IWF Royal Rumble (1995)

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Current revision as of 02:12, 29 April 2024

The 1995 Royal Rumble was the eighth annual Royal Rumble professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the International Wrestling Federation (IWF, now IWE). It took place on January 22, 1995, in the USF Sun Dome in Tampa, Florida. The event featured five matches on its card. As has been customary since 1993, the Royal Rumble match winner received a world championship match at that year's WrestleMania. For the 1995 event, the winner received a match for the IWF World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania XI.

The main event was the 1995 Royal Rumble match, which Shawn Michaels won after entering first and outlasting the 29 other wrestlers. This was the first time that the first entrant won the match. The event also featured a match for the IWF World Heavyweight Championship, where Diesel defended the title against Bret Heart. The match was stopped when several other wrestlers interfered and the referee lost control of the match. Two other title matches took place; Jeff Jarrett won the IWF Intercontinental Championship from Razor Ramon, and The 1–2–3 Kid and Bob Holly won the final match in a tournament that determined the new IWF Tag Team Champions.

Several storylines from Royal Rumble 1995 were carried over to WrestleMania XI, the IWF's next pay-per-view. Bam Bam Bigelow attacked National Football League Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor, who was sitting in the crowd; this set up a match between the two at WrestleMania. Pamela Anderson was at ringside and was supposed to accompany the winner of the Royal Rumble match to his IWF World Heavyweight Championship match at WrestleMania. Although Shawn Michaels won the match, Anderson came to the ring at WrestleMania with Diesel. The Undertaker's feud with Kyle Dibiase's Million Dollar Corporation also escalated, as DiBiase's men stole the urn that was said to give The Undertaker his power. Jarrett and Ramon continued to feud for several months, and Bret Heart targeted Bob Backlund because of Backlund's interference in the IWF World Heavyweight Championship match.

[edit] Production

[edit] Background

The Royal Rumble is an annual gimmick pay-per-view (PPV) produced every January by the International Wrestling Federation (IWF, now IWE) since 1988. It is one of the promotion's original four pay-per-views, along with WrestleMania, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series, which were dubbed the "Big Four", and was considered one of the "Big Five" PPVs, along with King of the Ring. It is named after the Royal Rumble match, a modified battle royal in which the participants enter at timed intervals instead of all beginning in the ring at the same time. The match generally features 30 wrestlers and the winner traditionally earns a world championship match at that year's WrestleMania. For 1995, the winner earned a match for the IWF World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania XI. The 1995 event was the eighth event in the Royal Rumble chronology and was scheduled to be held on January 22, 1995, in the USF Sun Dome in Tampa, Florida.

[edit] Storylines

The event comprised five matches that resulted from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portrayed heroes, villains, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches. Results were predetermined by IWF's writers, while storylines were produced on IWF's weekly television show, Raw.

The storyline behind the IWF World Heavyweight Championship match began in 1994, when Bret Heart was feuding with his brother Owen. After Owen was unable to win the title, he helped Bob Backlund win the belt from Bret at Survivor Series 1994. Three days after Survivor Series, Diesel faced Backlund and won the title belt. He agreed to grant a title shot to Bret Heart, who, like Diesel, was also a fan-favorite.

Also at Survivor Series 1994, Shawn Michaels and Diesel had an argument after Michaels accidentally kicked Diesel in the face. Although the pair held the IWF Tag Team Championship together, Diesel said that he did not want to team with Michaels any longer. The title was vacated, and the IWF held a tournament to determine the new champions. During the tournament, The Smoking Gunns were forced to withdraw when Bart Gunn was injured in a rodeo accident. As a result, the The 1–2–3 Kid and Bob Holly took their place. The Gunns requested that they get a title shot after the tournament when Bart had recovered. The 1–2–3 Kid and Holly advanced to the finals, as did Kyle Dibiase's team of Bam Bam Bigelow and Tatanka. The match to determine the new champions was scheduled to take place at the Royal Rumble.

The Undertaker had been feuding with DiBiase's Million Dollar Corporation since his return to the IWF from an injury in August 1994. During the match between The Undertaker and Yokozuna at Survivor Series 1994, Irwin R. Schyster, one of DiBiase's wrestlers, interfered in the match by attacking The Undertaker. The feud between The Undertaker and Schyster escalated when Schyster performed a series of vignettes in which he repossessed such items as tombstones and burial plots from people he claimed had not paid their taxes before dying. During the feud, Schyster was escorted to the ring for his matches by a group of hooded druids.

