WWE Royal Rumble '94

WWE Royal Rumble ‘94

January 22, 1994

Providence Civic Center

Providence, Rhode Island

1994 would become what I sort of envisioned 1993 to be, and that was a year of total change for the WWE. 1993 would have been that way but the Hulk Hogan debacle midway through the year kept that from really happening. WWE was even going to be starting to market their brand is the “New Generation.” They would be facing their biggest challenges in years to come, but the change was necessary. This show is one of my personal favorites. I don’t know why. It just is. You could tell that the show represented something different in that it truly was a new year and a new generation. Rocky times are ahead but the golden age of the Hogan era was definitely behind them by January 1994.

Commentators: Vince McMahon and “Million Dollar Man” Ted Dibiase

Tatanka vs. Bam Bam Bigelow w/ Luna Vachon

This was originally supposed to be Tatanka vs. Ludvig Borga, but Borga got hurt I believe, and Bigelow was substituted in. Good choice as they did have history against each other as they feuded in the summer of 1993. This is a fine little opener as the crowd is super hot for Tatanka and Bigelow plays the perfect heel in this situation. Pretty much nonstop action from bell to bell. The end comes when Bam Bam misses the moonsault and Tatanka hits a cross body block from the top for the 3 count. Good way to get the crowd energized. ** ¾

WWE Tag Team Championship

Quebecers (Jacques and Pierre) (champions) w/ Johnny Polo vs. Bret “The Hitman” Hart and “The Rocket” Owen Hart

Johnny Polo is more commonly known as Raven for most of you. What’s funny about this match is that you know what is going to happen. It is so predictable, and I always think about this match when I hear some idiot who says “predictability is the worst, nothing good can come of it.”  Sometimes predictability can be a good thing and this is a prime example. If you remember at the Survivor Series, little brother Owen was none too pleased that he was the only member of the Hart clan to get eliminated by Shawn Michaels, and he blamed Bret. They “patched” things up over the holidays and decided to team up together against the Quebecers for the titles. At that point you just know where this is going, and the payoff was fantastic. The match itself was excellent as you would imagine with just about any match involving Bret and Owen. The heel Quebecers play such great heels too as eventually the match turns bad for Bret. He injures his knee on the outside and the Quebecers are like vultures much to the dismay of Owen who wants so desperately his first title. The end comes when Bret is too injured to tag Owen so he tries to put his sharpshooter on Pierre, but his leg gives out. The ref stops the match and the Quebecers retain. Owen is absolutely furious that Bret didn’t make the tag. He proceeds to scream at his brother when he is down. Finally Bret makes it to his feet only to have Owen kick his leg and knock him back down again. One of the best heel turns ever and Owen is instantly one of the top heels in the company. This leads to the famous post match promo with Owen where he says “and that’s why I kicked your leg out of your leg.” Just pure, raw emotion. Great storytelling by two of the best. ****

WWE IC Championship

Razor Ramon (champion) vs. IRS

I sort of raved about the storytelling of this feud, and don’t get me wrong it was great, but it wasn’t what the fans wanted to see. But the beauty of this match is that it was a perfect way to set up exactly what the fans did want to see which Razor Ramon against Shawn Michaels was. This is an ok match, standard stuff from both guys, but things get interesting when the ref gets knocked out, and in comes Shawn. He attacks Razor with his bogus IC belt, and IRS gets the pin and the win. Then we get a bit of a Dusty finish here as a 2^nd ref comes down and points out that there are two IC belts in the ring. Before you know it, Razor is giving IRS the Razor’s edge and retaining the IC Title. Razor celebrates with both the IC title belts but the seeds are sewn for a huge showdown with Shawn Michaels, which will come at WrestleMania X. You may have even heard of the match before too… the Ladder match. ** ¼

WWE Championship

Casket Match

Yokozuna (champion) w/ Mr. Fuji and Jim Cornette vs. Undertaker w/ Paul Bearer

This is a rather famous match, though not in a good way. After Survivor Series, this feud was big. It was well put together and it was a showdown that a lot of people wanted to see. Problem. Undertaker wanted to take some time off. So how do you write arguably your biggest star out of the stories for several months? Easy, you have a casket match and have about 9 guys interfere and attack him. Then you have him give his own eulogy inside the casket, then have the casket “explode” on the videotron, and have him seemingly ascend to the heavens. If that sounds ridiculous, it’s because it pretty much is. I liked it, most didn’t. ¼ * Just like that though, a big main event payoff is sort of flushed down the toilet here.

Main Event

Royal Rumble

The roster is rather thin in 1994, so you have a few guys doing double-duty tonight, and a couple of replacements. Still, I love love love this rumble. For their lack in depth they made up for in telling a nice story. Early on it was Diesel mowing through a bunch of jobbers, and then you escalate the Savage feud with Crush, and have Crush eliminate Savage thus giving him the rub. They must’ve really wanted to do more with Crush in 1994 than they ultimately did. Bam Bam Bigelow gets some revenge on Doink, and then it turns into a bit of a clusterfuck. Only thing I didn’t like about the match is that there were just a few too many people in the ring at one time. But Luger picks things up along with Shawn Michaels who helps eliminate his buddy Diesel. Then Bret Hart, still selling the leg injury like a champion, comes out to a huge ovation. Not sure Bret Hart was any more over as a baby-face than he was on this night. I give a lot of credit to Owen for that. The match comes down to Bret, Luger, Shawn, and Headshrinker Fatu. It should be pointed out, that Shawn Michaels had a great performance in this Rumble as well, very underrated as it is overshadowed by his wins in 1995 and 1996. Bret and Shawn had a nice little mini-match here, and then finally Luger eliminates Shawn, and Bret takes care of Fatu leaving the two big baby-faces to go at it. Match spills into a double elimination, and apparently this was done as sort of a popularity contest for Vince to find out who the crowd would support… Bret or Luger. Bret wins that contest hands down as the crowd is clearly behind Bret. After a long debate between refs and President Jack Tunney, Bret and Luger are declared co-winners. Again, not a lot of people like this rumble, but it is one of my favorites ever. I may be overrating it but I don’t care. **** ¾

Final Analysis: This was a fantastic set up for WrestleMania X. What WWE lacked in roster depth, they made up for in nice storylines. Yes the Undertaker stuff was pretty bad and defies disbelief (more than pro-wrestling already does) but the main matches for WrestleMania X are sold here. Shawn-Razor? Check. Bret-Owen? Hell yeah! Savage-Crush? Absolutely. Add to that you have the lead up to what they were going to do with the WWE title situation. Yokozuna against his old nemesis Lex Luger, and of course, the determined, hungry tiger, Bret Hart seeking to become once again the WWE champion after getting screwed out of it at WrestleMania IX. The stories make sense. They had a plan, and they executed it to perfection. Yeah, I like this show if you didn’t notice.