10 Best WWE Royal Rumble Commercials Ever

7. 1999

Sometimes, it only takes 25 seconds to get a potential viewer up to speed with what is going on. The 1999 Royal Rumble may be regarded as one of the worst in the history of the match, but the commercial leading into it was a flawless exercise in advertising a story. 1999 WWF was all about Stone Cold Steve Austin and Mr. McMahon.

McMahon was incensed that Austin had won two Rumbles in a row, and wanted to make sure it wouldn't happen for a third year in succession. As such the Rattlesnake was to enter the Rumble at number one, and the boss placed a $100,000 bounty on his head. Every man was gunning for the thorn in the side of the evil empire.

Before the cavalry could arrive to try and collect that bounty, Austin would get his hands on Vince, as McMahon would be entering the match as the number two entrant. A simple story, but one that every put-upon worker worldwide can empathise with. How many would gladly take a beating to give their boss a beating first?

The entire story is conveyed in just 25 seconds, making this a truly effective advert for what ended up being a somewhat wretched match.

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Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.