2003: The New Blood 2001 may have marked the end of the Monday Night Wars and, essentially, the attitude era, but by-and-large, early 2002 still felt like a lot of the same product that started in the late 90’s. 2003 would bring us the first Rumble that truly felt like a post-Attitude world. And with so many of the Attitude era stars having all won … Continue reading Ranking The Rumbles: 2003

2002: The Degenerate In the wake of (arguably, but again… my article) the best Rumble ever, WWF put on the 2002 Rumble… The Participants 1. Rikishi (back to being a face, but nowhere near as over as he previously was)2. Goldust (apparently this was Goldust’s return after a lengthy absence. Could the Booker T team-up be far off?)3. Big Bossman4. Bradshaw5. Lance Storm6. Al Snow7. … Continue reading Ranking The Rumbles: 2002

2001: The Perfection The 1999 and 2000 Royal Rumbles really left a bad taste in my mouth, and at this point, WWF was all-but the official victor of the Monday Night Wars. With little to challenge them to try harder, how would this one turn out? The Participants 1. Jeff Hardy2. Bull Buchanan3. Matt Hardy4. Farooq5. Drew Carey (Excuse me… WWE HALL OF FAMER, Drew … Continue reading Ranking The Rumbles: 2001

2000: The Overbookening Not even a full month after the peril of Y2k happened, WWF staged its annual Royal Rumble match. Man, Y2k. I had forgotten all about that. Anyway, our computer systems did not all spontaneously expire, and life went on. And we got one of the weirdest Royal Rumbles ever… Participants 1. D. Lo Brown2. Grand Master Sexay3. Mosh (Jesus Christ… STILL with … Continue reading Ranking The Rumbles: 2000

1999: The Grapefruits WWF had finally found a winning strategy in 1999, and it was Stone Cold fighting management. Austin had won the title at the previous WrestleMania and went on to reinvigorate the company while a newly heel Vince McMahon attempted to thwart him at every turn and finally did get the belt off of him. Austin was on a mission to get it … Continue reading Ranking The Rumbles: 1999

1998: The Attitude 1998, and WWF still hadn’t gotten a ratings win over WCW in well over a calendar year. You hear “84 weeks” a lot, but when you put it in this context, it seems crazy that they couldn’t pull at least one week out, especially with how great the product had long been by this point. If only there was a guy they … Continue reading Ranking The Rumbles: 1998

1997: The Rattlesnake In 1997, WWF was right in the middle of the 84-week losing streak to WCW in the ratings that they’ll never stop telling you about because it makes their ultimate comeback seem that much more impressive (which, admittedly, it was). But by this point, they had already been turning the product around in the hopes of making that comeback… The Participants 1. … Continue reading Ranking The Rumbles: 1997

1996: The Do-Over The 1995 Royal Rumble saw Shawn Michaels emerge victorious as a heel. He was unable to defeat Diesel at WrestleMania, but he did manage to turn babyface in the process. The rest of 1995 saw Shawn built up for a reboot. He repeated his classic ladder match against Razor Ramon at SummerSlam, feuded with Owen Hart over Hart’s putting him on the … Continue reading Ranking The Rumbles: 1996

1995: The Terrible, Awful, No Good, Very Bad Roster Oh man. I’ve been waiting for this one… Some Royal Rumbles are full on elite WWE talent grinding out important feuds and angles while multiple likely winners enthrall the viewer. And then sometimes… not so much. The Participants 1. Shawn Michaels2. Davey Boy Smith3. Eli Blu4. Duke Droese5. Jimmy Del Ray6. Seone (The Headshrinkers’ version of … Continue reading Ranking The Rumbles: 1995

1994: The Duocracy So at this point, Yokozuna had been enjoying a reign of heel terror over WWF for more than half a year. Lex Luger had been turned into an American Bus-Ridin’ Icon to challenge him, but that failed. WWF was still trying to find the man who could rescue the belt from Yokozuna and be the guiding light of the New Era… The … Continue reading Ranking The Rumbles: 1994

1993: The Monster It’s 1993, and WWF was finally starting to go through a changing of the guard. Also of minor note? This was the first Royal Rumble I watched as a true, watch-every-week wrestling fan. At the time of this match, Bret Hart was the face of the company as the WWF World Champion, ushering in what would come to be called “The New … Continue reading Ranking The Rumbles: 1993

1992: The Fairness to Flair Here we arrive at the first truly “good” Rumble (Hulk Hogan vs Bushwhacker Luke notwithstanding), and it’s an absolute gem of a classic, this one. Late 1991 saw shenanigans-marred title matches between Hulk Hogan and The Undertaker result in Jack Tunney holding the title in abeyance. The result of that decision? Royal Rumble 1992… The Participants1. The British Bulldog2. Ted … Continue reading Ranking The Rumbles: 1992

1991: The 29 Men Here we are in 1991, where Hulkamania was still running wild through the WWF landscape. At this point, the Rumble was still in its formative years and winning was its own reward. Luckily, we are just one year away from that changing… Participants1. Bret Hart (man, he drew for shit in these early years)2. Dino Bravo3. Greg Valentine4. Paul Roma (Without … Continue reading Ranking The Rumbles: 1991