Best Royal Rumble match ever

[seanwalsh]

I wasn't gonna list them all, but fair should be fair - and I'm sure people liked even the ones widely considered as awful (coughcough199519972006coughcough).

Personally, it'll never be better than 1992 (Flair wins, classic Heenan & Gorilla commentary, all around great lineup of wrestlers), but 2000 was damn good and 2004 almost hit that level 1992 established.

Highlights for those not familiar with which match is which...

• 1988: the first ever - 20 men - Duggan wins
  
• 1989: 30 men - Ax & Smash start the match - Warlord is in for 3 seconds - Hogan eliminates Savage - Twin Towers eliminate Hogan - Big John Studd wins
  
• 1990: Dibiase is the first noticable record holder for longest time - Hogan & Warrior showdown - Perfect's supposed to win but instead Hogan wins
  
• 1991 - Martel @ 51 minutes, Valentine @ 40 minutes - Savage no-shows - Luke is in for 4 seconds - Hogan wins
  
• 1992 - WWF title goes to the winner - Flair in at #3 for 59 minutes - Savage "eliminates" himself - Sid tosses Hogan - Flair wins and become WWF Champion
  
• 1993 - first Rumble to give winner a WM Title match - Backlund in at #2 for 61 minutes Perfect eliminates Flair - Yokozuna wins
  
• 1994 - first Rumble with less-than-2-min intervals (90 sec) - Diesel's 6 eliminations in a row - Bret & Luger fall out together and both win
  
• 1995 - 60 sec intervals - Shawn Michaels & British Bulldog in the whole match (38 min) - Shawn's 1 foot hits the ground (not 2) and he wins
  
• 1996 - Lawler hides under the ring - Vader debuts - Shawn tosses Vader & Yokozuna together, Vader returns and throws everyone out - Shawn eliminates Diesel to win
  
• 1997 - Austin in at #5 - Mexican wrestlers galore - Lawler punched out by Bret ("It takes one...PUNCH...to know one!") - Austin tossed out behind refs' backs, he returns, tosses Bret and Austin wins
  
• 1998 - bounty on Austin's head - Mick Foley enters 3 times as Cactus Jack, Mankind and Dude Love - Austin wins
  
• 1999 - Austin is #1 and McMahon is #2 - Chyna is the first female in the Rumble match - Vince McMahon wins the Royal Rumble
  
• 2000 - Too Cool dances in the ring - Bob Backlund returns - repeated airings of Taka Michinoku's elimination- Rock wins (kinda) by eliminating the Big Show
  
• 2001 - Drew Carey! - Kane in at #5 and eliminates 11 people (current record) - Honky Tony Man returns - Tazz in for 10 seconds - Haku returns (direct from WCW, as Meng was still their Hardcore champ) - Austin wins
  
• 2002 - Maven eliminates Undertaker - Goldust and Mr. Perfect return - HHH wins
  
• 2003 - Shawn Michaels in at #1 and out 3 minutes later - Chris Nowinsk's career-ending concussion - Brock Lesnar F5's Matt Hardy out - Lesnar wins
  
• 2004 - Benoit is #1 for 61 minutes (beats Backlund's record by seconds) - Undertaker video freaks Kane out and Booker tosses him - Mick Foley eliminates Randy Orton Benoit wins by eliminating the Big Show
  
• 2005 - Hassan ganged up and thrown out by everyone in the ring - Paul London's 360 flip from Snitsky's clothsline - Cena and Batista eliminated together, Vince makes them redo the ending (and blows his quads out) and Batista finally wins
  
• 2006 - Rey Mysterio is #1 for 62 minutes (new record) - Tatanka and RVD return - Rey wins
  

[hollywood]

I vote 1992 and Ric Flair, too. But I didn't hate 2006 as much as everyone else apparantly does.

[Allison Reynolds]

I got to admit, out of the most recent rumbles, 2004 was pretty durn good.
Big Show played his role great as the unstoppable giant of that Rumble.

[mysterydriver]

The Rumble is my favorite match, period.

The obvious choice is the 92 match which is like a masterpiece of Ric Flair's career. Bobby Heenan just makes it better.

Now for a completely random Rumble topic, when I look back on it, I really don't think Rey deserves the "longest" in the Rumble. He was sitting down or resting a mass majority of the match.

