WWE Royal Rumble '95

WWE Royal Rumble ‘95

January 22, 1995

USF Sun Dome

Tampa, Florida

It really must have been difficult to be a wrestling fan in the beginning of 1995. I guess ECW had its cult following, but most of the country didn’t even know what ECW was. WCW was almost unwatchable coming off of the worst Starrcade ever to date at the end of 1994. The WWE’s roster was totally depleted and the mid-card was pretty much non-existent. I was still at the age where all things wresting were still great to me. I feel for those who were 5-7 years older than me at the time, which may have grown up watching the rock and wrestling era. The 1995 Rumble wasn’t terrible, but it did mark the beginning of one of the worst years ever for the WWE, from a financial standpoint and certainly a creative standpoint. The champion was Diesel, fresh off his squash of Bob Backlund in Madison Square Garden 3 days after the Survivor Series. Diesel was set to be a dominant world champion in 1995 as the main baby face as Vince really felt he had his new Hogan. The only problem is that Diesel got over by being a bad ass heel that just destroyed his opponents. This would be a huge problem as we go through the year.

Commentators: Vince McMahon and Jerry “The King” Lawler

IC Championship

Razor Ramon (champion) vs. Jeff Jarrett w/ Roadie

Roadie is better known as Road Dogg. It is Bullet Bob Armstrong’s baby boy as Jim Ross calls him. Here he plays Double J’s roadie and is pretty good at it. Jarrett spent all of 1994 floundering on the midcard, but the booking in 1994 suggests that Vince did have some pretty big plans for him; it was just a matter of Razor Ramon’s feud with Shawn Michaels/Diesel playing itself out. The match is pretty solid. These two had been wrestling on the house show circuit quite a bit before this show, and certainly most of the early part of 1995, so they had really good chemistry together. Razor is so over with the crowd. Easily one of the most popular baby faces in the company at this point, and Jarrett was one of the top 3 or 4 heels in the company at this time, so it makes for a good match in terms of heat. The match takes a turn when Razor is on the outside and Roadie clips his knee from behind. Razor gets counted out and Jarrett wins. Double J can’t win the title that way so he does the classic heel thing and gets on the mic and insults Razor, calling him a coward, etc. He challenges him to restart the match. Razor of course is the heroic baby face so he obliges and the match gets re-started. Really good psychology here of Ramon selling the knee. He goes for the Razor’s edge and his knee buckles. Jarrett then rolls him up with the inside cradle for the win, and the title. Really good match that I didn’t really like the first time I saw it. Definitely good solid wrestling here with some excellent psychology. ** ¾

IRS w/ “Million Dollar Man” Ted Dibiase vs. Undertaker w/Paul Bearer

And so begins Undertaker’s 1995. Easily one of his worst years ever, through no fault of his own. Here is what I don’t get; he’s probably the most over worker in the company, business is floundering, and they have him tucked away on the midcard all year long feuding with Million Dollar misfits. Now I love Dibiase, and I like Rotunda in his role as IRS, but by 1995 they were long passed the point of anyone caring. They were still the big heel stable here, but by WrestleMania it was over Johnny. I just feel like of all the mistakes Vince made in 1995, burying the Undertaker was the biggest one. This match is an obvious formality but we can’t just have Undertaker squash IRS and be done with the feud. Nope, we have to extend this feud, so with the Undertaker there is only one way to extend a feud. Why, it’s the new and hip “let’s steal Undertaker’s urn” storyline. That always works for the heels. King Kong Bundy interferes in the match and allows IRS to run off with the urn, and we’re left clamoring for Undertaker vs. King Kong Bundy. * ¼

