Royal Rumble '98

Royal Rumble ‘98 (18,542)

Match 1- Vader def The Artist formerly known as Goldust 

Match 2- Max Mini, Mosaic & Nova def Battalion, Tarantula & El Torito (Six Man Tag Team Match: Special Referee Sunny)

Segment- The Nation of Domination breaks into ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin's dressing room, only to find a foam finger ‘flipping them off”.

Segment- Michael Cole interviews The Rock backstage. The Rock says that Ken Shamrock will be “carried out of the building”.

Intercontinental Championship 

Match 3- (c) The Rock def Ken Shamrock via DQ

Segment- Los Boricuas search for Steve Austin but accidentally attack 8-Ball, promoting a brawl between The D.O.A and Los Boricuas.

Segment- Michael Cole interviews Legion of Doom backstage. Animal says that he is disregarding the doctor's advice not to compete on account of his back injury sustained at the hands of New Age Outlaws, saying it's about “heart”, and win or lose, The Outlaws will get a beating! 

Tag Team Championships 

Match 4- Legion of Doom def The New Age Outlaws (c) via DQ 

Match 5- ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin def 29 other WWF Superstars (Royal Rumble Match)

WWF Title

Match 6- (c) Shawn Michaels def The Undertaker (Casket Match)

Analysis 

Live from San Jose, California. The WWF brought us the 11th edition of the annual Royal Rumble!

Mike Tyson was in attendance as he watched the action from a skybox. Also shout-out to the guy rocking the now vintage Inter Milan 'pirelli’ jersey in the second row. As a European, I will forever pop seeing football shirts being worn at U.S wrestling events! It looked like a strong card on paper, so let's get right into it…

Matches 1 & 2

Vader defeated TAFKA Goldust in the opener. In all fairness, this feud had been fairly well booked up to this point, giving this match the feel of being PPV worthy as a result.

This was a fun ‘brawl style’ match, nothing spectacular but it was still entertaining, and having a somewhat engaging feud to back it all up certainly helped the matter.

The finish looked absolutely SPECTACULAR from a visual standpoint. Vader hit his finishing move, the ‘Vader bomb’, whilst Luna was on his back. Luna went absolutely flying, and it simply looked fantastic! It's hard to type out just how well executed this spot was, but it was very impressive and a good start to the show.

Next up we had ‘minis’ action, as Max Mini, Nova & Mosaic defeated Battalion, Tarantula & El Torito in a 6 man tag match. The minis were never taken seriously (nor were they supposed to be) but that being said, it was still a fun filler match. The highlight for me came when Special Guest Referee Sunny assisted the face team, as she picked up Max Mini and started swinging him around in order to better attack the heels. Regardless, the mini division was never going to work, and any energy spent on it would have been better directed at the light heavyweight division or even bringing back and revitalising some form of a woman's roster. Diva's revolution anyone?

Match 3

The Intercontinental Championship was on the line next, as The Rock defended his title against Ken Shamrock. This was probably both men's best singles match to date, with The Rock fully leaning into his new cocky heel persona, and Shamrock seeming more and more comfortable in-ring with every passing match. There was a false finish when The Rock used Brass Knuckles on Shamrock, only for him to kick out, nail The Rock with a suplex and win the Intercontinental Championship! The Rock however was playing 4D chess, as he planted the weapon in Shamrock’s tights, leading to the referee reversing his decision, awarding the match to The Rock via DQ! Shamrock freaks out post-match, attacking the referee.

I wasn't a huge fan of this finish initially, especially on a PPV as big as The Rumble. But after giving it some thought, it kept the program going and made Shamrock look like even more of a threat to The Rock heading into the suspected rematch. Decent match with a clever ending.

Match 4

L.O.D challenged The New Age Outlaws for the tag titles. Admittedly this wasn't a great match, but I still enjoyed the storytelling. Simply put, you weren't getting 5 star classics from the legendary tag team that was The Legion of Doom at this stage of their careers! They weren't old or anything, but Animal's back injury sustained in ‘92 severely limited what he was able to do in-ring.

As a result, LOD matches in ‘98 were reliant on two things. Putting heat on the heels, and the comeback. The Outlaws got PLENTY of heat, as they worked Animals ‘injured’ back, and even went as far as handcuffing Hawk to the ring posts! Animal had Bad Ass Billy Gunn covered, leading to Road Dogg attacking him with a chair, causing a DQ and protecting the titles! Hawk had seen enough, as he busted free from his handcuffs, fighting off both members of The Outlaws with the chair! 

