Original subtitles

- Welcome to the Royal Rumble

- The Royal Rumble, the most unique and often considered the

most fun event in all of Sports Entertainment.

- The only time of the year that you can see 30 of the top stars.

- 30 big-time wrestlers, yeah, with reputations to match.

- I don't understand the Royal Rumble.

- Beginning with two competitors, and eventually 30,

the Rumble is pure adrenaline and excitement as all

competitors vie to toss their opponents over the top rope

and remain the last person standing.

- No.

I can't believe it.

- The single goal in the Royal Rumble is to prove what is the

strongest force in the WWE.

- This is WWE's greatest moments.

[buzzer]

- Acknowledge me.

- My God.

- Stone Cold with the beer bath.

- This is surreal.

- Look at this.

- He slammed him.

- Welcome, everyone, to WWE's greatest moments.

A celebration of those core memories from

Sports Entertainment's vast incredible history.

I'm Michael Cole, and on this edition, we shout out the

defining moments from the early era of Royal Rumble matches.

Beginning in 1988, the Royal Rumble concept

was fresh and exciting.

With 30 superstars potentially occupying the ring at the same

time, the possibilities were endless.

And when the first Rumble broadcast went live,

fans and traditionalists alike were blown away

by the format and the presentation.

- January 24th, the night of the big happening, the Royal Rumble.

- 20 men are gonna be involved

in this first-ever spectacular.

- Well, this ought to be Duggan's style of a match.

- I didn't think it was going to work.

- Who knows what we're gonna wind up with.

- The last man's coming in.

- Oh, the Junkyard Dog.

- And halfway through it, I went, "Okay, I get it.

I'm-I'm the knuckle head.

- Here comes The Gang right at him.

Oh, my.

- The final two men in that first Royal Rumble,

"Hacksaw" Jim Duggan and the One-man Gang.

- How does he get The Gang over the top?

- He just did a little spot where I come charging

at him for a clothesline.

- I pulled the top rope down and Big One Man Gang

went over the top-

- Oh, yes.

That's it.

- He pulled the top rope down.

[bell rings]

- -and I won.

My expression says it all.

- The winner of the Royal Rumble, "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan.

- And to have that type of accolade that Duggan wins the

first one, I mean, that puts him on the map.

- I can't believe it,

out of all the people to win this thing, it's him.

- And from that moment on, the Royal Rumble

would become a staple in WWE.

One of the most intriguing aspects of the Royal Rumble is

that you get to see matchups you never thought were possible.

Take for instance, in 1990, the two biggest stars in all of WWE

were "The Immortal" Hulk Hogan and the Ultimate Warrior,

and every fan was concocting their own dream

match between the two until the Royal Rumble made it a reality.

- And Honky Tonk,

Hogan eliminating The Honky Tonk Man.

Shawn Michaels eliminated by the Warrior,

and Rick Martel eliminated by the Warrior.

And look at this.

Look at this.

- My-my God.

- Hulk Hogan and The Warrior.

- You have these two really popular stars, and when they

finally sort of looked at each other and it crossed your mind,

"Oh, my God, are these guys going to square off?

- There is not a person sitting down.

- It-- Your-your-your head exploded.

- Listen.

- Whoa, what a matchup this is gonna be.

- You didn't get two heroes at the top of their game

going toe to toe ever.

And so it was such a unique experience and it forced

you to pick sides.

- As soon as we bumped each other and we turned and we

stared down for a minute,

okay, we could draw some money with this one.

- He missed the clothesline.

Whoa.

- And they clotheslined each other.

- The idea that these two would be clashing, everybody watching

just get sucked in by all the drama unfolding.

- Hogan eliminates The Warrior.

There you see it.

- That moment is the beginning of the rivalry between

Hulk Hogan and The Ultimate Warrior.

- Number eight on our countdown fittingly features The Eighth

Wonder of the World, WWE Hall of Famer Andre the Giant, who

struck fear into his opponents

with his massive size and strength.

