This Day In Wrestling History - January 22

Date: January 22, 1994 (20 years ago)

Feature: WWF's Royal Rumble '94 featured Bret Hart and Lex Luger "co-winners" of the Rumble match. WWE then asked their audience to vote on a 900 Hotline who they thought won the match. Also, Undertaker lost a casket match to Yokozuna and the Bret vs. Owen issue picked up steam...

Torch Back-Issue: PWTorch Newsletter #264.

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WWF Royal Rumble '94 Cover Story
HEADLINE: Bret Hart and Lex Luger declared co-winners of Rumble, 900 poll asks fans to vote for winner
By WADE KELLER, Editor and Publisher

It will go down as one of the more bizarre nights of professional wrestling in history. The WWF's Royal Rumble saw only one clean finish out of five matches, including a "death and resurrection," a Dusty Rhodes-like false finish uncharacteristic of the WWF, dual winners of a battle royal, and a referee stopping a match due to a wrestler having a sore leg.

There is debate among fans and members of the wrestling business this week whether the Royal Rumble was a step in the right direction for the WWF and whether its purpose was fulfilled and plan was well-executed. There is debate whether this sets up a compelling Wrestlemania. There is debate over the ethics of having co-winners of a Royal Rumble and then asking fans to vote on a 900 line for whom they think the winner of the Rumble was.

ROYAL RUMBLE '94 PPV RESULTS
Jan. 22, 1994
Providence, R.I. - Civic Center
WWF's first pay-per-view of the year
Est. Attendance: 16,000

MATCH-BY-MATCH RUN-DOWN

The program opened with Vince McMahon introducing the pay-per-view audience to his guest color commentator, "Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase (who is collecting insurance due to a back injury suffered in Japan). McMahon called him, "The World Wrestling Federation's answer to John Madden."

(1) Tatanka pinned Bam Bam Bigelow at 8:10. Tatanka hit a staggering Bigelow with top rope bodyblock for the pin. (**3/4)

(2) The Quebecers defeated Bret & Owen Hart to retain the WWF Tag Team Titles when the referee stopped the match due to Bret's injured leg at 16:22. Finish: The Quebecers broke Bret's sharpshooter attempt, at which point the referee checked Bret's leg and declared Bret unfit to continue.

At this point, Owen threw a tantrum, kicking the bottom rope and complaining to the referee. Owen accused Bret of "hogging the limelight." Owen then verbally bashed Bret to his face as Bret struggled to reach his feet. After several minutes, Bret finally reached his feet. Owen kicked Bret's bad leg out from under him. Bret fell to the mat and the fans booed Owen. As Bret was stretchered to the back, a locker room interview with Owen appeared on the video board above Bret with Owen screaming at him, calling him "selfish." Owen wasn't smooth behind the mic, but got his point across. (***)

(3) Razor Ramon pinned I.R.S. at 11:30 to retain the Intercontinental Title. (*3/4)

(4) Yokozuna defeated Undertaker to retain the WWF Title when Undertaker was locked in the casket at 14:09. There were no rules in this match, and that was evident by the last half of the bout. Mid-way through, the match took a strange turn, with Crush coming to ringside to stop the casket lid from closing. Undertaker beat on Crush, who was then joined by Kabuki and Tenyru. Bigelow joined in, making it four-on-one. Yokozuna struggled out of the coffin as Mr. Fuji stole the urn from Paul Bearer. Bearer took the urn back and whacked Fuji and Cornette with it, knocking them to the mat. Undertaker fought off everyone, hitting them with the salt bucket. Adam Bomb, Jeff Jarrett, The Head Shrinkers, and Diesel joined the attack. At 10:47, Undertaker rose again from the mat. A minute later, he was overwhelmed by the heels again and rolled into the casket. Undertaker kept his hands over the edge so the lid would not shut. He then rose again and fought off the heels one at a time. Yokozuna stole the urn from Bearer and dropped it. The displaced lid allowed green fog to pour out of it for several minutes. After a top rope bodysplash by Fatu at 13:06, Undertaker was dragged into the casket and the lid was closed and locked, ending the match, but just beginning the most bizarre moments of the evening.

The heels rolled the casket toward the locker room as Vince McMahon said, "We have seen, I believe, the demise of the Undertaker." Green fog then began escaping from the casket. The lights in the arena went out and Undertaker's music began. The videoboard then showed an internal picture of Undertaker inside the casket (obviously pre-recorded). Undertaker said: "The spirit of the Undertaker lives in the soul of all mankind. This eternal light of life that cannot be extinguished, the origin of which cannot be explained. The answer lies in the ever-lasting spirit. Soon, all of mankind will witness the rebirth of the Undertaker. I... will... not... rest in peace."

Electrical jolts filled the videoboard and Undertaker turned ghostly-white. Then, above the screens, "Undertaker" (although not necessarily Mark Calloway, since there was never a close-up) rose toward the ceiling of the arena with his arms extended in a Christ-like pose. Paul Bearer, standing next to the coffin, held the urn to the sky saluting Undertaker. McMahon concluded: "We have witnessed the supernatural. We have witnessed the Undertaker."

(5) Bret Hart and Lex Luger were declared co-winners of the Royal Rumble at 55:44. Due to time constraints, the length of time between entrances into the Rumble was reduced to 1:30 rather than 2:00. The following is a run-down of the entrances (and departures): Scott Steiner, Samu, Rick Steiner, Kwang (Samu via Scott), Owen Hart (Rick via Owen), Bart Gunn, Diesel (Bart, Scott, Owen, and Kwang all via Diesel), Backlund (Backlund via Diesel), Billy Gunn (Gunn via Diesel), Virgil (Virgil via Diesel), Randy Savage, Jeff Jarrett (Jarrett via Savage), Crush, Doink (Savage via Diesel), Bigelow (Doink via Bigelow), Mabel, Sparky, Michaels (Diesel via Mabel, Bigelow, and Michaels), Mo, Greg Valentine, Tatanka, Kabuki (Mabel via everyone), Lex Luger (Kabuki via Luger), Tenyru, no one came out in the 25th spot which was presumed to be Bret Hart at the time, Rick Martel, Bret Hart, Fatu, Marty Jannetty (Crush via Luger et al), and Bomb. The following are the rest of the eliminations: Sparky via Bret, Valentine via Martel, Bomb via Luger, Mo via Fatu, Tatanka via Bigelow, Bigelow via Luger, Jannetty via Michaels, Tenryu via Luger, and Fatu via Bret.

Preliminary highlights included: Michaels backed down from Diesel upon entering the Rumble, but helped toss him out. Jannetty and Michaels went at each other. Luger was attacked in the locker room before the Rumble, but came out anyway. Luger received virtually no crowd reaction during his initial flurry in the ring.

This left Bret Hart and Lex Luger as the final two. Hart and Luger exchanged some punches after realizing they were the final two combatants, then spilled together over the top rope. No camera angle caught what looked like a close call as to who landed on the floor first. First, Luger was announced by Howard Finkle as the winner, then referees had a discussion and Hart was announced as the winner. Finkle teased a "winner" announcement once more, but stopped, conferred with Jack Tunney, who came to ringside, and announced that Hart and Luger were co-winners.

Hart received a much larger ovation than Luger. When Luger entered the Rumble, the fans cheered. When Hart entered, they burst into cheers and stood for him. They shook hands briefly before shaking hands with fans.

[Torch photo credit Wade Keller (c) PWTorch.com]

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