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The Event Center: WWF Royal Rumble 2000 Review

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This review was originally posted on June 8, 2018.[spacer height=”20px”]

The Event Center: WWF Royal Rumble 2000

Introduction:
We are back here on the Event Center. Last time we took a trip to the beach and it didn’t turn out so well. This time we are heading to the worlds most famous arena and doing one of the better pay per views in the last 20 years. We are heading to Madison Square Garden and we are going to be hitting up the WWF Royal Rumble from 2000. This is one of my favorite pay per views of all time and the Triple H vs. Mick Foley street fight is one of my favorite matches of all time. I can’t wait to get this one going so without further ado I present to you the WWF Royal Rumble 2000.

Show Opening:

The show opens up with a video package featuring the feud between Mick Foley and Triple H. This is very well done and really gets your pumped up for the Street Fight. They head inside the building with the pyro going off as Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler welcome us to Madison Square Garden. There is a taxi cab sitting over the entrance way and it looks pretty damn awesome. Nothing over the top but it got the job done. We quickly get Kurt Angles music as we head right to ringside.

Match 1: Tazz vs. Kurt Angle

Kurt Angle heads out to the ring and gets on the microphone and lets us know that he is really proud to be here tonight. Angle says in a building this famous, it deserves to have a true champion performing in it. Angle says we all know if we keep waiting for Patrick Ewing and the New York Knicks to bring a title then we would probably be waiting forever. Angle says tonight, even if it is just for one night, he has decided to be their champion. Angle says his unnamed opponent must be pretty nervous to be facing off against an undefeated American hero. Angle says he wants his opponent to take a deep breath and come on out because this could be something he can tell his grand kids some day. Angle tells him to remember the three I’s and come out and give it his all.

The music hits and Tazz comes out. The crowd goes absolutely insane for him and it is one of the loudest pops you will ever hear. Its close to or louder than Cena’s when he came back in the same building. Tazz goes right at Angle and ends up back dropping him to the outside. Tazz goes out after him and goes for a suplex on the floor. Angle ends up blocking it and suplexing Tazz on the floor himself. They get back in the ring and Angle is laying in the rights. Angle hits a forearm off the rope and gets a 2 count. Angle starts working over Tazz in the corner. Angle hits Tazz with an over head belly to belly. Angle goes up to the top rope and Tazz racks him.

Tazz goes up to the middle rope and Tazz gets him in an over head belly to belly suplex off the top rope. Tazz goes for the pin and gets a 2 1/2 count before Angle gets his foot on the rope. Tazz gets up and argues with the ref when Angle turns Tazz around and goes for an inside cradle but Tazz kicks out. Angle ends up dropping him with a clothesline. Angle picks up Tazz again and hits him with German suplex with a bridge for a 2 1/2 count. Angle goes for the Angle slam but Tazz slips behind and hits Angle with a over head release German suplex. This is the move that got Tazz some heat, according to his podcast, and this is when he realized he would never get over with the powers that be in the back.

Tazz picks up Angle and hits him with an over head belly to belly suplex. Tazz picks up Angle one more time and drops him with an exploder suplex. Tazz then locks in the Tazzmission. Angle never really taps out but he ends up getting choked out. The ref is watching as Angle fades away. Angle gets his arm lifted in the air 3 times and he is knocked out. Your winner by submission…..Tazz!

After the match EMT’s come out to check on Kurt Angle. They end up putting him on a stretcher and take him to the back after he got “choked” out.

Recap:
This match was short and sweet. Tazz’s pop was freakin awesome but, according to him, as soon as he heard it he knew they would never really get behind him. He explained it in pretty good detail in one of his first podcasts but thats beside the point. The crowd popped hard for Tazz and the match delivered. Angle gave Tazz a dose of his own medicine with the suplexes and it was just very well done. They didn’t over expose it and they left you wanting more from both guys. Just a really good debut and really good match. It is definitely worth checking out, for the pop alone.

Backstage Interview: The Hardy Boyz & Terri

Before they get interviewed they show highlights of what the Dudley Boyz did to the Hardyz on Raw and what the Hardyz did to the Dudleys on Smackdown. Michael asks them if they are ready for what could be a war tonight at MSG. Terri says that they are more than ready and that they are going to tear the roof off of Madison Square Garden. Jeff interrupts Terri and tells her no that this match is to dangerous and she will be staying in the back. Matt says that everyone knows the Dudleys are extreme and that they are the master of the table match. Matt says that they aren’t even supposed to be in the WWF but tonight they are going to put the Dudleys through some tables or die trying.

Match 2: Table Match: The Hardy Boyz vs. The Dudley Boyz

Bubba gets in the ring and grabs the microphone and says that New York fans are ass backwards because they will cheer the Hardy Boyz but boo an American hero like John Rocker. D-Von says if the fans were smart they would elect John Rocker as their mayor so he can clean up this miserable city. Bubba says as far as the Hardyz go, they might as well take their head and stick it between their legs and kiss their stinkin asses good bye.

Hardyz are heading towards the ring and the Dudleys meet them in the entrance way as all four men brawl. We get into the ring and Jeff gets laid out with a Bubba Bomb early. Bubba goes outside and grabs a table. They setup the table in the middle of the ring and they try to back drop Jeff Hardy through it but Matt throws the table out of the way. They drop Bubba with a reverse DDT and then Jeff nails him with a front flip over the top rope to the outside. Matt fixes the table inside and Jeff grabs a chair on the outside. D-Von goes for a power bomb but Matt blocks it and attempts a suplex to the table but D-Von blocks that. Jeff floors Bubba with a brutal sounding unprotected chair shot.

Jeff runs on the guard rail and goes after Bubba but Bubba throws the table right in Jeff’s face. Bubba sets up the table in the corner of the ring and Bubba climbs to the middle rope. Matt blocks it and they hit Bubba with a double suplex but D-Von moves the table out of the way. Matt grabs a ladder from under the ring. They use the ladder to clothesline Bubba up and over to the outside. Matt nails Bubba with a chair to the back while Jeff works over D-Von in the ring. Matt nails Bubba with another unprotected chair shot to the face. Probably a couple of concussions for Bubba and man they are dumb for taking those shots. Bubba is laid out on the table outside and Matt climbs up the ladder and nails Bubba with a leg drop as Jeff hit’s Bubba with a splash. Bubba has gone through a table.

Now it’s D-Vons turn to take the unprotected chair shot right to the head. Jeff has a table propped up on a guard rail outside. They then take the stairs and stand them up and lay a table on it and the other end on the apron. Matt goes up to the top rope and goes for a leg drop but D-Von moves out of the way and Matt goes crashing through a table. Jeff goes for a front flip over the top rope going for D-Von but D-Von moves again and Jeff goes crashing into the table as well. The Dudleys throw the ring steps into the ring and set up a table on it. D-Von hands Matt to Bubba and he power bombs him through the table. Matt has gone through a table. We are down to D-Von and Jeff who need to go through a table.

Matt gets thrown outside and all four men brawl on the outside. They go over the guard rail and head over to a secondary entrance and fight it out. Bubba has a steal chair and he decks Matt right in the head with it. The Hardyz are laid out in the walk way. Bubba sets up a table in the middle of the walk way. He then sets up a second table while D-Von lays in the boots to Matt and Jeff. Bubba then stacks two other tables on top of the bottom two tables. They lay Matt on top of the tables as Jeff floors D-Von with the chair. Bubba blocks the chair shot and levels Jeff with it. Bubba and Jeff climb up to the balcony area by the entrance. Jeff grabs the chair and nails Bubba with the chair twice as he goes crashing through the tables to the floor.

Matt ends up grabbing the remaining table and he puts D-Von on top of it. Jeff is on the balcony and he goes for the Swanton Bomb off the balcony and goes crashing through D-Von Dudley and the table. Your winners of the table match are……The Hardy Boyz!

Recap:
This was a pretty awesome match here as well. It was nothing but a spot fest but they were awesome spots. The unprotected chair shots are cringe worthy and hard to watch, especially the first one on Bubba Dudley. Other than that this is a really good match and so much fun to watch. The idea of this match was pretty sweet where both guys had to go through the table to lose. I liked the idea of blocking the table spots and it added a nice element to the match. This is just a really awesome match and definitely worth checking out.

Backstage Segment: Doctors check on Kurt Angle

They go backstage where a doctor is checking the eyes of Kurt Angle. Kurt is asking if he won or not and the doctor tells him he doesn’t know. The doctor says all he knows is that he was choked unconscious. Kurt comes through a little bit and says thats illegal so he should still be undefeated.

Miss Rumble 2000 Bikini Contest:
Theres really nothing to review with this so I figured i would just show this segment off in gifs. PS I will not be showing anything from Mae Young. You are welcome!! I hope you enjoy!


They show Jonathan Coachman at WWF New York.

Backstage Segment: Chris Jericho & Chyna

Jericho tells Chyna he wants her to strap his Intercontinental Title around his waist so he can wear it out to the ring. Chyna grabs the belt form Jericho and says why don’t you let me wear it out to the ring for once. Dave Hebner then shows up and takes the title from both of them and says it will be awaiting the winner ringside. Chyna blames Jericho for neither one of them being able to wear the belt. Chyna says she should be wearing the belt now but she can’t do that either as they head to the ring.

They show a don’t try this at home video where they show another unprotected chair shot. I know we didn’t know then what we know now but common sense says hitting each other as hard as we can with steel chairs right to the head probably wasn’t a good idea.

Match 3: WWF Intercontinental Title Triple Threat Match: Chris Jericho (c) vs. Chyna (c) vs. Hardcore Holly

Jericho comes out with a mic and cuts a promo before getting in the ring. Jericho welcomes us to Madison Square Jericho. Jericho says he is going to become the true undisputed Intercontinental champion. He says after he wins the Jerichoholics will throw a party that will make the millennium party in time square look like his sisters 7th birthday party. Jericho says it will be a celebration so huge and spectacular that it will never ever be forgotten again.

Hardcore starts the match by pie facing Chyna and laying in the boots to Jericho. They get in a slap fest as Chyna gets the upper hand on both Jericho and Holly. Chyna goes for a whip on Holly but he reverses it and Chyna goes flying over the top rope. Jericho and Holly work in the ring as they get a lot of reverses off the ropes until Holly nails Jericho with a nice looking drop kick. Holly’s drop kick is on point most of the time and this one is no different.

Jericho hits Holly with a flying forearm and nearly gets a 3 count before Holly kicks out. Jericho and Holly exchange chops. Holly goes for a hurricanrana but Jericho reverses it and gets Holly in the Walls of Jericho before Chyna comes in and nails Jericho with a clothesline. Chyna clotheslines Holly to the outside and Jericho and Chyna go at it in the ring. Holly grabs the legs of Jericho as Chyna comes in and hits Holly with a baseball slide as Jericho moves out of the way. Chyna and Holly are going at it outside as Jericho goes off the middle rope and jumps to the outside with a plunga to Holly.

In the ring Chyna hits Jericho with the handspring elbow and follows that up with a DDT and she goes for the cover but Holly breaks it up. Chyna gets thrown outside and when she tries to get back in the ring she grabs the top rope and Jericho goes flying outside. Holly picks up a chair and is about to level Chyna with it but Jericho stops it and Chyna ends up drop kicking the chair into the face of Holly. Chyna and Jericho climb up to the top while Hardcore is laid out in the middle of the ring. Chyna hits a splash first and Jericho follows it up with a splash as they both go for the cover but Holly kicks out. Chyna and Jericho go at it as Jericho goes for a suplex but Chyna rolls through and lands on her feet and low blows Jericho.

Chyna then hits Hardcore Holly with a pedigree but Hardcore Holly kicks out at 2 2/3. Chyna climbs up to the top rope but Holly grabs her and puts her on his shoulders as Jericho comes off the top and hits her with a cross body for a 2 count. Holly is climbing up the top rope but Jericho reverses it and nearly gets a super plex before Chyna stops both guys as they get racked on the turnbuckle and rope. Chyna goes to the top rope and hits Hardcore Holly with a super plex off the top rope. Holly grabs the legs and damn near gets the 3 count but Chyna kicks out.

Chyna goes outside and grabs the chair and nails Holly right in the head with another unprotected chair shot. Chyna then gets Holly in the walls of Jericho before Jericho stops it with a bulldog and follows that up with the Lionsault as he goes for the cover and gets the 1-2-3. Your winner and the Undisputed Intercontinental Champion…..Chris Jericho!

Recap:
This was a decent match but nothing really special. All three had their moment to shine and they did what they could with the time they had. With the Tazz opener and the table match before it, it had a lot to live up to. This match is a little bit of a let down based off what preceded it but it’s not horrible either. Just a run of the mill triple threat match with a predictable finish. You can be entertained with this match so if you want to check it out go for it, but you can skip it and not really miss anything.

Backstage Interview: The Rock

They go backstage where Michael Cole is standing by with the Rock. Cole tries to ask the Rock a question but he cuts him off. Finally the Rock has come back to New York City. Cole says the Rock has a bullseye on his chest and he wonders if the Rock is concerned with anyone. Rock says there are two guys he is concerned with and that is Crash Holly and Headbanger Mosh. Rock says if he can get by those two then he might have a shot at winning the Rumble. Cole says shouldn’t the Rock be more concerned with somebody like the Big Show. Rock steals the mic from Cole and tells him he should be more concerned with fixing himself a big tall glass of shut up juice.

Rock asks the Big Show if he thinks he is going to win the Rumble, throw the Great One out of the ring, and actually go onto Wrestlemania with a shot at the WWF Title? The Rock says he wipes a monkey ass with what the Big Show thinks. Rock says he hopes that the last two guys in the ring is he and the Big Show. The Rock guarantees that he will go on to win the Royal Rumble right here in New York City. Rock says just as sure as he has a brahma bull tattoo on his and as sure as the Rock is going to Wrestlemania and going to become the best damn WWF Champion there ever was IF YOU SMELL WHAT THE ROCK IS COOKIN!

They show a video package of the feud between the Acolytes and the New Age Outlaws.

Match 4: WWF Tag Team Title Match: New Age Outlaws (c) vs. Acolytes

The Acolytes come charging to the ring and go right out after the Outlaws on the outside. We got Billy and Bradshaw in the ring. Billy ends up hitting Bradshaw with a drop kick but Bradshaw doesn’t go down. Bradshaw catches Billy on his cross body attempt and is holding him when the Road Dogg comes in and charges at Bradshaw but Bradshaw drops him with a big boot then dumps Billy with a fall away slam. Bradshaw tags in Farooq as they work over Road Dogg in the corner.

Road Dogg comes charging out the corner and Farooq drops him with a power slam. Farooq picks up Road Dogg for the Dominator but Billy comes in and pulls Road Dogg down but Farooq drops them both with a clothesline. Road Dogg hits Farooq with his punches and is going for his elbow drop but Bradshaw grabs him by the hair and jerks him down to the mat. All four men get in the ring and Billy ends up going for a splash on Bradshaw in the corner but Bradshaw moves out of the way and ends up hitting the ropes and floors Billy with a brutal looking Clothesline from Hell.

Road Dogg comes after Farooq but Farooq drops him with a spine buster. Farooq goes for the cover but Billy pulls the ref out of the ring. Bradshaw then goes to the outside and levels both Billy and the ref. Bradshaw and Farooq hit a double power bomb on Road Dogg. X-Pac comes out of no where and hits Bradshaw with a spinning leg kick. Farooq ends up hitting X-Pac with a spine buster for his troubles but Billy comes in out of no where and hits Bradshaw with the FameAsser and goes for the pin and gets the 1-2-3. Your winners and still WWF Tag Team Champions…..the New Age Outlaws!

Recap:
This was an okay match as well. They didn’t give it a lot of time so it was short and sweet and it didn’t allow the match to get into a shit fest that is possible with these two teams. It was hard hitting and the clothesline from hell is about the only thing worth watching in this match. The ending felt flat because you didn’t expect Bradshaw to get pinned that quick into the match and thats what kind of turns me off with this match. It’s not bad but it’s not good either. Just mediocre and thats about all there is to say about this one.

They show a video package for the feud between Triple H and Cactus Jack.

Match 5: WWF Title Match Street Fight Rules: Triple H (c) vs. Cactus Jack

You can tell how brutal this match is going to be just by the fact that Stephanie got sent to the back by Hunter during his entrance. Little things like that that mean a whole lot to a match like this. We get this thing going with Jack and Hunter staring each other down in the middle of the ring. They exchange blows as the bell rings and this thing is going. Triple H gets the upper hand and he lays in the right hands to Cactus in the corner until Cactus drops him with a elbow to the face. Cactus then gets Hunter into the corner and he lays in the piston fire right hands to Triple H. Hunter rolls to the outside as Cactus goes out after him and hits him with a swinging neck breaker on the floor.

Hunter tries to get back into the ring but Cactus drops a leg drop on him as Hunter falls to the outside again. Cactus goes out after him and he rams Hunter head first into the steel steps and then into the time keepers table. Hunter ends up grabbing the ring bell and drops Cactus with it. Hunter throws a chair into the ring and rolls in while Cactus stays on the outside. Cactus gets back in the ring and Hunter nails him right in the head with a steel chair. That was brutal and uncomfortable to watch. Hunter tries to remove the turnbuckle pad but Cactus gets back to his feet and he drops Hunter with a clothesline followed by some more right hands.

Cactus picks up the chair and he lays it across the face of Hunter and Cactus drops a leg drop right on top of the chair. Hunter is crawling up Cactus to his feet just for Cactus to drop him with another right hand. Hunter rolls to the outside and he ends up nailing Cactus with a big right hand and then drives him into the guard rail. Hunter goes for a move but ends up getting back dropped into the stands. They then brawl amongst the fans. They end up on the entrance ramp and Cactus throws Hunter into a stack of bricks and a trash can at the front of the entrance. Cactus then sets up to wooden pallets and he ends up suplexing Hunter on to both of them. Cactus then gets in the face of Triple H and just yells in his face. Cactus picks up a trash can and nails Hunter right in the head with it.

Cactus picks up Triple H and throws him into the entrance piece that is a medal door. Cactus then takes Hunter and rams his head into the door multiple times. Cactus then starts to drag Hunter to the ring but Hunter stops him and hits him with a belly to back suplex right onto the trash can. Hunter checks his leg and he is busted open on his calf. Makes it hard for him to walk. Cactus rams the head of Hunter into the steel steps and then he rams in rapid fire right hands again. Cactus then runs and rams his knee right in the face of Triple H, who is propped up against the steps. Cactus throws Triple H back into the ring while Cactus gets under the ring and finds a piece of board that is covered in barbwire.

Cactus is about to nail Triple H with the barb wire but the ref distracts him for a moment so Cactus pushes him out of the way and Hunter ends up hitting him with a low blow. Hunter takes the barbwire and nails Cactus with it 4-5 times in the back and midsection. Hunter sizes up Cactus and is about to nail him right in the face with the barbwire but Cactus punches him and ends up hitting him with a low blow with the barb wire. Cactus then hits the double arm DDT and goes for the cover but he only gets a 2 count. Cactus gets up and is looking for his 2×4 with barbwire. Cactus then goes outside and decks the Spanish announce guy and they end up handing over the barb wire again.

The ref tries to stop Cactus from using it and distracts Cactus again. This time Hunter charges at him but Cactus moves out of the way and Hunter runs right into the ref and knocks him out. Why do you have a ref bump in a No DQ street fight type match? Cactus then takes the barbwire and nails Hunter right in the head with it. Hunter is busted open after that shot and the blood is pouring. Cactus then runs and drops the barbwire right in the head of Hunter and he goes for the cover but Hunter gets out at 2 2/3. Cactus then nails Hunter with the barbwire again right in the face. Cactus then takes the barbwire and just grinds it on the face of Hunter who is busted pretty bad.

Cactus takes Hunter and rams him head first into the announce table. Cactus gets on the announce table with Hunter and goes for a pile driver but Hunter reverses it and backdrops Cactus onto the table. Hunter throws Cactus back in the ring and lays in the right hands to Cactus. Triple H goes for the Pedigree but Cactus reverses it and catapults him into the steel post. Cactus then takes the head of Hunter and drops it right on to the barbwire bat. Cactus goes for the cover and gets a 2 1/2 count. Cactus hits Triple H with the clothesline and sends both guys over the top rope.

Cactus goes charging at Triple H but Triple H side steps and ends up hip tossing Cactus on to the steel steps. Triple H then whips Cactus into the steel steps as Cactus Jack goes flying over them. Triple H then hits a chop block on to Cactus on his bad left knee. Hunter gets back into the ring as Cactus follows him back in but Hunter drops him with another chop block to his bad knee. Hunter picks up the barbwire and he nails Cactus right in his bad knee with it a couple of times. Hunter goes to the outside and grabs some handcuffs from Howard Finkel. He gets back in the ring and ends up handcuffing Cactus.

Cactus ends up taking the handcuffs and hits Triple H with them right in the face. Cactus comes after Triple H in the corner but Hunter drops him with a kick to the knee and this allows Hunter to be able to handcuff Cactus in the ring. Hunter lays in some heavy right hands to get Cactus laid out on the mat. Triple H heads outside and grabs the steel steps and puts them in the ring. Hunter picks the stairs up over his head and is about to ram Cactus but Cactus ends up hitting Hunter with a drop toe hold and so Hunter drops the stairs and crashes face first into them. That was a pretty awesome spot right there.

Hunter comes charging at Cactus but Cactus drops him with a boot to the face. Cactus then drops his head right in the groin of Hunter. Cactus then starts to bite the face of a bloody Triple H. Cactus gets up to his feet and Hunter gets up as well and Hunter drops him with a clothesline. Hunter picks up the chair and hits him in the chest with it then a shot to the back. He hit him so hard with the chair the top part of it broke off. That was insane. Cactus then falls to the outside and is laid out. Cactus starts heading toward the exit but he turns around and Hunter decks him with a shot to the head with a chair.

Hunter starts talking shit to Cactus and Cactus is telling him to hit him. Hunter is going in with the chair but the Rock comes out of no where and drops Hunter with a chair shot to the head. A cop comes out of no where and unhooks the handcuffs off of Cactus Jack. Cactus gets back to his feet and nails him with some vicious right hands. Cactus then rams the head of Hunter to the Spanish announce table. Cactus drops Hunter with a pulling pile driver. The table had no give so Hunter just went head first right into the table. That probably didn’t feel to hot.

Cactus picks up Hunter and gets him back into the ring. Cactus then gets under the ring and finds a blue bag full of something. Cactus gets in the ring with it and dumps them out on the mat. Stephanie comes out of no where and is pleading with Cactus to stop. Cactus is about to drop Hunter into the tacks but when he goes charging into Hunter he ends up getting back dropped right into the thumb tacks. Triple H then hits Cactus with the Pedigree. Hunter goes for the cover and Cactus kicks out at 2 1/2. Hunter gets pissed off and goes after the ref. Cactus Gets up again and this time Hunter ends up dropping him with a Pedigree on the thumb tacks. Triple H goes for the pin and gets the 1-2-3. Your winner and still WWF Champion……Triple H!

After the match Triple H is getting taken out on a stretcher but Cactus Jack goes out after him. Cactus steals the stretcher from the EMT’s and dumps Hunter right into the ring apron. Cactus then throws Hunter back into the ring and Cactus picks up the barbwire and nails Hunter with it again right in the face. He lays the barbwire over Hunter as Stephanie looks terrified up the entrance ramp.

Recap:
There really aren’t many words that can describe this match. It is one of my favorite matches of all time and I enjoy it every time I watch it. It was brutal but it wasn’t over done like the match from the Rumble 99. We didn’t get a lot of reckless chair shots to the head, even though the first one Foley took was pretty damn brutal. Just a really good match from start to finish and it told a great story. I don’t do star ratings but this one is every bit of 4 3/4 stars if not 5, for me anyways. Just a great match and definitely worth checking out at least once but I am sure you will want to see it again and again.

WWF New York Interview: Linda McMahon

Coach asks Linda what herself, Vince, and Shane think of the McMahon-Helmsley era more specifically the actions of her daughter the last couple of months. Linda says she can’t speak on Stephanie right now. However, even though Triple H is still champion she is the CEO of the company and that business will be handled the McMahon way going forward.

They show footage of Shawn Michaels wining the 1995 Royal Rumble.

Match 6: The Royal Rumble Match

The first entrant in the Royal Rumble is none other than D-Lo Brown. The second entrant is Grand Master Sexay. We get a new entrant every 90 seconds this year. Grand Master is dancing until D-Lo Brown starts laying in the right hands. Sexay does a baseball slide between the legs of D-Lo then hits him with a drop kick. D-Lo hits Sexay with a side kick and he follows that up by going for his running power bomb but Sexay reverses it into a hurricanrana. We get a body slam and then a snap mare by Sexay. D-Lo gets up to his feet only to get nailed with a drop kick right in the back of the head. The third entrant into the rumble is Headbanger Mosh.

Mosh comes out wearing some ridiculous cone bra. Mosh goes right after Sexay and lays in the boots. Here comes Kai En Tai out of no where and they get attacked by D-Lo and Mosh. Mosh goes after D-Lo with some right hands while Sexay adjusts his doo rag. D-Lo gets whipped into Sexay in the corner and Mosh charges in and hits a splash with his ass in the corner. D-Lo ends up nailing Mosh with a big time spine buster. Sexay then hits D-Lo with a bulldog right on top of Mosh and it really jacks up Mosh’s ankle. He can barely walk after that. The fourth entrant into the match is Christian. Mosh immediately attacks Christian as he gets in the ring. Christian ends up dropping Mosh with a lay down reverse DDT.

Christian charges at Sexay in the corner but Sexay gets the boot up and floors Christian. Mosh tries to eliminate D-Lo while Sexay drops Christian with a nice looking suplex. All four guys are going at it as we wait for the next entrant. The fifth entrant into the Royal Rumble is Rikishi. Rikishi gets in the ring and levels Mosh with a super kick and then dumps him out of the ring. Mosh is eliminated. Christian ends up getting nailed with a belly to belly suplex and then dumped himself. Christian is eliminated. D-Lo goes after Rikishi and he drops a leg drop but Rikishi gets right up. Rikishi drops D-Lo with the Rikishi Driver and then eliminates him. D-Lo Brown is eliminated.

The sixth entrant into the match is Scottie 2 Hottie. He comes out and hands Rikishi his glasses as they start dancing. Rikishi then finishes up dancing and eliminates the other two members of Too Cool. Grand Master Sexay & Scottie 2 Hottie are eliminated. Rikishi starts dancing some more as we get the next entrant. Steve Blackman is the seventh entrant into the Rumble. He comes right in and hits Rikishi with a drop kick and a nice martial arts kick to the sternum. Blackman laying it in on Rikishi. Blackman comes off the ropes and Rikishi ends up dropping him with the Rikishi Driver. Rikishi picks up Blackman and eliminates him. Steve Blackman is eliminated.

Rikishi is all alone in the match waiting for some more competition. We get the countdown clock and the eight entrant into the Rumble is Viscera. Viscera gets in the ring as the two guys go at it. We get a stare down and then they start exchanging right hands. Viscera picks up Rikishi and nails him with a belly to belly suplex followed by a big time leg drop. Viscera goes for a big splash in the corner and nails Rikishi with it. Viscera goes for the splash again but Rikishi gets out of the way. Rikishi then nails Viscera with 3 super kicks and then a big ass shoulder block that gets Viscera wobbly on the ropes. Rikishi then dumps Viscera and eliminates him. Viscera is eliminated.

The ninth entrant into the Rumble is the Big Boss Man. He stays outside the ring for the 90 seconds and waits for another entrant to come out and help him with Rikishi. This is a genius move by the Boss Man here. The tenth entrant into the match is Test and he comes out and starts laying into the Boss Man on the floor. Boss Man ends up whipping Test into the ring post. Boss Man goes for a pile driver but Test reverses it and back drops Boss Man on the floor. Boss Man gets thrown into the ring as Rikishi starts working him over before Test attacks him from behind. Test is choking Rikishi with his boot until the Boss Man kicks him right in the nuts. What a brutal looking low blow.

Boss Man is taking it to both guys as the eleventh entrant comes down and it’s the British Bulldog. He comes in and starts working over Test and Rikishi. Test ends up nailing Boss Man with a big time big boot while Rikishi is working over the Bulldog in the corner. Test has Boss Man on the top rope and nearly eliminated. Rikishi goes up to the second rope and Bulldog hits him with a low blow. Bulldog is trying to eliminate Rikishi as the twelfth comes to the ring and its Gangrel. Test and the Boss Man immediately attack him when all of a sudden Kai En Tai come out one more time. Gangrel throws Taka out and he goes flipping and smashes his face on the floor. Concussion city there and it is one of the most brutal eliminations in the Rumble.

Rikishi nails Test and Gangrel with a back splash in the corner. We get the thirteenth entrant in the Rumble and it’s Edge. He takes his sweet time getting to the ring and goes right after the Big Boss Man. All of the men are brawling in the corner. Bulldog gets Edge up and over the top rope but Edge hangs on and gets back in the ring. Rikishi goes up to the middle rope and hits the bonsai drop on the Boss Man. They show Taka getting eliminated again. Out comes the fourteenth entrant and its form WWWF World Champion Bob Backlund. Boss Man and Gangrel go right after Backlund. They try to whip Rikishi into Backlund but Backlund moves out of the way then everyone in the ring goes after Rikishi and dumps him out. Rikishi is eliminated.

Gangrel nearly gets Edge eliminated but he hangs on by holding on to the top rope. The fifteenth entrant int the Rumble is Chris Jericho. He goes right after Edge and they get some rapid fire punches going. Jericho nails Backlund from behind and drop kicks him out of the ring. Bob Backlund is eliminated. Right now we got Bulldog, Edge, Gangrel, Boss Man, Jericho, and Test left in the ring. Backlund leaves by going through the crowd as he campaigns. The sixteenth entrant comes to the ring and its Crash Holly. All 7 guys are brawling in the ring. Not a lot going on. Bulldog nearly gets Edge eliminated but he lands on the apron and ends up punching Bulldog right in the nuts. Theres been at least 7 or 8 low blows so far during this match. The seventeenth entrant heads toward the ring and its none other than Chyna. She comes in and goes right after Jericho. Chyna goes for a splash on Jericho but Jericho ends up throwing her out on to the apron. Chyna then grabs Jericho and ends up suplexing him out of the ring and eliminating him. Chris Jericho is eliminated. Boss Man quickly bumps Chyna off the apron and eliminating her. Chyna is eliminated.