As previously stated, this wasn't a great match and as cruel as it may sound, I almost wish that L.O.D called time on their careers by this point (If not both men, at least Animal) However, it did get plenty of heat on The Outlaws and if this feud HAD to continue, I just hope that I get to see a satisfying payoff. OHHHH WHAT A RUSH!

Royal Rumble Match

30 men, one ring. You must go over the top rope with BOTH FEET touching the ground in order to be eliminated. They call that the ‘Shawn Michaels’ rule. All kidding aside, the story going into this one was that previous winner Steve Austin was a “marked man”. Could Austin go back to back and claim his spot at the main-event of the showcase of immortals? 

Cactus Jack drew #1, starting the rumble alongside #2 Chainsaw Charlie. Charlie came to the ring with his chainsaw (obviously) before the duo exchanged chair shots to the skull!

Chainsaw Charlie eliminated Cactus Jack, but not before an absolutely delightful call from good ole’ J.R that had me in tears. “He's about 6’7, 300 plus pounds and a biscuit away from 314 is Phineas Godwinn” They simply don't make them like Jim Ross anymore. He is the undisputed GOAT of commentary and his one liners kept me entertained throughout this entire match!

Jeff Jarrett and Jim Cornette attacked #9 Owen Hart before he managed to enter the ring. In my opinion, teasing an Owen Hart win with a final four appearance could have been used as a litmus test to his rising popularity. Unfortunately Vince still had a hard-on when it came to humiliating any and all Hart family members, so that was never happening anyway.

#16 was none other than….MANKIND! This was fantastic use of Foley's different personas, as he went right after the man who eliminated him, his partner Chainsaw Charlie. Sadly, Mankind would be eliminated by #18 Goldust. Owen Hart would then return and reclaim his #9 spot, going right after Jeff Jarrett and eliminating him to a HUGE POP! Hemsley, who wasn't in the match, rocked Owen Hart with his crutch and pulled him over the top rope. If you listen to J.R on commentary during this spot, you could say this was when the famous rivalry between the two of them was born, as Jim didn't hold back and let his feelings be known about the “Arrogant ass Hemsley!”

Mark Henry at #21, and I'm only mentioning that as I've recently become somewhat of a Mark Henry stan. I already knew about his power lifting exploits, what I didn't know however, was the fact that he was and is STILL viewed as one of the most naturally gifted competitive strongmen to ever compete by his peers. Henry was the first man to achieve a one handed ‘clean and jerk’ of the Thomas Inch Dumbbell. This was especially impressive due to the unusual nature of the extremely thick handle, making it especially awkward to lift off the ground. He also bent a frying pan on an episode of Smackdown, but believe it or not, that's not nearly as difficult! 

#24 Steve Austin had a delayed entrance, as they teased a backstage assault of sorts on commentary. When he eventually came out a few spots later, EVERYONE turned their attention to the rattlesnake, who entered the ring via the ‘backdoor’, and cleaned house eliminating Marc Mero and 8-Ball right off the bat!  

#28 was none other than, say it with me…DUDE LOVE. Absolute scenes. As a wise man once said “I CAN'T SPAKE…I CAN'T SPAKE!”.

#30 was Vader who immediately turned his attention to his rival Goldust. Vader would be eliminated shortly after by, you guessed it, Goldust! Slightly wasteful putting a big man in the 30 spot if he doesn't even make the final four, but hey ho…

Talking about the final four, they were as follows. Dude Love, Mark Henry, Faarooq and ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin. Faarooq eliminated Dude Love, before his fellow ally and Nation of Domination buddy, The Rock, tossed him over the top rope. It's every man for themselves MAGAL! 

Finally, Austin hit #4 The Rock (Also the Rumble ‘Iron Man') with a Stunner for good measure before tossing him over the top rope, to claim his spot at WrestleMania! Slightly predictable perhaps, but it would prove to be the decision that propelled Steve Austin to superstardom, so as a wrestling fan, I can’t really complain.

I've talked before about how, as matches, Rumbles typically don't deliver. They are inherently ‘punch and kick' fests and are built around the shocks, suspense and singular moments. In essence, fun the first time but typically they are EXTREMELY unwatchable. I'm trying to be fair in my assessment as I already knew most of the spots going into this one.

