On this week’s edition of Rewind-A-Wai, Wai Ting & I are reviewing the WWF’s Royal Rumble 1994 show from Providence, Rhode Island.
This was chosen by Espresso Executive Producer Matt Oates.
Leave us your memories, feedback & questions related to this show and tune in on Rewind-A-Wai’s next release date on TUESDAY.
This show will be available for members of the POST Wrestling Café.
WWF Royal Rumble Saturday, January 22, 1994 Providence, Rhode Island
*Yokozuna vs. The Undertaker in a Casket Match for the WWF title
*Razor Ramon vs. I.R.S. for the Intercontinental title
*The Quebecers vs. Bret & Owen Hart for the WWF tag titles
*Tatanka vs. Bam Bam Bigelow
*30-man Royal Rumble
The stopped a tag match bc a guy couldn’t continue. Who later won the royal rumble.
Don’t even get me started on the UT nonsense.
You had IRS in a title match for god sakes
To top of off a cripple and their main face tied. But instead of starting over or something they ended it with a draw and used the crowd reaction to gauge their next champ. Which is stupid and dumb and unfair since Bret was a cripple. Of course the guy who was beat down and was crippled winning is getting the bigger cheer.
I will admit, while I’m not going to complain about the newer requests for reviews, I always love some of the older stuff based simply on nostaglia. The show isn’t anything special, but it’s nice hearing how many kids can be heard chanting Go Bret Go or Whoomp, there it is. The match of the night was the Harts against the Quebecers. There were so many subtle things that you can look at that showed Owen was going to turn, but they didn’t hit you over the head with it. I also thought Johnny Polo was an underrated manager. Of course the show will always be remembered for a bunch of guys killing the Undertaker as if those wrestlers were NXT UK and Taker was BritWres. As corny as this angle is, I actually had a nightmare after watching this show when I was younger, so maybe I was simply the target demo at the time. 6 legs kicked out of legs out of 10.
I think Matt Oates did y’all dirty, lads. Your January 2012 review of this show with Damian Abraham was one of your best ever so the bar is really high here.
But I have full confidence that you’ll reach that bar because of the way your reviews have changed over time and also because you’re both great. But because y’all can’t seem to remember your past reviews, I wonder if on this review you will:
Discuss your personal history with eBay
Tell a story about spending hundreds of dollars on a rare Negative Approach record [unlikely]
Discuss a recent cruise Wai took with his family
Have a moment where John mocks the silliness of the Undertaker angle only for Wai to respond with an impassioned, “I fucking loved this!”
Question: What was the reason for Tenryu and Kabuki being on this card. Was this when Tenryu was running WAR? If so, did WWF have a deal with WAR at the time and, if so . . . why?
I absolutely loved this show as an 11 year old kid and have to say I still enjoy it today
I was the biggest Brett fan as a kid and hated Owen for turning on his brother here, but when he came out later I remember being so excited. This PPV may not be amazing but the storytelling shits all over today’s.
The casket match was complete madness and some of the most ridiculous story telling of all time, but I would have preferred a copy of it, at this weeks ‘Hell and a Cell’, then what we got.
Can you imagine Bray being buried some how then a video of his Yowie-Wowie character shown on the screen upset that Seth (and some face henchmen) had tried to kill him…‘but you haven’t, you’ve just opened the doors off hell, you will regret your actions for the rest of your life’ only for him to be attached by Sister Abigail (or something) - ridiculous campy stuff i know but IMO 10 times better then a DQ!
The Royal Rumble isn’t great is it but it’s got some spots that made me pop. Diesel was an awesome monster at this point, Shawn Michaels and Marty Janety was great, then the finish - awful yeah but its was different at the time and i liked the afters, especially seeing Jack Tunney, he was a great president character back in the day
Overall I would give it a 7/10 at 1994 standards, probably a 3/10 though today
1994 was an incredible year for Genichiro Tenryu.
On January 4th he defeated Antontio Inoki in the main event of New Japan’s Tokyo Dome show and became the first native Japanese wrestlers to hold direct pinfall victories over Inoki and Giant Baba.
On May 5th, he defeated Atsushi Onita in the main event of FMW’s Kawasaki Stadium show.
He also won the 1994 Tokyo Sports Puroresu Award for best bout for the March 2nd match where he teamed with Ashura Hara vs. Onita and Tarzan Goto.
But most importantly that year, he helped to put the Undertaker in the casket at the Royal Rumble.
But seriously, was just wondering if you knew why this was basically Tenryu’s last appearance in WWF? I know there was the relationship with SWS that carried over to the early days of WAR. Did WAR increasingly working with New Japan in starting from 1993 onwards have anything to do with the relationship ending because of the New Japan-WCW connection?
Last week at my gym, a blackbelt in Brazilian jujitsu said that he though IRS was the best gimmick because he couldn’t think of anything more frightening.
As a scramble-vision kid (until I started going over to my friends house with an illegal descrambler cable box) to watch PPVs, my biggest memory for this show was not being able to monopolize the TV on this night to listen to a broadcast we didn’t get.
Disappointed, I have a very vivid memory of turning on my stereo in my room, and just going up and down the radio dial until I randomly came across Jim Ross and Gorilla Monsoon’s voices. I continued to listen and realized that somehow I came across a live broadcast of the Rumble via WWF Radio (and I kept hearing them referring it being on the “armed forces network”). In hindsight I probably picked up a strong US AM radio frequency (as it was night time).
I regret not recording it, but I listened as much as I could. It cut in and out and had TONS of commercials.
Anyways, if anybody thought the ending of the rumble was confusing watching it - imagine being an 10 year old kid listening to it.
I remember watching the VHS tape within days (acquired by a friend who taped it via nefarious means). I absolutely loved the Taker stuff. The angle was fresh for Taker - and it’s the first time I recall ever seeing something like this. And it was an ending that made sense. Taker was unstoppable, so in a match with No DQs, Yoko too advantage. And the post match stuff was fantastic.
The rumble is obviously memorable for two things. 1. The Diesel run… He was a bodyguard for Shawn Michaels and that was all. After this match he was a star in the eyes of the fans. They’re tried it with other people in the last few years (Kane and Roman come to mind), but nobody was truly launched like Diesel was, from the spot.
2. The finish to the Rumble. While a tie and I guess a silly finish, it was perfectly executed and propelled them into the coming months of TV and towards Mania. Lex and Bret both pulled off the tie finish perfectly and we didn’t get a botched ending like Big Show /Rock in 2000 with the playing on a controversial finish, etc. Also loved how each ref was behind each man, and the way the Fink announced each man as the winner and then announced as co-winners.
Yeah, like John has spoken about in the past - he “watched” many PPV’s (like I did), back in the 90’s, but tuning into the PPV cable channel and not being able to see the image (as it was distorted), but being able to hear the commentary.