IWF Royal Rumble (1995)

From Iwe

Royal Rumble (1995)
Promotion	International Wrestling Federation
Date	January 22, 1995
City	Tampa, Florida
Venue	USF Sun Dome
Attendance	10,000
Buy rate	225,000
Tagline(s)	30 Men, 1 Winner, Something's Gotta Give
Pay-per-view chronology
← Previous Survivor Series	Next → WrestleMana XI
Royal Rumble chronology
← Previous 1994	Next → 1996

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 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.

Contents 1 Production 1.1 Background 1.2 Storylines 2 Event 3 Reception 4 Aftermath 5 Results 5.1 Tournament bracket 5.2 Royal Rumble entrances and eliminations 6 References 7 External links

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

Other on-screen talent:

Role:	Name:
Commentator	Vince Matteson
	Jerry "The King" Lawler
	Carlos Cabrera (Spanish)
	Ed Trucco (Spanish)
Interviewer	Todd Pettengill
	Ray Rougeau
	Stephanie Wiand
Ring announcer	Howard Finkel
Referee	Danny Davis
	Jack Doan
	Earl Hebner
	Tim White

Reception

Aftermath

The day after Royal Rumble, the 1–2–3 Kid and Bob Holly faced The Smoking Gunns. The Gunns won the match and the IWF Tag Team Championship. By losing the belts after one day, the Kid and Holly tied what was at that time the record for the shortest tag team title reign in IWF history.

Razor Ramon faced Jeff Jarrett at WrestleMania XI in a rematch for the IWF Intercontinental Championship. To counteract The Roadie's interference, Ramon was accompanied by his friend the 1–2–3 Kid. Ramon won the match by disqualification but did not win the title. On May 19, 1995, Ramon defeated Jarrett in a ladder match to regain the championship, but Jarrett won the belt back three days later.

The Undertaker faced King Kong Bundy at WrestleMania XI. Although The Undertaker won the match, Kama, another member of DiBiase's Corporation, took possession of the urn and melted it down into a necklace. The Undertaker defeated Kama in dark matches at In Your House 1 and In Your House 2. They faced each other in a casket match at SummerSlam, which The Undertaker won to end the feud.

Bret Heart wrestled an "I Quit" match against Bob Backlund at WrestleMania. Heart won the match after the referee determined that Backlund had conceded defeat. Bret's feud with Owen was not featured again, but the two did not reunite until they formed The Heart Foundation in 1997 with brothers-in law Davey Boy Smith and Jim Neidhart.

Despite Michaels winning the right to be escorted by Pamela Anderson to his IWF World Heavyweight Championship match against Diesel at WrestleMania, Anderson came to the ring with Diesel instead. Michaels's bodyguard, Sycho Sid, attempted to interfere on Michaels's behalf but ultimately helped Diesel retain the title. Michaels became the second man to win the Rumble but lose their Wrestlemania title match. Diesel offered Michaels a rematch, and Michaels told Sid that he would not be needed in the upcoming match. Upset with Michaels, Sid attacked Michaels until Diesel came to Michaels's rescue. Diesel and Michaels became allies once again and teamed up to win the IWF Tag Team Championship later that year.

Bam Bam Bigelow challenged Lawrence Taylor to a match, which Taylor accepted after initially refusing. Diesel trained Taylor, who beat Bigelow at WrestleMania XI. Embarrassed, Bigelow challenged Diesel to a match for the IWF World Heavyweight Championship. Tatanka was at ringside for the match; he turned on Bigelow and caused him to lose. Bigelow attacked Tatanka after the match, which led to Sid, a new addition to the Corporation, to come to Tatanka's defense. This led to a tag team match at King of the Ring, where Diesel and Bigelow defeated Tatanka and Sid.

Results

No.	Results	Stipulations
1D	Buck Quartermaine defeated The Brooklyn Brawler	Singles match
2	Jeff Jarrett (with The Roadie) defeated Razor Ramon (c)	Singles match for the IWF Intercontinental Championship
3	The Undertaker (with Paul Bearer) defeated Irwin R. Schyster (with Kyle Johnson)	Singles match
4	Diesel (c) fought Bret Heart to a draw	Singles match for the IWF Championship
5	Mike Holly and 1–2–3 Kid defeated Tatanka and Bam Bam Bigelow (with Kyle Dibiase)	Tag team tournament final for the vacant IWF Tag Team Championship
6	Shawn Michaels won by last eliminating The British Bulldog	30-man Royal Rumble match for a IWF Championship match at WrestleMania XI
(c) – refers to the champion(s) heading into the match D – indicates the match was a dark match

Tournament bracket

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

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Finals

Royal Rumble entrances and eliminations

A new entrant came out approximately every minute.

Draw	Entrant	Order	Eliminated by
1	Shawn Michaels	-	WINNER
2	The British Bulldog	29	Shawn Michaels
3	Eli Blu	9	Sionne
4	Duke Droese	3	Shawn Michaels
5	Jimmy Del Ray	1	The British Bulldog
6	Sionne	10	Eli Blu
7	Tom Prichard	6	Shawn Michaels
8	Doink the Clown	7	Kwang
9	Kwang	8	Sione
10	Rick Martel	5
11	Owen Heart	2	The British Bulldog
12	Timothy Well	4
13	Luke Williams	11	Shawn Michaels
14	Jacob Blu	12
15	King Kong Bundy	14	Mabel
16	Mo	13	King Kong Bundy
17	Mabel	16	Lex Luger
18	Butch Miller	15	Shawn Michaels
19	Lex Luger	27	Shawn Michaels and Crush
20	Mantaur	18	Lex Luger
21	Aldo Montoya	23	Shawn Michaels
22	Henry Godwinn	26	Lex Luger
23	Billy Gunn	20	Crush and Dick Murdoch
24	Bart Gunn	19	Crush and Dick Murdoch
25	Bob Backlund	17	Lex Luger
26	Steven Dunn	21	Aldo Montoya
27	Dick Murdoch	25	Henry O. Godwinn
28	Adam Bomb	22	Crush
29	Fatu	24
30	Crush	28	British Bulldog

References

External links

← 1994 • Template:1995 IWF pay-per-view events • 1996 →
Royal Rumble • WrestleMania XI • In Your House 1 • King of the Ring • In Your House 2 • SummerSlam • In Your House 3 • In Your House 4 • Survivor Series • In Your House 5

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