The Fan-Cam Files: WWF @ Madison Square Garden – 01.17.1994 (NYC RUMBLE)

Probably one of the more well known fan-cams, not for anything controversial, like the Curtain Call from May 19th, 1996, but for running a unique gimmick match typically reserved for Pay-Per-View. Just days before the 6th Royal Rumble to broadcast on Pay-Per-View, the WWF ran a Royal Rumble Match to headline a loaded show at the world’s most famous arena. Living in the New York area, it was unbelievable to hear this advertised on their Face-to-Face/Live Event News segments… and just as soon as the date approached, it was pushed to the back of the mind, because at the end of the day, nothing about that match mattered for the television audience. However, another match featured on this card WOULD be addressed for the television viewers.

This show took place on a Monday, which means it was taking place at the same time as an episode of Monday Night Raw. With events taking place on this card effecting the booking for the Royal Rumble PPV, we would get “live” updates from MSG throughout the night in an attempt to explain why we were getting a show on TV and another, much more important show, wasn’t. I was legitimately bummed out by that. What match could that be? Keep reading to find out!

It looks like only one match from the card wasn’t preserved for our viewing pleasure all these years later, with that being Scott Putski beating Iron Mike Sharpe. The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express and Heavenly Bodies were scheduled to appear (as part of the working relationship with Jim Cornette’s Smokey Mountain Wrestling), but failed to do so due to transportation problems.

Rick Steiner vs. Ludvig Borga:
I guess there’s a lot to talk about here, and no, not for the most obvious reason. The Steiner Brothers had an interesting 1993, brought in with a strong push and put over all available opponents, but shortly after SummerSlam, were removed from the house show loop for disciplinary reasons, and from there, the relationship between the brothers and the WWF rapidly declined to the point they were removed from the WrestleMania X lineup and all future plans, making their last TV appearance in April. Borga was a half-hearted attempt at finding a foreign menace to feud with Lex Luger, a native of Helsinki, Finland who looked down on America for reasons that would make Woodsy Owl proud. The Fall program with Luger didn’t light business on fire, and that combined with Borga’s controversial personality, meant he wasn’t long for the company, as his push was cooling off coming out of the Survivor Series.

Borga may not have sold many tickets as Luger’s rival, but the MSG crowd is all over him with chants of U-S-A. Rick frustrates Borga, side-stepping lockup attempts. He grabs a side headlock, but Borga quickly counters with a back suplex, sending Rick rolling out of the ring. Borga drags Rick back in the ring with a headlock and this time it’s Rick busting out a back suplex, followed by a flying bulldog for barely a one-count. Borga with knees to the body. Whip to the corner and Rick pops out with a STEINER-LINE for a two-count. Rick sells Borga’s punches like he’s getting hit with a cannonball. Borga with a rare trip to the top rope, hitting a flying clothesline for two. Rick reverses an Irish whip and connects with a powerslam for two. Rick with elbows and a clothesline for another two-count. Whip and Borga bounces off the ropes with a diving clothesline. The fight spills to the outside, with Rick bopping Borga with a chair in full view of the referee. The bell rings at 7:08 and it’s ruled a Double Count-Out. The fight continues, with Borga slamming Rick on the floor and hitting a leg drop. Rick cuts him off with a body blow, so Borga with a tackle and pick-up attempt, only to stumble to the ground in doing so, and soon they’re both out of sight. This was a perfectly fine hoss fight, but the finish was terrible. *¾

Somewhere in all of this, Borga (allegedly) injured his ankle, taking him off the Royal Rumble (where he was set for double duty as a Rumble participant and the opponent for Tatanka), as well as plans to appear at WrestleMania X (facing the returning Earthquake). It seems so convenient that the injury happened as soon as it appeared he was about to be in a position of putting people over, but that might be a great coincidence more than me trying to put pieces together that don’t belong with each other. He would make another appearance or two on syndication, as TV was taped into February at this point, and that would be it for him in the WWF, and his wrestling career would be over not long after. I’m not going to go into detail about his personal life, nor will I eulogize him because of a self-inflicted death in 2010.

