Who do you think the best final twos are in WWE Royal Rumble history? Let me know in the comments.
Watch 10 Times WWE Got The Royal Rumble Wrong https://youtu.be/QqH6FzFSEv4
01:16 - 10
02:17 - 9
03:06 - 8
04:09 - 7
05:08 - 6
05:58 - 5
07:00 - 4
07:51 - 3
08:39 - 2
09:52 - 1
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Watch 10 Times WWE Got The Royal Rumble Wrong https://youtu.be/QqH6FzFSEv4
01:16 - 10
02:17 - 9
03:06 - 8
04:09 - 7
05:08 - 6
05:58 - 5
07:00 - 4
07:51 - 3
08:39 - 2
09:52 - 1
SUBSCRIBE TO partsFUNknown: https://bit.ly/2J2Hl6q
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/partsfunknown
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/partsfunknown/
Buy wrestling merchandise here: https://www.wrestleshop.com/
Read more Feature content here on WrestleTalk.com: https://wrestletalk.com/features/
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SportsTranscript
00:00 "Tis the season to be rumbly, fa la la la la la la la, ahhhhhh" Man, I really want the Royal Rumbles
00:06 to be good this year, seeing as last year's were in one case, bland, and the other case,
00:11 offensively very goddamn bland. And if there's one thing the Rumble should not be, it's that.
00:16 Honestly, if I have to re-watch one of the two, I would rather hate-watch 2015's Rumble again
00:21 than the 2022 men's. Bloody lord. But say what you want about the 2022 men's Rumble, I think they got
00:27 one thing slightly right. They had a fun Final Two. Drew McIntyre and Brock Lesnar, argh, get each
00:32 other. It's an often overlooked weapon in the Rumble arsenal. Everyone focuses on the nostalgia
00:36 pops, the Iron Men, the returns. People forget that one of the very best things about a good
00:41 Rumble is a nail-biting Final Two, when only two competitors are left, and they essentially have a
00:47 match within a match. Sometimes it's a fake-out like Orn Edge in 2021, or Del Rio Morella in 2011,
00:53 and sometimes it's an epic marathon between two competitors, either of whom could snatch the win.
00:59 I'm Adam Hailing from PartsFunknown, and here are our 10 Best Final Twos in Royal Rumble history.
01:05 And if you like Royal Rumble content, make sure you check out all the stuff we did last year as
01:09 well. Every January, we do a raft of Royal Rumble lists and fantasy bookings. You want to check 'em
01:14 out, check 'em out. Number 10, Bret Hart and Lex Luger, 1994. Difficult to describe the match
01:20 within a match as actually good. No sooner had Bret Hart and Lex Luger been left to their own
01:24 devices, indecisive from crisis to crisis, than the match was over. Seriously, from Bret and Lex
01:29 being the Final Two to the end of the Rumble was less than a minute, which is very silly. Both men
01:34 were the biggest stars in the match by far, and they could have savored it a little bit longer,
01:38 but, and this is a Rikishi size, but no way that these two aren't going on this list, because they
01:43 were the first, and to this point only, co-winners of the Royal Rumble. Yep, after a few seconds of
01:49 punching, both men went to the ropes, had a lovely little cuddle, and fell over the ropes together
01:53 like Holmes and Moriarty going over the Rikenback Falls, if Holmes and Moriarty had a little cuddle
01:57 on the way down. Both men's feet apparently touched the mat at the same time, with a long
02:01 post-match angle of trying to work out which of the lads had won it. For the sheer amount of Rumble
02:06 drama surrounding two dudes, this belongs on the list, even if the wrestling part of it was over
02:12 way too quick so you can get to the whole raising the arms and crowd noise bit. Number nine, Chris
02:17 Benoit and Big Show, 2004. Only three men have won the Royal Rumble from the number one position,
02:22 and two of them are Shawn Michaels and Edge. The third is Chris Benoit, whose win is often
02:27 overlooked, and we know why, but for the sake of this list, it's worth pointing out that the final
02:31 two of Benoit and Big Show were very good. Chris Benoit was always very good at selling, although
02:36 after wrestling for nearly an hour, not sure how much he actually needed to sell. Either way,
02:40 it made the David versus Goliath aspect of the ending to 2004's Rumble match all the better.
