Heading into 1994, Vince McMahon was at an impasse. Vince had gambled on Lex Luger to be the next guiding force in the WWF, but after facing resistance from his own locker room, he had gone back on the decision to strap the rocket to Luger, resulting in Lex's stock slowly dwindling to end out 1993. If Vince wanted back onto the Lex Luger bandwagon, he would have to find a way to revitalize interest in a character that was as one-dimensional as any Vince had ever created. On the other hand, McMahon could come crawling back to Bret Hart, the true workhorse of the company who had earned the respect of peers, critics, and the general masses in a way that Luger simply couldn't. Of course, Vince had mightily tanked Bret's image with the debacle that was WrestleMania 9, and without a signature win on his resume, Hart was not anything approaching a mainstream draw. It seemed like the call would have to be made at the Royal Rumble, where Vince would surely have to put all his cards on the table, and show the world just who he trusted with the WWF's future. Be prepared to be disappointed.
- Royal Rumble 1994 comes to you from the Providence Civic (now Dunkin' Donuts) Center in Providence, Rhode Island, a frequent stop for many WWF tour shows in years prior and the annual host of the King of the Ring tournament before it became a pay-per-view. Vince McMahon is on the call for this one, and he's been joined by Ted DiBiase, who is getting a trial run in the booth. I can see why Vince thought DiBiase would work as a color commentator; there had been no bigger character than the "Million Dollar Man", and Ted had always seemed to exude the same brand of outrageous personality and true villainy that Bobby Heenan had brought to the announce desk, which seemed to make DiBiase a perfect fit. Unfortunately, this commentary duo was an absolute mess, as DiBiase quickly ran out insight to offer and the two had absolutely no chemistry, with Vince essentially becoming a one man booth by the end of the night.
- Our opening contest was intended to be between Tatanka and Ludvig Borga, but with Borga on the shelf, Bam Bam Bigelow fills in. Bigelow must've out to try and impress, as he puts on what is easily the best performance I've seen out of him in the WWF. Bam Bam is all over Tatanka from the opening bell, hitting a couple dropkicks, before putting a stop to the Tatanka's war dance comeback routine with a crunching step-up enziguri to the back of the head. This incredible athleticism from the big man did get him a few cheers, but Bigelow made certain he was still the heel by doing a war dance of his own, what a great heel. Bam Bam take things to the next level by attempting a moonsault, but Tatanka rolls out of the way and delivers a diving crossbody from the top rope for the win.
- Bret and Owen Hart have put in some work over the holidays in an attempt to patch their relationship up, and for now, the brothers are back on the same page as they challenge the Quebecers for the WWF tag team titles. As you would expect from a match featuring Bret and Owen, there's ton of slick grappling to be found here, with Bret working more deliberately, while Owen keeps the pace up with his speed and leaping ability. Owen is shown to be slightly more effective in this match, a clever touch to ensure that Owen could be seen by the fans as being on the same level, if not better, than Bret. Interference from Johnny Polo (the future Raven, and manager of the Quebecers) spells disaster for Stu's boys, as Bret tumbles out of the ring, banging up his knee in the process. Jacques and Pierre focus on wearing down the ailing limb, and though Bret does mount a brief comeback to open the window for a hot tag, "The Hitman" is intent on ending this himself. Bret attempts to administer the Sharpshooter, but his leg gives way, and the ref calls the match, a stunning defeat for the bickering brothers. The Civic Center crowd is in disbelief, though that might just be because they didn't realize a match could end by stoppage, it wasn't common during this period, but that shock turns to anger when Owen bitterly attacks his older brother, kicking a recovering Bret in the leg. Or as Owen would infamously put it "kicking his leg out of his leg", whatever the heck that means. Yeah, Owen's promo after the heel turn is a complete mess, the man was never a fountain of charisma, but outside of that, everything about this saga was excellently portrayed and connected perfectly with the audience. This is almost certainly the best character work of either's man career, and it's been a pleasure to watch play out.
- The set-up for historic clashes at WrestleMania 10 continues in our next bout, as Razor Ramon defends the Intercontinental title against IRS. I don't have a whole lot to say about this match, which was largely dominated by Schyster, who used every cheap tactic in the book to wear down the champ. The action may not have terribly interesting, but old-school wrestling staples still work, as the crowd were still very excited for Razor's comeback after a long chinlock from the challenger. A top rope fallaway slam seems to position Ramon on the edge of victory, but a ref bump allows an opening for Shawn Michaels to clock Razor with Shawn's own Intercontinental belt. IRS then makes the cover and gets the three count, but Earl Hebner runs down to reverse the decision, and the grand-standing challenger goes down to the Razor's Edge. The finish was confusing and pointless; why not just have Razor win clean and then Shawn attacks? But it did get to the visual of a victorious Razor holding both belts, so I guess Vince felt it needed to happen that way. For anyone in the dark as to why two men are the Intercontinental Champion, Shawn was suspended (allegedly for failing a steroids test), and so he was stripped of the gold, to be won by Razor in a battle royal. However, since Michaels was never actually beaten by Ramon, he just decided to wear around his own version of the belt, and proclaim himself the champion as well. If only there was a way to determine who was the true champion...
- The interaction between The Undertaker and Yokozuna at Survivor Series set the stage for a WWF title match between the two, and to up the ante, this would be a Casket match. In a rehash of the storyline involving Kamala in 1992, it turned out that Yokozuna was deathly afraid of caskets, and so seemed to be at a momentous disadvantage heading into a match where he might be locked in one. Just like in their previous clash, Yokozuna wasn't able to do much to Undertaker here, with the challenger no-selling just about everything. Knowing his champion was in serious jeopardy, Mr. Fuji had evidently made some calls, and the no disqualification stipulation played against Undertaker as a majority of the heels in the locker room interfered. Crush, the Great Kabuki, Genichiro Tenryu, and Bam Bam Bigelow are out first, but Undetaker is able to stave them off. Adam Bomb, Jeff Jarrett, the Headshrinkers, and Diesel then come out to help, and though Undertaker draws enough power from the urn to keep avoiding the inevitable, the challenger is finally laid to rest after Yokozuna lays out Paul Bearer with a strike, stealing the urn in the process. Undertaker sustains an urn shot, and multiple attacks from the 10 opposing wrestlers, including diving splashes from Fatu and Samu, before he finally offers no resistance to being rolled into the casket. The heels can only gloat for so long, because Undertaker then appears on the TitanTron, saying he will never Rest in Peace, then I think his soul is electrified, and I guess he rises up to Heaven? I don't know, that closing speech and the computerized explosion was just too out there for me. Either way, I thought was some solid supernatural bollocks, not exactly a classic title match or anything, but an entertaining piece of character work that serves as yet another minute addition to the rich tapestry of the tale of one of the most complex characters in the industry.
- Main event time, as Scott Steiner and Samu get this year's Royal Rumble started, to be joined shortly by Rick Steiner. The ring quickly fills up with mid to lower-tier guys, just in time for Diesel to turn up and starting tossing fools out. This is really the first time that a performer genuinely dominated in the Rumble, as Diesel piles up 7 eliminations, and has a stretch where he tosses out Bob Backlund, Billy Gunn, and Virgil, all in under a minute of their entrance. The crowd is totally into this new concept, treating Diesel like a mega-star, which leads to an even bigger pop when Randy Savage enters at number 11. Savage holds his own for a few minutes for being taken out by Crush, continuing that feud, and after the ring begins to fill back up, Shawn Michaels joins his bodyguard as entrant number 18. Shawn initially signals for a truce, but when all the other men target Diesel, Shawn provides the finishing touch, sending Diesel to the floor. Just like last year, the second half of this match can't match the first, as after Diesel's elimination, there's not much of interest to talk about, just a lot of guys entering, getting in a few shots, then they're quickly forgotten by the time the next entrant comes out. Mabel and Crush both get the Diesel treatment, dumped out by a group of wrestlers, which just seemed like incredibly lazy booking, why do the same spot three times in one match? As the lackluster field continues to meander it's way through this match, and Ted DiBiase sleeps through the whole thing on commentary, the match finally picks up when Bret Hart hobbles his way out at number 27. The crowd are very excited to get more Bret, and it eventually comes down to three of the biggest names in the match; Bret, Lex Luger, Shawn Michaels, and also for some reason, Fatu is here. In a cool, obviously choreographed spot, Bret and Lex each whip their respective opponents, Shawn and Fatu, towards each other, only for the heels to spin around and charge at the faces, and get back-dropped to the floor. This left it to the two obvious favorites for the match, and I would've loved to see another interesting mini-match at the end here, just like we got last year between Yokozuna and Randy Savage. Instead, both men exchange a few strikes, before toppling over the top rope to the floor, which Vince and the officials sell as a simultaneous elimination, even though it looks obvious, at least to me, that Bret hit first. After a few minutes of bickering between the referees and Howard Finkel, Jack Tunney declares it a draw, and the crowd loudly boos to see us out.
- Yeah, it's safe to say that Vince made the absolute wrong call here. While I get the appeal of booking a draw here, allowing for more time and leeway to decide who should be the man to topple Yokozuna at WrestleMania, going down this route made the match beforehand feel like a complete waste. Of course, the match itself wasn't especially great on it's own, as it rapidly lost steam after the early Diesel domination and limped to the finish. I really don't understand why Vince elected to kick the ball further down the road like this; Bret and Lex weren't outstanding choices for a top face as is, and not allowing either man to get the conclusive win just made them both look like failures.
5/10
While this show was pretty good for the most part, my feeling at the end here is one of frustration. It's clear that a lot more was possible on this night, but between the lackluster commentary and suspect Royal Rumble booking, Vince McMahon ended up being at the heart of a lot of the reasons why I felt this one didn't quite live up to it's potential. It's still definitely above average, especially for a mid-90's WWF show, and worth watching as a prelude to WrestleMania 10, but I don't know that it comes with an emphatic recommendation from me. If you would like to see my thoughts on that 'Mania, click here.
Next time on Henry's Pay-Per-View Reviews: King of the Ring 1994, where we finally got the answer to that age-old question: how much does this guy weigh? See you soon.
- Henry
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