The eighteenth entrant comes out and it is Farooq of the APA. The Mean Street Posse come out of no where and attack Farooq. All three guys attack Farooq. Other guys in the ring dispose of the Posse while Boss Man grabs Farooq and throws him over the top rope and he is gone. Farooq is eliminated. The nineteenth entrant comes out and it is the Road Dogg. He comes in on fire and goes right after Test but Test drops him with another low blow. Crash nearly gets eliminated by the Boss Man but he holds on and gets back in the ring. The 20th entrant into the Rumble is Al Snow. He comes in and goes right after Crash Holly.

The Road Dogg gets the Bulldog and throws him over the top rope and eliminates him. British Bulldog is eliminated. The 21st entrant into the ring is Val Venis. Test attacks Val as soon as he gets in the ring. Funaki comes out one more time and he gets dumped by the Boss Man. They show Taka getting eliminated one more time. That is brutal. Road Dogg gets under a turnbuckle and just holds on to the bottom rope. Out of sight out of mind. It’s a great strategy as long as nobody sees you. The 22nd entrant comes out and it is Albert. Val and Snow are working each other over on the rope when Edge charges but Al and Val end up backdropping Edge out of the ring. Edge is eliminated. They are just working each other over when the 23rd entrant comes out and it is Hardcore Holly.

He comes in and goes right after Test. Test has been in over 20+ minutes. Road Dogg is just holding on to the middle rope while the Boss Man is trying to get him off the ropes. We get the count down clock and number 24 comes out and it is none other than the People’s Champ the Rock. He comes in and goes right after the Boss Man. He hits him with a big time right hand and the Boss Man goes flying over the top rope. Big Boss Man is eliminated. Val Venis and Test are trying to eliminate the Rock over in a corner. The Rock gets out of the predicament when Hardcore Holly comes over and starts working him over and gets him up on the top rope.

Entrant number 25 comes out and it is Billy Gunn. He comes in and goes right after The Rock. He lays in some big time right hands in the corner. Road Dogg gets off the ropes and blasts Hardcore with a brutal right hand that knocks Hardcore on his ass. Road Dogg quickly gets under the ropes and holds on again. Meanwhile, the Rock hits Crash with a DDT and then throws him over the top rope and out. Crash Holly is eliminated. Hardcore goes after the Rock after he eliminates Crash. Road Dogg is hanging on to the bottom rope when Al Snow and Val Venis go after him and start choking him out. Number 26 comes out and it is the Big Show. Big Show comes in and immediately hits Test with a big boot and he goes over the top rope and is out. Test is eliminated.

Big Show then goes after Gangrel and he just dumps him over the top rope. Gangrel is eliminated. Big show fends everyone off as he goes after the Rock. Big Show picks up Hardcore and dumps him with a gorilla slam. I bet that was a fun ride. Entrant #27 comes out and it is Bradshaw. The Posse attack him as soon as he gets in the ring. Bradshaw beats the brakes off all three guys and he eliminates all 3. After he dumps the Posse the Outlaws dump Bradshaw over the top rope. Bradshaw is eliminated. Farooq and Bradshaw brawl with the Posse as all 5 guys head to the back.

Al Snow nearly gets the Rock eliminated but he is able to hang on to the bottom rope. Entrant #28 comes out and it is the big red monster Kane. Val goes right after Kane as soon as he gets in the ring. Val goes for a running clothesline but Kane grabs Val by the throat and dumps him over the top rope. Val Venis is eliminated. The Rock nails Hardcore with a nice looking clothesline. Billy Gunn gets dropped with a gorilla press from the Big Show as well. Entrant #29 comes out and it is the Godfather and he brings the train of hoes with him. Kane ends up clothesline Albert up and over the top rope. Albert is eliminated.

Funaki comes out again and this time Al Snow throws him out of the ring. They show Taka getting eliminated one more time. Godfather finally gets in the ring when the 30th entrant makes his way to the ring and it is X-Pac. Pac comes in and goes right after the Rock. Al Snow clotheslines Hardcore Holly up and over the top rope. Hardcore Holly is eliminated. Currently we have The Rock, the Big Show, Godfather, Kane, Al Snow, Road Dogg, X-Pac, and Billy Gunn left in the rumble. Big Show ends up throwing the Godfather up and over and he is gone. Godfather is eliminated. The Rock clotheslines Al Snow up and over as well. Al Snow is eliminated.

Road Dogg is cussing out Al Snow when Mr. Ass comes up and dumps him over the top rope. Road Dogg is eliminated. Kane then hits Mr. Ass with a chop and sends him flying over the top rope. Mr. Ass is eliminated. We are down to Kane, The Rock, X-Pac, and the Big Show. The Outlaws drag Kane to the outside as it pulls all the referees over there so when the Rock throws X-Pac out of the match the refs don’t see it so he quickly gets back in the ring. Kane gets back in the ring and goes right after X-Pac. Kane goes for a choke slam on Big Show but the Big Show throws it away and goes for a choke slam of his own. Kane ends up body slamming the Big Show but when Kane turns around X-Pac hits him with a spinning wheel kick and it sends Kane over and out. Kane is eliminated.

Big Show picks up X-Pac and just drops him over the top rope. X-Pac is eliminated. We are down to the Rock and the Big Show. Rock hits the Big Show with spine buster and then he hits him with the People’s Elbow. The Rock tries to eliminate the Big Show but the Big Show stops him and ends up dropping the Rock with a choke slam. Big Show picks up the Rock on to his shoulder and he charges at the ropes and is about to dump him over but both guys end up going over the top rope but the Rock holds on to the top rope as the Big Show goes flying out. The Big Show is eliminated and your winner of the 2000 Royal Rumble and going to Wrestlemania……The Rock!

After the match the Rock grabs the mic and says that since the Rock just won the Royal Rumble right here in New York City he can say finally the Rock is going to Wrestlemania if you smell what the Rock is cooking. But before he could finish his line the Big Show comes back and drops the Rock and throws him over the top rope as the Big Show stares him down in the ring as the show goes off the air.

Recap:
This wasn’t the greatest Royal Rumble match of all time but it is definitely entertaining. Between Taka’s elimination, the Too Cool dance off, the constant replays of Taka’s elimination, and the finish of the match it had a little bit of everything. It’s your typical Rumble match and the roster is kind of eh but its very entertaining and easy to get through. It’s one of my favorite Rumble matches and it was a nice cherry on top for one hell of a card if you ask me. It’s definitely worth watching at least once.

Show Recap:
Well there you have it. One of the better Royal Rumble cards top to bottom and all of the matches delivered. The show started hot with the debut of Tazz and he put on a hell of a show against Angle. We got the tag team table match which was awesome and a lot of crazy ass spots. We follow that up with the triple threat match for the IC title that wasn’t great but wasn’t bad either.

Following that match we get the tag team title match that went way to short if you ask me but it was quick and fun while it lasted. Then we get to one of the best WWF title matches of the last 20 years. The street fight between Cactus Jack and Triple H was off the charts. The brutality wasn’t over done like the Rumble 99 match and it delivered on all aspects. The storytelling, the brutality was done just right, and the finish was all very well done. It is a top 5 all time match for me personally and one everyone should watch at one time or another. Just a flawless match if you ask me.

The Royal Rumble was fun and entertaining throughout the majority of the match. When it got to a lull they sent out the right person to get the crowd back into it. The Taka elimination was brutal and the fact that they showed it over and over was a little over the top but not for the time period. The finish with the Rock and the Big Show was pretty good as well. I wish they let them go at it a little bit longer at the end but that’s just a minor complaint.

All in all this is a great show top to bottom and one of the easier pay per views from this time period to get through. I love most of the matches and it was fun going back and watching it again from a review perspective instead of just watching. So that does it for this episode of the Event Center. We are going back to some Television Rewind for the next couple of reviews then we will be back right here on the Event Center. I believe next time we are going to be doing a pay per view from Canada so look out for that one. I hope you have enjoyed this episode of the Event Center and I hope you tune in next time right here on CrazyMax.

THE AUDIT: THE LOST ROYAL RUMBLE REVIEW FROM MSG, 1994

4

 

Writer’s Note: The “Lost” Royal Rumble ’94 Review below was one of the earliest shows I Audited back on January 19th, 2014. With Rumble season upon us I decided to go back and update this old review to coincide with the new Rumble reviews I’ll be adding this month. I fixed a few typos and added a sentence or two as needed. Hopefully you enjoy this NEW ‘director’s cut’ edition of the NYC Rumble ’94 Audit. Thanks for reading, feedback is welcome.

 

Royal Rumble: The Lost Episode, The Rumble that Time Forgot, The Unknown Rumble, The NYC Rumble, call it what you will, but it happened, and I know it happened. You can’t get anything by Ian R. Singletary! Yours truly, I.R.S., has found the footage and now it’s time for THE AUDIT!

It was only 5 days before the actual 1994 Royal Rumble PPV, you know the one, where the Undertaker ascends into the heavens (or at least gets fork lifted to the ceiling), Bret Hart & Lex Luger become the first and only “co-winners” (Thank God), and the night Owen Hart’s big heel push got it’s start. We go back 5 days prior to the Rumble PPV for a special card held at Madison Square Garden on January 17, 1994. What makes this card more special than the average MSG event? The Main Event of the evening would feature an untelevised 30-Man Royal Rumble match! Not since the WWF had a trial run match to test the waters in late 1987 had their been an untelevised Rumble match. What makes this event all the more special is that someone was able to get into the Garden and film the match, God bless’em. And thanks to the wonderful world of technology, it’s been uploaded to the internet for our viewing pleasure!

This will be my first time ever watching this event, so I really don’t know what to expect. You’ll be the first to read my initial thoughts on each and every match that took place in the Garden that night. Well, every match except “Iron” Mike Sharpe vs. Scott Putski which apparently didn’t make the cut. It’s probably best. For those who care, I looked it up and Scott Putski pinned Sharpe with the Polish Hammer. Sounds spectacular. Anywayz…

We begin…

(Borga vs. Rick Steiner, Notes Going In: Borga showed up on WWF TV in the summer of 1993 via the ever popular vignette way of debuting. After weeks of running down the WWF and the United States verbally, Borga debuted and in short fashion left a trail of bodies behind him. With Borga doing the anti-American shtick, it was pretty obvious he would cross paths with those that represented the USA. Guys like Tatanka, whom Borga ended the undefeated streak of. Guys like Lex Luger, who Borga was working on the house show loops with as well as their notable finish at Survivor Series 1993. And of course, guys like the All American Steiner Brothers. I’d prefer Scott in this era, but Rick will do.)

Rick Steiner vs. Ludvig Borga

Borga with stalling and taunting of the fan for the first couple of minutes. Rick grabs a headlock and is immediately dumped with a back suplex. Steiner actually rolls out of the ring to sell the move. Borga drags Rick back in and grabs a headlock of his own, and this time Rick counters with the BACK SUPLEX! Crowd goes nuts, good spot. As Borga gets up, RICK STEINER OFF THE TOP WITH THE BULLDOG! AND HE GETS ONE! ONLY ONE? ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? He hits his finisher 2 minutes into the match, and then it gets a 1 count? And barely a 1 at that! Sloppy communication, neither guy looks like they want to sell to the other. Borga comes at Rick with a clothesline, but Rick throws a Steinerline and Borga is forced to bump. Borga gets his revenge with a nice stiff clothesline, and then a second clothesline off the top rope! Steiner kicks out. Rick comes back with a powerslam for 2 and works the arm of Borga. Steiner with a few near falls and Borga comes back with a Lariat. Noticing a pattern here. I think Borga has hit every type of clothesline possible at this point. The match spills to the floor, the two guys brawl. Steiner smashes Borga with a chair. Referee Tim White counts both men out in about 7:00. The fight continues after the match with Borga slamming Rick on the floor and Steiner retaliating with a low blow. As the two men begin to fight their way backstage, Borga’s leg visibly gives out on him repeatedly. Sadly, this ankle injury would lead to the end of Ludvig Borga’s short, but somewhat impactful WWF career.

Final Result is a Double Count Out

(Post Match Thoughts: Not much of a match by typical standards. Just two guys taking turns hitting each other with solid looking shots. I’ll give it a *, because when the guys cooperated the action looked stiff and resembled two main eventers coming at each other. The shitty finish and the lack of any type of continuity makes it hard to rate it any higher. As mentioned above, this was the end of Borga’s WWF career.)

 

(Razor vs. Jarrett, Notes Going In: Jarrett had just recently debuted in the ring for the WWF after a series of Nashville promos with sparkling teeth. My first memories of Jarrett were around 1989/1990 when watching him on ESPN as part of the Legends of World Class/USWA program Tuesdays – Fridays. I had been a big fan of Jarrett from those days, as well as his Memphis stuff but I had feared for years he’d never get a break in the WWF due to his small size. By 1993, Jarrett had put on a little weight and “filled out” as he finally got the break thanks to the WWF/USWA cross-promoting that was going on at the time. As I stated, Jarrett hadn’t been here long at all at this point, but the fact that they have him an IC Title shot at the Garden is pretty cool. Razor is currently in the middle of a long, boring feud with that impostor I.R.S. (that’s not his real name by the way) that he would be facing at the Rumble PPV, with Shawn Michaels looming near. There’s no real story to support this match other than it should be a solid IC Title defense.)

WWF Intercontinental Champion Razor Ramon vs. “Double J” Jeff Jarrett

Razor gets the best of Jarrett to start, showing that he has the power advantage. Jarrett stalls on the floor, luring Razor out to chase him. Jeff gets the advantage on the floor and gets some good heat on Ramon, throwing him into post before taking it back inside. Jarrett with the old Lawler fist drop from the middle rope for 2. Double J works Razor over and hits a standing dropkick for 2. When Jeff argues with referee Earl Hebner, Razor school boys him for 2. Jeff goes right back on the offense, landing a pair of flying punches from the middle rope. Jarrett goes to the top rope for a third one, and Razor counters with a punch to the breadbasket! Ramon telegraphs a backdrop, and Jarrett turns things into a Sleeper Hold. Razor goes down for the count, but keeps his arms raised on the third attempt and fights his way out of the hold with a CHOKESLAM on Double J. The ref counts both men down on the mat, Ramon rolls over and covers for 2. It’s Razor on the offense as he fires up on Jarrett. Jeff tries a Flying Forearm, but Razor ducks and Jarrett hits Earl Hebner!

Ramon grabs Jarrett and picks him up in the Razor’s Edge! BUT IT’S SHAWN MICHAELS! With Hebner down, Shawn grabs Jarrett by his feet and pulls him out of the Edge. Razor decks Shawn, and Michaels takes a fun bump on the apron. Razor grabs Jarrett again and HITS THE RAZOR’S EDGE! Ramon for the cover! ONE!!! TWO!!! SHAWN MICHAELS YANKS RAMON OUT OF THE RING AND RIGHT INTO A SUPERKICK ON THE FLOOR! Hebner immediately calls for the DQ after about 12:30. Shawn Michaels checks on Jarrett after the match. Jeff celebrates as if he’s won. Razor returns and sends Jarrett out of the ring. Shawn exits before Ramon can get to him.

Winner is Razor Ramon via DQ

(Post match Thoughts: A decent match, your regular paint-by-numbers house show match, but they’ve had better. For a first time, it was good, but the entire finishing sequence really elevated things for me. Of course we’d relive some of this finish at the PPV during the Ramon vs. IRS match, though I really liked this finish better. A good enough match, with a better than average finish for a house show. I’ll go **1/4, that’s ** for the match and an extra 1/4 star for the creative finish. These two would meet again a year later at the Rumble PPV, fighting over the same title.)

 

(Yoko vs. Tatanka, Notes Going In: I saw these two work a match on a local house show right around this time so I know what to expect here. At the time it was a big deal watching Tatanka get pinned. After all, only Ludvig Borga had pinned Tatanka up until this point, and he had to cheat to get it done. When you’ve got a Royal Rumble match on your card, Tatanka is a perfectly acceptable challenger for a semi-main event championship match. Too bad this was the MAIN event on the show I attended.)

WWF Heavyweight Champion Yokozuna (w/Mr. Fuji) vs. Tatanka

Tatanka hits the ring fast and Yoko tries to attack. Tatanka retaliates and goes on the war path (pun intended), nailing Yoko repeatedly until he knocks him out of the ring. The fight goes to the floor and into the steel steps. In a LOL moment, Yoko tries to roll back into the ring, but can’t jump up high enough to get on the apron. It looked like a fish out of water. Tatanka goes nuts with more punches and tomahawk chops in the ring. Yoko comes back with a single back elbow, but misses a Legdrop, then misses an elbowdrop. Tatanka goes to the top rope FLYING BODY BLOCK for ONE, TWO, THREE. No, Yoko kicked out at the last second. All of this and we’re not even 2 minutes into the frickin match! Yoko looks blown up now though, and he goes on the offense with a more slow and methodical pace, introducing the deadly nerve hold to the traps. Tatanka finally fights his way out with a series of chops, and Yoko takes him right back down with a clothesline and RIGHT BACK INTO THE NERVE HOLD. Dear God, he works the nerve hold another 3 and a half minutes!!! Tatanka fights free again with chops and clotheslines. Tatanka goes to the top, but Yoko catches him on the way down with a punch. Yoko MISSES the Ass Splash in the corner and both men go down. You’ll NEVER guess what happens next! Yoko goes BACK to the nerve hold, AGAIN! Tatanka escapes a third time, with more chops, and a flying Tomahawk from the top rope that gets a near fall! Yoko blocks an Irish whip, and Tatanka clearly has a conversation with Yoko in the corner. Next thing you know, Yoko reverses the whip and throws Tatanka into the referee! Two ref bumps in 2 straight matches? Mr. Fuji hands Yoko the salt bucket, but Tatanka blocks the shot and Tatanka nails Yoko with the bucket!!!! The crowd erupts as Tatanka makes the cover. ONE, TWO, YOKO BARELY KICKS OUT. Tatanka goes to the top rope, and Fuji knocks him off with the Japanese Flag Pole behind the officials back. Yoko hits a running ass drop, or leg drop or something in between. At the house show I was at, it was a legdrop, but given the position Tatanka was in (laying in the corner) it looked like Yoko had to hit sort of a hybrid legdrop/ass splash. Needless to say, Yoko gets the win in about 15:00. Following the match, Yoko hit a Banzai drop on Tatanka and he was helped out of the ring.

Winner: Yokozuna

(Post Match Thoughts: The first 2 minutes of this match are probably better than anything else I’ve ever seen Tatanka OR Yoko do. The crowd was hot for all of Tatanka’s comebacks and honestly Tatanka looked good throughout the entire match. Maybe after having his undefeated streak ended, he decided to kick things up a notch to keep his heat. The match slows down when Yoko gets control, but all of his matches did that. If you take out the 7 minutes worth of nerve holds, you still get more physical action from Yoko than I ever recall seeing in one of his title matches. Given the guys involved, and the time they were forced to be out there, this match was surprisingly decent. This match gets **1/2 . I’ll admit, I did fast forward the nerve holds, so my rating may be skewed a little higher since I avoided the boredom.)

 

(Quebecers vs. Jannetty/Kid Notes, Going In: I had always been a Jannetty fan, so any time they threw him a bone I was happy for him. I had also been a Lightning Kid fan going back to the GWF on ESPN. Both guys worked a different style than your average WWF superstar and you were usually guaranteed a good match out of them. So when they randomly won the WWF Tag Team Titles from the Quebecers on the Live Raw from the week before, it was a huge shock and really came out of nowhere. Given the great match the two teams had on Raw, I expect something similar here.)

WWF Tag Team Champions Marty Jannetty & The 1-2-3 Kid vs. The Quebecers (w/Johnny Polo)

The match starts with dueling cheers. The Quebecers would go up on the ropes and get boo’d, followed by the champs who would get cheered. The Quebecers attack the champs and try and throw them into each other. The Kid leapfrogs Jannetty and the champs climb up for stereo “10 Punches” before they whip the Quebecers into each other. The Quebecers get cute and do a dosey-doe but run into dropkicks, and the champs clothesline the challengers to the floor! Nice opening sequence. Polo comforts his boys on the floor before we return to action. Jacques fakes a test of strength to lower the boom on Marty, but the champs come back with some Rocker type double team spots, before they nip up and run right into a double clothesline from Pierre. The Quebecers toss the champs out onto the floor, and the Kid & Marty both slide back in through the legs of the Quebecers and hit stereo Superkicks that send the challengers to the floor. Marty tries a dive onto both opponents, but they catch him. The Kid then hits a flying dive over the top rope onto everyone, including Polo, and every falls to the floor. The guys were so close to the ring, the Kid couldn’t really launch himself as high as he needed to on that dive and he catches his knee on the top rope and basically falls onto everyone. It was still a great spot by all. The Quebecers finally get some heat on the Kid, until Jacques misses a flying legdrop. Kid makes the hot tag to Jannetty. Jannetty with a spinning elbow, and knocks Polo off the apron. Polo distracts the referee and Pierre grabs Marty from behind. Jacques charges but Marty moves, and Jacques nails Pierre off the apron! Jannetty with the rolling cradle on Jacques, but Pierre clotheslines him out of his boots! Damn, great match so far. Jacques slows things down with a chinlock. Pierre with a neckbreaker on Marty.

Pierre lays Marty’s throat across the middle rope and charges with a Big Boss Man style leg straddle. I think Marty was supposed to move, but he doesn’t, and Pierre almost falls over the top rope. Then Pierre just jumps up and down twice and falls on his ass and holds his balls. IT MADE NOOOO SENSE. I have NO FUCKING CLUE what he was thinking. A phantom crotch shot? He just took a bump out of nowhere and started grabbing himself. It was BAAAAD. The Quebecers lure the Kid in repeatedly and switch out illegally behind the ref’s back. Quebecers with a lot of illegal double teaming. Jannetty fights off both challengers in their corner, but gets backdropped to the floor by Jacques. After they get Marty back inside, Jacques hits a piledriver and tries to backdrop Pierre onto Jannetty, but Marty moves. Pierre takes the bump and Marty tries a sneaky school boy for 2. Side Suplex by Pierre, but Pierre comes off the middle rope right into the boot of Jannetty, and Marty makes the hot tag to the Kid, and does the crowd ever explode! Kid works the Quebecers over with his “educated feet”. Jumping spin kicks, spinning heel kicks, he’s all over the place. Kid goes to the top rope, but gets crotches by Johnny Polo. Pierre Superplexes the Kid off the ropes and tags to Jacques. Jacques comes in and assists Pierre in hitting the top rope somersault senton. The Quebecers win back their WWF Tag Team Titles in around 20:00.

 Winners & New Tag Team Champions The Quebecers

(Post Match Thoughts: This match had the hints of Midnight Express vs. Rock & Roll Express, and Rockers vs. Rougeaus. I’m not saying it was at the level of either of those matches, but it certainly followed their patterns. Lots of double team Rocker spots, and Rougeau style heel spots involved as you’d expect. The opening sequence with the baby faces getting an extended period of offense for nearly the first half of the match was more of a MX/R&R type thing, with the heels taking over and getting an extended beat down on Jannetty. The pieces were there, the formula was there, these guys aren’t any of the aforementioned teams, but a couple of the guys in this match were a part of those teams. For a house show, for WWF 1994, it was good stuff so long as you ignore that odd Pierre phantom crotch shot thing. As boring as the Mountie gimmick was, the Quebecers breathed life back into Jacques and put him back to where he excelled, in tag team matches. Everyone worked hard, the hot tag seemed oddly short, but this was a good match. ***1/4)

 

(Royal Rumble, Notes Going In: I’ve known about this Rumble since the late 1990’s so I already know the winner going in. That said, I have no idea of anything else about this specific match, so it should be fun. I always like watching things for the first time, and it’s hard to find many things I haven’t seen from this era, so this is double exciting for me.)

30-Man Royal Rumble

We’ve got Howard Finkel doing the intros, so this feels like the real thing. #1 is Diesel. Keep in mind this is 5 days BEFORE his breakout performance at the Rumble 94 PPV. Up to this point Diesel was just the bodyguard of Shawn Michaels and really never stood out as a major player. Mo from Men on a Mission is #2. Oscar is in the house, WHOOMP, THERE IT IS! I’m no Nostradamus, but I think I can see what’s coming. Diesel beats the crap out of Mo. LOUD “Whoomp, There it is” chants begin and Mo makes a short comeback. Diesel nails a big punch and flings Mo out. Mo’s leg gets caught in the ropes, lmao, so Diesel has to free him in order for him to fall out of the ring, lol. Thanks for coming Mo.

The only thing that sucks is we have no countdown clock on the screen, but we can hear the fans counting so that’s a plus. Here comes #3 and it’s Bushwhacker Butch. Diesel goes after Butch, but we get some good old Bushwhacker eye gouging and ass biting. Butch celebrates and Diesel makes him pay for it. Diesel eliminates Butch quickly.

While Butch whacks his way to the back, #4 is The 1-2-3 Kid, who is no doubt still beat from the prior match. The Kid sells big time for everything Diesel does, including taking a biel bump about 12 feet into the air. Kid counters a side slam with a flying headscissors. The Kid goes to town with kicks in the corner, but falls onto the ropes and hangs on the top rope, Diesel punches the Kid out of the match. (Trivia: The Kid actually ended up hurting his leg during the spot and sitting out several weeks because of it.)

#5 is Scott Steiner! Scott rushes to the ring and Diesel knees him off the apron immediately. Diesel posts Steiner outside. Diesel works Steiner over, but he can’t seem to eliminate him. Scott Steiner battles back and throws Diesel through the MIDDLE rope, and the two men fight on the floor. Steiner smashes Diesel with a chair. SCOTT HITS A DOUBLE UNDERHOOK POWERBOMB BUT DIESEL DAMN NEAR BREAKS HIS NECK! HOLY SHIT WAS THAT SCARY LOOKING! Nash was a couple an inches away from becoming a paraplegic.

Meanwhile, we count down to #6 who is “Iron” Mike Sharpe! Now business is going to pick up! He’s a Hoss by gawd. Sharpe goes to town on Scott with his legendary loaded forearm band. Sharpe goes to throw Scott out of the ring but Steiner puts on the brakes and sends Sharpe flying out only seconds after his arrival. Back to the showers for Iron Mike, hopefully he makes it out of the arena this time before they lock the doors. Diesel and Scott go back and forth, Scott hits a suplex and Diesel almost gets dumped on his head again.

Scott has Diesel teetering as #7 Headshrinker Samu enters. Diesel & Samu team up on Scott briefly before going after each other. The three men cluster up in the corner as #8 Bob Backlund makes his way down. Backlund hits the ring like a goofy nut, and this is BEFORE he went crazy. You can hear fans near the camera laughing at how goofy Bob was acting here. Backlund goes for the running Atomic Drop on Samu, but Samu sandbags him and the move gets screwed up. Can you imagine what a team Backlund & Scott Steiner could have made? The Loose Cannons. Not much going on, guys on the ropes and on the mat. Steiner suplexes Samu as #9 Jeff Jarrett makes his way down. Jarrett tries to pick a fight with everyone, and loses them all. Samu with a gut wrench on Jarrett. Steiner hits a big military press slam on Double J. #10 is Virgil, who has just returned to fill in as a substitution on some shows. Virgil goes to work on Jarrett with some punches before the heels outnumber him. Diesel spends the next 2 minutes beating the crap out of Virgil in the battle of the bodyguards.

#11 is Bam Bam Bigelow. Luna leads him down, and it’s starting to fill up now with 7 guys in the ring. Diesel & Bam Bam have some fun with Virgil. Lots of guys teetering over the ropes now as the ring is more cluttered and less spots can be done. Here we go with #12, and it’s “THE MACHO MAN” RANDY SAVAGE! The fans go nuts! Savage nails just about everyone as he hits the ring. Diesel gets Macho in the corner, but misses a Big Boot. Diesel fights to stay in but Savage tosses him out and the crowd goes crazy, Diesel was in for 21:00 plus and you can tell the crowd bought his dominance based on the way they popped for his elimination. Diesel may not have dumped as many guys in this match, but he was certainly made the focal point of the first 12 minutes of the match. Seconds later, Savage sends Jarrett flying out of the ring (same bump he takes at the PPV). Backlund escapes near elimination from Bigelow. #13 is Adam Bomb w/Harvey. Damn, did Bryan Clark have the look and the agility to go with his size. Bigelow military presses Virgil, but takes a bump for whatever reason and Virgil falls on top.

#14 is Sgt. Slaughter! Crowd pops for the surprise. This may be the first surprise Rumble entrant ever! Steiner has Adam Bomb teetering, Slaughter comes in and Sarge & Steiner eliminate Bomb. Wow, that was fast. Slaughter takes the signature chest bump into the corner. Macho goes at it hard with Samu, Samu hits Savage with a standing dropkick! Nice! Here comes #15 CRUSH! And you just know he and Savage are gonna get it on. Crush with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker on Macho. Crush then tosses Scott Steiner out. Macho & Crush fight to the floor and back inside. Savage comes off the top but is caught by Crush. Crush tosses Savage out of the match like nothing. Very anticlimactic elimination there.

#16 is Mabel, who enters the ring as Macho exits. Savage tries to reenter with a steel chair, but is held back by officials. Crush & Mabel work over Bam Bam Bigelow. Bam Bam tries to eliminate Crush, but Crush holds on and pulls Bam Bam out instead. Crush Irish whips Slaughter into the corner, and Slaughter takes his THIRD chest bump into the corner during this match, only this time the Sarge is eliminated from the momentum. Crush is on a bit of a tear.