02:45 Benoit straight up technicianed Big Show out of the Rumble, eliminating the giant with a front
02:50 face lock and dragging him over the top rope. You know what, people talk about the talent of
02:55 Benoit in this unfortunately for WWE iconic closing spot, but credit to the Big Show for
02:59 the athleticism involved in being that huge and also hanging upside down for a few seconds to
03:04 make the spot seem even more impressive. Number eight, Triple H and Dean Ambrose,
03:08 2016. Sometimes the best moments in professional wrestling happen when two people are wrestling
03:13 and every logical, rational part of your brain tells you that the person you want to win
03:18 has precisely zero chance of winning, but for slight moments, for the slightest moment,
03:24 they make you believe. The 2016 Royal Rumble has some incredibly dumb booking. Reigns was
03:30 forced to defend his WWE Championship in the Rumble itself, and the major langle in the match
03:35 was Vince's boys taking Reigns out of the match via the bottom rope and injuring him,
03:40 which is ass backwards, forwards, and then backwards again. Of course, Roman comes back
03:45 out and we think he's gonna win, but then Triple H eliminates him to a huge pop, leaving just the
03:49 game and Dean Ambrose. Dean, never going to win, already Intercontinental Champion, Ambrose, and
03:56 of course he doesn't, but for a few short minutes, there's a possibility in the air that WWE will
04:02 pivot to much more over Ambrose at the last minute before Mania, and that's enough to make the final
04:07 two a tiny bit magical. Number seven, Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair 2019. Most of the time, at
04:13 least for the last 10 years, who we want to win the Royal Rumble mostly doesn't win the Royal Rumble.
04:18 You know what? That's fine. Joy is overrated and leads to wrinkles, and in an ironic twist,
04:23 WWE's constant conveyor belt of disappointment at the Rumble time of year actually makes the happy
04:29 Rumble moments much happier. A very happy moment happened at the 2019 Women's Royal Rumble. Becky
04:35 Lynch was incredibly over, more so than WWE expected, and it looked like Daniel Bryan in
04:40 2014 all over again, competing in the first match of the night, losing, not being in the Royal Rumble,
04:46 but this time, the Old Testament WWE gods smiled on us, inserting Lynch into the match via shenanigans,
04:52 permeating the rest of the match with the fizzing energy of, "They're doing it. They're actually
04:57 going to do it," especially when it came down to Lynch and Charlotte, the person earmarked for the
05:02 WrestleMania main event. It was the fairy tale Rumble ending we wanted for Dee Bry, and it finally
05:06 came true. Number six, John Cena and Batista, 2005. Lol, they felled over. The two breakout stars of
05:14 2005, either of them could have won it, and wouldn't you know it, they both did. One of the
05:18 most infamous final twos of all time saw Batestis and John Pina botch a Batista bomb, which sent
05:24 both guys sailing over the top rope in an unintended remake of Bret Hart and Lex Luger,
05:28 but this time, done perfectly. Like, they touched the ground at exactly the same time. It is unreal.
05:35 Q-Vince being so excited about the continent, he breaks his own legs and sits in the ring,
05:39 barking orders until they restart it, and Batista can finally win like he was supposed to. Does it
05:44 make sense? No, because literally in 1994, they ruled that both men win if this happens, but f---
05:49 it. It's a hilarious and eternal reminder of that old adage, "The best laid plans of Vince and men,
05:55 off go awry." And also, look, he tore his quads like a massive doyle.
05:58 Number five, Shawn Michaels and the British Bulldog, 1995. Ah, 1995, a deeply s--- Royal
06:05 Rumble, one of the most influential and referenced finishes in Rumble history. If you haven't seen it,
06:11 please take my word for it that the final spot does not make watching the whole thing worth it.
06:15 That being said, the final two is annoyingly brilliant. Shawn Michaels entered number one,
06:20 the British Bulldog entered number two. Thirty-five minutes later, it's a really
06:23 short Rumble, one of the reasons why it's bad. They're the last men standing, and engage in a
06:28 couple of really choice final spots, mostly centered around HBK being a springy little
06:33 bollocks. Davey Boy clobbers Michaels over the top rope, one foot touches the ground,
06:37 and even though the bell doesn't ring, Bulldog's music plays. Michaels re-enters the ring,
06:42 knocks him out, and just like that, a top three Rumble moment of all time, endlessly referenced
06:49 again and again, because it's at the heart of the Rumble's golden rule, both feet must touch
06:55 the floor. S--- Rumble, though. It's a f---ing s--- Royal Rumble. Number four, Chris Jericho
07:01 and Seamus, 2012. I know we all love Seamus nowadays, and with damn good reason, banger
07:06 after banger after banger, et cetera, but I still think the wrong person won the 2012 Royal Rumble.
