Jeff Jarrett, Kurt Angle, Chuck Palumbo Look Back At Oft-Forgotten Non-PPV WWE Royal Rumbles

The following is an excerpt from our new feature, Inside The Royal Rumble 2. Please check it out in its entirety, and see our video feature at the top of the page

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Rare Rumbles

Not all Royal Rumbles are created equal. In fact, not all of them even made television. In 1994, a special, house show Royal Rumble,m was held in Madison Square Garden. In asking Jeff Jarrett about it, he didn’t have any sentimental connection, but he recalled being volunteered to eat an elimination from a prominent name.

Jarrett said, “Back then, obviously the world has changed, we’re sitting here talking on a Zoom call and video and you’ll throw it online in just a minute. The quote unquote pay-per-view was in Providence, if I recall correctly, but the amount of events we did back then—we were ten days on, three days off, four days on, four days off—so it was a complete churn, it was another live event that we cranked out. Obviously, it was the Garden and every time you step foot in the Big Apple in that arena, it’s special. But, it’s like, ‘Oh, wow. This is different.’ Like I said, rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat. But, it’s a unique story that that day of the Royal Rumble with Savage. Savage is the one who eliminated me. Going around and Pat Patterson in the room, Savage walking up to me and said, ‘Hey, I volunteered. I’m going to eliminate you.’ Just all the cool stuff that goes into the making of that match.”

The legendary Owen Hart would go on to win the match.

One oft-forgotten Rumble that did make air took place in 2004. Plenty of Royal Rumbles that deviated from the standard formula, but hardly any of them are remembered with over 30 classic ones taking place. In 2004, Chuck Palumbo didn’t enter the 30-man Royal Rumble on pay-per-view, but participated in two Royal Rumbles. However, they were mini Royal Rumbles! The first featured his fellow Full Blooded Italian members Johnny Stamboli and Nunzio being defeated by the eventual 2004 Rumble winner. As punishment, only one of the trio got to enter the 30-man contest, and the three of them had to compete in another mini-Rumble the next week to determine that.

Palumbo remembered how those matches went, and how he felt with his spot as a supporting player, saying “Did they lay it out ahead of time? No. I think that was a fly by the seat of their pants thing. As was a lot of things. For a midcard guy or midcard stable to have something laid out three or four weeks in advance? That’s a rarity, you know what I mean? So, yeah, I really didn’t know. Back then it was a week to week thing. I think I was content with it. I gotta be honest with you. I was always pretty content with the fact that I was on the show. Obviously you want to continue to grow. So, those were my concerns more than anything else was to continue to climb the ladder. But, I tell people this all the time—I come from humble beginnings. So, the fact that I’m wrestling in the WWE and I’m on TV every week, making good money, more money that I’ve ever seen, it doesn’t get much better than that for me. I was happy.”

Kurt Angle never won a WWE Royal Rumble, but came close a couple of times, including that night in 2004. Eddie Guerrero would win, but Angle was the runner-up. The WWE Hall of Famer told Fightful it was much more relaxed.

“The one on TV was a lot less organized,” Angle remembered. “The pay-per-view one they want to make sure they nail it and it has to be perfect. The timing, when guys exit the ring and when they come into the ring. There’s a lot of timing issues that you have to make sure you’re dead on with. But the one on Smackdown, we had a little more leeway. It was a pre-recorded show. So, if someone messed up, we could edit it. It was a little bit different from the regular Royal Rumble matches.”