The sentence "Then after some special effects, Taker ascends into Heaven, where he will stay for several months until he is awakened by Leslie Nielsen" pretty much sums up the r/brandnewsentence subreddit.
Now that you said it, that phrase has some big "So the children learned to function as a society, and eventually they were rescued by, oh, let's say Moe" vibes.
@@claymathewselevator8121 in a way he does, his brain is still in 1983 and his body is in 2023. Unless you're counting him in uswa with Paul E holding a mobile phone bulkier then a buckshot or getting beat by new jack in a weird proxy war that had less to do with wrestling and more to do with Mr cornhole's idea of race relations in the south that was low effort even for the the mid 90s lol the more ya know
The beauty of Owen's "And that's why I kicked you leg outta your leg" line at 6:04 is you can actually see & hear Owen realizing what he's about to say, only to have no choice but to say it. Right as he's about to say "leg" the second time, his anger subsides for a quick half-second & his voice audibly has that "Oh s***, what am I saying?!" quality to it, but that's why we all love & cherish that line to that day. Also, let's face it, flubbing a line like that would absolutely be something Owen would have thought of doing ahead of time just to see if he could get everyone in the locker room to laugh, but in this case it was completely by accident, which makes it all the funnier.
Reminds me of a similar situation with IRS at King of the Ring later that year. He starts flubbing his line and realizes it but has to finish it. So he says something like he won't have to face IRS again. But he had a hard time getting it out.
The undertaker segments where he was always building the caskets and doing his promos we're really well put together. The setting was perfect they really did good making his workshop look creepy as hell.
5:40 People complain about Owen's promos, but his acting in-ring was some of the best. The end of Wrestlemania X, when he comes out with a mix of fury & legit pain on his face, and the New Hart Foundation formation, where he legit looks like he's gonna cry, are moments that stand out. Just SO good. 16:15 I love this, because it works for Shawn's character SO well. You're really not sure if he was intentionally distracting Diesel to save himself or just genuinely wanted to talk & the others took advantage of the moment. I love these moments of characterization.
Ted Dibiase actually did really good on commentary He was a heel, but he actually did a good job calling the match and giving constructive criticism to both the face and heel wrestlers in the Rumble I think he could’ve made a great recurring commentator
@@notyoursavior78 Me either, but I don't recall him doing anything particularly good either. He didn't have any of the zingers you'd get out of guys like Heenan, Lawler, or Cornette.
@@foxfireinferno197 someone in the comments said that he made a statement that he's as tall as Diesel if he stands on his wallet. If true that's damn funny.
Genichiro Tenryu is one of my favorite wrestlers from the late 80s early 90s. His tag matches with with Stan Hansen, his work with Toshiaki Kawada and the rest of Revolution, and his war vs Jumbo Tsuruta for the AJPW Triple Crown championship are legendary. And of course the Federation just doesn't mention any of it lol.
The Wrestlemania VII incidents with Kitao screwed him even though he wasn't really doing anything wrong. He was just a body for this match in Vince's mind. And that's a shame that he had to pay the price for his ex-partner's issues.
Hell ya! Mine had this crazy deal on non new releases. It was 10 movies for 10 bucks, for 7 days! And a free bag of pop corn :) Heaven on earth. For us vidiots. :) Cheers
Same! I didn't start watching until 1998 but my local blockbuster had this, WrestleMania 8, Royal Rumble 89, and maybe a few others but I think this was the first I rented and I loved it. It felt so retro even just four years later because wrestling had changed so much in that time.
Nine years old watching this. Ace PPV, plenty of story for every match from the past and going forward, amazing characters and new concepts. Bam Bam was a beast this night. Superheavyweight, opening match, appears in casket match and takes a bunch of bumps, then does an Ironman performance in the Rumble. One of the GOAT superheavyweights. Legend.
Perhaps the single most underrated big guy in wrestling. Such great athleticism and grace in the ring, always fun to watch. Keith Lee reminds me a lot of him.
This was my first PPV I remember watching as a kid. I was weird and loved IRS and Tatanka and I talked my parents to get it for me. We watched it together and I fell in love with wrestling officially that night. The Hart family storyline hooked me, I was in ow of the Undertaking/Yoko story, and funky finish in the Rumble itself got me to watch the next week. This is one of my favorite PPVs ever to revisit. Thanks for finally doing this Classic PPV
It too bad that The Great Kabuki got no love from the commentators at all. The man is a legend and he deserved to have the guys on commentary tell the viewers how important he was in Japanese wrestling.