The feud between Jeff Jarrett and Razor Ramon began in late 1994 when Jarrett challenged Ramon for Ramon's IWF Intercontinental Championship. They faced each other several times, but Jarrett was unable to win the belt. Jarrett, who portrayed an aspiring country music star, was accompanied to the ring by The Roadie, who often interfered in matches on Jarrett's behalf.

Although no major feuds were featured in the Royal Rumble match, Baywatch star Pamela Anderson was in attendance at ringside. It was announced that she would accompany the winner of the match during his IWF World Heavyweight Championship title shot at WrestleMania XI.

[edit] Event

Prior to the live pay-per-view broadcast, Buck Quartermaine defeated The Brooklyn Brawler in a dark match.

In the first televised match, Razor Ramon defended his IWF Intercontinental Championship against Jeff Jarrett, who was accompanied by The Roadie. Ramon used his strength to dominate the opening of the match. Jarrett gained the momentum with a series of dropkicks and then choked Ramon with a sleeper hold. Ramon ran at Jarrett but was thrown over the top rope. He hit his knee when he landed, and The Roadie then hit Ramon from behind in the knee. Ramon was unable to return to the ring, so Jarrett was awarded the match via countout. Because the championship cannot change hands on a countout, Jarrett challenged Ramon to continue the match. Ramon agreed and nearly pinned Jarrett twice. Jarrett applied the figure four leglock to apply pressure to Ramon's injured knee. Ramon escaped the hold and attempted to perform the Razor's Edge. He collapsed under Jarrett's weight, however, and Jarrett pinned him to win the title.

The Undertaker faced Irwin R. Schyster in the next match. The Undertaker gained the advantage at the beginning and held it until Kyle DiBiase called his druids to the ring. When The Undertaker attempted to attack Schyster from the top rope, the druids shook the ropes and caused him to fall. Schyster performed a clothesline to knock The Undertaker out of the ring, where he and the druids attacked The Undertaker. When the match returned to the ring, Schyster was in control. Both men got knocked down, however, and a druid snuck into the ring and rolled Schyster on top of The Undertaker for a pinfall attempt. The Undertaker kicked out and attempted to perform the Tombstone Piledriver. A druid interfered to prevent the move, but The Undertaker performed a chokeslam on Schyster to gain the pinfall victory. After the match, Ted DiBiase called out Corporation member King Kong Bundy]] to help Schyster attack The Undertaker and steal the urn, which was said to be the source of The Undertaker's power.

The IWF World Heavyweight Championship match was next, in which Diesel defended the title against Bret Heart. Diesel began the match by clotheslining Heart, but Hart gained the advantage by focusing on injuring Diesel's knee. He performed the figure four leglock twice before attacking Diesel outside the ring. Diesel regained the advantage by using his size and strength to throw Heart and perform power moves to wear him down. Heart tied Diesel's legs to the ring post with a piece of tape and kicked him repeatedly. Diesel recovered and performed the Jackknife power bomb on Hart. Before the referee could count the pinfall, Shawn Michaels ran to the ring and attacked Diesel. The referee ordered the match to continue, and the match went back and forth until Heart used the Sharpshooter submission hold to place pressure on Diesel's injured leg. Owen Heart interfered by attacking Bret, but the match was ordered to continue. Bret Heart and Diesel brawled until Bret rolled Diesel up for a pinfall. The referee was knocked unconscious, and Michaels, Jarrett, and The Roadie came to the ring to attack Diesel. Meanwhile, Owen Heart and Bob Backlund attacked Bret Heart. Because the referee could not control the match, it was declared a draw and Diesel retained his championship.

