7 Things You Should Know About WWE Royal Rumble 1996

1. The Hart/Undertaker Main Event Was Boring With A Bad Finish

The end of the show ended with a whimper not a bang because there was a DQ ending at the end of Bret Hart's match with The Undertaker that went nearly 30 minutes. This was during that period where The Undertaker was wearing a "Phantom of the Opera" like mask because of an injury to his face. He stopped wearing it after this. Hart was the babyface WWE Champion while Undertaker was also a face as the challenger. They were lacking on the heel side in those days. It seemed obvious that Hart was going to leave as WWE Champ, but Undertaker was always protected by the booking so it seemed unlikely for Hart to win the match in a clean fashion. They set up the finish with Hart exposing a turnbuckle and then ripping off Undertaker's mask. He slammed Undertaker into the turnbuckle, but Undertaker came back with a Tombstone. Undertaker covered for the pin, but Diesel pulled the ref out of the ring for the DQ finish. It was such a lame ending. That was done because turned heel to set up the Undertaker/Diesel match at WrestleMania 12. Why put that match on last instead of the Michaels Rumble win? The Rumble PPV should end with the Rumble match and the winner celebrating. It was likely done because they wanted to feature the story of Diesel turning heel. That finish just didn't feel right because it would have been better with the babyface Michaels celebrating to end the show.