WWE Championship

Diesel (champion) vs. Bret “The Hitman” Hart

So we last left the Survivor Series with the Hitman at one of his lowest points character-wise in his career. His dirty rotten brother (as he always called him) Owen had just suckered his parents into basically costing him the WWE title against Bob Backlund in the submission match. Bret got some much needed time off to film the short-lived TV series Lonesome Dove between Survivor Series and this show. These two met before at the 1994 King of the Ring in an excellent match, and this one is even better. The match is sort of a microcosm though of what would be wrong with Diesel’s title run. As I said before he was built as this monster heel. From his dominating performance at the 1994 Royal Rumble, to his dominance for his team at the Survivor Series; he was built as a no pun intended, unstoppable diesel powered 18 wheeler. Here he is expected to be a baby face. This sort of goes against what Bret Hart usually does, as he is the one that is the master of getting the sympathy baby face heat. So the challenge in this match was for Bret to wrestle in a way that got Diesel the sympathy heat. So what you see in this match is Bret Hart as the aggressor. They both do a great job working the match brilliantly as this is easily Nash’s best match of his career up until this point. WWE did a really nice job hyping this match up as sort of a big match, or a big fight. It really helps to put over the WWE title itself. Bret being the aggressor fits the story as he feels he was cheated out of the title at Survivor Series and now wants it more than anything. This is evident right away as Bret immediately starts going after Diesel’s leg. He puts Diesel in the figure four and at one point Diesel gets to the ropes and Bret doesn’t break the hold and makes referee Earl Hebner count and break the hold himself. Little things like that are what make Bret so great, and I wish we would see things like that nowadays. The aggression from Bret Hart early makes it so when Diesel makes his inevitable comeback, him beating up Bret isn’t viewed as bullying by the crowd; it is viewed as a guy getting back at the aggressor. The crowd likes Diesel, but they cheer Bret and clearly want him to win. The aggressiveness continues when Bret takes the tape off of his wrist and ties Diesels legs together when they are around the ring post. It’s here that the crowd starts to boo Bret a little bit. Really have to hand it to Diesel here as he takes some really nice bumps for a big man and sells Bret’s offense making it totally believable that this guy he’s twice as big as could do this to. Diesel gets the advantage and jackknifes Bret. But before the ref can count 3, Shawn Michaels comes in and breaks the count. Normally this is a disqualification, but the ref says the match must continue. Bret regains his composure and begins to work on Diesel’s knee again; even taking a chair to the knee while around the ring post which draws a lot of boos. Eventually he gets him into the sharpshooter, and this time it is Owen Hart who saves Diesel from inevitably losing his title. At this point it is clear that there will be no decisive winner despite the referee re-starting the match again. Both guys brawl until the a ref bump. At that point Shawn Michaels, Owen Hart, Bob Backlund, Jeff Jarrett, and Roadie come out and attack the faces until finally they decide to end the match as a draw. Diesel cleans house and he and Bret do the baby face hug. Unheralded match because of the disappointing ending and the fact that these two would top themselves later in the year. **** ½

WWE Tag Team Championship Tournament Finals

Bob Holly and 123 Kid vs. Bam Bam Bigelow and Tatanka w/ Ted Dibiase

This is the result of the ego of the clique. As we’ve documented before, for some reason, they HAD to have the tag titles. Of course they wouldn’t put anyone over, and thus we had a tournament to decide the vacant tag titles and the culmination was here. I wouldn’t normally have had a problem with any of the four involved here, but this match only served to crown champions to job them to the Smoking Gunns the next night on RAW. The match itself is great, as all four guys are solid workers. The story they tell is that Holly and Kid are the plucky underdogs and they play it really well, especially when Bam Bam is in the ring. Bigelow really carries the match his combination of size, strength, agility, and the ability to sell offense from smaller guys in a way that most big men simply cannot do. It’s really too bad that they didn’t do more with Bam Bam during this run, especially with the lack of depth on the roster at this time. He could have been a much better opponent for Undertaker or Diesel as a heel. So much mis-management went on in 1995. Vince did a poor job of maximizing his resources. Ending comes when Bam Bam goes for the moonsault but Tatanka came into the ring and knocked him off the rope and Bigelow got knocked out. Kid crawled over and got the pin. The historic part comes after the match as great New York Giants Linebacker Lawrence Taylor is sitting at ringside and making fun of Bam Bam Bigelow. They get into an argument that ends in Bigelow shoving Lawrence down. This of course sets up the big match at WrestleMania. This was great heat. ***

