thehottag
Don Corleone
We're here for one reason only: fame, fortune, & the World Wrestling Federation Tag Team Champions!
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Post by thehottag on Jan 8, 2023 19:45:51 GMT -5
1995 was all filler, no killer. A veritable "who's that?" of wrestling.
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CMWaters
Ozymandius
Rolled a Seven, Beat the Ads.
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Post by CMWaters on Jan 8, 2023 19:54:07 GMT -5
1995 was all filler, no killer. A veritable "who's that?" of wrestling. Hence why they had Pamela Anderson ringside to cut to numerous times during the match.
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fw91
Patti Mayonnaise
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Post by fw91 on Jan 8, 2023 21:30:28 GMT -5
1995 was all filler, no killer. A veritable "who's that?" of wrestling. Hence why they had Pamela Anderson ringside to cut to numerous times during the match. why were they so against double duty that year? For the sake of storyline I'd understand excluding Bam Bam Bigelow and Undertaker it could have been stellar for the time if you had a rumble of... 1) Shawn Michaels 2) British Bulldog 3) Lex Luger 4) Bob Backlund 5) Owen Hart 6) 123 Kid 7) Razor Ramon 8) Double J 9) King Kong Bundy 10) Crush 11) IRS 12) Tatanka 13) Mabel 14) Mo 15) Kama 16)Billy Gunn 17) Bart Gunn 18) Bob Holly 19) Adam Bomb 20) Henry Godwin 21) The Roadie 22) Jerry Lawler (Find someone else for commentary) 23) Fatu 24) Seone 25) Doink 26) Duke Droese 27) Nikolai Volkoff 28) Luke 29) Butch 30) Rick Martel Far from perfect and perhaps still lacking, but would have been passable for the time.
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Post by Mrs. Potato Dick on Jan 8, 2023 21:42:02 GMT -5
I would say 1995 is the least star studded but I think 1993 is close. Really the only stars are Savage, Perfect, Undertaker, Yokozuna, Dibiase, and Backlund. Other then that it's a bunch of lower midcarders. Some guy name Flair drew number 1 for that one. Wonder what ever happened to him..
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Post by BlackoutCreature on Jan 8, 2023 21:53:41 GMT -5
I would say 1995 is the least star studded but I think 1993 is close. Really the only stars are Savage, Perfect, Undertaker, Yokozuna, Dibiase, and Backlund. Other then that it's a bunch of lower midcarders. I'd argue that, at that point in 1993, Tatanka was a bigger star then Bob Backlund.
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Post by dangerousdanpotato on Jan 8, 2023 22:03:27 GMT -5
I really think it's still 1995. People often complain about tag teams in the rumble weakening the field, since they're obviously never favourites to win. Well, in 1995 not only did you get SEVEN of them, but they're some of the jobbiest teams of the 90s:
New Headshrinkers Smokin' Gunns Men on a Mission Heavenly Bodies The Bushwhackers Blu Twins Well Dunn
That's nearly half the entrants. After that you've got some awful lower mid-card characters: Mantaur, face Doink, Kwang, Aldo Montoya, Duke Droese, and a jobbed-out Adam Bomb. Rick Martel was a decent legacy surprise entrant, but Dick Murdoch was too old to be recognisable to most of the audience. Bob Backlund and King Kong Bundy had been dialled back to mid-carder status, and Crush showed up after spending months off TV.
The only star power is in Shawn Michaels, British Bulldog, Owen Hart and to some lesser degree the fading Lex Luger.
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Mozenrath
FANatic
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Post by Mozenrath on Jan 8, 2023 22:03:52 GMT -5
I would say 1995 is the least star studded but I think 1993 is close. Really the only stars are Savage, Perfect, Undertaker, Yokozuna, Dibiase, and Backlund. Other then that it's a bunch of lower midcarders. I'd argue that, at that point in 1993, Tatanka was a bigger star then Bob Backlund. I'd count both, though Tatanka was the more plausible person to win the thing.
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PrimeTyme
Dennis Stamp
Be Good. Or Be Good At It
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Post by PrimeTyme on Jan 8, 2023 23:07:21 GMT -5
I think 1990 is probably the most star studded Rumble. Go back and listen to some of the pops when people make their entrance. That crew of guys were over like nobody’s business.