07:12 The fact that Chris Jericho cannot boast a Royal Rumble win on his record, despite the fact that
07:16 he should have won it in both 2012 and 2017, is not an insignificant amount of bulls---. Even so,
07:23 the match within a match at the end of 2012 is really good. The two men wrestled for legit over
07:28 five minutes before Jericho is ousted by a Brogue Kick, and that was a big risk considering the
07:32 match had already lasted an hour, but it was so great, with Jericho writing several love letters
07:37 to Shawn Michaels, constantly saving himself from elimination by centimeters, taking the
07:42 Great White to his limit before making history's palest man very angry. Top-notch tension and drama,
07:48 and up there with the best of 'em. Number three, John Cena and Triple H, 2008. Sometimes,
07:54 it's all about the crowd. I mean, this kinda feels like a little bit of a cheat, because people tend
07:58 to remember the ending to the 2008 Rumble as an iconic Final Three, with Batista, Triple H,
08:03 and Cena each pressing the D-pad and doing their taunts. Big Dave is ousted, with the match coming
08:08 down to Triple H, the favorite going in, and John Cena, the brand new favorite, who only just came
08:14 back. Holy s---. Cena's months-early return from injury at number 30 sets off a hype bomb inside
08:21 of Madison Square Garden. The crowd are electric from the moment the Doctor of Thuganomics walks
08:27 in. As such, they are still molten during the final stages of the match, right up until the
08:32 great closing spot of Cena adjusting Triple H's attitude right out of the ring. Hot fire emoji,
08:37 as the children tweet. Number two, Shinsuke Nakamura and Roman Reigns, 2018. Poor Roman
08:43 Reigns. Until the 2020s, when he became suddenly very interested in who sits where at a dinner
08:47 party, everyone hated him so very much, to the point that when he actually won his Royal Rumble
08:51 in 2015, people campaigned for the WWE Network to crash and burn, which, looking back on it,
08:56 was a perfectly sane and normal day at Twitter.com. However, since then, at least when the Rumble
09:01 comes around, WWE have used Roman's Rumble infamy to pop the crowd even more for the eventual winner,
09:08 which is actually very cunning. For real, in 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2020, the crowd's
09:16 "overwhelming anyone but you" attitude to the Big Dog at the Rumble time of year was used to make
09:21 Triple H's, Randy Orton's, Drew McIntyre's victories feel even bigger. But the best example
09:26 of that is Shinsuke Nakamura's win in 2018. Again, there are two top belts in the company. Nakka's
09:32 pegged for one, Reigns for the other, and goddammit if the tension isn't delicious, the whole final
09:38 six is booked to perfection. Old guard versus new, but when it comes down to loved versus hated
09:44 in Nakamura versus Reigns, the match truly becomes one of the greatest ever. My word,
09:49 that ovation when Shinsuke won. At number one, Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker, 2007. Hey,
09:56 it's the final two that you knew would be number one when you clicked the video. You called it,
10:00 in the comments. You did it, champ. Here's your prize. This prize is for you. Weren't you a
10:06 clever sausage? Who's a clever little Cumberland sausage? You are. Yes, you are. So yes, this is
10:12 the precursor to one of the most treasured WrestleMania rivalries of all time, two of the
10:15 best WWE wrestlers ever, and the example that immediately comes to mind when people say "Royal
10:19 Rumble Final Two." Why? Because it's a pay-per-view match hidden inside the Royal Rumble, and it f---ing
10:25 rules. From the off, a beautiful spot where the evil team of Rated-RKO are dispatched by HBK in
10:30 back-to-back eliminations, to the sit-up-kip-up spot, to the nearly 10 minutes that follows,
10:35 it's Royal Rumbling at its best. Close calls, huge counters, super kicks, either guy could win,
10:42 it's a f---ing delight. So much so that in 2008, they opened the Rumble with a repeat of both guys,
10:47 this time entering one and two. HBK and Undertaker, the patron saints of doing a job so nice,
10:52 WWE do it twice. And that's our list. What's your favorite Royal Rumble Final Two? Let us know in
10:58 the comments, don't forget to like and share this video around if you enjoyed it. Make sure you
11:01 subscribe to PartsFarKnown for more silly Royal Rumble wrestling content later this month,
11:06 and jam that jam.
11:07 [Music]