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Best Non Winning Royal Rumble Performances


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I've been on a Royal Rumble kick lately, watching the 2001 version just a bit ago- the one where Kane whooped a lot of ass. What's some of the best or overlooked performances in the RR by non winners? 

One that comes to mind is 1994. Diesel was in the beginning of getting a monster heel push in the WWF, and he eliminated I believe seven or eight guys before being tossed over himself. It was such a good performance that even the pre Attitude crowd cheered and chanted his name as he headed back to the locker room, and looking back I think it planted the seeds of a face turn. 

Another one that gets forgotten is when Greg Valentine lasted about 40 minutes in the Rumble in 1990. Valentine, as we all know, is a tough motherfucker, but he'd been wrestling since the early 70's and had been in some major wars, so to last as long as he did before being eliminated is remarkable. 

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I was surprised Jericho made it over 50 minutes in this years. Wasn't his best rumble showing, but considering he's not as young as he used to be I thought it was impressive.

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4 hours ago, Go2Sleep said:

Mr. Perfect in 2003

You mean 2002 - I know because I was there live and completely losing my shit that my favorite wrestler had returned and made it to the final 3.

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9 hours ago, Thomas Bugg said:

I've been on a Royal Rumble kick lately, watching the 2001 version just a bit ago- the one where Kane whooped a lot of ass.

A young Cyanide's favorite wrestler cleaning house and setting a new eliminations record definitely ranks high for me.  Despite how insanely popular and over he still was (especially while still not far removed from his extended absence), I remember being so upset that Austin came in and cleaned house so late in the Rumble, finally taking down the Big Red Machine at the very end.

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People talk about Flair's 1992 Rumble win (and rightfully so) but Piper was pretty awesome in that Rumble.

The 2010 Rumble had Punk eliminating people and cutting promos while waiting for the next guy. That was great. Also, same year. I loved HBK desperately trying to win so that he could get another crack at Taker.

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For sure Mr. Perfect in 2002. His near elimination spot where someone is trying to dump him over the top rope and as he's leaning over the top rope he spits out his gum and swats it away is one of my favorite spots. I remember when he came out I was waiting for him to do that during the entrance and he didn't. That he chose then to do that is about one of the most Mr. Perfect things ever.

 

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Everybody shits on the Rumble because of the finish, but the 2014 Rumble performance of Roman Reigns was pretty awesome. He came in and kicked a lot of ass. His last two Rumbles were terrible, mostly spent laying around and doing nothing of note and then winning it. But that 2014 performance was awesome. 

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Bulldog in 1995. Because usually he had bugger all for cardio, but on this night, he was second in and last out.

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8 hours ago, Buy Me a Burrito said:

Everybody shits on the Rumble because of the finish, but the 2014 Rumble performance of Roman Reigns was pretty awesome. He came in and kicked a lot of ass. His last two Rumbles were terrible, mostly spent laying around and doing nothing of note and then winning it. But that 2014 performance was awesome. 

I second the love for Roman's performance in that Rumble. The Pittsburgh fans who were rightfully pissed off that night rallied around Reigns, something we will never see again. 

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I said in another thread recently that Santino should've won, so I'll mention a different year.

1992. Jake Roberts, just for when he comes to ringside, and instead of immediately kicking Piper who's got Flair in the sleeperhold, he just waves for them to continue and sits in the corner for a few seconds.

 

And, do answers here have to be from the actual battle royals, or can any match on a Rumble PPV count? Because Umaga.

 

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Curt Hennig got his first real star treatment at Rumble 89, lasting the longest and tossing a few guys out.  One of my favorite Jesse moments was Perfect trying to eliminate Ax and Monsoon chiding him for being too small to try something like that and then when Perfect tossed Ax later Jesse was quick to yell "PROVED YOU WRONG GORILLA!"

Backlund in 1993 was definitely a "WTF is going on here?" performance.  I was starting to think he was somehow going to win.  I'll also throw out Backlund in 2000, because he legit looked like he was showing real emotion when the crowd went crazy for him.

And speaking of 2000:  Taka.

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12 hours ago, AxB said:

Bulldog in 1995. Because usually he had bugger all for cardio, but on this night, he was second in and last out.

True but that was the shortest Rumble ever. That was the year they had 60 second intervals for the first time. He and HBK went bell to bell but the whole thing only lasted about 40 minutes.

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that's still about 30 minutes longer than it usually took Bulldog to be completely blown up, so impressive for him.

I thought Big Show was great in the 04 Rumble he was booked really well as unstoppable and over powering everyone. Until he flipped himself over the ropes and the match was won by no one.

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Valentine in '92. No, he didn't last 40 minutes but he and Flair spent most of Greg's time in the ring beating the holy living shit out of each other. Go back and re-watch just the time Valentine is in the ring. Even when the camera isn't on him, you can hear the chops and forearms between he and Ric.

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1 hour ago, Sublime said:

that's still about 30 minutes longer than it usually took Bulldog to be completely blown up, so impressive for him.

I thought Big Show was great in the 04 Rumble he was booked really well as unstoppable and over powering everyone. Until he flipped himself over the ropes and the match was won by no one.

I thought Stevie Richards won that year?

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2 hours ago, paintedbynumbers said:

One of the best things about Dibiase in the 90 rumble is he was hungover the whole time.  Makes him lasting so long even better.  

No shit. Never heard that story. Is that from a shoot interview?

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