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Post by Sparvid on Jan 9, 2023 0:02:29 GMT -5
It had one of the most exciting final fours too with Batista/Cena/Edge/Rey. Not a Rumble win or world title between any of them yet so all possibilities were fresh. I remember accurately predicting the final four on some message board at the time. Batista and Cena were obviously being set up as the next big deals, and then Edge was starting to get pushed as a heel who really wanted the World title, and Rey was just really over in general.
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CMWaters
Ozymandius
Rolled a Seven, Beat the Ads.
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Post by CMWaters on Jan 9, 2023 0:02:59 GMT -5
I really think it's still 1995. People often complain about tag teams in the rumble weakening the field, since they're obviously never favourites to win. Well, in 1995 not only did you get SEVEN of them, but they're some of the jobbiest teams of the 90s: New Headshrinkers Smokin' Gunns Men on a Mission Heavenly Bodies The Bushwhackers Blu Twins Well Dunn That's nearly half the entrants. After that you've got some awful lower mid-card characters: Mantaur, face Doink, Kwang, Aldo Montoya, Duke Droese, and a jobbed-out Adam Bomb. Rick Martel was a decent legacy surprise entrant, but Dick Murdoch was too old to be recognisable to most of the audience. Bob Backlund and King Kong Bundy had been dialled back to mid-carder status, and Crush showed up after spending months off TV. The only star power is in Shawn Michaels, British Bulldog, Owen Hart and to some lesser degree the fading Lex Luger. Eh, Bundy at least had just started his segment of the Million Dollar Corporation feud with Undertaker, so he was at least high-mid.
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Post by Oh Cry Me a Screwball on Jan 9, 2023 0:12:57 GMT -5
1995 not only has bad gimmick after bad gimmick, but they decided to take Owen Hart and Bob Backlund, the two top heels in the match after Shawn, and have them get dumped out within seconds of entering, so they don't get to do anything to offset all the other jobbers in the match.
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Post by Marvelous1LUFC on Jan 9, 2023 0:26:35 GMT -5
The 2000 Royal Rumble was always interesting to me in this regard. It didn't really lack star power, but most of those "stars" were those popular Attitude Era mid-carders that developed cult followings through the years but weren't really headline acts. Out of all the guys in it the only ones you could really see winning were Rock, Big Show, Kane and maybe, if you're being really generous, Rikishi. Yeah if youre being REALLY REALLY generous, rikishi. As the gimmick was like a month old, and there was no way hed have been considered for 2000 rumble. Unless you mean 2001 rumble, even then the heel rikishi push was dead, and he was teaming with haku i believe
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CMWaters
Ozymandius
Rolled a Seven, Beat the Ads.
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Post by CMWaters on Jan 9, 2023 0:28:45 GMT -5
The 2000 Royal Rumble was always interesting to me in this regard. It didn't really lack star power, but most of those "stars" were those popular Attitude Era mid-carders that developed cult followings through the years but weren't really headline acts. Out of all the guys in it the only ones you could really see winning were Rock, Big Show, Kane and maybe, if you're being really generous, Rikishi. Yeah if youre being REALLY REALLY generous, rikishi. As the gimmick was like a month old, and there was no way hed have been considered for 2000 rumble. Unless you mean 2001 rumble, even then the heel rikishi push was dead, and he was teaming with haku i believe They were still having Rikishi be a threat in that (he did eliminate Undertaker, and this was the year before the Maven elimination). He hadn't started the Haku team yet because Haku RETURNED at that Rumble (and was a surprise since for all most people know he was still Meng and WCW Hardcore Champion at the time).
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Post by EoE: Well There's Your Problem on Jan 9, 2023 0:55:36 GMT -5
Bus home thought: Rikishi getting as over as he did in 2000 is why the dancing big man became such a recurring trope for the WWF/WWE in the many years since (and even then, it’s only if he’s got those yellow sunglasses, without those he’s all business). Like, the dude had been back on TV, what, two months? On his fourth gimmick in the company after being a Headshrinker, a human PSA dressed like a bag of Skittles and, somehow, an Arabian mute wearing a jockstrap? And he’s paired up with two guys in Too Cool who weren’t really that over yet themselves and, if I remember correctly, were still heels at the previous PPV?
