Entry #569
The 1995 Royal Rumble Match
WWF Royal Rumble - January 22, 1995
To close off this marathon of bad matches I did today... it's time for a Rumble! I may have said there were only two "bad" Rumbles, those being 2015 and 2022 Men's. I stand by that. But many more Rumbles commit the crime of being "bad Rumbles". That is, mediocre by most match standards, but really bad by Rumble standards. The shining example of that is 1995, which suffered from a lack of star power, realistic winners, and gravitas. The main problem: only 60 seconds between entries, the fastest-moving Rumble yet. The plan was to make us all forget about how overfull of jobbers this match was. And the winner got a World Title shot AND Pamela Anderson on his arm. Who's going for it?
Number 1: Shawn Michaels
Number 2: The British Bulldog
Okay, good start. Shawn has "TK" on his gloves, not a reference to Tony Khan but to former RAW girl and future politician Themis Klarides. I guess politicians gotta stick together. Shawn starts punchy-punchy and Bulldog uses his power. He uses a gorilla press but doesn't try to put Shawn over the top. Shawn's bumping like a damn maniac early on.
Number 3: Eli Blu
Okay, that's a bit of a downturn. I'm reliably informed that that's Ron Harris and not Don. Either way, it's a Harris brother, when he was a mountain man Nazi before being a biker Nazi or a... Creative Control Nazi. He comes in with stomps on Bulldog. Shawn mounts the corner, gets lifted, and somehow doesn't get thrown out because Eli is an idiot.
Number 4: Duke "The Dumpster" Droese
Number 5: Jimmy Del Ray
Number 6: Headshrinker Sione
Duke gets into it with Shawn, and becomes the third man to have Shawn lifted and not bother trying to toss him. The Heavenly Body, the Harris, and the garbage man start brawling until Shawn battles Del Ray. Jimmy Del Ray is somehow the first person to try and eliminate anyone. Shawn survives on the apron. Captain Lou and Afa come out with the non-Samoan Headshrinker. Del Ray is first out.
Number 7: Tom Prichard
Number 8: Doink the Clown
Number 9: Kwang
Number 10: Rick Martel
No Heavenly Bodies team-up, I guess. Sione becomes the first man to lift Shawn AND try to convert it into an elimination. Doesn't work though. Shawn is hiding in the corner. Dink is out with Doink. Shawn and Droese are mutually rope-choking each other. Four guys try to eliminate Bulldog at once, but Doink wipes out Shawn like an idiot. Bulldog and Kwang both almost have Shawn out but Kwang fights off. You'll notice I'm most often mentioning Shawn and Bulldog, because nothing of interest is happening with the other seven people in the ring right now.
Number 11: Owen Hart
Number 12: Timothy Well
Finally, someone who could viably win this thing! Well, not if you ask Bret Hart, who attacks his brother mid-entrance. A fat load of nothing happens in the ring as Bret beats on Owen and is apprehended by security. A huge pop as Timothy Well enters... but it's not because of the popularity of one half of Well Dunn, but because Owen's been eliminated off-screen by Bulldog during the entrance. Great job, production crew! On-screen this time, Shawn drops Droese out, making him land right on Earl Hebner. That's the best spot from this match. Not "one foot". The garbage man bumping a ref. Well's bumping like a maniac and Bulldog tosses him too. Martel's gone! Prichard's gone! Doink seems to be eliminated but is safe on the apron... until Kwang kicks him down.
Number 13: Luke Williams
Number 14: Jacob Blu
Thankfully, Kwang and Sione eliminate each other, simplifying the match greatly. It's now just Shawn, Bulldog, and a Bushwhacker. Shawn takes his time out of hitting Bulldog to toss Luke out. Shawn's trying to take the air out of Bulldog. Now it's Don Harris' turn to go in and quickly go out. He gets a lariat in but is dumped by Shawn.
Number 15: King Kong Bundy
Number 16: Mo
Number 17: Mabel
Number 18: Butch Miller
Sadly, Bundy is among the top 4 most viable winners so far. Third was Owen, and he's gone. Only now do we get a look at Owen's elimination, by the way. Shawn tries to stop Bundy eliminating Bulldog for some reason. Mo is out in three seconds like Owen. Bulldog tries to slam Bundy. Vince tries to make the "No one can eliminate Bundy" the original "No one can eliminate Big Show". Mabel challenges Bundy to a bit of sphere-shoving, and tries to eliminate him. Veeeeeery slooooooowly. It happens during Butch's entrance, and yep Butch is gone too. Even the combined forces of Bulldog and Mabel can't eliminate Shawn.