Main Event

30 Man Royal Rumble

Due to time constraints, and more likely due to the lack of talent on the roster at this time, this Rumble has the annoying 60 second intervals as opposed to the 90 seconds or 2 minutes. They make a nice excuse saying the “action is hotter and faster than ever”. Winner gets a title shot at WrestleMania. Shawn Michaels comes out #1 and Davey Boy Smith comes out #2. It doesn’t take long where it becomes apparent that these two would finish the match against each other as well. Shawn attacks Davey to start, but Bulldog quickly comes back and Shawn oversells everything. Ring fills up in a hurry due to the time intervals. Doink comes in to a big pop. You know you’re in trouble if Doink has gotten the biggest baby face pop of the Rumble so far. Rick Martel comes in at #10. At this point there had only been one elimination, and that was Jimmy Del Ray who was #4. Rumble is just flying by which again is probably a good thing. Owen Hart comes out at #11 but gets attacked by Bret Hart in the aisle. I like that they progress the storyline, but with the lack of talent you would think Owen could’ve added a little star power. He comes into the ring and gets tossed by Bulldog almost immediately. Timothy Well comes out next and gets a big pop but the crowd I don’t think realized who it was. At this point guys start getting tossed out left and right. Bushwhacker Luke comes out next and you can just see the star power. Almost half way through the Rumble and we’ve had next to no star power. Everyone gets tossed and it leaves Shawn and Bulldog again, and it’s almost deja vu as Jacob Blu comes out next just like Eli had done earlier. He doesn’t last long as Shawn tosses him and it’s down to Shawn and Bulldog again. That brings out King Kong Bundy who gets the biggest heel pop of the Rumble thanks to the Undertaker attack. Mo comes in next and Bundy tosses him immediately. Then Mabel comes out and that at least gives the crowd a showdown that they can get into between him and Bundy. Mabel eliminates Bundy. Again, not that I’m a big Bundy fan, but wouldn’t it create a little bit more suspense and drama if he stayed in a little longer? Luger comes in and eliminates Mabel immediately decreasing more suspense (again not that I’m clamoring for Mabel to win or anything, but he’s a big guy that the crowd was at least into). The crowd is just dead for this. It’s almost as if they cannot believe how little they don’t care about the participants involved. Bob Backlund comes out and like Owen gets attacked by Bret Hart. Once again, good storyline progression but Bob could’ve added something to this train wreck of a match. Like Owen he gets into the ring but gets eliminated right away, this time by Luger. Bret then attacks Bob again after he had been eliminated setting up their WrestleMania match.  Match dwindles down to the final four consisting of Shawn, Bulldog, Lex Luger, and Crush. Luger and Crush get eliminated right away. So that leaves Shawn and Davey Boy. Thank god for that, because the finish is really good, in fact one of the best finishes in Rumble history. Davey clotheslines Shawn over the top rope but only one foot touches. The brilliance though is that Davey Boy Smith’s music is playing and he’s celebrating. I remember watching this on scramble vision and marking out because I thought for sure Shawn was going to win, so I was happy that a baby face won. But then Shawn knocked Bulldog over the rope from behind and won the match. Great finish to a putrid Rumble. *** 1/4

Final Analysis: Rumble still gets a good rating strictly due to the finish and it’s really hard to book a bad match, unless you’re Vince Russo. The lack of star power sticks out like a sore thumb, but I guess that is why I can now forgive the 60 second time intervals. I’ve always wondered why Jarrett and Razor didn’t do double duty to add to the match. Razor selling the leg injury like Bret did in 1994 would have really added to this. When you look at Scott Hall’s WWE career, it is odd that he never participated in a Royal Rumble, even though it would have been perfectly logical for him do have done so, particularly after the 1994 event when guys doing double duty was the norm rather than the exception. Looking back the event really does foreshadow just how bad 1995 would be with the lack of depth on the roster and the inability to properly build up a mid-card. It wouldn’t be until 1996 where they started getting all of the old WCW guys that Eric Bischoff canned or didn’t want that you would see a resurgence in the product creatively.