Now admittedly, this wasn't the most ‘star studded’ Rumble of all time, as it lacked HHH, Shawn, Taker, and some more of the heavy hitters that would develop later in the ‘Attitude Era’. That being said, between the drama created by Austin and The Rock as the final two (albeit short lived, I would have liked a slightly longer sequence between the two) alongside the ‘3 faces of Foley’, this edition still gets a thumbs up from me! 

Post-match, Michael Cole speaks to an ecstatic Mike Tyson who was apparently Austin's biggest fan. Anyway, onto the main-event.

Main-event 

The WWF Title was on the line in a casket match, as then champion Shawn Michaels took on The Undertaker. Unfortunately the main takeaway from this would be the back injury Michaels suffered as he tumbled over the top rope, awkwardly catching his back on the casket. This injury would eventually prove to sideline him for the next four years, meaning that the ‘heartbreak kid' would miss out on what was arguably the commercial peak for the company! 

According to Vince Russo, Shawn Micheals ‘nuclear heat’ at this time, with a lot of people backstage doubting the legitimacy of his back injury. Russo also claimed that he acted as a ‘liaison’ between Shawn and owner of the company Vince McMahon, as the pair weren't talking. Russo attributed this to McMahon slowly wanting to put Shawn on the back burner, in favour of newer rising star Steve Austin. Whatever you want to say about Shawn, he carried the company on his proverbial back throughout the ‘new generation era’, and rarely failed to deliver when tasked with PPV main-events. This match was no exception! 

The pace was frantic from the outset, with Shawn taking the bump that would take 4 years of his career, within the opening 2 minutes of the match! 

The pace then seemed to slow down somewhat as the pair fought outside of the ring, but Shawn still delivered a nasty sounding piledriver onto the steel steps in what was an impressive looking spot! Shawn then hit a crotch chop standing over Taker who was in the casket, but The Deadman was having none of it, grabbing his family jewels and escaping the predicament.

In the closing moments of the match, Taker hit a jumping tombstone into the casket, before being jumped by DX and Los Boricuas. This led to Kane coming out and cleaning house, until he turned his attention to The Undertaker, chokeslaming him into the casket allowing Shawn to shut the lid and win the match. Kane and Paul Bearer then locked the casket, chopped it up with a pick axe before lighting it on fire! 

My thoughts on this match are that as good as it was, it was a little bit too entrenched in the ‘brawl mentality’ for my tastes. I get it was a gimmick match and no DQ. But for two men of this calibre, I would have liked to see more action actually take place in the ring. The finish also spoiled it somewhat and seemed unnecessary to me personally, but it was building towards Kane and The Undertaker at WrestleMania, and it also protected The Deadman meaning he didn't have to lose clean, so I don't have too many complaints. Overall it was a good match, but not an all timer by any stretch of the imagination.

Summary 

OK so, if I had to be honest with myself. I probably wouldn't recommend this show to that many people. It all depends on what you like. You'd either love the main-event, or like me, think it was fine yet slightly underwhelming. Maybe the back to back classics that Shawn and Taker had at Mania 25 and 26 respectively have spoiled me. Even so, there's not a whole lot on this card outside of that!

The Rumble was severely lacking any real star power outside of Austin, and while the undercard was inoffensive, it still felt slightly…blah. I'll score it a mark above average due to the correct booking decision of having Austin win the Rumble and the main-event. But other than that, I'm struggling to find nice things to say about this show. I'll finish this review with the reason why Russo and creative decided to push Austin and have him win the Rumble (It's fairly obvious but still) 

Well actually, according to Vince Russo, there was “no such thing as a push” (during this time period anyway) as Russo would go on to explain that two things dictated your position on the card. Audience reaction and the ratings during your matches/segments. Look, I like Russo and he seems like a nice enough guy, but the way he explained this as if it was some kind of revolutionary concept specific to the time did make me chuckle. Regardless of whose decision it was and why. Pushing Austin into the main-event scene was potentially the catalyst that saved WCW from completely dominating them for years to come, so good job I guess. And that's the bottom line…CAUSE STONE COLD SAID SO! Look out for my next edition where I reveal the REAL reason why Vince McMahon signed ‘Iron’ Mike Tyson! I promise, it's not as obvious as ‘ratings bro!’ 

(2.75 Stars)