(01.22.95)Live from Tampa, FLAttendance: 10,000Your hosts are Vince McMahon & Jerry LawlerPamela Anderson receives a bunch of gifts from the superstars. It's pretty corny.Intercontinental ChampionshipRazor Ramon (C) Vs Jeff Jarrett (W/The Roadie)Jarrett tosses Razor over the top rope, causing Razor to fall awkwardly on his knee. The Roadie chopblocks Razor from behind on the outside behind the ref's back. Jarrett wins by countout. HOWEVER, Jarrett goads Razor into restarting the match. Razor tries the Razor's Edge but his leg buckles. Jarrett gets him in an inside cradle to win the title. This is one of those matches that goes unnoticed because of the terrible overbooking. This is a pretty good match with both men on top of their game. If it wasn't for the terrible booking, it would be considered a great opener.***1/2The Undertaker (W/Paul Bearer) Vs I.R.S (W/Ted Dibiase)The Undertaker wins with a chokeslam. This match isn't bad as I remembered. That's kinda a backhanded compliment, though. It's still a pretty mediocre match with nothing special about it what so ever. Nobody bought I.R.S as a threat to The Undertaker.*1/2WWF ChampionshipDiesel (C) Vs Bret HartDiesel has it won with a jackknife powerbomb until Shawn Michaels runs in and prevents Diesel from winning. In lieu of a DQ, the referee elects to continue the match. Bret has the match won with the Sharpshooter, but Owen Hart runs in to prevent a submission. The referee declares that the match MUST continue AGAIN. Shawn Michaels, Owen Hart, Jeff Jarrett, The Roadie, and Bob Backlund run in to Finally make this a no-contest. Diesel and Bret embrace after the match in a show of respect. Thoughts: Bret Hart gives Diesel his best matches. This is an excellent match that's loaded with creativity and suspense. I liked how both men acted heelish in this match, especially Bret. The psychology is also excellent with Bret doing a great job of going after Diesel's leg. It's overbooked a little bit but it doesn't detract from the match too much. It's the perfect example of finesse Vs power.****Tag Team ChampionshipBam Bam Bigelow & Tatanka (W/Ted Dibiase) Vs The 1-2-3 Kid & Bob HollyThe Kid & Holly win the titles after a heel miscommunication. This was a fun little match with a great Cinderella story. The Kid & Holly played the perfect underdogs and managed to make you care about them. ***Lawrence Taylor starts laughing at Bam Bam Bigelow. Bigelow shoves him. This would lead to a match at Wrestlemania 11.The Royal Rumble1. is Shawn Michaels. 2. is The British Bulldog. Like an idiot, The Bulldog picks up Shawn for a military press slam, but he slams on the mat instead of the floor. 3. is Eli Blu. 4 is Duke "The Dumpster" Droese. 5. is Jimmy Del Ray. 6. is Sione (The Barbarian) of The Headshrinkers. Bulldog eliminates Del Ray. 7. is Tom Pritchard. 8. is Doink, and the crowd pops huge for some odd reason. 9 is Savio Veg...I mean, Kwang. 10. is Rick Martel, who has outlived his usefulness at this point. 11. is Owen Hart. Bret attacks Owen in the aisle way to get revenge. 12. is Timothy Well. Owen Hart gets eliminated off camera. Shawn Michaels eliminates Droese. The Bulldog follows that by tossing Timothy Well. Sione ends Martel's night, and Michaels gets rid of Pritchard. Kwang eliminates Doink as 13. is Bushwhacker Luke. Eli Blu and Sione eliminate each other. So many quick eliminations! Michaels quickly ends Luke's night by throwing him out. 14. is Jacob Blu. He goes out almost as quickly as he came in. 15. is King Kong Bundy. 16. is Mo from Men on a Mission. He lasts a few seconds before getting thrown out by Bundy. Mo breaks Bushwhacker Luke's quickest elimination record. 17. is Mabel. He goes after Bundy, of course. 18. is Bushwhacker Butch. Mabel eliminates Bundy. Michaels gets rid of Butch. 19. is Lex Luger. He starts off with a bang by eliminating Mabel. 20. is Mantaur. 21. is Aldo Montoya. (Justin Credible) 22. is Henry Godwin. 23. is Billy Gunn. 24. is his brother Bart Gunn. 25. is Bob Backlund. to thunderous boos. He's greeted by an attack from Bret Hart as well. 26. is Steven Dunn. Luger tosses Backlund to a big pop. 27. is Dick Murdoch. 28. is Adam Bomb. 29. is Fatu. Luger eliminates Mantaur. 30. is Crush. Crush gets rid of the Smoking Gunns simultaneously. Montoya eliminates Steven Dunn. Crush gets rid of Adam Bomb. Montoya is eliminated by Crush. He follows that up by getting rid of Fatu. Murdoch eliminates himself after the effects of an airplane spin. Luger eliminates Henry Godwin. Murdoch gets a standing ovation on his way out. The final four are Luger, Michaels, Crush, and The British Bulldog. Michaels eliminates Luger. The Bulldog clotheslines Crush out, leaving Michaels and Bulldog as the final two. The British Bulldog clotheslines Michaels out to WIN the Royal Rumble...WAIT! Michaels dangled his feet above the ground, and only one foot hit the floor. He comes back in while Bulldog is celebrating on the top rope, and knocks him to the floor to eliminate The Bulldog. Shawn Michaels has won the Royal Rumble.Thoughts: Shawn winning the rumble after drawing number one was unheard of back then. It's one of the most memorable rumble performances of all time. Despite Michael's heroics, this one suffers greatly from a lack of star power. I did enjoy Shawn teasing elimination, and the ending to the Rumble was cool as well. I just wish the rumble itself was more exciting and had more star power. ** 7/10 overall.

*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.