#17 is Jimmy Powers. Crank It Up, Blah. Backlund tries to go after Powers, but Jim just completely ignores Backlund because he already has a spot planned. Powers goes right after Mabel. Mabel no sells Powers and picks him up in a lifted double handed choke before tossing him down. Mabel with a big avalanche on Powers in the corner and Jimmy Powers is eliminated! Mabel SQUASHES VIRGIL next. Wait, Virgil’s still in this thing??? #18 is Bastion Booger, I guess no tummy ache tonight. Booger’s my pick! As soon as Booger comes in, everyone goes after Mabel. It’s like it was scripted that way or something. 😉 As Mabel is teetering he’s eliminated, but ends up taking Bob Backlund & Virgil with him. Three guys out at once! Whoomp, there it was. Well, at least that takes care of the Virgil issue.

Moments later, Crush clotheslines Booger out from behind. The ring’s clearing now, just Crush and Samu remain. What an odd choice. Not for long, #19 is on his way, and it’s Bushwhacker Luke!!!! YAYYYYY! Samu charges Luke, Luke ducks and Samu gets his head caught in the ropes (one of his favorite spots, he does the same thing at the PPV). Luke kindly helps him get loose, then just pushes Samu off the apron for the comical elimination. Crush attacks Luke and misses a clothesline which Luke sells anyway. Luke comes back with some Bushwhacker comedy. Crush has none of it and Superkicks Luke out of the match. If Diesel dominated early, Crush was made a monster here. Crush is all alone in the ring as #20 Owen Hart heads in. Remember, Owen is still a face here. He turns at the PPV Rumble though the seeds were planted back at Survivor Series ’93.

Owen tackles Crush and goes to work on him. Standing dropkick and spinning heel kick by Owen. Owen tries for something and Crush launches him 10 feet straight up in the air and onto his stomach. Crush works on Owen as #21 “The Model” Rick Martel enters. The Model & Crush double team Owen until Hart ducks and Crush nails Martel. Owen clotheslines Martel out of the ring THROUGH the ropes. The two heels regroup and go after Owen, until #22 Bret “Hitman” Hart makes the save. What timing! Owen pairs off with Martel while Bret works with Crush. Lots of security rush to the right of the screen, must be a drunken fan. Crush thinks he has eliminated the Hitman and turns his back on him. Hart comes back in and dropkicks Crush out of the match! That was huge.

And #23 Irwin R. Schyster (the other IRS) makes his way down. #24 is Johnny Polo. Never did understand why Vince saw him as a manager rather than a full time wrestler, he was decent enough in the ring pre-Raven. The Harts take turns working over Polo. IRS & Martel almost dump Bret, but Owen makes the save. #25 is Scott Putski. This is like Putski’s only appearance in the WWF in 1994. I’ve heard rumors that Scott was only given this spot to replace his father (“Polish Power” Ivan Putski) who was supposed to get a surprise spot for the NYC crowd.

Not a whole lot going on, lots of pairing off in corners as #26 Headshrinker Fatu heads in. IRS tries to eliminate Bret Hart, as Owen pulls his brother back in. Fatu beats on Scott Putski. #27 is Marty Jannetty. #28 is Bart Gunn. For some reason, the video cuts out and there’s 3 minutes or so missing between Marty’s and Gunn’s entrances. Couldn’t have missed much, nobody was eliminated and the ring is building up.

#29 is Shawn Michaels, and as soon as he gets in the ring, he and Marty go at it. Crowd eats it up as Marty beats the piss out of Shawn in the corner. Shawn takes over with an inverted atomic drop, but Marty comes right back with a Superkick. Marty almost has Shawn eliminated when Fatu & IRS make the save. Shawn tries to suplex Jannetty out, but Marty reverses the suplex. Jannetty takes a big swing at Michaels, but Shawn ducks and backdrops Jannetty out. And out comes the final entrant, DOINK THE CLOWN IS #30!

The ring has built up now. There’s 9 guys in there. Owen sends Polo over the top rope but he holds on. Johnny Polo climbs to the top rope from the apron, but Owen knocks him off with a flying headbutt, or forearm, or something. Polo is gone. Fatu backdrops Putski out next. IRS dips his shoulder and dumps out Martel. Now they’re dropping like flies. Shawn & Owen teeter together, but both hang on. Doink plays a prank on Bart Gunn and rakes his eyes. Gunn tries to suplex Doink, but Doink counters and SUPLEXES BART backwards over the top rope and out of the ring! Great spot! Shocked to see it, given the guys involved. IRS stuns Doink and Shawn rushes in with a clothesline to eliminate the Clown. IRS works over Bret, but the Hitman counters with an atomic drop that eliminates Iiirrrrrwin.

We’re down to the final 4. It’s Bret, Owen, Shawn, and Fatu. Look familiar? Replace Owen with Luger… You see where I’m going? 😉

It’s Bret vs. Fatu, and Owen vs. HBK. Shawn sells big for Owen. Fatu nails a superkick on Bret. Michaels puts Owen in the tree of woe and works him over. As Bret has Fatu almost eliminated, Shawn sneaks up from behind and dumps the Hitman! That was HUGE! Shawn wants to work something out with Fatu to take out Owen. Fatu & Shawn try a double clothesline, but Owen hits one on them. The heels take back over, try a double backdrop, Owen slams their heads together and Shawn takes a big bump off a Fatu headbutt. Shawn & Fatu team up again, this time Fatu holds Owen in a bearhug while Shawn lands the Superkick, actually a SWEET spot. As Shawn stands over Owen, RAZOR RAMON comes back to ringside! Ramon wants some revenge for earlier in the IC Title match. Shawn leans over the ropes to argue with Ramon, and with Michaels distracted by Razor, Owen nails Fatu with a spinning heel kick that sends Fatu into HBK, and Shawn falls out of the ring! The crowd goes nuts! Razor & Shawn battle to the back! They should have used this spot at the PPV.

Down to two, and it’s Fatu & Owen Hart. The middle rope breaks! I mean literally, the rope itself breaks off from the turnbuckle. HAH! Fatu beats down Owen and thinks he has him eliminated, but Owen hangs on and battles back. Samu returns to ringside to help Fatu. Bret Hart sees enough and he too returns to ringside to cheer on his brother. Fatu misses a shoulder into the corner and Owen comes off the top rope with a diving headbutt. Somehow Fatu regains control and goes to the top rope, but Owen crotches him off and hits a big clothesline. Owen then goes to throw Fatu out, and looks like he tries to dropkick him at the same time, it was weird, but Fatu went out either way, and this thing is done at 1 Hour and 10 Minutes.

Winner: Owen Hart

Bret celebrates with the winner, his brother Owen as the Headshrinkers contemplate an attack, but think the wiser.

(Post Match Thoughts: This Rumble had it’s ups and downs. We saw the precursor to the “Diesel Show” on PPV. They were definitely priming Nash for a run, and it worked. Just as things started to get a little slow in the match, guys like Bigelow & Savage came in to pick things back up. Things started slowing down again around the time Adam Bomb came in, and besides a few nice pops on the way to the ring, the match felt a little stale for the next ten minutes until Owen came in. If Diesel was the show in the first half, Crush was definitely the show in the second half, eliminating several men himself and looking unstoppable. Crush certainly fit the bill and had the look for a top heel. Lots of filler in this match, Sharpe, Powers, Slaughter, Putski, Virgil, Polo, Bushwhackers, etc., but it was a house show and you work with what you have. I felt the ending with Fatu & Owen dragged out longer than it needed to, but it was a nice set up to get Owen going for the PPV. The match dragged at times, but all in all, it was a ROYAL RUMBLE for crying out loud! I’ll go **3/4 because it was just below par of what I’d want from a Rumble, but I took into consideration that this was a house show and they had a different level of talent to work with. For what they had it was fine, and things like the Shawn/Razor angle, and Bret & Samu cheering on their partners only enhanced the match.)

THE FINAL AUDIT

For a Rumble, this wasn’t the best by any standards, though it was still better than a couple of the PPV Rumbles I’ve seen. But, for a house show, this was more than you could ask for. The fans got to see 3 title matches, one of which featured a title change, Borga vs. Steiner in a short but stiff fight, and then a Royal Rumble. Not many people can say they were treated to all of this on a house show. Actually, nobody can say this except those who were in attendance for this card.

For a house show I’d have to go and give this thing an 8 out of 10, but as an event based on match quality I’ll take it down to a 6 (only one match reached ***). We’ll meet somewhere in the middle and I’ll give this show a 6.5, that’s a “C” grade and a MILD Recommendation. Based on the rarity of it all, the Rumble, and the Tag Title match, I still recommend checking out portions of the show. GOOGLE IT…

You can also always shoot me an email at crazymaxaudit@gmail.com or make a request right here in the comments section. I entertain all requests. Until next time, this is the REAL I.R.S. saying catchya later, tax cheats!

The Audit: The 1991 Royal Rumble Review

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This review was originally posted on January 28, 2017

The Audit man returns one more time for yet another Royal Rumble review. I know, you thought I was burned out after that last book I wrote called Royal Rumble 1990, but I’ve managed to get another little gem done. I still have to add some images into this review, but I wanted to make sure it made the deadline. So enjoy reading now, and I’ll be adding pictures in the next few days.

Continuing down the road in chronological order the next Rumble up on deck is the 1991 edition of the event. Let’s get to it.

 

THE 1991 ROYAL RUMBLE!

It’s Rumble time again. It’s the final Rumble before the World Title / WrestleMania stips were starting to be added.

The full card is listed below.

* The 30 Man Royal Rumble Match
* WWF Champion The Ultimate Warrior vs. Sgt. Slaughter
* The Rockers vs. The (new) Orient Express
* The Big Boss Man vs. The Barbarian
* Dusty & Dustin Rhodes vs. Ted DiBiase & Virgil
* The Mountie vs. Koko B. Ware

And now ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, the 1991 Royal Rumble, the LIVE edition!

 

The Preshow…

– And it’s Sean Mooney hosting once again from the old “Event Center” room.

– A run down of the card. Warrior defends the title against Sgt. Slaughter, front and center. Slaughter is eeeeee-vil.

– It’s time to hype the Rhodes/DiBiase feud. The Brother Love Show is shown with Dustin Rhodes as his guest. This leads to DiBiase and Virgil beating down young Dustin. Kerry Von Erich would actually make the save to sort of set up a future Tornado/DiBiase feud, but it fizzled out fast and they made sure to edit it out of the video here. This is followed by video clips of the recent DiBiase promos that hinted at Virgil’s turn. This portion ends with a Dusty and Dustin promo.

– Boss Man vs. Barbarian hype. Replays of several of Bobby Heenan’s jokes about Boss Man’s mother are shown. Also shown is Boss Man handcuffing Bobby to the guard rail during an episode of Superstars. This is followed by a forced apology Heenan had to make about his comments and behavior. BUT the cameras keep rolling and we see Heenan laugh off his apology afterwards. This storyline shouldn’t even have gotten over but Bobby Heenan got this shit over like gold. I loved it then, and still laugh at it now. Barbarian/Heenan and Boss Man promos follow.

– Now it’s time to talk the Rumble match. Mooney runs down the participants and we get random promos from Hulk Hogan, Mr. Perfect, Earthquake, Undertaker, Demolition Smash, Jim Duggan, The Model, LOD Hawk, Jake Roberts, and the Macho King. I told you it was random.

The Rumble Countdown ends 2:30 early and we get to listen to the awesome Rumble music we’d all come to know and love over the next several years.

(Trivia note: Jerry Sags of the Nasty Boys defeated Sam Houston in a dark match prior to the event. Sags was given this spot while Knobbs would replace Honky Tonk Man in the actual Rumble match.)

 

The Event…

The U.S. is in the middle of their turmoil with Iraq, and Vince is taking every advantage that he can of the situation. The patriotic McMahon has the Rumble event open with a video of the U.S. flag waving in the air along with an instrumental version of the Star Spangled Banner playing for the crowd. Once that’s over with……

IIIIIIIIIT’S TIME TO RUMBLE!!!

We get an opening Rumble video with Vince announcing the 30 participants. This is where we learn that Knobbs has replaced the Honky Tonk Man, and Tito Santana gets Andre’s spot. Let that soak in. Vince also runs down the undercard (no mention of the Mountie/Koko) match.

And now, it’s time for the Royal Rumble!

It’s January 19th, 1991 and we’re live from Miami, Florida and the Miami Arena. So we move from the Orlando Arena in 1990 to the Miami Arena in 1991. Big jump.

Your announcers are Gorilla Monsoon & “Rowdy” Roddy Piper. This is post Jesse Ventura and just short of Bobby Heenan taking over the PPV color commentary spot. This isn’t Piper’s last PPV on commentary, but it’s his last as a two man team. They hype the show as a GONG blares in the background, signaling the start of the show. The gong is not for the Undertaker, but for the Orient Express. Ah, so!

 

(Rockers vs. Orients notes going in: Akio Sato had recently left as an active competitor following Survivor Series ’90 and he was replaced in the Orient Express team by Canadian Paul Diamond, hence the mask. Diamond would be renamed “Kato”. For those who only follow WWF/WWE history, Tanaka and Diamond had a solid run as a tag team named “Badd Company” in the late 80’s in both Memphis and the AWA. Further, Badd Company would have many great matches against the Rockers in those companies, even defeating the Rockers for the AWA Tag Team Titles in 1988 shortly before the Rockers came to the WWF. Fast forward a few years later and these two teams meet again under different circumstances. With years of knowing each other inside the ring you can expect a good match here. I haven’t watched this match in quite some time, but I can tell you to expect a spot fest with lots of writing.)

The Rockers vs. The (new) Orient Express (w/ Mr. Fuji)

As the Rockers hop up to the middle buckles to play to the crowd, Tanaka attacks Marty from behind and sends him tumbling over the top to the floor. The Express double team Shawn and land an insanely high backdrop. The Orients set up for their Thrust Kick / German Suplex finisher, but Marty breaks it up with a dropkick on Kato and a Superkick on Tanaka. Rockers with a double press slam on Tanaka and go up top for the double fist drop, but Kato pulls Tanaka to the floor. While the Orients are regrouping the Rockers nail stereo suicide dives. The crowd is loving the shit out of this, as am I.

Referee Joey Marella finally gets control of things and we get Kato and Marty in the ring. Marty works a side headlock and the two eventually wind up doing the Flair/Steamboat bridge up into a backslide spot for 2, which gets a huge reaction. Tanaka distracts Marty and Kato lands a cheap shot. Tanaka tags in as Kato comes off the ropes, Jannetty leap frogs Kato who runs into Tanaka, his own partner. Great comedy spot. The Rockers briefly work the arm of Tanaka as Shawn tags in. Tanaka winds up catching Michaels coming off the ropes with a spinning forearm smash which always looked bad ass. Another great comedy spot soon follows as the Orients almost run into each other a second time but put on the brakes. Shawn rams their heads together anyway. The timing of this spot has to be seen to be really appreciated.

Michaels busts out the high knee for a 2 count on Tanaka. Shawn locks in a sleeper but Kato lures Jannetty in, and while the ref gets Marty out of the ring, Kato comes off the middle rope into the back of Michaels. Tanaka takes Shawn down with a back leg sweep and chops him into the corner. Shawn exposes Tanaka’s size when he picks him up like a midget and tosses him into the corner. Shaw mounts Tanaka in the corner and begins to land right hands. Kato sneaks in from behind but Shawn catches Kato with a top rope MOONSAULT body press! Another four way ensues, the Orients whip the Rockers into each other but they turn things around and somehow wind up dropkicking the Express. The Orients bail to the floor, the Rockers fake them out with suicide dive attempts, the Express duck out of the way but in reality the Rockers are already on the top rope, TOP ROPE PLANCHAS by the Rockers to the floor! Damn, these guys are on the money tonight. F’n amazing.

Shawn with a delayed vertical suplex on Kato, Tanaka breaks the count. Michaels goes for a monkey flip in the corner on Kato, but Tanaka runs over and grabs Shawn by the head dropping him throat first across the top rope! Shawn is taking some awesome bumps. Kato distracts the ref while Tanaka holds Michaels down on the apron and Fuji cracks the cane across Shawn’s chest. Double team spot as Kato holds Shawn’s legs up while Michaels throat hangs across the top rope. Tanaka comes running and leap frogs Kato to come down hard on Michaels back. A great spot that very few have done right. Mr Fuji loves it, but Jannetty breaks the count. Tanaka applies the dreaded NERVE HOLD. I can hear Fuji now: “Make opponent suffah!!!”.

Shawn eventually breaks free but Kato sends him into the corner where Shawn flips upside down and falls to the apron where Tanaka is waiting with a thrust kick to the face which sends Shawn back flipping back into the ring on his face. Another fucking awesome series of bumps. Orient Express double clothesline turns Shawn inside out. Tanaka finally telegraphs a backdrop and Shawn gives him a face slam, but Kato knocks Marty off the apron to prevent a hot tag.

The Orients grab Kato’s karate belt and whip Shawn into the ropes. They try to clothesline Michaels with the belt, but Shawn ducks it and then comes back and DIVES ONTO THE BELT causing the Orients to slam into each other. Creative spot, great shit, and this crowd has been hot for the entire match. NOW we get the hot tag to Marty. Jannetty has slams and dropkicks and shit for both of the Express. Marty with a powerslam on Kato for 2. Marty spinning elbow but Tanaka breaks the cover.

All four men back involved. Marty with some kind of insane spinning counter shit as he winds up in a backslide position. That was pimp. Kato and Marty fight for the backslide, but Tanaka catches Marty in the face with a thrust kick and Kato wins the backslide battle but only gets 2. Michaels trips Kato from the floor and the Rockers land a double Superkick. Shawn goes to the top rope for the Rocket Launcher Splash, but Tanaka charges and nails Marty, which causes Shawn to fall off the top rope to the floor. Yowch.

The Orients double team Marty. Kato catapults a prone Marty into a knife edge chop from Tanaka. They set up the move to perform it again, but Michaels slides in and nails Tanaka in the gut. As Kato catapults Marty up this time, Jannetty leaps over the keeled over Tanaka and turns it into a sunset flip. Michaels also takes out Kato with a shot to the face and pins him down as Jannetty executes the move and gets the pin in 19:15. Another well timed spot to end the match. Again, has to be seen to really be appreciated.

Winners: The Rockers

(Post Match Thoughts: This proves that you don’t always need a storyline to have a great match in the ring. I try my best not to sit here and type a match move for move, hold for hold, but this was nonstop action from beginning to end. Outside of a few short rest holds to separate each group of spots, this match was fast, filled with great action, well-timed spots, creative double team maneuvers, Michaels selling was off the charts, this match is a gem. I knew it 26 years ago (wow, I’m old) when I saw it live and it still holds up today. The Orients were good here to keep up with the Rockers, and even more specifically Michaels, but the Rockers were off the charts. To know how good they really were all you have to do is watch this match. I’d say they were ahead of their time, but you really don’t see a team this good very often even today. The Orients really only ever got a chance to be competitive against the Rockers, though they’d get another opportunity to shine at Rumble 92 against the New Foundation. The Rockers would continue as a team for 1991, putting on another really good match at Mania VII with Haku & Barbarian. By this time next year, Marty would be getting the boot due to substance abuse issues, and Shawn Michaels would be starting his historied run as a singles competitor. Shows you how much things can change in one year. This is one of my most favorite tag team matches, not just of the “Hogan Era”, but probably ever. ****1/4)

 

(Warrior / Savage angle, Notes going in: The Warrior had spent the past ten months as the WWF Champion. Savage started making his plans known to come after the title back at the Survivor Series. Then, airing one day later on NBC’s “The Main Event”, Savage would attack the Warrior during a title defense against Ted DiBiase. While the Warrior would begin to focus on his title match with Sgt. Slaughter here at the Rumble, the Macho King would continue to make his intent known in interview form as he repeatedly stated he wanted a title shot and was coming for UW.)

– Sean Mooney is in the back with “Macho King” Randy Savage. The Macho King proclaims himself the #1 contender for the WWF Title and says he doesn’t care who wins the title tonight because he will win the title. Savage says he’s already gotten Slaughter’s word that the Sarge will give Macho the title shot, now all he needs is Warrior’s commitment. Silly me, I thought it was up to Jack Tunney, not the champion. Mooney wonders why Savage is so confident that Warrior will agree to the title shot. Savage says that Sensational Sherri is getting ready to “bait” the Warrior. Maybe you shouldn’t like, you know, TELL somebody you’re about to bait them before you actually do it? That’s just me.

Savage points to a TV monitor in the locker room which shows Sherri walking to the interview stage with Mean Gene along with her.

– Mean Gene Interview with Sensational Sherri. Sherri is less hookered up than usual, boo. Sherri explains to the fans what Macho has already explained, Slaughter has promised a title shot, now it’s Warriors turn. Sherri calls out UW. He isn’t biting so she says he isn’t brave, he isn’t honorable, he’s yellow and afraid of Savage. Warrior’s music finally hits and out comes the Warrior. Sherri goes face to face with UW, and asks him for the title shot for Savage. Warrior makes faces throughout as if he smells some rotten pussy.

Sherri then abruptly changes her approach. She begins hitting on the Warrior, unzipping his jacket, bragging about his chest and hair, rubbing on his shoulders. As Sherri continues to seduce the Warrior, she sneaks in a kiss. The Warrior wipes it off with his fingers but then sells it with a smile while Sherri claims it was the most wonderful thing that has ever happened to her. Sherri drops to her knees with her face at his cock begging him for a title shot. Warrior begins smelling his fingers and does the smelly rotten pussy face again. Jeeeeeze.

Sherri tells Warrior  “Just say yes to me, that’s all I want from you”. The Warrior continues to contemplate while he smells the stank. WARRIOR SPITS IT OUT. It’s too stanky! Warrior trembles as he shouts a hearty, long “N-N-N-N-N-N-NNNNNNNOOOOOOOO” in Sherri’s face. Sherri screams in terror on her knees. Warrior beats his chest and leaves.

The camera cuts back to a fucking enraged Macho King in the locker room and he starts throwing shit. “HE SAID NO!”. Savage is fucking MADNESS right now. He tears off out of the dressing room and down the hall. For some reasons, Savage’s locker room comes out into the crowd? Macho comes running through the crowd out to the stage but the Warrior is long gone. Sherri is still screaming in rage on her knees. And while you’re down there….

– It looks like the WWE Network version might have edited something out here. Not sure what it was?

(Boss Man vs. Barbarian, notes going in: This entire situation started shortly after SummerSlam ’90. Bobby Heenan began telling “Boss Man’s Mother” jokes on Prime Time Wrestling and Wrestling Challenge. This would lead to the Boss Man getting pissed off and verbally warning Heenan, but the jokes continued. Boss Man would eventually make it on an episode of Superstars that Heenan just happened to be commentating on. Boss Man dragged Henan to ringside and handcuffed him to the railing for the duration of the show. This was all to set up a feud between Boss Man and the Heenan Family, specifically Rick Rude. However, Rude would abruptly leave the WWF in October of 1990 and Boss Man would subsequently begin working the rest of the Heenan family to get his hands on the Brain and eventually IC Champion Mr. Perfect. Haku had already been laid to rest by the Boss Man and now it was the Barbarian’s turn in line. I suspect BBM will find out the Barbarian is no pushover.)

The Big Boss Man vs. The Barbarian (w/ Bobby Heenan)

The bell sounds after Barbarian and Heenan bail the ring. Boss Man taunts them by holding up Barb’s fur cape. We finally get things started and Boss Man drills Barb with a big boot right at the start, Barbarian staggers and Boss Man drops him with a back elbow. Barbarian back to the floor and Boss Man unloads with sweet ass punches and sends Barbarian into the steps. Barbarian with a cheap shot as he reenters the ring, but Boss Man comes back with the CACTUS CLOTHESLINE and they both go out to the floor. Then Heenan gets a shot from BBM for good measure.

Barbarian takes over with a vertical suplex and a short arm clothesline. Boss Man gets his leg tied in the ropes and falls to the floor. Barb drives Boss Man into the steel post and Heenan takes some cheap shots. Back inside a backbreaker gets 2 on the Boss Man. Bear Hug time. Boss Man breaks out but Barb stays on him. Bear hug, redux. This time Boss Man breaks with a bite on the nose. hah. Barb catches a boot, but Boss Man turns it into an ENZUIGIRI! Boss Man slowly creeps over and gets a 2 count. BBM misses a splash in the corner and Barb rolls him up for 2. Barbarian comes flying at BBM, but Boss Man catches him in mid-air and turns it into a STUN GUN! 1……2…..Barbarian gets his hand on the bottom rope!

Barbarian comes off the top FLYING CLOTHESLINE! 1…2…Boss Man foot on the rope!

BOSS MAN SLAM! That’s it! 1…2… Barbarian gets the ropes again!

JUMPING PILEDRIVER by Barbarian. Barb goes back to the top rope. HIGH CROSS BODY from the 300 pounder! But the momentum carries Boss Man over on top. 1…2….3!

Boss Man picks up the duke in 14:15.

Winner: Big Boss Man

Bobby Heenan is gone as soon as he sees the three count. Boss Man will have to wait until another day to get his hands back on the Brain.

(Post Match Thoughts: Boss Man continues to mow through the Heenan Family, leading to the blow-off at WrestleMania VII against lead Heenan Family member and IC Champion Mr. Perfect. This was a very solid match. Boss Man busted out some nice moves and I’ve always felt that the Barbarian was underrated as a wrestler. Barb was extremely agile on top of his power. Some good back and forth stuff here, several near finishes, and the bear hug spots weren’t very long. The average person with a short attention span may skip a mid-card match between two big guys like this but I’d encourage you to watch this match if you have this PPV on play. This is a good ***  match)

Sean Mooney is standing by with Sgt. Slaughter and Gen. Adnan. Adnan speaks Iraqi. Slaughter’s chin protrudes. Sean Mooney is puke and we’re all maggots. Slaughter is taking the title from the Ultimate Puke. The Sarge has integrity and he will be our new leader. And that’s….. an order. Dissssmissed.

And now Mean Gene is with WWF Champion The Ultimate Warrior. Warrior is rocking red, white, and blue gear tonight. Proving once and for all that Parts Unknown IS located in the States. USA USA USA. The Warriors will never look up to Slaughter, Warrior will be the Ultimate victor.

(Warrior vs. Slaughter, notes going in: Back in the summer of 1990 Slaughter came returned, guns a’blazing. Literally. He proclaimed America to be weak in making friends with countries and people we should be at war with. Slaughter was disgusted with the fans accepting Russian Nikolai Volkoff as an American citizen. After disposing of Volkoff at the Survivor Series, and having some battles with Jim Duggan, Slaughter would turn his attention towards the WWF Championship. There’s no better way to take over America and do President Saddam Hussein proud than to bring the World Championship back to Slaughter’s new homeland of Iraq. In the recent weeks Slaughter went from alluding collusion with Iraq to presenting brand new wrestling boots (curl toed) that he claimed to receive from Saddan Hussein to garner more heat. This character had gotten so much heat at this point both by Americans and Arab-Americans, the WWF was forced to insert a “Special Bulletin” into the January 19th episode of Superstars (the morning of this Rumble event). They had figurehead WWF President Jack Tunney go on TV and proclaim that Slaughter’s actions were the views of Slaughter and Adnan alone, and did not reflect the views of any other Arabs or Arab-Americans, nor anyone else within the WWF. I guess writing the segments doesn’t count. Cover that ass, Vince.)

WWF Champion The Ultimate Warrior vs. Sgt. Slaughter (w/Gen. Adnan)

Warrior hits the ring fast, Adnan and Slaughter try to clothesline Warrior with the flag pole, but Warrior ducks and hits a double clothesline. Warrior sends both men out of the ring and Adnan goes retreating to the back in shame for some reason. Warrior rips up the Iraqi flag and starts ramming it down Sarge’s throat. UW chokes Slaughter with the flag and referee Earl Hebner ain’t doing shit. Slaughter takes his patented chest bump into the corner and flies out of the ring.

Sensational Sherri then makes her way down. Warrior starts going into his finishing clotheslines when Sherri grabs his ankle. Warrior begins chasing up the aisle when MACHO KING attacks out of the shadows! Savage mauls over Warrior and smashes a lighting rig on top of him. The referee misses all of this. Warrior begins crawling back to the ring, Slaughter keeps breaking the ref’s count because he wants to win the title. Makes sense.

Now Slaughter takes over, lots of stomping and punching, a backbreaker gets 2. The wind up both down from a double clothesline. Slaughter hooks a bear hug which is just silly. I might buy the GI Joe cartoon roided out Sgt. Slaughter using a bear hug, but not fat, shitty, bald early 90’s WWF Slaughter — especially on someone built like the Warrior. UW eventually escapes but Slaughter continues to work over his back. Another backbreaker, and then Slaughter applies the CAMEL CLUTCH with Warrior’s legs hanging out of the ring. Somehow the ref doesn’t see Warrior’s ass and legs completely sticking out under the ropes even though he was watching the hold be applied. Sam goes for Slaughter. King of a shitty way to cause a break.

Anyway, the hold is broken, Slaughter thinks he’s won’. The ref informs him Warrior was under the ropes. How Sarge didn’t see that I’ll never know. Warrior starts to “WARRIOR UP”. Clothesline to Sarge. UW calls for the press but Sherri comes running back down! That bitch. Warrior grabs Sherri by the tits and puss he smelled earlier. Randy Savage comes running down to ringside, Warrior presses Sherri out of the ring onto Macho at ringside! Savage gets hit in the face by Sherri’s goods. F’n awesome.

With Warrior distracted, Slaughter drives a knee into his back and Warrior falls to his knees. With UW’s head hanging over the middle rope, Savage picks himself up and BUSTS the scepter of Warriors head, breaking the glass over UW’s skull. Warrior goes down, Slaughter drop an elbow at 12:47, and the rest is history.

Winner: And Newwwww WWF Champion, Sgt. Slaughter

Warrior rolls out of the ring and shakes off the cobwebs. Warrior begins running to the back in search of the Macho King, not even giving a shit HE JUST LOST THE TITLE. Slaughter is announced the new champion. The crowd is in disbelief as was I at the time. Talk about taking advantage of the current world issues.

