My Favourite Rumble

Welcome one and all to a special look at my favourite "Royal Rumble". As always if you have anything to add or want to tell me what your favourite "Royal Rumble" match is you can do so by leaving a comment below or by following me on Twitter or Instagram. You can also check out my preview blogs for this weekends "NXT:Takover Philadelphia" and "Royal Rumble" events as well as all the other articles on this blog by clicking here.

I love the "Royal Rumble" match. Over the years it has provided endless entertainment and discussion amongst fans about who will win, where they'll enter and who might turn up in the match. There have been some great moments over the years from the very first match in which "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan came out on top to the controversial end to the 1995 "Rumble" where Shawn Michaels career really switch it into overdrive and who could forget Mr McMahon winning the match in 1999 ?

The "Royal Rumble" match that means the most to me isn't the most memorable match or even event in "WWE" history but, still goes down as my favourite "Rumble" event. In the year 2000 I was 13 years old and had only just gotten back into "WWE" the previous summer. The "Attitude Era" was in full swing and I had fallen in love with pro wrestling all over again. Gone were the over the top, cartoony characters of  the "New Generation" and in came an era that was, in retrospect, just as over the top as wrestling had always been but, I loved it. I was the "WWEs" key demographic; I listened to music that always seemed to be used as Pay Per View theme songs, I had long hair and piercings and I liked watching people being driven through tables and hit with chairs. Please note I won't be talking about the "Miss Rumble Swimsuit Competition" as nobody really needs reminding of that.

The event itself was in one of my favourite arenas, Madison Sqaure Garden" which to this day I love seeing on a "WWE" event. The reason for this is that the entrance area is always a lot different from any other event. The huge "Titantron" is replaced with smaller monitors above an entrance right in the middle if the crowd, allowing for a more creative entrance that is unique to events in "MSG".

The opening match was between a then unbeaten Kurt Angle and a mystery opponent, which turned out to be Tazz. I remember being so excited to see Tazz arrive in the "WWE". I was, of course, a huge "ECW" fan at the time and why would I not be ? There was blood, violence and all the bad stuff your parents wouldn't want you to see. Tazz was the ultimate wrestler in my eyes. He could lift even the biggest guy up over his head using a seemingly endless arsenal of suplexs, he was mean and just looked like he enjoyed beating people up. Kurt Angle on the other hand was the "All American" good guy, designed to make everyone boo and dislike him. Tazz appeared after weeks of build up in his hometown and proceeded to "choke out" Kurt Angle resulting in his unbeaten streak ending.

Match number two was the match I had been waiting for. The Hardy Boyz were "The Team" to me in 2000, guys how threw themselves about without a care for themselves or their opponents and now they were going to be in the first tag team ladder match against another one of my "ECW" favourites, The Dudley Boyz. This match lived up to every expectation that I had, there were tables and ladders thrown into the mix that were being used to their fullest potentials. The Hardys came out on top after Jeff throws himself off a balcony through a bunch of tables that was the first of 100s of high spots that Jeff provided over the next few years.

Match three was the then Co Intercontinental champions Chris Jericho and Chyna taking on Hardcore Holly in a pretty unmemorable match. The match was decide, once and for all, who was the undisputed Intercontinental champion.  Jericho was just getting started in "WWE", two years later being the very first undisputed "WWE" champion. Chyna and Jericho had a weird rivalry that eventually lead to them being a team and Hardcore Holly felt a little bit forced into the mix.

Match four was a really quick tag team match that was over just as quick as it started. This could have been a great rivalry but, all I remember is X-Pac cost the Acolytes the tag team championships resulting in a face off in the "Rumble" match.

Match five was the height of the feud between Triple H and Cactus Jack. To say this match was brutal is an understatement. In my opinion this was the "jumping the shark" moment for the extreme violence in "WWE". Mick Foley had brought back the Cactus Jack character for one last run before his eventual retirement. Triple h was really at the top of his game as a heel character in the absence of Stone Cold. There was the usual extreme match spots as well as the introduction of the barbed wire baseball bat and thumb tacks. It wasn't the best match between these two but, one of the most memorable.

Match six was the main event. The two men starting out were DLo Brown and Grandmaster Sexay who were amongst a line up of "Attitude Era" superstars that were cannon fodder for bigger guys such as Rikishi and Kane. Kaientai repeatedly interfered in the match which was a great comedic element of the match. The match would eventually lead to a controversial finish with The Rock winning the match with The Big Show claiming he won as The Rocks feet hit the floor first. This would eventually lead to a blockbuster match at "Wrestlemania 2000" between The Rock, Triple H, The Big Show and Mick Foley with a McMahon in each corner.