Royal Rumble (1996)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Royal Rumble (1996)
Details
Promotion	World Wrestling Federation
Date	January 21, 1996
Venue	Selland Arena
City	Fresno, California
Attendance	9,600
Pay-per-view chronology
In Your House 5	Royal Rumble (1996)	In Your House 6
Royal Rumble chronology
Royal Rumble (1995)	Royal Rumble (1996)	Royal Rumble (1997)

Royal Rumble (1996) was the ninth annual Royal Rumble professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). It took place on January 21, 1996 at the Selland Arena in Fresno, California. It was the first royal rumble to contain pyrotechnics.

Contents 1 Results 2 Royal Rumble entrances and eliminations 3 Other on-screen talent 4 Notes 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Results

Numbers in parentheses indicate the length of the match.

• Free for All match: Duke Droese defeated Hunter Hearst Helmsley by disqualification (6:25)
  • Helmsley was disqualified after using brass knuckles.
  • The winner of the match earned the right to enter at #30 while the loser of the match was forced to enter at #1.
• Ahmed Johnson defeated Jeff Jarrett by disqualification (6:40)
  • Jarrett was disqualifed after going to the top rope and jumping off, hitting Johnson with his guitar.
• The Smokin' Gunns (Billy and Bart) defeated The Bodydonnas (Skip and Zip) (w/Sunny) to retain the WWF Tag Team Championship (11:14)
  • Bart pinned Zip after Billy helped reverse the Bodydonnas' double suplex attempt on Bart into a small package from Bart on Zip.
• Goldust (w/Marlena) defeated Razor Ramon to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship (14:17)
  • Goldust pinned Ramon after The 1-2-3 Kid came and hit Ramon with a top rope Spinning Heel Kick while Marlena distracted the referee.
• Shawn Michaels won the 1996 Royal Rumble (58:49)
  • The final two men were Shawn Michaels and Diesel. Michaels hit Diesel with Sweet Chin Music that sent Diesel over the top rope.
  • When Jake Roberts came out, he brought out his snake, clearing the ring. Roberts put the snake on Jerry Lawler who ran off and hid under the ring for almost half an hour before being found by Shawn Michaels and being eliminated.
  • After Shawn Michaels had eliminated Vader, Yokozuna, and the 1-2-3 Kid, Vader re-entered the ring and eliminated Shawn Michaels, Bob Holly, and Hunter Hearst Helmsley (Owen Hart was only thrown through the ropes both times). However, unlike previous instances where eliminations by eliminated wrestlers stood (e.g. Big Boss Man's elimination by Hulk Hogan in 1989), none of these eliminations were deemed official and WWF President Gorilla Monsoon forced Vader to get out of the ring.
• The Undertaker (w/Paul Bearer) defeated WWF Champion Bret Hart by disqualification (28:31)
  • Hart was disqualified after Diesel came out and pulled referee Earl Hebner before he could make a 3-count for The Undertaker following a Tombstone Piledriver. However, because Bret Hart was not pinned, The Title could not be passed over to The Undertaker.

[edit] Royal Rumble entrances and eliminations

A new entrant came out approximately every 2 minutes.

Draw	Entrant	Order	Eliminated by	Time
01 1	Hunter Hearst Helmsley	19	Diesel	48:01
02 2	Henry Godwinn	02 2	Roberts	16:24
03 3	Bob Backlund	01 1	Yokozuna	12:22
04 4	Jerry Lawler	16	Michaels	36:02
05 5	Bob Holly	18	Ringmaster	39:35
06 6	King Mabel	03 3	Yokozuna	12:14
07 7	Jake Roberts	06 6	Vader	14:39
08 8	Dory Funk, Jr.	05 5	Vega	10:53
09 9	Yokozuna	11	Michaels	19:14
10	1-2-3 Kid	13	Michaels	15:40
11	Takao Omori	04 4	Roberts	02:48 2:48
12	Savio Vega	10	Vader	12:28
13	Vader	12	Michaels	11:04
14	Doug Gilbert	07 7	Vader	02:59 2:59
15	Swat Team #1	08 8	Vader	01:11 1:11
16	Swat Team #2	09 9	Yokozuna	00:24 0:24
17	Owen Hart	21	Michaels and Diesel	20:43
18	Shawn Michaels	30 -	WINNER	26:09
19	Hakushi	14	Hart	01:53 1:53
20	Tatanka	17	Diesel	04:09 4:09
21	Aldo Montoya	15	Tatanka	01:52 1:52
22	Diesel	29	Michaels	17:51
23	Kama	28	Diesel	15:57
24	ringmaster The Ringmaster	23	Fatu	10:57
25	Barry Horowitz	20	Hart	04:15 4:15
26	Fatu	24	Yankem	07:07 7:07
27	Isaac Yankem	25	Michaels	07:05 7:05
28	Marty Jannetty	22	British Bulldog	02:35 2:35
29	British Bulldog The British Bulldog	27	Michaels	03:39 3:39
30	Duke Droese	26	Kama and Diesel	01:10 1:10

[edit] Other on-screen talent

Commentators Vince McMahon Mr. Perfect Interviewers Dok Hendrix Todd Pettengill Referees Jack Doan Jim Korderas Earl Hebner Tim White

Other Howard Finkel - ring announcer

[edit] Notes

• This was the first pay-per-view event to feature the Free for All, a free preshow for pay-per-view events. Previous WWF pay-per-view events had a "countdown show" with a dark match taking place for the live audience, but this was the first event to feature a free match for the television audience.
• This was the first Royal Rumble match to include theme music for all 30 entrants as they came down to the ring.
• A Women's Championship match between Aja Kong and then champion Alundra Blayze was to take place, as had been advertised in WWF Magazine. However, the match was scrapped after Blayze was fired.

[edit] References

• "2007 Pro Wrestling Illustrated Almanac & Book of Facts", Wrestling’s historical cards, Kappa Publishing, 2007, pp. 95. 
• onlineworldofwrestling.com - Royal Rumble '96 results
• hoofco-inc.com - Royal Rumble '96 review
• wrestlinginformer.net - Royal Rumble '96 review

[edit] External links

• Official 1996 Royal Rumble website