Number 19: Lex Luger
Number 20: Mantaur
Finally some fucking STAR POWER! Luger eliminates Mabel like it's nothing then starts unloading All-American clotheslines. He has Shawn lifted but once again DOESN'T TRY TO ELIMINATE HIM. The Allied Powers both try to remove Shawn but can't. Mantaur makes his PPV debut and goes after Luger, but gets distracted by Bulldog.
Number 21: Aldo Montoya
Number 22: Henry O. Godwinn
Number 23: Billy Gunn
Number 24: Bart Gunn
Justin Credible with underwear on his face! Shawn lets the three big men do their thing and targets Montoya. HOG is in it with Luger and Bulldog. Pamela Anderson looks on bewildered. According to Vince, the Smoking Gunns weren't in the tag team tournament that concluded at this show due to a "rodeo injury". If that isn't a euphemism... For the first time in this Rumble, a tag team is in the match together. And yet, they don't do any tag team moves. I know it's every man for himself, Gunns, but at least give yourselves a bit of an advantage by working with someone you can trust.
Number 25: Bob Backlund
Number 26: Steven Dunn
Mr. Backlund is somehow the first former WWE Champion to enter, 25 entrants in. Bret Hart comes in to attack Backlund too, seemingly not wanting any actual threats to his title. Bulldog is tangled in the ropes by his foot. Luger eliminates Backlund with a clothesline, but not before he punches Dunn out of the way of the elimination spot. Bret and Backlund continue to scrap in the aisle, which sets up their I Quit match at Mania 11, of course. "WHAT DO YOU SAY???" please no, not again.
Number 27: Dick Murdoch
Number 28: Adam Bomb
And the white supremacist contingent in this match increases to 3. Murdoch starts walking and brawling before going into it with Shawn. The big atomic bastard is attacking Dunn. (I've got a bit of a soft spot for this era of Bryan Clark because he did amazing for me in a TEW save once.) Shawn's dangling after HOG tries to dumb him.
Number 29: Headshrinker Fatu
Number 30: Crush
Billy Gunn survives Fatu's initial assault. Luger jiggles the ropes to aid his elimination of Mantaur. The Smoking Guns try to eliminate each other for no reason, which lets Edgy Black Facepaint Crush dump them both. Dunn's gone thanks to Aldo. The future KroniK are battling in the corner. Lawler can't make up his mind with who his pick is, and makes the valid point that two men won last year. "Never again will two men go out at the same time", says Vince. "Or may my quads explode" he sadly doesn't continue. Dick Murdoch almost eliminates Shawn but Luger makes the save for no reason. Murdoch tries using crawling headbutts as if it's the '70s.
Crush finally manages to complete his (Adam) Bomb disposal. Shawn takes out Montoya. Luger saves Shawn from elimination again. Lawler speculates Luger made a deal. "Lex Luger does not make deals", says Vince. "Except with WCW later this year" he sadly doesn't continue. Murdoch uses an airplane spin on HOG and it knocks over Shawn. They both go over the top but HOG survives, skinning the cat in a way that puts Shawn in five minutes or so to shame. There's a big Final Five standoff. It's like the Final Four, but the Allied Powers are standing next to each other. Luger eliminates HOG now.
Shawn caresses Luger's thighs for no reason. He goes back and forth between decking Bulldog and taunting Luger. Luger survives and mounts the top rope for punches... Shawn tips him over! Shawn and Crush agree to battle Bulldog together. It goes well until Crush attacks Shawn. He tries to gorilla press Shawn out and matador Bulldog into eliminating him. We're down to numbers 1 and 2 again! So basically, this is what would happen if Shawn and Bulldog had an Over the Top Rope Challenge, but 28 other goobers showed up to join the party for a few seconds at a time.
Bulldog counters a back body drop attempt with a FORCEFUL high knee. Shawn's an amazing seller. Bulldog is booting Shawn, and then crotching him on the rope, but accidentally pushes him back in each time. The spot that made the match famous now... Bulldog puts Shawn over, Shawn doesn't have both feet touch the floor, clinging to the ropes, Bulldog thinks he's won the match. The trouble is, the crowd is not fooled at all. They see Shawn still living. Vince seems to believe Shawn's gone though, as does the sound guy who plays Bulldog's music. Bulldog mounts the corner and Shawn dumps him out. One foot! One foot! Although I'm pretty sure, watching the replay, Shawn forgets which foot had been on the floor! #JusticeForTheBritishBulldog
That ending is a LOT flatter than the video packages and retrospectives make it look. Add that to the jobbery stink of the thing... and yeah! This is a "bad Rumble". Maybe even approaching the level of a "bad" Rumble.