{"id":117756,"date":"2023-01-28T10:00:58","date_gmt":"2023-01-28T15:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/?p=117756"},"modified":"2023-01-27T13:27:14","modified_gmt":"2023-01-27T18:27:14","slug":"2023-royal-rumble-1994s-blueprint","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2023\/01\/28\/2023-royal-rumble-1994s-blueprint\/","title":{"rendered":"The 2023 Royal Rumble Should Use the Blueprint from 1994"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The anticipation ahead of the Men&#8217;s 2023 Royal Rumble is hot. <strong>Cody Rhodes<\/strong> will return. <strong>Sami Zayn<\/strong> might be in the match, leading to the next twist in his relationship with <strong>The Bloodline<\/strong>. Then, there&#8217;s the potentially blind hope that <strong>The Rock<\/strong> will return, plus the desire for shock appearances from <strong>New Japan Pro-Wrestling<\/strong> stars. No matter what, we will be a little clearer about who will headline <strong><em>WrestleMania 39<\/em><\/strong> when this Saturday ends. But how does WWE manage the above expectations? Simple, follow what the Royal Rumble did in 1994.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">We said what we said.<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/RoyalRumble?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#RoyalRumble<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/nv7OYTv4sA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/nv7OYTv4sA<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; WWE on TNT Sports (@wweontnt) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/wweontnt\/status\/1618292628063195154?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">January 25, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2><strong>The 2023 Men&#8217;s Royal Rumble &amp; the 1994 Blueprint<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Two Japanese Legends in the Rumble<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>The 1994 Royal Rumble featured appearances from Japanese wrestlers not contracted with the WWE. <strong>The Great Kabuki<\/strong> and <strong>Tenryu<\/strong> both appeared. It was The Great Kabuki&#8217;s only televised WWE match although he made a few appearances on co-promoted shows. Tenryu also competed in the 1993 Royal Rumble and <strong><em>WrestleMania VII<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>We saw <strong>IMPACT Wrestling&#8217;s<\/strong> <strong>Mickie James<\/strong> in last year&#8217;s Women&#8217;s Rumble, so could the Men&#8217;s 2023 Royal Rumble follow suit this year? Surely, WWE asked for something in return when it let <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2022\/12\/29\/the-great-muta-best-matches\/\" target=\"_self\"><strong>Shinsuke Nakamura<\/strong> face <strong>The Great Muta<\/strong> in <strong>Pro Wrestling NOAH<\/strong><\/a> and <strong>Karl Anderson<\/strong> compete at <strong><em>NJPW WrestleKingdom<\/em><\/strong>?<\/p>\n<p>Great Muta in the Rumble would be a legendary moment. Apart from him, there are literally too many Japanese stars to mention, from <strong>Kazuchika Okada<\/strong> to <strong>Taka Michinoku<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<h3><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">An Anoa&#8217;i Family Member At 2 &amp; 28<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">In 1994, <strong>Samu<\/strong> was the 2nd entrant into the Rumble with his cousin <strong>Fatu<\/strong> (<strong>Rikishi<\/strong>) coming in at 28.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2022\/09\/14\/solo-sikoa-nxt-north-american\/\" target=\"_self\">Solo Sikoa<\/a><\/strong> at number 2 would allow him to continue to show his dominance in the WWE. It&#8217;ll also be fun to anticipate him winning it and facing Reigns, which is unlikely to happen but would be fun to think about.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">At 28? It has to be The Rock. If that can&#8217;t happen, just give us Rikishi and literally repeat 1994.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">2023 Royal Rumble: Two Winners Like 94<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The 1994 Royal Rumble ended in confusion when nobody could tell whether <strong>Bret Hart<\/strong> or <strong>Lex Luger&#8217;s<\/strong> foot hit the floor first. After a few minutes of deliberation, they were declared joint winners.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Roman Reigns currently holds the Universal Championship and the WWE Championship; two belts. <em>WrestleMania<\/em> will take place on Saturday, April 1 and Sunday, April 2; two nights.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">A Cody Rhodes Rumble victory would leave many people wishing for Sami Zayn or The Rock. Simple &#8211; two winners.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Royal Rumble Recall 1994: Co-Winners Lex Luger and Bret Hart\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/soJhHsBhI6I?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The Rock, Cody, or SamiMania\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">If The Rock enters the Rumble and wins to set up a <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2023\/01\/10\/wrestlemania-39-the-rock-match-rumors-help-propel-wwe-to-largest-ever-wrestlemania-gate\/\" target=\"_self\">dream match at <em>WrestleMania 39<\/em><\/a> with his cousin Reigns, nobody would be disappointed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">But if WWE wants to go hard on its return of Rhodes in the Rumble, it has to go with two winners. A Rhodes win would leave a few too many people unsatisfied. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">If Zayn and Rhodes are the joint winners, it also puts Zayn in the position of a championship match against Reigns that he didn&#8217;t technically mean to win. An accidental victory &#8211; albeit a joint one &#8211; for Zayn works perfectly with his current position in The Bloodline. It would add further ambiguity about Zayn&#8217;s intentions with The Bloodline. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">This would set up Reigns having to defend one championship against Rhodes on Saturday and the other against Zayn on Sunday. Two championship matches and storylines would make up for the Rock-shaped hole in <em>WrestleMania 39.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0There are endless outcomes from these matches.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Cody Rhodes vows to win the Royal Rumble Match: Raw, Jan. 23, 2023\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/tVhsA-zMpEk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Stay tuned to the\u00a0<\/span><\/em><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\"><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Last Word on Pro Wrestling<\/span><\/em><\/a><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0for more on this and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world. You can check out an almost unlimited array of WWE content on the\u00a0<\/span><\/em><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/watch.wwe.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">WWE Network<\/span><\/em><\/a><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span><\/em><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.peacocktv.com\/watch\/home\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Peacock<\/span><\/em><\/a><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The anticipation ahead of the Men&#8217;s 2023 Royal Rumble is hot. Cody Rhodes will return. Sami Zayn might be in the match, leading to the next twist in his relationship with The Bloodline. Then, there&#8217;s the potentially blind hope that The Rock will return, plus the desire for shock appearances from New Japan Pro-Wrestling stars. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3852,"featured_media":117747,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7205,2192,4,3],"tags":[362,98,691,397,106,550],"class_list":["post-117756","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history","category-wrestling","category-wwe","category-wwe-universe","tag-bret-hart","tag-cody-rhodes","tag-lex-luger","tag-royal-rumble","tag-sami-zayn","tag-the-rock"],"modified_by":"Robbie Sutter","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117756","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3852"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117756"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117756\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/117747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}