Customer Reviews

WWE Royal Rumble - The Complete Anthology, Vol. 3

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

1998 - The Rumble match was very entertaining with highlights being Mick Foley enterting under all three personas, the hardcore exchange between Terry "Chainsaw Charlie" Funk & Mick "Cactus Jack" Foley, the interaction between the members of the Nation Of Domination, what happened between Jeff Jarrett & Owen Hart, and everyone gunning for Steve Austin thoughout the match. HBK/Undertaker faced off in a casket match that gave Shawn his injury that took him out of action until 2002 & the ending with Kane lighting the casket on fire set the stage for their WrestleMania match. Mike Tyson does make an appearence here as well with other matches including Vader vs. Artist Formely Known As Goldust, New Age Outlaws vs. Legion Of Doom, The Rock vs. Ken Shamrock, and a six man tag match with the midgets from Mexico with Sunny as the referee.

1999 - The Rumble itself had Vince & Austin's first fight which started & ended the Rumble, Chyna becoming the first woman to enter the Rumble, and everyone gunning for Austin to collect a bounty Vince put on his head. The real highlight of this Rumble was the Rock vs. Mankind "I Quit" match as Foley took the most vicious unprotected chairshots. The rest of the card was very average (Road Dogg vs. Big Boss Man, Mr. Ass vs. Shamrock) to boring (X-Pac vs. Gangrel) to just plain sad (Sable's strap match against Luna).

2000 - Tazz debuted & broke Kurt Angle's undefeated streak, Dudleyz vs. Hardyz in the first tables match, and the historic Cactus Jack vs. HHH street fight were at this event. Also on here was the Royal Rumble Bikini contest that included Mae Young pulling her "puppies" out & scaring Jerry Lawler to death, New Age Outlaws vs. Acolytes, and a triple threat match featuring Jericho vs. Chyna vs. Hardcore Holly. The Rumble itself had some funny moments such as Too Cool & Rikishi dancing during the middle of the match and Funaki being eliminated more times in a Rumble match than anyone else in history with The Rock winning at the end.

2001 - Stone Cold won this Rumble that featured a Drew Carey appearence and Kane's dominate record of 11 men eliminated. The WWE Title match between Kurt Angle vs. Triple H that was highlighted by the catfight between Stephanie McMahon & Trish Stratus, a classic ladder match between Jericho & Benoit, and a match between Dudleys vs. Edge & Christian are worth checking out on here as well.

2002 - This Royal Rumble was highlighted by the returns of Mr. Perfect, Goldust, Val Venis, and the Godfather (Ho Train included), and the winner in Triple H...but the real highlight was an "anything can happen in the WWE" moment as the then-rookie Maven eliminated the Undertaker. Also on here was a street fight between Ric Flair vs. Mr. McMahon, William Regal vs. Edge, Trish vs. Jazz, Spike Dudley & Tazz vs. Dudleys, and Undisputed Champion Chris Jericho vs. The Rock.

I bought this along with Volume 4 recently and let me say it was worth the money! D.P. has already done an excellent description of the matches so I'll just highlight the reasons to get this one by the years on this volume.

Royal Rumble '98 - The Rumble match itself (which saw one of the first PPV face-offs between "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and The Rock) and the WWF/WWE title Casket Match between The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels where Shawn injures his lower back and was forced to retire until 2002. Also has a pretty good match between Ken Shamrock and The Rock for the I-C belt.

Royal Rumble '99 - Mankind Vs. The Rock in an "I Quit" WWF/WWE title match that saw Mick Foley (Mankind) take multiple chair shots from The Rock unprotected! The rest of the Rumble is okay with the worst match being a strap encounter between Sable and Luna Vachon.

Royal Rumble 2000 - One of my favorites to watch! A near perfect card and probably the most violent of all the Rumble's during the Attitude Era. Tazz makes his debut from ECW to break the undefeated streak of Kurt Angle. The Hardyz and The Dudley Boyz (Team 3-D) had an amazing Tables match that was one early predecessor to the TLC matches we see today. A three way battle for the I-C title which saw Co-Champs Chris Jericho and Chyna battle each other as well as Hardcore Holly for the belt. That one was okay as well as The APA Vs. The New Age Outlaws for the tag belts. The main reason to get this is the incredible street fight between Cactus Jack and HHH for the WWF/WWE title! While HHH says Hell In The Cell with Mick Foley is what put him over as a wrestler, I feel this match is what brought him respect in my view!

The Rumble itself was pretty good on this one too. It saw The Rock win.

Royal Rumble 2001 - Two main reasons to get this one is the ladder match between Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho for the I-C belt and the Rumble itself. The Rumble match is memorable for three reasons (at least for me):
1. Kane's near one hour performance - For man his size and stature, that's a feat to go one hour!

2. "Stone Cold" Steve Austin Vs. The Rock - Another face-off between these two legendary performers.

3. Austin winning The Rumble for a third time! To this day, he's still the only 3-time winner of this match!

Royal Rumble 2002 - Another favorite Rumble card of mine. Here is how I break it down on this one:

Spike Dudley/TAZZ VS. The Dudley Boyz w/Stacy Kiebler (WWF/WWE Tag Team Championship) - Not a great bout but it doesn't suck either! Some very hard hitting spots that are very ECWsqe!

