Royal Rumble Rewind: 2007

While they had and would have longer and more notable face-offs, the Shawn Michaels/Undertaker mini-match that caps off this Rumble helps it stand out from many of the others in its history.

2007 Royal Rumble

Emanating from the AT&T Center in San Antonio, TX

This year’s Rumble starts off with style as Ric Flair is #1. He’s gone an hour before to win it, but that was 15 years earlier. And things don’t start off easy for him as Finlay is #2. Finlay tries to overpower Flair to begin, but he comes back with some chops. Finlay hoists Flair up, but Flair rakes his eyes before he can toss him out. #3 is Kenny Dykstra and he had issues with Flair at this time. As Dykstra puts the boots to Flair, Finlay comes up from behind him and tries to toss him out. Participating in his second match tonight is Matt Hardy out at #4. We’ve paired off now with Dykstra and Hardy going at it and Flair tussling with Finlay. Nobody’s been eliminated yet, but that may change because Edge is out at #5. He comes in and hits spears on Flair and Finlay. Hardy is able to avoid one and then hits Edge with a Twist of Fate. Flair goes outside and brings a chair into the ring. Before he can use it though, Edge grabs him and throws him to the floor. In response, Dykstra mocks the Flair strut, but Edge grabs him and throws him out as well. Nice! Tommy Dreamer is the #6 entrant and he goes right after Edge. #7 is another ECW representative, Sabu. Before getting in the ring, he sets up a table on the outside. He then comes in and attacks his hardcore brethren, Dreamer. Gregory Helms is #8 and he attacks Hardy, who he was feuding with at the time. Finlay comes close to eliminating Sabu, but he’s able to put on the brakes. #9 is Shelton Benjamin and he tries to make an impact by eliminating both Dreamer and Hardy, but both guys manage to hang on. That table Sabu set up remains untouched, but I can’t imagine that will stay that way for much longer as they’ve already made several elimination teases near it. The ring is starting to fill up, but have no fear because Kane is out at #10 to thin the herd. His first victim is Tommy Dreamer. He backdrops Sabu over the top rope and then chokeslams him off the apron and through the table. See told ya.

It’s clobbering time because C.M. Punk is out at #11. He opts to go right after Edge. Putting the ‘royal’ in Royal Rumble is King Booker at #12. He comes in and immediately dumps Helms. Nobody else is real close to being eliminated at the moment. #13 is Super Crazy. That prompts JBL to start busting out some of his racist jokes. #14 is Jeff Hardy and he teams up with his brother to attack everyone. Even with as many guys in the ring as there are, they’re able to hit Kane with Poetry in Motion. If you’ve begun to smell stale beer, it’s because Sandman has emerged at #15. He starts attacking everyone with a kendo stick, but before he can really get rolling, Booker tosses him out. Looks like we’ve got our Bushwacker winner of the night. Sidenote: it’s probably unfair to keep calling this the Bushwacker award since there have been other guys like the Warlord and Mo who have had far shorter durations in this match than either of those two guys. Eh, who cares. Bushwacker award works. Finlay tosses Jeff Hardy over, but he skins the cat to come back in. Punk manages to do the same thing after Kane attempts to throw him out. Edge’s partner at this time, Randy Orton is the #16 entrant. He teams up with Edge to quickly eliminate Super Crazy and both Hardyz. They could become a force in this match. #17 is Chris Benoit and he attacks everyone in the ring. JBL as an announcer is like a human Wikipedia – providing endless useless facts, only some of which are accurate. Rob Van Dam is out at #18 and he too takes shots at everyone. Kane grabs Booker and throws him out. This displeases the King. Booker comes back in the ring and hits Kane with an axe kick. He then throws Kane over the top rope and brawls with him on the outside. This would be their feeble attempt at starting a feud with these two. As the referees try to separate those two, Viscera comes out at #19. Lawler stupidly asks if anyone can get the 400 lbs. Viscera out despite the fact that he has announced several Rumble matches in which one guy has been able to eliminate him. Johnny Nitro enters at #20 and unsuccessfully tries to throw out RVD. Benoit throws Benjamin over the top rope and he shows some incredible strength by holding onto the bottom rope and avoiding having his feet touch the floor.

