Earlier in the 1990s, WCW had an answer to the Royal Rumble match in BattleBowl. As a matter of fact, the concept was interesting as it mixed surprise tag team matches and fed them into the BattleBowl. However, WCW later ditched BattleBowl for the World War 3 match because a promotion must have a battle royal. Which was better the better competitor to the Royal Rumble: BattleBowl or World War 3?
The Case For BattleBowl
If you were watching, the process of the BattleBowl match came off as less random than WWE’s “Let’s focus on who are numbers 1, 2, 15, 29, and 30! Everyone else can come in all willy-nilly” approach. While the Lethal Lottery part was random, you knew who was going to be in BattleBowl at the end. I’ll admit, part of the excitement factor with Royal Rumble’s timed entrances was the surprise of who was entering and at one number.
The drawback is that sometimes, trash wrestlers show up like onion rings in an order of fries. In this case, WWE gave you several onion rings in your fries. BattleBowl presented a few onion rings, sure but at least you knew they were coming and it wasn’t an unpleasant surprise.
Unless you love onion rings then just know these aren’t well-cooked onion rings. One of the best moments from a BattleBowl was when Tex Slazenger was announced as Bagwell’s partner, the heels in their lockerroom were watching the draw, and someone said “Who?” when his name was called. Dennis Knight didn’t become a Godwinn and then Mideon for this slander.
WCW World War 3
Was World War 3 big? Yes, the match was epic in scale and required twice as many as the Royal Rumble. Was it better than the Royal Rumble? Hold your horses and stop bumping your soup coolers, no World War 3 wasn’t better than the Royal Rumble. It was a mess pure and simple.
The Royal Rumble, while also a mess on occasion and boring some of the time was consistent and organized. Both World War 3 and the Royal Rumble both had their hot moments in the match but you had to sit through a bit. In addition, the Royal Rumble had mini-stories to tell and didn’t just ride on the big feuds going on. Without the speculation of who was entering at what number, World War 3 was just a bloated battle royal.
The idea for it was amazing but the execution often fell short as the match wasn’t exactly production-friendly. This showdown goes to BattleBowl, hands down. WCW should’ve just stuck with this match as its annual battle royal match. Two rings were enough.
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