[1994-01-22-WWF-Royal Rumble] Royal Rumble

[garretta]

Pete stole my thunder about the finish. ​Four ​separate teases? Even Vince and Teddy had to show impatience and disgust or be called out as idiots.

 

I'd have rather seen Tenryu in the final four instead of Fatu, but I guess Vince didn't want to give an outsider, even one who he's been working with for years in Japan, what he considered a prime spot.

 

At the very least, could they not have played each man's music at the end? This was SummerSlam all over again for Luger, only this time the fans weren't cheering for him. In fact, they were booing him pretty soundly, which was a surprise. It wasn't his fault that Vince had screwed him worse than anyone this side of Bret Hart in Montreal at SummerSlam, then booked him in what turned out to be a nothing feud that would still have been going on had Borga not hurt his ankle. Maybe the fans just wanted to see Bret get the belt back, which was perfectly understandable.

 

I didn't hear enough of Teddy to be able to tell if he was good or bad as a commentator, but I liked his idea of a Bret-Luger match to determine who would go to Mania, if only so Yoko would have to work just once (which he can barely handle) instead of twice. I fully expect a third Bret-Yoko stinker at Mania X, because I don't think Yoko will be able to move or even breathe once Luger gets through with him.

 

I remember the Hogan-Orndorff SNME ​cage match where they pushed it as a tie, only the replay inadvertently showed about as conclusively as possible that Paul's feet hit the floor before Hogan's, which would have killed Mania III deader than a doornail had it been allowed to stand. Vince apparently learned his lesson, which is why they didn't show Bret and Luger's feet in any type of shot whatsoever. If you want controversy, sometimes you have to create it yourself.

[The Russian Daydream]

The finish was amazingly well done. While they purposely didn't film their feet, it really looked like it was extremely close.

 

Otherwise, it was a pretty dull Rumble as others have mentioned. One thing that really annoyed me is that ages went by with nothing happening and then Marty Janetty comes in, gets right into it with Michaels, the crowd pops as much as they did in the whole match and while this is going on, the cut backstage to do the Savage vs Crush angle. It's not like there weren't really slow patches in the match that they could have sacrificed instead.

[DMJ]

I actually didn't hate this Rumble as much as others. Some things I liked that I haven't seen mentioned -

- Obviously, there was a real lack of starpower and Savage is wasted. Wisely, they sped things up by having someone enter every 90 seconds. In 95', they'd cut it to 60 seconds - which felt too fast, but that Rumble also has even less starpower than this one. 90 seconds keeps things moving without completely ruining the gimmick or the idea that, if you were in an early entrant, you'd still have to put in 30+ minutes of work. It still feels like an actual main event.

- The Rumble starts slow, but things picks up when Diesel shows up and there's no real lull from then on thanks to the efforts of Savage, Shawn Michaels, Marty Jannetty, Lex Luger, and Bret Hart. As someone else mentioned, Jannetty/Michaels have a great exchange, but there's also a handful of mini-moments between Bret and Shawn that showcase their natural chemistry.

- The finish is obviously super memorable, but its the penultimate elimination sequence that is overlooked and underrated. Basically, Bret is working with Shawn and Fatu is working with Luger in the closing moments, with the heels dominating for a little while until the faces are back in control, each beating down their respective foe in opposite corners. It is almost like a tag match at this point. Then, with amazing timing, Bret and Lex simultaneously irish whip Shawn and Fatu out of their corners - essentially sending each other the guy they had just worked over. In a wonderfully timed spot, Luger and Bret hit mirror hiptosses to eliminate the heels to a huge pop. It is just such a clever way to go from 4-to-2 and it is executed perfectly, the kind of spot that wouldn't be out of place in a Midnight Express/Rock n' Roll Express match or something. Unlike so many other Rumble eliminations, which can be very contrived, I love how organic this sequence is.