Kevin Thorne is #21 and if you don’t remember this guy, don’t worry. This match is only five years old and I barely remember the guy. Pro wrestling was one of the few places where the vampire craze never really took off. RVD hits Viscera with several clotheslines, but cannot get him over the top rope. There are too many guys in there right now and with Hardcore Holly coming out at #22, we’ll have to wait at least another 90 seconds before a mass exodus will take place. Benjamin monkey flips RVD over the top rope, but he manages to hang on. Virtually everyone in the ring works together to try and get Viscera out. No one is paying attention to that, however, because Shawn Michaels is out at #23. He takes on Finlay and makes quick work of him. Michaels then superkicks Viscera, which is enough for the rest of the entrants to then propel him over the top rope and out. Benjamin charges at Michaels, but gets backdropped out of the ring. Man, Benjamin never could catch a break against Michaels. That thins things out somewhat. #24 is Chris Masters and receives zero response from the crowd. At least JBL has enough sense to mock him. Nitro goes up top, which is never a good move. It still holds true here as Benoit knocks him out. Chavo Guerrero is #25 and he goes after Masters. Meanwhile, Benoit continues to do his part in eliminating deadweight by dumping Thorne. MVP is #26 and his theme song tells us (warns us?) he’s coming. RVD dropkicks Masters who falls out of the ring in comedic fashion. Orton gets Punk over the top rope, but Punk does a good job of managing to hang out. Getting the lucky #27 (more guys have won from this spot than any other) is Carlito. Chavo and RVD team up in an attempt to eliminate Michaels. #28 is The Great Khali and I’d imagine we’ll get a mass exodus here. He delivers headbutts to everyone in front of him. Everybody but Khali is now down on the mat. Now he begins to eliminate people starting with Holly. The Miz enters at #29 and immediately gets thrown out by Khali. I think he just took the Bushwacker award away from Sandman. Meanwhile Khali has now also eliminated Benoit, RVD, Punk, Carlito, and Chavo. Before he can toss out anybody else, The Undertaker comes out at #30 to round out the field. Those two slug it out with neither one dropping. Taker blocks a Khali bomb attempt and then clotheslines Khali out of the ring. Taker grabs MVP and connects with Old School. He then dumps him out of the ring.

That brings us to our Final Four of The Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, Randy Orton, and Edge. A solid quartet comprised of all legitimate contenders. Taker tosses Edge, but he manages to hang on. Behind him, Orton nails Taker with a chair. Edge starts to go for a spear, but Orton sees him. Orton thinks his partner was trying to double cross him, while Edge claims he was going for Taker. Orton stops bickering with Edge long enough to give Michaels an RKO. Edge and Orton now team up to attack Taker. Taker has been busted open from Orton’s chair shot. Taker manages to comeback and clotheslines both of them. He then hits Edge with Snake Eyes and a big boot. As he attempts to chokeslam Orton, Edge hits him with a spear. Edge then blasts Taker with another chair shot. They attempt to hit Taker with a Con-chair-to, but Michaels gets back up. He backdrops Orton out of the ring and then superkicks Edge out. We’re down to Michaels and Taker. Both of them are down and then situp/kip up at the same time. Michaels attempts a 10-punch count, but Taker shoves him down. Now Taker sends Michaels to the corner and slugs away at him. Taker whips Michaels to the corner where he does his flip, flop, and fly sell. Taker goes for a big boot in the corner, but misses and falls to the apron. Michaels tries to knock Taker off the apron, but Taker blocks it. As they slug it out, the crowd chants for ‘HBK’. Taker drops Michaels with a big boot. Taker lifts Michaels over the top rope, but he hangs on. Both men go to the top rope, but Michaels knocks Taker down. He follows that up with a flying elbow. With Taker down, Michaels begins to tune up the band. He goes for the superkick, but Taker blocks it and then hits him with a chokeslam. Taker picks up Michaels for a Tombstone, but Michaels escapes and connects with Sweet Chin Music. Michaels goes for another kick, but Taker ducks it and dumps him to the floor for the victory.

Bottom Line: After a mostly forgettable effort, that was quite the finish. We got a 10 minute mini-match between two legends. What made it even better is that either guy could have won it, which left the finish in doubt. With that victory, Taker made history by becoming the first guy to win the Rumble at #30. Prior to the Michaels/Taker stuff this was a disappointing Rumble that failed to yield any memorable spots. As is the case with most of the weaker Rumbles, you had too many guys staying in for too long. And it was also frustrating to see them give such a worthless stiff like Khali the ‘Diesel push’ and have him eliminate a fifth of the roster by himself. The finish saves this one, but doesn’t do enough to make it a great Rumble. ***

Royal Rumble Rewind: 2003

Yet another wrinkle was added to the Rumble match in 2003 now that the company had split into two brands. Each brand provided 15 entrants into the match and the winner would get a championship match against their brand's champion at Wrestlemania that year.