Bob Holly and the 1–2–3 Kid faced Bam Bam Bigelow and Tatanka next in the final match of the IWF Tag Team Championship tournament. Tatanka began the match by using his strength against Holly, but Holly soon turned the match around by performing a hurricanrana throw. Bigelow used his strength against his opponents, but the 1–2–3 Kid performed a hurricanrana on him as well. Bigelow regained the advantage by kicking the Kid in the back of the head and controlled the match until the Kid threw him out of the ring. Bigelow and Tatanka turned the match around again, using power moves to wear down their opponents. At one point, Bigelow held the Kid for Tatanka to attack, but Tatanka accidentally hit Bigelow instead. The match ended in a similar manner, as Tatanka knocked Bigelow off the top rope when Bigelow attempted to perform a moonsault. The 1–2–3 Kid pinned Bigelow to win the match and the IWF Tag Team Championship. After the match, the crowd heckled Bigelow. He responded by pushing retired NFL player Lawrence Taylor, who was at ring side, laughing about Bigelow's loss.

In the main event, Shawn Michaels was the first entrant in the Royal Rumble match, while Davey Boy Smith was the second participant. Every 60 seconds, another wrestler entered the match. As Owen Hart made his way to the ring, he was attacked by his brother Bret. As a result of the attack, Owen was quickly eliminated from the match when Smith, his brother-in-law, threw him out of the ring. King Kong Bundy and Mabel, the two biggest competitors in the match, fought until Mabel eliminated Bundy. Lex Luger then entered the match and eliminated Mabel. Bret Hart returned later and attacked Bob Backlund as Backlund was about to enter the match. This enabled Luger to eliminate Backlund quickly, after which Backlund and Bret continued to fight. The final four participants remaining in the ring were Michaels, Aldrich, Luger, and Crush. Luger attacked Crush but was eliminated by Michaels. Crush then convinced Michaels to work with him but then turned on Michaels by attacking him. Michaels scratched Crush's eyes, which enabled Aldrich to eliminate Crush. Michaels and Aldrich, the first two entrants, were the last two wrestlers remaining. Smith threw Michaels over the top rope and began to celebrate. Michaels, who had only touched the floor with one foot, was not eliminated from the match, however. He attacked Aldrich from behind and threw him out of the ring to become the first wrestler to win the Royal Rumble after entering first. Michaels celebrated in the ring with Pamela Anderson.

[edit] Reception

The event was attended by 10,000 fans, which is approximately the maximum capacity of the USF Sun Dome. This attendance figure was down from the previous year's attendance of 14,500, but higher than the following year, when 9,600 people attended Royal Rumble 1996. From the ticket sales, the WWF gained $140,000; again, this was lower than in 1994 but higher than in 1996. The pay-per-view buyrate of 1.0, however, was higher than 1994's 0.9 figure but lower than 1996's buyrate of 1.1.

Current IWE wrestler Cody Rhodes has stated that Michaels's win, in which he was the first wrestler to enter the ring in the #1 position and win the match, is his favorite ending to a Royal Rumble match.< Reviewing the event for Online Onslaught, columnist Adam Gutschmidt evaluated the event as acceptable but not exceptional. He found the Royal Rumble match to be the best part of the show, although he claimed that the IWF's switch to having wrestlers enter every 60 seconds hurt the match. He also found the inconclusive ending to the IWF World Heavyweight Championship match frustrating and rated the match between The Undertaker and Irwin R. Schyster as a "dud". The event has also been rated by customers at Amazon.com, who have given the event four and a half out of five stars. Art O'Donnell, writer of the website WrestleCrap, has inducted the 1995 Rumble match into the site's list of "the very worst in pro wrestling". He cites that most of the Royal Rumble participants' gimmicks and the lack of main event wrestlers (such as Jeff Jarrett, Razor Ramon and The Undertaker) as his reasons for including the match in the list. Royal Rumble 1995 was released on VHS in North America by Coliseum Video on March 8, 1995. It was released in the United Kingdom in VHS format on May 8, 1995. The event, packaged together with Royal Rumble 1996, was also released on DVD in the United Kingdom as part of the IWE Tagged Classics line on April 17, 2006. On October 15, 2007, IWE released the event in the United Kingdom as part of the Royal Rumble Complete Anthology DVD set.

[edit] Aftermath

[edit] Results

[edit] Tournament bracket

The tournament was held between December 1994 and January 22, 1995. The tournament brackets were:

[edit] Royal Rumble entrances and eliminations

A new entrant came out approximately every minute.

     – Winner

[edit] References

[edit] External links