Feburary 2, 2015
By Ryan Porzl
We're now at Part II where I look at the 1994-1999 Royal Rumble matches and pick new winners. I will select my own choices for who should win the Rumble and I won't be able to use the real winner since they will be injured. Like KOTR, the rules will be same as I can only pick wrestlers that are not only in the WWF/E at the time but they have to be active. I can't use wrestlers if they weren't under contract to the WWF/E at the time of the Rumble and I can't use wrestlers if they were out of action because of injuries, suspensions, or leave of absences.
I don't own the picture
1994
The 1994 Royal Rumble was held on January 22, 1994 and was the first Rumble to have co-winners as Bret Hart and Lex Luger were eliminated at the same time. With both out, my choice for the Rumble winner would be Tatanka. Tatanka was a solid wrestler and was looked upon as one of the WWF's brightest up and comers since his arrival in 1992. He also had a good fanbase and was popular with the fans. He didn't have a rivalry going into Wrestlemania X so I wouldn't have to worry about cancelling a feud and match to put him in. He also had history with Yokozuna. On the October 30, 1993 episode of WWF Superstars, Mr. Fuji (Yokozuna's manager) distracted the referee during Tatanka's match with Ludvig Borga which allowed Borga to use a steel chair on Tatanka to defeat him. The loss was Tatanka's first televised loss which ended a near two year undefeated streak. Following the match, Yokozuna came out and injured Tatanka with his bonzai drop maneuver which injured Tatanka and prevented him from taking part in the 1993 Survivor Series.
I know Tatanka isn't the strongest pick but there weren't many options in 1994. Bret Hart and Lex Luger were the two best but I can't use either one. "Macho Man" Randy Savage was nearing the end of his WWF run, the company was using him more as a commentator at this point, and he already had a feud with Crush going on. Shawn Michaels was nowhere near ready to win the Rumble, main event Wrestlemania, and was feuding with Razor Ramon. Plus, he was a villain so it wouldn't make sense to have two villains main event Wrestlemania. Diesel didn't catch on and break out until he did the Royal Rumble. He also wasn't ready for a Wrestlemania main event and was a villain. Bam Bam Bigelow was good but he was a villain and already in a feud with Doink the Clown. Razor Ramon was very good but he was already the Intercontinental Champion and feuding with Shawn Michaels. He would have to lose the title before Wrestlemania X while the WWF would have to cancel the ladder match to put Razor against Yokozuna. The Undertaker already wrestled Yokozuna at the Royal Rumble and was taking time off after that so he's out. Bob Backlund was mostly a preliminary wrestler at that point in the WWF and was nowhere near the main event. Also, the company was beginning their "New Generation" period and it wouldn't make sense to give the soon to be 45 year old Backlund the WWF Title to kick off that period especially when he first won it seventeen years ago. It doesn't come off as "New Generation".
My final two would be Tatanka vs. Crush. This would add to the Wrestlemania X main event as Crush was an ally of Yokozuna and a client of Mr. Fuji. This would be like Tatanka had to go through Crush to get to Yokozuna and he does. First Crush and Yokozuna is next.
1995
The 1995 edition was held on January 22, 1995 and was won by Shawn Michaels who last eliminated the British Bulldog. The win made Michaels the first to win the Rumble at #1. With Michaels out, I would go from the winner to the runner up and pick the British Bulldog. Since his return at Summerslam 1994, Bulldog proved to still be one of the best talents in the world as he was capable of putting on very solid performances. No doubt, he would put on a Wrestlemania worthy main event and have a great story behind him as he previously held the Tag Titles and the Intercontinental Title. The main event can be about whether Bulldog wins the only belt he never held in the WWF, defeat the third triple crown winner in WWF history. and become the fourth triple crown winner. I would also consider Bulldog if the WWF really thought far ahead enough since these two would meet up in the summer. In August 1995, Bulldog turned heel by turning on Diesel during a tag team match against Men on a Mission. If Bulldog lost at Wrestlemania XI, his turn against Diesel would make perfect sense and come off as him being bitter that he came up short against Diesel at Wrestlemania.
Bulldog wouldn't be my first choice. I would prefer to have Lex Luger win. Luger was an underrated talent but lost a ton of momentum throughout 1994 after he didn't win the WWF Championship at Wrestlemania X, the feud with Mr. Perfect fell through, and his feuds with Tatanka & Crush didn't work out. My hope would be to give him the Rumble as a way to re-energize his career and probably give him the WWF Championship at Wrestlemania XI. Unfortunately, I wouldn't pick him because his contract was set to expire in March and the last thing I would want is to give him this and then have him potentially hold out for money right before the biggest show of the year. If I had a choice for delaying Diesel's title win then I might want to give him the Rumble and then have him win the title at Wrestlemania but I'm not high on that one.