WWF Intercontinental Championship Match:
Razor Ramon (c) vs. “Double J” Jeff Jarrett:
Jeff Jarrett might be the darling of the wrestling audience in 2024, but that was far from the case in 1994. Introduced to the WWF audience in the Fall of 1993 through a series of vignettes, Jeff Jarrett was pushed as an aspiring country singer looking to launch his musical career via the WWF, and one day wanted to rename it the Double J-F. As hard as it might be to believe, Jarrett did not get over immediately, often met with apathy, and that would be the case for most of the year. Razor is in the middle of his 1st reign as Intercontinental Champion, having won the belt by surviving a Battle Royal and defeating Rick Martel in the deciding match. His steady TV rival at the moment is I.R.S., who stole Razor’s gold in an effort to garner cheap heat, but the real meat was with the recent return (from suspension) of Shawn Michaels, who disputed Razor’s title reign, insisting he was still the Champion, carrying around a belt of his own.

Jarrett messes around with the belt and Razor pantomimes what he’s going to do to him. Lockup and Razor sends Jarrett to the canvas, prompting a complaint over phantom hair-pulling. Double J powders out and picks the ankle of Razor, pulling him to the floor and introducing him to the post, guardrail, AND steps. Back inside, Jarrett with a whip and elbow, followed by a flying fist drop for two. Razor tries fighting out of a chin-lock, but is victimized with a yank of the hair. Another escape, and another cut-off from Double J. I understand Razor Ramon was over, but the man is too big and strong to be selling 95% of the match, ESPECIALLY against an under-sized cowardly heel. Jarrett comes off the top and goes to the well once too often, but it doesn’t matter, because Razor keeps on selling as we slow it down with a lengthy sleeper spot. Razor counters a hip toss with a chokeslam and slowly covers for a two-count. Whip and Jarrett’s body press wipes out Earl Hebner. Razor’s Edge is teased, but Shawn Michaels runs out to pull Jarrett to safety. Razor with a successful attempt on the second try, but this time Shawn pulls him out and hits Sweet Chin Music. Shawn and Jarrett celebrate but the referee waves them off and awards the match to Razor by Disqualification at around the 12:00 mark. The heels try some chicanery, but Razor chases them away. This was your standard perfectly fine but unspectacular Jeff Jarrett match, with Razor having zero interest in doing much of anything other than laying around for 10-minutes and a terrible finish. ** (I had this at 2.5 stars before the finish. Coming off the finish of Steiner/Borga, I hated it that much more)

We waste time with Harvey Wippleman coming out to complain about how Adam Bomb doesn’t get title opportunities because all the Champions in the World Rasslin Federation are afraid of him. The Fink snatches the microphone and says Wippleman is like a New York City parking meter, and that his time is up. YOU TELL HIM, FINK!

WWF Championship Match:
Yokozuna (c) (w/ Mr. Fuji) vs. Tatanka:
Well, now that Tatanka’s unbeaten streak is over, we no longer need to worry about protecting him on house show matches! As we touched on earlier, Tatanka was finishing up old business with Ludvig Borga, otherwise he was without much direction until kicking off his program with I.R.S. in the Spring. Yokozuna’s got problems with The Undertaker, and the majority of that angle is “Yokozuna is afraid of caskets”, which is perfect since they booked Undertaker challenging Yokozuna at the Royal Rumble for the WWF Championship in a Casket Match! I’m pretty sure they did the same thing from SummerSlam ‘93 where Cornette explicitly stated this is Taker’s one-and-only shot at the title as long as Yokozuna is the Champion.