(Post Match Thoughts: By way of a match, there wasn’t much here. The dog and pony show put on throughout the match masqueraded both men’s weaknesses and Slaughter was solid in his parts. The Warrior came in like a rocket ship and the opening offense had the crowd on fire. I hate to say it, but the title match felt like a backdrop to get the belt on Slaughter and get the Warrior / Savage feud heated up. The match wasn’t awful because they kept it short and basically went from one segment of the match to the next without all the crap in between. Might be the first WWF title change that was more about the storylines than the quality of the match itself. Still, they were wise to put this on early enough in the show to give the fans the time to process the title switch. *1/2)

 

– WrestleMania VII is coming. The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, over 100,000 fans! California, HERE WE COME! Keep dreaming, Vince. Maybe you’ll crack 100,000 fans in 25 years. 😉

 

(Koko vs. Mountie, Notes Going In: This is Jacques Rougeau’s in ring debut on TV as the Mountie character. Vignettes had started several weeks earlier with the Mountie hyping his debut and this match was an added attraction as part of the PPV, and not advertised in the opening video run down of the card. I do recall this match was announced in passing just once on a “Royal Rumble Report” and then never hyped or mentioned again. So while this match was thrown on the show out of nowhere, there was a small mention of it at one point on TV.)

The Mountie vs. “Birdman” Koko B. Ware

Koko tries to work the arm early on but the Mountie takes over with a long beat down. Highlights include Mountie hitting Koko with the shock stick, Jimmy Hart talking to Frankie the bird, and Mountie trying to use weird moves he pulled out of his ass that looked anywhere from bad to dangerous. Crowd is pretty dead throughout this match. Koko counters a piledriver attempt with a backdrop. Koko makes the comeback, dropkick off the top on Mountie but Jimmy Hart distracts the ref. Ware with a near fall but soon after falls to that shitty ass Carotid Control Technique (a fucking nerve hold) in 9:12. How the fuck do you drop someone running at you with a nerve hold to the traps?

Winner: The Mountie

(Post Match Thoughts: This match was entirely too long for what it was. I remember watching this match live and being pumped both because it was somewhat an added match, and also we got a debut on a PPV. When the match was edited out of Coliseum Video I went years without having seen this match. Now that I have, I realize it was no big loss. Maybe even a favor. This wasn’t good by any stretch. Even the usually fired up Koko seemed a little less enthused than usual. Finish came out of nowhere, and his finisher was a fucking nerve hold to the traps. Crowd was dead for most of the match, or taking a piss, or getting food, or beer, or whatever. I wish I had that luxury. The best part of the match was Jimmy Hart talking to Frankie. I won’t go DUD but not much higher. 1/4* BORING)

 

It must be intermission time in the arena because the interviews start rolling in.

Sean Mooney is with a pissed off “Macho King” Randy Savage. Macho is fucking going crazy. F-U WARRIOR, you got yours. Savage says he’s always been champ. Apparently the last two years don’t count. I’m not sure what Sherri is doing in this promo. Looks like she’s somewhere between being possessed and having an orgasm. Warrior comes banging on the door. He’s pissed off. Savage and Sherri go running off. I guess there’s two doors to the locker room?

 

Mean Gene interviews the new WWF Champion Sgt. Slaughter. He’s your new champion. We now have a champion we can respect, a champion that does what he says. IRAQ RULES. F THE USA. Sarge is the champ and that’s an order.

 

– Fans send their appreciation, thoughts, and prayers for the men and women overseas fighting in the Persian Gulf.

 

– Comments from some of the Rumble participants including Jake “The Snake” Roberts, The Earthquake & Jimmy Hart, Greg “The Hammer” Valentine, Texas Tornado, Legion of Doom, Undertaker & Brother Love, Hacksaw Duggan, “The Model”, Mr. Perfect & Heenan, Tugboat, and the British Bulldog. Bulldog’s promo: “30 men in the Royal Rumble, I’m glad I’m a Bulldog.” WTF? This would be the first, but not the last time the Bulldog would make an odd comment in a Rumble promo, because he’s “bizarre”.

For some reason, the Coliseum Video version has completely different promos from the original broadcast. The CV version promos are shot in locker rooms. The promos above are from the original broadcast.

 

Sean Mooney is with Ted DiBiase and Virgil. Ted is coming to teach the peasant Rhodes Family a final lesson. For no reason he brings up Virgil wiping cow shit off his boot. Virgil doesn’t look pleased. DiBiase says Virgil does anything he says for one reason… MONEY. BAHAHAHAHAHAHA. This promo focuses more on Virgil than the Rhodes family.

 

(The Rhodes Family vs. DiBiase/Virgil Notes Going in: Dusty’s feud with DiBiase started back in the summer of 1990 when Dusty’s manager Sapphire had been receiving luxurious gifts from a mysterious benefactor. The gift giver would reveal himself at SummerSlam ’90 as the Million Dollar Man. DiBiase had decided to purchase the services of Sapphire to prove to the American Dream that EVERYONE has a price. It broke Dusty’s heart and Sapphire was soon phased out. Enter Dusty’s son, Dustin Rhodes, at the October ’90 edition of Saturday Night’s Main Event. Dustin had purchased a ringside seat to watch his father battle the Macho King. During the match Ted DiBiase and Virgil came to ringside to purchase the entire row of front row seats. Every fan sold out to Ted DiBiase….. except Dustin Rhodes. This enraged DiBiase, and Ted and Virgil put a beating on young Dustin. This led to a match between “rookie” Dustin vs. DiBiase where if Dustin could last 10 minutes with Ted then he would win the match. Dustin would indeed last the entire 10 minutes, pissing DiBiase off further. This led to the second beat down on Dustin on the Brother Love Show, mentioned on the preshow countdown. All the while this is going on, the WWF had been teasing Virgil growing tired of DiBiase treating him like shit, more so recently than ever. DiBiase had also recently made Virgil wipe cow shit off his boots. This seemed to disgust Virgil, but hey you pay me a grand and I’ll wipe shit off your boots no problem. Anyway, they have played up dissension between DiBiase and Virgil to the point where Virgil almost left Ted until he was reminded he needed the money. There were comments made on TV by commentator Roddy Piper that he had had a private conversation with Virgil explaining to him that there comes a time where a man just has to take a stand. Let’s see how this all plays out.)

“American Dream” Dusty & Dustin Rhodes vs. “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase & Virgil

This is a pretty formulaic match. Nothing fancy. They tell the story early of Virgil not being a wrestler and this having his troubles in the ring. But he’s a bodyguard! Speaking of which, what bodyguard do you know that wipes shit off people? Or what bodyguard even has a job when they suck this badly at their job? Anyway, Virgil has his troubles early getting sent to the floor twice. DiBiase orders his servant to get back in the ring. Dustin isn’t polished yet but he does fine here. DiBiase eventually tags in to show Virgil how to get shit done, and he gets the better of young Dustin. Dustin fires back using some of his father’s patented offense and tags in the Dream. Dusty on the offense and locks in a sleeper on Ted. Virgil makes the save and forces the break.

Virgil and Dustin are back in and Dustin misses a charging knee in the corner. Dustin appears to have hurt his knee and the heels immediately go to work on it. They try some double teaming but Dustin ducks a clothesline and Virgil nails DiBiase instead. Oh shit! DiBiase is HOT! He’s pissed! DiBiase beats Virgil down like a bitch and flings him to the floor like a sack of shit. Damn.

Dusty comes after DiBiase and whips him around before missing a charge into the corner. DiBiase rolls Dusty up in a school boy and a hand full of tights to get the win in 9:57.

Winners: DiBiase & Virgil

After the match Dusty immediately gets up and doesn’t seem to give a shit about the match and goes to check on Dustin.

After the Rhodes family leaves the WWF ring for the final time together for a couple of decades, DiBiase has the microphone. Ted boasts about beating the Rhodes’ before turning his attention to Virgil, you know the guy he just beat the shit out of and flung to the floor like a turd. Virgil reenters the ring and DiBiase insists Virgil put the Million Dollar Title around Ted’s waist. Virgil seems reluctant. Piper is great on commentary here, stating that there comes a point where you have to stand up for yourself.

VIRGIL TOSSES THE TITLE ONTO THE MAT! The crowd loves it. DiBiase isn’t amused. In fact he’s pissed. Ted reminds Virgil of his poor family and poor mother. Virgil needs the money. He better pick the belt up and wrap it around Ted’s waist NOW. Virgil looks pissed but he slowly drops to one knee and picks up the belt. Piper is saddened by Virgil’s decision to obey DiBiase.

Ted turns away and comments “THAT’S RIGHT….HAHAHA…. THAT’S RIGHT. LIKE I ALWAYS SAID. EVERYBODY’S GOT A PRICE!”

Ted turns back to Virgil and WHAMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

Virgil blasts DiBiase with the Million Dollar Belt!

The crowd absolutely erupts and Piper goes insane with pride on commentary.

Virgil drops the title on the chest of the KO’d DiBiase and looks down at him disgust before leaving his own new man.

(Post Match Thoughts: The match – An anticlimactic finish to an adequate at best match. As I said above, nothing fancy. Dustin tried his best at the time, DiBiase did what he could do, Dusty seemed like he was just phoning it in, and Virgil was just terrible in the ring here. Luckily, the storyline at the end saved this entire segment. With everyone knowing this was Dusty and Dustin’s last night with the company [WCW had already started hyping Dusty’s return prior to the Rumble] the end of the match was hardly surprising. The stuff afterwards was money, pun intended. DiBiase played that heel character so well and everyone got behind the Virgil story. Roddy Piper did a great job getting it over on commentary. This angle would lead to the two men feuding for basically the entire year of 1991. I’ll give this entire thing ** but mostly for the angle.)

 

Mean Gene is standing by with Hulk Hogan. Typical Hogan promo. He seems confident he’s winning the Rumble, again. Hmmmm. Mean Gene is randomly informed that Sgt. Slaughter has “defaced” the American flag. Hogan’s pissed off now BROTHER. Hulk forgets his line and Saddam Hussein’s name and fucks up the promo. LMAO. Hogan finally remembers his lines as they’re closing the promo. They don’t seem as meaningful that way. lol. What an ass.

 

IT IS NOW TIME FOR THE ROYAL RUMBLE!!!

(Rumble Notes Going In: You know the drill, 30 men, every 2 minutes, friend against friend, foe against foe, only one winner. This is the final Rumble before the winner would become the New WWF Champion in 92 and thereafter would get a title shot at Mania. This is the last Rumble where theoretically ANYONE could win. Two names originally announced for this match that would not participate were Andre the Giant and the Honky Tonk Man. They had announced the cancellation of Andre several weeks earlier due to a “leg injury in Japan”, so his disappearance from the match was announced in advance. Honky Tonk Man was replaced last minute by Nasty Boy Knobbs. While Honky had stopped working in the ring after Survivor Series ’90, he’d join McMahon and Piper soon after as a third announcer on Superstars. Honky’s last TV appearance was actually the morning of the Rumble show as a color commentator on “Superstars” which had been taped several weeks earlier. Honky had announced as late as the morning of the PPV that he’d be in the match, but in reality he had left the company after the prior TV tapings.)

THE ROYAL RUMBLE MATCH

#1 this year is again Bret “Hitman” Hart. Bret becomes the first wrestler to draw #1 twice, first in 1988, and now again here in 1991. #2 is “Canadian Strongman” Dino Bravo with Jimmy Hart by his side.

Vince loved him some Bravo. Bret on the offense early forcing Dino to take those uncomfortable bumps where it looks like he’s falling while trying to hold a turd in. Hart clothesline Bravo from behind and Dino hangs over the top rope. Bravo manages to take control. Lots of stomping. Bravo misses an elbow and Hart takes back over as #3 Greg “The Hammer” Valentine hits the ring. Hammer goes right after Bravo! Dino looks shocked and the two men begin trading shots. Valentine had turned face at Madison Square Garden a few weeks earlier but that hadn’t been common knowledge to many fans yet. Jimmy Hart is on the apron yelling at Valentine and Bravo attacks Greg from behind and works him over. Valentine comes back and eliminates Bravo.  Jimmy Hart jumps onto the apron but Greg knocks him off this time, putting an exclamation point on his face turn. Bret and Greg go at it until..

#4 Paul Roma (with Slick) hits the ring. Valentine and Roma take down Bret and then Roma immediately turns on the Hammer. It turns into a three way as all 3 men take turns beating on each other. #5 is “Texas Tornado” Kerry Von Erich who picks the pace of the match up. Tornado Punch on Roma! Tornado Punch on Valentine! #6 is “The Model” Rick Martel and he goes right after Bret. Paul Roma continues to go after everyone, heel and face. Bret and Tornado double team the Hammer. Bret almost has Martel eliminated but Roma puts a stop to it. The Model gloats and Roma attacks him as well. #7 Saba Simba waddles to the ring. Tornado almost eliminates Martel with an atomic drop. Roma doesn’t seem like he wants to sell for Simba. Roma ducks a Tornado Punch but gets the CLAW as #8 Bushwhacker Butch heads in. Butch marches around the ring for a while before anyone even touches him. lol. Martel and Saba Simba fall over the top rope together, but Martel lands on the apron and Simba is eliminated.

#9 is Jake “the Snake” Roberts and he comes right after the man who blinded him, the Model. Jake jabs Martel to death and nails a gubuster. Short clothesline! Fans calls for the DDT! Jake signals. But Martel rolls out of the ring. Jake chases Martel around and Roberts runs into the Hammer. REFEREE SHANE MCMAHON orders Martel to get back in the ring. Jake bites the Model’s hands to get him to let go of the ropes and be eliminated but Rick still hangs on once again. #10 is HERCULES and now we have both members of Power & Glory in the ring together. Martel ties Jake up in the ropes. #11 is Tito Santana and we have 9 guys in the ring. Wait, I take that back, Roma misses a lunge at Jake and the Glory of Paul Roma is eliminated. Just like old times Tito goes right after the Model, Tito’s last relevant feud. Tornado with the CLAW on Jake.

#12 is The Undertaker (with Brother Love). Taker’s still rocking the no sleeve look here. Taker picks Bret up in a choke and Undertaker dumps the Hitman from the match. Tornado punch on Taker, but he only rocks back. Taker chokes Tornado down. #13 is “Superfly” Jimmy Snuka. Undertaker tosses Butch out next. Taker claws at Valentine’s face drawing Piper to remark “a handful of boogers”. Valentine rocks Taker with a big elbow. #14 “British Bulldog” Davey Boy Smith rushes to the ring. Jake and Bulldog take turns atomic dropping Martel. Taker continues to dominate. Snuka rocks Taker with some headbutts. Out comes #15 Demolition Smash. I think we have 11 guys in there right now. Bulldog runs Smash over with a clothesline. Rick Martel tries to hide outside the ring again and this time Martel pulls Jake Roberts out from the apron. #16 is Hawk from LOD. Hawk starts hitting EVERYONE in the ring and then all the heels gang up on Hawk to settle him down. Tito mounts Taker in the corner for punches. Hawk sends Taker to the corner but runs into a boot.

#17 is Shane Douglas. As Douglas hits the ring we have a couple of eliminations. Undertaker ducks a Tornado punch and eliminates Kerry Von Erich. And immediately following that, LOD Hawk then sends out the Superfly. Smash very audibly threatens to break someone’s stinkin’ neck. Up next is #18, and it’s???? It’s???? It’s??? Nobody comes out??? Well, actually you see the boot of LOD Animal start to come out but he clearly wasn’t next so he never fully came out. Piper and Gorilla question the whereabouts of #18. NOW here comes #19 Animal of LOD. Gorilla informs us that #18 has forfeited their spot in the lineup and is eliminated. LOD start double teaming the Undertaker! Taker grabs them both in chokes. LOD break the chokes and eliminate the Undertaker with a double clothesline. And while they celebrate both LOD are attacked. Smash attacks Animal, while Martel and Hercules double clothesline Hawk from behind and eliminate Hawk from the match.

#20 is Demolition Crush. The Demos go right to work on the Bulldog and hit him with a double clothesline. Bulldog with a shitty looking neckbreaker on Smash. Piper says Martel should model “Endurance” over Arrogance as both he and the Hammer have been in there quite a while. #21 is “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan. Duggan goes to work on Smash. The Model comes off the middle rope but is caught by Animal in a bear hug. #22 is Earthquake. Animal and Quake begin to hammer on each other. Animal rocks Quake back to the ropes with a pair of clothesline. Quake ducks a third one and eliminates Animal. #23 is Mr. Perfect with Bobby Heenan. Perfect takes his time getting to the ring. Perfect immediately starts bumping like a madman for Hacksaw. Duggan charges at Perfect and Hennig backdrops Duggan out.

Here comes #24, and it’s HULK HOGAN. A kid actually screams his name a second before he comes running out. Hogan with a big boot on Smash, and Hulk sends Smash out. Hogan goes after Quake but the other heels attack Hogan. Quake takes over on Hulk, who still has his shirt on. Bulldog and Perfect slug at it in a corner. #25 is Haku. As Haku enters, Hogan tosses out Greg Valentine. Valentine was in there around 45 minutes, but with his elimination Rick Martel is the new iron man. Quake goes after Perfect which could be fun, but Haku makes the save for his Family member. Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart is #26. Earthquake dumps Tito Santana. Some heels gang up on Hogan to no avail. Oh here comes trouble now, #27 is Bushwhacker Luke. Yes, this is the infamous match where Luke “Whacks his way in, and Whacks his way out” in 4.8 seconds. Luke comes marching into the ring, Quake dumps Luke out the other side, and he just keeps marching to the back. Crowd enjoyed it. So stupid it’s funny.

#28 is Brian Knobbs (subbing for a fire Honky Tonk). Knobbs comes in swinging on everyone, and all the heels gang up on Knobbs for being an ass. Wouldn’t be the last time. Piper and Gorilla discuss who could have been #18, they know Savage and Tugboat are remaining names. Perect goes after Hogan. Knobbs backdrops Hercules out. Slick’s guys are gone. Oh no they’re not either. #29 is the Warlord! Now we know #18 was either Tugboat or Randy Savage. Crush mounts Hogan in the corner, but Hulk dumps Crush out. Hulk ducks a Warlord clothesline, and Hogan clotheslines the Warlord out. #30 is Tugboat. Tugger goes right after Quake. Anvil almost eliminates Perfect. We now learn #18 was Randy Savage, who apparently left the building while running away from the Warrior. Knobbs eliminates Shane Douglas, who was quiet but had a long stint in the match. Anvil flattens Perfect and Quake walks across his chest. TUGBOAT WORKS OVER HULK HOGAN IN THE CORNER! Tugboat dumps Hogan out, but Hulk lands on the apron! Tugger thinks Hogan is out but Hogan comes back in and dumps Tugboat from behind. IT’S EVERY MAN FOR HIMSELF DAMMIT!

Bulldog catches Mr. Perfect on the top rope and crotches him. Standing dropkick from Bulldog knocks Hennig off the top rope and out of the match! Shortly after that, the Model eliminates Jim Neidhart. Then the Bulldog backdrops Haku out. Now Rick Martel goes to the top rope and he too gets crotches by Davey Boy! Smith clotheslines Martel off the top and out of the match. The final four are Bulldog, Hogan, Quake and Knobbs. An odd group. Quake and Knobbs work over and eliminate Davey Boy Smith in quick fashion.

Now the heels go after Hoga. Earthquake buttdrop! Hogan is dead. No, wait. HE’S HULKING UP! Double clothesline on the heels. Big Boot eliminates Knobbs. Down to two. Hogan nails Jimmy Hart. Hulk tries to slam Quake but the weight is too much and Hogan falls with Quaker on top. Big elbow drops from Earthquake. Big powerslam by Quake. Quake pretends to cover? Why the fuck would you do that???? Oh, I see. So Hogan can HULK UP AGAIN. It’s FULL BLOWN HULK UP. He no sells the blows, he does the point, three big right hands, the big boot, THE SLAM CONNECTS THIS TIME, with ease. Quake staggers to his feet and is Quake is clotheslined out from behind after 1:05:17.

#HoganMustPose , with the American flag this time. Because, USA.

Winner: Hulk Hogan, again, brother.

(Post Match Thoughts: While there was nothing “wrong” with the match, it just seemed like there was no real thought put into the story telling this year. After 89 had the big Hogan/Savage showdown and the Jake/Andre segment, and DiBiase buying #30. Then in 1990 the entire damn match was one angle after another. They regress here on story telling in the match as this was more of just a basic Battle Royal feel with no real stories being told throughout the match. Rick Martel becomes the new iron man of the Rumble, going over 52 minutes and beating DiBiase’s record by more than 7 minutes. Hogan plays the monster here, throwing out a good 7 people. We did get to see Valentine do the face turn, Jake try to get at Martel, things like that. And we did witness the first Rumble no show (Savage), though I’m not sure that’s a good thing as when this first happened I felt gypped that one of the main stars involved skipped out. I think one of the reasons this one had no big angles or spots was because it stayed pretty full throughout, they never weeded down the field to give anyone room to do anything or show much. Nothing in this Rumble really effected anything heading out of the PPV. That said, there was nothing really wrong with the wrestling itself it was just very… ordinary. Nothing really sticks out. And while anyone could have technically won this thing, they throw it to Hogan again to send the mass fans home happy because #HoganMustPose. Honestly, after the Warrior loss earlier this was probably the only way they could salvage the show as far as making the fans happy. Hogan wins his second Rumble in a row, and wins here in order to give him the momentum going into WrestleMania VII where he would challenge Sgt. Slaughter for the belt, oh yeah and save America from Iraq and shit. The match gets *** on the Rumble Meter)

 

THE FINAL AUDIT

This particular Rumble was the reverse of the Rumbles before it. In prior years, the Rumble match was relied upon to sell the show and the undercard seemed thrown together as an afterthought. In this instance it seemed like they spent a lot of time using the undercard matches to put on solid action and set things up heading into WrestleMania, and the Rumble match was more or less just “there”. We saw the send off of the Rhodes Family, and the starts of the DiBiase/Virgil feud. We saw the Boss Man lay out the next Heenan Family member on his way to top star Mr. Perfect. We also saw the first WWF Heavyweight Title change on a PPV not called WrestleMania. The Slaughter/Hogan and Warrior/Savage double main event for Mania VII is set up. And while it wasn’t all that good, we did see the debut of the Mountie character who would go on to be IC Champion at this time next year. All of that PLUS the 4+ star classic between the Rockers and Orient Express. Lots of good to decent stuff throughout the show. Again, nothing was wrong with the Rumble match but it just felt lackluster after watching everything going on in the 1990 version, and even 1989 for that matter. At the end of the day there’s a lot of stuff worth watching here. The Rockers/Orients match is MUST SEE, the Barbarian/Boss Man match is decent, then you have the surprise title switch, the Savage/Warrior stuff, the Virgil turn, and the Rumble match which was just OK.

This is the first Rumble PPV where the undercard really boosts the show as a whole. While I’d rank this Rumble match a little lower than some others because of it’s underwhelming story telling and weaker crowd interest, you really can’t deny this show as a whole. On a scale of 1-10, I’m comfortable giving this a 7, which loosely falls in the B- range. While not the most explosive Rumble match, Royal Rumble ’91 the PPV passes the Audit.

The Audit: The 1990 Royal Rumble Review

1

Editor’s Note: This review was originally posted January 16, 2017.

It’s Audit time once again as the I.R.S. man continues the trip down memory lane this Rumble season. After all the positive feedback from the 1988 Rumble Review, and the 1989 Rumble review, we move ahead as I review the 1990 WWF Royal Rumble.

THE 1990 ROYAL RUMBLE!

It’s the third annual Royal Rumble (second annual on PPV). We’re still a few years away from the Rumble match having the ‘Mania Main Event’ stip added so for all intents and purposes ANYONE could potentially win this one.

The full card is listed below.

* The 30 Man Royal Rumble Match
* Hacksaw Duggan vs. The Big Boss Man
* Ronnie Garvin vs. Greg Valentine – Submission Match
* Brutus Beefcake vs. The Genius
* The Bushwhackers vs. The Rougeaus
* The Brother Love Show with Sapphire & Sensational Sherri

And now ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, the 1990 Royal Rumble, the LIVE edition!

 

The Preshow…

– And it’s Sean Mooney hosting from the old “Event Center” with all the TV’s in the background. Right out of the gate Sean runs down the Rumble participants and the entire card. Oddly, Mooney only lists 25 of the participants in the Rumble match. Noticeably absent are Dusty Rhodes and the Powers of Pain, also missing are Tito Santana and the Window Maker (to be replaced by the Red Rooster) are missing.

– After running down the entire card we’re shown promos from pretty much everyone on the undercard. Boss Man, Duggan, the Genius, Beefcake, Garvin, Valentine, the Bushwhackers, Rougeaus, and Brother Love.

– Rumble promos follow with the Warrior, Macho King, Piper, Honky Tonk, the Colossal Connection, Bad News, Superfly, Koko, The Model, Bret Hart, the Rockers, Rick Rude, Hercules, Mr. Perfect, Demolition, Jake the Snake, The Anvil, the Powers of Pain, Dusty, Tito, Earthquake, Bravo, DiBiase, and Hulk Hogan. That’s 28 of the 30 man field. Pretty bad ass. Again, noticeably absent is Barry Windham who would be replaced by the Rooster. Also not in the promos is Akeem for whatever reason.

– Sean Mooney does the final hard sell to CALL YOUR LOCAL CABLE COMPANY AND ORDER NOW! And believe me if you waited until the last minute to order you were pretty much screwed on watching it live. The Rumble countdown ends 8 MINUTES EARLY. Since the majority of the undercard was just slapped together with no back story I can understand why there were just promos shown to build them. But why not at least use a few minutes to show the Valentine/Garvin story? I guess I wouldn’t have minded staring blankly at a Royal Rumble logo for 8 minutes if it had included the well known Rumble theme from 91-94 (also known as the SSlam theme from 88-89), but instead we’re treated to some generic shit music.

(Trivia note: Paul Roma would defeat the Brooklyn Brawler in a dark match prior to the event. They would repeat this dark match once again at WrestleMania VI a couple of months later.)

 

The Event…

Just like 1989, the PPV opens with a video displaying the 30 men involved in the Royal Rumble match as Vince announces the participants. During this opening video Barry Windham has been replaced by the Red Rooster in the Rumble match. One of my favorite opening videos ever. It’s simple, but exciting. After the Rumble stars are announced Vince continues on and run downs the rest of the card. Pretty cool shit. Get ready to Rumble, get ready for the ROYAL Rumble.

It’s January 21st, 1990 and we’re live from Orlando, Florida and the Orlando Arena which had just opened a year earlier. Your announcers here are Tony Schiavone & Jesse “The Body” Ventura. Tony’s looking svelte here. Jesse is hard selling Disney World, even wearing a Mickey Mouse hat AND shirt. Jesse even brings Tony a ‘Goofy’ hat but Tony isn’t having any of it. I’m betting he did this as a way to get into Disney for free. Politicians, hmph.

This would be the second (and last) PPV Tony and Jesse would work together on, the first being SummerSlam ’89.  After a little banter from the announcers the Rougeaus music hits and we’re off to the ring for the opening bout.

(Rougeaus vs. Whackers, notes going in: The Rougeaus opening a second Rumble in a row. Vince had faith that they could get it done. What a great underrated heel team they were. Their opponents here are the Bushwhackers. The less said about them the better. I loved the Sheepherders, but the Whackers? Not so much. They were over though, I’ll give them that. And in small doses on PPV they were okay. There’s no reason back story here, these guys have loosely been facing each other for the better part of a year. Starting with Mania V, this will now be the 3rd out of the last 4 PPV’s that these two teams have met. If nothing else, they should have their comedic timing down by now.)

The Bushwhackers (Luke & Butch) vs. The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers (w/Jimmy Hart)

Jacques is sporting a full beard here. A new look for the future Mountie. Tony questions the Rougeaus move to the States. Jesse points out most of America is immigrants. Comedy ensues. Rougeaus try a cheap shot on Butch but Luke chases Jacques out of the ring. Butch breaks a sleeper from Raymond and bites both Ray AND referee Joey Marella on the ass. That’s a DQ right there. How the F**k do you bite a ref on the ass and not get disqualified? Is this midget wrestling? Ray powders out, Whackers go for the Battering Ram on Jacques but he bails too.  Luke and Jacques tag in. Biting and dick shots by Luke. Jacques ducks a clothesline but Luke hits Ray on the apron. Then Butch runs in and hits Jacques. The crowd is hot for the comedy.

Jacques dares Luke to attack from behind and while Luke is confused (which isn’t hard to believe), Ray attacks Luke from behind. The Rougeaus take over in their corner. Lots of heel team work on Luke and Jacques knocks Butch off the apron to prevent a potential hot tag. Jacques nips up for no apparent reason other than to show he can. He sure wouldn’t be doing that as the Mountie. The Rougeaus drop Luke throat first across the top rope. Jacques applies an abdominal stretch while Ray lays in a karate kick to the rib cage of Luke. Jacques tries a splash but Luke gets his knees u and hot tags it to Butch.

As often would be the case back then, miraculously, Luke also immediately recovers following the hot tag. The Whackers go on the offense, whipping the Rougeaus into one another. They set up for the Battering Ram on Raymond but Jimmy Hart grabs Luke’s leg from the floor to prevent the move from happening. Butch clocks Ray anyway, while Luke drags Jimmy Hart into the ring. The Whackers go after Jimmy Hart but the Rougeau dropkick the Whackers into each other for a 2 count. Raymond applies a Boston Crab (or is that ‘Memphis’ Crab?) on Butch, Jacques starts to come off the ropes but he tripped up by Luke. Raymond goes to check on Jacques, the Brothers hug when BAM, the Whackers nails Jacques in the spine with the Battering Ram, sending Raymond out to the floor, and Jacques down for the count. 1-2-3 in 13:35.