Edge Vs. William Regal (WWF/WWE I-C Title Match) - Probably the only stinker on the card. Edge and Regal are actually very good workers but this one wasn't as good their other encounters.

Trish Stratus Vs. Jazz (WWF/WWE Women's Title Match) - Surprisingly good match. Jazz was the superior wrestler and worker in this one because this was at the beginning of Trish's in-ring career! Still, you could see her give it her best effort even early on. Also, having Jackie in there as the special ref added some comedy to the bout.

"Nature Boy" Ric Flair Vs. Vince McMahon (Streetfight Match) - This was also another surprise. McMahon and Flair worked very well together!

Chris Jericho Vs. The Rock (WWF/WWE Undisputed Championship Match) - I have never seen their first encounter from No Mercy 2001 but if its anything like this match, then I am sure I'd love it! These two put on a great match! Probably the best between the two!

The Royal Rumble Match - Was very well paced and probably the strongest line up since The Royal Rumble 1992 at that point! While it was pretty obvious that HHH was going to win, it at least gave us some great action leading up to the end. I find it ironic since the best Royal Rumble took place in 1992, that we get another great one 10 years later! The moment of the match (for me) is when Kane picked up The Big Show in a bodyslam position and actually carried TBS to the top rope and dumped him out! I don't care if wrestling is fake, that takes some strength right there!

Overall, your $30 something bucks will not be wasted!

Personally, the Attitude Era was the greatest time for me to be a wrestling fan. All the great characters, the electric atmosphere, hell even the wrestling good. This set is filled with some great moments from the Attitude Era that will bring back so many memories. With this set you get some classic WWF title matches like the Casket Match between Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker, the classic "I Quit Match" between Mankind and The Rock, the Street Fight between Triple H and Cactus Jack, and a very underrated contest from the '02 Rumble with Chris Jericho and The Rock. Then your going to get some good Royal Rumble matches like the 1998, 2000, 2001, & 2002 Royal Rumble matches.

If that's not enough to convince you to buy this set then let me just say your going to also get great filler matches like the 1998 Intercontinental Title Match with The Rock vs. Ken Shamrock, the 2000 Tag-Team Table Match between the Hardy Boyz and the Dudley Boyz, the 2001 Ladder Match for the Intercontinental Title between Chris Jericho and Chris Beniot, and the 2000 debut of Tazz against Kurt Angle.

If you want in depth review of each Royal Rumble then see those DVD's individually but as a whole this set is great and should not be missed. In my opinion it was worth every cent.

1998

-Vader vs. The Artist Formely Known As Goldust w/Luna Vachon: Not a bad contest here, but this was an odd time for the Goldust character and Vader was nearing the end of his WWE run. They worked good together and the end was awesome as Luna was on Vader's back but he still hit a massive Vader Bomb then covered Goldust to win the match. 6/10.

-6-Man Mini-Tag Team Match, Battallion, Tarantula & El Torito vs. Max Mini, Nova and Mosaic, Special Guest Referee, Sunny: Shockingly these midgets put on a good performance, they all hit plenty of high spots that cruiserweights usually hit. Not a bad one here as Max, Nova and Mosaic take this one. 6/10. Side note: Sunny did look very nice as a referee to say the least, problem with this match is it was a little short. Also the jokes Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler made I personally found quite funny.

-WWE Intercontinental Championship Match, The Rock (Champion) vs. Ken Shamrock: These two always had good matches as Rock was in great heel mode at this time and Shamrock always had that great intensity where he could snap at any moment. Rock uses brass knucks and sticks them in Ken's tights, but Ken actually wins after hitting a belly to belly suplex. The ref however notices the knucks and awards Rock the match, what a swerve. 6/10. Loved the aftermath where Shamorock snapped and put the ankle lock on the ref.

-WWE Tag Team Championship Match, The New Age Outlaws (Champions) vs. The Legion of Doom: Started out good but became very average as LOD were basically jobbed to the Outlaws here especially in the end when Hawk gets handcuffed then Animal gets a steel chair shot, causing a DQ. 5/10.

-The Royal Rumble Match: Cactus Jack is #1, Chainsaw Charlie (Terry Funk) is #2, which was a fun way to start off the match. The Rock did well coming in at #4, lasting over 50 minutes and thats after he wrestled previously in the show. Mick Foley had a famed performance appearing as all three of his personas in this match. But its most remembered for Austin fighting against all odds to win his second Rumble in a row as he earns a title shot at Wrestlemania XIV. Great rumble here.

-Casket Match for the WWE Title, Shawn Michaels (Champion) vs. The Undertaker: This was one of their best encounters as Taker was in his specialty match. The action starts off fast and is back and forth, about 2 minutes in Michaels takes a backdrop on the casket that would result in a back injury that would keep him out of action for over 4 years. Taker works over Shawn with power moves, and seems to be focusing on his back. Michaels throws some powder into Taker's eyes, hits a piledriver onto the steel steps that sounded sickening. Both men end up in the casket, Shawn tries to get out but gets dragged back in horror movie style. 6 men attack Taker, Kane comes to the rescue, only to turn on his brother and lock him in the casket. Michaels retains his title in about 18 minutes. 8/10. The aftermath were Kane sets the casket on fire sparked their feud that would go into Wrestlemania.

