Pick Only One #4 - Royal Rumble Match

[Rammsteinmad]

I had a few ideas for Rumble-themed threads leading up to the PPV, but things have been busy with work lately and I just couldn't be bothered to make a thread. Life is hard, right?

Anyways, there's still time for this one, and since the Royal Rumble is this Sunday, I can at least throw this out at ya;

Favourite Royal Rumble match.

The rules are simple, in case the name doesn't spell it out, no runners-up, no honorable mentions, no "I couldn't choose between" or no joint-firsts. This is the thread where you suck it up and pick only one answer.

Here's mine:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f3/Royal_Rumble_(2011).jpg

The 2011 Royal Rumble!

Besides being the first, and only, 40-man Rumble match, everything about this one was so perfectly choreographed and scripted. There were a lot of story-based things going on, especially between CM Punk/Nexus/Corre/John Cena, and there wasn't any "generic wrestler enters and starts brawling". Every one came in with a specific spot. Hell, even Chavo Guerrero got a pop from the crowd!

There were so many awesome highlights, most notably the ending! Who wasn't marking out at the idea that Santino Marella could have potentially won the Rumble? It's a hefty seven minutes long, but this video pretty much is every highlight of that Rumble in one awesome video.

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/zn1dmxoIGiw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Seth82]

gotta go with 1992's

that one will always be my favorite rumble match.

The Naitch wins the WWF title.

[Lock Jaw]

gotta go with 1992's

that one will always be my favorite rumble match.

The Naitch wins the WWF title.

This. Also because I watched it a lot as a kid.

[SlickyTrickyDamon]

1992. Not even close.

[WinterDecay]

1997 Royal Rumble .... for this part right here...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ec_UN5vD_Vo

[Big Vic]

This is just like hb2ks thread.

[whiteyford]

The one Austin had a bounty on his head and he came from behind through the crowd, want to say '98.

[Big Vic]

Think that was 99?

[Nicky Fives]

2001.....1992 comes close, but 2001 is "the one" for me....

[Nicky Fives]

The one Austin had a bounty on his head and he came from behind through the crowd, want to say '98.

It was indeed 1999, where Vinnie Mac called his own number....

[RiX1024]

Defo 1992 with the whole Monsoon/Brain banter through the match.

[Vastardikai]

Brain: "Shawn Michaels is making guacamole out of El Matador!"

Monsoon: "He is NOT!"

Brain: "Look at his tights, they're green!"

[Franchise]

2000

[XL]

The one Austin had a bounty on his head and he came from behind through the crowd, want to say '98.

Think that was 99?

It was indeed 1999, where Vinnie Mac called his own number....

Pretty sure Whitey is talking about '98. They really pushed the "Austin vs. everyone" angle that year to the point where when his music hit everybody stopped and turned to the entrance way, only for Austin to come out of the crowd and eliminated Marc Mero.

[Evil Vito]

<font color=goldenrod>Somewhat controversial, but the 2004 Rumble is my choice. Obviously, this Rumble is no longer acknowledged by WWE aside from a passing mention that only 2 men have won from the #1 spot. And that's fine. What Benoit did was reprehensible and I think WWE are absolutely in the right for coming as close as possible to erasing him from history.

But personally, I'm not the type of fan that feels matches age badly based on the aftermath. I try to absorb the story and watch the match for what it was in that moment. Benoit was one of my favorites at the time but I still wasn't totally sure WWE would give him the rub of a Rumble win even though there were only 2 or 3 realistic winners in the match. The Rumble was full of really cool moments, drama, a couple of comedy bits, and great psychology especially near the end when everybody had to gang up on Big Show.

This was one of the last Rumbles before they relied heavily on mystery entrants. If I'm remembering correctly all 30 participants were announced ahead of time, so it made it that much cooler when we actually did get a mystery entry anyway (Mick Foley taking out Test). Actually, Foley and Orton's brawl is one of the highlights. Orton hit Mick with one of the most vicious chair shots I've seen, right to the side of the head.</font>

[Corndad]

2001.....1992 comes close, but 2001 is "the one" for me....

This.

[Razzamajazz]

2000

i still remember the kaientai attacks