Yokozuna is introduced at 568 pounds, which seems to be his gimmick weight between King of the Ring ‘93 and WrestleMania XI after starting out at 505. Tatanka rushes the ring and immediately unloads with chops across the top of the head, knocking Yoko out of the ring. Tatanka gives chase, sending Yoko into the steps. Tatanka continues dishing it out in the ring. They do a nice sequence where Yoko misses a leg drop, Tatanka misses a dropkick, and Yoko misses an elbow, culminating with Tatanka hitting a flying body press for two. Yoko quickly takes control, and that must be it for his cardio, because we go straight to a nerve hold, 3-minutes in. Tatanka fights free, only to get laid out with a clothesline, then back to the nerve hold. Another escape and another clothesline puts Tatanka on the canvas for our THIRD REST HOLD. OK, I can see why people don’t remember Yokozuna’s in-ring work so fondly. Tatanka rocks Yokozuna with clotheslines, but a dive from the top rope backfires. Whip to the corner and Yoko misses the avalanche. Take a guess what happens next. Tatanka starts no-selling and hopping around the ring, so thankfully we’re close to the finish. More chops and a flying clothesline gets a two-count. A triple reversal on an Irish whip wipes out the poor referee. Didn’t we just see that spot in the Razor/Double J match? Tatanka blocks the salt bucket and whacks Yoko with it instead, but the referee takes too long to get in position and only counts two. Fuji knocks Tatanka off the top with a flag pole whack and Yoko finishes with a pair of leg drops at 14:25 to retain. Post-match, Tatanka gets the Banzai Drop for his troubles. Started off fine, turned into 9-minutes of resting, and the finish was what you would expect. *

WWF Tag Team Championship Match:
Marty Jannetty & The 1-2-3 Kid (c) vs. The Quebecers (w/ Johnny Polo):
In quite a unique bit of f*ckery, The Kid and Jannetty pulled off the upset on the Anniversary episode of Raw, which threw a monkey wrench into the plans for the Royal Rumble, turning the scheduled title defense of the Quebecers vs Bret and Owen Hart into a non-title contest, disappointing the younger brother who was chasing his first taste of gold. Jannetty and the Kid have been all over the place for the last 6 months, sometimes presented as legitimate threats and other times simply as cannon fodder. With the Steiner Brothers relationship with the company falling apart, the Quebecers are just floating around working with whoever as their future isn’t the clearest. They’ll eventually settle into a program with Men on a Mission, but there was still hope the Steiners would be their WrestleMania X opponents. With the January 17th episode of Raw in the can, they would cut to “live updates” from Stan Lane, relaying information about what was happening during the match.

There’s someone patrolling ringside with a camera, so you know something important is going to take place. Both teams play to the crowd, and the lack of cheers causes the Quebecers to jump Marty and the Kid. The tables are quickly turned, and the challengers are cleared out with a pair of dropkicks and clotheslines. We settle down with Marty and Jacques as the legal men. Jacques wants a test-of-strength, then audibles with a boot to the chest. Jannetty and the Kid hit a double-team hip toss and elbow drop, then both get laid out by a Pierre clothesline. The champs get dumped, but come back in with a slide between the legs and synchronized Super-Kicks send the Quebecers to the floor. One guess who put together that 90-seconds. Quebecers and Polo catch Marty’s plancha, so the Kid dives too, catching a bit of the rope but still hitting enough of it to wipe everyone out. Control is short-lived, as Pierre pulls the ropes down on the Kid and sends him into the steps for good measure.

Jacques and Pierre take turns working over the Kid until Pierre misses a flying leg drop, allowing Jannetty to get the tag. He unloads on Jacques with rights and a diving elbow. Pierre’s apron interference backfires, but pops back up and lays Jannetty out as he attempts an O’Connor Roll. Jacques with a roll-up with a handful of tights, but Kid saves with a dive from the top rope. The Champions with the combo suplex and splash combo that won them the titles, but the referee is out of position, allowing Jacques to whack Jannetty with Polo’s gimmick. Whip and a super-sized flapjack sends Jannetty crashing into the ropes. Double hair mare from the Quebecers, followed by Jacques slamming Pierre across the chest of Jannetty for a two-count. Jannetty does the inside-out over-sell for Jacques’ diving elbow, then again when Pierre blasts him with a clothesline. Marty with a hip toss to escape a bear-hug, but misses the elbow drop. Quebecers with the High-Low combo for two. Jannetty fights out of the corner but is dumped over the top rope. Polo rolls him back inside, in full view of the referee, and Hebner still counts! Jacques with a delayed piledriver, but the partner-assisted body-drop senton misses. Marty surprises Jacques with a school-boy for two. Pierre misses the flying nothing, finally bringing in the Kid with the hot tag. He nails Jacques with a springboard clothesline and unloads with kicks. Whip and spinning heel kicks to both men. Polo straddles the Kid on the top turnbuckle, allowing Pierre to take him down with a super-plex, and the Tower of Quebec finishes at 22:13, giving the Quebecers their 2nd reign as Tag Team Champions.

