DVD Review: The True Story of the Royal Rumble

It\’s that time of year again- every January rumors run rampant and a special aura surrounds WWE and it\’s fans. The road to Wrestlemania has begun and it\’s time for the annual Royal Rumble. To gear up for the Rumble, WWE has released a DVD set to commemorate the history of the storied event and PPV and it\’s one that any mega-fan must have- it\’s The True Story of the Royal Rumble– and it\’s available now on DVD/Blu-Ray and Digital HD. The Rumble\’s inception came in the late 1980\’s from the mind of legendary wrestler- and first Intercontinental Champion- Pat Patterson. WWE was trying to come up with a January PPV to accompany their three PPV events (Wrestlemania, Summerslam and Survivor Series), so Patterson came up with the Royal Rumble- a new take on the Battle Royal match. Even though Vince McMahon hated the idea, he liked the name so he let Patterson pitch it to Dick Ebersol NBC, who fell in love with the idea and decided to air it in Prime Time on USA and it was a massive success. So much so that they decided to make it the fourth PPV- and the first of the year. It wasn\’t until the early 1990\’s that they decided to change the victor of the match just winning the match to allowing him to win the WWE Championship. Not long after that, they changed it to a title shot at Wrestlemania. The True Story of the Royal Rumble goes in-depth to the history of the match and beautifully alternates between the match\’s history and showing key moments of then-Champion Roman Reigns preparing to defend his Championship in the Rumble match- a challenge we haven\’t seen in over 20 years. The DVD shows interviews with major Royal Rumble competitors, winners and record-holders. They discuss Rey Mysterio lasting longest in the match, Chyna being the first woman to enter, Lex Luger and Bret Hart in the first-ever tie, Shawn Michaels\’ famous dangling moment and many other key moments that helped shape the Royal Rumble. To top it off, they show many memorable matches from the history of the Royal Rumble- including the first Rumble, the 1994 Rumble match, Sgt Slaughter vs. Ultimate Warrior from 1991, Tazz vs. Kurt Angle from 2000 and numerous others. Whether you\’re a fan of WWE history or just discovering WWE, this is a DVD set you absolutely have to check out. -Reggie Edwards