| Royal Rumble | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 | |||
| Promotion | World Wrestling Federation | ||
| Date | January 21, 1996 (1996-01-21) | ||
| City | Fresno, California | ||
| Venue | Selland Arena | ||
| Attendance | 9,600[1] | ||
| Buy rate | 269,000[2] | ||
| Tagline | You've been Warned! | ||
| Pay-per-view chronology | |||
| |||
| Royal Rumble chronology | |||
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The 1996Royal Rumble was the ninth annualRoyal Rumbleprofessional wrestlingpay-per-view (PPV)event produced by theWorld Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). It took place on January 21, 1996, at theSelland Arena inFresno, California. As has been customary since 1993, theRoyal Rumble match winner received a world championship match at that year'sWrestleMania. For the 1996 event, the winner received a match for theWWF Championship atWrestleMania XII.
Themain event sawThe Undertaker faceBret Hart for the WWF Championship, where Undertaker won via disqualification due to interference fromDiesel; Hart retained as titles do not change hands on disqualification unless stipulated. The undercard featured the 1996 Royal Rumble match, whichShawn Michaels won by last eliminating Diesel, becoming the second person to win the Royal Rumble match twice, and back-to-back, afterHulk Hogan.
TheRoyal Rumble is an annualgimmickpay-per-view (PPV) produced every January by theWorld Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) since 1988. It is one of the promotion's original four pay-per-views, along withWrestleMania,SummerSlam, andSurvivor Series, which were dubbed the "Big Four".[3] It was also considered one of the "Big Five" PPVs, along withKing of the Ring.[4] It is named after theRoyal Rumble match, a modifiedbattle royal in which the participants enter at timed intervals instead of all starting in the ring at the same time. The match typically features 30 wrestlers and the winner traditionally earns aworld championship match at that year's WrestleMania. For 1996, the winner earned a match for theWWF World Heavyweight Championship atWrestleMania XII. The 1996 event was the ninth event in the Royal Rumble chronology and was scheduled to be held on January 21, 1996, at theSelland Arena inFresno, California.[5][6]
The event comprised five matches which resulted from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portrayedheroes,villains, orless distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches. Results were predetermined by WWF's writers, while storylines were produced on WWF's weekly television show,Raw.[7][8]
It also was the first Royal Rumble match that theme music was used when a wrestler entered the Rumble match.
| Role: | Name: |
|---|---|
| Commentators | Vince McMahon |
| Mr. Perfect | |
| Interviewer | Todd Pettengill |
| Dok Hendrix | |
| Ring announcer | Howard Finkel |
| Referee | Earl Hebner |
| Jim Korderas | |
| Jack Coan | |
| Tim White |
In a match occurring on theFree For All preshow,Duke "The Dumpster" Droese defeatedHunter Hearst Helmsley. WWF presidentGorilla Monsoon stepped in after Droese was pinned and reversed the referee's decision, disqualifying Helmsley for usingbrass 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 theundercard were the1996 Royal Rumble match which was won byShawn Michaels, who last eliminated Diesel to win the match, making it his second straight Royal Rumble win;Goldust defeatingRazor Ramon for theWWF Intercontinental Championship; andThe Smoking Gunns (Billy Gunn andBart Gunn) defeatingThe Bodydonnas (Skip andZip) to retain theWWF Tag Team Championship.
The final event was for the WWF Championship between theUndertaker andBret Hart. As the Undertaker is about to win the match after performing the Tombstone Piledriver against Hart, Diesel, who lost to Michaels at the Rumble earlier, interfered and pulled the referee out of the ring, resulting in the Undertaker winning by disqualification. However, Hart retained the title and the event ended with Diesel walking away.
The 1996 Royal Rumble marked the first pay-per-view appearance ofSteve Austin, under 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.[10] In the weeks following the Royal Rumble, "The Ringmaster" gimmick was met with an indifferent 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, withSavio 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'sAttitude Era.
| No. | Results | Stipulations | Times[1] | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1F | Duke Droese defeatedHunter Hearst Helmsley bydisqualification | Singles match for entry #30 in theRoyal Rumble match | 6:25 | ||||
| 2 | Ahmed Johnson defeatedJeff Jarrett by disqualification | Singles match | 6:40 | ||||
| 3 | The Smoking Gunns (Bart Gunn andBilly Gunn) (c) defeatedThe Bodydonnas (Skip andZip) (withSunny) | Tag team match for theWWF Tag Team Championship | 11:14 | ||||
| 4 | Goldust (withMarlena) defeatedRazor Ramon (c) | Singles match for theWWF Intercontinental Championship | 14:17 | ||||
| 5 | Shawn Michaels won by last eliminatingDiesel | 30-manRoyal Rumble match for aWWF Championship match atWrestleMania XII[11] | 58:49 | ||||
| 6 | The Undertaker (withPaul Bearer) defeatedBret Hart (c) by disqualification | Singles match for theWWF Championship | 28:31 | ||||
| |||||||
A new entrant came out approximately every 2 minutes.
–Winner
| Draw[11] | Entrant[11] | Order[11] | Eliminated by[11] | 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 Team #1 | 8 | 01:11 | 0 | |
| 16 | Squat Team #2 | 9 | Yokozuna | 00:24 | 0 |
| 17 | Owen Hart | 21 | Diesel and Shawn Michaels | 20:43 | 2 |
| 18 | Shawn Michaels | - | Winner | 26:10 | 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 wasKing Mabel's last appearance until he returned on June 30, 1998, for a one-off match withKen Shamrock onRaw Is War.
^ This wasJake Roberts's return since his last appearance atWrestlemania VIII on April 5, 1992.
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