Winners: The Bushwhackers

(Post Match Thoughts: Well, it was better than Mania V. This would be the Rougeaus swan song with the WWF as a tag team, though both would eventually return. Jacques would be back in one years time, debuting his Mountie gimmick at the 1991 Rumble PPV, and Raymond would return as an interviewer/announcer soon thereafter. This match was stretched out longer than it needed to be but it wasn’t the worst thing in the world. They made a wise choice positioning it first on the card while the crowd was guaranteed to be hot. They tried to work in as much “comedy” as they could, which is pretty much all the Whackers were good for during their WWF run. Jacques was also always a guy who liked to work comedy into the act though at times here it seemed like he was making a mockery of it since he was on the way out. I can’t call this match great, or even good, but it was okay. The kids love them some Whackers. The timing was good, the comedy was hit or miss, the Rougeaus heel work was solid as usual. Whenever you can get a Bushwhackers match above a dud rating you’ve done something right. This wasn’t offensive so I’ll go **1/4)

 

– We go to the back and Mean Gene is standing by with ‘Million Dollar Man’ Ted DiBiase and bodyguard Virgil. No shenanigans this year as precautions were taken to make sure no funny business went on when Teddy drew his number. Okerlund gets shitty with DiBiase and forces Ted’s hand. DiBiase hands his number to Gene and Okerlund announces that Ted has drawn the ‘worst number of the lot’. Ironically, the man who was #30 last year has drawn #1 this year. WHAT ARE THE ODDS OF THAT HAPPENING??? It’s almost as if this is scripted. What karma. DiBiase says Virgil drew it. Ted is pissed but says it doesn’t matter if he’s #1 or #30. He’ll be the first man in and the last man in because he’s the greatest wrestler in the world.

 

(The Barber vs. Genius, notes going in: Beefcake is coming off of a  a short lived ‘feud’ with the Model that really went nowhere fast. Bruti had cut up one of Martel’s modeling outfits for basically no reason. What an ass. You know what, the more I write about Beefcake the more I realize he really was like the brother of Hogan. They were both heelish assholes that somehow managed to be baby faces. On the other end of things, The Genius is riding high after a recent high profile victory over Hulk Hogan on Saturday Night’s Main Event. Granted, a count out victory, but ANY type of win over Hogan in those days was almost unheard of. Why is the manager of Mr. Perfect wrestling Hulk Hogan on NBC you might ask? Because Vince wanted to prove Hogan could sell out a show versus anyone. At least that’s the story Bruce Prichard gives. The Genius vs. Hogan match still goes down as one of the more entertaining matches of this era. No story going into this match, but that will change by the end of the bout. Stay tuned.)

And now, the Genius has a poem for us all…

I used to wear this tape out in my younger years. This is literally the only Lanny Poem I know by heart. So you’re subjected to reading it…

“Behold the Barber what’s his name, with scissors in his hands,
Intellectually inferior and totally outmans.

He wants to give me Genius hairdo unaesthetic augmentation,
So I can be the joke of this World Wrestling Federation.

All his cuttin’ and a struttin’ may be quick enough for some,
but I’m the World’s Smartest Man, and BEEFCAKE’S DOUBLE DUMB!”

Brutus ‘The Barber’ Beefcake vs. The Genius

Early on it’s all stalling and gay spots by the Genius. Poffo scoots his butt across the top turnbuckle to slide out of the ring, only to perform a cartwheel on the floor. The Genius picks up his gay mannerisms and shows off in the ring with a front handspring flip. Beefcake just mocks Poffo’s femininity. Beefcake FINALLY gets a hold of Poffo and lands an inverted atomic drop. I expected an awesome sell but got nothing. Instead the Genius tries to scoot his ass over the top buckle again but this time Beefcake crotches him. I expected Lanny to like it, but no dice. Bummer. Funny sell though.

The Genius finally goes on the offense…. very generic offense. Beefcake catches Genius coming off the ropes with a big punch to the gut. The Barber applies the sleeper but the Genius escapes quickly. Poffo grabs a headlock but Beefcake shoves him off and right into referee Earl Hebner who takes a bump through the ropes and all the way to the floor. Beefcake takes back over and locks on the SLEEPER. The Genius is out cold, but so is the ref. Brutus decides to go for his scissors.

Bruti grabs his cutters and begins clipping the hair off of Poffo. Usually he does it from the back, but here he just digs right in to the front of the Genius’ hair. What a dick.

Poffo’s friend Mr. Perfect has seen enough. Hennig comes rushing down to ringside and nails Beefcake with a Perfect Plex. Bam bitch. I don’t know what a Perfect Plex is supposed to do, but it’s Mr. Perfect so I’m okay with it.

With Brutus down Hennig grabs a padded chair out from under Tony Garea at ringside. Yes, a PADDED chair. Perfect wisely uses the edge of the chair rather than the broad side. The Genius holds Beefer while Perfect works over the ribs of the Barber with the chair. Oh the humanity of it all. The bell finally sounds to end this crap after 11:07.

Winner: A Double DQ

(Post Match Thoughts: Poffo’s mannerisms are just gold. After having watched the Hogan/Genius SNME match I expected more from this. I didn’t expect much by the way of wrestling with Brutus Beefcake involved, or a heel Lanny Poffo for that matter. But I was hoping for a dose of good old homosexual overtone entertainment. There were hints of it in there but it never really got off the ground as well as it did in the Hogan match. The Genius character was underrated and I wish they would have spotlighted it more. Hi-f’n-larious. This was nothing more than an angle to set up the Hennig vs. Beefcake match for WrestleMania VI and their planned feud for the summer. Typically, I’d call this a TV match, or an SNME type match, but they get away with putting it on the Rumble because the Rumble match sells the whole PPV. The undercard is just the appetizer. With the post match angle it gets *)

 

Sean Mooney is standing by with Bobby Heenan and his Family of Rick Rude, Andre the Giant, and Haku. Mooney immediately starts to cause dissension when he reminds them it’s every man for himself. Heenan corrects Sean that it’s every FAMILY for themself. Sean begins to raise issues between the members when he asks them what happens if it comes down to just the Family members. Man, Sean and Gene are being dicks tonight. The entire Heenan Family argues as they walk off camera.

 

– WrestleMania VI is coming to Toronto. Hellz yeah.

 

(Garvin vs. Valentine, notes going in: This is pretty much the only undercard match with a back story. Garvin and Valentine had started a rivalry that seemingly ended when Valentine defeated Garvin in a ‘Retirement’ Match in April of ’89. This would lead to Garvin becoming a WWF referee. After several physical encounters with many of the heels during their matches, Garvin was warned by WWF President Jack Tunney that he would be fired as referee if he attacked another wrestler. This led to both Dino Bravo and Valentine trying to coax Garvin into hitting them during matches to get him fired. Ultimately, at the July ’89 edition of Saturday Night’s Main Event Garvin would be pushed too far and he knocked out ‘The Hammer’ during a bout featuring Valentine vs. Superfly Snuka. This led to Jack Tunney suspending Garvin as a referee. However, Valentine would then protest to have Garvin reinstated as a wrestler so that he could exact revenge. His wish was granted. Garvin would return to active competition, but not before acting as Guest Ring Announcer at SummerSlam ’89 in a match pitting Valentine against Hercules. Garvin would announce Hercules as the winner via DQ even though Valentine had stolen a tainted victory. As much as this feud had been built up and featured on TV over the course of late spring and all of summer, it sort of laid dormant for the remainder of the year. Valentine had already been using a shin guard, which he referred to as the Hart Breaker, as a weapon for some time. Greg used this under the guise that it was protection for his shin, but in reality it was used as a weapon, additional leverage when applying his patented Figure Four leglock to cause intense pain and severe damage to his opponents. In December of ’89 things would pick back up when Garvin would debut his own shin guard which he dubbed ‘the Hammer Jammer’.  With Valentine using the Figure Four, and Garvin relying on the Scorpion Death Lock, a blow off match was signed for the Rumble where the winner would only get a victory by forcing their opponent into submission. That brings us to here.)

Submission Match: ‘Rugged’ Ronnie Garvin vs. Greg ‘The Hammer’ Valentine (w/Jimmy Hart)

The Fink goes over the rules. It’s pretty basic, there are no pinfalls, you have to make your opponent submit in order to win. Greg is stalling so Garvin attacks Valentine outside. Chops. Lots of stiff chops outside and inside the ring. OUCH. They trade chops but Garvin wins. Garvin lays in some NASTY STIFF shots and Valentine falls and bails outside. Back inside, the Hammer drops an elbow, Greg manages to take control and tries to cover but THERE ARE NO PINFALLS.

Valentine throws some jabs which just looks odd coming from him. They trade punches until Garvin sneaks in a head butt and both men go down. Valentine counters a piledriver and drops down on top but.. THERE ARE NO PINFALLS. Garvin turns it into a sunset flip but… THERE ARE NO PINFALLS!

Hammer lays in some hard chops and tries the Figure Four, but Garvin kicks Greg off into the corner and rolls him up BUT…. say it with me…. THERE ARE NO PINFALLS.

Valentine with a LOUD chop literally knocks Garvin off his feet, and the FIGURE FOUR is applied. As Valentine locks on his leglock he realizes Garvin is smiling. Rugged Ron even sticks his tongue out and mocks Valentine as he no sells the Figure Four. IT’S THE HAMMER JAMMER! Garvin’s ‘Hammer Jammer’ shinguard is protecting him from the hold. F-U VALENTINE!

Valentine releases the hold and Garvin cradles him but…… THERE ARE NO PINFALLS. The Hammer uncharacteristically applies the over the shoulder backbreaker looking for a submission, but he doesn’t lock his hands and eventually releases the hold. Garvin comes back with some sick f’n chops. F-ing EXPLOSION like chops to the chest of Valentine. Shit damn. Garvin now works the leg of the Hammer but Greg gets to the ropes and rolls outside once more. The fight goes outside and the two men trade some wicked nasty chops. Valentine counters a piledriver and backdrops Garvin on the floor and takes control. Back inside Garvin misses a very delayed and very fake dropkick into the corner and gets caught up in the tree of woe momentarily.

 

As the fight continues the two men end up cracking heads, and while they’re on the mat Jimmy Hart ends up removing the ‘Hammer Jammer’ protector from Garvin’s leg. Valentine nails a backbreaker and reapplies the Figure Four and this time Garvin is feeling the pain. Ronnie hangs on however and reverses the hold. Valentine has to grab the ropes to force a break. Hammer continues to work the leg, he cradles Garvin but…… man this is getting redundant…. THERE ARE NO PINFALLS. Greg throws some stiff forearm shots and climbs the ropes. Oh, this can’t end good. Greg Valentine on the top rope. Read that again – GREG VALENTINE ON THE TOP ROPE. Garvin slams Valentine off and now it’s Ronnie’s turn. Garvin removes the ‘Heart Breaker’ shin guard from Valentine’s leg. Now we’re back to even!

Valentine sneaks in a school boy but……. Ohhh, Gregory…….. THERE ARE NO PINFALLS. Stiff shots are traded back and forth, Garvin ducks a clothesline and BLASTS Valentine with the HAND OF STONE. Valentine staggers back into the ropes and gets tied up. Garvin picks up the Hammer’s shin guard to nail him with it but Jimmy Hart gets involved as a distraction. Boy did Jimmy Hart earn his money, this fucker is everywhere.

So while Hart is distracting Garvin, Valentine grabs the ‘Hammer Jammer’ shin guard that’s sitting on the apron. Valentine goes to level Garvin with the Hammer Jammer, but Garvin spins around and KO’s Valentine with the ‘Heart Breaker’ shin guard instead. Valentine takes the slow motion ‘timber’ fall backwards and Garvin applies the Scorpion Death Lock for the submission victory in 16:55.

Winner: Rugged Ronnie Garvin

Garvin hobbles off after being announced the winner, never to be used properly again.

(Post Match Thoughts: Garvin was thrust into this feud just a few months after arriving to the company. Valentine was on the decline in his career, as was Garvin for that matter, but these two together in the ring just worked. They beat the shit out of each other and enjoyed doing it. Where fans could have easily slept through a match like this, or went to the concession stands, their stiff work kept it lively and sure made the fans think twice about calling wrestling fake. They made this feel like a “Grudge Match”, which was the whole point. Garvin no selling the Figure Four by sticking out his tongue will always be embedded in my mind as a fond memory of my youth. They showed they could still go and you’d think that would boost their value. Instead, Garvin would become a glorified jobber and Valentine would immediately be teamed with Honky and his hair dyed black.

This was definitely not your typical “WWF style” match. Stiff, straight forward, and best yet (and most surprising) there really wasn’t any rest holds worked in to this lengthy match. Underrated match by my estimation. The only thing that kept this thing from being rated even higher was that the pinfall attempts just kept going on wayyy too late into the match and it hurt it a little. Once or twice makes sense, but it wore out it’s welcome long before they stopped doing the spots. ***1/4)

 

Mean Gene is standing by with Mr. Perfect. Gene wants to know what the Beefcake attack was all about. They replay Perfect’s chair attack on the Barber and Gene sells it huge. Perfect is sick of seeing Beefcake take advantage of people and cutting their hair. The Genius is his friend and he wasn’t letting Beefcake do that to his friend. You know what, that makes LEGIT total sense. That is a reasonable answer. Perfect was just defending his friend from a bully. F-U Beefcake. Back to the interview, Hennig announces that he has drawn ‘THE PERFECT NUMBER’, #30.

 

(Brother Love Notes Going In: There was no story here going in so you pretty much get an idea of where this is heading before it even begins.)

The Brother Love Show with Sensational Sherri & Sapphire

IIIIIII LOOOOOVE YOUUUUU. YEEESSSS. Brother Love looked up the definition of the word lady in the ‘Book of Love’. A woman with class, finesse, and exquisite beauty. Right next to the definition of lady was a picture of his guest… “Sister Queen Sensational Sherri”. So she was a Sister before Harlem Heat. Sherri is rocking out her tatas in a gold and black outfit for the event. Nice cleavage.

When scrolling through the Book of Love, Brother also came across the word peasant. Definition: A woman with no class, no finesse, a woman with no beauty SEMI-COLON UUUGLY. Sherri calls her overweight. Wanna guess the picture next to the definition? It’s Sapphire! Jesse calls her ‘tons of fun’ as she makes her way out.

Sherri rips on Sapphire’s clothes. If Dusty is a common man, that makes Sapphire a common woman, a peasant. Brother Love and Sherri rip on Dusty for being fat. Sherri says Dusty and Sapphire are the same size. Love won’t let Sapphire answer any of his questions, he keeps asking her questions and pulling the microphone away as she tries to respond. Sherri gets some heel heat to keep the crowd riled up throughout. Sherri says that Dusty drives a semi, and says he uses a forklift to put Sapphire in the back. Sapphire says she’s had enough and she slaps the shit out of Sherri!

“The Macho King” Randy Savage comes darting out to the ring and he corners Sapphire. Dusty Rhodes is immediately out to make the save but Savage attacks and knocks Dusty off the apron. Savage off the top with a double axe handle on Dusty to the floor. Sapphire jumps on the back of Savage!!! Brother Love rips Sapphire off Savage by her hair! Savage takes a couple shots and runs off with Sherri. Crowd is going nuts.

Brother Love grabs the microphone and starts to shit on Dusty. Big mistake! Dusty grabs Brother Love for a slam and then lets Sapphire slap the shit out of him. Rhodes then flings Brother Love through the ropes to the floor. Dusty and Sapphire celebrate by dancing, babay, if you weeell. Crowd eats this shit up, as do I.

(Post Segment Thoughts: This could have easily been done on TV as was the case for all other Brother Love Shows that ended with an angle. However, I was all for Brother Love getting a little PPV time. This was as good of a way as any to get the Savage/Dusty storyline going. This was actually probably the best way to get it going since the ladies were to be involved in the actual feud, so having them initiate it makes sense. Brother Love made a great third party foil here and on the house shows he worked with them. This would lead us into their mixed tag at Mania VI and their feud throughout the summer before Sapphire sold her soul to Ted DiBiase. The promo went on a little longer than it needed to but it was okay.)

 

Sean Mooney is with ‘Hacksaw’ Jim Duggan. Hooooooo. Hacksaw has a hard time pronouncing the word ‘approach’ before finally getting it right. Duggan says he can stand ‘eye to eye’ with his opponent the Boss Man. I find it funny Duggan said eye (singular) given his vision issues. Tough guy.

 

(Hacksaw vs. Boss Man Notes Going in: This was another thrown together match, nothing of substance going in, just two big burly guys looking for a fight.)

‘Hacksaw’ Jim Duggan vs. The Big Boss Man (w/ Slick)

This match starts off as a punch fest. Boss Man lands a corner splash. Duggan catches a boot but BOSS MAN BUSTS OUT AN ENZUIGIRI! Shit yeah. Boss Man does the leg drop to the back of the head of Duggan over the middle rope. Tony Schiavone wants to know why Boss Man needs to bring the nightstick. Ventura OWNS TONY and responds asking Tony why Duggan brings a 2×4. Schiavone gives some lame response. Slick chokes Duggan behind the ref’s back while Boss Man calls him CROOKED EYES. LMAO. Duggan starts to fight back but runs into a knee. After a short bearhug spot Duggan punches his way into control and clotheslines Boss Man over the top to the floor. Back in the ring Duggan mounts Boss Man in the corner and lands more punches. I think the only offense Duggan has done thus far is punch.

Duggan misses a charge into the corner. Boss Man comes off the top with a splash but also misses. The two men end up colliding in sloppy fashion and take shitty bumps. Slick gets up onto the apron to distract Duggan, but Hacksaw moves and Boss Man slams into his own manager. Slick drops the night stick and the Boss Man picks it right up. Slick attempts to distract the ref as Boss Man nails Duggan with the night stick, but referee Joey Marella sees a second shot with the foreign object and calls for the bell at 6:13.

Winner by DQ: ‘Hacksaw’ Jim Duggan

Hacksaw winds up grabbing his trusty 2×4 and blasts Boss Man with it after the match. Boss Man starts throwing chairs into the ring and Duggan takes a seat in one. Hoooooo

(Post Match Thoughts: Not much of anything to report here. As usual, Boss Man shows flashes of greatness here and continues to cut weight. Duggan did little more than throw punches any time he was given any offense. BBM would turn face at the TV Tapings two days later so this was the end of his heel run. Surprised they didn’t use this to maybe tease the coming face turn. Wise call to keep this one a fight rather than turn it into a typical wrestling match. It had it’s fun moments, there wasn’t many, but they were there. The crowd remained hot throughout, Duggan was still big time over. Match was **1/4)

 

– We’ve already heard from DiBiase, Perfect, and the Heenan Family. Now we hear pre-recorded comments from more of the WWF Superstars involved in the Royal Rumble match.

– Earthquake and Dino Bravo are ready to Rumble. Bravo wants a piece of Warrior, the Quaker wants a piece of everyone.

– The Demolition know each others numbers this year and they know they won’t have to fight just each other. They say it’s going to come down to the both of them. They threaten each other, Smash may have to kick Ax’s stinkin’ teeth in.

– Bad News Brown calls the fans ‘beer-bellied sharecroppers’ and the other Superstars ‘spineless cockroaches’. Brown is always a winner.

– Dusty Rhodes wants the Macho King something bad. He doesn’t care if Savage is in there when he gets there. He doesn’t care if he has to wait alllll day long. He brings Sapphire into the promo for no reason. If you weeeell.

– The COKED OUT Rockers are up next. Shawn says they KNOW they don’t have to fight each other. How the fuck would you know that? Even if one was #1 and one was #30 how can you say that? That’s not very optimistic. Marty Jannetty is equally unintentionally funny when he throws out a warning to Hogan and the Warrior. Negro Please.

– The Dyslexic Mighty Hercules will win the ‘RUMBLE ROYAL’.

– The Model shows off his profile. His face looks drenched in oil. Eww

– Tito Santana, comin’ out a winner. ARRIBA!

– The Superfly (RIP) proceeds to have one of the most ridiculous promos of all time. “Back in the islands, when we go fishin’ with them sharrrks. Royal Rumble. Woo Woo.”. Man that dude went on an acid trip in the 70’s and just NEVER came back… bruddah.

– Akeem gets a promo here but Slick does the talking. Akeem will win because of his size. Well, he has the best track record so far.

– Warriorrrrrrr. UW says there are 28 normal men. You must realize the 29th man is Hulk Hogan. Hogan has a different ‘force field’ than the others. Even still, that won’t stop Warrior from fulfilling his destinyyyyy. Snarl. Hiss.

– Intermission Time –

More Rumble interviews follow…

– Oooh Yeah! MACHO KING, F-U Dusty. Randy Savage is Royal Rumble ROYALTY. And he will win. DIG IT!

– Mr. Fuji drew his Powers of Pain’s numbers. Anything goes boy-san. Ah-so.

– Jake Roberts with a great promo. “It never ceases to amaze me, what the human mind can come up with”. He proceeds to explain the rules of the Rumble. Jake says drawing the last number doesn’t mean anything because there will still be a lot of hungry men still in the ring at that time. Jake says the winner won’t be the best RASSLER, the best athlete. It will be the man who will do anything, take that extra step, do a little bit more than everyone else, sacrifice more. “Now me? That sounds a lot like me!”. Jake promos rule.

– The Hart Foundation are next. Anvil goes ape shit crazy and Bret tells him to MELLLOWWWW OUT!!! The Pink and Black Attack is back. Nyah-hah baby.

– The Honky Tonk Man will play 29 hits tonight. Every 2 minutes a new tune. Hah, classic. Honky will win and serenade the hundreds of thousands of fans.

– Hulk Hogan toldya, brother. He saw the wrestlers in the back, they’re all confident. But Hulkamania runs wild, dude. He name drops Bravo, Herc, Warrior, Hennig as being guys in the Rumble. Interestingly, three of those guys are in there with him. He eliminates 2 of them (spoiler). And further, he eliminates one of them last (another spoiler). Whatcha gonna do when Hulk Hogan R-r-r-r-rumbles all over you? No thanks, brother.

So after all of these promos, only 3 wrestlers weren’t given interview time before the match. The Red Rooster gets shunned once more, no big loss there. Koko B. Ware gets skipped, no explanation needed there. And oddly Roddy Piper has no promo on the show, which seems weird.

IT IS NOW TIME FOR THE ROYAL RUMBLE!!!

(Notes Going In: It’s the Royal Rumble, and it’s loaded with stars. The World Champion Hogan, IC Champion Warrior, Tag Team Champions Andre & Haku, DiBiase, Perfect, Demolition, Rude, Piper, Dusty, Macho King, The Hart Foundation, The Snake, and that’s only half the field. How can you look at that list and not get excited? For some reason only two men were asked what their numbers were, and those two men just happened to draw #1 and #30. What are the odds? If I didn’t know better I’d swear this stuff was pre-planned. One other thing we know, with no Duggan or Studd involved we’re guaranteed a new winner.)

THE ROYAL RUMBLE MATCH

After the Fink finishes explaining the rules we’re introduced to the man who drew #1.

No surprise it’s “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase! He’s accompanied by Virgil. And now, let us all find out who drew #2…..

It’s “The Birdman” Koko B. Ware!

As you can see by the image, this is during Koko’s short-lived bleach blond hair and painted head phase. I always thought that looked cool and he’d revive it in Memphis years later. Anyway, Koko hits the ring but Teddy is already waiting and begins to stomp Koko down as he tries to slide in. The offense is all DiBiase until he makes the mistake and tries to ram Ware’s head into the turnbuckle. BIG MISTAKE TED! Don’t you know a black man’s head is extra hard? At least in the world of rasslin. Ware gets pissed and hits a standing dropkick. Koko stuns Ted with a headbutt and a series of jabs, knocking DiBiase up against the ropes. Koko comes running at Ted, but Dibiase ducks his head and backdrops Ware out of the ring, thus eliminating the Birdman.

With Koko gone DiBiase taunts the fans by holding up a finger, signaling one down. And it looks like the managers will be allowed to remain at ringside for this year’s Rumble match. The crowd soon begins the countdown to #3. And it’s….

 

With Koko gone the crowd soon begins the countdown to #3. And it’s….

#3 is Marty Jannetty of the Rockers

DiBiase tries to get the jump on Marty as he enters, but Jannetty slides through his legs and nails a pair of dropkicks. Ted takes over on offense right after, pounding on Marty. Jannetty fires back up and hits a nice spinning elbow. DiBiase again stumbles back into the ropes. Jannetty comes flying with a body block, but Ted ducks and Marty goes flying out of the ring. Nice bump out by Jannetty and again DiBiase is left alone in the ring awaiting the next opponent. DiBiase against taunts the crowd, telling them now that’s 2 down, 27 to go.

And now, here comes….

#4 is…

Jake “The Snake” Roberts!!!!!

It almost looks like Jannetty high fives Jake on the way to the back. LOL. And now DiBiase is scared shitless because these two just happen to be feuding. You couldn’t write a better story.

DiBiase attacks Jake on the floor before he can even get in the ring. Ted winds up applying the Million Dollar Dream on the floor but Jake uses leverage to run DiBiase into the ring post to break the hold. They take the match inside with Jake in full control. DiBiase counters the DDT twice, first with a backdrop, then by driving the Snake back into the corner. Ted charges at Roberts in the corner but runs into a kneelift. DiBiase takes his patented head stand backflip bump as we count down to #5.

 

With DiBiase now in trouble the clock winds down for #5, “Macho King” Randy Savage. Madness hits the ring and attacks Jake from behind. It’s time for the heels to double team the Snake man, and that they do. Savage is a real ball of fire as he hits the ring, he works with DiBiase to work over the Snake man for the 2 minute period. Jake’s in real trouble and tied in the ropes as we await the next entrant in 3….2….1…. It’s…….?????

 

#6 is “Rowdy” Roddy Piper! And Jake will get some help. Piper immediately goes after both heels, laying them out before untying Jake from the ropes. Now it’s Piper standing back to back and fighting off the heels in sort of a tag team feel. The crowd is hot as hell for this shit. Comedy spot as Piper and Jake turn to each other and tease nailing one another, but then they turn back around and nail the heels instead. Crowd is just nuts, I love it.

 

After all that excitement, things slow down just a beat. It’s necessary to let the crowd catch their breaths after all. #7 is The Warlord, accompanied by Mr. Fuji. Warlord immediately shatters his record of 2 seconds from last year. Bret “Hitman” Hart joins the fray at #8. Hitman like his namesake begins to go to go to work on his opponents upon entering the ring. #9 is Bad News Brown and the ring is starting to build up. Not trying to be racist or anything but you can’t even see Brown until he’s about a third of the way down to the ring as he blends in with the dark shadows at the entrance. Even Schiavone has to wait and see before he can announce him.

Jake Roberts attempts the DDT yet again on DiBiase, but Randy Savage clotheslines Jake out to save DiBiase and eliminate the Snake man from the match. And it looks like bid-ness is about to pick up because…. “American Dream” Dusty Rhodes is #10!

It’s flip, flop, and fly time as Dusty hammers Savage with bionic elbows and Macho sells them like a million bucks. The crowd is just going nuts at this point. Savage finally gets Dusty back up against the ropes and charges at him. Dusty backdrops Randy Savage out of the ring and Savage takes an insane full front flip bump to the floor. Just awesome.

#11 is Andre the Giant, accompanied by the Brain. The Giant wastes little time hip tossing the Warlord out of the ring. Mr. Fuji jumps up onto the apron to confront Andre, but Heenan pulls Fuji down. Heenan shoves Fuji, and Fuji threatens to hit Bobby with his cane. Bobby runs and hides behind a ring post. So cool to see the heel managers go at it. The announcers point out it’s not just every man for himself, but every manager for himself too.

#12 is the Red Rooster, complete with dick sucking head motions as he sprints to the ring. Rooster is filling in for the Widow Maker (Barry Windham) who misses his second straight PPV. Roddy Piper dumps Bad News Brown from the match. That doesn’t sit well with Brown who gets back on the apron and Bad News pulls Roddy out of the ring backwards. And now we’ve got a fight! Piper and Bad News exchange blows all the way up the aisle and back through the curtains to set up their WrestleMania VI bout.


#13 is Demolition Ax. Meanwhile, Andre disposes of the Rooster like a turd. What a “cock” sucker. Get it? Cock, because he’s a rooster? Never mind.

Mark out moment as Ax and Dusty have Andre against the ropes and deliver dual bionic elbows to the Giant. The Giant gets some help as his tag team partner Haku is #14. The Connection work over Ax, and Andre has some fun by standing on the chest of Ax. Oof. Dusty gets funky like a monkey and works over Haku. #15 is Demolition Smash. And now we have both members of Demolition AND the Colossal Connection in the ring. For those who don’t know, the Connection won the titles from Demolition several weeks earlier.

#16 is “The African Dream” Akeem. At this point Bret Hart is unceremoniously eliminated by Dusty Rhodes to absolutely no fanfare. The elimination was so off in the corner and abrupt that even the announcers missed it. Demolition begin to go to work on the Connection. They knock Andre up against the ropes and drop Haku with a double clothesline! Demolition Double Clothesline sends Andre out of the match!!! That was huge. Crowd is great.

Moving right along, #17 is “Superfly” Jimmy Snuka. Akeem and Snuka go right after each other for whatever reason. Akeem thinks he has Snuka’s number and does a little dance, but Snuka comes back with a leaping heabutt and Akeem goes tumbling out of the match. #18 is “Canadian Strongman” Dino Bravo. The less said, the better. #19 is the Canadian Earthquake! Back to back Bravo and Quake? Come on…

Quake hits the ring and you know business is picking up again. In fact, bid-ness picks up for the Dweam babay. Quake wastes little time tossing Dusty from the match. He isn’t done there. Quake then scoops Ax up and slams him out over the top rope. And here comes #20 Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart. The remaining wrestlers in the ring quickly realize what a threat Earthquake has become. The wrestlers all team up to hoist Quake up in the corner. Dino Bravo tries to save his friend, but the other superstars (Snuka, Smash, Haku, DiBiase, Neidhart) all eliminate the Earthquake. Quake didn’t last very long but he did some damage.

Now 2/3 through the field #21 is The Ullllltimate Warrior! Bravo and Warrior are in some lame feud so they go at it. I can’t tell if Warrior is having a seizure or selling Bravo’s offense. It doesn’t last long before Warrior dumps Bravo. Out comes #22 “The Model” Rick Martel. Haku sends Smash over the top to the apron, but Smash hangs on. In a sweet spot, Haku with an awesome ass Thrust Kick sends Smash off the apron and out of the match!

 

Out next at #23 is Tito Santana, ARRIBA! And the former members of Strike Force go right at it. #24 is the Honky Tonk Man, Jimmy Hart’s last chance at winning this thing. In an odd tandem, the Warrior and Martel team up to eliminate the Anvil. #1 Ted Dibiase is still in this thing and he goes after Warrior. Bad move, Warrior clotheslines DiBiase to the floor and the crowd goes ape shit. Ted is out, but he’s set the new iron man record lasting nearly 45 minutes.

#25 IS HULK HOGAN, and you just know what’s coming now… Time to clean house. Hogan’s bruddah, da Supah-fly, goes right after Hogan to show there are no friends in this thing. Somebody should have told Snuka that you doin’t F**k with Hulkamania. Hogan quickly eliminates his friend Snuka. Haku is next to pounce the Hulkster. Not wise. Hogan plants Haku with a big boot sending him out. Hogan disposes of both Polynesians in a matter of seconds. He really is a racist.

 

Tito Santana dumps Rick Martel to the apron, Martel hangs on and pulls Tito over with him. The Warrior comes up from behind and assists Martel in eliminating Tito Santana. Martel pulls himself back inside. #26 is Shawn Michaels of the Rockers. Now shit is on. Guys start flying out left and right. Hogan flings out Honky Tonk. The Warrior grabs Shawn Michaels by his hair and sends him flying in short fashion. Warrior sends The Model out next. And we’re momentarily down to two men in the ring, and IT’S THE HULK AND THE WARRIOR!!

We get the Ultimate staredown. The crowd is shaking the arena again. Not just two faces, but THE TWO top faces of the company are left alone in the ring. The crowd is eating this shit up, as did I. The two men try for tackles but nobody is budging. They do a crisscross spot and HOGAN DOES A DROP DOWN. Holy Shit! We end up with both men hitting a double clothesline and both wind up on the mat as #27 the Barbarian makes his way down. Quick trivia, even though the Warlord was eliminated 5th, Mr. Fuji has remained at ringside for the entire match just waiting for Barbarian to come down. Crazy. Even crazier, Bobby Heenan would “own” the Barbarian a few weeks later.

The Barbarian takes advantage of the two super heroes laying prone on the mat and works on both of them to keep them that way. #28 is “Ravishing” Rick Rude who actually hits the ring before the 10 second countdown clock appears. Rude jumped the gun in order to assist the Barbarian in keeping the IC and WWF Champion on the mat. Rude pairs off with Warrior, while Barbarian tries to eliminate the Hulkster.

The heels wind up double teaming Warrior and they have him hanging over the ropes. Hulk Hogan appears to come up from behind to assist the Warrior and dump the other two men, but Hogan winds up accidentally eliminating the Warrior instead. Well that seems awful familiar (Rumble 89 anyone?).

The Warrior doesn’t seemed pleased and he heads right back into the ring despite the referees admonishing him. Instead of attacking Hogan, the Warrior shockingly lays out Rick Rude and the Barbarian with clotheslines before bouncing off the ropes and just running away at 1,000 miles per hour. Ventura quote “What an idiot”. Just a little.

Out next at #29 is the mighty Hercules. He helps even the odds and assists Hulk against Rude and Barbarian. Things calm a little with the plodding Herc and Barb in there. Hogan too. When out walks #30 Mr. Perfect! How weird is this, only Rude is managed by Heenan here, but within the next couple of months Heenan would own all three of these heels, Rude, Hennig, and Barbarian.

The heels now outnumber the faces but Hercules gets a token elimination and takes out the Barbarian to bring the odds back to even and we’re now down to the FINAL FOUR.

It’s Hogan, Rude, Hennig, and Hercules. The faces go on the attack, Hogan pairs off with Perfect but Rick Rude clotheslines Hercules out of the ring.

Now it’s a two on one. Hennig and Rude work over Hogan. Rude goes for a big shot while Perfect holds the Hulkster but Hulk ducks and Rude blasts Hennig, sending Perfect over the top rope to the apron. Perfect almost eliminated!

Hogan goes after Rude and whips him into the ropes at the same time Perfect is grabbing the top rope to assist himself in standing up. As Hennig pulls the top rope down to aid in balancing himself, Rude goes flying into said ropes and tumbles out to the floor. Perfect eliminates Rude, all be it inadvertently.

Down to two! And rather than knocking Perfect off the apron, Hogan jerks Hennig back into the ring. This ultimately allows Perfect to land a cheap shot and take control of the match. Hennig connects with the PERFECT PLEX.

That’s the second time tonight he’s hit his move and it made no sense. But he fucks himself even more here because he hit his finisher on Hulk Hogan and that leads to…………..

Yeah, you fucked up now Mr. P.

It’s Hulk up time. Hogan has his way with Perfect sending him from corner to corner before flinging Hennig over the corner turnbuckles and out of the ring. Hogan eliminates Perfect and is declared the winner of the 1990 Royal Rumble after 58:46.

Winner: Hulk Hogan

#HoganMustPose

(Post Match Thoughts: This Rumble had so many smaller stories being told inside the larger story, which was the match itself. This may be the most active Rumble match of all time for storyline purposes. Five of the top WrestleMania matches were either created or continued during the Rumble, including Demolition vs. Colossal Connection, Savage vs. Dusty, Piper vs. Bad News, Jake vs. DiBiase, and of course the Hulkster and Ultimate Warrior. That’s pretty huge right there. They made sure to give Earthquake a good showing before making him look like even more of a monster when it took a good 5 guys to eliminate him.

The Rumble match itself was pretty fun. The opening segment between the first 6 guys was a match in and of itself. The evil money man gets his comeuppance going from #30 to #1. The emotions written in early were a great story. From DiBiase laying rest to a couple of “expendable” talent to get his heat going, to the man he was feuding with (Jake) coming out next for a little one on one. The Savage and Piper entrances that followed only added to that story. The crowd was absolutely friggin’ hot for the entire thing.

We got our usual Strike Force blow up as Tito and Martel went at each other, Bravo and Warrior did a little bit as they were somewhat feuding at the time, and to prove it was every man for himself they played up Hogan eliminating Snuka as a huge deal like they were best friends or something. It was just one fun story after another throughout. While Bret got a little time in the match it was odd to see the future champ tossed out without a produced spot. Almost seemed like they missed a cue and had to rush the elimination. Shawn Michaels is another funny one, knowing his future, to see him thrown out in a few seconds by his hair like a piece of shit is a WTF moment. Again, hindsight being 20/20.

Hogan and Barbarian had a little go at it near the end, and when the Powers of Pain were split shortly after the plan was for Hogan to eventually work with Barb so I assume this was a little test the waters type moment. Hogan eliminating Warrior was a little redundant in the matter it was done, it was extremely similar to the Savage elimination from ’89. Makes you wonder if Hogan really DID mean to eliminate them. I wouldn’t put it past the glory hound. The showdown between the two mega stars, all be it brief, received a giant ovation and was the “what if?” precursor to their match at Mania VI. The tease and seeing only those two in the ring together made time stand still, if only for a moment.

I liked the Rude and Perfect tease where Rude hits Perfect, then Perfect eliminates Rude (accidentally). They never played off this but it was cool seeing two of my favorite heels costing each other. I believe they had a miscue like this at Series ’89 as well.

Speaking of Perfect, there’s been a long standing rumor that Hennig was originally penciled in to win the Rumble here. Story goes, Hogan played his power card and decided to veto the decision last minute and put himself over instead. The story is pretty much everywhere you look and everyone seems to just take it as face value, myself included. Probably because I wanted to believe it. Is it true? Who really knows. Bruce Prichard (who was a producer, writer, and Rumble booking assistant at the time) has stated on his Podcast that the plan was for Hogan to go over all along, which obviously contradicts the Hennig story. It does seem a little odd to put Hennig over here when he’s beginning to job on the house shows, and would ultimately job to Beefcake at Mania VI. However, Hennig had never been bigger, in his recent and upcoming matches against Hogan and the Warrior so either way it makes sense.

If I had to pick an alternate winner besides these two it would have been the Warrior. Giving Warrior the win here would have shot him up with even higher momentum for the Mania match. Instead of building Warrior for the future they gave Hogan the nod to make sure people knew he wasn’t going anywhere. With the “winner going to WrestleMania” storyline not yet introduced, Perfect could have easily profited from a win here as well. This did nothing for Hogan’s career but you know Vince’s motto, #HoganMustPose

This is the first Rumble where I think they finally nailed the booking. Exciting throughout with so much going on it drained me trying to keep up with it all. The crowd didn’t hurt matters here either. They lost their minds and popped like nuts for many of the eliminations and angles throughout. It got a little slow near the end but was still solid. The Match didn’t change the future of the business or anything but it’s an easy ****)

THE FINAL AUDIT

Holy shit, I’m worn out. That was by far the most work and time I’ve ever put into a single review. The images took a lot of work, more so this time because there was so much stuff going on throughout the entire Rumble match that I had to keep adding the caps to showcase all the highlights. As you can see there were a lot of highlights on this particular Rumble event. I am legit mentally spent but it was well worth it. I hope everyone enjoyed this Audit review.

Now, as for the show. The Rumble match was damn good and accomplished more separate stories in one match than probably any other match in history, but I think it’s safe to say this was one of the most underwhelming Rumble undercards in the history of the event. Garvin vs. Valentine is underrated, you have to have an acquired taste but these guys beat the shit out of each other for real to give the fans a good show and I can appreciate that. Genius vs. Beefcake was only used to build an angle with Hennig. The Rougeaus and Whackers were the typical opener to get the crowd going, and the finish made sense with the Rougeaus on their way out. The Brother Love Show went on a little long but there was really no way to speed it up. Duggan vs. Boss Man felt like a place holder for both men. Neither man was doing anything at the time and Boss Man was a day or two away from turning face. The non-finish didn’t help things. I would have liked to seen Boss Man in the Rumble personally, would have been easier to disguise his heel character given he was so close to turning face, but I guess they wanted to give him his own segment. I’ve already shared my feelings on the Rumble match so you know where I stand there.

It’s a give and take, with a strong main event and a weaker than usual PPV undercard. Rumble had been a one match show up to this point and the Garvin/Valentine match was a good addition. When you do the math, between the Rumble and Submission match there was only another hour of stuff in all total so the good stuff did outweigh the bad, both in quality and time. Plus, nothing was “gouge my eyeballs out” bad. A solid show I have no problem recommending, a strong B- (The Rumble match itself gets an A). Rumble ’90 passes the Audit.

The Audit: The Royal Rumble 1989 Review

5

Writer’s Note: The Royal Rumble ’89 Review below was the second ever Audit I wrote back on January 12th, 2014. Thanks to the recent ScreenCaps update (and the fact that it’s Rumble season) I decided to go back and update this old review to coincide with the new Rumble reviews I’ll be adding. I fixed a few typos, added a sentence or two as needed, and incorporated many of the sweet screen caps that were recently uploaded for the event. Hopefully you enjoy this NEW ‘director’s cut’ edition of the Rumble ’89 Audit. Thanks for reading, feedback is welcome.

Ian R. Singletary here once again, back with another Audit Review. With the 2017 WWE Royal Rumble slowly coming up on us, I felt I’d try and get everyone in the mood. For the next 2 or 3 weeks I’ll be reviewing — I mean AUDITING some of the Royal Rumble’s from the early years.

This time we audit….

THE 1989 ROYAL RUMBLE!

After a successful debut edition on the USA Network the year prior, the WWF would return with the Royal Rumble as part of their 1989 PPV lineup. A couple of things to note here. First, when the Rumble match was introduced in 1988, there were only 20 wrestlers involved in the match, by the second installment in 1989 the number increased to the more traditional 30 man match that we’ve become accustomed to. The other thing to note is that until 1992, all of the prior Rumble matches were purely for bragging rights, no World Titles or World Title shots were involved, which meant ANYBODY could win. I particularly enjoyed that aspect of the first several years, I thought it made things more unpredictable and exciting. The Royal Rumble match was said to be Pat Patterson’s “baby”, which I find ironic for many reasons. The Rumble was actually tested at house shows before the 1988 USA Special aired, but all of those would simply act as a feeling out process to get this project off the ground. It was this years Royal Rumble, 1989, where we would begin to see things develop into one of the most anticipated events of each year. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you, the 1989 Royal Rumble, the LIVE edition!

 

The Preshow…

– Okay, so I lied. We’re not at the Rumble yet. We have the preshow to get through first. It’s Vince McMahon and Lord Alfred Hayes hosting from the old “Event Center” production room with all the TV’s in the background. The first few minutes of the preshow is missing. They discuss who they like to win the match. Alfred Hayes chooses the Honky Tonk Man for whatever reason. Vince discusses Andre the Giant. Hayes feels too many people will be gunning for Andre and he won’t be able to handle the odds. Hulk Hogan? Well he absolutely has a chance. Vince does a shitty job of trying to explain the rules. I mean, you got the gist of it, but he did it in such a trivial manner.

– Cut to the build up to the 6-Man Tag Team match which will feature Hacksaw & The Harts vs. Dino Bravo & The Rougeaus. The first clip goes back in time to when Jimmy Hart is announced as the new manager of the Rougeau Brothers. Raymond claims they have “choosen” Hart as their manager, to which McMahon makes fun. Jesse points out they’re French Canadian. Ray fixes his English, uses the word “chosen”, and as a prize Jimmy Hart hands over half of his contract with the Hart Foundation over to the Rougeaus, meaning the Rougeaus make money off of the Harts every time they wrestle. Hart promises to share all the secrets and weaknesses of the Harts with his new All American Team. Cut to the Brother Love Show with “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan. Love screws with Duggan while Dino Bravo & Frenchy Martin comes out. Frenchy waves the Quebec while Bravo shows off his physique. Dino says Hacksaw and USA stink. Duggan tells Bravo to love it or leave it. Duggan threatens to show Martin & Bravo the way “back to the border” and swings his 2×4 as the heels run off. USA, USA, USA chants galore. HOOOOO!

Vince advises those watching to ORDER THE PPV NOW! Don’t wait until the day of or the weekend of because things can become backed up and you will lose out. You may think this sounds like a shameless way to lock in orders early, but this is dead on the honest to God truth. There were plenty of times I attempted to order WWF PPV’s in the late 80’s and into the early 90’s, and the cable company phone lines would be tied up for hours, sometimes all day. And if you waited until the very last minute to order and were lucky enough to get through, you’d sometimes end up missing the first several minutes of the PPV. Technology wasn’t what it is today, hell technology had improved vastly by the mid 90’s, but in 1989? Yeah, you probably should order a couple weeks out to save yourself a lot of headaches for a variety of reasons. And that’s been my history lesson for this week, fans.

– Onto the next “match”. It’s the SUPER posedown between The Warrior and Rick Rude. This would begin their near 2 year, on again-off again, rivalry. Since there really isn’t anything that led up to this match, we’re treated to interviews from both sides. It’s almost like the Warrior was Nostradamus, he ends the interview by saying “Let it begin with the posedown, and take it from there”. It’s like he knew this would continue to escalate. Rick Rude responds, it seems he’s the one who selected the Warrior and challenged him for this posedown, in order to prove who has the best body in the WWF.

– Blink and you’ll miss a clip of Rockin Robin pinning Sherri for the WWF Women’s Title in France. She’s taking on Judy Martin of the former Glamour Girls

– The Battle for the Crown! Harley Race looks to regain his seat on the throne when he meets King Haku. Race was forced to abdicate the throne after he suffered some major internal injuries that required surgery while wrestling a match with Hulk Hogan. We see footage of when Bobby Heenan announces Harley’s injury and advocates Harley’s spot as the King. This is an eerie interview because Bobby plays it like Harley has DIED, they even pause for a quiet moment while the bell tolls 10 times. That’s only half of the eeriness. The other half is Bobby is surrounded by Andre the Giant, Rick Rude, and Hercules (all have since passed away), while Race is the only one still alive. The next clip shows Haku being crowned “King Haku”. A Harley Race interview follows. Harley doesn’t call Haku King, Race says he’s still the King and will wear the crown again!

Vince & Hayes go over the card one last time. Vince runs down the 30 men in the Royal Rumble while a video plays of the stars involved. In my opinion, this one is actually better than the one in the opening of the PPV.

Well, it’s time to Rumble ladies and gents! Let me just fast forward through these final 5 minutes of a countdown clock and we can get rolling!

 

The Event…

The WWF… What the World is Watching!!! Love that opening!

The PPV opens with a video displaying the 30 men involved in the Royal Rumble match as Vince announces the participants.

It’s January 15th, 1989 and we be live from the Summit in Houston, TX. It’s Paul Boesch country baby! Your announcers are Gorilla Monsoon & Jesse “The Body” Ventura.

I’ve said it before but I really like their work together. I thought Jesse was the perfect foil for Vince on TV, and there’s no doubt that Gorilla and Bobby were a star team on TV, but when you got Gorilla & Jesse together for a PPV everything just felt so important. The two run down the card in quick fashion and we head to ringside.

(Notes going in: To this day, the Royal Rumble PPV always gets me excited, on a few occasions I actually looked more forward to the Rumble PPV than WrestleMania. We kick off with the 6-Man match, which I thought was the best way to go. One thing I like about the Rumble is that they usually kick off the show with a really good match, many times a tag team match (especially in the early days) filled with energy and activity to get the fans going. I know Bravo wasn’t exactly Mr. Entertainment, but I figured the Harts & Rougeaus would make up for that. Also, Hacksaw wasn’t exactly putting on clinics in the WWF, but he was so over and knew exactly what he had to do that sometimes you could look past his lack of ability since leaving the Mid-South. I had a feeling this would be one of those times. The storylines here are simply USA vs. French Canada, and The Harts vs. Jimmy Hart’s new team)

Six-Man Tag Team Match
“Hacksaw” Jim Duggan & The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart/Jim Neidhart) vs.
Dino Bravo (w/Frenchy Martin) & The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers (w/Jimmy Hart)

This match is scheduled for the best two out of three falls. The crowd is hot and craving the action so this match is already getting over before it even starts. Neidhart removes the Hitman’s shades (what a bitch move), and The Anvil plans to start off Fall #1 with Bravo. We get a lot of “Irresistible Force vs. Immovable Object” stuff to start, neither man budging. Neidhart gets the best of Bravo with a clothesline, Anvil misses an elbow, but Dino misses an elbow to boot and Duggan is tagged in. Bravo immediately scurries to his corner and tags Raymond into the match. THAT COWARD! Duggan in with USA chants, the fans in Houston remember Duggan well. Duggan hits Raymond with the spinning slam and the “Old Glory” kneedrop, and Hacksaw’s already down to one move left in his arsenal so he tags to the Hitman. Bret with a series of quick near falls on Ray before Jacques is finally tagged in. Jacques gains control, but gets cute and eats a clothesline. All three heels are thrown into the corner and the babyfaces assist the Anvil in shoulder blocking the lot of them. As the referee gets the faces out of the ring, Ray Rougeau pulls down the top rope and Bret falls to the floor. Hart is thrown back in and Dino Bravo hits a Side Suplex, before the Rougeaus land Le Bombe de Rougeau for the first fall at 4:22. It was a quick fall, but the fast pace allowed them to get a lot in.

Gorilla & Jesse inform us that the men who finished Fall #1 must start Fall #2. Bret continues to take the heat as the Rougeaus wear him down. The Rougeaus do some illegal switching, some hair pulling, whatever it takes to work over the Hitman for a few minutes. Bravo comes in and tries a clothesline that looks like it barely grazes the top of Hart’s head. Bret isn’t sure how to sell it so he stumbles forwards into the ropes. That was bad. Jacques back in with a Boston Crab. Bret crawls and tags in Neidhart, but Ray distracts the ref and he misses it. The Rougeaus with an assisted Abdominal Stretch, and at this point the heels have used every heel tactic in the book. Nice solid heel work. Jacques goes for a monkey flip out of the corner but Bret counters with an inverted atomic drop and Hart FINALLY MAKES THE TAG. Hacksaw gets the hot tag and he works over all three French Canadians. Duggan lays out Raymond and slingshots the Anvil in over the top rope with a splash onto Ray. Neidhart lays there in a cover position on Ray and referee Marella is confused and starts to count. Duggan is still the legal man. Anvil rolls out of the way, and Duggan then slingshots Bret Hart of the top rope onto Raymond with another splash, sort of. Neidhart always looked awesome with those slingshot moves, the Hitman? Not so much. Duggan drops an elbow on Ray for good measure and covers for the pin after 7:24 of second fall action.

Duggan starts to work over Ray to start Fall #3, but he finds himself in the heel corner. Bravo now gets his heat on Duggan for the first time in the match. The heels triple team Duggan in the corner, choking him, holding him, and tripping him down. Good heel team work. Bravo with an inverted atomic drop on Duggan but he falls near the corner and tags out to the Hitman. Bret hits Bravo with a backbreaker, but when he goes up for an elbow he’s shoved off by Ramon. Things break down and the referee loses control. Anvil attacks Raymond, Marella is sucked into that while Bret Hart takes a bad bump off an attempted roll up on Bravo. With Marella’s back turned, Duggan blasts Bravo in the back with the 2×4 out of nowhere and Bret covers for the third fall and the win after 3:56 in fall #3.

Winners: The Hart Foundation & Jim Duggan

(Post Match Thoughts: I remembered this match being better than it was. I’m not saying it was a bad match, it’s just I think if it was given more time it could have been better. These guys were forced to squeeze three falls into a 15:42 window, and for the time they were given I thought they did just fine. Two things that stood out here for me. 1. The great heel teamwork, especially by the Rougeaus. It wasn’t anything out of the ordinary, but you just don’t see good heel teamwork anymore, and these guys used every page in the book. And 2, the story the match told was absolutely perfect. They started off hot with the faces dominating most of the first fall before Hart was dumped to the floor and put down by two finishers. This led to Hart playing the face in peril for the second fall, and the heels doing a great job of getting heat on the Hitman. Hot tag to Duggan, all the faces get involved in the finish and things are evened up. A rushed final fall\, but still perfectly executed. We finally get Bravo in there with Duggan, and as crappy as that would be to watch, they made sure to give it to us at the end and for a short period of time. Dino gets the cowardly heel advantage on Duggan, Hart’s tagged in, things go haywire, and Hacksaw pays Bravo back for his team cheating the entire match. The match never sucked, but truly the only fall that felt like it wasn’t rushed was the second fall. I should note that The Anvil was only in the match once legally. Neidhart started the match and never tagged in again. That was a shame, because during this period the Anvil was really on fire. Given the short time this three fall match was given, I get that they didn’t have time to work Neidhart in there more. That said, while I do feel the Harts & Rougeaus could have done a lot more to make this match a memorable jewel, the short time forced the guys to work at a fast pace and it kept the fans really hot. I think they did just fine. ***.)

 

– To the back we go to watch several wrestlers draw their numbers for the Royal Rumble!

– Ted Dibiase is giddy to draw his number. He has Virgil open it for him, and DiBiase is NOT pleased with his number. Immediately, Ted finds Slick and asks of he was happy with the Twin Towers numbers. Slick says exacatikly. They walk off to discuss some business.

– The Bushwhackers go to pick their numbers and Luke breaks the tumbler off the spinning rod. Just look at the picture if you don’t believe me. Both men like their numbers, so they decide to swap numbers… Is that legal? I won’t spoil it for you, but I will say that one of these guys lied to the other one. One draws an early number, the other a late number.

– Honky Tonk Man is NOT happy with his number.

– Bad News Brown says his number is GOOD NEWS!

– Ax & Smash draw their numbers and foreshadow what would happen later with this line…

AX: Looks like I’m gonna have a long night
SMASH: Me Too!

– Jake Roberts says he hopes Andre’s still in there when he gets there. How the hell does he know that Andre isn’t coming in after him?

– The Rockers draw, Shawn being the dick that he is draws first. They wish each other luck. Yeah, Right!

Ventura thinks some hanky-panky went on in the DiBiase drawing…. You think?

 

Up next is the “Super Posedown”. (Notes going in: There really wasn’t much that led to this. It was supposed to be Rude challenging the Warrior to prove who has the better body. I wasn’t really sure what to expect going into this the first time around, but I knew it’d end with some type of altercation, otherwise this entire thing would be pointless.)

Mean Gene is out to host the Posedown. The fans will decide the winner based on crowd noise. The two men will take turns posing for the fans while the fans determine who has the best physique… Fun…

THE SUPER POSEDOWN
The Ultimate Warrior vs. “Ravishing” Rick Rude (w/Bobby Heenan)

Should be noted, Rude brings a flex bar to the ring. He flexes with the warm-up bar in between each of his poses to keep himself “pumped up”. The first pose is a double bicep pose, no surprise Warrior wins the fans vote. If you were looking for peaks and definition, Warrior really did have the first pose won. Heenan explains to the fans this isn’t a popularity contest and they should be voting for the best body. The second pose, is “Best Abs”, it’s exactly what it sounds like. Rude’s abs are cut to the max, I doubt anyone on Earth had his number in that department.

Warrior wins the fans vote again, but if you’re keeping score I say Rude had that won in all fairness. Third pose is “Most Muscular”, which is one of Hulk Hogan’s favorites pulling the arms out in a bear hug like position. Warrior wins AGAIN without even trying, surprise. Rude draws some heat by working out before the pose until the Warrior growls at him.

The final pose is a medley of poses, Rude goes first, Warrior follows.

Warrior just goes through the motions and the crowd is still eating it up. Rude grows tired of the fans and the Warrior’s popularity, so Bobby Heenan squirts the Warrior in the eyes with the water bottle, and Rude clobbers the Warrior in the back of the head with the flex bar! Rude beats the Warrior down with the “steel bar” and proceeds to choke him with it in a camel clutch position before leaving the ring.

A half dozen officials are out to check on the Warrior’s well being, but he doesn’t give a fuck. Warrior starts throwing Hebner’s and Garea all over the place. Nick Bockwinkel takes a nice chop and gets kneed out of the ring. The fans go nuts for the Warrior as he starts sprinting backstage to catch up with Rick Rude. And the feud begins…

Winner??? The Ultimate Warrior???

(Post Match Thoughts: Well, this wasn’t really a match so it doesn’t get a rating. It’s a big step up from the Dino Bravo Bench Press segment from Rumble ’88. It served it’s purpose. Both guys were in that semi-man event spot so giving them a segment on the PPV to start their rivalry made sense. Even still, this was something that could have been done on TV, but I guess they needed to fill time on the show. This segment used to drag on and seem a lot slower for me. Now when I watch it, I focus more on Rude and Bobby’s psychology involved in this angle and I don’t mind it as much. It’s still not something I find exciting or recommend watching, but it’s a little more bearable than it used to be for me.)

 

Up next, we have the Ladies Title match.  (Notes going in: None….. No, seriously, I have nothing. Thoughts? Just please be short, this can’t be good.)

WWF LADIES CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH
Ladies Champion Rockin Robin vs. Judy Martin

Robin comes out to her brother Sam Houston’s theme. Before the match can begin, Sensational Sherri is in the ring to challenge the winner. Sherri lost the title to Robin in Paris, and she wants the belt back.

Sherri joins Gorilla & Jesse on commentary for the match. Robin starts off with a little momentum, a couple of dropkicks in and she runs into the knees of Martin. Sherri is terrible on commentary. I give her credit for her work with Savage, Dibiase, Michaels, and even portions of her WCW run, but damn she was bad here. Sherri says Robin is as skinny as a bug, how harsh! The women in the ring are moving SLOW and sloppy, Sherri points it out, lol. Gorilla politely calls the ladies “lethargic” to be nice. Martin catches a cross body and slams Robin down. Robin looks like she stiffs Martin with a knee, so Judy kicks Robin right in the chest where her breasts would be, if she had any. A few pin fall attempts from both ends, Robin misses a dropkick and lands hard on a failed roll up attempt. Robin barely kicks out of a clothesline. Robin channels her brother Jake “the Snake” and goes for something that looked like a DDT, but blew it. Robin can’t slam Martin, so Judy slams Robin. Everything is in SLOW MOTION, SLOPPY as all hell, this is BAD. Finally, they put me out of my misery. Robin fakes a reverse cross body, Judy ducks. Martin stands back up and Robin launches off with the body block for the win in 6:24 (Not 16 minutes like wikipedia reports and other people copy off of). If this shit went 16 minutes I would have quit already. Looks like Sherri will get another shot at Robin. Fortunately, Robin would bomb singing (and I use that term loosely) “America the Beautiful” at WrestleMania V and be banned from ever appearing on WWF TV ever again. Okay, that’s not really why, but it should have been. Sherri would go on to bigger and better things.

Winner: Rockin Robin

(Post Match Thoughts: There were parts that weren’t terribly bad, then the women would just look completely lost or just going through the motions. I know Martin was a veteran, but I don’t think Robin ever had any business in the ring at the level of the WWF. For their efforts I’ll give them a 3/4*, but that’s being generous.)

 

– Sean Mooney stands by with Slick and the Twin Towers.

Mooney asks Slick about his meeting with “The Million Dollar Man” earlier tonight. Slick says he doesn’t know what Sean is talking about. Mooney shows Slick the footage from earlier. Slick’s response; “You mean THAT Ted Dibiase, I thought you was talking about Ted homeboy where I get my shoes shined”… First off Mooney said Million $ Man, not Ted DiBiase. How many “Million Dollar Men” does Slick know? Anyway, Slick insists there’s nothing going on. Suuuuuure Slickster, we believe ya.

– Mean Gene interviews Rick Rude & Bobby Heenan as they attempt to escape the Warrior. Rude cuts a promo while Heenan looks around for the Warrior. They cut the interview short and take off into a locker room.

– The managers talk about their men in the Rumble match. Generic interviews with Mr. Fuji & Jimmy Hart. Fuji says whether Warlord or Barbarian wins it’s Fuji that’ll be the winner. Jimmy Hart puts over Honky & Valentine who he calls “Double Trouble” here.

Then we have Mean Gene who interviews Elizabeth. Gene wants to know if it comes down to Macho & Hogan, who Liz would be backing. Elizabeth escapes the question and hopes it doesn’t come to that.

 

 

– Jesse Ventura sits in the throne of the King.