2003 Royal Rumble

Emanating from the Fleet Center in Boston, MA

One of the stories going into this match is the developing feud between Shawn Michaels and Chris Jericho. Jericho was out to prove he was just like Shawn, only better. When Vince made Shawn #1, Jericho made himself #2 so that he could not only beat Shawn, but go the distance just like Shawn did back in ’95. As Shawn waits in the ring, Jericho’s music plays, but it’s revealed that it’s Christian in the aisle. Jericho comes through the crowd and attacks Shawn from behind. Jericho goes outside, grabs a chair and nails Shawn with it. Shawn’s been busted open from that. Chris Nowinski comes out as our #3 entrant, but stays at ringside to allow Jericho to continue his beatdown. With Shawn completely out of it, Jericho picks him up and dumps him over the top rope to eliminate him. Wow! Rey Mysterio is out at #4 and he immediately hits Jericho with a springboard dropkick. Those two do some more fast-paced action as Nowinski continues to look on from ringside. With Rey on the top turnbuckle, Jericho tries to shove him out, but Rey manages to hang onto the post. As Rey makes his way back inside, Nowinski finally comes in and gangs up on him. #5 is Edge, who comes out to help his friend. Edge and Rey clear Jericho and Nowinski out of the ring, but neither went over the top rope. Now Edge and Rey go at it and have a fantastic sequence with both men nearly eliminating the other. Christian enters at #6 and immediately hugs his brother Edge. Edge pretends to reciprocate the love and then spears him. Rey gets on Edge’s shoulders to do a double-team move, when Nowinski comes in and tosses both over the top rope. They both hang on and reenter by giving Nowinski tandem missile dropkicks; one of which nails him right in the face. Brutal looking spot there. As Rey gives Nowinski the Bronco Buster, Chavo Guerrero comes out at #7. Rey and Chavo do some awesome stuff with Rey connecting with the 619. After giving another one to Christian, Rey goes for the West Coast Pop on Nowinski. Nowinski blocks it, but Rey manages to ‘rana him over the top rope and to the floor. As Rey comes back in, Jericho runs over and clotheslines him out of the ring to end his night. Tajiri is the #8 entrant and he gives everyone some stiff kicks. Out #9 entrant is Bill DeMott and he hits everyone in his path. DeMott throws Jericho over, but he hangs on. We’ve paired off now with DeMott taking on Edge, Chavo battling Christian and Jericho trying to eliminate Tajiri. #10 is Tommy Dreamer and he’s brought weapons with him. Dreamer comes in and delivers cane shots to everyone. Edge grabs a cane and the two of them pelt DeMott (which I’m loving). One big cane shot by Edge is enough to knock DeMott over the top rope and to the floor. Jericho and Christian grab trash can lids and nail Dreamer. Those shots knock him out and they easily eliminate him. Tajiri attempt to put Jericho in the Tarantula, but Jericho shoves him off to end his night.

#11 is Bull Buchanan, who comes out and attacks everyone until Edge whips him into the corner and throws him out. Bull gets the Bushwhacker award tonight. Edge whips Chavo over the top rope, but he hangs on. As he tries to come back in, Edge spears him to the floor. Edge tosses Jericho, but he hangs on and reenters to dump out both Edge and Christian. Jericho left alone. He doesn’t wait long before RVD comes out at #12. RVD gets the better of Jericho in their early exchange. RVD catapults Jericho over the top rope, but he again hangs on. Now Matt Hardy appears at #13. Matt Fact: Matt strongly dislikes mustard. Matt is joined by Mattitude follower, Shannon Moore. Matt teams up with Jericho to beat up RVD. RVD recovers and plays divide and conquer. RVD hits Jericho with the Five Star Frog Splash. Matt grabs RVD and tosses him, but RVD hangs on. #14 is Eddie Guerrero and he takes on everybody. RVD attempts to eliminate Eddie, but Matt makes the save. Eddie hits RVD with the frog splash, only to be given the Twist of Fate by Matt. As Matt stands tall, Jeff Hardy enters at #15. Matt tries to make peace, but Jeff will have none of it. Jeff tosses Matt out, but Shannon Moore prevents him from hitting the floor. Jeff sets Matt up for the swanton bomb, but Shannon comes in and tries to stop him. Shannon lays on top of Matt, so Jeff just gives both of them the swanton. Our streak of decent workers ends when Rosey enters at #16. The pairs right now are Jeff/Matt, Rosey/RVD, and Jericho/Eddie. The Testicles are pleased to see Test at #17. He comes in and is dominant. He tosses out Jericho, who again manages to hang on. The buzzer rings and out comes #18, John Cena with a rap. His rhymes go on for nearly the full 90 seconds and are quite enjoyable. Even Tazz seems to get a kick out of them. Oh how I miss those days. RVD’s heard enough though, and comes out to throw him into the ring. It’s now time for #19, one half of Team Angle, Charlie Haas. The ring is filling up quickly. As Jeff goes for the corkscrew moonsault, RVD shoves him to the floor. Making his 8th Rumble appearance, the 20th entrant is Rikishi. Rikishi and Rosey briefly team up before Rosey turns on him.

