Help your granny! Vote for the best/worst Royal Rumble events
"Ich bin ein Royalrumbliner!"
On the run-up to the 2009 Royal Rumble, we’ve decided to do a few podcasts discussing the best and the worst (and the middlin’) of the past 21 Royal Rumble matches/events. And we want your help! Leave a comment on this post with your top five favorite Rumbles (matches or events, however you choose to determine it) and your five least favorite Rumbles (don’t forget 1999, it was shit). We’ll tally your votes, compare them to our notes, and deliver some fine nostalgic discussion with our good friend Jordan, aka BigRoundWizard. Let us know today!
Favorite Royal Rumble matches
1. 1992
2. 2001
3. 1991
4.1990
5. 2004
Least Favorite Royal Rumble matches
1. 1999
2. 1993
3. 1994
4. 1996
5. 1995
Top 5, in no order:
1992
2001
2007
1991
2003
Bottom 5, in no order
1994
1993
1995
1999
2006
Top 5
1. 1992 – Flair wins, Heenan on commentary
2. 1990 – Hogan eliminates Warrior, Rude& Perfect
3. 1999 – Vince wins in a total swerve…
4. 1994 – Lex & Bret, co-winners
5. 2004 – Benoit goes the distance…too soon?
Bottom 5
1. 1991 – Hogan wins, but look at the garbage in the ring (Saba Simba, Paul Roma, Butch Miller, Shane Douglas, Tugboat)
2. 2000 – Rock/Big Show horrible ending, Keesh domination
3. 2002 – HHH comes back and wins Rumble in 1st match back
4. 1993 – Savage botches with Yoko at end
5. 1996 – Dusty ( i mean Duke) the Dumpster Droese, nuff said
Favorite
1. 1992
2. 2007
3. 2001
4. 1991
5. 2004
Least Favorite
1. 1996
2. 1993
3. 1994
4. 1995
5. 1999
Favorites:
1. 1992: Ric Flair does his flop about 6 times
2. 1998: Height of Attitude Era, Austin and Rock at the end
3. 2005: Batista-John Cena at the end, if only for Vince blowing his hamstrings
4. 2006: Rey Mysterio’s year, he and Orton go the distance
5. 2001: Austin’s third win, really didn’t know who would win that year
Least:
1. 1995: Well Dunn, Mantaur, and only 30 minutes long
2. 1993: Ugh, just a boring Rumble
3. 1999: Austin-Vince nonsense and no focus on Rumble itself
4. 1989
5. 2007: Hate to put it here, but was really boring until the Taker-Shawn exchange at the end
Favorites:
1. 1992: Gotta be fair to Flair
2. 1998: Agree with Tek, plus the spot where Cactus Jack and Terry “Chainsaw Charlie” Funk make a fool of the Rock with a trash can is near and dear to my heart.
3. 2004: Besides the since-tainted moment of Benoit’s victory, the match really could have been anyone’s match to win when you look at the talent included. Plus it had a dandy Taker tease, the heel Brock screw over the babyface Goldberg to everyone’s delight, and it’s the only Rumble I’ve been able to see in person.
4. 2001: Lots of fun in general, with Drew Carey (Drew Curry?) as an entrant actually being used perfectly.
5. 2005: Gotta love the early Raw-Smackdown face-off, plus Batista was probably at his best during this time.
Least Favorites:
1. 1999
2. 1995
3. 2006: Really kind of blah, plus the beginning of when Rumble victories started feeling really cliche to me (either #1 or #30 winning).
4. 1997: A really convoluted finish, and Mil Mascaras makes a fool of himself.
5. 1993: Only things worth remembering were the finish and (to a lesser extent) the beginning of Diesel’s dominance.
First, thanks to everyone who has voiced their opinions thus far. Second, damn you, B-Esser, for taking my “Drew Curry” reference before we recorded the audios 🙂 (And the big Diesel string of eliminations was in 1994, but I’ll gladly mark down 1993 for you instead since it was such a stinkeroo.)