dd23beatlesfan1
Getting Noticed By Management
I know Im a little late on this post, beings the Royal Rumble has already passed, but I didnt get this idea until the night before the Royal Rumble, and wasnt able to finish my research until today.
Anyways, so the 1992 Royal Rumble is generally considered to be the greatest Rumble match of all-time. Why? One, because it was arguably the most important, beings it was the only time that the WWE championship was on the line in the match. A title shot at Wrestlemania is a great prize no doubt, but the WWE championship is even better and bigger. Ric Flairs performance is generally considered to be the best performance in the history of the rumble. The commentating is superb. And another big factor is that people generally feel that the 1992 Rumble had the greatest lineup of wrestlers in the events history. I dont quite recall who said it, but one wrestler in a WWE documentary said that the 1992 Rumble had the greatest cast of characters in the history of the WWE or something like that.
But is that really the case? Is the 1992 Royal Rumble really the best lineup in the history of the Rumble? There have certainly been plenty of other Rumbles who featured some pretty elite lineups of wrestlers. Wrestlers who would go on to become HOFers and icons in the business. Recently I decided to try to figure out on my own if the 1992 Rumble really has the greatest lineup of wrestlers in the history of the Rumble event. I came up with a formula to help me see if that was indeed the case.
I decided to award each Rumble match points based on the wrestlers who were in the lineup. I came up with 8 categories for a wrestler to be a part of. I basically looked at the lineups for every Rumble match, and for each wrestler I determined which category the wrestler belonged in (many of course ended up in more than one category as youll see). And each particular category has its own set of points given to each wrestler in the category. The higher amount of total points each Rumble match got, the better the lineup of wrestlers was. Here are the eight categories I came up with for this project .
Lower Card Superstars/Jobbers (1 point): These wrestlers were guys who were jobbers or wrestlers at the low card level of the WWE during the time of this particular Rumble. These also tended to be wrestlers that never really moved up much in the hierarchy of WWE superstars. Each wrestler in this category were given one point, which went towards the total points for the particular Rumble. This category also features wrestlers and celebrities who weren't active members of the WWE roster at the time and were just making a one-time appearance/cameo in the matchup. Examples include Dory Funk Jr. in the 1996 Royal Rumble, Drew Carey in the 2001 Royal Rumble, and Rob Van Dam in the 2008 Rumble. The one exception is Vince McMahon for the 1999 Royal Rumble as I put him as a main event guy, because while he wasn't a full-time wrestler he was certainly a huge part of the main event scene at the time.
Mid Card Superstars (2 points): These wrestlers were guys that were at the mid-card level of the WWF during the time of this particular Rumble. Each wrestler in this category were given two points, which went towards the total points for the particular Rumble.
Future/Past Main Event/Upper Mid Card Superstars (3 points): This one is a little more confusing, but very important. Throughout the history of the Rumble many of the superstars in the match were mid or lower-card guys, but would eventually go on to become main event players in the WWF/E or in other wrestling organizations. In addition, some wrestlers in the lineups were more down in the card at that particular point, but in the past were main event guys in the WWF/E or in other organizations. An example would be Shawn Michaels in the 1990 Rumble. At the time he was a mid-carder, but would eventually become a main eventer and legendary wrestler. So his presence while at the time wasnt much, looking back on it, really adds to the prestige of the lineup for that particular Royal Rumble. Wrestlers in this category were awarded 3 points, which went towards the total points for the particular Rumble. This category also applies to wrestlers that were main event players in other organizations, even if they werent ever such in the WWF/E. An example would be Arn Anderson or Tommy Dreamer who werent ever main eventers in the WWF/E but were in WCW and ECW, respectively.
Main Event/Upper Mid Card Superstars (5 points): Wrestlers in this category are wrestlers who were in the main event picture at the time of the particular Rumble. Wrestlers who were in the upper mid-card and on the cusp of being a main eventer (ie: wrestlers in the I-C title picture, or wrestlers that were big draws but not wrestling exactly in the main event) were also put in this category. A good example would be Jake Roberts who while wasnt ever exactly a Main Event guy, he certainly was above the mid-card as well and couldve easily been in the main event fighting for the top titles. Each wrestler in this category were given five points, which went towards the total points for the particular Rumble.