Rosey’s partner in crime, Jamal, is our #21 entrant. Rikishi quickly knocks him down and gives him a stinkface. Jericho heaves RVD over, but he hangs on. #22 is Kane and hopefully he’ll clear the ring of some dead wood. He grants my wish by eliminating Rosey. Kane tosses Jericho over, but somehow he manages to hang on. Jericho has had the most near eliminations ever in the history of the Rumble. His ability to hang on has been incredible. Shelton Benjamin is #23 and he immediately does a double-team move with Haas on Cena. How great are these guys? There are several near eliminations, but nobody goes. At #24 is Booker T and he makes an immediate impact by giving Kane a scissors kick and Matt a flapjack. After doing a spinaroonie, Booker grabs Eddie and throws him out of the ring. All aboard! It’s A-Train at #25. He attacks a bunch of people, but doesn’t eliminate anybody. Suddenly, Shawn Michaels runs out and attacks Jericho. His attack allows Test to come over and toss Jericho out. Now Shawn flies over the top rope and lands on Jericho. As the referees separate those two, Maven comes out at #26. There are still no eliminations when Goldust makes his entrance at #27. Goldust attacks Team Angle and then gives Maven Shattered Dreams. Team Angle work together to eliminate Goldust. They follow that up by getting rid of Booker. That’s somewhat disappointing. #28 is Batista and he hits everything in his way. Test tries to get rid of Batista, but when he goes for the big boot, Batista ducks and Test falls all the way to the floor. Now Batista clotheslines Rikishi out of the ring. Making his second appearance of the night, Brock Lesnar comes out at #29. Team Angle try to get rid of him, but he reverses their momentum and tosses both of them out. Then Brock picks up Matt and F5s him on top of Team Angle. Everyone gets on their feet, because they know that #30 is the returning Undertaker. He makes an immediate impact by clotheslining Cena and Jamal out of the ring. Maven nails Taker with a dropkick, but doesn’t get the same result as last year. Taker grabs Maven and chokeslams him. Then he throws him to the floor. Kane and RVD team up to eliminate A-Train from the match. RVD wants Kane to press slam him onto Batista, but Kane press slams him out of the ring instead.

That leaves us with a Final Four of Kane, Batista, Taker and Brock. Kane and Batista clothesline each other. As Brock and Taker stare each other down, Kane and Batista attack them. Brock battles Batista and Kane himself and gives Kane an F5. Taker and Brock go at it and Brock gets the better of it. Taker reverses an F5 attempt and tombstones Brock. Then he runs over and clotheslines Batista out of the ring. Taker and Kane seemingly team up until Taker grabs Kane and throws him out of the ring. Batista reenters with a chair, but Taker stops him. Taker nails Batista with the chair, but Brock comes up behind Taker and dumps him out of the ring to win it.

Postmatch: Taker comes back in, but it’s just to congratulate him on a job well done.

Bottom Line: This was a highly enjoyable Rumble and had one of the best set of wrestlers in it. The first half of the Rumble was just non-stop action, which nicely utilized a lot of Smackdown’s top stars. The second half dragged a bit because eliminations were few and far between. It wasn’t as bad as it should have been, because most of the guys sticking around were ones you wanted to stay. The worst part of the Rumble was the ending. The final four wasn’t great and it was pretty clear who was winning this thing. Still, this was one of the more entertaining Rumbles in recent years. **** ¼

Royal Rumble Rewind: 2002

In 2002, the WWF was going through some big transitions as they tried to find ways to integrate the former WCW guys into their roster. But on this night, they made sure that one of their own, the returning Triple H was front and center.

