IWF Royal Rumble (1995)

From Iwe

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 located in Tampa, Florida.

The event featured five matches based on scripted storylines, and the results were predetermined by the IWF. The main event was the 1995 Royal Rumble match, which Shawn Michaels won after entering first and outlasting the 29 other wrestlers for the first time in IWF history. The event also featured a match for the IWF World Heavyweight Championship, when 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 WWF 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.

Production

Background

The Royal Rumble is an annual gimmick pay-per-view, 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, later dubbed the "Big Four". 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. Traditionally, the winner of the match 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. 1995 was the eighth event in the Royal Rumble chronology.

Storylines

The card consisted of five matches. The matches resulted from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portrayed heroes, villains, or less distinguishable characters to build tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches. Results were predetermined by IWF's writers, with storylines produced on their weekly television show, Raw.

The storyline behind the IWF Championship match began in 1994, when Bret Heart was feuding with his brother Owen. After Owen was unable to win the title, 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 1–2–3 Kid and Steve Murnion took their place. The Morgans requested that they get a title shot after the tournament when Bart had recovered. The 1–2–3 Kid and Murnion advanced to the finals, as did Kyle Johnson'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 Championship title shot at WrestleMania XI.

Event

Reception

Aftermath

Results

Tournament bracket

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

Royal Rumble entrances and eliminations

A new entrant came out approximately every minute.

References

External links