This Sunday night in our own neck of the woods - Philadelphia's Wells Fargo Center - WWE presents one of its three biggest shows of the year, the annual Royal Rumble extravaganza that officially kicks off the "Wrestlemania season." This year's show returns to the scene of one of the event's most dubious nights, when a raucous Philadelphia crowd in 2015 "hijacked" the show in hopes of seeing their cult favorite wrestler, Daniel Bryan, win the match. It was the second in a string of poorly planned and received Rumble events that have in many ways shaped the current WWE and professional wrestling fan landscape. From the eventual rise to the top of Daniel Bryan, to the appearance of similar internet and "Indy" darlings like AJ Styles, Shinsuke Nakamura, and Samoa Joe, to the rise of New Japan Pro Wrestling and NXT as forces in the domestic wrestling landscape. But lets not get too far ahead of ourselves.
That infamous night in Philly was just one of thirty Royal Rumble events (wow...there have been as many Rumbles in history as their have been participants in a standard Rumble!) As you prepare for this Sunday night's show, I offer you this primer into the shows throughout history so that you can make up your own minds on which shows to binge watch on the WWE Network.
1989: The inaugural event on pay per view features a Rumble match with a few memorable moments, including the furthering of the awesome Megapowers angle and some great Ted Dibiase character work but the undercard is a whole lotta nothing and the ending of the Rumble match itself is pretty weak.
1990: A really great Rumble match but you could argue that the wrong person went over. The undercard is improved from the year before but was still nothing to write home about, with the Greg Valentine/Ronnie Garvin blowoff match as the highlight. Rumble match is really good though.
1991: This is a really great show for fans of the era. A fun undercard features a wild angle-filled world championship switch (when those were rare,) one of the longest built face turns in company history, and an excellent Rockers/Orient Express match. The Rumble match itself is nothing spectacular but festures most of the major players from the era.
1992: The gold standard by which all Royal Rumbles are judged. The Rumble match is a showcase for Ric Flair featuring the top stars in the company and the greatest job of color commentary in the history of pro wrestling by Bobby Heenan. The undercard is mostly garbage with the exception of an energetic Mountie/Roddy Piper match that serves as the Hot Rod's only WWF singles championship win.
1993: A Rumble match completely lacking in star power with a predictable winner and an undercard with mostly disappointing matches (save for a decent Bret Hart/Razor Ramon title match) make this an easy show to avoid.
1994: Generally considered to be a horrible show, I disagree. Its a fun romp, if you're into the over-the-top cartoonishness of wrestling. The undercard drives a lot of angles including Owen Hart's heel turn, a Dusty-finish in the IC title match, and the most absurdly overbooked schmozz of a world title match ever, all leading up to a goofy gimmick and neon color filled Rumble match that I enjoy far more than I probably should.
1995: An average show from a creatively weak era features a decent world title match with a bad finish, a tag team title match with a memorable celebrity moment, and a super short Rumble match overloaded with tag guys and jobbers.
1996: A steaming pile of crap Royal Rumble featuring tepid newcomers, old guys, and foreigners culminating with a totally predictable Shawn Michaels win in the worst finishing sequence in Rumble history. Also features a boring Bret Hart/Undertaker title match, and a forgettable undercard.
1997: A well booked but ultimately poorly executed show features an anemic world title match in the main event slot, a Rumble match with an angle for a finish, and a disappointing undercard.
1998: Like 1994, a really fun show that is also pretty poor from a technical and talent standpoint. Sure most of the major Attitude Era players are there but they are either still in outdated New Generation gimmicks or hadn't reached their stride as characters yet. Shawn Michaels' final match of the 1st portion of his career main events against Undertaker, while the rest of the undercard features turns from The Rock, the New Age Outlaws, and Mankind. The Rumble match itself ends in perfectly Attitude Era fashion - with The Rock vs. Steve Austin.
1999: The Vince Russo-booked Attitude Era Rumble is just an afterthought behind a match-long Steve Austin/Vince McMahon storyline. The match itself is plagued with jobbers and dudes standing around the ring by themselves. The forgettable undercard features what is, in hindsight, among the single worst matches in WWE history (Mankind taking some twenty-odd unprotected chairshots to the head from The Rock) and a bunch of totally forgettable dreck.
2000: Here we come upon the Attitude Era Royal Rumble that we all deserve. A great undercard features a major (at the time) debut in the opener, a really fun tag team table match, and an epic world championship street fight between Triple H and Cactus Jack. The Rumble match itself features all the major players of the era (although a number are past their point of usefulness like Big Bossman, Gangrel, and Val Venis) and some really memorable moments all in front of a wild MSG crowd.
2001: Another great Attitude Era event features some fun undercard stuff including a Chris Jericho/Chris Benoit IC title ladder match and an energetic Dudleys/Edge & Christian tag opener, leading up to an almost perfectly booked Rumble match featuring big stars, a dominant heel running roughshod, and even some well done comedy spots.
