FanPost

Ranking Royal Rumbles: Number 19-1993

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1...2...3!!!! Oh, Wait, Pinfalls Don't Count.

(Someone should teach Macho Man the rules)

Storytelling: 2/5 Stars

Match Quality: 2/5 Stars

Finish: 1/5 Stars

Winner: 3/5 Stars

Extracurriculars: 4/5 Stars-Heenan and Gorilla really make a great Rumble team

TOTAL: 12/25 Stars

Great Moment You May Have Forgotten: Bob Backlund, who looks like the whitest kid you know, went in at number two, and lasted over an hour, breaking Flair's mark and setting the longevity record for 11 years until Chris Benoit broke it 13 years until Rey Mysterio broke it.

Moment You Wish You Were Not Reminded Of: Earthquake and Yokozuna in a stare down. You have an American that was once a Japanese sumo wrestler vs. an American Samoan who is playing a Japanese sumo wrestler.

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Oh, Randy Savage.

He is arguably one of the ten greatest wrestlers of all time. He has a move set that is unparalleled for the time period and a type of enthusiasm that few dared to even touch. But try as hard as he could, he could never figure out the rules of the Royal Rumble. In other Rumbles, he eliminated himself, came back into the ring to argue once he was out, and went after the big guy on his own. But nothing compares to the boneheaded mistake that was the end of this match.

Now in all fairness he was never going to lift and throw Yokozuna out of the ring, for Yoko is the size of a dwarf planet. But before we dissect his stupidity, let's look at the rest of the match.

This Rumble was like Jeremy Iron's cereal. "If you are looking for a prize in the bottom, there is none". (Oh TV cartoon references, where would I be without you?). Thankfully, we had the great team of Gorilla and Heenan, sadly for the last time. They were just magic on the announce team, with Heenan the perfect hate-able foil to Gorilla's no knocks style of commentating. They were the reason this match is not lower on the list.

But no announcer is going to truly save the WWE that was the tragedy of mid 90's competitors. This Rumble contained Papa Shango (whose 28 second elimination is painfully only the third shortest time he's been in a Rumble), Max Moon (do I really need to go further into this character?), Genichiro Tenryu (yea i don't remember him either), Skinner (the hits just keep on coming), The Bezerker (who, when he wasn't fellating the Undertaker...seriously pay attention in the match...he was the forerunner to D-Bry's cool boots), The Red Rooster Terry Taylor, Damien Demento, Repo Man, Tatanka, and Hall of Famers KoKo B. Ware and Carlos Colon, who's head looks like it's been in the shredder one too many times. Yea that line up sucked.

However there are a few positives of note in this match as well. There is Ric Flair, who after a technical masterpiece with Bob Backlund and Ted Dibiase, gets his comeuppance by Mr. Perfect, much to the chagrin of Heenan. Earthquake vs. Tugboat was a nice moment. There was also Owen Hart, who showed off his high flying skills before taking a nasty fall that sees so many knees get torn in this match type. This match was one of the first of the 90s to actually have some quality wrestlers who could use their bad gimmicks to their advantages.

But there were two big negatives. First, the Undertaker was cleaning house only to be stopped by an 8 foot disaster area soon to be known as the Giant Gonzalez, who was not even entered in the match. If you are unfamiliar with their rivalry, it's one of the worst of all time, culminating in Undertaker winning at Wrestlemania by disqualification because he was drugged. Yea that started here, with a man who makes the Great Khali look agile.

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He's almost a quarter of the way there!

But the biggest problem was still the ending. After eliminating Rick Martel (who at this point was Mr. Royal Rumble) and Bob Backlund finally, it was down to Savage and Yokozuna. Now, 1993 was Yokozuna's year, so him winning was not a bad thing, but the way it went down makes everyone look awful by comparison. After being pummeling, Randy "Savages" up and proceeds to hit all his signatures, including the elbow drop. Then he proceeds to pin him.

You read that right. Macho Man Randy Savage, two-time WWE Champion and one of the smartest wrestlers of the time period if not all time, pinned Yokozuna in a match where you must be thrown over the top rope. It was supposed to set up Yokozuna using his strength to push him off and out of the ring, which is just awful even by WWE logic. Can't they just have him hit the elbow, attempt to throw him out, realize it's not working and go for a run get thrown out? It makes Yokozuna credible and doesn't blemish Savage. But instead, the ending is what it is, putting a damper on another mediocre Rumble. At least he got to celebrate with people in togas. Boy that Mania was doomed to suck.

If you like Bob Backlund, get ready to see a lot of him on this match. Tomorrow we look at another controversial finish, more bad gimmicks, and royalty getting his comeuppance. Stay tuned.

Ranking Royal Rumbles: A Retrospective

Number 28: 1995

Number 27: 1988

Number 26: 1991

Number 25: 2015

Number 24: 1989

Number 23: 1994

Number 22: 1999

Number 21: 2014

Number 20: 2011

The FanPosts are solely the subjective opinions of Cageside Seats readers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cageside Seats editors or staff.