Watch WWE Royal Rumble 1996 For Free

Absolutely Fantastic

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

When Hulk Hogan's "prime" in the WWF finally came and went in the early 1990s, the torch was passed to Bret "Hitman" Hart, who actually could put on a better show in his sleep than Hogan ever could dream of. Unfortunately, following the abdication of Hogan, the WWF was not able to support its top superstar with any other top-tier talent, and this fact was never more apparent than at Royal Rumble 1996.From top to bottom, this was a terrible card. The preliminary matches were incredibly lackluster (the character of "Goldust" only proves how low the WWF was stooping at this time), the Rumble was filled with fat guys, has-beens, and a few 100% jobbers, and event the main event (Hart- Undertaker) didn't live up to past billings. Long gone are the days of exciting characters and thrilling matches, replaced instead by weirdos and stereotypes that don't elicit any sort of emotional connection with the fans/viewers.Unless you are a die-hard WWF junkie, please do not spend one cent of your finances on this three-hour snoozefest.

Well, the strange year of 1995 was behind us, Diesel's title reign was no more, he'd lost his WWE Championship to Bret Hart in November. Not only that but the Undertaker was getting a title shot tonight rather than Diesel. The big man was none too pleased that he had yet to be granted a rematch.Of equal concern coming in was the health of fan favourite Shawn Michaels, who had collapsed in the ring during a live RAW broadcast in December (entirely fictional but effective stunt taking advantage of the old adage "You can do anything on a live show"). The Royal Rumble would be his first meaningful match since.The night kicked off with Duke Droese defeating rich snob Hunter Hearst Helmsley (who would later be better known as Triple H) by disqualification in a throwaway match that I think was actually part of the free for all, but found its way onto both the VHS and DVD releases.At least I hope that's the case because the next match followed in another disappointing DQ with the recently returned Jeff Jarrett trying to take out powerhouse Ahmed Johnson with his guitar. Johnson was not the best worker in the WWE on his best day, and didn't have a great night here either. Bad match.Todd Pettengil got a rather diplomatic interview from Diesel about not having a title match tonight and his chances of winning the Royal Rumble, drawing special attention to former WCW Champion Vader, who would be competing in this match in an early WWE PPV appearance. An exceptionally mobile big man in his prime, Vader never really caught on in the WWE.The next match saw the Smoking Gunns (Bart and Billy) successfully defend their Tag Team Championships against the Body Donnas (Skip and Zip) despite the managerial skills of Sunny. This again was not really a great match. Well at least it's a step up from losing to Barry Horowitz, hey Skip? Ted DiBiase now gives us a look at his wrestling war room. Not one of his more memorable segments.Intercontinental Champion Razor Ramon had a big problem going into the next match, the man he'd be putting the title on the line against, Goldust, supposedly had a crush on him and had been sending him love letters and beguiling him with poetry. It was all a sham though, I mean who needs Razor when you've got Terri Runnels. Goldust and Terri worked well in tandem, and amidst much suggested hanky panky and other shenanigans Goldust got the pin and became new IC Champion. Decent match, but weird as well. Goldust certainly was a sight to behold.We had the typical video montage going into the Rumble, with various wrestlers saying they were going to win it. In the end Triple H came in at one and lasted the longest, Shawn Micheals had the most eliminations and was also the winner. This was not really a great rumble, the ending came with Shawn Michaels super kicking Diesel just as he was eliminating a hapless opponent. Diesel was furious, his Wrestlemania dream in tatters, but Shawn Michaels would be there. It was only a question of who he would face.Bret Hart and Undertaker worked a neat little match in the main event, not either's best work but perfectly fine, before Diesel ran in and hit Hart, giving the Undertaker victory by disqualification. It was all part of Diesel's plan to keep himself in the Wrestlemania picture and it worked. Gorilla Monsoon announced at the end of the PPV that Bret Hart Diesel would get his title match at In Your House 6 in a month, so Michaels would need to wait a few weeks longer to find out who he would be facing at Wrestlemania in March.

When I first watched this in January 1996 I remember being mildly disappointed; it was the first Rumble event I had ever been disappointed in having watched them all from the inaugural 1988 event.(POSSIBLE SPOILERS)The undercard matches were quite disappointing, the only one that was half decent was the Intercontinental Title match between the bizarre Goldust and Razor Ramon.Bret Hart defended his WWF Title against The Undertaker in a reasonable match that was spoilt due to it's ending (Diesel interfered robbing the fans of seeing a win via pinfall).The Rumble itself saved the day. Vader made his PPV debut at this show and cut through stars like a knife through butter. All the stars in the Rumble put on a great show including it's eventual winner Shawn Michaels.Watch it for the Rumble match alone.

World Wrestling Federation Champion Bret The Hitman Hart defends his WWF Title against Big Daddy Cool Diesel in the main event. This was one of WWF Chammpion Bret"The Hitman"Hart's first title defences since regaining the title at the survivor series and one of Diesel's last matches for the WWF. Besides the WWF Championship match, the over the top rope Royal Rumble was action packed as usual with stand out performances by the Slammy Award Winning Owen Hart, Vader and a returning Shawn Michaaels.