What actually happens in December 1999/January 2000 for those three to get THAT over in MSG at the Rumble?
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Post by Banjo Is Broken on Jan 9, 2023 3:41:27 GMT -5
I heard King Kong Bundy was supposed to win the 1995 Rumble but he couldn't hang on to the ropes as Lex Luger was trying to pretend eliminate him. Okay, I've never heard anyone say that, but that is what I choose to believe really happened.
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msc
Dennis Stamp
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Post by msc on Jan 9, 2023 4:17:49 GMT -5
Bus home thought: Rikishi getting as over as he did in 2000 is why the dancing big man became such a recurring trope for the WWF/WWE in the many years since (and even then, it’s only if he’s got those yellow sunglasses, without those he’s all business). Like, the dude had been back on TV, what, two months? On his fourth gimmick in the company after being a Headshrinker, a human PSA dressed like a bag of Skittles and, somehow, an Arabian mute wearing a jockstrap? And he’s paired up with two guys in Too Cool who weren’t really that over yet themselves and, if I remember correctly, were still heels at the previous PPV? What actually happens in December 1999/January 2000 for those three to get THAT over in MSG at the Rumble? From memory, 2 Cool were "heels" in name only when they debuted, and fans were already amused by their over the top antics. Rikishi hadn't done much, bar a sloppy fued with Viscera. But then, on the first Smackdown of 2000, they ran an angle where new WWF Champion Triple H ran a random draw to determine his first challenger, which he tried to rig to make The Fabuolous Moolah but got caught out and had to face Rikishi instead. In that main event, Triple H made Rikishi look like an unstoppable assassin, including no selling chairshots and getting up from a hit to the head with the title belt, and HHH doing all his best "OH shit" reactions. Triple H only won by DQ and then had to run away, and that was the moment I recall Rikishi going from "hey, cool new guy" to "OMG that guy is insane" in crowd reactions. Rikishi also saved 2 Cool from a 4 on 2 beatdown against Bulldog and the MSP on 22/11/99 RAW and they'd been teaming ever since, though they were still on the "humourless assassin UNTIL he puts on the glasses". Basically that thing wrestling used to do. Something odd catches fire? Let's run with it! But yeah, HHH really sold it, and once you make the biggest heel in wrestling run away, you're a made man (until your career ends in a crap heel turn).
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Post by The Trashman on Jan 9, 2023 4:51:42 GMT -5
1992 is still ridiculously stacked
Hogan Savage Piper Flair Undertaker Shawn Michaels Ted Dibiase Sid Jake Roberts Snuka Sgt. Slaughter Kerry Von Erich British Bulldog Duggan Big Bossman Iron Sheik as Col. Mustafa
That's a lot of the biggest stars of the 80s and 90s
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Post by ThankGodForSidJustice on Jan 9, 2023 5:47:10 GMT -5
I'd argue that, at that point in 1993, Tatanka was a bigger star then Bob Backlund. I'd count both, though Tatanka was the more plausible person to win the thing. Tatanka was definitely more over. Backlund had more name value and was a former World Champion though so I would still say he was a bigger star. Even if he was a total relic by that point. I will say it's cool though how the crowd could give no craps about Backlund when he comes out and by that end of it when he's still in after an hour they are totally behind him. The pop he gets when he eliminates Martel in the final four and them getting a close up on his face where has this look of "wow I actually might do this" is probably the highlight of the match.
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4real
Wade Wilson
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Post by 4real on Jan 9, 2023 10:36:56 GMT -5
95 or 2012 for least star studded.
Most star studded is probably 92, 02 or 09.
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Dang!
Dennis Stamp
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Post by Dang! on Jan 9, 2023 14:04:59 GMT -5
So, how is the very first Royal Rumble NOT the least star studded? It was won by Hacksaw Jim Duggan. Yes, it had young Bret Hart and Ultimate Warrior, but it was won by HACKSAW JIM DUGGAN.
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