This seemed a bit more one-sided than I remembered, but I always forget how poorly protected The Kid was. I guess the biggest surprise is that JANNETTY took the ass-whooping for most of it, since the Kid seemed tailor made for that role. I think this went a little too long (a few rest-holds were not mentioned, because they didn’t drag the quality way down), but they were working a strong TV quality match for the most part. The finish could have been stronger, but at least they gave the Kid some shine before putting him to bed with his cup of ovaltine. ***¼

Howard Finkel hypes up the crowd by announcing tickets for WrestleMania X go on sale on Monday, January 24th. BE A PART OF HISTORY!

30-Man New York City Royal Rumble:
Standard rules apply, 2 men start, every 2 minutes (give or take) another man enters the contest until all 30 men have entered. The last man standing will be declared the winner and receives NOTHING but a laurel and hardy handshake. I’ve tried to find as many of the Face-to-Face segments as I could leading up to the show, and from that, I pieced together about half the (expected) roster of talent featured, and promos done hyped the ongoing rivalries between Randy Savage and Crush, and Doink and Bam Bam Bigelow, as well as possible tension between Shawn Michaels and Diesel. Will any of this unfold during the match? We shall see. On a side note, you know what I hate about some Battle Royal or Royal Rumble promos? People who can’t count. “I’m going to eliminate X and 29 other men.” Good one, Jim. Fink lets us all know that the scoreboard clocks will count down and the buzzer will sound for each entrant.

#1 is Diesel and #2 is Men on a Mission’s Mo. Oscar was kind enough to make the trip and rap Mo to ringside. Diesel doesn’t waste time beating on Mo with forearms. Mo gets a short flurry of offense in the corner, but Diesel cuts him off and lays him out with a short-clothesline. Mo tries his luck again, but it’s not working for him, and Diesel tosses him at 1:55 (but not before Mo gets his foot stuck in the ropes). #3 is Bushwhacker Butch. He spends a lot of time marching around ringside. Butch gets his “bite the butt” spot in before Diesel throws him out with ease at 3:18. Butch dusts himself off and marches back to the dressing room. Hey, I recognize this script! #4 is The 1-2-3 Kid. He’s either selling the match from about 15 minutes ago or is legit injured and working regardless. Diesel chokes him out and throws him clean across the ring. The Kid surprises Diesel with a spinning head-scissors and unloads with kicks in the corner. He ends up tangling his legs in the ropes and Diesel knocks him out at 5:57. #5 is Scott Steiner. Diesel knocks him off the apron and brings the fight to the floor. Back inside, Diesel runs through Scott with a pair of clotheslines. Scott ducks a third and sends Diesel through the ropes, and they brawl on the floor again. KEEP IT IN THE RING, BUDDY! #6 is Iron Mike Sharpe. Get the stopwatch ready. Meanwhile, Scott nearly dumps Diesel on his head with a double under-hook suplex. Sharpe goes after Scott, inexplicably saving Diesel, and Scott dumps Iron Mike out immediately after at 8:51. Diesel regains verticality and takes Scott’s head off with a big boot. Scott fights off elimination and takes Diesel down with a suplex.

#7 is Headshrinker Samu. Without hesitation, he joins Diesel in doubling on Scott, then just as quickly tries to shoving him over the ropes, unsuccessfully. #8 is Bob Backlund. He tussles around with Samu while Diesel and Scott make out on the canvas. Not much happening, our weakest stretch of the match so far. #9 is “Double J” Jeff Jarrett. He joins Samu in working over Backlund, then gets wrecked by a short clothesline from Diesel, followed by a gut-wrench slam from Samu. #10 is Virgil. We’ve got some house cleaning to do. Yes, I’m aware there’s only 6 people in the ring. He lays into Double J with right hands. Diesel practically needs to deadlift Virgil for a back breaker while Samu and Steiner have a decent back-and-forth. It’s almost 10-minutes since our last elimination. #11 is Bam Bam Bigelow (with Luna Vachon). It’s weird to see guys coming in and not having a big “clean house” spot or “hit 4 or 5 people with my signature moves” sequence.