1999

-WWE Hardcore Championship Match, The Big Bossman (Champion) vs. The Road Dogg: Should've been a hardcore rules match given how Bossman's best days were behind him and Road Dogg was always better in no rules matches. Not horrible but nothing memorable, Big Bossman ends up getting the win here in a very average match. 4/10.

-WWE Intercontinental Championship Match, Ken Shamrock (Champion) vs. Billy Gunn: After Billy had made passes at Shamrock's sister in the weeks coming up to this, Ken was out for revenge and Billy who tried his best just couldn't fight out of the ankle lock and he was forced to tap out and Shamrock retains. 5/10.

-WWE European Championship Match, X-Pac (Champion) vs. Gangrel: This one wasn't good, they didn't mesh well and only X-Pac's usual set of kicks and quick moves made this passable. X-Pac ends up hitting the X-Factor for the win. 4/10.

-Strap Match for the WWE Women's Championship, Sable (Champion) vs. Luna: Shane McMahon came out with Luna and asked Sable to surrender the title cause of her back injury, she refused and so we have this match. Its fairly one sided as Sable despite the injury dominated Luna for the most part and ended up touching all four corners and retained her title. 5/10.

-I Quit Match for the WWE Championship, Mankind (Champion) vs. The Rock: Now this was a great match, worthy of being on a greatest matches of all time list in my opinion. Hard hitting, Mankind takes all kinds of brutal hits and falls as does the Rock. Mankind's fall onto a switchboard looked like it hurt as did the multiple chair shots Rock gave Mankind while he was handcuffed. Rock beats him with a chair into the aisleway and then finally got Mankind to "say" I quit, though it was clearly obvious it was audio played over the loudspeaker, that being said Rock was awarded the title. 10/10.

-The Royal Rumble Match: Stone Cold Steve Austin is #1, Vince McMahon is #2 and the opening and closing minutes where Austin gets his hands on Vince and beats him down were the best parts of the match. The rest was not very good or well booked there aren't any standout performances and it never seems to get out of first gear outside of the Vince/Austin confrontations. The Rock comes down and distracts Austin allowing Vince to toss him over the top rope and Vince off all people wins the Rumble. Not a very good one here.

2000

-Kurt Angle vs. Tazz: Nice pre-match promo by Angle where even in his early days he was a cocky son of a.... well you get the idea. I do love how the New York crowd was already chanting "We Want Tazz" before he even came out and boy did they pop when he appeared. The match quickly goes to the outside where Angle suplexes Tazz onto the concrete on the outside. Tazz hits a few nice suplexes of his own then locks on the Tazzmission and Angle passes out, so Tazz wins. 6/10, cause it was so short.

-Tag Team Table Match, The Hardy Boyz vs. The Dudley Boyz: Good promo by Buh Buh Ray where he praises infamous MLB pitcher John Rocker, which at this time was pretty topical and funny to me. Now this is a good tag team match, plenty of good spots, Jeff takes a nasty bump when a table gets thrown into his face by Buh Buh. Even a ladder and chairs are brought in which spice up the match. Matt and Jeff put Buh Buh through a table after Matt dives from a ladder and Jeff dives from the top rope. Jeff tries a suicide dive but smashes through a table, Matt gets powerbombed by the Dudleys through a table. The finish is nice as Jeff hits a big swanton on Devon through a table. Great match, 9/10.

-Miss Rumble Swimsuit Competition: Entrants include Terri Runnels, Jacqueline, Ivory, B.B., Luna Vachon and The Kat. This is pretty lame honestly, though King is entertaining at times. The end where Mae Young enters the contest is quite a gut wrenching and sick moment to say the least as she gets exposed, so yeah, ack!!

-Triple Threat Match for the Intercontinental Championship, Chyna (Co-Champion) vs. Chris Jericho (Co-Champion) vs. Hardcore Holly: Despite the co-champion storyline this wasn't a bad match but Chyna didn't have any business being any kind of men's singles champion beyond maybe a month (not 3 months like she had been) even at this time in her career. Chyna does almost have the match won as she hits the pedigree on Holly. Jericho hits the bulldog on Chyna and the lionsault, makes the pin and becomes the undisputed I.C. champion. 6/10.

-Tag Team Championship Match, New Age Outlaws (Champions) vs. The Acolytes: Bradshaw and Faarooq take it to the outlaws and almost have the titles when X-Pac interferes allowing Billy Gunn to hit the fame-asser on Bradshaw and covering him to retain the titles. Not bad just over too quick. 5/10.