Joey Marella was involved in the Royal Rumble controversial match in January then died in a car accident in July after falling asleep driving home from a show. RIP Joey.
I would love to see a review of Royal Rumble 2002! Jericho's first major defense of the Undisputed Championship, Triple H's big babyface run peaking, and the street fight with Vince McMahon vs. Ric Flair. Oh! And can't forget about Maven's iconic elimination of The Undertaker.
He's got a permanent home in my "boy stable". (OSW Review reference). The other 4 spots in my stable have changed year to year, but Bam Bam has always, and will always be there.
The Undertaker's Royal Rumble 1994 Outro was the most dramatic exit of his entire career. If you look closely, you can see Taker rising from the Video Wall on a harness and ascending towards the Heavens. That was awesome.
I remember when I was trying to get a friend into wrestling and I hid my head in shame watching the Undertaker segment. Even as a kid I thought it was corny as fk and felt embarrassed while watching it 😂
Kind of amazing that your "four post massacre" reference actually included a(t least one) wrestler (Bam Bam) that was in the actual match you were talking about. edit- That variety of Tenryu pronunciations was both hilarious and mind-boggling. Did you decide to just pronounce it differently every time to cover all the possible bases? There's no "ch" sound in there, my man.
I hate to disagree with the Z-man but I thought "Papa Ted (Ted DIbiase)" was decent on commentary of this event. My favorite line from Dibiase was when The Million Dollar Man put Diesel over by saying: "That's one big man, McMahon. Almost as big as me.....while I'm standing on my wallet".
@14:55, Jarrett has one of the craziest careers of any wrestlers I've learned about. NWA, WCW, WWF/E, TNA, GFW, AEW, GCW, AAA, he has been in all of them and held titles in all except two. He was a world champion as recent as 2018. It is wild.
Yes! 1999 Royal Rumble in two weeks. Been waiting for you to do this one. Really excited for it. I re-watched it last year having not seen it since 1999. So many shenanigans in the Rumble match.
I remember watching this as a kid, and even back then the Undertaker match felt like a bit too much. Half the heel locker room was invested in Taker losing.
Storyline wise, I saw it as *NOBODY* wanted Taker as champ, as he would likely be unbeatable. That's why the babyfaces didn't come to help (jerks) hahah
It's kinda a shame that Vince didn't go with the botch and just declare co-winners, and not just for the sake of his quads. The "co-winner controversy" finish had only been done once in '94 (if you don't count the Big Show/Rock finish, which was also a botch). I think they could've at least taken advantage of the botch and incorporated it into the storyline. But this was after the point when Vince had become allergic to spontaneity and everything had to follow their plans.
Also the tie that had a sensible finish. WWE was pretty stupid not to take up that precedent of 1994. But I guess they had to have a silly pop. It's completely against the rules to restart the match if both went over the top rope unto the floor.
This is really the only ppv I ever got to watch on TV. I was living in Rhode Island at the time. I had this friend named Lamb Lambert. His mom invited a bunch of kids over I never really had access to PPVs except this one.
I've always loved this casket match because it's the one time a heel used a NO DQ rule to its zenith. It makes the heel look more cowardly and it makes the babyface look almost heroic.
It would be wild if Brian Zane, Marky D, and Ryan from Wrestling Bios would review a classic pay per view, or at minimum review a recent Conrad Thompson podcast so they can Save with Conrad.
@@roccojamison89gooker51 I think Marky would be a bit too negative for the other three, tbh, i wouldn’t want to see him blow a gasket at 90’s wrestling. Will say, Zane, Ryan, and Conrad would definitely be fun!
I'm not surprised that Bret got the louder pop after the match. He had tons of sympathy from earlier in the night due to Owen, AND he was selling a huge knee injury. (Luger got beat up backstage, but he was 100% fresh and a house on fire when he got in the match).
Right. Bret got pop of the night just for showing up in the Rumble. The fact that he was somehow 1 guy from winning the whole thing really got the people behind him.
