boring, uneventful Rumble. Too many big guys kind of bottled this one down. Big guys aren't the answer which this Rumble showed. However Shannon Moore using himself to save Matt Hardy constantly and Cena's heel rap entrance were amusing as well as the brief Tommy Dreamer hardcore spot. Chris Jericho being in for over half an hour was the highlight.
24. Royal Rumble 2010 - The most dull, boring Rumble of all time sans for CM Punk's six minutes of speaking his Doctrine of Hate with a microphone in-between eliminations. Other than that and Beth Phoenix's elimination of the Great Khali nothing stood out in this Rumble at all. Boring at times and just not interesting at all. The most overrated wrestler of all time winning it didn't help matters either.
