With just minutes to go before WWE Royal Rumble ’12 emanates lives from St. Louis, Missouri, here is one more article highlighting one of WWE’s flagship pay per views.
The Intangibles
The Royal Rumble match to an untrained eye looks to be a complicated mess of action with little flow, pacing or structure. Whereas actually the match is probably on of WWE’s most tightly choreographed and organized matches of the year. The brainchild of WWE Hall of Fame legend Pat Patterson has really spawned a life of its own and has become known for its own tendencies and expectancies.
For example…
The “Diesel Push”
This concept was named after Diesel’s performance in the 1994 Royal Rumble match where he entered the ring and eliminated the four men in the ring and then got rid of the next three competitors that followed thereafter. It really made Diesel look like a superstar and gave him his first push in the WWF. Before this Diesel was just a silent bodyguard for Shawn Michaels who mainly kept out of the ring or was used sparingly in the lower card. This Rumble moment made fans (including a young yours truly) stand up and take notice of the big man. Less than a year later he had won all three major WWF Championships and was the company’s flagship.
In 1997 this type of push was used again to help Steve Austin get over. He cleaned out the ring and then awaited the next three entrants, tossing them out one-by-one, anxiously looking at his “watch” in between each new man. Austin was the only one who received this Rumble spot and still went on to win the match as it has since been used as a way to put over an entrant who is billed as a threat or is getting a strong push, but would not be the eventual winner.
It happened again with Rikishi in 2000 (complete with dance break) and Kane in 2001 (complete with hardcore fighting interlude). In 2002 it was done with Undertaker, which led not only to Undertaker keeping his “heat” but also instrumental in getting the rookie Maven over as well. It happened again in 2007 with The Great Khali, who cleared out the entire ring of competitors en route to getting eliminated quickly.
Men like Rikishi, Kane and Khali weren’t meant to win the Rumble match as they were not big enough draws to main event WrestleMania, but the “Diesel push” allowed for these large men to keep themselves over and put themselves in line for a big match later on.
The best bet for tonight’s Rumble would be for Brodus Clay to get the “Diesel Push.”
The Group Elimination
On the flipside of one man running the table of the competition, is one man being ousted by the competition in unison. For a super heavyweight being ousted by the entire ring’s roster, it can be almost as beneficial as getting a “Diesel push.” In 1990 Earthquake eliminated two men quickly and then within two minutes the remaining six men left in the ring combined to dump him out. Despite being in the ring for such a short time he looked like a threat. He not only got rid of two men by himself but by forcing the rest of the entrants to work together it showed that he was viewed as a big threat and needed to be dealt with quickly. Even though he didn’t win he came out of the match with some credibility as a dangerous opponent.
In 1993 Yokozuna took the “big man elimination” to a new level when he outright won the event and showed that yes size does sometimes matter in an event like this.
In 2000, it was used to eliminate Rikishi, who in the same match got both the “Diesel push” and the big man elimination. Mabel/Viscera/Big Daddy V has competed in numerous Royal Rumble matches and was responsible for gang eliminations in 1994 and again in 2007.
Once again Brodus Clay or Mark Henry look to be locks for the group spot to be attempted on.
The Super Human Elimination
Related to the group elimination, almost a “part B” to the rule, is the super human elimination in which one or two men are responsible for eliminating the event’s token big man.
There are a few examples of this rule. For example, Demolition eliminated Andre the Giant in 1990, and Hulk Hogan did it to Earthquake in 1991. Lex Luger got rid of both Mabel and Mantaur in 1995, Chris Benoit eliminated Big Show in 2004 and John Cena got out Viscera in 2005. It makes the man who did the elimination look like a true big-time superstar, able to eliminate a larger-than-life threat individually. The big men who were eliminated were normally booked to look like threats previously in the match so there was not much damage done their character by the single elimination.
John Cena is always up for being the super human that slays the proverbial monster.