A lot of fans still felt Bret deserved a rematch with Yokozuna (which he never got, due to Hogan snatching the belt), so that is also why he was so popular.
Awesome video, Brian! Good to see your streak of great output hasn't rested in peace just yet! (Slight correction headed your way, Genichiro *Tenryu, not Tenju. Still doesn't dampen the viewing experience, just thought I'd mention!)
Just the way that you describe the taker match in one fell swoop even ending with the Leslie Nielsen sh*t is hilarious and is so bizarre...like who were the writers then? Was this just Vince? I am so happy I was only 9 when this came out and only was there to be entertained and didn't deep dive into story lines so much. Great review, love this channel!
Aside from the finish, one of the biggest things of note for this show was Diesel's Rumble Performance. This was the first Rumble where a talent really got to dominate the Rumble and clear the ring for a few entrants. It was certainly a moment where the fans took notice. As you said, Diesel (a heel) got some cheers for his performance, which helped elevate him. That elevation was even furthered by a great title match against Bret Hart at the King of the Ring PPV, and he would indeed be the WWF champion by year's end. IN fact 2004 in general was good for elevating talent that would become crucial to the future of the business, including Bret Hart, who got his first serious WWF title run. Yes, he had already been a champion, but this is the first time it felt more than a test run. I already mentioned Diesel. ANd both HBK and Razor Ramon would be elevated thanks to the classic ladder match at WMX
Happy late birthday Zane Thanks for 10 years of wrestling with wregret Thanks for claude the French model Trey Quattro fontain, vacant, Donny base, dick kick city some karate etc
Brilliant video upload thanks again enjoyed watching it got the 94 royal rumble on tagged classic dvds and ive got it in the 20 royal rumble dvd box set as well mint to watch
It sounds like this ppv was to me what the '99 RR is to you Brian. I was 10 years old and totally awestruck by wwe at the time. Owen's betrayal was so well done as was the finish even if it was annoying that you didn't know who won. And you WAY undervalued the awesome spectacle of Takers beat down and everything afterwards. That was amazing, and made Taker look like a million bucks that it took 10 guys to beat him down considering how long he fought them off for.
I hope you review more Joshi cards... Or Japanese cards in general. I'd love your thoughts on the FMW 7th Anniversary Show. I showed my mom the Combat Toyoda retirement match and she cried. Mom was NOT a Joshi fan (golden age WWE) but even without understanding the language, she understood the match.
Ayyy Providence Rhode Island stand up ! My town ! Love your stuff WWW been watching for years. Probably watched and rewatched all your classic ppl reviews and anything that deals with 90s-2000s wrestling
Really enjoying your new HQ and editing as of late(-ish), especially those black and white zoom-ins when someone “is definitely not turning on someone else”. Great comedic timing. Keep up the great work, Z-Man. And a happy belated birthday to you as well!
I laughed so hard when you said “hide your breadsticks and f money…it’s Virgil”. The best line I heard in ages. I hope Virgil doesn’t see this and take your quote lol. Definitely trade mark that phrase lmao
The three things most remembered from this rumble event is the Owen Harts heel turn, the casket match between Undertaker and Yokozuna, and the double royal rumble winners.
If Brian doesn't mention it. In the post of the casket match. A beautiful moment in Bloodline History, Yokozuna put the belt on Afa's shoulder as they head back to the locker room.
Brian I disagree about Yokozuna being afraid of Casket being bad. Remember they made it look like Andre was afraid of snakes. That didn't hurt him either.
There was some residual heat in the Tatanka/BamBam match, despite BamBam being a replacement. They were feuding just after Wrestlemania 9 and during the summer BamBam "Scalped" Bull-Buffalo's hair during a backstage segment. Their feud didn't get much of a resolution as they were on opposite teams with the Smoking Gunns and Headshrinkers at Summerslam '93. Both segued into a different feuds afterwards, BamBam with Doink and Tatanka with Borga...who was feuding with Luger. I would say this is the true blow off to their spring/summer feud and based on the live audience reaction, they still cared.