2002 Royal Rumble

Emanating from the Phillips Arena in Atlanta, GA

Rikishi is #1 and Goldust is #2. That is perhaps the oddest pairing to start off the Rumble. By the way, Goldust is one of four superstars making their big return tonight in this match. The two trade rights to begin. Rikishi hurls Goldust over, but he hangs on. Upon re-entry, Goldust goes low on him. Rikishi dumps Goldust again, but again he hangs on. #3 enters and it’s the Big Boss Man. Goldust and the Bossman try to team up, but Rikishi fends them both off. Nothing much happens when Bradshaw comes out at #4. He comes in and manhandles everyone. Rikishi knocks down the Bossman and gives him the Stinkface. Rikishi kicks the Bossman and then clotheslines him out of the ring. Lance Storm comes out at #5 and he goes after Goldust. Rikishi tries to eliminate Bradshaw, while Storm tries to get rid of Goldust. #6 is Al Snow and he attacks everything in sight. Bradshaw blasts Storm with the Clothesline from Hell, but can’t get rid of him. We’ve yet to get a major name in this Rumble as #7 is Billy Gunn. Some of my least favorite stars are in the ring right now. Gunn comes in and gets jumped by Bradshaw. Storm and Snow get each other onto the apron. Snow blocks a kick by Storm and then delivers a kick of his own to eliminate him. Bradshaw gets Goldust onto the apron, but as he tries to kick him to the floor, Gunn comes from behind and dumps him out of the ring. Suddenly things perk up because here’s the Undertaker at #8. Taker comes in and destroys everybody. Out goes Goldust, out goes Snow, out goes Rikishi and finally out goes Gunn. Taker is standing tall and standing alone. Matt Hardy has the unfortunate luck of being #9. The Hardyz have history with Taker, as he recently put both of them and Lita on the shelf. Taker quickly tries to chokeslam Matt when Lita comes in and tries to help. Taker grabs her too, but she kicks him low. Now Matt and Lita put the boots to Taker. As Taker tries to suplex Matt out of the ring, he gets saved by his brother Jeff, who’s out at #10. The Hardyz now begin to double-team Taker. They go for Poetry in Motion, but Taker catches Jeff and dumps him to the floor. Taker then gives Matt the Last Ride and eliminates him.

The sorry sap at #11 is Tough Enough winner, Maven. Taker begins to attack Maven, but the Hardyz come in and jump him again. Taker disposes of them again, but as he talks trash, Maven dropkicks him from behind and knocks him out of the ring. A huge crowd pop for that shocker. Taker comes back in the ring and begins to attack Maven. Taker takes him out of the ring and blasts him with a chair. As the beatdown continues, Scotty 2 Hotty strolls out at #12. Taker knocks down Scotty and then goes back to Maven. Taker takes Maven into the crowd and continues the assault. As Christian comes out at #13, Taker attacks Maven by the concession stand by throwing him through the glass of a popcorn cart. Neither Maven, nor Scotty have been eliminated, but since Christian is the only one in the ring, he takes a rest on the ropes. Scotty finally makes it in and dukes it out with Christian. Meanwhile, Maven for all intents and purposes has been eliminated. As they fight, DDP enters at #14. DDP hits Christian with the Diamond Cutter, but then Scotty kicks him and he falls through the ropes. Scotty then bulldogs Christian and gives him the Worm. However, DDP comes in and throws him out of the ring. The #15 entrant is Chuck Palumbo, who gets into a slugfest with DDP. We get more nothingness when the Godfather returns at #16. The Godfather brings out an entire row of hos and dances with them. While that happens, Christian and Palumbo team up to eliminate DDP off-screen. The Godfather’s antics last the whole two minutes and it’s already time for Albert to come out at #17. He comes in and manhandles everyone. As Albert tries to get rid of the Godfather, Christian and Palumbo come from behind and throw him to the floor. The Godfather attempts the Ho Train on both Christian and Palumbo. However, they both avoid it and then clothesline him out of the ring. Christian and Palumbo start to go at it when Perry Saturn arrives at #18. The three blandly fight for two minutes. The boredom ends when Austin enters at #19. Not surprisingly, he eliminates all three in quick fashion. Realizing he has time to kill, he brings Christian and Palumbo back in and eliminates them again. Austin checks his watch again and waits until another returning star, Val Venis comes out at #20. Austin brings Val in and quickly stomps a mudhole in him. Val starts to mount an offensive, but Austin comes back with the Lou Thesz Press.