Future WWE HOFers (10 points): The categories from here on get much easier to determine and dont really rely on subjection. This category is for wrestlers who would eventually be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. Each wrestler here gets 10 points, which goes towards the total points for the particular Rumble.
Future Pro Wrestling HOFers (10 points): Just like the above category wrestlers in this category would go on to become inductees of the Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame located in New York. Each wrestler in this category was given 10 points, which goes towards the total points for the particular Rumble.
Future Wrestling Observer HOFers (10 points): Wrestlers in this category would go on to be inducted into Dave Meltzers Wrestling Observer Hall of Fame. Wrestlers in this category were given 10 points, which goes towards the total points for the particular Rumble.
Wrestlers Who Appeared on the Wrestling Observers 2002 list of the 100 Greatest Pro Wrestlers of All-Time (10 points): And for the final category, all wrestlers in this category were on the above named list. In addition to the 100 wrestlers that made this list, there was also a section after them in the book in which 10 more current wrestlers were highlighted as wrestlers likely to make a future list. So those four wrestlers (the other 6 were Japanese wrestlers who obviously havent ever participated in a Rumble match or the WWE for that matter) were also added to this category. Wrestlers in this category were awarded 10 points, which also goes towards the total points for the particular Rumble. Also when I break down each Rumble lineup for this category in addition to listing the wrestler in this category, I will also list the ranking they made it at on the list.
Now, before I get to posting my results, I will not lie, there are certainly flaws to my formula here.
1. The categories that each wrestler ends up in (except the last four 10-point categories which are pure fact) is subjective to whomever may do this formula. A guy that I might put down as a mid card wrestler, someone else might not be as generous as I am, and put them down as a lower-card/jobber. Im sure once all of you take a close look at the breakdowns of each Rumble lineup, many of you will come across quite a few disagreements with which categories I put wrestlers in. If every disagreement were to be posted and debated on the group, we could literally probably end up with hundreds of debates for this thread on this particular subject alone. Im aware of that, and of course wont have a problem with it. This particular area is highly subjective.
However, I do think this is a good way of doing it. Each category really defines the overall prestige or lack of for the lineup of each Rumble.
2. The last four categories (HOFers and greatest wrestlers) honestly do give the older Rumble matches (88-99) a big advantage over the more modern ones. Because obviously the more recent Rumbles due not feature wrestlers who have gone on to become legends, HOFers, greatest wrestlers of all-time, etc, but instead feature more current wrestlers, whose future accomplishments are yet to be determined. However these categories are important to the overall question here and must be included I feel. Because if were trying to determine which Rumble has the greatest lineup of all-time, were certainly have to look at each lineup from a historical perspective and not just a current perspective. The first four categories (which deal with where the wrestler was at on the WWF/E hierarchy at the time) deal with a current perspective. Basically if guys at that time were low-card, mid-card, or main event. Those dont really add much historical weight. Wrestlers who have become HOFers and appear on greatest of all-time lists, really add weight and prestige to the overall historical view of the lineup for that particular Rumble. So while these categories are kind of an unfair advantage to the older Rumble matchups, theyre also necessary in my view.
One advantage for the newer Rumbles to counteract this though is that nowadays the Rumbles matches are filled with mostly mid-card and main event wrestlers. Beings there are three brands represented in the Rumble match nowadays, the WWE particularly goes with the best of each brand. Whereas early on, WWE didnt have near as many wrestlers on their roster and thus had to use jobbers and lower card guys to fill out the lineup often. Beings main eventers and mid-card wrestlers equal higher points, those can be an advantage to the newer Rumbles.
So while my formula certainly isnt perfect, I think its a pretty good way of determining which Rumble truly has the greatest lineup ever.
So does 1992 reign supreme like the general consensus seems to feel? Lets find out, shall we? I will post the breakdowns for each Rumble in the posts following this one.
Also, I did not count the 2010 Royal Rumble in this project. Simply because it is just unfair to. Half of the lineup this year are wrestlers who are simply too early into their careers to determine how far they will go. While the same could be said for the last 2-3 Rumbles, at least with those Rumbles some time has passed and we have some basis to judge a wrestler's overall career on.