I'm glad we got Tatanka/Bigelow instead of Tatanka/Borga because Borga didn't have much of a shelf life in WWF to begin with. You know, had he not gotten injured before this PPV as well as job to Earthquake at WrestleMania 10, I wonder if Borga would've challenged Bret for the World Title in the spring or summer of 1994? It would've been interesting to hear Bret cut a promo about how as much as he respects Finland and all its cultures, he won't stand for Borga's bully-boy ways. From there, the two have a match (presumably on Raw or Superstars), Bret makes Borga tap out to the Sharpshooter, and the former Viking is outta the WWF and back to Herb Abrams' UWF in time for Blackjack Brawl against Cowboy Bob Orton.
@@RoyStantz I'm not 100% sure but I believe Borga had a match with Bret on the house show loops in September or October of '93? In any case you're right about Borga having a shelf life as he was intended for Luger to slay, and Luger was done with him by Survivor Series. Had Lex won the title at WrestleMania it's possible he might have gotten a PPV match with Lex, but that would have meant no Diesel Experiment at KotR '94. I highly doubt that Borga would have even gotten a sniff at Bret's title in '94, given Bret's line-up of challengers that year (Owen, Diesel, 123 Kid, Anvil, and Backlund) Considering how fast Vince soured on Lex, had Borga made it to WrestleMania X, Adam Bomb wouldn't have been the one that was squashed by Earthquake that night.
@@TONYGILLEY I agree with all of that. In fact, I checked the results site The History of WWE, and it tells me the only time Bret and Borga ever fought was at a Wrestling Challenge taping at a high school in Carbondale, Pennsylvania on November 9 1993, when it was a tag match pitting Bret and Luger against Yoko and Borga.
Funny enough it's the opposite for me. I watched him for years as Scotty Flamingo, Johnny Polo etc in Global, WCW, WWF that when he came out in ECW as Raven I just couldn't buy the rich, snotty kid suddenly being the dark grunge guy. But...he made it work.
I vividly remember watching the scrambled version of this PPV on good old channel 32. I really wish I could have convinced my parents to order this one.
I was there in Providence that night, obviously it doesn't really hold up as an adult but at the time as a nine-year-old it was the greatest thing I ever witnessed....... The theatrics after the casket match, that's a memory that I still vividly hold till this very day
I can tell you as a kid the Undertaker vs. Yokozuna was pure sports-entertainment in the best way. Seeing him hold off the heel lockerroom for a good few minutes was awesome and made you mark like mad.
I was 11 at this time, so it's one of my favorite Rumbles. I just loved everything about the show as a kid, and even though some of it doesn't age well, the nostalgia is strong.
11:23 Is this shot from Ready to Rumble? Also, remember when you mentioned Curt Hennig had the yellow singlet underneath the one he wore at Slamboree 2000? Was that a reference to the movie?
This was one of the PPV's my dad's co-worker taped for me when i was a kid in the 90's. The only 94' PPV i didn't have was WM-10. I really enjoyed Dibiase's commentary and just about the entire show aside from Undertaker being ganged up on and losing (was a huge Undertaker mark as a kid). Also the tape that was recorded for me cut out/ended when Bam Bam was entering the Rumble so i never got to see the ending until later. Could just be nostalgia, but i always consider 94' an underrated WWF year simply due to HBK/Razor w emergence of Diesel and the Owen-Bret feud carrying the company
Had you grown up watching this as a kid like I did, you would rate this higher. Especially the Undertaker v Yoko match. This was insane as a 6th grader. This Royal Rumble is on my top 3 list of Rumbles.
Love your retro reviews. This may be a nitpic, but the Razor Ramore Vs IRS segment you gave 2 1/2 out of 5, but the graphic says 3 1/2. thought that you should know.
Bam Bam and Tatanka did have a short feud in summer of 93. My favorite heel turn moment was when Owen kicked Bret's leg outta his leg. I was hoping you would say Dees-sul 😆😆 and I love that you mentioned the casket cam
I was 5 the first time I seen this casket match. Undertaker used to scare the crap out of me but for some reason I thought the visual of him ascending to the heavens was cool and still love going back and watching it today
I don’t know who needs a Wrestling With Wregret episode more as both men had such a strong WWE rise and a pretty sad fall The Lex Express or Ken Kennedy
19:40 I think we were all thinking the same thing, as I imagined Tunney tearing both of his quads. I still loled when Brian said it. Effin Hilarious Good Job Brian! I'm still laughing!!!