-Street Fight for the WWE Championship, Triple H (Champion) vs. Cactus Jack: The build-up for this was very intense and felt quite real and this match lived up to and surpassed it. Cactus brought his A-game and Trips did elevate his game (no pun intended) as he hung with Foley and took a hell of a beating while dishing one out. Trips takes a suplex onto a wooden palet and a piece of it stabs him in the leg. Foley gets cuffed and beaten with a chair out into the aisle way before the Rock comes in for the save. Foley gets back dropped into some tacks, then pedigreed but he kicks out. Trips hits another pedigree into the tacks and covers Cactus for the win to retain his title. Best match of the night, one of the best title matches I've seen. 10/10.

-The Royal Rumble Match is here, first we see a flashback to '95's Rumble where Shawn Michaels won after entering #1. As for this match, D'Lo Brown is #1 and Grandmaster Sexay is #2, there is a nice spot where Too Cool members Sexay, Scotty 2 Hotty and Rikishi dance during the rumble only to have Rikishi eliminate his friends. There's also a nice face/off between Rikishi and Viscera. There are some people who already competed earlier that are in the rumble like Holly, Chyna, Jericho, The Outlaws and the Acolytes. Suprisingly Bob Backlund enters the rumble which stunned the crowd. There is the expected showdown with The Rock and Big Show and it comes down to those two where Show goes to throw Rock over but Rock holds onto the ropes and Show goes over the top rope to the floor and The Rock is going to Wrestlemania. Not a bad match, just kinda dead in parts.

2001

-WWE Tag Team Championship Match, Edge & Christian vs. The Dudley Boyz: Recently E&C had used the con-chair-to on both Dudley's,so Bubba & D'Von weren't 100% coming into this match. They were noticeably off due to selling said injuries, but it was a good match that saw The Dudley's get the win to become the new tag team champions. 7/10.

-Ladder Match for the WWE Intercontinental Championship, Chris Benoit (Champion) vs. Chris Jericho: This was a hell of a championship match, both men worked so well together whether it was as partners or as opponents. There were plenty of good spots, including Benoit doing a suicide dive but getting a vicious chair shot for his troubles. There was also good submission wrestling as Benoit worked on Jericho's arm, but he came back applying a submission on top of the ladder to Benoit. Jericho knocked the ladder over and Benoit hit the ropes and fell to the outside, Jericho climbed to the top and grabbed the title to become the new I.C. champion. 9/10.

-WWE Women's Championship Match, Ivory (Champion) vs. Chyna: A bit before this, Chyna had suffered a neck injury thanks to Ivory and the Right to Censor. Coming into this match there was the question of if she came back too soon, but she said she was healthy. Chyna does dominate early and often, but when she goes for a handspring elbow the back of her head hits the turnbuckle and she's down. Ivory makes the cover to retain her title, in what was a pretty bad match honestly. 3/10.

-WWE Championship Match, Kurt Angle (Champion) vs. Triple H: Very underated and forgotten title match during Kurt's first championship run, as these two exchanged wrestling holds, brawling and momentum a few times during the match. There was also the underlying rivalry involving both Trish and Stephanie which after they started fighting Vince came out to separate them. Stone Cold Steve Austin interfered nailing Triple H with a chair and hitting the stunner allowing Kurt to make the cover and retain his title. 9/10. Side note Austin's interference was the result of Triple H preventing Austin from winning the title a few weeks prior on Raw.

-The Royal Rumble Match: Jeff Hardy is #1, Bull Buchanan is #2, this was a very good Rumble mainly remembered for Drew Carey's appearance, Kane's 1 hour running time where he threw out 11 men, Big Show's shocking return and the destruction he caused and for Stone Cold fighting back from a blind side attack by Triple H during his entrance and he was able to win after nailing Kane with 3 chair shots and a stunner and tossing Kane over the top and Austin is going to Wrestlemania. I also loved the hardcore portion of this match as the action was just great.

2002

Tag Team Championship Match, Tazz & Spike Dudley (Champions) vs. The Dudley Boyz: This is a decent opening tag match that got the crowd fired up. The Dudley's target Spike's neck and keep him in the ring and beat him up. Once Tazz gets tagged he suplexes both Dudley's and slaps the Tazzmission on Stacy from the ring apron. Soon after he locks it on D'Von who taps out and Tazz and Spike retain. 6/10.

-Lillian Garcia is backstage with Edge and he talks about how he can get just as rough as William Regal can.

-Intercontinental Championship Match, William Regal vs. Edge (Champion): These two had quite a rivalry in late '01 into Feb. of '02 and this was a good match but their styles don't always mix well. Edge does take it to Regal and almost has the I.C. title in his hands but Regal ends up pulling out a win thanks to a well timed brass knuckles shot, while the ref was down. New I.C. champion, William Regal. 6/10.

-WWE Women's Championship Match, Trish Stratus (Champion) vs. Jazz, w/special referee Jacqueline: Trish had an injured hand coming into tonight and this was a quick match here where Jazz uses her strength advantage, but Trish keeps at it and hits a running bulldog and makes the cover to retain her title. 4/10.

-Street Fight, Ric Flair vs. Mr. McMahon: Its Flair's first match in almost a year since the closing of WCW in March of '01 and while not great its always good to see Ric in the ring. Vince gets chopped by Flair quite a bit and Vince does bust Ric open and beats him up for a bit even in front of his family who is at ringside. Flair makes his comeback and locks on the figure four leg lock and McMahon taps out as Ric wins. 8/10.