#12 is “Macho Man” Randy Savage. It’s 1994 Savage, so I won’t get my hopes up. He takes shots at everything that moves until Diesel traps him in the corner. Savage side-steps a running boot, straddling Diesel across the ropes, and Savage finishes the job to eliminate Big Daddy Cool at 21:23 to a big pop (and a few boos). Jarrett tries his luck and Savage sends him flying over the ropes for the next elimination at 21:43. #13 is Adam Bomb (w/ Harvey Wippleman). We’re back to a cool-down period as people half-heartedly brawl. I have no idea why Virgil is getting so much time out there, and not being a total punching-bag. #14 is Sgt. Slaughter. Based on available records, this is Slaughter’s first match for the WWF since the week before SummerSlam ‘92 (with a match against Nailz being broadcast in mid-September). After being appointed an advisor of Jack Tunney to maintain order, his name disappeared from TV early into 1993. He teams with Backlund and Steiner to toss Bomb at 25:13. #15 is Crush (w/ Mr. Fuji). BUSINESS IS PICKING UP! He goes right after Savage, who is held back by Samu. Crush busts out the spinning back-breaker (his signature move in the WrestleFest arcade game, for the record) then dumps Scott Steiner at 28:01. Slaughter gets to do his chest-first bump in the corner and DOESN’T go over the top! Savage and Crush end up on the floor, but appear to still be legal.

#16 is Men on a Mission’s Mabel. Savage dives off the top rope but Crush catches him. Slaughter interrupts the spot, so Crush casually throws Savage out afterwards at 29:30. Savage tries to get back in with a chair, but referees hold him back. Bigelow scoops up Crush to toss him, but Crush holds onto the ropes and Bam Bam is out at 30:12. Slaughter does the corner spot AGAIN, and this time he’s eliminated (at the hands of Crush) at 30:49. That’s four in a row, for those keeping score. #17 is Jim Powers LOL. Backlund grabs him from behind, but Powers shrugs it off to challenge Mabel, and Mabel dumps his sorry a$$ at 31:55 (a whopping 41-seconds in the ring). VIRGIL AND SAMU ARE STILL IN THERE. Samu lights Mabel up with a series of Super-Kicks. #18 is Bastion Booger. At least he didn’t miss his spot in this Rumble. Booger goes for Mabel and everyone joins in, but in tossing Mabel, Virgil and Backlund are also dumped out as well at 32:53. We’ve got THREE HEELS in the ring, and only one has a reasonable push at the time of the show. Booger does his goofy dance and Crush clotheslines him out at 34:31. #19 is Bushwhacker Luke. Yay. Samu cuts him off and charges, only to get his head stuck in the ropes. Luke lets him out and shoves him off the apron at 35:37. LUKE ELIMINATED SOMEONE. Crush practically whiffs a clothesline but Luke sells anyway. Crush with a Super-Kick, knocking Luke over and out at 36:21 (56-seconds ring-time for Luke), leaving Crush by himself.

#20 is “The Rocket” Owen Hart. He jumps into Crush’s arms and pounds away. Standing dropkick and a spinning heel kick from Owen. Crush reverses a whip and launches Owen in the air for a face-first drop. #21 is “The Model” Rick Martel. It’s a 2-on-1 against Owen until we get a miscommunication. Owen comes off the middle rope with a missile dropkick on Crush, and a clothesline sends Martel through the ropes (he loved doing that spot where he tumbles out awkwardly). #22 is Bret “Hitman” Hart. HOW CONVENIENT! Crowd goes wild as the Brothers Hart control the ring. Martel tries dumping Owen via fireman’s carry but Owen survives. Meanwhile, there seems to be an issue with the guardrail or maybe a fan hopping it off camera, because a bunch of security comes out. #23 is Irwin R. Schyster (otherwise known as I.R.S). Crush thinks he’s tossed Bret, but Bret hangs on and dropkicks Crush out at 43:23, ending his strong run. Lots of “Irwin” heckling and little else at the moment. #24 is Johnny Polo. Interesting choice for an entrant (possibly a sub for one of the no-shows). Bret goes to work on him, but Polo hangs onto the ropes for dear life. Owen works Polo over, but can’t get him over the top rope. Meanwhile, Martel and I.R.S. have Bret in trouble, but Owen saves.