So I will breaking down the lineups starting with the 1988 Rumble all the way to the 2009 Rumble. Here we go.....
Anyways, so the 1992 Royal Rumble is generally considered to be the greatest Rumble match of all-time. Why? One, because it was arguably the most important, beings it was the only time that the WWE championship was on the line in the match. A title shot at Wrestlemania is a great prize no doubt, but the WWE championship is even better and bigger. Ric Flairs performance is generally considered to be the best performance in the history of the rumble. The commentating is superb. And another big factor is that people generally feel that the 1992 Rumble had the greatest lineup of wrestlers in the events history. I dont quite recall who said it, but one wrestler in a WWE documentary said that the 1992 Rumble had the greatest cast of characters in the history of the WWE or something like that.
But is that really the case? Is the 1992 Royal Rumble really the best lineup in the history of the Rumble? There have certainly been plenty of other Rumbles who featured some pretty elite lineups of wrestlers. Wrestlers who would go on to become HOFers and icons in the business. Recently I decided to try to figure out on my own if the 1992 Rumble really has the greatest lineup of wrestlers in the history of the Rumble event. I came up with a formula to help me see if that was indeed the case.
I decided to award each Rumble match points based on the wrestlers who were in the lineup. I came up with 8 categories for a wrestler to be a part of. I basically looked at the lineups for every Rumble match, and for each wrestler I determined which category the wrestler belonged in (many of course ended up in more than one category as youll see). And each particular category has its own set of points given to each wrestler in the category. The higher amount of total points each Rumble match got, the better the lineup of wrestlers was. Here are the eight categories I came up with for this project .
Lower Card Superstars/Jobbers (1 point): These wrestlers were guys who were jobbers or wrestlers at the low card level of the WWE during the time of this particular Rumble. These also tended to be wrestlers that never really moved up much in the hierarchy of WWE superstars. Each wrestler in this category were given one point, which went towards the total points for the particular Rumble. This category also features wrestlers and celebrities who weren't active members of the WWE roster at the time and were just making a one-time appearance/cameo in the matchup. Examples include Dory Funk Jr. in the 1996 Royal Rumble, Drew Carey in the 2001 Royal Rumble, and Rob Van Dam in the 2008 Rumble. The one exception is Vince McMahon for the 1999 Royal Rumble as I put him as a main event guy, because while he wasn't a full-time wrestler he was certainly a huge part of the main event scene at the time.
Mid Card Superstars (2 points): These wrestlers were guys that were at the mid-card level of the WWF during the time of this particular Rumble. Each wrestler in this category were given two points, which went towards the total points for the particular Rumble.
Future/Past Main Event/Upper Mid Card Superstars (3 points): This one is a little more confusing, but very important. Throughout the history of the Rumble many of the superstars in the match were mid or lower-card guys, but would eventually go on to become main event players in the WWF/E or in other wrestling organizations. In addition, some wrestlers in the lineups were more down in the card at that particular point, but in the past were main event guys in the WWF/E or in other organizations. An example would be Shawn Michaels in the 1990 Rumble. At the time he was a mid-carder, but would eventually become a main eventer and legendary wrestler. So his presence while at the time wasnt much, looking back on it, really adds to the prestige of the lineup for that particular Royal Rumble. Wrestlers in this category were awarded 3 points, which went towards the total points for the particular Rumble. This category also applies to wrestlers that were main event players in other organizations, even if they werent ever such in the WWF/E. An example would be Arn Anderson or Tommy Dreamer who werent ever main eventers in the WWF/E but were in WCW and ECW, respectively.
Main Event/Upper Mid Card Superstars (5 points): Wrestlers in this category are wrestlers who were in the main event picture at the time of the particular Rumble. Wrestlers who were in the upper mid-card and on the cusp of being a main eventer (ie: wrestlers in the I-C title picture, or wrestlers that were big draws but not wrestling exactly in the main event) were also put in this category. A good example would be Jake Roberts who while wasnt ever exactly a Main Event guy, he certainly was above the mid-card as well and couldve easily been in the main event fighting for the top titles. Each wrestler in this category were given five points, which went towards the total points for the particular Rumble.
