During the mid-1990's, Vince McMahon had to really work hard to fill the slots in his 30-man over-the-top-rope Royal Rumble. The actual full-time WWF roster was pretty thin on the ground, so McMahon had to draft in one-off names from further afield. For that exact reason, fans were treated to the likes of The Great Kabuki and Genichiro Tenryu. Realistically however, there were only a handful of regulars who had any real chance of winning the bout. Fascinatingly, behind the scenes there was somewhat of a struggle between old and new occurring. Since the previous Summer, Vince had been interested in making Lex Luger the 'next' Hulk Hogan. Meanwhile, Bret Hart represented a new breed of headliner. The conclusion of the 1994 Royal Rumble was excellently done. Luger and Hart tumbled out of the ring at just about the same time, and officials deliberated over exactly who was the winner. Unfortunately for the WWF, more fans were clearly in favour of Bret, but both men were declared winners. This wouldn't be the only time the 'co-winner' idea would be used.