My finals would be Bulldog vs. King Kong Bundy. Bundy was one of the biggest men in the match and Bulldog should look good as he shows his strength by being able to eliminate one of the heaviest guys in the Rumble by himself. It should also show that Bulldog can hang with the big men of the WWF and look like a threat when he faced the seven foot tall champion.
1996
Royal Rumble 1996 was held on January 21, 1996 and saw Shawn Michaels win his second straight when he last eliminated Diesel. With Michaels out of action, my pick to win would be Diesel. I would pick Diesel simply because, well, there was literally no one else. This Royal Rumble was clearly for Michaels and if he couldn't wrestle then the WWF would be screwed. Diesel had wrestled Bret three times in less than two years but they were 1-1-1 each so a match at Wrestlemania XII could be the rubber match. I would probably want to try and have the Undertaker win the WWF Championship at the Royal Rumble (he challenged Bret at this show) so I could do Undertaker/Diesel at Wrestlemania XII and give Undertaker a good win before Diesel left the company.
Owen Hart and Yokozuna had wrestled Bret way too many times with Owen already facing Bret once at Wrestlemania while Yokozuna wrestled him twice. Yoko was also too obese to be pushed as a main eventer by that point as he tipped the scales at 640 pounds. Vader seems like a good bet but he was debuting at the Royal Rumble and it wouldn't make sense to either make him WWF Champion or fail to win the title at Wrestlemania XII as Vader would only be in the company for two months. Worst of all, Vader entered the company with an injured shoulder and was briefly taken off TV to have surgery. He wouldn't wrestle again until Wrestlemania. King Mabel was underrated but was hastily booked to the main event at Summerslam which didn't work. Following this, he was buried with a casket match loss to the Undertaker at In Your House V a month earlier and then got squashed in eight seconds by Diesel at the New Year's Day RAW. Jake Roberts just came back at this match and was never a WWF Title contender. The British Bulldog just lost to Bret a month earlier at In Your House V. Bob Backlund and Jerry Lawler were way past their primes and wrestled Bret too many times.
My final two would be Diesel vs. Owen Hart as these two had a small rivalry with Diesel wanting revenge for Hart injuring Shawn Michaels the night after Survivor Series. The two had a match the previous month at In Your House V where Diesel lost by disqualification. A win evens things up and could set up a rubber match at the following month's In Your House where Diesel wants to pin Owen and is willing to put up his title shot to get him in the ring.
1997
Royal Rumble 1997 took place on January 19, 1997 and saw "Stone Cold" Steve Austin win his first Royal Rumble last eliminating Bret Hart. With no Steve Austin, my choice for winner is the Undertaker. This is one of the easiest picks as the Undertaker was long overdue for another WWF Championship reign, he won the championship in real life at Wrestlemania XIII, and his career was rejuvenated thanks to his feud with Mankind. At the time, the WWF didn't know Shawn Michaels would forfeit the championship a few weeks later and a Shawn Michaels/Undertaker one-on-one match had never been done at the time at a big show so it would make for a great Wrestlemania main event.
Mankind would be my second pick. Once again, the WWF didn't know Michaels would vacate the title a few weeks later and these two had a match of the year candidate back at In Your House X: Mind Games in September but nothing was settled since the match ended in disqualifcation. A Michaels/Mankind rematch where there must be a winner would be a great Wrestlemania main event. Other than Taker and Mankind, there was nobody else. Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels already wrestled each other at Wrestlemania XII so the match wasn't fresh and I'm personally against doing a repeated Wrestlemania main event. If they already did the match once as a Wrestlemania main event then that's it. I always prefer fresh main events that were never a main event at Wrestlemania before. Vader was another option but had already wrestled Michaels months earlier at Summerslam and lost by pinfall. More importantly, it wouldn't make sense to do the match again since Vince and the WWF usually prefer to have Wrestlemanias end with a happy ending and it wouldn't make sense to have him lose again. Owen Hart and the British Bulldog were the WWF Tag Team Champions which would mean there would be no tag team championship match at Wrestlemania if one won and neither were WWF title contenders at that point. Rocky Maivia just debuted two months earlier at Survivor Series so forget that. Hunter Hearst Helmsley was still not ready for a Wrestlemania main event.