Jesse puts over the Battle for the Crown, which is up next. King Haku will battle Harley Race for the rights to the throne. Bobby Heenan is no longer hiding from the Warrior. The Brain is in the ring for the introduction.

 (Notes going in: Was always a big Harley fan, was happy when he returned and liked the idea of him reclaiming his crown. After Race received a legit internal injury during a match with Hulk Hogan in 1988 he was forced to have surgery and sat out for a while. During his time away Bobby Heenan had a ceremony in the ring where he basically acted as if Harley Race had died, he even had the bell tolled for Harley’s “retirement”. Haku was crowned the new King. Only one problem. Race wasn’t dead, or retired. Harley returned in the fall of 1988 still claiming to be King. That would lead to this match. Two Heenan Family members battling over the Crown, with the winner getting to be the only true King of the WWF.) 

BATTLE FOR THE CROWN
King Haku vs. Harley Race

King Haku is brought out first on a sedan type thing, carried by San Antonio jobber extraordinaires like Tug Taylor, Dusty Wolfe, and Omar Atlas. For whatever reason, the job squad is dressed in their wrestling gear. Bobby Heenan makes his way out with Haku, though he’s supposedly in a neutral corner.

Harley Race is out next, and just as Haku’s sedan is propped on the ring apron and the safety railings, Race walks over and TIPS OVER THE SEDAN causing Haku to take a bump to the floor.

Race goes right to work on the new King, battling him inside and outside the ring. Race gets in a vertical suplex, which was once his finisher as the NWA World Champion, but it only gets 2 here. Haku takes over monetarily after driving Race into the steel post. The battle goes back and forth, some solid physical shots being laid on by both guys. Race tries to take one of his signature backward bumps out of the ring but hits the corner wrong and falls out of the ring in slow motion. Nobody is really the face here, but Harley Race is put in the position to be cheered. Bobby Heenan strategically stands in a neutral corner, cheering on Haku when he’s in control, and backing Harley when he’s on the offense. Classic Brain. The two men trade headbutts, Haku delivers a specifically stiff one, Race responds with a stiff clothesline and a PILEDRIVER but only gets 2. The two men end up knocking heads and Race takes a spill to the floor, but Haku brings him back in with a suplex and another 2. Everything these guys are doing looks great, nice and snug. Race lads another vertical suplex and gets another 2 count. Race pitches Haku to the floor and tries to piledrive him outside, but Haku counters with a backdrop outside. Ventura speculates if both men were counted out that Heenan would declare himself the King. That would have bee great! After an extended brawl outside the ring, RACE PILEDRIVES HAKU ON THE ARENA FLOOR.

Haku barely sells it before he’s back in the ring, shame on both of them. Race with a neckbreaker for 2. Haku battles back but misses a diving headbutt. Race goes up and he too misses a diving headbutt! Heenan shouts “we gottem”, to which the announcers want to know who he’s talking to. Race sends Haku off the ropes, Haku ducks a clothesline and Race turns around and runs right into the THRUST KICK from Haku. The King wraps Race up and gets the win in 9:01.

Winner: King Haku

(Post Match Thoughts: This match is just an all out brawl between two of the legit tough guys to ever grace the squared circle. This type of match may not be for everyone, but these guys worked snug and left it all in the ring. The crowd was alive during the start when Race dumped over the sedan, but after that the fans started to grow more and more quiet. Bobby Heenan leaves with Haku, no surprise there, and this would wind up being Harley Race’s last match in the WWF. Harley does the right thing and puts over the new King on the way out. Both these guys are much better at playing heels, and while the match was solid, it lacked “sizzle”. I thought it was fine for what it was **3/4)

 

– We now move on to interviews with several superstars competing in the Royal Rumble match.

– Brutus Beefcake goes on for too long, repeating himself. The promo, like his blue background, is just plain generic.

– Greg Valentine only cares about himself, everyone better watch out, including the Honky Tonk Man.

– We’re treated to a SECOND Mr. Fuji promo, this time he’s with his Powers of Pain. Fuji warns Demolition, but reiterates Master Fuji will be the winner and take all the money. Then why do the Powers of pain work for him if they don’t get paid?

– Big John Studd (looking like complete shit) makes it clear Bobby Heenan won’t be in his corner. Studd doesn’t know who he can trust, but he plans to win!

– Mr. Perfect claims this year, “the Year of Perfection”. Hennig says he will tip the big men over, throw the little guys out, and notes that he’s “the perfect size”.

– Apparently Macho Madness will be felt here tonight! Randy Savage says he’s going to be the champion of the Royal Rumble.

 

– Mean Gene questions Ted Dibiase about the earlier shenanigans between he and the Slickster. DiBiase says when you’re as wealthy as he is, you can be as lucky as you want to be.

– Sean Mooney with the Heenan Family, The Brain, Andre the Giant and the Brain Busters. Andre proclaims that he will win the match, and warns the Brain Busters. While Andre cuts his promo, Arn is shown whispering to Tully, alluding you to believe they’re plotting against the Giant. Nice added touch by the Busters.

– Mean Gene is with the Hulkster. This is it, the time is here. Hogan talks about the potential of facing off with the Twin Towers. Then, Gene brings up the Macho Man. Hogan says Savage will have to find out that the Hulkster has never been beaten, and that his Hulkamaniacs still call him the champ. Pretty heelish comments directed at Savage, but then again Hogan was always the asshole in most of his feuds against former friends.

Ladies and gentlemen… IT IS NOW TIME FOR THE ROYAL RUMBLE!

(Notes going in: What can you say? It’s the frickin Royal Rumble. Thirty guys going at it, pairings we thought we’d never see, I was pumped. I was never a big Hogan fan. Going into the PPV I was rooting for the Big Boss Man or Macho Man, but after the vignettes on the show I was expecting Dibiase to buy himself a win. The Rumble is always great because we see the start of potential WrestleMania matches, we see current rivals getting their hands on each other, and some of the younger guys get a chance to be noticed.)

Howard Finkel explains the rules of the Royal Rumble match. If you’re reading this, you know the drill by now… Two guys start, every 2 minutes a man enters, yadda, yadda.

IT IS NOW TIME FOR THE ROYAL RUMBLE!!!!

Let us all find out who drew #1….

IT’S AX!!!

And to show just how unpredictable the Rumble can be….

SMASH DRAWS #2!!!!!

 

The Demolition don’t even wait to let the crowd soak it in, they have a 2 second stare down before they start beating on each other. This was soooo cool at the time, and honestly it’s still a top 10 Rumble moment for me. You NEVER saw shit like this back then, and for it to be Demolition just enhanced it by 10X.

Ax pounds on Smash, then Smash returns the favor. Ax cuts Smash off and tosses him over the top rope, but Smash lands on the apron and climbs back in. Smash works over Ax in the corner as the fans count down to #3…. ANDRE THE GIANT! As Andre heads towards the ring, Demolition stop going at it and rush the Giant as soon as he comes in with a double clothesline. Andre stumbles and takes an awkward bump, it looks like Andre accidentally fell.

The Demos work over Andre, but the Giant begins to fight back as #4 MR. PERFECT makes his way to the ring. All three men try and go after the Giant, but Andre fights them off and Andre tosses Smash out for the first elimination!

Hennig & Ax go back to work on the Giant, and once Andre is down, Ax whips Perfect chest first into the corner. This allows Andre to come back, dropping Ax and Hennig takes an awesome bump off of an Andre headbutt. Here comes #5 “RUGGED” RONNIE GARVIN. Garvin comes right in to help Hennig & Ax try and eliminate Andre. The Giant gets tied in the ropes and he STILL fights all 3 men off.

Garvin makes the mistake of untying Andre and the Giant continues to beat on all 3, as he sits on Ax, and then gives Hennig a punch that is sold PERFECTLY. #6 is GREG “THE HAMMER” VALENTINE, and now we’ve got 4 guys going after the Giant. Again, Andre fights off all 4 men and hiplocks Ronnie Garvin out for an elimination. Everyone left goes after Andre one by one, and they all fail. #7 JAKE “THE SNAKE” ROBERTS comes darting out to get his hands on the Giant. No love lost between Jake and the Giant. Jake barely gets in the ring before Andre has him against the ropes and choking the life out of the Snake.

Andre then chokes Jake with his singlet strap as #8 “OUTLAW” RON BASS heads to the ring. Bass is freshly shaven bald after a Hair vs. Hair loss to Brutus the Barber on “The Main Event”. After choking Jake out for a good 2 minutes, Andre eliminates The Snake like a piece of garbage. If you’re keeping score, that’s 3 eliminated, and all by Andre.

For the next couple of minutes, Ax paired off with the Outlaw, while Andre works over the Hammer & Mr. Perfect. #9 is SHAWN MICHAELS sprinting to the ring, and goes right after the Outlaw. Ax has Hennig up against the ropes and takes a big swing, but Perfect ducks and backdrops Ax out of the ring for an elimination. Ax was in there for a good 14+ minutes. In a great sequence, Hennig dumps Michaels but Shawn skins the cat back in and goes to town on Perfect before dropkicking Mr. Perfect backwards out of the ring, but Hennig somehow manages to hang on. #10 is BUSHWHACKER BUTCH. Wait, Luke called this a good number? Either Luke is an idiot, or he’s a genius for conning Butch into switching numbers with him. Walking out only a few steps behind Butch is JAKE ROBERTS! Jake returns to the ring with his bag, and slides DAMIEN into the ring as the entire field backs away. Andre sees the Snake and eliminates himself.

Good thing he didn’t have another “heart attack’ or nobody would have been able to get him out of there. Jake is forced to leave the ring and the action resumes. Michaels whips the Outlaw right into the famous Hennig “Axe” punch. #11 here comes THE HONKY TONK MAN! Michaels & Hennig are whipped into each other and “Double Trouble” try to eliminate the Rocker. Perfect goes after Honky and the crowd eats it up. Boy, those Rumble banners are really starting to shake now!

#12 is TITO SANTANA! Tito goes right after Hennig with a backdrop, IN THE ROYAL RUMBLE! A moment later and it’s the Outlaw back dropping Shawn Michaels. Then Bass & Hennig double suplex the Rocker. Damn, there’s some dangerous shit going on for this many guys in the ring. #13 is BAD NEWS BROWN, and what a perfect number for the loner to draw. Bushwhacker Butch and Tito Santana team up and eliminate the Honky Tonk Man. Wow, has Honky fallen. Michaels comes off the TOP ROPE onto Bass & Bad News, but moments later Shawn is in all sorts of trouble with Valentine and Brown. What luck, because #14 IS MARTY JANNETTY! Bass goes right after Marty, but Michaels joins in and the Rockers Double Dropkick the Outlaw out of the ring! In the midst of the action, Santana lands a FLYING FOREARM on the Hammer. Mr. Perfect’s still in there, has to be at least 22 minutes for him now. #15 IS “THE MACHO MAN” RANDY SAVAGE!!!!

Savage comes rushing into the ring like a madman and goes right after Bad News who he’s had issues with in recent weeks. Lots of action all around as people trade off in pairings until #16 ARN ANDERSON makes his way in. And we now have NINE guys in the ring. Well I spoke too soon, Macho Man eliminates Greg Valentine just a second before Arn makes it to the ring, and the Hammer is gone! Now we have 8 in the ring, and 8 gone.

Arn Anderson & Shawn Michaels go at it, a nice Superkick from Michaels takes down Arn. An unlikely combination of Randy Savage & Arn Anderson team up to catch Michaels with a double back elbow and Savage & Anderson eliminate Shawn Michaels. Jannetty goes after Arn for revenge. #17 IS TULLY BLANCHARD, the other half of the Brain Busters. Jannetty gets the better of Tully for a moment, but runs into an ARN ANDERSON SPINEBUSTER, and the Busters take over on Jannetty. Arn & Tully force Marty out over the top rope. Jannetty fights to hold on, even hooking his toes over the top rope, but the Busters do a great job of making a basic elimination look like a tough battle. Tully Blanchard finally eliminates Marty Jannetty after a struggle, and just in time.

Because #18… IS HULK HOGAN!!!!! Hogan comes right in and saves Macho Man from Mr. Perfect by eliminating Hennig immediately. Things get in a cluster against the ropes, and the Macho Man & Arn Anderson wind up dumping Tito Santana. #19 is BUSHWHACKER LUKE, and it looks like Butch realizes he’s not supposed to be in the ring anymore. Luke and Butch have no interaction, and the moment Luke gets in the ring, Butch goes and finds Bad News, and Brown dumps Butch with what looks like help from the Hulkster. The Mega Powers double team Bad News momentarily until Arn Anderson beaks it up. Brown & Savage pair off against the ropes, while the Brain Busters take on the Hulkster. Hogan launches Tully in a press slam down across the top rope, and it looked nasty. Here’s something you don’t see every day, Bushwhacker tries his hand at Hulk Hogan! Now there’s a sight! Hogan with the BIG BOOT on Arn, and here comes #20 KOKO B. WARE!

Ware blends right in after throwing a couple of dropkicks. Anderson climbs to the top rope, but Hogan slams him off! Here’s something else you don’t see every day, Luke AND Koko B. Ware going after Hogan. It’s so lopsided it’s almost hilarious. Almost. Hogan gets fed up with the jobber express, rakes both of their eyes simultaneously, and Hulk dumps Koko out as quick as he came in. A few moments later and Hogan eliminates Bushwhacker Luke much the same way. While Bad News has Savage teetering over the ropes, the Busters attack Hogan. Arn & Tully try for a double clothesline, but apparently Hulk Hogan is twice as powerful, as he runs right through their clothesline, and drags the Brain Busters backwards a good 16 feet and Hulk double clothesline both Arn and Tully out of the ring at the same time. And at the same time out comes #21 THE WARLORD.

In comes the Warlord…

and OUT GOES THE WARLORD, courtesy of the Hulk. Wow, 2 seconds, thanks for coming Warlord! Master Fuji can’t be happy.

Hulk’s on a roll now, so he walks straight over and dumps Bad News Brown next. There’s only one problem, Brown had Randy Savage teetering over the ropes, so when Hogan dumped Brown, he inadvertently eliminated the Macho Man as well.

Inadvertently my ass, that’s who Hogan was, he even said so in his promo. This doesn’t sit well with Savage, who immediately storms back into the ring, shoves Hogan and sticks his finger in the Hulkster’s face.

Luckily, Hogan is the only legal man in the ring at this time, so the two Mega Powers are allotted this time to hash out their differences. Savage is steaming from the elimination, Hogan swears it was an accident. Savage points at Hogan again and Hulk swats away Macho’s hand. UH-OH! There be trouble in the Mega Powers camp… And OUT COMES ELIZABETH TO RUIN THE FUN.

 

Miss Liz gets between her two boys and pleads with them not to fight. Savage is hot, bus Liz calms him down and convinces him to extend his hand to the Hulkster. Being the ass Hogan is, he has to think about it first before he accepts. Imagine that, Hogan dumps Savage, then it’s Hulk who has to think about the handshake. What a prick!

As the clock starts to count down Hogan finally shakes the hand of Savage, and meanwhile we learn that #22 is THE BIG BOSS MAN. The two men shake again and we’re back to the action. WOW, did that entire Hulk Hogan shit storm happen in a matter of like 3 minutes?

Hulk goes to town on the Boss Man to begin things, but the BBM changes all that when he reverses an Irish whip and hits an Avalanche on the Hulkster, followed by a Piledriver. Boss Man misses a splash and Hogan pops right up to take charge, but here comes #23 AKEEM.

You’re telling me DiBiase was upset with one of these numbers? As soon as Akeem gets in, Hogan beats the crap out of both Twin Towers, and makes sure to BODYSLAM Akeem (and you thought Cena was bad). Finally, the Towers overpower Hogan and beat him down, hitting him with a Double Avalanche in the corner. The Towers then eliminate Hogan to the shock of many, yours truly included.

Hogan gets pissed and pulls the Boss Man out under the bottom rope and continues the fight. Akeem comes out to save the Boss Man when #24 BRUTUS “THE BARBER” BEEFCAKE heads out to even things up. What are the odds of all these numbers being drawn in this order? What luck! Beefcake jumps on the back of Akeem, and the Towers and the Barber climb back in the ring. Boss Man comes off the ropes to hit Beefcake and Hogan pulls the rope down to eliminate the Boss Man.

The crowd loved it, I thought it just made Hogan look like a whiny bitch. He’d do something similar at Royal Rumble ’92 and the fans let him have it. While Beefcake & Akeem battle in the ring, Hogan & The Big Boss Man brawl all the way to the back.

 

Look out now! #25 IS THE RED ROOSTER! And listen to the Rooster Boosters go mild. No, seriously, he called his fans “Rooster Boosters”. How did that not get over?

Rooster and Beefcake try and dump Akeem, but it isn’t happening. #26 is THE BARBARIAN. Barbarian looks like he’s going to help the faces eliminate Akeem, but instead he beats on all 3 men. Barbarian & Beefcake take to the corner, while Akeem lands the big 747 Splash on The Rooster and does some dancing.

#27 is the returning BIG JOHN STUDD. This is Studd’s first match in the WWF in a couple of years. Studd goes right after Akeem, shoving the Rooster out of his way. #28 is HERCULES to the delight of the fans. Herc comes right in and helps Beefcake work over the Barbarian. Studd & Akeem stay married to each other for much, if not all of the time. #29 is another return, RICK MARTEL. Martel rushes right in to get in on the Studd and Akeem showdown, but Studd quickly puts an end to that and sends Martel on his merry way. Seems like Studd didn’t want anyone getting involved in the crap he was doing with Akeem.

As the clock winds down for #30, there’s no doubt who it is. #30 is “THE MILLION DOLLAR MAN” TED DIBIASE, and Gorilla Monsoon knows that some money talked for DiBiase to end up with this number. After all, Ted said it himself earlier, when you’re as wealthy as the Million Dollar Man, you can be as lucky as you want.

With numbers 1 – 22 all eliminated, Akeem is the de facto Ironman right now after drawing  #23. The final eight men in the match also happen to be the final 8 numbers to come out. DiBiase pairs off with the Rooster and the Rooster hits Ted with the FIVE ARM. DiBiase fights back and sends the Rooster into the corner hard, and Terry Taylor does a flip upside down in the corner and falls out of the ring. DiBiase has eliminated the Crimson Cock. I guess Terry Taylor will be eating crow tonight. Studd is still paired off with Akeem, and I don’t think Big John has even attempted to interact with anyone else. Hercules comes after DiBiase, who tried to purchase Herc as a slave a few months earlier, because that’s legal and all.

Studd finally pairs off with the Barbarian. Meanwhile Beefcake jumps on the back of Hercules and locks on the SLEEPER hold. As Hercules staggers to the ropes, Ted Dibiase & The Barbarian come up from behind and dumps both Herc and the Barber! The Barbarian with a powerslam on Martel, while Akeem & Dibiase work over Studd in the corner. Barbarian goes to the top and hits a DIVING HEADBUTT on Martel. Barbarian tries to clothesline Martel out of the ring, but Rick ducks and Martel dropkicks the Barbarian out of the match. Well almost, Barbarian gets caught on the top rope and Martel has to come over and shove him on out.

Akeem misses an avalanche on Martel and Rick comes back with a running body block. Akeem catches Martel with ease and dumps him out of the match.

And just like that, we’re down to the final three… It’s Big John Studd against Ted DiBiase and Akeem. Keep in mind Slick already sold one of the Twin Towers numbers to DiBiase, so it’s likely Akeem would take a walk for the cash. Akeem & DiBiase immediately team up against Studd. Akeem holds Studd for DiBiase to work him over, then Dibiase instructs Akeem on what to do. Akeem works over Studd for Ted. Akeem hits Studd with an Avalanche, and DiBiase wants to see one more! Akeem rushes at Studd again, and Big John pulls DiBiase in front of him. Akeem Avalanches both men, and somehow it doesn’t effect Studd. Akeem begins to stumble away when Studd clubs him in the back and Akeem just jumps over the top rope. Akeem is eliminated. Well that was shitty.

DiBiase now realizes he’s all alone with Studd and he offers to buy him off. Studd doesn’t want any part of it.

Ted goes to the eyes of Studd and goes to the middle rope, but John grabs him in a choke and drives him back into the corner! Great bump by DiBiase. DiBiase tries a boot but Studd catches his foot. Ted pleads, but John doesn’t want to hear it.

Studd spins ted around and sends him back into the corner before slamming him down to the mat. Studd is just toying with DiBiase, and now #30 doesn’t look like it was worth the money spent. Studd throws DiBiase across the ring with a butterfly suplex, never seen him do that before but it looked good.

Studd follows up with a sloppy looking gut wrench suplex, Studd doesn’t even bother to fall with the move he just throws DiBiase. Clothesline by Studd and Dibiase winds up doing a headstand!

Studd says that’s it and he flings DiBiase out of the ring to win the match! John Studd eliminates The Million Dollar Man to win the Royal Rumble at 1:04:53.

Virgil attacks John before he has time to celebrate, but Studd quickly eliminates Virgil as the unofficial 31st man in the match.

Winner: Big John Studd

(Post Match Thoughts: A major upgrade from the 1988 version. They started working in storylines and spots in the match, which is a big part of the match flow. They also began having faces against faces and heels against heels. It truly felt like every man for himself here. I thought DiBiase buying the final number, only to be eliminated, added a lot of suspense and storytelling to the finish of the match for the viewers at home. Mr. Perfect breaks Bret Hart’s ‘Ironman’ record from 1998 by just about 3 minutes, lasting around 28 minutes, which means Hennig was in for half of the match but you also have to take into consideration that Bret did 25 minutes plus in a Rumble that was a third smaller. And if it felt like Hogan threw out half the roster it’s because he did. Well more like about a third of the participants, but still a bit much, even for Hulkamania. I guess they gave him that since he agreed to lose.

I thought they could have separated some of the teams a little, notably Demolition, The Brain Busters, and the Twin Towers all coming out back to back. It just felt lazy. Even though I’m not big on Hogan, I thought they did a good job booking the whole segment of the match where Hulkamania runs wild, then he accidentally dumps Macho, they argue while the ring is clear, then out comes Boss Man who was currently feuding with Hogan, followed by Boss Man’s buddy Akeem, then Hogan’s brother Bruti happens to draw the next number to make the save. Booking a segment like that would set the tone for Rumbles to come. The only thing I didn’t care for was Hogan pulling the Boss Man out. I think Hulk got away with doing a lot of heelish things.

Also wanted to say, when I’m forced to watch as carefully as I did this time around, Shawn Michaels & Mr. Perfect really stole the show for me in the first half of the match. I didn’t realize how hard they worked in this Rumble until now. Hindsight being 20/20, I don’t understand the logic of Studd going over. I know Vince initially had big plans for John when he came back, but he put on quite a few stinkers with Andre, Akeem and Haku on the house shows in 1989, and injuries became too much. Match slowed down after Hogan & Boss Man were eliminated, but live and learn. ***1/2)

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE! Mean Gene is in the back to interview “Macho Man” Randy Savage about the altercation with Hulk Hogan. Macho didn’t think that it was going to come to blows, he says he’s the better man but tonight he was simply a victim of circumstance. Elizabeth calls the altercation a misunderstanding. Savage reminds Gene that the two men shook hands. Okerlund believes it’s more than a misunderstanding but Macho Man stands his ground. The Mega Powers forever, baby!

 

THE FINAL AUDIT 

One thing we got in this Royal Rumble that would evaporate rather quickly, was the opportunity to watch several of the guys draw their numbers. I liked the little hints they dropped and their reactions when pulling numbers. I felt that something this simple really made the event feel more realistic. For this to be the initial 30 man Royal Rumble, I thought they did a fine job with it, told the stories they needed to, and the flow of the match wasn’t bad at all, maybe a little slow near the end. Once Hogan was gone it felt like it was dragging with little “star power” involved and we were just waiting for DiBiase to come in. What sells me on it, is the unpredictability of it all, especially with no World Title “Road to WrestleMania” bullshit involved. I could have done without a lot of the undercard stuff, namely the Super Posedown and especially the Ladies match. Can you believe they left the Ladies match in tact on Coliseum Video but edited out the Race vs. Haku match completely? Speaking of the “Battle for the Crown”, I thought that match was fine on the undercard, not much crowd reaction, but the guys never relented. The 6-Man was the perfect example of a PPV opener, it had fast action, and lots of playing to the crowd for response, if it had been one fall the action could have been more fluid. If you can make it through the middle of the PPV (Posedown/Women’s Match), then the rest of the PPV is fairly solid, AND we got the whole Hogan/Savage showdown as a bonus.

On a rating scale of 1 – 10, ten being the shiznit, I can give this event a comfortable 6.5, maybe a  7. That’d be a moderate “THUMBS UP” in my book, but mainly for the Rumble match.

Approved

I’ll be back soon with another Royal Rumble review to continue in the tradition of the January event. Until then, this is I.R.S. saying catchya later, tax cheats!

The Audit: The 1988 Royal Rumble Review

1

EDITOR’S NOTE: This review was originally posted on December 28, 2017. 

Just when you thought you were out of the woods, the I.R.S. (that’s Ian R. Singletary) returns to Audit once again. With the Royal Rumble event now in season I felt it’d be a good time to go back and review some of the earlier Rumble pay-per-views. In this instance we’ll go so far back that we’ll actually predate the Rumble on PPV, back when it was just a fledgling idea of one Pat Patterson that aired on the USA Network.

As part of the plan to monopolize the wrestling industry, Titan Sports (the WWF) had just ran their first Survivor Series PPV heads up against the NWA Starrcade event on Thanksgiving night, 1987. Vince would continue the attack here by running a FREE special event on the USA Network up against the NWA’s Bunkhouse Stampede PPV. This would actually lead to the creation of Clash of the Champions which was a shot back at Vince and aired against WrestleMania IV. Anyhow, that’s another story. Back to the Rumble. The idea of the match itself was thought up by legendary wrestler, booker and finish man Pat Patterson. Pat proposed the idea to Vince McMahon, who reportedly hated it and said it would fail miserably. To test the waters they ran a few of these Rumble matches on house shows late in 1987. Apparently they went over well enough for Vince to give the green light to run one on the USA Network special pegged for January, 1988. The name of the show was batted around quite a bit, some local TV promos had it even being dubbed “the Rumble Royale” before it was settled on as the Royal Rumble we’ve come to know and love.

Now, we here in the United States don’t usually Audit outside of our own jurisdiction, but in this instance I’ll make an exception. Let us head to Hamilton, Ontario, Canada for the first installment of…

 

THE ROYAL RUMBLE 1988

We go back to January 24, 1988 and to COPPS Coliseum in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada to review the very first WWF Royal Rumble event. Reported attendance for this event was said to be 16,200.

As mentioned, this particular Rumble event would air live on free TV. Well, it’s free TV if you had cable. It’s the USA Network and your announcers are the “Superstars” duo of Vince McMahon and Jesse “The Body” Ventura.

A couple of announcer notes here. If you were an avid viewer of WWF Prime Time Wrestling as I was, you may already know this was not the originally planned announce team for the event. For weeks Bobby Heenan had played up the idea that he would be at the Rumble for commentary and to support Andre. About three weeks or so before the event Heenan would backtrack and suggest that he was going on “vacation” that week and would not even be at the event. In the mean time, Ted DiBiase would buy him up some Andre and replace Heenan as the corner man. On the other side of the commentary booth, Gorilla Monsoon was slated to be the play-by-play man for this event but would actually suffer a mild Heart Attack leading into the show and he’d be replaced by Vince.

Usually, I leave notes going into each match or segment explaining what was leading up to the bout. I won’t be doing that here because this card was basically booked with standalone matches that had little to no back story. Some of the selling points of tonight’s show include..

* The first ever televised 20-Man Royal Rumble
* The Hulk Hogan/Andre the Giant contract signing
* Ricky Steamboat vs. Rick Rude
* Best of Three Falls Match for the Women’s Tag Team Titles
* Dino Bravo attempts to set the World Bench Press Record
* The Islanders vs. The Young Stallions (Best of Three Falls)

Now that we have that out of the way, let the show begin.

As the show opens up we can already hear a variation of the stripper music playing in the background. It’s “Ravishing” Rick Rude in the ring awaiting his opponent.

 

“Ravishing” Rick Rude vs. Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat

 

 

 

 

 

The entrances seemed rush but that’s fine by me. Rude jumps Steamboat to try and get the advantage, Rick pitches Ricky out of the ring over the top but the Dragon skins the cat right back in. Steamboat returns to rip into Rude and he tosses Rude over the top and Rick takes a nasty back bump against the corner of the apron. Ouch. Ravishing Rick returns to the ring and does some flexing before requesting the old ‘test of strength’ routine. Steamboat counters out of it and hits that nifty deep armdrag. That is followed by an arm bar. A very long, boring, arm bar that seems to go on, and on, and on, and on. They try and separate the spot with Rick making several escape attempts but it all leads back to an arm bar. Now there’s some lady in the crowd who has a megaphone. I kid you not. So not we have an arm bar AND an annoying lady screaming into a megaphone. Isn’t that just dandy.

Rude finally and mercifully breaks the hold with some kicks and punches. Rude punches Steamboat. And punches Steamboat. And punches Steamboat some more. This is redundant and it’s making me sleepy. Wow, Rick was pretty shitty still at this point. He looked great but shit man learn some moves. Rude throws so many punches even McMahon can no longer ignore it. Vince – “All Rude knows is punching”. Yeah, Vince actually said that. Steamboat finally slides through Rude’s legs, hits another armdrag and, oh no, God, please no, the Dragon goes back to the.. arm bar. Yawwwwn. Rest-hold-rama

This time Rude frees himself with a stiff elbow. Rude blows some type of spot where he’s supposed to send Ricky to the floor. Rude catches the Dragon with a knee in the back but Steamboat still falls backwards out of the ring. Very awkward. Rude goes outside and slams Ricky on the floor and then a suplex brings Steamboat back into the ring. Now it’s Rude’s turn to put the fans to sleep. A seated chinlock by Rude on the Dragon. Steamboat powers him way up and executes an Electric Chair Drop on Rude, or as it was known at the time by Vince, “what-a-maneuver”. Dragon tries a splash but Rude gets the knees up. Does Ricky ever land that splash?