#25 is Scott Putski. He looks like the Ultimate Warrior shrank after being in the dryer. He goes after I.R.S. and no one really cares. Polo continues to take a beating, but stays alive. Putski has survived longer than 60-seconds, so I no longer care to track his time. #26 is Headshrinker Fatu. We’re filling up the ring again with a bunch of bodies for the sake of having a bunch of bodies. There isn’t much reason for Putski to be there for more than 30-seconds except to pacify his father. #27 is Marty Jannetty. I don’t think #27 is going to cash out here. He goes right after Polo in a logical choice of attack. Too bad we only get 5-seconds of effort before everyone is hugging the ropes. Polo with a snap mare but he misses an elbow. #28 is Bart Gunn. He runs into a Super-Kick from Fatu in a LOL moment. Yeah, we’re in that period of the match where the agents stopped caring and are waiting for the Titanic sequence. It’s over 12-minutes since the last elimination and SCOTT PUTSKI has been in there for almost 8 of that. #29 is Shawn Michaels. So much for the tease with Diesel, but Marty and Shawn immediately do the hockey brawl spot to wake up the crowd. Shawn cuts him off with an inverted atomic drop and unloads with a series of elbows. Whip to the ropes, Marty ducks a clothesline and connects with a Super-Kick. I.R.S. comes over to help, because Marty is a no-good tax cheat. #30 is Doink (the Clown) (with Dink (the Clown)) to round out the field. As I type that all out, Shawn dumps Marty at 57:22.

Polo goes over the ropes, makes the unwise decision to go to the top, and Owen knocks him down to finally send him packing at 58:14. Fatu sends Putski to the dressing room at 58:30. Martel chokes out I.R.S. in a fun little heel on heel, then I.R.S. back-drops Martel out at 59:11. Shawn has fun teasing one elimination attempt after another. Doink tricks Bart into looking up and pokes his eyes, then eliminates him by suplexing him over the ropes at 60:19. I can’t imagine Bart looking any more like a geek than that. Shawn clotheslines Doink out at 60:46. Bret with an atomic drop, sending I.R.S. over and out at 61:18, giving us the logical Final Four of Bret, Owen, Shawn and Fatu. Shawn with more near-heart attacks for the crowd, playing on the ropes. Shawn sneaks up on Bret while he’s busy trying to toss Fatu, and Bret is gone at 63:01! Shawn and Fatu double up on Owen, but that doesn’t last long as Owen wipes them out with a diving double clothesline. Double Noggin Knocker hurts Shawn, but Fatu no-sells and responds with a headbutt on Owen. Fatu holds him up for Shawn to hit with a Super-Kick. Suddenly, Razor Ramon shows up, drawing Shawn’s attention. Owen hits Fatu with a heel kick, knocking him into and eliminating Michaels at 65:42.

We’re down to OWEN AND FATU as Shawn and Razor brawl up the aisle. Also, the middle rope has snapped. That should be fun to work around. Owen chokes Fatu with the rope as Samu makes his way to ringside, distracting Owen long enough for Fatu to get the jump on him. Owen goes over the top, but lands on the apron. Fatu goes over, but Samu with an assist to save him from defeat. Here’s big brother Bret to even things at ringside as we get another Super-Kick. Fatu meets the post on a charge attempt. Owen plants him with a slam and comes off the top with a big splash. Rake of the eyes from Fatu, followed by a back breaker. He goes to the top now, but Owen cuts him off, turns him inside-out with a clothesline, and knocks him over the ropes with a dropkick to take home the victory at 69:39. Well, that was something. I was expecting a much lazier effort, honestly. That’s not saying it was amazing, because it wasn’t, but I would argue it was better than the Rumble featured on PPV later that week. Diesel got to try out his run as the unstoppable monster, Randy Savage got some shine, Crush was made to look the strongest by clearing out more bodies than anyone else, and the finish was solid, even if a little weak on star power for the final two. Like a lot of Rumble matches, it kinda turns into a slog for the final 10 entrants, with bodies collecting and little going on. It would be cool if there was professional footage available, but the fan-cam version is very much watchable and gets a good shot of 99% of the important action. ***½