Now the #21 entrant, Test makes his way to the ring. Test and Val team up to attack Austin. Heel miscommunication leads to Test giving Val the big boot. Austin is then able to clothesline Val out of the ring. Test goes for the boot on Austin, but misses. Austin then gives him a Stunner and eliminates him. As Austin waits, he gets some competition at #22 in the form of HHH, who’s recently back from quad surgery. The two do a long staredown before going at it. Just as they start going at it, the Hurricane arrives at #23. When he enters, both men are down. He tries to chokeslam both men, but they just look at him and then throw him out of the ring. Austin and HHH go at it again, when we get our #24 entrant, Farooq. Farooq tries to divide and conquer, but soon he suffers a Stunner and then gets clotheslined out by HHH. Austin and HHH continue to go at it when the best of the returning stars, Mr. Perfect joins us at #25. Perfect takes his time to come in, but then jumps Austin when he does. As Austin and HHH try to get Perfect out, he’s able to spit out his gum and swat it away. Truly awesome! Making his first Rumble appearance, here’s Kurt Angle at #26. We’ve paired off now with Angle taking on HHH and Austin squaring off against Perfect. The crowd starts a “You Suck”, “What?” chant. Nice! Angle gets close to eliminating HHH when Austin makes the save. Big Show arrives at #27 and he destroys everybody. Show’s in complete control, but he hasn’t eliminated anyone. Now Kane comes out at #28. He and Show duke it out, but nobody moves. Kane lowblows Show and then slams him over the top rope to get rid of him. Wow! Kane turns around and receives a Stunner from Austin. Angle then gives him an Angle Slam to the floor. Double wow! We’re back to that foursome duking it out. RVD enters at #29 and with perfect timing. Angle is lying on the mat, so RVD enters by giving him the Five Star Frog Splash. He then kicks down everyone and gives Austin rolling thunder. However, he turns around and receives the Pedigree from HHH. Our final entrant tonight is the five-time WCW champ, Booker T. He comes in and tosses out RVD, who was still out from the Pedigree. Major bummer there. With everyone else preoccupied, Booker decides to do a Spinaroonie. When he pops up though, he gets hit with a Stunner that knocks him over the top rope and to the floor.

We’re left with a Final Four of: Austin, Angle, Perfect and HHH. That’s a pretty awesome quartet. Angle goes for the Angle Slam on Austin, but he escapes and tries for a Stunner. Angle shoves him off and into HHH, who attempts to give him a Pedigree. Austin reverses that and catapults HHH into the turnbuckle. Angle follows that up with an Angle Slam on HHH. Awesome sequence! Now Angle gives Austin three German suplexes. Angle and Perfect try to eliminate Austin, but can’t get it done. Austin hoists Perfect up, but Angle runs up and dumps Austin to the floor. Shocking! Austin pulls Perfect out of the ring and starts to attack him. Angle comes out and throws Austin into the steps. As Angle and Perfect put the boots to HHH, Austin comes in with a chair and blasts both of them. Then he nails HHH. Perfect holds HHH for Angle, but Angle accidentally clotheslines Perfect instead. Perfect and Angle now battle. Perfect hits Angle with the Perfectplex and Perfect neckbreaker. However, HHH gets up and clotheslines him out of the ring. HHH tackles Angle and punches away on him. Angle comes back with a belly-to-belly suplex. HHH charges and Angle backdrops him over the top rope. Angle thinks he’s won, but HHH held on. HHH comes back in, gives Angle a facebuster and then clotheslines him out of the ring to win the 2002 Royal Rumble.

Bottom Line: They certainly back-loaded this Rumble. Aside from Taker’s shocking elimination, nothing interesting happened for the first 2/3rds of this Rumble. Given that they had just gained a bunch of talent from WCW, the roster for this Rumble was weaker than you would have expected. The last part of the Rumble was solid, but not strong enough to make this a great one. The returning stars were nice, but it would have been better had they been actual surprises instead of announced weeks prior to the show. In the end, the HHH win wasn’t terribly shocking, but it was the right move, given he was a top star returning from a lengthy injury. *** ½

Royal Rumble Rewind: 1992

With the WWF Championship vacant at the time, this year's Rumble gained a level of importance as the winner was going home with the title.