However, Bob Backlund owning the longest survivor not to win is approved. Triple H almost beat that in 06 as well, didn't he?

[Feargus McReddit]

1992 with 2001 a close second.

[Hiroshi Hase]

For me, I'd say 1992 easily, and 2004 in second place, both great Rumble matches.

Last year's was awful, with Rey winning and doing damn near nothing the whole time.

[seanwalsh]

mysterydriver said:

Now for a completely random Rumble topic, when I look back on it, I really don't think Rey deserves the "longest" in the Rumble. He was sitting down or resting a mass majority of the match.

However, Bob Backlund owning the longest survivor not to win is approved. Triple H almost beat that in 06 as well, didn't he?

Everyone sitting around was a real problem of mine with the '06 Rumble. That and the timing just seemed off in a lot of places.

Regarding HHH vs. Backlund, Wikipedia tells us:

Backlund in 93 - 1:01:10
HHH in 06 - 1:00:09

Yay! Backlund wins!

[skskillz]

Spoiler: 1992 will win.

If you put Royal Rumble 1992 against the birth of a poster's first child, the Rumble will get 70% of the votes.

[Choose Slack]

1992, with 2004 being a close second.

[krazysane]

i loved the 1992 as much as the next guy, but i also enjoyed the 1991 rr

[Next Level was WRONG]

1992. First wrestling match I ever saw.

[Feargus McReddit]

skskillz said:

Spoiler: 1992 will win.

If you put Royal Rumble 1992 against the birth of a poster's first child, the Rumble will get 70% of the votes.

It depends who the poster is.

If it was Warriorthug, consider it 100%

[Kevin Hamilton]

92 is head and shoulders above the rest. HBK's first coast to coast win (95?) is my pick for solid second choice.

[Bub (BLM)]

2004, just because I marked so hard for Chris Benoit winning. I'd been pulling for him since first seeing him in WCW in 1995. Awesome to see him finally get some recognition.

[brutuscheesecake]

1992 wasn't only the best Rumble ever, it was perhaps the WWF's best PPV ever! The buildup and anticipation was incredible.

The under card was also pretty good. You had the New Foundation beat the Orient Express in what was a very good match(the Orient Expresses last match as well), as well as Piper winning his first WWF belt in a classic moment.

2006 was a joke, another contrived predictable Rumble. Gay Mysterio...give me a break.

[sthjerzeejohn]

Flair's

[DiBiase is Good]

Pretty much any Rumble from 89-92 is excellent, but I'm gonna be controversial and go with 1990 as my fave.
DiBiase's amazing performance
Jake and DiBiase brawling
Hogan and Warrior meeting
Hogan winning (hey, I'm a Hogan mark so I loved it)
Demolition eliminating Andre the Giant

Although when you think about it, even a bad rumble is still pretty damn entertaining.

[Banned Member]

Gotta go 90 as well.

[Sajoa Moe]

WHOOOO.

[skskillz]

dibiaseisgood said:

Pretty much any Rumble from 89-92 is excellent, but I'm gonna be controversial and go with 1990 as my fave.
DiBiase's amazing performance
Jake and DiBiase brawling
Hogan and Warrior meeting
Hogan winning (hey, I'm a Hogan mark so I loved it)
Demolition eliminating Andre the Giant

Although when you think about it, even a bad rumble is still pretty damn entertaining.

I gotta agree with 1990. One sequence in particular still makes me mark out (in addition to the Hogan/Warrior face-off):

Dibiase comes in at #1 and eliminates #2 and #3 (Koko and Jannetty). He waits for #4, and Jake comes out to a huge pop. They brawl for a bit, and then Savage comes out at #5. Dibiase and Savage double team Jake and tie him to the ropes. Then #6 comes out and it's Roddy Piper. He fights off the double team and hits a double clolthesline on Savage and Dibiase and the crowd absolutely erupts. Piper then unties Jake and the Rumble continues. I guess you'd have to watch it to know what I'm talking about, but that was a great sequence.

I only own 4 Rumbles (1989-1992), so those are my favorites. In order of my personal enjoyment, I'd rate them as follows: 1990, 1992, 1989, 1991.