-Undisputed Championship Match, Chris Jericho (Champion) vs. The Rock: Great title match here, Jericho was out to prove he deserved to be the champion and Rock wanted one more run with the title. The tide kept shifting between the two men and Jericho did hold his own against "The People's Champ". There were a couple of ref bumps including Rock giving the Rock Bottom to former WCW ref Nick Patrick, then hits the People's elbow but there's no ref to make the count. Jericho hit a low blow, slams Rock's head into the exposed turnbuckle then rolls him up using the ropes to win the match and retain the title. 9/10.

-The Royal Rumble Match: Rikishi is #1 and the returning Goldust is #2, interesting way to start out to say the least. Bradshaw enters soon after and nails Lance Storm with a massive Clothesline From Hell in a great spot. The Undertaker enters at #8 and clears everyone out of the ring, then both Hardy's are #9 and 10, but they get tossed out quickly. Tough Enough rookie Maven shocks the world at #11 by eliminating Undertaker but Maven quickly gets taken to the outside and nailed with a chair.

-It slows down here until Stone Cold comes in, then a bit after Triple H comes in and after this the match picks up and stays at a great pace. Austin gets elimanted in a suprise move and Mr. Perfect shines here as he's in the final three. It comes down to Triple H and Kurt Angle and just when Angle thinks he has it won, Triple H comes back nailing Kurt and tossing him over the top rope to win the Rumble and go on to Wrestlemania. Great beginning and end to this Rumble.

Royal Rumble 1998

This had one of the best ppv intros of all time. So did the 1996, 2003 (but the music they used in the original ppv was better) & 2005 (THANK GOD that Hollywood part of the intro was cut) editions which I forgot the mention in those reviews.

Vader vs Goldust - Innovative finish for Vader.

Shamrock vs Rock (I.C. Title) - Liked it. These two had chemistry.

LOD vs Outlaws (tag Titles - Same comment as the I.C Title. I understand The Outlaws needed to look really good here. But being a LOD fan, I didn't like how LOD looked here though.

The Rumble match: Memorable moments for me: Cactus/Chainsaw and eventually Rock starting out, Kurrgan's dominance, Foley appearing 3 different times, the way Austin entered (from behind as he was a marked man), Austin/Rock face off, JR & King's commentary, especially JR, "Stone Cold! Stone Cold! Stone Cold is going to WM!" line

Tyson interview: Was happy Austin won. Revealed he was a UT fan for many years. Funny how he said Cold Stone lol.

Taker vs HBK (Casket Match for the WWF Title) - LOVED this match. These two really gelled together. I know WWE is working on a Stone Cold-Rock Rivalry DVD. But the Taker-HBK rivalry should be one of the next Rivalry DVD's. Again, UT clearly should have won & would have had they not re-did the 1994 angle except with less men. This time however, Kane made a memorable entrance & cleared the ring before attacking Taker allowing HBK to win.

Other memorable moments: Taker's entrance (HBK high tailed out of the ring once Taker raised the lights), the counters, the piledriver on the steps, HBK's elbow into the casket, Taker dragging HBK "back down into the depths Of Hell" as JR said, Taker's Chokeslam & the Tombstone into the casket, Kane burning the casket, JR's memorable line - "And my God! The casket's on fire! The casket is on fire! The UT is in the casket!"

Royal Rumble 1999

Road Dogg vs Bossman - Good. But would've been better as a Hardcore Match for the freedom they'd have.

Billy Gunn vs Shamrock - Good match.

X-Pac vs Gangrel - I liked this one. I like King's "This guy is weeiiirrd" line after Gangrel spits red liquid into the crowd (I thin it hit or almost hit a guy in the front row)

Sable vs Luna (Women's Title) - Skip this.

Mankind Vs. The Rock (I Quit match for the WWF Title) - I think this was WWF's first I Quit match. Many think that Bret vs Austin from Wm13 was. But that was a Submission Match. Here, Foley took multiple unprotected chair shots!

Rumble Match - This was a real screwed up Rumble lol. But it did have its moments. Kane's dominance, Austin & Vince, certain guys trying to collect the $1000 bounty by eliminating Austin, and King's hilarious response to Vince winning.

Royal Rumble 2000

Tazz vs Kurt Angle - Tazz turned out to be Kurt's mystery opponent. Decent debut for him. Too bad he didn't really get anywhere after this night.

Hardyz vs Dudleys (Tables match) - Without a doubt, ties with the WWF Title match in terms of being the Match Of The Night & a Show-Stealer. To win, both members of a team had to be out through tables. Great table spots here. Too many to put. Jeff Hardy was the MVP.

Chyna vs Jericho vs Hardcore Holly (Triple Threat I.C. Title match - Chyna & Jericho were co-champions. It was a good match. Not a fan of women vs men because it's men who always win, implying women cannot be successful in sports when competing against men which isn't true IMO. Anyway, Jericho wins here. I was cheering for him so I was happy.

Acolytes vs Outlaws (Tag Titles) - I've seen better tag matches.