1992 Royal Rumble

Emanating from the Knickerbocker Arena in Albany, NY

The backstory for this Rumble is that the title was vacated by Jack Tunney, after he saw the dubious way Hogan won the title from the Undertaker, back at This Tuesday in Texas. Tunney comes out before the match to announce this is for the title and wishes the participants the best of luck. There were numerous boos heard during Tunney’s speech. To think, they could have wasted Vince’s evil owner angle years earlier with Tunney as the evil president. Bulldog is #1. Million Dollar Man is #2. Man, he is still paying for supposedly buying #30 in 1989. Bulldog starts off hot, but soon enough Dibiase takes Bulldog to school. Dibiase dumps Bulldog over but Davey Boy stays on the apron. He comes back in and clotheslines a gloating Dibiase to the floor. No title for Teddy. And now here comes Flair at #3. Bobby does not like this draw at all. Gorilla mentions that no one drawing #1 – 5 have won the Rumble. That’s funny since we’ve now had numbers 1, 2, 3, and 5 all win it. Bulldog manhandles Flair for the next 2 minutes. Jerry Sags is #4. Sags and Flair double-team the Bulldog. Bulldog comes back with a double clothesline. Davey Boy tosses Sags over, but he hangs on. As he brags on the apron, the Bulldog dropkicks him to the floor. Now it’s back to Bulldog and Flair. Haku (subbing for Brian Knobbs) is #5. Haku and Flair start to beat up on the Bulldog but soon Haku turns on the Nature Boy. As the countdown begins, Bulldog casually dumps Haku out. #6 is Shawn Michaels, who receives a not so warm welcome after recently putting Marty Jannetty through the Barber Shop window. Michaels comes in and takes it to Flair. He even gets Sweet Chin Music on him, except not to the same effect it would have later on in his career. The Bulldog clotheslines Shawn over the top but he hangs on. I love how so many people are hanging on as it shows how much they want to win. El Matador is #7 and he goes right after Ric. Flair gets nailed with a Santana flying forearm. #8 is Barbarian. Flair and Barbarian attack the Bulldog, while Shawn and Tito duke it out. Texas Tornado strolls out at #9 and does his usual aimless punching to everyone. Pairing off are Flair and the Tornado, Santana and the Barbarian and the Bulldog and Michaels. Repo Man marks the third-way point at #10. He stalks around the ring for a few seconds before entering. Everyone is making the rounds trying to meet…er…attack each other.

Greg Valentine is #11 and immediately trades chops with Flair. Ring is filling up with some fluff now. However, the bickering between Heenan and Monsoon is easily keeping this entertaining. Shawn is hanging on the apron again. #12 is Nikolai Volkof, who is subbing for Marty Janetty. At this point, if Volkof won the title, he could probably get a loaf of bread and two buttons for it in Mother Russia. Heenan is going crazy again as Valentine has slapped the figure four on Flair. Repo Man just backdropped Nikolai to the floor, so scratch my previous statement. Big Boss Man comes in at #13 and punches away on everyone. Repo Man tosses out Valentine. Who would have guessed Repo would eliminate 2 guys in less than 2 minutes? But before Repo can do anymore damage, Big Boss Man grabs and heaves him to the floor. Out of nowhere, Flair musters enough strength to hoist Bulldog up and out. And just like that, Flair also sends Texas Tornado to the floor. Bye Bye Kerry! Flair is getting his second wind. #14 Hercules comes out as Michaels and Santana eliminate each other. Barbarian tries to eliminate Flair but Hercules comes up and dumps the Barbarian. Boss Man follows that up by clotheslining Hercules out. We’re down to Flair and the Boss Man. It’s all Boss Man until he tries a charge. Flair moves out of the way and the Boss Man ends up launching himself over the rope and to the floor. No one can believe it, as the Nature Boy is left alone in the ring. Flair can barely rest, when #15 is the new Intercontinental champ Roddy Piper. If you recall, Piper and Flair have had issues before this too. Piper dominates Flair; including giving him an airplane spin and sleeper. Jake Roberts is #16 and just sits in the corner to allow Piper and Flair to fight. That doesn’t last long as soon Roberts jumps Piper. What a snake! Flair puts a figure four on Jake and Roddy comes over to stomp on both of them. The buzzer sounds, but it might as well be a groan because it’s Hacksaw. He’s #17. The faces and heels square off now. #18 is IRS, who takes his time heading to the ring. IRS and Duggan brawl, while Flair and Jake try to eliminate Piper. Gorilla announces that it has been 36 minutes for Flair so far. Ol’ Coconut Head Jimmy Snuka is #19. Flair teeters on the brink of elimination a couple of times. The Undertaker strolls out at #20. It should be noted that the Undertaker and Hogan were given “special treatment” because of their involvement with the title match at Tuesday in Texas. This meant they would get to draw between #20 – 30 only. As you can see, Taker didn’t even get that great of a number. Regardless, he walks into the ring and with one shot eliminates Snuka. Man, Taker loves to beat the crap out of Superfly. Taker then begins to choke out Ric. Is that anyway to say thanks to the man who helped you win your first title?

