10 Things You Didn't Know About WWE In 1994

9. The New Generation Takes Shape In The Royal Rumble

Baby Jeff Hardy Keith Davis Razor Ramon
WWE.com

Months before the New Generation became the branding method of choice for a WWE undergoing historic changes in just about every department, the Royal Rumble match revealed a sign of things to come.

Not only did it feature Bret Hart as the overwhelming favourite of a live crowd forced to pick between 'The Hitman' and co-winner (and transparent Hulk Hogan like-for-like replacement) Lex Luger, but it also featured over half of the entrants competing in their first ever Rumble match. And digging into the data finds that for most, it was their first opportunity too.

Kwang, The Smoking Gunns, Diesel, Jeff Jarrett, Men On A Mission, Thurman "Sparky Plugg", Lex Luger and Adam Bomb had all been in the company for a year or less, it wasn't much longer for The Steiner Brothers, The Headshrinkers, Doink and Bam Bigelow. Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels were in the battle royal as singles wrestlers for the first time, and former WWE Champion Bob Backlund - a record-setter one year earlier - made it just 41 seconds before being eliminated by breakout star 'Big Daddy Cool'.

And as many potential new talents took their bow, one longstanding star prepared to take a break. But...

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 7 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 30 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz", Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 50,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett