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00:00 I've been working in wrestling media for a few years now and I've noticed a pattern.

00:05 I will admit I'm not the first person to have noticed this of course, because it's

00:09 bleeding obvious.

00:11 But interest in wrestling is at its highest from January through to WrestleMania.

00:16 It will pick up again a little bit leading into Summerslam and Survivor Series, but it

00:22 never quite reaches the level of that January through April period.

00:27 There are a portion of wrestling fans who switch off for three quarters of a year and

00:33 only watch those first four months, and when those months are over, they switch off again

00:38 and go about their lives until the next January rolls around.

00:42 The lucky bastards.

00:44 These fans are clearly only interested in what happens at WrestleMania, and that's

00:49 obvious because they tune out when it's all said and done.

00:52 But they know to come back in January because the Royal Rumble kicks off the now branded

00:57 Road to WrestleMania story.

01:00 The winners of the men's and women's matches will be the focal point for the next few months,

01:04 as well as any other storylines that are started within the match itself.

01:07 And those winners are going to the main event of WrestleMania.

01:11 Or sometimes the opening match, depending on how important WWE sees them.

01:15 The Royal Rumble match is perhaps the most important date in every wrestling fan's

01:20 calendar - a date to get excited about because, well, there's a lot to be excited about.

01:25 Who will win the matches?

01:27 Will there be any weird match-ups that we've not seen before?

01:30 Will there be some surprise cameos, NXT call-ups or shock returns?

01:35 I may come across as a bit of a grump about wrestling sometimes, especially if you watch

01:39 our Raw reviews, but I genuinely get so excited for the Rumble - sometimes more than WrestleMania

01:47 itself.

01:48 But is the Royal Rumble actually good?

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02:09 on in this episode.

02:11 The Royal Rumble match was devised by the late Pat Patterson who wanted to adapt the

02:14 already popular Battle Royal by staggering the entrances as opposed to having all the

02:19 guys in the ring at the same time.

02:21 Going by certain interviews, Vince McMahon was not a fan of the idea, and it was only

02:26 when Dick Ebersole of NBC approached him about doing a special episode of Wrestling on USA

02:31 Network, he turned to Pat Patterson and said, "Tell Dick about your stupid idea, pal."

02:36 Those are Pat Patterson's words for the record, though I don't think he did it in

02:40 that same accent.

02:41 The idea was tried out on a house show in St. Louis, Missouri on October 4th 1987, which

02:46 was won by one man gang, and then moved to television for that USA Network special with

02:51 Jim Duggan winning the 20 man version.

02:54 It was so popular and did good enough numbers that it became WWF's fourth PPV extravaganza

03:00 after WrestleMania, Summerslam and Survivor Series - the first airing in 1989 and won

03:06 by Big John Sturt.

03:07 WWF always used the match to build storylines like that first showdown between Hulk Hogan

03:12 and Ultimate Warrior in 1990, but that all changed when the stipulation was added that

03:16 the winner will get a title shot in the main event of WrestleMania 9 - which turned out

03:22 really well for eventual winner Yokozuna.

03:28 And that stipulation has become a yearly tradition, adding some much needed stakes to the match

03:33 itself, as it essentially tells you - the audience - what to expect from WrestleMania

03:38 in a couple of months' time.

03:40 And fans generally love the Rumble concept.

03:43 Even when Royal Rumbles are a bit rubbish and bland, they have their moment.

03:48 Those surprise returns, the shock cameos, the unbelievable eliminations.

03:53 You can look at pretty much every Royal Rumble in history and say, "yeah, that was an awesome

03:59 moment".

04:00 The 2001 is my favourite Rumble match of all time - for obvious reasons - but even if the

04:05 Rumble sucked, you could look at that Drew Carey moment and laugh at how ridiculous it

04:10 all was, and it's only made better by the fact that the friggin' Honky Tonk Man comes

04:14 out for more comedy with Kane.

04:16 The 2011 Rumble is fine, but it's mostly remembered for that Diesel cameo and the Santino

04:21 Morella moment at the end.