Cactua Jack vs HHH (Street Fight for the WWF Title) - Words can't explain this. Gotta watch for yourself. The transformation on SD Mick made from Mankind to Cactus Jack was quite a moment& the priceless look on HHH's face made that segment even more memorable.

The Rumble match itself wasn't one of my favorites. But I've seen worse ones & so this one was pretty decent. I was cheering Kane after witnessing his dominance in the 1999 edition. But he didn't win.

Royal Rumble 2001

Dudleys vs E&C (Tag Titles) - E&C made this match for me because as great a team as The Dudleys are, just couldn't get into them unless it's a Tables or TLC match.

Jericho vs Benoit (Ladder match for I.C. Title) - Match Of The Night IMO. Enough said.

Chyna vs Ivory (Women's Title)

HHH vs Angle (WWF Title) - Stephanie was in her husband's corner while Trish was in her business partner's corner. Angle won thanks to Austin of all people.

The Rumble match was great. Loved The Hardys facing each other. Then Drew Carey came in. Never liked him. And he didn't belong here. It's because of him being in the ring that The Hardys had a stupid exit from the match. But Kane came & I'll give him credit here because Drew was priceless. Kane OWNED this match to the point of where he should've won it. Rock & Austin had their Rumble nights. This should have been Kane's (well it was, but sealed with a win). Taker had a good showing before being eliminated by Rikishi. Rock & Austin had another face off.

Royal Rumble 2002

Spike Dudley/TAZZ VS. The Dudley Boyz w/Stacy Kiebler (WWF/WWE Tag Team Championship) - While I have seen better tag title matches in my time, this wasn't bad by any means.

Edge Vs. William Regal (WWF/WWE I-C Title Match) - Regal is a tremendous worker. But I could never get into his style which made me not like this match despite the wok rate of him & Edge.

Trish Stratus Vs. Jazz (WWF/WWE Women's Title Match) - Always a fan of Trish as a wrestler. This was good.

"Nature Boy" Ric Flair Vs. Vince McMahon (Streetfight Match) - Don't endorse Flair wrestling.

Chris Jericho Vs. The Rock (WWF/WWE Undisputed Championship Match) - Great match just like their matches from Vengeance, No Mercy & RAW in late 2001.

The Royal Rumble Match - I liked this match. It was the returns of Goldust, Venis, Godfather and Mr. Perfect. Kane eliminating Big Show via bodyslam is an impressive feat. Wish Kane lasted longer though. Taker's run, though short, was a dominant one before his elimination by a rookie who is pretty much off the radar these days. I feel they screwed Taker over in 2002 and some parts of 2003 by having him lose to guys like Maven & Brock because they didn't deserve to beat him, didn't last long in WWE & in Maven's case, didn't deserve to be on the WWE roster period.
HHH, not surprisingly won this.

Royal Rumble 1998 to 2002. 5 Royal Rumble matches. 5 winners. 150 men. Who won? (I am only making a review for the Royal Rumble MATCHES because I want to make this a short review)

Royal Rumble Match 1998: 4/5
Some people would think that this match was too long ago and it would have too many boring people. Well it didn't. A whole lot of long-lasting entrants and most of them, you would probably know. (The Rock, Stone Cold, JBL, Vader, Mick Foley, Ron Simmons, Terry Funk etc.) This was a great and long Royal Rumble match that was awesome to finally watch. Recommended!

Royal Rumble Match 1999: 3/5
The was the worst Royal Rumble match I've ever seen. It was only based on a heated rivalry between Stone Cold and the McMahons. Mr. McMahon spent one half of the entire hour being a commentator. Too many people got involved with people other than Stone Cold. Not worth watching AT ALL! Overall, the PPV wasn't terrible.

Royal Rumble Match 2000: 4.5/5
FINALLY we get up to a really good Royal Rumble match!! This kicked off one of the best years in the history of this business. Although this had way more people getting involved than 1999, it turned out fantastic. A lot of anticipated crowd reactions. This is my 3rd or 4th favorite Rumble match ever. 100% RECOMMENDED also.

Royal Rumble Match 2001: 5/5 !!
Now THIS is the best Royal Rumble Match I've ever seen. It had weapons, a special guest comedian, a large amount of superstars at once sometimes, and large amount of build up. 5 Stars for the entire PPV also!!!!!

Royal Rumble Match 2002 4/5
Not bad, but was very boring at most points. This is not a recommended Royal Rumble to watch. It had a pretty entertaining beginning with rising stars. This was the longest Royal Rumble match ever in history and I couldn't believe I sat through it all. PPV itself was neutral.

Overall, this summed up great matches during the attitude era. I would always find 1 or 2 of these seperate for the same cost as all of them combind in this volume. I saved a lot of money is a really good thing to watch when you're bored. See WWE Royal Rumble 2005

1998 - The big event here is the casket match between Shawn Michaels and the Undertaker because not only was Shawn's back damaged by a backdrop onto the top of the casket forcing him into a four and a half year retirement, but this also set up the original Kane-Undertaker clash at Wrestlemania 14. The Rumble Match was won by the marked man Stone Cold Steve Austin and featured a hardcore chair throwing chainsaw fight between Chainsaw Charlie and Cactus Jack. In addition, Mick Foley goes into mutiple personality mode as Dude Love, Mankind, and Cactus Jack all appear. The LOD battle for the tag belts against the New Age Outlaws, The Rock defends the IC belt against Ken Shamrock, Goldust battles Vader, and there's a midget match with Sunny as the referee.

