Royal Rumble (1996)

The 1996 Royal Rumble was the ninth annual Royal Rumble professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). It took place on January 21, 1996, at the Selland Arena in Fresno, California.

Royal Rumble
Promotional poster featuring Diesel performing a Big Boot on Owen Hart
PromotionWorld Wrestling Federation
DateJanuary 21, 1996 (1996-01-21)
CityFresno, California
VenueSelland Arena
Attendance9,600[1]
Tagline(s)Welcome to the Dark Side Live on Pay Per View
Pay-per-view chronology
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In Your House 6
Royal Rumble chronology
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1995		 Next →
1997

The main event was The Undertaker versus Bret Hart for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship, with Undertaker winning via disqualification due to interference from Diesel.

Production

Background

The Royal Rumble is an annual gimmick pay-per-view, produced every January by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) since 1988. It is one of the promotion's original four pay-per-views, along with WrestleMania, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series, later dubbed the "Big Four".[2] It is named after the Royal Rumble match, a modified battle royal in which the participants enter at timed intervals instead of all beginning in the ring at the same time. The match generally features 30 wrestlers. Traditionally, the winner of the match earns a world championship match at that year's WrestleMania. For 1996, the winner earned a match for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania XII. 1996 was the ninth event in the Royal Rumble chronology.[3][4]

Storylines

The card consisted of five matches. The matches resulted from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portrayed heroes, villains, or less distinguishable characters to build tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches. Results were predetermined by WWF's writers, with storylines produced on their weekly television show, Raw.[5][6]

Event

In a match occurring on the Free For All preshow, Duke "The Dumpster" Droese defeated Hunter Hearst Helmsley. WWF president Gorilla Monsoon stepped in after Droese was pinned and reversed the referee's decision, disqualifying Helmsley for using brass knuckles to knock Droese out. As a result, Droese won the right to be entry number 30 in the Royal Rumble match, while Helmsley had to enter first.

Featured matches on the undercard were the 1996 Royal Rumble match which was won by Shawn Michaels, who last eliminated Diesel to win the match, making it his second straight Royal Rumble win; Goldust defeating Razor Ramon for the WWF Intercontinental Championship; and The Smoking Gunns (Billy Gunn and Bart Gunn) defeating The Bodydonnas (Skip and Zip) to retain the WWF Tag Team Championship.

Aftermath

The 1996 Royal Rumble marked the first pay-per-view appearance of Steve Austin, here using the name "The Ringmaster," a blond-haired master ring technician and the featured wrestler in the "Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase's stable. His elimination was accidental as he was supposed to be in the final four, but he slipped on the ropes and fell out when he was doing a spot with Fatu.[7] In the weeks following the Royal Rumble, "The Ringmaster" gimmick was met with lukewarm reaction from fans, prompting Austin to create a new look and gimmick for himself: the "Stone Cold" gimmick, that of a foul-mouthed individual who drank beer and freely spoke his mind, uncaring of who he angered or whether he had friends (he often attacked heel and face alike), openly disregarded the rules and fought until his last breath. As "Stone Cold," Austin—who began his first major feud, with Savio Vega, under "The Ringmaster" moniker and continued it after changing his gimmick—went on to become one of the WWF's biggest stars and helped usher in the promotion's Attitude Era.

Results
No. Results Stipulations Times[1]
1F Duke Droese defeated Hunter Hearst Helmsley by disqualification Singles match for entry #30 in the Royal Rumble match 6:25
2 Ahmed Johnson defeated Jeff Jarrett by disqualification Singles match 6:40
3 The Smoking Gunns (Billy Gunn and Bart Gunn) (c) defeated The Bodydonnas (Skip and Zip) (with Sunny) Tag team match for the WWF Tag Team Championship 11:14
4 Goldust (with Marlena) defeated Razor Ramon (c) Singles match for the WWF Intercontinental Championship 14:17
5 Shawn Michaels won by last eliminating Diesel 30-man Royal Rumble match for a WWF World Heavyweight Championship match at WrestleMania XII[8] 58:49
6 The Undertaker (with Paul Bearer) defeated Bret Hart (c) by disqualification Singles match for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship 28:31
  • (c) – refers to the champion(s) heading into the match
  • F – indicates the match was broadcast prior to the pay-per-view on Free for All

Royal Rumble entrances and eliminations

A new entrant came out approximately every 2 minutes.

Draw[8] Entrant[8] Order[8] Eliminated by[8] Time Eliminations
1 Hunter Hearst Helmsley 19 Diesel 48:04 1
2 Henry O. Godwinn 2 Jake Roberts 16:24 0
3 Bob Backlund 1 Yokozuna 12:22 0
4 Jerry Lawler 16 Shawn Michaels 36:02 0
5 Bob Holly 18 The Ringmaster 39:35 0
6 King Mabel 3 Yokozuna 12:14 0
7 Jake Roberts 6 Vader 14:39 2
8 Dory Funk Jr. 5 Savio Vega 10:53 0
9 Yokozuna 11 Shawn Michaels 19:14 3
10 1-2-3 Kid 13 15:40 0
11 Takao Omori 4 Hunter Hearst Helmsley and Jake Roberts 02:48 0
12 Savio Vega 10 Vader 12:28 1
13 Vader 12 Shawn Michaels 11:04 4
14 Doug Gilbert 7 Vader 02:59 0
15 Squat Teamer #1 8 01:11 0
16 Squat Teamer #2 9 Yokozuna 00:24 0
17 Owen Hart 21 Diesel and Shawn Michaels 20:43 2
18 Shawn Michaels - Winner 26:09 8
19 Hakushi 14 Owen Hart 01:53 0
20 Tatanka 17 Diesel 04:09 1
21 Aldo Montoya 15 Tatanka 01:52 0
22 Diesel 29 Shawn Michaels 17:51 5
23 Kama 28 Diesel 15:57 1
24 The Ringmaster 23 Fatu 10:57 1
25 Barry Horowitz 20 Owen Hart 04:15 0
26 Fatu 24 Isaac Yankem, DDS 07:07 1
27 Isaac Yankem, DDS 25 Shawn Michaels 07:05 1
28 Marty Jannetty 22 The British Bulldog 02:35 0
29 The British Bulldog 27 Shawn Michaels 03:39 1
30 Duke Droese 26 Diesel and Kama 01:10 0

^ This was King Mabel's last appearance until he returned on June 30, 1998, for a one off match with Ken Shamrock on Raw.

Other on-screen personnel
Commentators
Interviewers
Ring announcer
Referees

References
  1. "Royal Rumble 1996 results". Pro Wrestling History. Retrieved 2008-03-29.
  2. Ian Hamilton. Wrestling's Sinking Ship: What Happens to an Industry Without Competition (p. 160)
  3. "Specialty Matches: Royal Rumble". WWE. Retrieved 2007-12-03.
  4. Waldman, Jon (2005-02-02). "Statistical survival – breaking down the Royal Rumble". SLAM! Wrestling. Retrieved 2007-12-09.
  5. Grabianowski, Ed. "How Pro Wrestling Works". HowStuffWorks. Discovery Communications. Archived from the original on November 18, 2013. Retrieved March 5, 2012.
  6. "Live & Televised Entertainment". WWE. Archived from the original on February 26, 2009. Retrieved March 21, 2012.
  7. "Stone Cold's costly Royal Rumble slip". NewsComAu. Retrieved 2017-11-27.
  8. "Shawn Michaels (spot No. 18) wins the Royal Rumble Match". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved March 18, 2011.
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