Future WWE HOFers (10 points): The categories from here on get much easier to determine and dont really rely on subjection. This category is for wrestlers who would eventually be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. Each wrestler here gets 10 points, which goes towards the total points for the particular Rumble.
Future Pro Wrestling HOFers (10 points): Just like the above category wrestlers in this category would go on to become inductees of the Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame located in New York. Each wrestler in this category was given 10 points, which goes towards the total points for the particular Rumble.
Future Wrestling Observer HOFers (10 points): Wrestlers in this category would go on to be inducted into Dave Meltzers Wrestling Observer Hall of Fame. Wrestlers in this category were given 10 points, which goes towards the total points for the particular Rumble.
Wrestlers Who Appeared on the Wrestling Observers 2002 list of the 100 Greatest Pro Wrestlers of All-Time (10 points): And for the final category, all wrestlers in this category were on the above named list. In addition to the 100 wrestlers that made this list, there was also a section after them in the book in which 10 more current wrestlers were highlighted as wrestlers likely to make a future list. So those four wrestlers (the other 6 were Japanese wrestlers who obviously havent ever participated in a Rumble match or the WWE for that matter) were also added to this category. Wrestlers in this category were awarded 10 points, which also goes towards the total points for the particular Rumble. Also when I break down each Rumble lineup for this category in addition to listing the wrestler in this category, I will also list the ranking they made it at on the list.
Now, before I get to posting my results, I will not lie, there are certainly flaws to my formula here.
1. The categories that each wrestler ends up in (except the last four 10-point categories which are pure fact) is subjective to whomever may do this formula. A guy that I might put down as a mid card wrestler, someone else might not be as generous as I am, and put them down as a lower-card/jobber. Im sure once all of you take a close look at the breakdowns of each Rumble lineup, many of you will come across quite a few disagreements with which categories I put wrestlers in. If every disagreement were to be posted and debated on the group, we could literally probably end up with hundreds of debates for this thread on this particular subject alone. Im aware of that, and of course wont have a problem with it. This particular area is highly subjective.
However, I do think this is a good way of doing it. Each category really defines the overall prestige or lack of for the lineup of each Rumble.
2. The last four categories (HOFers and greatest wrestlers) honestly do give the older Rumble matches (88-99) a big advantage over the more modern ones. Because obviously the more recent Rumbles due not feature wrestlers who have gone on to become legends, HOFers, greatest wrestlers of all-time, etc, but instead feature more current wrestlers, whose future accomplishments are yet to be determined. However these categories are important to the overall question here and must be included I feel. Because if were trying to determine which Rumble has the greatest lineup of all-time, were certainly have to look at each lineup from a historical perspective and not just a current perspective. The first four categories (which deal with where the wrestler was at on the WWF/E hierarchy at the time) deal with a current perspective. Basically if guys at that time were low-card, mid-card, or main event. Those dont really add much historical weight. Wrestlers who have become HOFers and appear on greatest of all-time lists, really add weight and prestige to the overall historical view of the lineup for that particular Rumble. So while these categories are kind of an unfair advantage to the older Rumble matchups, theyre also necessary in my view.
One advantage for the newer Rumbles to counteract this though is that nowadays the Rumbles matches are filled with mostly mid-card and main event wrestlers. Beings there are three brands represented in the Rumble match nowadays, the WWE particularly goes with the best of each brand. Whereas early on, WWE didnt have near as many wrestlers on their roster and thus had to use jobbers and lower card guys to fill out the lineup often. Beings main eventers and mid-card wrestlers equal higher points, those can be an advantage to the newer Rumbles.
So while my formula certainly isnt perfect, I think its a pretty good way of determining which Rumble truly has the greatest lineup ever.
So does 1992 reign supreme like the general consensus seems to feel? Lets find out, shall we? I will post the breakdowns for each Rumble in the posts following this one.
Also, I did not count the 2010 Royal Rumble in this project. Simply because it is just unfair to. Half of the lineup this year are wrestlers who are simply too early into their careers to determine how far they will go. While the same could be said for the last 2-3 Rumbles, at least with those Rumbles some time has passed and we have some basis to judge a wrestler's overall career on.
So I will breaking down the lineups starting with the 1988 Rumble all the way to the 2009 Rumble. Here we go.....
