Venue: Providence, Rhode Island
Date: 23/1/94
Attendance: 14,500
Commentators: Vince McMahon & Ted Dibiase
With the tenth annual Wrestlemania just around the corner, the WWF had already laid the foundations for grudge matches between Razor Ramon and Shawn Michaels, and Randy Savage and Crush but it remained to be seen who would be squaring off in the main event for the WWF Heavyweight Title. That was to be determined at the Royal Rumble where Yokozuna would defend the championship against The Undertaker with the number one contender being decided in the Rumble match itself. With Bobby Heenan now in WCW and Jerry Lawler suspended, Ted Dibiase was placed in the slot of colour commentator alongside Vince McMahon. Sadly, he wasn't very good.
Review
The opener saw Tatanka defeat Bam Bam Bigelow in a fairly good bout. It was originally scheduled to be Ludvig Borga versus Tatanka after Borga broke the Native American's long unbeaten streak in November, however Borga was pulled due to injury and would soon leave the company.
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| "All you had to do was tag me!" |
Next up The Quebecers retained the World Tag Team Title with a referee stoppage victory over Bret and Owen Hart. This was a really good, heated match and told a great story. Owen and Bret had recently made up after the Survivor Series incident and deciding they were stronger together they channelled their energy towards winning the tag belts. However, Bret would suffer a knee injury during the bout and despite having a golden opportunity to tag his brother he instead attempted to apply the Sharpshooter. This decision led to their defeat and Owen, quite rightly, was livid. He yelled at Bret before sweeping his injured leg and walking away. Owen then famously cocked up his promo on the big screen as Bret was being helped to the back.
Razor Ramon's Intercontinental Title defence over IRS was okay and furthered the growing feud between Ramon and Shawn Michaels. Michaels was claiming to still be IC Champion despite being stripped of the title for falling foul of the 30 day mandatory title defence rule (in reality he failed a drugs test) and still carried the original title belt around with him. After a ref bump in the match, Michaels ran in and clobbered Ramon with his title belt which led to Ramon being pinned. Then (in one of those incidents when they randomly decide the referee's decision is not final) another referee ran down to demand the match continue, which it did unbeknownst to IRS who got Razor Edge'd from behind and pinned. In the end it felt like the heel got screwed here.
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| "I'm about to die, but don't worry I'll be reborn in time for Summerslam" |
Then came the "Casket Match" for the WWF Title between Yokozuna and The Undertaker. It was a really poor match that became and absolute joke by the end. When it looked like Undertaker was about to win the match, no less than nine other wrestlers came down to attack. The heels opened Undertaker's urn which allowed his 'power' to get away (there was green smoke escaping from the urn) and Taker became weaker and weaker until he was placed into the casket. If that wasn't stupid enough, as the heels pushed the casket back down the aisle smoke began to rise from underneath and the lights went out. The fallen Undertaker then appeared on the big screen 'live' from the casket which apparently had a microphone, a light and a camera in it. The coffin-cam somehow managed to zoom out so we could see the top edges of the casket despite the lid being on. Taker refused to rest in peace, died (or something) and then levitated to the heaven (or somewhere), not from the casket but from behind the big screen?! This was one of the stupidest and most embarrassing things I've ever seen in wrestling.
The Royal Rumble match was entertaining without being anything special. Diesel looked like a star for the first time as he tossed out several guys before being double crossed by Shawn Michaels, a subtle detail they saved for a later date. There was a nice continuation of the Randy Savage/Crush feud and a brief clash between Michaels and Marty Jannetty. Nobody came out at number 25 so McMahon and Dibiase concluded it must have been Bret Hart's slot. But no, Hart hobbled out at number 27 like a hero. The 25th slot should've been Bastion Booger, but he was sick. That was the best they could come up with?! Predictably the final two were Bret Hart and Lex Luger but they did nothing more than exchange a couple of punches then topple over the top rope together rather oddly. Couldn't they have done a clothesline spot or something? The referees argued over who had won until Jack Tunney came out and declared they were co-winners as opposed to just say, sending them back in to settle it. The question now was who would face Yokozuna at Wrestlemania; Bret Hart or Lex Luger?
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| Lex Luger and Bret Hart both claim victory in the Royal Rumble |
Overall
Aside from the casket match debacle, Royal Rumble 1994 was a decent enough card. The Quebecers versus The Hart Brothers was the stand out match (and angle) but the other match-ups weren't bad either. The feuds between Ramon/Michaels, Savage/Crush and now Bret/Owen were furthered with the question remaining whether Bret Hart or Lex Luger would face Yokozuna at Wrestlemania. At the time it was expected that Luger would win the Rumble so the non-finish finish came as a bit of a surprise. Royal Rumble 1994 drew a worrying 0.9 buy rate which was around 200,000 buys. This was only slightly up from Survivor Series and a massive 100,000 down from Royal Rumble 1993.
Results
1 Tatanka pinned Bam Bam Bigelow (8:12) **1/4
2 The Quebecers (c) def Bret Hart & Owen Hart by stoppage to retain the WWF Tag Team Title (16:48) ***1/2
3 Razor Ramon (c) pinned Irwin R Schyster to retain the WWF Intercontinental Title (11:30) **1/4
4 Yokozuna (c) def The Undertaker in a "Casket Match" to retain the WWF Heavyweight Title (14:20) 1/2
5 Bret Hart & Lex Luger won the Royal Rumble match (55:08) **3/4
Rating
11.25/25 = 45%
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