My finals would be Undertaker vs. Bret Hart. You have two talented veterans who can put on a solid match and I would have Steve Austin cost Bret the rumble. By doing this, you continue the Bret/Austin feud and sow the seeds for Bret's heel turn by having him complain that he got screwed again. You also can use this controversey later on as Bret challenged the Undertaker at Summerslam '97.
1998
The 1998 Royal Rumble was held on January 18, 1998 and saw "Stone Cold" Steve Austin win his second straight rumble as he last eliminated the Rock. With Austin out of the picture, my choice would be an obvious one in Owen Hart. I think it's safe to say that this is probably the easiest choice I think I had to make. The biggest reason is because, well, the story is right there. Shawn Michaels defeated Bret Hart to win the WWF Championship at Survivor Series, humilated the Hart Family, and tricked Jim Neidhart to join DX a few weeks later only to betray him the same show. Owen took a month off after Survivor Series but immediately went after Michaels after that as he attacked him after his title match at the In Your House XIX: D-Generation X show. The two also had a title match on the December 29, 1997 episode of RAW is WAR which Hart won by disqualification. Owen also looked great since coming back as the Black Hart as this was one of the most underrated periods of his career and it would be great to see him avenge his family and his brother by defeating Michaels at Wrestlemania. From there, he could then transition to a feud with Vince as he would then seek revenge on Vince due to the Montreal Screwjob.
Sadly, there really was no one else to choose. Mick Foley was teaming with Terry Funk and you would have to cancel the feud with the New Age Outlaws for Foley to win. The Rock still wasn't ready yet and both he & Michaels were heels. Ken Shamrock was feuding with the Rock at the time so you would have to cancel their Wrestlemania match. Another problem was Shamrock wasn't in the right position at that time to main event Wrestlemania. Vader was out of the main event by this point and was slowly becoming a jobber to the stars. Terry Funk was WAY past his prime and was already teaming with Cactus Jack while beginning a feud with the New Age Outlaws. The Undertaker challenged Michaels for the championship at the Rumble and was scheduled to face Kane at Wrestlemania XIV.
My finals would be Owen vs. The Rock. The Rock was looked on as a superstar rising through the ranks. By doing this, Rock gets to look good as he gets to wrestle a guy like Owen and the results show that while Rock will be a main eventer, his time isn't here just yet.
1999
The final Royal Rumble of the 20th century took place on January 24, 1999 and saw Mr. McMahon win when he last eliminated "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. With McMahon out of the way, my pick to win would be Ken Shamrock. Shamrock had grown throughout 1998 winning the 1998 King of the Ring, the Intercontinental Title, and the Tag Team Titles, improving in the ring, and coming into his own after joining Vince's Corporation as a dangerous heel. In fact, he held both IC and Tag Titles heading into the Rumble event. After winning the Rumble, the story can be whether Shamrock steps aside for the good of the Corporation with the Rock winning the WWF title or if he decides to go for it. Shamrock would have a lot to gain by going for it as he feuded on and off with the Rock throughout 1998 with the Rock beating him most of the time. Shamrock also had the chance to make history as he could become the person to reach the WWF's triple crown the fastest as he won the IC Title in October, the Tag Titles in December, and would have the chance to win the WWF Title in March. Ultimately, he would reluctantly step aside which would allow first runner up Steve Austin to get the shot. Meanwhile, this could cause dissension as the WWF had Shamrock leave the Corporation in April in real life. By having him be pressured to give up his title shot, that could be used as the reason why.
Once again, there wasn't many other options. Triple H was rising up the ranks but he wasn't big enough to main event Wrestlemania yet. Meanwhile, he faced Rock many times already over the past few months and was coming back from a knee injury. The Big Boss Man would be a consideration but he just came back to the WWF the previous October and didn't need it as he was already tag team champion and previously held the hardcore title. Owen Hart wasn't anywhere near the main event at that point as he was mostly a jobber to the stars throughout 1998. He would need to be rebuilt before he got a Royal Rumble win. Test had potential but only debuted the previous month and was still green.
My finals would be Ken Shamrock vs. Steve Austin. It would be like real life with Austin looking like he's going to win only for the Rock to interfere and distract Austin which would allow Shamrock to eliminate him. By doing this I accomplish a few things. First is that a corporate member still wins the rumble and would step aside so Austin can challenge for the WWF Championship at Wrestlemania XV. Second can be that Rock and The Corporation would insist on Shamrock stepping aside for the good of the group and to repay Rock for helping him win the rumble in the first place. Third can be that it eventually sets up Shamrock to break away from the Corporation in the spring.
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