dishdude714
01-26-2010, 07:22 PM
(source: Wikipedia)
1995
# This is the only Royal Rumble that has participants entering at one minute intervals.
# This was the first Royal Rumble in which the first participant in the match (Shawn Michaels) won the Royal Rumble, a feat not duplicated until the 2004 event when Chris Benoit entered first and won. However, because the 2004 event had entrances every 90 seconds Benoit's match lasted longer.
# This is the last Royal Rumble to use the original burgundy and gold ring aprons and rafter banners that had been used since the 1989 Royal Rumble. They weren't seen again until the press conference for the 1996 event, though they were not used at the actual event. They were replaced with black, red and gold.
# Pamela Anderson was on hand for the event and was featured in various backstage segments as well as in escorting the winner of the Rumble out of the arena.
1996
# This was the first pay-per-view event to feature the Free for All, a free preshow for pay-per-view events. Previous WWF pay-per-view events had a "countdown show" with a dark match taking place for the live audience, but, this was the first event to feature a free match for the television audience.
# This was the first Royal Rumble match to include theme music for all 30 entrants as they came down to the ring.
# A Women's Championship match between Aja Kong and then champion Alundra Blayze was to take place, as had been advertised in WWF Magazine. However, the match was scrapped after Blayze left the company.
1997
# Shawn Michaels later vacated the WWF Championship on the Thursday RAW Thursday special. Due to this and the controversial situation over the Royal Rumble ending, Steve Austin, Bret Hart, The Undertaker, and Vader were pitted against each other at In Your House 13: Final Four in a Four Corners match for the WWF Championship. As a result, Austin was the first Royal Rumble winner to not receive a WWF Championship shot at the following WrestleMania since the stipulation was introduced in 1993.
# During his employment with the WWF, "Razor Ramon" Scott Hall only competed at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view in championship matches. "Razor Ramon" competed in the 1997 Rumble match, however by that point he was being portrayed by Rick Bogner, not Scott Hall. Kevin Nash had left the WWF by this time as well, and Diesel was portrayed by Glen Jacobs, better known as Kane.
# During the Free For All pre-event match featuring "Mini Vader" and "Mini Mankind", Vince McMahon inquired if there was a "Mini King" (in reference to Jerry "the King" Lawler), to which Lawler promptly reminded him that there were, in fact, "mini Kings", in the form of Cheesy, Sleazy, and Queasy at the 1994 Survivor Series.
# With ten eliminations, Steve Austin broke the elimination record for a single Royal Rumble match previously held by Hulk Hogan from the 1989 Royal Rumble.
1995
# This is the only Royal Rumble that has participants entering at one minute intervals.
# This was the first Royal Rumble in which the first participant in the match (Shawn Michaels) won the Royal Rumble, a feat not duplicated until the 2004 event when Chris Benoit entered first and won. However, because the 2004 event had entrances every 90 seconds Benoit's match lasted longer.
# This is the last Royal Rumble to use the original burgundy and gold ring aprons and rafter banners that had been used since the 1989 Royal Rumble. They weren't seen again until the press conference for the 1996 event, though they were not used at the actual event. They were replaced with black, red and gold.
# Pamela Anderson was on hand for the event and was featured in various backstage segments as well as in escorting the winner of the Rumble out of the arena.
1996
# This was the first pay-per-view event to feature the Free for All, a free preshow for pay-per-view events. Previous WWF pay-per-view events had a "countdown show" with a dark match taking place for the live audience, but, this was the first event to feature a free match for the television audience.
# This was the first Royal Rumble match to include theme music for all 30 entrants as they came down to the ring.
# A Women's Championship match between Aja Kong and then champion Alundra Blayze was to take place, as had been advertised in WWF Magazine. However, the match was scrapped after Blayze left the company.
1997
# Shawn Michaels later vacated the WWF Championship on the Thursday RAW Thursday special. Due to this and the controversial situation over the Royal Rumble ending, Steve Austin, Bret Hart, The Undertaker, and Vader were pitted against each other at In Your House 13: Final Four in a Four Corners match for the WWF Championship. As a result, Austin was the first Royal Rumble winner to not receive a WWF Championship shot at the following WrestleMania since the stipulation was introduced in 1993.
# During his employment with the WWF, "Razor Ramon" Scott Hall only competed at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view in championship matches. "Razor Ramon" competed in the 1997 Rumble match, however by that point he was being portrayed by Rick Bogner, not Scott Hall. Kevin Nash had left the WWF by this time as well, and Diesel was portrayed by Glen Jacobs, better known as Kane.
# During the Free For All pre-event match featuring "Mini Vader" and "Mini Mankind", Vince McMahon inquired if there was a "Mini King" (in reference to Jerry "the King" Lawler), to which Lawler promptly reminded him that there were, in fact, "mini Kings", in the form of Cheesy, Sleazy, and Queasy at the 1994 Survivor Series.
# With ten eliminations, Steve Austin broke the elimination record for a single Royal Rumble match previously held by Hulk Hogan from the 1989 Royal Rumble.