The Super Power Stand-off
This type of stand-off is usually reserved for the match’s two top heroes to lock horns alone in the ring. It is an easy way to whip the crowd into a frenzy, and plant the seeds for an eventual big-money match. It started in 1989 with Hulk Hogan and The Macho Man, but really became iconic in 1990 with the stand-off between Hogan and Ultimate Warrior. It perfectly set the wheels in motion for their big WrestleMania VI main event. It happened again in 2002 with always red-hot Steve Austin and the returning Triple H. In more recent years it has happened at the end of the match to determine the winner, most notably in 2005 with John Cena and Batista and again last year with Shawn Michaels and Undertaker. It was tried last year between John Cena and Randy Orton, but the crowd didn’t bite on as a must see event.
It probably will not happen this year unless either Triple H and/or Undertaker make a surprise appearance.
The Iron Man
In a match that is, at the very minimum, going to be at least 30 minutes needs some sort of talented professional to keep it all together. Thus every year since 1990, one or two men are selected to be the “iron man” or “pace-setter” for the Rumble match. They are guy or guys who are talented enough to keep the match held together coherently and make it entertaining even during lull points. They start off real early in the match and last at three-quarters of the way through the match. It’s a way to get a physically smaller athlete over in the context of the Rumble match. It plays up that while they may not have the size and strength to dominate the match, they have the stamina and endurance to outlast the competition. Men like Ric Flair, Shawn Michaels, Steve Austin, Chris Benoit and Rey Mysterio have used the “iron man” spot to put themselves over in a Rumble victory while others like Ted DiBiase, Rick Martel, Bob Backlund, The Rock, Randy Orton and Triple H have used the spot to not only look good in defeat but keep the flow of the event going.
It has already been announced that The Miz has drawn #1 in tonight’s Rumble bout, so look for him to get Iron Man honors.
The “Bushwacker Luke”
The “Bushwacker Luke” is the unofficial name for quickest elimination in the Rumble, despite the fact that Warlord’s time in 1989 was actually the shortest official time in the ring for nearly twenty years. Bushwacker Luke’s elimination from 1991 has just grown into Rumble legend and is often what is referenced when talking about short battle royal tenures. Whereas some of these other rules don’t happen every year in order to keep them fresh, a quick elimination or eliminations is virtually guaranteed yearly. From Rumbles filled with them, like 1995, 1997 and 2004, to an event like 1998 where Rumble entrant times were long there has always been one token in-and-out. It is a quick payday for the man or men being ousted but it is a huge boost in the eyes of the fans to the man who does the eliminations.
Santino Marella has become the new king of the quick comedy elimination, and he could certainly do it again this year.
Unlucky #30
The mottos for the Royal Rumble include “every man for themselves” or the “luck of the draw.” However despite the man who draws #30 has the mathematically best chance of winning the match it has never happened until this past year, when Undertaker won in 2007 from the #30 position and then John Cena did it again in 2008. This was done in order to keep up the unpredictability factor of the event. If the logistical #30 won all the time, the predictability would be shot.
The #30 position is always hyped up, as it is logical psychology to sell in a match like this. In the past a braggadocios villain like Ted DiBiase, Curt Hennig, X-Pac or Booker T has used the final spot to brag about their position and their easy road to victory.
Somebody like Dolph Ziggler or Wade Barrett would be a perfect number thirty guy this year.
The Surprise Entrants
In order to keep the Rumble interesting over the course of the hour, it is often necessary to include random or surprise entrants into the match. They provide for an element of surprise and excitement. It’s hard to keep the crowd’s attention for sixty minutes and so it’s imperative to keep changing up the flow of the match in order to keep it fresh. The idea of the surprise entrant started in 1991, when the “mystery entrant” was revealed the night of the show to be Brian Knobs of The Nasty Boys. Since then, the surprise or mystery entrant has been used to re-introduce an old face (like with Big Show and Haku in 2001) or bring in an entrant for a one-night shot (like a sixth of the entrants in both 1996 and 1997).
With no official roster list announced for tonight’s Royal Rumble, the entire match is a virtual surprise. But surely three or four old and unexpected faces should appear tonight.
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