1999- The 1999 event was a mess plain and simple...including a Rumble Match that featured Vince Mcmahon running scared from Stone Cold, a Corparate team ambush in a bathroom, the Undertaker sacrificing Mable and a bunch of dead time as each of these events unfolded. Make sure the remote on your DVD or Blu Ray has a quick fast forward button because the Rumble was painful to sit through. Mankind and The Rock battle in an epicly perverse I Quit Match, but I think it's available on another WWE DVD but I can't be positive...if it's not that's the reason to see this show.

2000- The Rumble redeems itself in Madison Square Garden. Kurt Angle is choked out by a debuting Tazz, The Hardy Boyz and The Duddley Boys meet in a tables match, the first of their major encounters that would eventually include Edge and Christian. The Miss Rumble swimsuit competition, fast forward and save the trip to the facilities. Chyna and Chris Jericho finish off the co-champion storyline as they defend their title in a triple threat with Hardcore Holly. In a nothing tag title defense the New Age Outlaws battle the Acolytes. The Rock and The Big Show begin debating who really won the Royal Rumble storyline that led to the four way Mcmahon thing at Wrestlemania. In the main event, Triple H defended the WWF title against Cactus Jack in a street fight, only to be topped by their Hell in a Cell Match at No Way Out.

2001- Another solid effort from the WW- as Edge and Christian put tag team gold up against the Dudleys. Chris Jericho had a ladder match with Chris Benoit over the Intercontinental Championship. Ivory and Chyna started the Right to Censor neck injury storyline. Kurt Angle defended the WW- Championship against Triple H featuring varying degrees of involvement from Stephanie-Trish- and Stone Cold Steve Austin, speaking of Austin, he would go on to win the rumble despite HHH's best efforts.

2002- Not as good as previous years, but still solid improvement over 1999. Triple H completed his injury comeback by besting Kurt Angle in the Rumble match. Chris Jericho battled the Rock over the Undisputed WWE championship in the match of the evening. Ric Flair and Mr. Mcmahon staggered around in street fight between two fifty year olds. Edge challenged Willam Regal for the Intercontinental Championship. Tazz and Spike Duddley defend their tag titles against the Dudley Boyz.

Color it enjoyable to the wrestling fan

1998: This is a really good Rumble, however, by this time the Rumble match itself was starting to become too predictable as to who was going to win it. The opening match was Vader going up against Goldust. This match was ok but nothing special. The next match was a 6 man midget match between Nova, Mosaic and Max Mini against Tarantula, Battalion and El Torito. I don't know if the fans there liked the match but I thought it was ok. The one thing I really hated about the match was all the arm drags. There felt like 50 of them was done in the match but midgets are fun to watch and this was a fun match. The next match was between the Rock and Ken Shamrock for the IC title. This was ok. I've never liked Ken either in the WWE or the UFC. I just think he's over hyped and I was glad to see the Rock win this contest. The Rumble match was very good even though everyone knew who was going to win. I did like the beginning with Cactus Jack and Terry Funk going at it hardcore style. The Rock drew number 3 and lasted for over 50 minutes, but it was Steve Austin who became the 3rd man in Rumble history to win back to back Rumbles. The final match was the coffin match for the world title between Shawn Michaels and Undertaker. This was a great match and in opinion, to date, is the best coffin match ever done. These guys really ulitized the coffin to the best of their abilities and had a hell of a match. All in all a good Rumble that I would give three stars!

1999: This was a pretty good Rumble that started with Bossman against Road Dogg. This was a pretty good and the Road Dogg as always was very entertaining. Up next was the IC title match with Billy Gunn and Ken Shamrock. I've always been a fan of Billy Gunn and thought he was great in this match but it was Shamrock who would prove to be too much for Mr Ass. The European title match with X-Pac and Gangrel was a waste of time to watch. I did like the women's title/strap match between Luna and Sable. I thought this match would suck but it proved to be a really good match. The "I Quit" world title match between Rock and Mankind may go down as the best Rumble match in its history. This match was freaking brutal and awesome to watch. Everything was great about this match from the Rock insulting Mankind on the mike, to Mankind falling off a balcony and knocking out the lights in the areana to the Rock pummeling Mankind with 12 sick chair shots. In the end Mankind supposedly said "I Quit" and the Rock had won. The Rumble match itself was a farce with Vince McMahon himself winning the contest. All in all this is a good Rumble that I would give two and a half stars!