Rude with a shitty looking atomic drop and then back to the seated chinlock. Are they trying to kill me? Steamboat break by sending Rude repeatedly into the buckle. They do the bridge up into a backslide routine that Steamboat and Flair would make famous a year later. Steamboat gets two in the backslide. Dragon starts making quick fall attempts with roll ups and jack knifes, all of them result in 2 counts. Rude with a small package but Ricky reverses it and yet another 2. Rude levels Dragon with a clothesline, but Steamboat reverses a suplex. The Dragon goes up top for the cross body, but Rude pulls referee Dave Hebner in the way and Steamboat lands on the ref. What a heel thing to do.

Rude takes advantage of Steamboat and hoists him up over his shoulder in the “Body Breaker’ / Pendulum backbreaker / Canadian backbreaker / Bruno’s backbreaker / Over the Shoulder backbreaker hold. This was actually Rude’s finisher in 1987 and early 1988 prior to the Rude Awakening neckbreaker. Rude had been using the DDT as his finisher before coming to Titan, but two guys can’t have the same finisher in WWF-land. Anyway, back to the backbreaker hold. Rude has Steamboat locked in it.

Hebner gets to his feet, he taps Rude and calls for the bell. Rick Rude drops the Dragon to celebrate. Rick’s theme begins to play for a bit.

Rude is halfway up the aisle when Howard Finkel announces that Ravishing Rick has been disqualified after 17:38. Hebner DQed Rude for pulling him in the way of Steamboat.

This match finally ends but not without taking a few casualties with it I’m sure.

Winner: Via DQ, Ricky Steamboat

(Post Match Thoughts: Let’s put things in perspective real quick. This was 1988 so you have to remember two things. First, we didn’t get matches like this on TV much at all so you were supposed to appreciate even getting to see it. Second, the shit finish was common WWF practice at the time. Even the WrestleMania Pay-Per-Views were loaded with crap DQ and count out finishes. So you basically ate crap and liked it in those days. That still doesn’t excuse them for making me want to take a snooze during the first match on the card.

This was a far cry from their work together in WCW only four years later. Rude would improve drastically over the next several years. Almost TWENTY MINUTES of rest holds and punches here. A few good spots but very slow otherwise. I can count on one finger how many ‘bad’ Steamboat matches I’ve seen. This match is that finger. I’ll let you guess which finger. Rude wasn’t at his best here, but Steamboat wasn’t killing it either. I’m a fan of both, but not here so much. Solid but boring. Even a bad Steamboat match is still *3/4)

 

Dino Bravo Looks To Break The “World Bench Press Record”

Mean Gene introduces the next segment. He’s up on the stage with Jesse Ventura who will be acting as spotter. For the dumb ones out in the crowd Gene has Ventura explain what a spotter is. If you don’t know, Google it. Dino Bravo will attempt to break the 705 pound World Bench Press Record. Dino Bravo and recently acquired manager Frenchy Martin are introduced. Lots of French speaking from Martin. Now Ventura explains why Bravo is putting powder on his hands before lifting. It’s to keep his hands from slipping. Bravo wants TOTAL SILENCE before he lifts, so naturally the fans boo.

Bravo repeatedly presses “415 pounds” as a warm up. He then stacked the bar to “505 pounds” and Bravo again with rapidly presses as if they weight nothing. Now we up it to “555 pounds” and again success. Now things are getting heavy. “595 pounds” follows. This is getting redundant and a total waste of time. “655 pounds” is next. Success again. How long is this shit? Seriously, is it really f**king necessary to to keep adding weight to the bar this many times? Just put in a warm up and lift the damned 715 pounds.

Speaking of which. Finally, after 5 separate warm ups Bravo readies himself to lift “715”. Finally we can end this shit.

Bravo gets set to lift but then WALKS OFF THE STAGE. You’ve got to be kidding me. Now we get stalling? This segment is pushing TWENTY MINUTES PEOPLE! TWENTY MINUTES of Bravo lifting weights.

Finally, Bravo lays back under the bar and attempts to break the bench press record. Bravo begins to lift the 715 pounds but starts to struggle. His spotter Jesse Ventura has to help Bravo in pushing the bar up. So all of that and then the payoff is Bravo couldn’t even do it. The crowd craps all over the segment.

(Post Segment Thoughts: Well this was definitely NOT what I wanted to see after the Rude/Steamboat match. One of the least over and worst workers at this stage in his career, Dino gets 20 minutes to lift weights on TV. This shit went on just way too damn long, obviously something Vince probably enjoyed and no one else. Way too much screwing around in between each set of weights. Not to mention the actual lifting was tedious and repetitive. TWENTY MINUTES, are you kidding me??? This wasn’t the kind of ‘heel heat’ you would want. I don’t know what this was meant to accomplish but it failed epically on every level. I don’t rate non-wrestling segments but if I did this thing would easily get negative stars. One of the most boring segments in WWF history. Rumble ’88 is 0 for 2 thus far.)

 

WWF Ladies Tag Team Championship Match – 2 Out of 3 Falls

The Glamour Girls (Leilani Kai & Judy Martin, with Jimmy Hart) (c)
vs.
The Jumping Bomb Angels (Itsuki Yamazaki & Noriyo Tateno)

(Notes Going In: This is pretty much the only match (and only segment besides Hogan/Andre) that touches on an ongoing back story. The Glamour Girls are your de facto Ladies Tag Champions after having ‘won’ them in EGYPT. It is the WORLD Wrestling Federation after all. The Bomb Angels debuted at the 1987 Survivor Series in Richfield and quickly got over with the fans for their amazing wrestling ability. Their 10-woman match at Series would ultimately come down to two on two with the Angels vs. The Glamour Girls, the Angels eventually eliminating both Girls to become the survivors of the match. After having taken the WWF by storm and showing the fans that there are indeed entertaining lady wrestlers out there, the Angels were pegged for a title match here against the Girls. It’s the best 2 out of 3 falls.)

Fall #1 Begins
The Angels actually stretch out there hamstrings before the bout, nothing wrong with that, safety first.  The match starts off with the Angels landing stereo dropkicks on the Girls. Kai blocks a second dropkick by Tateno and takes control. Tateno shows her strength and agility early by bridging out of a cover to her feet. Yamazaki tags in and delivers a rolling double thrust chop and a variation of the piledriver turned into a gut wrench suplex. Tateno tags back and works a body scissors on Martin. At this point Ventura asks McMahon the names of the Angels. Vince has no clue so he decides to call them “PINK” AND “RED”. Really? You’re the f’n owner of the company AND the announcer of your first high profile USA special and your preparation is to refer to people you have working for you as the colors they are wearing??? I can hear Marv Albert referring to someone coming off the bench in the NBA as “beard guy” or “bald guy”. Vince sounds absolutely unprofessional as an analyst and it shows how much he really gave a shit about the ladies.

Back to the match. Martin catches Tateno in a cross body and drops her into a slam. Kai & Yamazaki tag in. Flying double chop and a dropkick on Kai. Yamazaki rocks the OCTOPUS HOLD! Hellz yeah. Martin comes rushing in to break up the hold but somehow hits her own partner. Now we have all four girls in the ring and the Angels apply stereo Figure Four leglocks. Martin & Tateno are eventually sent back to their corners. Yamazaki works KKai’s hamstrings over. Tateno with a reverse Indian death lock and turns it into a bow and arrow stretch on Kai. Martin comes in and tries to pull Kai in her corner but the Angels win the tug of war and yank Kai back. Yamazaki and Martin tag in. Judy charges at a double boot in the corer from Yamazaki, but Martin holds onto the legs and drops Itsuki into a powerbomb of sorts. Vince refers to Martin as the “largest” lady in the match. Tallest maybe but Kai has he beat in the gut area.

Yamazaki leapfrogs a backdrop attempt by Judy but runs into a knee from Kai on the apron. Judy hits a nice ‘Alley Oop’ facebuster for first fall after 6:10.

Glamour Girls – 1,  Angels – 0

Fall #2
The heels try to take advantage of a hurt Yamazaki since the winner/loser of the last fall have to start the next. Yamazaki shows her strength by keeping a bridge up after being hammered repeatedly. Kai misses a splash and Tateno tags in. Tateno with a flying clothesline and a second clothesline from the middle rope on Kai for 2. Tateno cross body for 2. Vince has finally learned their names. Itsuki and “NORINO”. Jesse says that sounds Italian. Yamazaki tags back in, double suplex by the Angels on Kai. The Glamour Girls reverse a double whip but the Angels put on the brakes before crashing into one another. The Girls charge but the Angels duck and the Girls clothesline each other. Even still Kai manages to gain control of Itsuki. Kai tries an over the shoulder backbreaker but Yamazaki floats it over into a sunset flip and the Angels win the second fall in a mere 1:52. The falls are tied.

Girls – 1, Angels – 1

Fall #3, The Final Fall
The Angels start off fast sending Kai into the ropes for a double knee and a double clothesline. Kai cuts them off with some boots and tags in Martin. Judy catches Itsuki’s boot but Yamazaki turns it into an enzuigiri. Martin didn’t appear to enthused to take that. Tatento comes in and tries a cradle suplex (Perfect Plex) but Judy dead weights that to in order to prevent it from happening. Martin escapes a backslide and hits a catapult on Tateno. Kai tags in double underhook suplex on Tateno for 2. Yamazaki is tagged in but she gets worked over on the heel side of the ring. Itsuki finally grabs a waistlock on Kai and drives her down onto her ass twice like the old Bubba Bomb. This gets 2. Partners switch out and Tateno with a diving knee off the top on Martin. Tateno with an impressive bridging double underhook suplex but referee Joey Marella is super slow to count and it only gets 2. Marella looked confused because he hadn’t seen such a quality wrestling move in so long. Yamazaki comes in with a cross body on Martin gets 2.

Yamazaki climbs up the ropes and misses a flying senton. Damn. Martin takes advantage and covers but only gets 2. Tateno tags back in, clothesline off the middle rope but Kai breaks up the cover at 2. While Marella gets Kai back out of the ring the Angels land a perfectly timed Double Dropkick off the top on Martin and that ends the final fall after 5:49. New Champs!

Total time of the action was 13:51

Girls – 1, Angels – 2

Winners: The Angels from Japan

 

 

 

 

 

(Post Match Thoughts: This was a fun match even though there were some sloppy spots throughout. I couldn’t tell if the Glamour Girls, Martin in particular, was purposely blocking a couple of moves or was just confused how to take them / scared to take them. I’d assume the latter.

If you believe the stories that are out there this feud was to have continued through Summer Slam. The two teams were to have went over to Japan during the early summer months and perfected a match to bring back for S. Slam where the Glamour Girls would regain the belts and work with even more AJW talent. Supposedly, Moolah hated the fact that the Glamour Girls refused her as manager and pitched the idea of Jimmy Hart. You don’t take money out of Moolah’s pocket. Her name fits well. Moolah also wasn’t happy with AJW talent stealing spots on shows since Moolah got a cut of the people she trained, like Martin & Kai, when they performed. So the story goes Moolah called the Glamour Girls in Japan in June and told them that Vince wanted them to win the titles back in Japan that night. They trusted Moolah so the ladies did the title switch. Upon hearing of this, Vince McMahon and booker Pat Patterson were furious and basically killed the women’s tag division dead. So Moolah sabotaged the ladies division. You can take that story however way you like, but everything I’ve ever heard about Moolah says this could easily be a true story. She was a scumbag.

Back to the match. The Angels were years ahead of their time in the States and these matches actually garnered positive responses and excitement from the fans unlike most U.S. ladies matches of the time. Even with some sloppy spots in the match this was still better than almost anything else WWF was putting on free TV at the time. *** You go girls!)

 

Hulk Hogan / Andre The Giant – The Contract Signing

Before the next segment a flashback video is shown of WrestleMania III. It’s the early part of the match where Hogan tries to slam Andre but the Giant falls on top and it appears referee Marella may have counted three before Hogan got his shoulder out. This enabled Andre to claim he should be champion for the last 9 months. Fast forward to “The Million Dollar Man” arriving in the WWF and attempting to purchase the WWF Title from Hulk Hogan, to which Hogan responded ‘HELL NOOOOOOOOO’. This enraged DiBiase who would then purchase the contract of Andre the Giant from Bobby Heenan for a cool One Million Dollars. If he’s only THE Million Dollar Man, wouldn’t that break him? Specifics aside, DiBiase purchased Andre’s contract with the plan for Andre to beat the Hulkster and then Ted would buy the belt from the Giant. The video package closes with Andre choking out Hogan from a recent edition of Saturday Night’s Main Event.

This contract signing here is to set up the upcoming Hogan title defense vs. Andre in PRIME TIME on NBC set to take place Friday night, February the 5th. The very first WWF ‘Main Event’ program. This was a gigantic coup at the time for Pro Wrestling to get a prime time slot on a major network station.

The bell rings for whatever reason? We see Gene Okerlund, WWF President Jack Tunney and the heels in the ring. The heels being Andre, DiBiase, and Virgil. Hogan’s out next in interesting attire including tight jeans and cowboy boots. As the festivities begin and they get Andre to take a seat, Ted DiBiase has some things to say to the Hulkster. While Ted cuts an awesome heel promo about taking the title, Andre just stares down Hogan with a look of death. For the first time ever Hogan actually looks scared. Andre gives a long death stare at Hogan before finally signing the contract. Hogan signs as well.

In closing, DiBiase tells Andre to give the match a final ‘STAMP OF APPROVAL’. As soon as DiBiase says this, both Hogan and Andre jump up from their seats. DiBiase says more shit to the Hulkster which causes Hogan to lunge at DiBiase. Andre intercepts Hogan and drives him face first into the table before flipping the table over on Hulk’s face on the mat. HAH, I love it.

End segment.

(Post Segment Thoughts: The pre-segment video wasn’t overdone, it touched on the main points and flowed quickly. The actual segment was fine as well. It didn’t drag on like Dino Bravo’s segment or today’s Raw promos. Andre’s mannerisms without speaking were awesome, he did more staring at Hogan than most do cutting 20 minute promos today. DiBiase was such an awesome heel here and a great evil promo to boot. Hogan played his part fine even going so far as to show potential fear for the first time. Hogan knew how to sell something if it meant there was $$$ to be made and he had no problem acting worried to make the upcoming match more intriguing. The final spot with Andre attacking Hogan was fresh for the time, contract signings hadn’t been done to death in 1988 and it was a good cherry on the sundae to give the heels even more heat heading into The Main Event. It made Hogan look vulnerable. I know this show was named after a match but make no mistake, this was the main event as far as Vince was concerned. I don’t rate segments but this was decent and didn’t wear out it’s welcome.)

 

With very little fanfare Vince says the Rumble match is next. After a quick break Vince and Jesse explain the rules of the match and how #20 will have the advantage.  With that we head to the ring where Howard Finkel again goes over the rules. It’s time for the introduction of #1 and #2, but the men are already waiting in the ring so there’s no suspense there.

THE ROYAL RUMBLE MATCH

Bret “Hitman” Hart draws #1,

Tito Santana gets #2.

Ventura mentions the irony since the two are currently feuding over the tag team titles. Yeah, almost as if this was rigged Jess. Probably the best two wrestlers in the match draw the first two numbers and go at it until #3 “The Natural” Butch Reed joins the match to make it a two on one against Santana. Tito manages to hang in there until the end of the period. Reed accidentally nails Bret and Tito begins to fight both of them off just as #4 Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart heads in to make it THREE ON ONE. The heels are literally triple teaming Tito for the entire time, the Harts never turn on Reed or vice versa. All three heels have Tito teetering out when #5 Jake “The Snake” Roberts hits the ring. Jake immediately dumps Butch Reed out of the match from behind. And now we’re 2 on 2. Hart nails Tito with a piledriver as we wind down to the next participant, which is..

“The King” Harley Race is #6. Another heel to keep things in the heel’s favor. Sort of a War Games vibe there. Race is all over Jake for this period. Anvil with an impressive standing dropkick on Tito. #7 “Jumping” Jim Brunzell of the Killer Bees. Sam Houston is #8 and did I mention how insane this crowd is? I mean they’re crazy loud, even for Sam Houston. WWE would long for a crowd like this now. The brothers, Houston and Roberts walk right past each other in the ring and don’t even acknowledge one another. Awww. Bret Hart eliminates Tito Santana in all the melee. In comes #9 “Dangerous” Danny Davis and he and Sam Houston go right at it to continue their jobber feud. Jake pounds on Race in a fun seesaw spot. #10 is Boris Zhukov and I can’t help but notice how eerily similar this roster list looks like the WrestleMania IV Battle Royal. Seriously, everyone in here right now except Jake are in the WM4 BR. We’re now half way through the participants.

#11 is… “The Rock” Don Muraco. Confusion ensues as Nikolai Volkoff runs down three feet behind Muraco and they fight over who is #11. It appears Nikolai can’t count, is confused, or wants to help his partner out. No matter what Muraco is #11 and Volkoff is forced to stand at ringside and wait for his turn. While Volkoff stands by and watched, Jake Roberts and Jim Brunzell eliminate Boris Zhukov. He didn’t last long. Brunzell hits his patented sweet dropkick on Bret Hart as we count down to #12 Nikolai Volkoff. No surprise there. Muraco eliminates Harley Race shortly after. While Vince argues with Jesse about using double negatives, the referees are arguing with Race to leave ringside.

#13 is “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan and he crosses paths with Race at ringside. The two have recently been feuding. Duggan shoves Race, Harley cheap shots Duggan. Hacksaw chases Race halfway up the aisle, then returns to the ring to wrestle. #14 is “Outlaw” Ron Bass. Volkoff picks up Brunzell and slams him out of the ring. #15 is B. Brian Blair of the Bees. We’ve got 10 men in the ring now.

#16 is Hillbilly Jim. We’ve built up to 11 men in the ring and it’s crazy how many of these guys work the Mania IV Battle Royal. Hillbilly eliminates the Anvil almost immediately after entering. #17 is Dino Bravo. This ass gets two segments on the show? Why Vince Why? Ron Bass hoists Sam Houston up on his shoulders in an Electric Chair drop position and dumps him out. #18 is The Ultimate Warrior and he goes right after the Outlaw. Poor Bass. #1 Bret Hart is finally eliminated by Don Muraco after 25:00 plus in the ring. The One Man Gang comes in at #19 and the Gang eliminates Blair, followed by the Gang eliminating Jake Roberts.

#20 is The Junk Yard Dog. JYD is the final entrant. And we’ve got 10 men left, that’s half the field still in this. Of course you know that means rapid eliminations are coming. Duggan backdrops Nikolai out. The Gang dumps the Hillbilly. Duggan with a 3 Point Stance and he clotheslines Danny Davis’ ass right out of there. Bravo and the Gang work together to eliminate the Warrior. The Outlaw tosses JYD who only lasted maybe 2:00 or so. Muraco eliminates Bass after a shitty clothesline.

We’ve got our Final Four in Duggan, Muraco, Bravo and the Gang. The Gang crushes Duggan in the corner with an avalanche. Muraco tries to fight off OMG and Dino. The Rock with a dropkick on Gang. Frenchy Martin jumps onto the apron, Muraco dropkicks him off. Bravo and Gang use the distraction to their advantage and they eliminate Muraco.

Duggan is all alone versus two.

The heels double team Duggan. Bravo holds Jim, but Duggan moves and OMG accidentally clotheslines Bravo out of the match!

Down to two. Duggan rocks the Gang punches, Gang takes over and chokes Hacksaw up against the ropes. The Gang backs up and charges at Duggan, but Hacksaw pulls the rope down. Out goes the OMG!

Duggan Wins in 33:54!

(Post Match Thoughts: Anybody who can do basic math can see that the “2 minute intervals” weren’t close to legit in this first outing. The match went just shy of 34:00 total yet mathematically JYD shouldn’t have even come out until the 36:00 mark, and the match would have ended around 40 or 41 minutes. I’m not making a complaint, I just like to be thorough. I thought it was great that we got the entire match commercial free, that was a huge plus for a TV program. For their first crack at the Rumble match as a broadcasted event I thought it was fine. I think it’s crazy that more than half of the field would meet again in the Mania 4 Battle Royal.The match was a little light on star power but it was still fun. Bret Hart becomes the first Rumble “Ironman’ after lasting 25 plus minutes (nearly the whole match). The Gang gets the first nod as the ‘monster’ of the match after tossing out a half dozen guys which boils down to almost a third of the field.

There was very little heel vs. heel, and practically no face vs. face interaction, but that would change as the Rumble match was perfected in the following years. To have a match like this on basic cable TV at this time is just insane to think about. A true treat from the typical squash matches. As a prototype of the match I can’t really find many complaints here. The crowd being explosive helped the matter. ***)

 

Craig DeGeorge Interviews Hulk Hogan
We have a video flashback from earlier in the show and the contract signing between Hogan and Andre. Following the video, Craig DeGeorge is up on the stage and intros Hulk Hogan. The Hulkster has taken the notion to change his clothes. Hulkamaniacs don’t have a price brother. Hogan hard sells the February 5th Main Event special on NBC. Andre can’t beat him. Fuck you money bags.

 

Two Out Of Three Falls Match

 

 

 

 

 

The Islanders (Haku & Tama)
vs.
The Young Stallions (Jim Powers & Paul Roma)


Fall #1 Begins
This is the final match on the show and is 2 out of 3 falls for some reason. Bobby Heenan is away in “Barbados” so the Islanders work this alone. The odd positioning of this match is likely to fill time in order to get in the Hogan and upcoming Andre/Dibiase interviews. For some reason Vince brings up the earlier Dino Bravo segment and called it dull and boring and said it made him want to sleep. No f’n kidding! The Islanders are back here after a very brief “suspension” by President Jack Tunney for stealing Matilda from the Bulldogs.

Powers and Tama start. Tama bails to the floor quickly. They restart, Powers catches Tama’s foot and hits an atomic drop. Tama cheap shots Powers in the corner and tags in Haku. Roma also tags in and works Haku’s arm. Roma and Haku do some NASTY SCARY hiptoss reversal spot with Haku almost breaking Roma’s neck. SHIT that was scary. Haku and Roma cross body each other, Roma lands on top for 2. Tama & Powers back in and the Islanders take control and beat down Powers. Powers manages a hot tag to Roma just as Tama is coming ing. Jumping clothesline by Roma and a nice dropkick. Roma with a backdrop on Tama and he knocks Haku off the apron. Roma completely misses a dropkick but Tama sells it anyway and bumps for 2. With Roma on fire, Haku on the apron drops the tope rope down and Tama flings Roma out to the floor. Roma injures his knee and is counted out in 7:54.

 

Craig DeGeorge Interviews Ted DiBiase & Andre the Giant
In between falls while Paul Roma is being “looked at”, we conveniently have time for another interview. This time DeGeorge is with Andre, DiBiase, and meat sauce Virgil. Andre the Giant says that he is still undefeated. DiBiase is confident in Andre defeating Hogan at The Main Event and surrendering the championship to Ted. Everybody’s got a price.


Fall #2 (Islanders vs. Stallions)
There’s no bell before the second fall. Roma has to start this fall on a bad knee and the Islanders immediately take advantage of that. The idiot Roma puts his KNEES up on a Tama splash and hurts his nee even further. Hot tag to Powers. Powers with a HIGH backdrop on Haku for 2. Powers with offense on Haku, nice suplex for 2. Islanders take over on Jim boy. Tama shouts “CUMMON SUCKA” which Vince even questions. Islanders just dominate Powers like a jobber. Haku misses a somersault senton. Damn Haku was great when he was lean. Powers back is still hurt. A weird spot where Powers ducks a dropkick but immediately falls. Hot tag to injured Roma. Roma comes in limping but punching. Haku kicks Paul’s bad leg. Tama with a splash off the top on the leg. Haku follows with a half crab to end it in approximately 7:14 since there was no bell.

Total time was around 15:08

Winners: Islanders win in two straight falls.

(Post Match Thoughts: This can’t really be classified as much more than filler, but it was solid. They needed something to follow the Rumble match so that they could squeeze in the Hogan and Andre interviews to continue the Main Event hype. This was not much more than a very stretched out squash but at least it told a story with Roma’s knee injury. Roma and Powers had flashes of good stuff but it wasn’t much. Islanders looked solid and were really starting to pick up momentum, too bad Tama had to ruin that after Mania 4. Haku was absolutely awesome in the ring when he was trimmed down like right here, and still a killer in real life when he bulked up. Even though it wasn’t anything special it was solid enough for a TV match, and with the Young Stallions involved that’s saying a little something. **1/4)

 

THE FINAL AUDIT

In essence, this was a throwaway show for Vince. This was nothing more than a placeholder event to take buys away from Crockett’s Bunkhouse Stampede PPV while promoting his upcoming NBC special and WrestleMania IV PPV. The card wasn’t even an “all hands on deck” event as you’d tend to expect for such a show. Guys like Randy Savage, IC Champion The Honky Tonk Man, Demolition, and many others were working a “B” show in Nova Scotia on the same night. While the Rumble match was the namesake main event here, the focus was more or less on the Hogan vs. Andre contract signing and the build to their upcoming World Championship match on NBC. As a PPV this would be classified with much less of a rating simply because of the lack of stars on the card. I even felt it odd that they didn’t do Islanders vs. Bulldogs, or include Rick Martel in the Rumble match just to boost things a little. I’m sure they had their reasons. Even though the Rumble show lacked star power it was more enjoyable than the Bunkhouse Stampede as a whole.

As a special event, you have the throwaway Islanders match, which was solid but essentially an extended squash. Rude vs. Steamboat was there but left a lot to be desired. The Bravo segment went on WAYYY too long, was repetitive and, oh yeah, boring. But on the other side, you had the new concept Rumble match which was fun, the ladies match which was pretty good, and the Hogan/Andre stuff which was used to build to the important Main Event show which in turn built to WrestleMania 4. It’s a mixed bag show but the good outweighs the bad, and really the only “shoot your eyes out” BAD segment was the Bravo crap.

If you’re watching this show it’s likely for the Rumble so you can’t go wrong there. The ladies match was a nice added surprise and equally enjoyable. Outside of the aforementioned Dino segment, and maybe Rude vs. Steamboat nothing on the card is going to make you yawn or cringe.

I hate to be the guy who drops the “historical reasons” line but it’s true, this card is historical for the sole purpose of the first ever televised Rumble match. So for that I’d recommend a view of at least that segment. This show as a whole for a TV special gets a fun 7 out of 10. Somewhere around a B- / C+ grade. It’s a mild recommendation but if you skip the first two segments it should be smooth viewing.

And that wraps it up for the inaugural Royal Rumble event. Expect a few more brand new Royal Rumble reviews from me over the next few weeks as we get closer to the 2017 edition of the show. Until next time this is I.R.S., that’s Ian R. Singletary, saying catcha later tax cheats.

The Event Center: WWF In Your House 3

0

The Event Center: WWF In Your House 3

Disclaimer:
I know it’s been a while since one of these have been posted but there has been a lot going on with the family on my end so I haven’t had much time to get these up. I had a vacation and some other things that life called for and this had to get put on the back burner. But I am back and I have about 5-6 shows that are ready to go. I also plan on switching some things up and doing some new things going forward. Look out for that and just remember we ain’t going no where.

Introduction:
Hello everyone and welcome back to the Event Center right here on CrazyMax. I am your host, xstat32x. Welp the fall has rolled in which means we got cool weather and football. What this also means is that we are now heading into our Fall Review Series. That means we are going to be doing shows from September to November. We get classics such as Fall Brawl, In Your House, Survivor Series, Halloween Havoc, Starrcade, and maybe our first foray into TNA. Our first show up on the docket is none other than In Your House 3. The main event features all 3 titles on the line in one match and whoever takes the pinfall loses their titles. This is a pretty sweet concept that I am surprised hasn’t happened more often. Anyways, this is right in the middle of the New Generation so we are going to be in store for some crap but thats okay because I am ready to get this thing going. So lets do it to it.

Event Information:
Date: September 24th, 1995
Location: Saginaw Civic Center in Saginaw, Michigan
Attendance: Saginaw Civic Center in Saginaw, Michigan
Main Event: All Titles On The Line: Diesel/Shawn Michaels vs. Yokozuna/Owen Hart

Show Opening:

The show opens up with highlight video on the main event match. Todd Pettengill is doing the voice over work here and getting you hyped for the pay per view. Todd says it’s a game of jeopardy and for the first time ever all three titles are up for grabs in the same match. After that we head inside the building where Vince McMahon, Jerry Lawler, and Jim Ross are standing by ringside. Vince says they are ready for action and we are ready for titles to change hands. Lawler predicts that Owen will beat Shawn Michaels and become the new Intercontinental Champion. Ross predicts that Yokozuna will become the new Intercontinental champion as well. Vince tells us that Shawn could be in trouble tonight as he sends us up to the ring to get our first match going.

Pre-Match Thoughts:
There’s really no build to this one. Waylon is a newer character that is probably making his one and only pay per view appearance. Meanwhile, Savio is a lightning rod and can excite the crowd so this is a solid opener for a pay per view if you ask me. Lets get this one going.

Match 1: Savio Vega vs. Waylon Mercy

This Waylon Mercy gimmick is pretty damn awesome. It’s a shame it didn’t work. It is a knock off of the character from Cape Fear that De Niro played in the Martin Scorsese movie. Waylon tries to attack Savio from behind but Savio moves out of the way and Savio starts laying in the right hands and chops to Waylon. Savio starts to work the arm early on here. Waylon drives the knee into the midsection of Savio and then drops him with a clothesline to get control of the match here. Waylon throws Savio to the outside and he goes out after him and lays in the vicious chops to Savio. Waylon then picks up Savio and drops him with a body slam to the floor.

Waylon goes for a stun gun move but he falls down to early and Savio hits his feet before he gets draped over the top rope. That looked sloppy as hell like most of this match. They go to Dok Hendrix in the back with late breaking news. Dok says that Owen is not there and he is not in the building yet. Waylon goes for an elbow but Savio rolls out of the way. Waylon reverses an Irish whip and ends up getting Savio in a sleeper hold. Savio gets out of the hold by driving Mercy head first into the top turnbuckle. