It's Saturday, January 22nd, 1994. Steven Seagal is winning the box office with On Deadly Ground, the #1 song is "All For Love" by the collaboration of Sting, Bryan Adams, and Rod Stewart,.Telly Savalas passed away and Lorena Bobbitt is not guilty for chopping up her husband's penis. And in the world of the WWF, it's time for the seventh Royal Rumble event. 30 men. One ring. One opportunity to earn an opportunity to main event Wrestlemania against the WWF Champion. The Providence Civic Center in Providence, Rhode Island is home for all in-ring action with an attendance of 14,500, the lowest attendance for the event at this point.
So, what has been going on since Survivor Series?
We'll start with the issue involving Razor Ramon and Shawn Michaels. Michaels returned to the WWF claiming to be the real Intercontinental Champion since he was never actually defeated to lose the title. Razor Ramon would win the gold in Shawn's absence, which has infuriated the heartbreak kid. Shawn would beat down Razor on the December 6th, 1993 episode of Raw. While Razor was beaten down, Irwin R. Shyster would confiscate Ramon's beloved gold chains. With the champ seeking his gold back, I.R.S also wants to claim Razor's Intercontinental Gold to add to his collection.
In an ironic twist of fate, the Family Feud match at Survivor Series would see the seemingly close-knit Hart family begin to tear apart at the seams. Owen Hart has started to become resentful of the fame and success that Bret has had, while he remains the "shadow" of the Hart clan. Owen asked Bret for a match, but the Hitman turned it down, not wanting to fight family. So the Harts seemingly patched things up, and with a newly found vigor put out the challenge to tag team champs The Quebeers. However, Jacques and Pierre would end up losing the gold to the surprisingly successful duo of The 1-2-3 Kid and Marty Janetty. However, one week later, the Quebecers would regain the gold, and set out to put a stop to the Hart clan's hopes for championship glory.
The 1994 Rumble was filling up with plenty of worthy challengers. But the most glaring omission in the match was that of Lex Luger. As we've documented Luger squandered his one and only shot at the title by letting Yokozuna get counted out at Summerslam. But this time around it didn't take a road trip on the Lex Express to earn him a second chance. With the "overwhelming support of the fans". in his corner, president Jack Tunney had no other option than to give Luger his opportunity. But to do so, he has to take on the likes of Bob Backlund, the Steiners, Tatanka, Bam Bam Bigelow and even Bret Hart. Who will survive? Who will headline Wrestlemania? Let's find out with this review of the 1994 Royal Rumble.
Vince McMahon is by himself at the table running down the championship matches for tonight's show. But he's without a broadcast partner. A familiar laugh is heard, and out comes "The Million Dollar Man" Ted Dibiase. We last saw Dibiase at Summerslam in his final pay per view match against Razor Ramon. And with nothing better to do, he's here to call the action with Vince. He chastises John Madden for taking the 30 million dollar deal. I guess Vince really was hoping Madden would join up.
Opening action is Tatanka taking on Ludvig... wait, I'm sorry. We have one of our classic "card subject to change" situations.
It is instead Bam Bam Bigelow squaring off with the Native American. Borga injured his ankle in a match with Rick Steiner. An injury that would take him out of action for so long that eventually the WWF decided to release him. As for Tony Halme, the man behind the Borga, according to Jim Ross, Halme was a bully backstage and not a particularly nice person. That aside, Borga found a career in politics as a member of Finnish Parliament from 2003-2007. But his personal life was a mess, Suffering from partial memory loss, and his body worsening due to cirrhosis and pancreatitis. On January 8th, 2010, Tony Halme committed suicide via gunshot. He was 47 years old.
I can't say I'll ultimately miss Ludvig Borga, as while I didn't find him to be terrible, he never felt like a major star in my eyes. A decent foreign heel, but a guy who should have been considered a world champ? Nah. So farewell Mr. Borga, and may you have at least found peace in the afterlife.
Back to the match. Bam Bam charges at Tatanka to start, but Tatanka dodges. Both men get into a slugfest (Bigelow even getting a dropkick). Clotheslines and shoulder blocks by Tatanka have a hard time taking down Bam Bam. Cross body by Tatanka only gets a two. Tatanka works the arm until Bam Bam counters. An attempt at a back body drop is turned into a DDT from Tatanka. A dive off the top rope by Tatanka is dodged.
Big splash in the corner by Bam Bam. He tries another, but Tatanka counters. He goes up top and tries a sunset flip. Bam Bam flails for a bit until he finally drops his girth onto Tatanka. Right chops from Tatanka is eventually stopped by a big dropkick from Bigelow for two. He goes for a long bearhug, focusing more on the lower ribs. The referee goes for the arm drops, but as expected, Tatanka gets the arm up on the third drop and breaks free. Bam Bam regains momentum, but gets caught into a powerslam by Tatanka for two. Both men collide in midair with cross bodies. Bam Bam gets up first, takes Tatanka by the head and does what
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He rams Tatanka head first into the buckle, which starts the no selling and the war dancing. But Bam Bam connects with an enziguri. He mocks the war dance, then sets up Tatanka for the moonsault, but Tatanka dodges it. A very impressive moonsault from a man the size of Bam Bam. Tatanka tries the top rope cross body again, and succeeds for three in what was overall a decent opener. Definitely one of Tatanka's better matches. He's still very formulaic in-ring, but with a worker like Bigelow, it's fine.
Todd Pettengill recaps the history of Bret and Owen's family feud with one another. From the Family Feud match at Survivor Series, to Bret turning down Owen's one on one match challenge and ultimately to Bret and Owen challenging the Quebecers for the tag titles. Even bringing up the short lived title loss of the Quebecers two weeks prior losing the gold to Janetty and the Kid, only to regain them in Madison Square Garden the following Monday.
In an interview with Pettengill, Bret is extremely overconfident about their chances tonight, promising that upon their victories they'll give title shots to the Steiners, 1-2-3 Kee... Err, Kid and Marty. And while Bret is ever so excited, it's the facial reactions of Owen that tell a different story. Regardless, Owen says that tonight is the night he's waited his entire life for. Bringing us to our tag team titles match. It's the Quebecers (With Johnny Polo) against Bret and Owen Hart (Or the Bret Brothers as Dibiase accidentally calls them).
Bret (in what I can only dub his "sperm spackle" top) starts action against Pierre. Some shoves by Pierre, but Bret counters, only to get slammed. Bret still manages a knee to the abdomen as he tags Owen. Axe handle by Owen, but he gets easily shoulder blocked. However, Owen gets a hiptoss for two (near three as Referee Timmy White gets his hand down on that third). Tag to Jacques, who is a bit overconfident himself. Some jaw jacking from both men.
Jacques goes for a back drop, but Owen manages to turn it into a suplex. Dropkick by Owen as Jacques quickly slides back into his corner. No tag though interestingly. Owen gets in a nice enziguri for two. Tag to Bret who gets a boot to the face of Jacques. Back breaker and elbow drop for two from Bret. Small package is also quite a close fall. Bret gets more roll ups for two, until Pierre gets involved. Both Quebecers work down the Hart brothers, and try for a double whip, but the brothers take them out.
Bret continues the offense on both Jacques and Pierre. Tag to Owen who gets his own boot in. Nice jumping clothesline by Owen for two. Followed with a gutwrench suplex for two, and a leg drop for barely two. Tag to Bret who ducks a clothesline, but gets caught into a powerslam for two. Tag to Jacques who distracts the ref as Bret is choked by Pierre. Crowd is loud for Bret with a "Go Bret Go" chant.
Pummeling blows by Pierre who then follows with more double teaming by the Quebecers. Tag to Jacques who covers for a two. Big elbow to the face of Bret. Pierre goes for a dive, but gets a boot to the face. Tag to Owen with double dropkicks, a back drop and a nice belly to belly. Spinning heel kick to Jacques. Owen locks in a sharpshooter while Bret tries to make a save. However, Pierre still manages a save. Another tag and a double flapjack into the ropes on Owen for a two count.
Owen ducks a clothesline and gets in a double dropkick. He tags in Bret. He works on both Quebecers, managing dropkicks, back breakers and leg sweeps. Double noggin knocker and an atomic drop taking out Pierre. Johnny Polo manages to send Bret tumbling out of the ring, and injuring his knee on the guardrail. Owen tries to check on Bret as the Quebecers continue their assault on the bad knee.
Bret can barely get up as Owen tries to fight more with the ref than try to help his brother. Meanwhile the Quebecers attack Bret with a chair and Polo's cane. While Owen tries to eventually fight off the heels, Owen throws Bret in, only to have him beaten down more by the Quebecers for a while longer. Bret avoids a double team, but instead of crawling over to tag Owen, he tries in vain to lock in the sharpshooter. But with the bad knee, he collapses and the referee calls the match., much to the frustration of Owen. Owen is angered by the fact that Bret refused to make the tag. Bret tries to stand up, but...
Owen finally pulls the mob hit and sweeps the leg of Bret. He walks off in frustration yelling that Bret was too damn selfish. Pat Patterson and the rest of the agents go to the ring to check on the injured Hitman. Ray Rougeau tries to get an update as now with Bret being hurt, he might not be able to enter the Royal Rumble later in the show. Bret is dragged onto the stretcher as Todd Pettengill gets a hold of a seething Owen.
Owen says that like he knew all along Bret was too damn selfish. And in Bret's said selfishness, it cost Owen his big chance to finally win gold in the WWF. And that's why he, and I quote "kicked his leg out of his leg". While a funny botch, it's still a believable one given Owen's frustration at the time, so I can't really harp on it too hard. As for the match itself, it was pretty good. Lots of back and forth up until the end angle. I liked the work of Bret and Owen, and as usual I'm impressed with the Quebecers who work as a great heel tag team. And as an angle I feel it worked well. A continuing chapter in what so far has been a well built storyline.
Continuing action on the Royal Rumble is the Intercontinental Championship match between IRS and Razor Ramon. As IRS once again tells the people in the audience that they're all tax cheats, we're joined suddenly by Jim Ross and Gorilla Monsoon, as I guess there wasn't any Smoky Mountain match this time around. Ross and Monsoon are both enraged over Owen's actions. Ross brings up Razor's winning of the championship as we start with some hard shots by Razor to open action.
Gorilla and Ross remind the fans about the stolen gold chains in IRS's briefcase. Irwin with some hard shots of his own, but Razor counters with a straight right fist to the face. Razor is focusing more on straight brawling so far in this match up. Irwin stalls for a bit as the crowd mocks him. Headlock by Razor is then turned into a shoulder block and an atomic drop. Clothesline by Razor only gets a two count. IRS then takes Razor's momentum and throws him over the top rope.
Irwin rams Razor head first into the steps and follows with a huge clothesline. He brings Razor in and hits a scoop slam. He goes up for a dive off the top. Razor goes for the boot, but Irwin sees it coming and avoids it, managing to hit an elbow on the champ instead for only a two count. Reverse chinlock by IRS is broken by Razor. But a knee to the midsection stops any attempt at momentum. A leg drop to the groin is followed. Razor rams IRS into the turnbuckle several times and hits a leg drop for two.
Reverse chinlock by IRS, who constantly uses the ropes for added leverege. While the lock is applied, Ross and Monsoon actually bring up Irwin losing to PJ Walker months back. Razor manages to escape and hits more rights that stun Irwin. Fallaway slam on IRS for a two. IRS manages to reverse a whip in the corner, that causes Razor to run into the referee, knocking him down. Irwin takes this time to grab his briefcase, but Razor stops it, and gives him a shot for his trouble. Cover, but no referee. Razor hits a belly to back suplex off the top rope.
Razor sets up the Razor's Edge, but Shawn Michaels shows up and nails Razor with Shawn's Intercontinental Title belt. Michaels runs off happily as all three men in the ring are laid out. IRS recovers, and crawls over to Razor as the referee recovers and counts the three. IRS goes to celebrate with the title, but referee Earl Hebner tells the original referee of the skullduggery before the three count. As IRS celebrates, Razor turns it into a Razor's Edge for three to retain his championship.
Overall, I thought this match was fine. Very slow early on, but I did like the more brawl focus in the match. The drama by the end was actually quite exciting, and most importantly it continues the build further towards finally settling this battle of the double champions that we've seen go on since Shawn's return back in November. So for a match that's building to bigger things, I thought it was great. And I'll admit much of that, much like the SMW Tag Titles match at Survivor Series has to go with the commentary of Jim Ross, who really helped sell the drama of this championship match.
Well, this will be the last time for a while that we'll be hearing it on PPV for quite some time. On Superbowl Sunday of 1994, Jim Ross suffered what would be the first of several attacks of bells palsy. And if that wasn't enough of an emotional blow, the WWF in their infinite kindness would choose not to renew Ross' contract with the company in February of 1994. Much of which is apparently the result of turning down McMahon's plans to make him more of a goofy cowboy character, most likely in true McMahon fashion, focusing more on his palsy and making Ross into nothing more than a joke. Also, maybe it's another dig at Dusty, who knows? Reo Rodgers was a massive hit, wasn't it?
This comes as a massive shame as Ross' commentary is a much needed breath of fresh air from the monotony of Vince himself. His work, especially at the 1993 King of the Ring stand as some of my absolute favorite commentary work of this era as I get further into it. But don't fret too much, as this will be far from the last time we'll see this good old Oklahoman. Vince is going to enter some serious hell later this year, and Good old J.R will have one more cup of coffee with the World Wrestling Federation.
We recap the history between the Undertaker and Yokozuna. Particularly that of the building of the "double wide, double deep" casket. Pretty much every vinglette, and many instances of Yokozuna being absolutely petrified. And I lieterally mean every single casket vignette. And I love every single one of them. The creepy old west vibe of them work so well with this iteration of the Undertaker's character.
It's time for the casket match for the WWF Championship. The Undertaker vs Yokozuna. We're back to McMahon and Dibiase on commentary sadly. Yokozuna cowers in the corner as the casket is brought to ringside, but eventually stares the deadman down in the middle of hte ring. Ram in the corner, a throat thrust, and several clotheslines take down Yokozuna. Yoko flops out of the ring and comedically hits the ring post. Yoko rams Taker into the steps, which is no-sold and met with a stairs slam of his own.
Taker walks the ropes and hits a clothesline to the back of the shoulder to Taker. Taker misses a clothesline as Yoko goes for a chair. Taker grabs it and lands a hard shot to the back and one to the head. He throws Tony Garea off one of the plastic chairs and rams it at Yoko. Yoko follows up with some salt in the eyes of Taker, giving Yoko the chance at more offense. He hits Taker in the back with the chair and follows with one on the back of the head. More headbutts and stair rams follow.
He brings Taker into the ring and hits a clothesline. The casket lid is opened as Yoko rolls him into the it. But Taker manages to escape having the lid on top of him. He tries for offense, but Yoko hits a belly to belly. Taker no-sells and hits a really bad chokeslam. He follows that with a flying DDT. Bearer raises the urn up, as Taker recovers. He signals for the casket to be opened as he rolls Yokozuna inside...
However, Crush shows up and starts to attack Taker. Taker gets a clothesline to get rid of him. Kabuki and Tenryu go for the assault, but Taker stops them. Taker goes back for the lid, but Bam Bam gets involved. The number games finally show up on Taker while Yoko takes a nap in the casket. Meanwhile, Fuji managed to steal the urn somehow. Paul Bearer just takes it right back, smacking Cornette and Fuji with it in the process.
The heels try to roll Taker back into the casket, but he still fights them off as best he can. Adam Bomb shows up as Taker attacks them all with the salt bucket. Jeff Jarrett gets involved because... reasons? The Headshrinkers get involved and finally Taker is knocked down once more. He sits up, and keeps fighting as Diesel gets in the ring. Taker is finally thrown in the casket, but he keeps the fight up. The heels keep up as Yoko knocks out Bearer and steals the urn. He rams the urn into the head of the Taker as billowing green smoke erupts from it. The heels keep up their assault for a while longer, and then finally throw Taker into the casket, locking it to seal the deal.
The heels drag the casket up the entrance way, celebrating their efforts, when suddenly the smoke billows once more.
On the titantron we see the Undertaker from inside the casket tell us that the spirit will live on. Soon, everyone will see the rebirth of the Undertaker as he will not rest in peace.
Overall, this wasn't much of a match. More of an angle. But for what little of a brawl we got, it was fine. As fine as you can get for a brawl of this era Undertaker and Yokozuna at the very least. The end schmozz was much longer than the actual title match itself which I also felt may have bogged this segment down in the overall. It did feel like it dragged on for a little too long.
So, why did this happen? Undertaker was suffering from some back injuries that were really begin to nag him at this point. So, in the only actual way to justify taking Undertaker off television, he was destroyed in this heel mess and seemingly sent to heaven. With this recuperation, Taker will miss Wrestlemania. We'll see Taker again later this year, but maybe a bit more Taker than we expected. But we'll get to that when it happens.
It's time for the Royal Rumble match. Our pretaped segments include promos from Macho Man, Doink, Tatanka, Diesel, Shawn Michaels and Lex Luger. As always the rules are as follows. Thirty men, a new entrant every 90 seconds. Elimination is over the top rope when both feet touch the floor. The sole survivor of the match will win the match and go on to the main event of Wrestlemania.
Scott Steiner starts the match as entrant #1. Entrant #2 is Samu of the Headshrinkers. Both men exchange blows for a while. Samu gains the momentum until a clothesline from Scott. Underhook slam by Scott on Samu. He tries an elimination, but Samu manages to deny the toss. Scott leapfrogs Samu, but gets clotheslined for his troubles as the counter goes down. Rick Steiner is the third entrant, ensuting momentarily Scott is safe.
Boht Steiners double team Samu. Belly to belly by Rick and a snap suplex from Scott. They try to eliminate Samu, but he holds on for a while longer. Samu gets caught in the ropes and ultimately eliminated as entrant #4 arrives...
And it's Kwang. Remember Kwang? He appeared like once on a vignette, but not on a Raw yet? He spews mist into the eyes of Rick. Scott fights back, but gets hit with a few strikes from Kwang. Clothesline by Scott as he tends to Rick. More Kung Fu striks by Kwang, but he gets caught into a belly to belly overhead suplex. Scott goes back to check on Rick as more offense is hit by Kwang.
The fifth entrant is the judas himself, Owen Hart. The crowd boos Owen as he enters the ring to attack the prone Rick Steiner. Owen manages to eventually eliminate Rick. The timer counts down again, revealing the sixth entrant, Bart Gunn. Bart works on Owen as Kwang continues to try to eliminate Scott. More back and forth as we get to entrant seven, Diesel. He has no allegiances with anyone as he puts offense on Owen. Diesel eliminates Bart Gunn and Scott Steiner. Scott managing to smack Bart for good measure. He then follows up with throwing Owen out. Kwang is next to be eliminated, leaving Diesel left in the ring awaiting his next victim.
Entrant number eight is Bob Backlund, the iron man of 1993's Rumble. He tries to outwrestle Diesel, but it's not to be as Diesel soon tosses him out, meaning no hour long performance for Backlund. Number nine is Billy Gunn. Gunn is quickly eliminated by Diesel, making for six eliminations for Diesel so far. We cut to footage earlier of Tenryu and Kabuki attacking Lex Luger backstage.
The tenth entrant of the Rumble is Virgil, fresh from the subway. He's an alternate for Kamala. Virgil gets more offense in than Billy Gunn, but ultimately gets dumped out, making for seven eliminations. Entrant eleven is the Macho Man. Savage rams Diesel in the corner and lays in clotheslines and punches. His attempts to eliminate Diesel are in vain however while the two men brawl for the remainder of the time until the next entrant.
Speaking of which, number twelve is Jeff Jarrett. He works on Savage with strikes and a corner ram. bor slam and a dive off the 2nd turnbuckle by Jarrett. Jarrett struts and goes to the top turnbuckle, landing a clothesline to Savage. He throws Savage, but is unable ot eliminate him. Knee to the back and a toss sends Jarrett out.
The unlucky thirteenth man is Crush, who has had a long standing rivalry with the Macho Man. Savage meets him at the pass and gets early offense on the massive Hawaiian. Axe handle off the top by Savage followed by a body slam. Savage goes up top and lands another axe handle to crush. However, the numbers game proves too much. A gutwrench back breaker and an elbow connect to Savage.
Entrant Number fourteen is Doink (With Dink) while Crush eliminates Savage. Diesel and Crush try to eliminate each other for a while as Doink laughs at their attempts. They eventually catch an eye of the clown. He squirts them with his flower and tries to battle them down, but gets double teamed on as the counter makes it to number fifteen. That entrant being Bam Bam Bigelow (led by Luna). They welcome Bam Bam in and allow him to wail on Doink. The clown gets tosssed over by Bam Bam, but the other two heels try to eliminate him next. The three brawl as time counts down for entrant sixteen.
The ring fills up with even more beef as Mabel enters the ring. Diesel tries to work on Mabel, only to end up squashed in the corner. Mabel continues to work on all three of the heels as the counter sees Sparky Plugg make his entrance at #17. Oh right, he debuted already too. Just not on a Raw. Crush survives a near alimination as there is still no eliminations as we see entrant eighteen, Shawn Michaels.
Shawn and Diesel are in the center of the ring as Diesel stalks Shawn, only to prove their allegience with a handshake. Everyone eventually gets Diesel out, including Michaels. Dieesl gets an applause for his performance, as the men in the ring continue their brawl. Entrant nineteen is up next, and it's Mo. He tries to eliminate Shawn, but is unable. Men on a Mission manage to double team Bam Bam in the corner. No more eliminations as the twentieth entrant is on his way.