He was unafraid and undaunted by absolutely nothing,

except perhaps our gargantuan slithering reptile named Damien.

- I will be the last one.

I never lost a match so far, and I'm coming again to win.

- We're gonna see just how--

Whoa, look out.

- There goes Smash.

Whoa.

- Hip block and Darvin is gone.

And there goes Jake.

He's out of there.

- No one's gonna eliminate Andre the Giant.

- Well, Andre the Giant over the years has won, what, more battle

royals than anyone in the

history of professional wrestling?

- But Andre was terrified of snakes.

- What's this?

Jake "The Snake" back.

He can't come back.

He's got Damien with him.

Look at Andre.

Andre has just eliminated himself.

- Eliminated himself by jumping over the top rope.

It looked really cool.

- Wow, that is grossly unfair, Gorilla Monsoon.

Jake "The Snake" Roberts was eliminated.

He had no right to appear back at ringside.

- Andre just eliminated himself.

- No, Damien did it.

- Now to our seventh entry of greatest Royal Rumble moments of

the 80's and 90's featuring the then head of the table,

Yokozuna, in his conquest to win his very first Rumble.

- Boy, they want him bad, don't they?

- Here's another one.

Uh-oh.

- Uh-oh.

- Yokozuna, 500 pounds plus.

- I bet he's more than that now.

- Unprecedented in the Royal Rumble.

The winner going to Caesar's Palace at WrestleMania 9 to

face the reigning WWE Champion.

- The stipulation of winning the Rumble and competing for the WWE

Championship at WrestleMania made the Royal Rumble

itself even more valuable.

- Nobody has even knocked this guy off his feet yet.

- He could always move, he could always put on a show.

And even as he got bigger, how agile he was.

And that shows you how talented he was, especially at that size.

- I gotta stand for this one.

I gotta stand to see the end of this.

- Oh, Backlund is gone.

We're down to two.

One of them will become the challenger at WrestleMania 9.

- Your final two are Yokozuna and "Macho Man" Randy Savage.

- Savage with the elbow.

Pinfalls don't count.

Oh, there he goes.

- He threw him out to the floor.

- On his way to WrestleMania 9.

- From that point forward, it just added so much more

importance to the Rumble.

- The balls are in my court,

and I just might rip 'em off and step on 'em.

♪

- "The Ninth Wonder of the World" Chyna, possessing an

imposing frame and impressive strength like

no woman before her.

Chyna had begun to compete against men in the ring and

would make history as the first woman to compete in the men's

Royal Rumble match.

- Number 30 on the way.

[buzzer]

[D-Generation X's music]

[crowd cheers]

- The Ninth Wonder of the World making WWE history.

- It was so cool.

It was so special.

Not just being a woman, but just seeing something different.

- She was so empowering and inspiring

for a whole generation of women.

- Look at this.

- And Mark Henry now.

Chyna taking it to Mark Henry.

- Being the first woman to enter the Royal Rumble,

everyone wanted to see her overcome all the odds.

- And there goes Mark Henry.

- How did she do that?

- Eliminating Mark Henry "The World's Strongest Man"

is no easy task.

So that speaks to not only what she was able to accomplish in

that Royal Rumble, but the moment she was able to create.

- We're still talking about it now,

so it obviously has made a huge impact.

- She's not afraid of anybody.

- Although Chyna didn't win the Rumble,

the history that she made that night was undeniable.

- Now, on to our fifth selection of greatest Royal Rumble moments

of the 80's and 90's.

In 1996, when Steve Austin adopted the Stone Cold moniker-

- Austin 3:16 says I just whipped your ass.

- -it was more than just a name change.

It was a transformation in attitude,

and it revitalized Austin's career.

And heading into the 1997 Royal Rumble, no one superstar had

more momentum than the brash Texas Rattlesnake.

- Very soon, someone else

will be joining the fray.

[Stone Cold's music]

- "Stone Cold" Steve Austin.

- Uh-oh.

- I've been fortunate

to win three Royal Rumbles,

but in 1997, that would be my favorite.

- He is in great shape.

- Yeah.

- He's in fighting shape.

And once again, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin is picking them

off one at a time.

- 1997 has probably the most "gifable" moment

in Royal Rumble history.

"Stone Cold" Steve Austin sitting on the rope and checking

his watch because he's alone in the ring 'cause he already

eliminated everybody.

- He's basically awaiting for the next individual to come out.

[Bret Hart's music]

[crowd cheers]

- Bret "The Hitman" Hart and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin.

- Let's see what Steve Austin's gonna do with Bret Hart now.

- Boy, this is hellfire and brimstone when these

two get together.

- We went in there like two lions.

- Bret Hart eliminates me, and the referees didn't see "Stone

Cold" Steve Austin go down on the floor, so I rolled back in.

- Austin has been eliminated.

Wait a minute.

No, no.

[bell rings]

- "Stone Cold" Steve Austin is the last man standing in the

ring as The Hitman hits the ground and I'm the winner.

- Bret cannot believe it.

- I think a lot of people think the '97 Rumble is controversial,

but I disagree.

I think "Stone Cold" Steve Austin is a smart man.

The crowd boos, "Oh, well, I'm going to WrestleMania."

- Stone Cold with a controversial win.

The first of what would be a record three Rumble

victories in his career.

On the short end of the stick was Bret "The Hitman" Hart,

who once again found himself in a hotly contested finish at the

1994 Royal Rumble.

- To say we're a little overconfident

would be an understatement.

- The Royal Rumble, the best against the best, only one man

comes out the winner, and it's gonna be me.

- Heading into the 1994 Royal Rumble, there were two odds-on

favorites, Lex Luger and Bret "The Hitman" Hart.

- And over the top.

- There goes- Michaels is out of there.

- Wait a minute-

- What a--

- -it's Bret Hart.

It's Lex Luger.

And Luger has Bret up and down.

- No.

- Lex Luger.

- Oh, look at this.

- We had to both land at the exact same time on the ground,

and it had to be a dispute, you know, and it's sort of like

a miracle that we pulled that off.

- Two referees came down.

One raised the hand of Bret Hart.

The other raised the hand of Lex Luger.

- I don't think they can make up their minds.

- And ultimately, it was declared a tie.

- The winners are Lex Luger and Bret "Hitman" Hart.

- Both men have won, and this, with no doubt,

will go down in World Wrestling Entertainment history.

- I remember doing the old pause on the VHS,

then hitting the pause button again,

so you could take it frame by frame,

and watching them fall to the floor at the other side and

arguing with my buddy that you can see clearly

that Lex has went faster because he weighs more.

- I still get asked about the Royal Rumble,

with Bret and I both co-winners.

I thought it was a good storyline.

- I've never seen this before.

- And I've seen him a few times over the years where it's like

we've laughed about it.

- This next moment is one that truly defined the show-stealing

nature of "The Heartbreak Kid" Shawn Michaels.

- This is the year of The Heartbreak Kid.

- Pulling the dreaded number one spot in the Rumble, Michaels

would have to run the gamut and outlast 29 hungry superstars

if he were to have a shot at winning the match.

- It's the luck of the draw,

and Shawn Michaels

very unlucky here tonight.

- Has anybody ever gone in number one and won it?

No.

- And your likelihood of going all the way is not great.

Michaels trying to hang on.

Look at Michaels hanging on.

He's like an octopus, wrapping himself around the ropes.

- People wanted him thrown out immediately when he came in,

and then when they saw him fighting and hanging

on for dear life, this strange thing happened where people

began to root for him.

- Here we go.

Here we go.

Michaels is still in there.

Michaels has been eliminated.

- Shawn, out of sheer athleticism, only has one foot

touched the floor, and as everyone knows,

two feet hasn't touched the floor.

- Wait a minute.

- Wait just a minute.

- They're saying that Shawn Michaels

has won the Royal Rumble.

- Only one of Shawn Michaels' feet hit the floor.

The winner, Shawn Michaels.

- So far, we've seen it all, but our number two moment features

three iconic performances in one night.

That's right, not one, not two, but all three faces of Foley.

- Let's find out

who drew number one.

[Cactus Jack's music]

- Cactus Jack.

- Mick Foley had three different personas.

So, if one of them didn't work out-

- Look out, there goes Cactus Jack.

He's out.

- -he had two more on deck.

[buzzer]

[Mankind's music]

- Hey.

- Wait a minute.

- Wait a minute.

- Yes.

- Oh my gosh.

This ain't right.

♪

- Mankind has been eliminated by Goldust.

- Every time he got eliminated,

he came back as the next character.

- Yeah, you're out, Mankind.

Beat it.

- The WWE Universe ate that up.

[buzzer]

[Dude Love's music]

- Mrs. Foley's baby boy is pulling a triple header.

- When Dude Love showed up, it becomes the biggest response

I've ever received.

- Oh, Dude Love just eliminated Bradshaw.

- I hate Dude Love.

- Oh, Dude's got the Mandible Claw, shades of Mankind.

Oh, low blow, Austin.

- There goes Dude.

- This will never happen again because I don't believe any

other superstar had three different memorable characters

like Mick Foley had.

- 0 for 3, Mick, but hey, thanks for coming.

- Without further ado, our final moment on our countdown of

greatest Royal Rumble moments of the '80's and '90's.

We now go back to 1992, when "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair

entered the Rumble at the number three spot,

but this was no ordinary Rumble.

- Unprecedented, first time

in the history of the

World Wrestling Entertainment

that whoever emerges victorious in

the Royal Rumble will be crowned the Undisputed World Wrestling

Entertainment Champion.

- If you have the World Heavyweight Championship on the

line, the stakes do not get any bigger than that.

[bell rings]

- Put your money on Ric Flair.

He's going to do it all.

I've got that--

- Suppose he gets numbers one through five.

What does he do now?

- That's not fair.

- That's not fair for Flair.

- Who's number three now?

There goes the buzzer.

- No.

- Oh, yes.

- Damn it.

- It's Ric Flair.

[crowd cheers]

- Ric Flair comes out at number three.

Number three, outside of numbers one and two, not the best spot.

There's no way he's lasting towards the end.

- Never before in the history of the Royal Rumble has anyone who

has drawn numbers one through five been there at the end.

- Oh, shut up.

- No one wanted Ric Flair to win the Royal Rumble

more than Bobby Heenan.

- How long has he been in now?

- In excess of 55 minutes.

- Give him the title.

That's good enough for me.

- God, no, I'm not giving him the title.

- I'm telling you, Mansoon, if he wins this,

I'll never say or do anything bad again.

- The final two are Ric Flair and Sid Justice.

- And look at this.

Hulkster holding on, trying to pull him out.

Oh, yes.

- Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

- Flair did it.

- Yes, yes, yes, yes.

He did it, I told you, Monsoon.

- He does what Ric Flair always does.

Makes history.

I remember being furious as a kid seeing that go down.

- That was a big deal.

The Mecca at that point in time of my career.

- Yes, yes.

I told you.

- Flair did it.

I don't believe it.

- He did it.

- It was a really fun ride for fans to take.

That Rumble is often revered as the greatest Royal Rumble

because of what Ric Flair was able to do.

That was a great moment.

- With a tear in my eye, this is the greatest moment in my life.

- Lasting over one hour in the match, Flair lived up to his

60-minute man moniker and delivered a moment that will

forever be one of the 16-time

world champs' ultimate highlights.

Well, that'll do it for this edition

of WWE's Greatest Moments.

We hope you enjoyed this look back at the best Royal Rumble

moments of the 80's and 90's.

I'm Michael Cole.

We'll see you next time.