Macho Man is #21 and immediately runs after Jake. Taker catches Macho before he can get to him though. Finally, Savage gets to Roberts and goes to town on him. It doesn’t take long before Macho kneedrops Jake out. Macho then makes a major faux pas by going up to the top rope and jumping out and onto Jake. The announcers try their best to cover it up, but we all know he f*cked up. Right now, the pairs are Macho and Flair, Duggan and Taker, and Piper and IRS. Berzerker husses his way out at #22. Flair tries suplexing Macho Man from the apron, but Savage reverses it and brings Flair back in. Virgil is #23 and sadly no one cares. Nothing of note happens as they are slowly getting ready for the big finish. #24 is Col. Mustafa who Monsoon calls “dangerous”. Oooh, I’m trembling! Monsoon then catches a bout of J.R.itis by calling Ric Flair, Rick Martel. Speaking of Martel, he comes out now at #25. Duggan decides he’s tired, so he mugs for the crowd and tries getting a U.S.A. chant started. The fans don’t want to chant U.S.A., you dolt! They are too interested in watching the real wrestlers actually fight! Hulk Hogan is #26. Of course he got a good number. Hogan gets trapped in a corner by Taker, Berzerker and IRS. Hulk comes firing back and clotheslines both Taker and the Berzerker out of the ring. Fans are going nuts as Heenan is sweating bullets. Hacksaw and Virgil eliminate each other. So long to dead weight. Skinner, chaw and all, comes out at #27. I have to laugh as Martel sells a Piper headscissors, as if someone is using a taser on him. #28 is Sgt. Slaughter. The announcers mention that he’s a former WWF champ as if that actually means he is a candidate to win here. Rick Martel dumps out Skinner. At this point, it is announced that Flair has the new longevity record beating the previous record set the year prior by Martel. Great pop for Sid Justice who is #29. Flair and Hulk duke it out. The Warlord gets lucky #30. One of these guys is getting the strap. Hogan and Flair brawl on the floor but aren’t eliminated. Sid whips Slaughter so hard into the corner that he falls all the way to the floor. Piper eliminates IRS via his own necktie. Hogan and Sid team up to get rid of the Warlord. As Piper and Martel brawl, Sid walks up and pushes both of them out.

Your Final Four are: Hulk Hogan, Sid Justice, Ric Flair and Macho Man. A decent quartet any way you look at it, as all four are still viable candidates to win. Savage is eliminated by Sid and Flair. Hulk knocks Flair onto the apron and tries to kick him off. Sid comes from behind and tosses out Hulk, much to the glee of a number of fans. Hulk, furious over Sid’s actions, grabs Sid’s arm and begins to tug. OUR HERO! Flair gives enough of an assist to eliminate Sid and become the NEW WWF CHAMPION. Wooo! Heenan is beyond jubilant and immediately leaves the booth to congratulate the new champ.

Postmatch, the suits have to come out and prevent Sid and Hulk from going at it. In a sign that things were changing, the crowd was largely behind Sid during their standoff.

Backstage Jack Tunney presents Flair with the WWF title. Flair then delivers an emotional promo and gets his moment in the sun. In the middle of it all, Mean Gene has to reprimand someone for lighting a cigarette. I’m sure Gene was just cranky because his buddy Hogan didn’t win.

Bottom Line: What a truly great Rumble. Not only for Flair’s marathon performance, but also for all the mini angles that were played up throughout the match. (Flair-Piper, Savage-Roberts, Hulk-Sid) This will perhaps be the best Rumble ever. *****