04:23 The 2000 Rumble is a bit of a mess if we're all being honest, but I could watch Two Cool

04:28 Dots again and again and again, and the ending with Rock N Big Show did lead to some really

04:33 fun storytelling in the following weeks.

04:36 And yeah, 2001 is my favourite Rumble, but everyone has their own.

04:41 Whether it's 1992 for the Ric Flair win and Bobby Heenan commentary, the 1995 match

04:47 with the Shawn Michaels near-elimination and eventual win, 1998 for the Austin win, 1999

04:53 for Vince McMahon's shenanigans, 2002 for Triple H's return, 2005 for Vince McMahon

04:58 tearing quad shenanigans, 2006 for the Eddie Guerrero tribute, 2007 for Undertaker vs.

05:05 HBK, 2010 for Edge, 2016 for the AJ Styles debut, 2018 for that old vs. new showdown

05:12 and Shinsuke Nakamura and Asuka bloody winning the thing, 2019 for Becky Lynch's awesome

05:17 win, and 2020 for the rise of Drew McIntyre to stardom.

05:22 Each Rumble has its own flavour, its own uniqueness, its own purpose, and it all depends on what

05:28 you want.

05:29 The 2001 Rumble is perfect for me as it has that balance of comedy, the hardcore nonsense

05:35 with Raven, star power out the wazoo, multiple potential winners, Kane running wild and Steve

05:41 Austin getting the big win at the end, which is what we all wanted to see.

05:47 Sean Ross Sapp over at Fightful recently released a brilliant piece talking about how Rumble

05:52 matches are put together with multiple interviews from people who've been in them.

05:56 Really go and check it out, it's linked in the video description down below.

05:58 It's fascinating to see how this match, which usually goes over an hour and has 30

06:05 or more people involved, is planned out.

06:07 I've watched backstage meetings at local indie shows where they try to book and map

06:12 out a Rumble style match and there are so many plates spinning.

06:16 Like a Hollywood movie with all the politics and egos, it's amazing a Rumble even gets

06:22 finished let alone run smoothly.

06:24 Like in the 30+ years that WWE have been doing Royal Rumbles, only one match has really gone

06:31 awry and that was the 2005 finish with the aforementioned Vince McMahon Quad Daring.

06:36 That's really, really impressive.

06:39 But outside of those moments, are the matches actually good?

06:45 Well for that, we're going to have to turn to our old friend science.

06:50 Right, okay, here we go.

06:55 I have got the ratings for every single Royal Rumble match in history.

07:02 Every single one with the exception of 1993.

07:05 I'll get into that in a minute.

07:06 Maybe I'll do that now.

07:07 Yeah, Dave Meltzer didn't rate the 1993 Rumble because, come on scroll, I don't need your

07:13 prompt.

07:14 I don't want to leave a comment.

07:16 I don't want to rate this with stars.

07:18 Parts were very good, even excellent by Battle Royal standards.

07:21 Others were bad by any standard.

07:23 So there you go.

07:24 I don't think, well, I mean spoilers, I don't think it would have drastically affected the

07:30 overall average rating.

07:32 Let's get into it.

07:33 So 1988, two and a half stars.

07:37 1989, two and a half.

07:40 1995, that's three and a half stars.

07:43 1990, oh no, dropped some.

07:47 1999, one and a half stars.

07:53 It wasn't very good, folks.

07:55 It wasn't very good.

07:57 2001, three and a quarter stars.

08:00 The third best Rumble according to Meltzer thus far.

08:03 Ah, bollocks, it's already been beaten by 2002, two and a half stars.

08:06 The 2004 Rumble, which was won by Stephen Richards, our new best people, the 2007 Royal

08:15 Rumble, four big stars there.

08:18 Well done you.

08:20 Three and a quarter stars for 2012.

08:23 I think that's f***ing generous.

08:25 Ah, 2014, objectively one of the sh*tty Royal Rumbles of all time, three and a half stars

08:31 by Dave Meltzer.

08:32 However, the 2015 Rumble, which is a very, very bad Rumble, and WWE should be ashamed

08:38 of themselves, a star and three quarters.

08:42 It's not the lowest though.

08:43 It's not the lowest.

08:44 I thought it might, but it's not.

08:46 1999, still the lowest one with Vince McMahon winning, but 2015, the big dog, four f***ing

08:53 stars for the 2016 Rumble.

08:56 Crikey.

08:57 2020, that is four and a quarter stars.

08:59 This feels very f***ing chaotic at the moment.

09:00 Look at this absolute madness that I've just blue tacked onto my brand new house wall.

09:05 Like, it's various variations of the same thing.

09:09 It's three and a quarter, it's three and three quarters, it's three and a half.

09:13 What I did notice looking through all of this though, is that they do kind of get gradually

09:18 better.

09:19 Like, look, like here, you've got, you know, four and a quarter, three and, is it three

09:24 and a quarter?

09:25 All the best Rumbles seem to have come in like quite recent memory, particularly like

09:29 in these last three, but you know, that, that's a good Rumble.

09:32 That, the 2016 one got four stars.

09:35 You kind of compare that to some of these older ones, which are sort of like these kind

09:38 of middling matches.

09:39 And I think that's the nineties in particular is certainly a way to look at the Royal Rumble

09:42 and be like, yeah, it was, it was good.

09:44 Yeah, it's a good Rumble.

09:45 That, yeah, I liked it.

09:46 It's a good Rumble.

09:47 But I think now that WWE have really started to like love the Royal Rumble and fans love

09:52 the Royal Rumble, we are getting more like character.

09:56 It doesn't quite help the average though, because yeah, the average star rating for

10:00 a Royal Rumble, according to big daddy Dave Meltzer is three and a quarter stars.

10:05 That's average, right?

10:06 Like it's three stars.

10:07 It's good.

10:08 In fact, it's better than average.

10:09 And I kind of think that's fair because like Dave's looking at it from like a match type

10:14 of perspective, right?

10:15 Like he's looking at it from like the spots and like the way that it was booked and the

10:19 way that it's mapped out and things like that.

10:20 So I kind of think that Dave is right.

10:23 Yeah, I think that three and a quarter stars is probably a fair assumption of the Royal

10:29 Rumble match in terms of, is it actually good?

10:33 I've also got star ratings for the women's one, uh, because we did, you know, we do now

10:37 have a women's Royal Rumble as well.

10:38 We had 2018, 2019 and 2020.

10:41 I was going to do them as separate pieces of paper, but I thought what's the f***ing

10:45 point because three and a quarter stars, three and a quarter stars, three and a half stars.

10:49 Like it's different shades of beige, you know what I mean?

10:53 Like it's variations of that was a good match.

10:57 What's frustrating about all of this is that the science portion of this is usually a really

11:00 good indication of whether some, look back at the Charlotte one.

11:04 We were asking like whether Charlotte is actually good and we were able to compare her with Becky

11:08 Lynch.

11:09 We were able to compare her with some other people.

11:10 I cannot remember who we compared her to now, but like the star rating sort of reflected

11:14 like she is objectively really good, like actually good.

11:18 I don't know if the star ratings prove whether the Royal Rumble is actually good.

11:26 What this proves is that the Royal Rumble is good.

11:29 Does that make sense?

11:33 Did this achieve anything?

11:34 Have I made any, I don't know.

11:36 Was this good?

11:37 I don't know.

11:38 Did this prove anything?

11:45 Is the Royal Rumble actually good?

11:47 What a stupid question.

11:49 The Royal Rumble to me is so much fun because you never know who's going to come out, what

11:55 silly thing is going to happen and it just keeps your adrenaline going the entire time.

12:00 And I watch wrestling to be entertained and I can't think of anything more entertaining

12:06 than the Royal Rumble.

12:08 It's the greatest match stipulation in all professional wrestling.

12:10 Like every 90 seconds you don't know if it's going to be a guy from Raw, Smackdown, a legend

12:14 you haven't seen in four or five years, or a guy from NXT.

12:17 There's dream matches happening in that match.

12:19 There's moments happening in that match.

12:21 Sometimes it could be someone of the opposite gender getting into the ring and tearing it

12:24 up which is always the craziest thing in the world to see.

12:27 I as a person who loves gimmicky matches, I'm a bit biased.

12:32 However, I do recognize that it is a match that is very hard to book properly in a way

12:37 that would read as a logical wrestling match and that would not damage anyone's character.

12:44 And this year we're faced with the Royal Rumble without the crowd, which the crowd is a huge

12:49 factor in it.

12:50 And it forces me to ask the question, is the crowd and their reaction the whole reason

12:54 that Royal Rumble is fun?

12:56 I battle ADHD daily.

13:00 I was medicated until I was in high school and it was very hard to focus.

13:04 But one thing I could focus on was pro wrestling.

13:07 But even then, sometimes it was a little difficult.

13:10 1990, you're sitting through a bunch of punches and kicks and chin locks, not in the Royal

13:16 Rumble.

13:17 Every 60 seconds a new wrestler comes out or 90 seconds, whatever the hell it is, you've

13:21 got a new person out there.

13:23 A fresh face, offense, constantly throughout the entire match.

13:29 It was perfect for me.

13:31 It really accentuated my love of pro wrestling.

13:35 The Royal Rumble isn't just good, it's great.

13:38 Besides the greatness of the Royal Rumble, that was... yeah.

13:41 As always, we took this question to Twitter to see what you thought and unsurprisingly,

13:46 given how popular the Rumble is among fans, 93.4% voted for "Yes, it was actually good".

13:53 That is the highest percentage of yes votes we've ever had in the short history of this

13:59 series.

14:00 It looks like the Rumble is universally beloved.

14:03 The Rumble is just as good as the winner.

14:05 The whole match can be 5 stars but if the wrong person wins, then it becomes bad.

14:10 It's one of the most fun things in wrestling where we count down to the next entrant and

14:13 either boo or cheer.

14:15 It also creates stars like Drew and many others.

14:17 So yes, it is actually good.

14:19 A good Rumble is the best thing ever.

14:23 Stories all throughout.

14:24 Do you wanna heckin' fight me?

14:28 The concept is so great that even the worst ones are entertaining, thanks to the element

14:32 of intrigue.

14:33 Hardly anything is better and more fulfilling than a well-booked Rumble.

14:37 Yes, yes and yes.

14:39 It's the only match of WWE's I will watch annually, without fail, regardless of what

14:44 else is going on in the company.

14:46 The Royal Rumble is the closest thing we get to an epic storyline in a single match.

14:50 Multiple plot points crossing over, starting new feuds on the road to the big season finale,

14:55 Wrestlemania.

14:56 Almost every other promotion tries to capture the same lightning in a bottle.

15:00 Most can't.

15:01 One of the bits of feedback that really jumped out to me there was the idea that the Rumble

15:05 lives and dies by its winner.

15:07 Yes, there have been classic Rumbles, but there have also been some BAD Rumbles.

15:11 And I'm not talking about the ones where it's a bit boring, I mean the ones that

15:15 have actively pissed off the audience.

15:20 What if the Royal Rumble is actually bad?

15:22 The 1996 Rumble is really lacking in star power, showing why WWF popularity was waning

15:28 in favour of the new and fresh WCW.

15:32 The 1998 Rumble is great for Austin and the Three Faces of Foley, but the rest of it is

15:37 a who's who of who gives a f***.

15:39 The 1999 Rumble is memorable for sure, but the match itself is more of an angle, just

15:44 more building of that McMahon-Austin storyline.

15:47 For the first time since its inception, it wasn't about who won the Rumble.

15:52 Vince McMahon won, but he didn't headline Wrestlemania.

15:56 Austin, the guy who lost, did.

16:00 And in a way, the same can be said for the 2000 Rumble.

16:04 And then we get into the stretch of time that is just about hated by every single wrestling

16:11 fan on the planet.

16:12 Please do prove me wrong in the comments on this.

16:15 Because we had the niceness of Edge winning in 2010, but Alberto Del Rio won in 2011,

16:21 and it didn't matter a jot for him or his destiny when he lost the opening match of

16:27 Wrestlemania against Edge.

16:29 Sheamus won in 2012 when it should have been Chris Jericho.

16:33 John Cena won in 2013, which was a foregone conclusion as fans could see a million miles

16:38 off that we were heading towards twice in a lifetime with The Rock, and we weren't

16:43 exactly excited about it this time because it came at the expense of CM Punk's excellent

16:49 WWE Championship run.

