Old Royal Rumbles (Nostalgia Thread)
 

Friends, the Royal Rumble match is my absolute favorite gimmick match of all time, so every January I fire up the WWE Network (or Dailymotion or Vimeo, shoutout piracy) and watch as many old Rumble matches as I can.

This year I invite you to join me and follow along as we watch and discuss the very best and the very worst of the Royal Rumble in all its glory.

Tonight, for absolutely no reason, I’ve started with the 2012 Royal Rumble. I don’t remember a thing about it so let’s see what we’ve got.

First surprise entrant is Ricardo Rodriguez dressed up like Alberto Del Rio and driving a busted Trans Am looking vehicle.

There’s a Mexican standoff between Mick Foley w/ Socko and Santino w/ Cobra. Broken up by Miz and Cody (who is jacked). Compelling stuff so far.

Ezekiel Jackson forgot about him. They wanted this guy to succeed so bad but they won’t give Big E a singles push. Garbage company

Oh this is the one where all three announcers enter the Rumble. Kinda gay except for Booker who can do whatever he wants.

Also the first Kofi spot where we does the handstand to save himself. Pretty crazy how he’s gone from being a spot monkey (not racist) to being a champion.

Oh I remember this now. This is when I started to hate Michael Cole as an announcer and hoped he got cancer.

Hacksaw Jim Duggan as a surprise entrant and Cole just reading his stats like he’s some nothing jobber.

Randy Orton big hometown favorite and big hunk IMO

Sheamus wins. An ok Rumble. Pretty good flow. Nothing really memorable. 6/10

Sheamus would go on to open Wrestlemania XXVIII and defeat Daniel Bryan in 18 seconds to win the World's Heavyweight Championship.

Many would argue, including myself, that this was the beginning of the Yes movement.

The Flair rumble was the best.

All the Rumbles have started blurring together. I remember I was pissed off Jericho didn't win the 2012 Royal Rumble. It was the most logical way to make his story with CM Punk make sense.

In fairness, all the Rumbles in the last 10+ years have been awful in comparison to the first 15 or so Rumbles.

It sucks that they don't have that magic spark to them anymore. The brand split being around doesn't help. It feels like the Rumble Winner is always the afterthought challenger.

The last really good one was the one with 40 people instead of 30. It had good surprises, spaced out really well, CM Punk and his Nexus running the ring for about 5 entrants, the almost fluke win by Santino, and the elevation of a new main eventer with Del Rio getting the win. I think that was 2011.

The ending of the 2nd one Orton won, countering the spear into an RKO was a good finish to an otherwise boring Rumble. I think that was 2016.

Other than those, my memories are of the stupid booking in 2014 and 2015 with Batista and Roman's wins.

I honestly can't even tell you who won it in 2017, I don't remember.

Last year just felt like a lazy way to give Rollins a title match, there was no real drama since WWE already showed their hand with Braun that they were never going to pull the trigger on him.

I really liked the one that happened in 2004, but for some reason WWE never brings that one up :(

The only real complaint I have about the 2011 Rumble was the whole 40-man aspect being useless in the end since WWE wasted the big hyped up faction warfare moment by doing it before the Rumble started.

That and Cena taking out most of the New Nexus on his own before the bulk of the Corre showed up.

The Corre, that was such a stupid faction lol.

Yeah, they act like some suicidal murderer won it that year, or something. Very strange. :shifty:

Honestly, 2004 is still my favorite. It's brilliantly booked from beginning to end and has a little bit of everything.

2008 always holds up, great roster at the time and a few surprises through out, didn't rely on old timers to make it good either

I think 2001 is still my favorite. It had everything. A surprisingly good comedy spot with Drew Carey segueing seamlessly into Kane being an unstoppable monster, a great old timey spot with Honky Tonk Man and of course the star power of Rock, Taker and Austin. Plus it probably helps that it happened during the time I was most into professional wrestling.

2002 was fun too.

I don't like how the final two remaining wrestlers have to "have a match" with a long drawn out finish before someone finally wins.

I get it because when HBK and Taker did it that was great, but not everybody is HBK and Taker.

1992 is obviously the best, but 2001 is a fun Rumble. I liked 2004, but that was mainly for Benoit winning. 2005 was a weird fucking Rumble. I think that's the one where everyone took turns beating up Daniel Puder, John Cena and Batista botched the finish and Vince blew out both his quads.

I remember Becky vs Charlotte doing this last year, made worse by Becky Lynch selling the wrong leg lol

https://cdn3.whatculture.com/images/...9a-600x338.gif

Shoutout to probably the stupidest ending to a Rumble where Macho Man Randy Savage gets eliminated to end the match because he went for a pinfall on Yokozuna after hitting the elbow.

Weakest ending fasho! I just watched '92, '00 and '01 Rumbles over the last 3 wks and '90 Rumble this past Sunday.

That 1993 Rumble was both the first Rumble and WWF PPV I ever watched lived.

Thought the show itself was decent but hated Yokozuna winning the Rumble match. Also think my dad hated the show a lot since he never bothered ordering another WWF PPV afterwards.

The undercard of '93 was excellent. Steiners/ Beverly Brothers, Shawn and Marty, Bret/Razor and a fun Bossman/Bigelow match. :yes:

92 rumble > all

The best Royal Rumble moment is the one where Vince blew out his quadriceps. Classic shit.

The next best is Hogan cheating and being a bastard after being fairly ejected.
I think that was 1992 wasn't it?

Hogan kind of always did that when he got eliminated lol.

The best Rumble moment was when Hornswoggle came out from under the ring and proceeded to try and rape Zelina Vega on live tv :rofl:

https://media1.tenor.com/images/cb17...temid=13450785

https://media1.tenor.com/images/105b...temid=13450786

Yeah that was how Flair won.

Goddamn, those YouTube Royal Rumbles are pretty much full length but they have been chopped up for some reason.

Impossible to watch.

I watched the 92 one at your recommendation and yeah totally ruined. They cut off all the commentary. That match was an hour of Heenan and Gorilla at their absolute best. I’d argue Heenan’s call of that match is the best color commentator job ever.