Order of Entry: 1. Diesel, 2. Men on a Mission’s Mo, 3. Bushwhacker Butch, 4. The 1-2-3 Kid, 5. Scott Steiner, 6. Iron Mike Sharpe, 7. Headshrinker Samu, 8. Bob Backlund, 9. Double J, 10. Virgil, 11. Bam Bam Bigelow, 12. “Macho Man” Randy Savage, 13. Adam Bomb, 14. Sgt. Slaughter, 15. Crush, 16. Men on a Mission’s Mabel, 17. Jim Powers, 18. Bastion Booger, 19. Bushwhacker Luke, 20. “The Rocket” Owen Hart, 21. “The Model” Rick Martel, 22. Bret “Hitman” Hart, 23. Irwin R. Schyster, 24. Johnny Polo, 25. Scott Putski, 26. Headshrinker Fatu, 27. Marty Jannetty, 28. Bart Gunn, 29. Shawn Michaels, 30. Doink (the Clown)

Order of Elimination: 1. Mo (by Diesel), 2. Butch (by Diesel), 3. The 1-2-3 Kid (by Diesel), 4. Iron Mike Sharpe (by Scott Steiner), 5. Diesel (by Randy Savage), 6. Jeff Jarrett (by Savage), 7. Adam Bomb (by Slaughter, Steiner, and Backlund), 8. Scott Steiner (by Crush), 9. Randy Savage (by Crush), 10. Bam Bam Bigelow (by Crush), 11. Sgt. Slaughter (by Crush), 12. Jim Powers (by Mabel), 13. Virgil (by group effort), 14. Mabel (by Group Effort), 15. Bob Backlund (by Group Effort), 16. Bastion Booger (by Crush), 17. Headshrinker Samu (by Luke), 18. Luke (by Crush), 19. Crush (by Bret Hart), 20. Marty Jannetty (by Shawn Michaels), 21. Johnny Polo (by Owen Hart), 22. Scott Putski (by Fatu), 23. Rick Martel (by IRS), 24. Bart Gunn (by Doink), 25. Doink (by Michaels), 26. I.R.S. (by Bret), 27. Bret Hart (by Michaels), 28. Shawn Michaels (by Fatu), 29. Fatu (by Owen)

WINNER: Owen Hart

Strength of Card: This is as loaded a show as you’ll get in 1994, with all three Championships being defended, as well as one of the most heavily protected gimmick matches there is, with only a handful of known instances of using the match outside of it’s Pay-Per-View namesake. Easily the strongest card I’ve covered, and honestly, it can only be matched. Grade: A+

Highs: The Royal Rumble was a very satisfying experience, and I’m sure was a blast for the live audience, and the Tag Team Championship Match definitely came across as a Pay-Per-View effort (based on the quality of performances at the time). Diesel and Crush looked strong in their Rumble spots, and it was nice seeing Randy Savage not treated like a geek for once. Both Headshrinkers had shockingly good runs, as well.

Lows: Yokozuna and Tatanka had a hot opening sequence then proceeded to take a nap the rest of the way. No wonder people mostly crap all over Yoko’s work, because his cardio and weight got out of control as soon as he was pushed to the tippy top of the promotion. Sgt. Slaughter was clearly in no mood to do much of anything other than his signature turnbuckle spot, and it looked terrible each time he did it. Sorry to pick on Sarge, but he stuck out as a guy who clearly didn’t care.

The Rest: Double J and Razor was also a disappointment, thanks to Razor’s babyface formula of selling too much, especially with an opponent who is more concerned with shtick. Rick Steiner vs. Ludvig Borga had potential, but the lame finish and some clunky work just kinda puts it in the middle, and we obviously cannot rate stuff that wasn’t filmed.

Final Thoughts: With only one truly poor performance bell-to-bell, this is a strong show all things considered. The Rumble was as good as you were going to get with the talent available and the layout of the match, and the Tag Title Match is worth checking out on it’s own. If you’re a fan of the era like I am, this is an easy watch, and is of pretty good quality for a fan-cam, with a great shot of all the action. Rating: B+

As always, thank you for reading. This was a difficult show to recap, as I started before Hurricane Milton, and just couldn’t find the passion to jump back into it immediately.