2000: This was a very good Rumble from start to finish. I remember being primed for this one because it was Tazz's debut in the WWE against Kurt Angle. I thought this match would be a 15:00 to 20:00 epic but instead went not even 7:00 and featured Tazz choking Kurt out. Still a very impressive debut from Tazz. The table match between the Hardy Boys and Dudley Boys was a fantastic match that featured some very innovative moves from each team. Mae Young would win the Miss Royal Rumble 2000 binki contest. Nothing more then a feel good moment for Mae. The next match was co-IC champions Chyna and Chris Jericho in a three way match against Bob Holly. This match was a good match and featured Jericho winning the match and gaining sole possession of the IC title. The tag title match between the Acolytes and the New Age Outlaws was just a filler match with not a whole lot going on. I did like the world title street fight between Triple H and Cactus Jack. This match was just brutal and featured chairs being broken over the backs of wrestlers, a board wrapped in barbed wire, a lot of blood, announce tables being broken and yes thumbtacks! Triple H won and I think earned a lot of respect from the fans who didn't think he deserved to be the champ. The last contest was the Rumble match and it was a fun match to watch with the Rock winning it all. All in all a great Rumble that I would have to give three stars!

2001: I really liked this edition of the Rumble. The opening match saw the Dudley Boys win the tag titles from Edge and Christian. This was a great match but some of the same old same old being shown in the match. The IC title ladder match between Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho was a classic ladder match that had one of the most brutal chairshots I have ever seen. The women's title match between Ivory and Chyna was ok but the acting at the end was a little over the top from Chyna. Not very believable. I didn't like the world title match with Kurt Angle and Triple H. I thought it was slow and boring as most of their matches were. Interference from Steve Austin would prevent Triple H from winning another world title. The Rumble match was a great Rumble and saw Steve Austin, bloody and battered, win his 3rd Rumble. This is perhaps the best Rumble match in history. All in all this is a great Rumble and I would have to give this one three stars!

2002: This one was another good Rumble but had another predictable winner of the Rumble match itself. The event started with Spike Dudley and Tazz defending the tag titles against the Dudley Boys. I thought this match was dull and plodding. The next match was the IC title match between Edge and William Regal. This was a solid match and mainly because of another underrated wrestler in the business: Regal. The ending was a little stupid but still a solid match. The women's title match with Trish and Jazz was a very good women's title match and really started some of the best womens wrestling that the WWE has ever had. I really enjoyed the street fight between Vince McMahon and Ric Flair, even though both men were in their 50's. It just worked and the fans ate it up. I always thought Chris Jericho and the Rock put on some classic matches in the WWE and this one is just like the rest: Very good. The Rumble match was last and featured Triple H coming back from his quad injury to win his first Rumble. Very predictable but a very good Rumble match nonetheless. This was a good Rumble that i give four stars!

it came on time earlier then expected, it was good nice to see the attitude era again, the onyl thing that gt sort of annoying was the bluerd images of the F, but overall i would reccomned for fans of the attitude era. and or royal rumbles.

NOW THATS HISTORY..A MUST 4 EVRY WRESTLING FAN!!
HERE R SOME OF THE BEST MATCHES OF THIS ERA:

*1998:
UNDERTAKER VS. MICHAELS:CASKET MATCH:WWE TITLE
THIS IS WHERE HBK BROKE HIS BACK.
SHAMROCK VS. ROCK:IC TITLE
SHORT BUT CLASSIC AND INTENCE
ROYALRUMBLE MATCH IT SELF WAS FACE PACED AND NICE ENDING

*1999:
ROCK VS. MANKIND:I QUIT:WWE TITLE
VIOLENT HISTORIC ENCOUNTER..UNREAL!!
THE REST IS NOT MUCH

*2000:"MSG"
HARDYS VS. DUDLEYZ:TABLES MATCH
FIRST EVER TABLE MATCH IN WWE..IT WAS GREAT
HHH VS. CACTUS JACK:STREET FIGHT:WWE TITLE
ONE OF THE MUST BRUTAL MATCHES EVER AND ONE OF THE GREATEST
THE RUMBLE MATCH WAS NICE

*2001:
ONE OF THE BEST ROYAL RUMBLE CARDS EVER..REAL GOOD EVENT
HHH VS. ANGLE:WWE TITLE
CLASSIC WRESTLING MATCH(25MIN)REAL NICE
JERICHO VS. BENOIT;LADDRE MATCH:IC TITLE
2 OF MY ALL TIME FAVORITES..THESE 2 CAN ALWAYS DILEVER
RUMBLE MATCH WAS GREAT..HARDCORE..2 MUCH BLOOD..GREAT ENDING

*2002:
NOW THATS WHAT I CALL "CLASSIC"
FLAIR VS. MCMAHON:STREET FIGHT
2 LEGENDS IN THE SPORT..WHAT A MATCH!!I LOVED FLAIR AND THE ENDING WAS GREAT
JERICHO VS. ROCK:WWE TITLE
GOOD CHEMISTRY BETWEEN THESE 2 GREATS..GOOD MATCH
RUMBLE MATCH IS MY FAVOTITE EVERRR!!!REAL BIG NAMES IN THIS ONE:
HHH+UNDERTAKER+AUSTIN+RVD+MR.PERFECT+GOLDUST+HAKU+BOOKER T.....AND OTHERS

OWN A PIECE OF HISTORY..THIS IS WHEN THE BUSINESS REALLY STARTED 2 CHANGE AND TAKE ANOTHER DIRECTION