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Post by ASR (therockisback) on Jan 19, 2015 14:24:33 GMT -5
2004 & 2001 for me. 2002 was also great but the ending f*cking sucked.
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Post by hbkbigdaddycool on Jan 19, 2015 14:28:41 GMT -5
In no particular order...
1989 - Was my first PPV I ever seen! So sentimental value is high on that one.
1991 - A really solid Rumble with a lot of great talent in it.
1992 - The main event of all Royal Rumbles. The main event talent in that one was incredible!
1993 - Just because I had that PPV when I was young and watched it a lot.
1995 - The Rumble match itself wasn't great, but Diesel vs. Bret Hart makes up for it.
1996 - Being an HBK and Diesel fan, this Rumble was sweet. HBK and Big Daddy Cool being the final 2 guys was perfect for me.
1997 - Another dose of "Bret getting screwed" which ended up being a common trend in 1997.
2000 - Triple H vs. Cactus Jack was great, and the Rumble match was pretty entertaining.
2003 - You could just see the Ruthless Aggression in that Rumble, and the Attitude Era fading away.
2004 - This would have been my favourite Rumble of all time, but Chris Benoit's whole situation now has left that Rumble to be tarnished.
2005 - Had a lot of the 2004 Rumble to it, and wasn't as good as the 2004 one, but still was fun.
2006 - The Rey Mysterio Show! Still, a lot of great talent in that one.
2010 - Edge returns to win it all!
That about sums it up for me for favourite Rumbles!
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Post by PVA on Jan 19, 2015 14:49:46 GMT -5
How is everyone leaving off 1990?!? Rumble was stacked. Just as stacked as 92. I guess since hogan won it drops it for everyone? That was clearly the 2nd best pre attitude era rumble, perhaps 90s
I hate most lists because it seems to be the obligatory vote for 92, rightfully so. Then short memory kicks in and a bunch of recent rumbles are jotted down as the best.
I attended 2002 and 2010. Both were good but I don't know if either be a top 5 contender.
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Post by The Natural Eddy Valintino on Jan 19, 2015 14:53:56 GMT -5
My favorite Royal Rumble Matches were from 1992, 2000, 2002 and 2004
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Post by johnnyb on Jan 19, 2015 14:59:54 GMT -5
I think the Royal Rumble is my favorite annual wrestling event, even moreso than Wrestlemania. A well-booked Rumble is the most satisfying thing to watch as a wrestling fan. My list, for anyone who cares! - 1992 - As everyone mentioned, this is the standard-bearer for Rumbles. Heenan and Gorilla just nail it from every angle... they even got the little things right that you know the current team would flop on; for example, about 15 minutes into the match Greg Valentine puts Ric Flair in a figure-four, and Heenan is screaming in horror because if Flair's knee is hurt, he's going to have trouble throwing anyone out. Nowadays the guys would be like "THAT IDIOT VALENTINE! WHAT IS HE DOING? YOU HAVE TO THROW THEM OVER THE TOP ROPE YOU IDIOT!" And also, I don't want it to go unsaid that this is probably the most stacked Rumble ever in terms of name value. Bulldog, DiBiase, Flair, Shawn Michaels, Tito Santana, Boss Man, Piper, Jake, The Undertaker, Macho Man, Hogan, Slaughter, Sid... unbelievable list of names there.
- 1996 - One thing I love about Rumbles is seeing guys last a really long time. In this one, 11 guys last 5:00 or less, but they're staggered throughout the match so it isn't like one guy is just trucking everybody. 17 guys last at least 10 minutes and 10 last at least 15 minutes (including Bob Holly at nearly 40 minutes and Helmsley at 48). One cool element to the Rumble that seems to be missing these days is having midcarders come out of nowhere to last a long time... even though Holly and Helmsley didn't eliminate anybody, they still seemed like major players because they survived this sort of match for as long as they did. Plus, I am a huge Shawn Michaels fan, and being ten years old and watching your favorite wrestler win a Royal Rumble is just the best thing ever.
- 1998 - This one is really cool, because you had four guys lasting 30+ minutes (including The Rock at 51 and Bradshaw at 36) and 16 guys lasting over 10 minutes... including Foley going for separate stints of 2:40, 7:53 and 9:41 (20 minutes total) and completing the trifecta. I've honestly never been a big SCSA fan, but a the time, watching him come to the ring and cut through a bunch of guys like a buzzsaw was really cool. And it was a lot more tolerable/believable because unlike a guy like Cena, who looks like he's playing in the ring, Austin had the unhinged, dangerous aura to him that made you buy in.
- 2010 - Punk obviously stole the show early on, even though after he had eliminated like two guys in a row one-on-one, I sighed and said "Triple H is going to steamroll him and eliminate him" and I was right. Can't forget Edge returning, looking like he had been living in a cave for six months. Shawn Michaels' story arc during the match was great too, and I remember really thinking he was going to win it. And it was obviously awesome to see Edge get the best of the Cena Burying Machine and the crowd going insane when Edge tossed him out.
- 2001 - In retrospect, it was obvious that Austin was going to win this one too, but the real reason why this Rumble is so great is obviously because of Kane. He did everything from comedy (HTM and Drew Carey) to hardcore, to eliminating The Rock. The reason this one is even as low as it is, is because having Austin win by eliminating the iron man of the Rumble wasn't really that satisfying (Kane lasted 53:46, similar to The Rock lasting 51:30 in 1998). But overall it has a lot of re-watch value because Kane wears so many different hats during the match.
One thing I would like to say is that I wish WWE would go away from their formulas from the past decade or so... the first being, starting in 2002, having a lot of mystery entrants or throwback entrants... I think it's cool to do every now and then (and in 2002, Val Venis and especially Mr. Perfect were dynamite... and in 2011 Diesel coming back was the highlight of the entire match) but I wish it wasn't something that I am conditioned to count on as part of enjoying it. Every now and then, the surprise returns/cameos are worth it, but it seems like every year it's a big disappointment if we don't get four or five of them. I'd just be okay with them dialing it back a little is all. The other annual thing I don't care much for are Kofi's really contrived, shoehorned ways of staying in the Rumble. The first time it was cool, but with stuff like him hopping around on Michael Cole's chair and Rusev beating him up and gently laying him on the guardrail just really takes me out of the match. And it makes the guys that get eliminated more conventionally look a little bit like chumps. I mean, even look at Kofi during the Andre the Giant battle royal... he gets thrown over and all he has to do to stay in is make sure his feet don't touch the floor. Why couldn't every guy do that and just lay on his back with his feet in the air or hop around on one foot? It's like I can't unsee Kofi doing it and it stays in the back of my mind every year. Kind of like when Shelton Benjamin used to come in and do something almost impossibly athletic... it was awesome, but at the same time I knew it meant he was about five seconds away from being eliminated in some sort of comedy spot.
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Post by hbkbigdaddycool on Jan 19, 2015 15:34:34 GMT -5
How is everyone leaving off 1990?!? Rumble was stacked. Just as stacked as 92. I guess since hogan won it drops it for everyone? That was clearly the 2nd best pre attitude era rumble, perhaps 90s I hate most lists because it seems to be the obligatory vote for 92, rightfully so. Then short memory kicks in and a bunch of recent rumbles are jotted down as the best. I attended 2002 and 2010. Both were good but I don't know if either be a top 5 contender. I do like 1990's Rumble. I watched it not too long ago. But being that it is sandwiched between 1989 and 1991, it just doesn't rank high for me. But I would pick that Rumble over the 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 Rumbles for sure.
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