Let's Talk About...

[Mecha Mummy 0]

There's no way anybody could tell me that Royal Rumble '96 was the worst ever. All the guys had their own entrance music!

 

I think my favorite moment in that Rumble was Doug Gilbert running out to what sounding like cheery polka music or something, flapping his arms and puffing his cheeks like a complete goof, and then getting murdered by Vader in short order after he hit the ring. It wasn't the best Rumble or anything, but it was entertaining enough, and everyone having entrance music was a definite plus.

[Timmy8271 0]

The worst Rumble is the Vince won. I think that was 1999.

 

Anyways, 1995 was when I started watching wrestling. I was amazed by all the hours of wrestling on. Nitro, Raw, Superstars, Action Zone, Saturday Night, etc. I watched it all. Looking back now, Yeah 95 was a bad year. But back then, It was great.

[RonL21 0]

Maybe looking back now i could see it as awful. But as a 10 year old Mark, I didnt care at all.

[King Kamala 0]

One thing I've always prided myself on as a wrestling fan is I've always had relatively good taste, even as a mark. The same type of wrestlers I liked then are pretty much the same type of wrestlers I like now. Sure I pretty much liked everybody back then but my favorites were guys I consider good workers now with the notable exception of Crush (As a youth I was enthralled by the vignette where he crushed a pineapple with his barehands).

 

The point of this post is even a seven year old mark, I realized that King of The Ring '95 was absolute shit. I couldn't say that about many other shows from '94 and the first half of '95 (Heck, I still kind of enjoy WrestleMania XI for some reason...) but even as a mark I wasn't buying Sid and Tatanka Vs Diesel and Bam Bam Bigelow as the main event of a major PPV. Heck, that barely passes as a decent main event of an episode of RAW from that era. In fact as stated earlier (maybe even in this thread), this show by itself swore me off of wrestling for almost a year.

[PILLS! PILLS! PILLS! 0]

Thinking about the state of wrestling during the first half of 1995 makes me want to eat a Zoloft sandwich, with a side of Prozac-seasoned fries. Those were just awful, horrible, depressing times.

 

Maybe I'm overreacting.

 

But shit, that Royal Rumble match was shitty and unexciting. I popped for nothing in that match. I can't say that about any other Royal Rumble, and I've seen them all.

[Bruiser_Brody_ 0]

1995 was good for WCW TV wrestling

 

WCW had the Action Hour Sat morning, WCW Sat Night, WCW Pro, Worldwide and Nitro

 

 

[King Kamala 0]

But shit, that Royal Rumble match was shitty and unexciting. I popped for nothing in that match. I can't say that about any other Royal Rumble, and I've seen them all.

 

 

I still maintain that the ending is kind of cool (though it made Bulldog look like a complete ass and ruined any shot he had at the main event until he turned heel) and the random appearences by Rick Martel and Dick Murdoch were kind of cool (but also emphasized the thin roster when they had to bring in two washed up guys who hadn't done anything in years to fill out the match) but yeah, I'd say it's the worst.

 

Watching that PPV a couple months ago, I was taken aback by how dead the crowd was for that show. I don't know if it's one of the worst of all time but it completely kills a show that's actually pretty good by '95 WWF standards. Though I never understood why they hotshotted Bret-Diesel II when IMO it was the best choice for

WrestleMania XI main event.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

Though I never understood why they hotshotted Bret-Diesel II when IMO it was the best choice for

WrestleMania XI main event.

Probably for the same reason they had the no-contest finish; a combination of Bret being so popular and so much better a worker risked turning the crowd on Nash if he beat Hart. At the time, Nash was being groomed as the next Hulk Hogan, and that meant doing everything they could to ensure the fans cheered him. Beating Hart would have made that difficult, hence the non-finish in their title match, and likely why it was never considered for Wrestlemania.

[The Truthiness 0]

I think the plan was always for Bret to face Backlund at mania, because of the survivor series mess. Diesel/HBK was the most logical storyline, because HBK became bitter that his bodyguard got the title before him. The storylines at the time were booked for a mania showdown for both feuds. Diesel/Hart was just a match they booked to boost a buyrate, because it gave the show a big match to compliment the Rumble.

[cabbageboy 0]

Nash's title reign was almost like Cena on some levels. Put him against crap workers and he would largely be cheered by the crowd, but once you put him with someone the audience liked better his run didn't work that well. The problem is that Cena can do the smaller man vs. giant type match...with Diesel it was two giants (either Sid or Mabel, etc.) and the matches sucked.

 

The biggest dilemma is that Nash didn't beat anyone good his entire title reign aside from Michaels at WM. Never beat Bret. Never beat UT. Hell, he didn't even really beat a heatless heel Bulldog. And the one major win over HBK was met with crowd disapproval. He couldn't face anyone good, since those guys were more popular than him. But the guys he did face mostly sucked. Add to it the notion of Nash being a smiling babyface champ instead of the edgy tweener with a personality and is it any wonder his run tanked?

 

It's funny that the WWF did the exact same thing with Michaels a year later, putting him into the role of smiling babyface champion that wasn't really suited for him.