5. 2002
If you forget the two minutes (and sometimes longer) between entries, this was a fantastic Royal Rumble featuring one of the most memorable Royal Rumble moments in the history of the event. And no, I'm not talking about Diamond Dallas Page eliminating Scotty 2 Hotty, shocking as that was. I'm talking of course about the interaction between The Undertaker and Maven. Maven was the very definition of a 'rookie' at the time, hot off his Tough Enough win with all the enthusiasm of a very enthusiastic thing. Undertaker was Big Evil and spoke mostly about yards and how he owned them. He entered the match at #7, cleaned up everyone and waited patiently; Maven came out, and after a distraction from those damn Hardy Boyz, Maven eliminated Taker with a beautiful dropkick to his back. Maven eliminated Undertaker. What follows was the most vicious and one-sided beatdown in the history of professional wrestling. Taker sold the shocks of his elimination beautifully, before slowly heading back into the ring to dish out some southern justice. Needless to say, it didn't end well for Maven. This was by no means a one spot match however, as the rest of the match was full of interesting interactions, memorable spots and great characters. Mr. Perfect even made a return, getting to the final three before being dumped by Triple H. Trips would go on to win the match, eliminating Kurt Angle for the duke.
John Bills
Contributor
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.
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