 |
| Flair took his licks, but he won the richest pot in Rumble history Photo Credit: WWE.com |
Final four: None
Multiple draws: None
Longest: Flair, 59:26
Shortest: Tom Brandi (1998): 0:12.
Most eliminations: Five — Flair, CM Punk (2010)
This post could be two words long: Ric Flair. But of course it warrants a bit more, if only to shower praise on arguably the single greatest Royal Rumble performance of all time.
Let’s start with the obvious: the WWF title was on the line for the first, last and only (so far) time in Rumble history. Massive stakes. There were only 28 men to beat (No. 2 Ted DiBiase was eliminated shortly before Flair entered), but it took nearly an hour to do so. At the time it was the longest tenure in Rumble history; it now ranks fifth. Only two men have lasted longer in Rumble victories, and only ten men have logged more eliminations in a win than Flair’s five (tied with Hulk Hogan in 1990). The list of competitors is littered with former world champions and future hall-of-famers.
Yet a deeper look at the performance of those entering the Rumble in the third spot year over year reveals just how well Flair did compared to the norm. Seven men who entered third failed to last a minute. Ten more failed to clear five minutes. Twelve times the third entrant is the first eliminated, easily the worst of any entry position.
As was discussed with in regards to Finlay in yesterday’s piece, longevity alone is not the goal. Twenty men who entered at No. 3 failed to eliminate anyone. Greg “The Hammer” Valentine was in the ring for 44:03 in 1991, yet the only person he dumped was Dino Bravo. Not only that, but Bravo was the second entry. Hammer eliminated the Canadian strongman about 90 seconds after hitting the ring, then spent the rest of the night punching guys with little serious effect. True, it was nearly 40 minutes better than his showing the next year, but so what? When you’re out there that long with no eliminations — especially in a year when eight guys clear 20 minutes — you start to look like part of the scenery.
Still, only Valentine and Cody Rhodes (2013) have entered at No. 3 and not been one of the first ten eliminated. Rhodes put up 27:39 in 2013 and eliminated four men, including his brother and now tag-team partner Goldust. Rhodes had wrestled a near-ten-minute tag title match earlier in the show with Damien Sandow against Team Hell No. After Flair’s gold standard, Rhodes is clearly the second best No. 3 ever. No surprise for a guy who’s averaged 27:57 over five Rumble appearances with 12 eliminations.
The great unanswered question of the three-spot is how long Andre the Giant might have endured in 1989 were it not for the return to the ring of Jake “The Snake” Roberts and his traveling partner, Damien. Andre skipped town just shy of the 15-minute mark, moving as quickly as possible during that stage of his career. It was a good narrative device, both to get Andre to the back before the Mega-Powers story developed (and long before Big John Studd) made his appearance and also to build his feud with Roberts.
In later years a popular Rumble spot was the entire ring population, regardless of alignment, ganging up on one opponent, usually the tallest or fattest dude around. It took six people to eliminate Kurrgan in 1998 and Rikishi in 2000, seven for Mabel in 1994 and eight for Viscera (Mabel 3.0?) in 2007. But Andre did the deed himself in 1989, after eliminating three competitors.
A far more memorable performance, though shorter in duration, was CM Punk’s run from No. 3 in 2010. He lasted a hair past ten minutes but eliminated five competitors — including Beth Phoenix — and used some alone time in the ring to grab a microphone, preach to the crowd and even tried to convince Great Khali to join the Straight Edge Society. Punk is tied with Chris Jericho on the all-time eliminations list with 15, but he did so in roughly half the time (1:49:00 for Punk vs. 3:05:13 for Y2J).
Flair’s performance was so iconic for so many reasons, I hope it’s never replicated. I hope the Rumble is never a title match, hope No. 3 never goes the distance, everything. Every year when the seconds tick down and we wait for the third guy’s entrance music, I secretly wish it to be a nobody. And quite often, that’s exactly what I get.
One of the Blu Brothers in 1995. Fake Razor Ramon in 1997. Tom Brandi in 1998. Golga in 1999. Even when the names are bigger, the results are small: Matt Hardy in 2001 — out in 4:45. Mark Henry in 2004 — done in 5:14.
There was a potential to try to use the Rumble to build fire under Tough Enough winner Daniel Puder in 2005, but he quickly flamed out. The next year the same thing happened to newcomer Simon Dean, and in 2007 to Kenny Dykstra. In 2008 Santino Marella was not yet the comedy act he’s grown into, and he lasted just 25 seconds before running afoul of the Undertaker. Rhodes was much more established as a star heading into his 2013 appearance — in no small part due to his 2012 Rumble performance, which will be analyzed tomorrow.
It’s fairly easy to guess who might be in line for something of a coming out party at this year’s Rumble, but without knowing the full roster of entrants, it’s tough to predict how the order of entry might affect those narratives. Still, as an ardent traditionalist and staunch Flair supporter, I’m perfectly fine with another completely forgettable performance from this year’s No. 3.
Year | Wrestler | Duration | Out | Elim. | Elim. By | Elim. 2 |
1988 | Butch Reed | 0:03:18 | 1 | 0 | Roberts | |
1989 | Andre the Giant | 0:14:55 | 5 | 3 | (Self) | |
1990 | Marty Jannetty | 0:01:35 | 2 | 0 | DiBiase | |
1991 | Greg Valentine | 0:44:03 | 14 | 1 | Hogan | |
1992 | Ric Flair | 0:59:26 | - | 5 | (Winner) | |
1993 | Papa Shango | 0:00:28 | 1 | 0 | Flair | |
1994 | Rick Steiner | 0:03:57 | 2 | 0 | O. Hart | |
1995 | Don Harris (Eli Blu) | 0:10:00 | 9 | 0 | Sione | |
1996 | Bob Backlund | 0:12:22 | 1 | 0 | Yokozuna | |
1997 | Rick Bognar (Fake Razor) | 0:00:17 | 1 | 0 | Johnson | |
1998 | Tom Brandi | 0:00:12 | 1 | 0 | Jack | Charlie |
1999 | John Tenta (Golga) | 0:00:15 | 1 | 0 | Austin | |
2000 | Mosh | 0:03:37 | 1 | 0 | Rikishi | |
2001 | Matt Hardy | 0:04:45 | 3 | 3 | J. Hardy | |
2002 | Big Boss Man | 0:03:05 | 1 | 0 | Rikishi | |
2003 | Christopher Nowinski | 0:04:39 | 2 | 0 | Mysterio | |
2004 | Mark Henry | 0:05:14 | 3 | 0 | Benoit | |
2005 | Daniel Puder | 0:04:09 | 1 | 0 | B. Holly | |
2006 | Simon Dean | 0:00:45 | 1 | 0 | Mysterio | Triple H |
2007 | Kenny Dykstra | 0:04:05 | 2 | 0 | Edge | |
2008 | Santino Marella | 0:00:25 | 1 | 0 | Undertaker | |
2009 | Carlito | 0:06:11 | 3 | 0 | Kozlov | |
2010 | CM Punk | 0:10:04 | 7 | 5 | Triple H | |
2011 | Justin Gabriel | 0:00:58 | 1 | 0 | Bryan | |
2012 | Ron Killings (R-Truth) | 0:04:57 | 2 | 0 | Miz | |
2013 | Cody Rhodes | 0:27:39 | 12 | 4 | Cena |
