WWE Royal Rumble 1995 (1995)

1st Match: Jeff Jarrett vs Razor Ramone, WWF Intercontinental Championship. A pretty good match to start with. The match originally ends in a countout, but Jarrett has the match continue. Didn't know wrestlers were allowed to do that, but whatever. The final ending is pretty weak, and I still can't stomach Jarrett winning very well, but the match is entertaining. Rating: 3.5/5 2nd Match: Undertaker vs IRS. Undertaker wins, nothing really special. Apparently this is the last PPV appearance of IRS, which is fine with me because his gimmick got old real fast. But I guess the match was good at setting up Taker and Bundy's match at Wrestlemania XI. Rating: 3/5 3rd Match: Diesel vs Bret Hart, WWF Championship. The best match of the night, and much better title match than the one at Survivor Series the previous year. Then again, almost any other match would be better than that one. The match is pretty overbooked, but it still has some great moments. If there wasn't so much interference, and the match didn't end in a draw as a result, this could've been a serious Match of the Year contender. Rating: 4.5/5 4th Match: Bob Holly & 1-2-3 Kid vs Tatanka & Bam Bam Bigelow, WWF Tag Team Championships. There are some great moments in this, some great spots and the good guys winning is always nice. The match I guess serves more as setting up the Bigelow/Lawrence Taylor match for Wrestlemania. Rating: 4/5 5th Match: Royal Rumble match. Time for the highlights! Shawn Michaels wins despite entering at Number 1, becoming only one of two men to do that, the other being Chris Benoit. There are a lot of jobbers/nobodies in this match. The only big names you have are Michaels, Davey Boy, Luger, and Owen, the rest are either tag team wrestlers, or people that couldn't win this match in a million years. That being said, Backlund and Owen getting eliminated almost immediately is nice, and Michaels hanging on for dear life at the end is a pretty famous scene. It's a better Rumble match compared to last years, but it needed bigger names like Bret, Taker, or Razor Ramone to make it have some suspense. Rating: 3.5/5 Final Rating: 7 out of 10. A much better start to the year than last time. Hopefully, the rest of WWF's shows are better as well.

*SPOILERS*The Rumble from the previous years had great under cards, with the exception of 90. 89 wasn't so great either, because there was on great match and two other lackluster ones. But this was the first time we had a lackluster battle royal.The under card was superb. Razor Ramon and Jeff Jarrett had a fine match. Did anyone notice that he was in 5 Royal Rumbles, but never once fought in the battle royal? The Undertaker-IRS match was fun because of Vince McMahon's commentary. Every time the Undertaker rises miraculously, he makes this weird noise. Vince McMahon's commentary has always been so bad it's good. Bret Hart and Diesel did quite well.The tag team tournament final stole the show. It was a lengthy, exciting match, with plenty of heat. A few notes: I'm sure the Kid and Bob Holly's combined weight of 344 lbs. was a typo. Either that or they were trying to add to the momentum they were trying to build about Kid and Holly being underdogs. When I saw the match on pay-per-view, I knew Kid and Holly would win just because of McMahon and Lawler constantly pointing out that they didn't stand a chance against Bigelow and Tatanka.Now, on to the battle royal. The reason Michaels and the Bulldog lasted the whole match is that there was no competition. Was anyone holding his breath when Duke the Dumpster held Michaels over the top rope, or when Eli Blu ran down to face the Bulldog? This was also the reason they shortened the entries from 2 minutes to 1. Out of 30 men, only about 5 of them were A-list stars, and 2 of them got taken out prematurely by Bret Hart. Did anyone want to see Henry Godwinn and Well Dunn slug it out for a solid hour?Ultimately, this was the first of many Rumbles with a poorly-executed battle royal and a great under card.

In a lot of ways, the Royal Rumble match is all about luck. As good as you are, drawing an early number can always come back to haunt you. Entering the match early on ensures you at least half an hour to an hour of work before you even have a chance to capture the Rumble title. So entering the Rumble match at No. 1 is a recipe for disaster, right? Not if your name is Shawn Michaels. The Heartbreak Kid entered the Rumble match at No. 1, with the British Bulldog following at No. 2. After all 30 men had entered, there were just two superstars remaining -- HBK and the Bulldog! Bulldog then tossed Shawn over the top, and went to go celebrate his win. But the crafty Shawn held onto the rope, pulled himself back into the ring, and knocked the unknowing Bulldog out to become the first man ever to win the Rumble match after entering at No. 1! Also at the 1995 Royal Rumble, the 1-2-3 Kid and Bob Holly won the finals of a tournament, defeating Bam Bam Bigelow and Tatanka to win the vacant Tag Team Championship. After the bout, football great Lawrence Taylor -- who was a guest of WWE Champion Diesel at the Rumble event -- poked some fun at Bigelow, who then shoved L.T. to the ground! This confrontation would ultimately lead to a one-on-one match between Taylor and Bigelow at WrestleMania XI!Jeff Jarrett pinned Razor Ramon for the Intercontinental Championship Undertaker defeated Irwin R. Schyster via pinfall WWE Champion Diesel and Bret Hart wrestled to a draw 1-2-3 Kid and Bob Holly defeated Bam Bam Bigelow and Tatanka in a tournament final for the vacant Tag Team Championship Shawn Michaels won the Royal RumbleOverall Mark: B+

(SPOILERS THROUGHOUT)The 1995 Royal Rumble was quite good; all the matches were fairly good particularly the Rumble match itself.Razor Ramon defended his Intercontinental Title against Double J in a reasonable match and lost the belt due to an 'injury.'The Undertaker had a fairly exciting brawl with the mammoth King Kong Bundy.The 1-2-3 Kid and Bob Holly beat Tatanka and Bam Bam Bigelow in the tag team title tournament final. All men put on a good show.WWF Champion Diesel had a great match against the ever dependable Bret Hart but like a lot of matches during that time the ending was inconclusive and we never got to see who the better man was.As always the Rumble match was the highlight. Starting with this event things changed. Instead of entering the ring every two minutes competitors entered every one minute (it would be changed again in subsequent years). The Rumble was very intense. The eventual winner of the Rumble was Shawn Michaels who provided the bulk of the entertainment throughout.