2002: The post-WCW-purchase Rumble is a generally weak crop of stale Attitude Era guys and returns (Big Bossman? Goldust? Val Venis? Rikishi? Al Snow? Why?) leading to a pretty predictable ending. The highlights of the Rumble are rookie reality show winner Maven eliminating the Undertaker on a fluke and then nearly being murdered by the Deadman and Mr. Perfect making his return to the company and actually lasting to the final three in the Rumble.
2003: A tale of two Rumbles: the first half features great spots from talented workers (and Chris Nowinski almost dying) while the second half features a bunch of hosses wailing on each other. The Brock Lesnar win is almost an afterthought. It's also a tale of two title matches: one an instant classic between Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit, the other one of the worst matches in the history of pay per view wrestling between Triple H and Scott Steiner.
2004: A showcase for Chris Benoit (who drew #1 and lasted until the finish) is difficult to watch nowadays for obvious reasons. The undercard is also nothing special, making this an unfortunate skippable show.
2005: A really fun Rumble with an absurd finish wherein Vince McMahon legitimately tears both quads while goosestepping down to the ring. The less said about the undercard, the better.
2006: The only time in history that the Rumble match was placed square in the middle of the show features a great performance from Rey Mysterio and a bunch of forgettable mid-00's dudes like Sylvan and Orlando Jordan as well as a bunch of "they were in WWE in 2006!?!" guys like Tatanka, Psicosis, Goldust, and Road Warrior Animal. There's also a world title match where Undertaker magically destroys the ring with lightening.
2007: A mostly horrible Rumble match ends with the greatest finishing sequence in the history of the match (featuring Shawn Michaels and Undertaker) but is overshadowed by a better-than-it-has-any-right-to-be world title match with John Cena against Umaga.
2008: A disappointing undercard leads up to an entertaining Rumble at MSG. There are surprises, big stars in early, and a really shocking and memorable finish (but there's also participants the likes of Carlito, Elijah Burke, and Snitsky.)
2009: An undercard featuring a Matt Hardy heel turn that nobody wanted, a Shawn Michaels angle that nobody cared about, and the generally unnecessary ECW title, leads up to a Rumble match serving as a backdrop to focus on Randy Orton and his Legacy stable, a surefire roadmap to exciting television.
2010: The era of the big surprise return Rumble entrant begins in earnest with Edge's return and win in what is actually a really great Rumble match. The undercard is nothing outstanding but there is a fun Undertaker/Rey Mysterio match, certainly the only time they've ever had a major PPV encounter (and the end of the atrocious "Piggy James" angle over the divas title.)
2011: The three match undercard means nothing leading into the first (and to date only) 40-man Rumble match in history. It is generally pointless (despite an amazing John Morrison spot early on) and leads up to an Alberto Del Rio win (definitely the weakest Rumble winner since Big John Studd.) The actual finish is a highlight when Santino Marella almost wins in a fluke that, in hindsight, he should have actually won based on crowd reaction alone.
2012: A completely forgettable undercard leads up to the worst Rumble match of all time in one of the most dreadful Royal Rumble events up to this point in history.
2013: Both the undercard and Rumble are an improvement over the prior year but just slightly. The Rumble match has a totally telegraphed John Cena win and is filled with jobbers like Darren Young, Sin Cara, and Tensai. At least the main event has The Rock in it.
2014: The epic (in a bad way) Rumble that started the streak of crowds turning against the match. Daniel Bryan loses to Bray Wyatt in the opener before a boring Rumble predictably won by a returning Batista, who had the misfortune of appearing in the Rumble when everyone in attendance wanted a surprise instead
2015: The infamous Philly show mentioned earlier includes Daniel Bryan as an early entrant (and elimination) in a completely perplexing bit of booking that turned the entire crowd off of the rest of the match. It is unfortunate that this is how this show will be forever remembered, overshadowing a pretty excellent WWE championship triple threat match.
2016: A really good undercard leads into a fairly decent Rumble with a surprise ending. The booking of Roman Reigns in the match remained mind-boggling and there were some other head-scratching moments (like the set up for the Brock Lesnar/Wyatt Family program that never happened) but overall it was a good Rumble with some great moments including the WWE debut of AJ Styles. It's by no means a great show but at least it tries.
2017: Another in a string of Rumbles that, try as they might, cannot plese the fanbase. With a rumble match built around Undertaker, Goldberg, and Brock Lesnar where they only appear for a few minutes at the end of the match and with a big “surprise” Roman Reigns entrance at #30 and lasting until the end, this one left a bit of a bad taste in everyone's mouth. A win for demoted tag team guy Randy Orton didn't help.The John Cena/AJ Styles title match on the undercard is spectacular though.
So what shows will you plow through en route to this Sunday night? Some old school Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, and Shawn Michaels action? Maybe a few newer shows so you can marvel at the bizarre crowd reactions? I can tell you one thing, if you love Carlito, Shelton Benjamin, and Chris Masters, the 2005-08 Rumbles are for you!
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