It's Greg "The Hammer" Valentine. Vince brings up Valentine's 50-minute run in the 1991 Rumble. A bit of brawling, but no eliminations as we await number twenty one. It's Tatanka. He focuses his attention to Tatanka before Mabel holds down Tatanka. But Michaels gets a hard shot to Mabel, proving that double team ineffective. Michaels almost ends up eliminated by Valentine. Lots of brawling as entrant twenty two is next.
Kabuki of Fuji's hired hitmen is next up. Everyone but Mo work on Mabel, managing to dump the big man out like a giant sack of potatoes. Micahels manages to hang on in the ring as the twenty third man is out next and it's Lex Luger to a strong pop. Luget goes right after Kabuki and eliminates him with minimal effort. Mo tries to attack Luger, but gets some shots for his attempts. The time ticks onward to the twenty fourth man, Tenryu. He hits some massive chops on Luger as the timer ticks to the twenty fifth man.
Nobody is seen from the entry way as we're led to believe the spot was originally that of Bret's. The men in the ring continue to brawl further. More brawling goes on, but still no elimination from any of the nine men in the ring. Number twenty six is next, as t's Rick Martel in his baby blue gear. Crush has been in for over 22 minutes. Tatanka and Luger lay in a brawl with each other, but nobody has yet to be eliminated.
Entrant twenty seven ends up being Bret Hart (making the 25th spot a bit odd) who limps his way into the ring. It's now eleven men in the ring. Bob Holly is still in after eighteen minutes. Entrant tweny eight is Fatu of the Headshrinkers, filling up the sea even further. Crush finally gets eliminated as entrant twenty nine, Marty Jannetty, finally takes off his Undertaker costume and enters, brawling with old foe Shawn Michaels. Marty gets a superkick, but is still unable to eliminate Shawn.
Entrant thirty is Adam Bomb, complete with Kool-Aid tongue. He saunters to the ring while the rest of the men in the ring continue their brawling.Sparky Plugg gets tossed out. We learn that number twenty five Bastion Booger was eliminated by himself backstage via sickness. We still have almost half the match left in the ring at this point. Martel eliminates Valentine, but is quickly eliminated by Tatanka.
Luger manages to eliminate Adam Bomb, as Mo is tossed out by Fatu. Bam Bam tosses Tatanka, but is soon taken out by Lex Luger. Shawn Michaels tosses out Marty Jannetty. Bret and Luger work together and eliminate Tenryu. The final four is Shawn Michaels, Fatu, Bret Hart and Lex Luger. Fatu hits a headbutt off the second turnbuckle to Luger. Both Michaels and Fatu try to throw out Luger, but he survives, hitting a massive clothesline to Fatu. Both Bret and Luger eliminate Michaels and Fatu, leaving the duo left. They brawl with each other, until...
Both men end up falling over the top rope!
Due to this, there's a lot of stalling as both men's theme songs play. One referee sees it as Luger won, while the other sees it as Bret. Luger's music playing gets noticable boos though, while Bret's gets a far stronger pop. More consecutive dueling over which man won until eventually it's decided by Jack Tunney that for the first time in Royal Rumble history, both Bret Hart and Lex Luger are declared the winners of the match. However, who goes to Wrestlemania is still an answer that's up in the air as we end the 1994 Royal Rumble event.
The reason for this ending was not really any backstage situation. It was simply done to generate some actual drama with a unique finish. As for the Rumble itself, it was okay. Did a good job with continuing storylines, and it really helped cement Diesel as a future star for the company with his performance. I even have no problem with this tie finish as it at least means more interesting stories to come. Not to mention Bret in two angles for the price of one. Good deal. That aside, I do feel that there was way too much time spent with too many wrestlers in the ring at one time. Could have benefitted more with a lot more eliminations throughout instead of just at the end of the match. That aside, I enjoyed this match more than last year's for certain.
Which is also how I rate the 1994 Royal Rumble PPV. I enjoyed Razor vs IRS, thought the tag title match did a good job at building the drama in the Hart family, and even Tatanka had a great match. The Rumble, as mentioned, as great too. Biggest downside would be the prior complaints to said Rumble, as well as a muddy, but not too horrible casket match, that always felt more an angle than a match to begin with. While not a massive bump from the B last year, this Royal Rumble is a B+ affair. Definitely worth the watch.
But what's next? Where does the family feud between Bret and Owen go from here? How do we settle this issue with two Rumble winners? And will we ever have a definitive Interconintental champion? Find out next time. Same TOTNG time, same TOTNG blog.