16:51 The 2014 Rumble is an absolute disaster, with WWE not realising that Daniel Bryan was the

16:59 hottest thing in wrestling and omitted him from the Rumble entirely.

17:03 So fans booed eventual winner Batista, who was supposed to be the big return of the year,

17:09 and booed poor Rey Mysterio because he had the temerity to not be Daniel Bryan.

17:16 And just when you thought WWE could not be more deaf with their 2014 booking, they had

17:22 the temerity to book the 2015 Rumble where they put Daniel Bryan in it and eliminated

17:28 him in ten minutes so we could all focus on Roman Reigns and The Rock.

17:31 It was a clear indication that WWE do not care what you as fans think.

17:37 They want Roman, so you're getting Roman.

17:40 Screw your Yes Charts.

17:42 2016 wasn't much better, again being built around Roman Reigns and Triple H winning the

17:47 WWE Championship - which no one other than Triple H and Vince McMahon wanted to see - and

17:53 despite having some new, fresh, emerging stars that people were genuinely getting behind,

18:00 WWE used the Royal Rumble to have Randy Orton win so he could beat Bray Wyatt at WrestleMania

18:06 in a storyline that did not need the WWE Championship.

18:11 The 2018 Royal Rumble was the first time in ages where WWE tried something new.

18:18 They had Hot Stars Asuka and Shinsuke Nakamura win.

18:22 It's a shame that neither won their title at WrestleMania, Asuka lost her undefeated

18:27 streak to Charlotte who didn't need to do so, and her Rumble win was overshadowed by

18:33 the debuting Ronda Rousey, but after years and years of bad Rumble winners, at least

18:38 it was a shining light that something new and someone different won.

18:42 But even when I write that down, and even when I relive those disappointments - particularly

18:47 2014, 15 and 17 - I can't help but think, "The Royal Rumble is great.

18:54 I mean it's the freaking Royal Rumble."

18:57 This tweet reply really caught my eye.

19:00 When you get to the heart of it, it's the countdown and that buzzer.

19:04 In that moment, the clarion call of "anything can happen" in the WWF rings truest.

19:11 Be that a new signing, an NXT call-up or a returning legend.

19:16 WWE have always spouted that line, "anything can happen" in the World Wrestling Federation,

19:21 and we've seen as wrestling fans that "anything" usually means "what we want" even if you

19:27 don't.

19:28 But with the Rumble, it's the start of a new season in many ways.

19:31 And it can be compared to a TV show that had a poor season you didn't like.

19:37 I didn't like season 4 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer because Adam was a weak villain, the

19:42 army stuff was total pish, and Riley was somehow less charismatic than Angel.

19:49 But season 5 had a brilliant villain in glory.

19:53 The fate of Joyce made me cry a whole bunch, the introduction of Scrappy Dawn, and a fantastic

20:00 conclusion.

20:01 So yeah, while it took me nearly 6 months to get through season 4 of Buffy the Vampire

20:07 Slayer because it was so f***ing boring in the back of my head, I always knew that season

20:13 5 would be a fresh start.

20:15 And I binged through season 5 really quickly because I enjoyed it so much.

20:20 And that's what the Royal Rumble is to a lot of fans - those fans that don't watch

20:24 what happens after WrestleMania.

20:26 They may not have enjoyed Sheamus, Randy Orton, Batista, Roman Reigns or Triple H winning,

20:32 but they'll be back in January to see the start of the new season - hoping this time

20:38 that Buffy isn't fighting someone as s*** as Adam.

20:42 Is the Royal Rumble actually good?

20:44 Yeah, it's more than good.

20:46 It's necessary.

20:48 And also it's f***ing brilliant.

20:52 Is the Royal Rumble actually good?

20:54 What a stupid question.

20:56 I know it's the gimmick, I know it's the premise, I don't care.

21:00 Why would you even leave open for interpretation?

21:04 Leave any room for error for idiots that don't think the Royal Rumble is actually good.

Is The Royal Rumble Actually Good?

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Actually Good | PFK - PartsFunKnown

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