The 2002 Royal Rumble match - One of the best ever?

It was a pretty good ppv especially being there live and re watching it at home a few days later.

I remember watching the VHS alot back in the day. It was the perfect way to kickstart WWF again after the horrid invasion.

100%. As much as I was totally obsessed with wrestling and the WWF in general back in that particular era, I really didn't care for most of 2001 especially the back half that was consumed by the Invasion stuff. Without those big stars from WCW, it all just felt flat and you could tell even the company knew that once they started incorporating the McMahons into the mix.

The end of the Invasion angle at Survivor Series was a legitimate breath of fresh air finally putting all of that mess behind them. The next night on Raw really felt like a new chapter too with Lawler coming back after his hiatus as well as the return of Ric Flair - you know, a WCW wrestler people actually cared about. I also strangely/vividly remember Smackdown: Just Bring It! coming out that week which was the first wrestling game on the PS2.

This was right around when they started teasing that HHH would be returning in early January. His injury literally spanned the entire duration of the Invasion debacle so maybe that torn quad was a blessing in disguise. I was lucky enough to go to the Raw at MSG when he came back and it was a memorable experience for sure.

Definitely drifted off topic a bit there, but the point was that I have equally fond memories of the 2002 Royal Rumble for those same reasons you mentioned finally being out of the darkness that was the Invasion mess. The event as a whole was enjoyable and a few of the undercard matches still stand out such as Flair/Vince and for some reason Tazz & Spike Dudley winning the Tag Team titles. Even though the winner was possibly the most obvious in the history of the event, the Royal Rumble match still had some great moments. Maven eliminating The Undertaker gets replayed regularly these days, but it can not be underestimated just how shocking of a moment it was live. The spot with The Hurricane still crack me up and there were also a few fun returns with Goldust, Val Venis, Godfather and especially Mr. Perfect. I still can't believe he cracked the final four. Again, HHH winning surprised absolutely nobody, but people were just happy that he was back following a career-threatening injury and he was going to have to ride that babyface tidal wave for at least a little while longer.

I didn't care for the Rumble match itself. It felt like it had just 4 guys at a time in there a lot of the time, and when Christian and Chuck Palumbo were doing most of the grunt work and eliminating people.... no thanks.

Austin was over big time. I'd love for him to win it even tho it was HHHs time tbh.

2002 Austin was actually over as hell. The guy was always over no matter what.

I can't remember a time when Austin wasn't over. I'd say from 96 or 97 til today, He has been over consistently. He got crazy reactions when he wrestled again at WM38 in 2022.

I remember the fans loving him all 2002 and I agree that the fans cooled off on HHH hence why he turned heel again about 6 or 7 months later.

no no! mr perfect shoulda won the rumble

i pretty much stopped watchin in 2003 except for the big 4 and occasionsal raw's

02 rumble was great. yea crowd popped for him, i wasnt a big fan of HHH after DX, so i didnt care. but i knew he would get the win as he just came back and was steph's man

They loved Austin in the Rumble!!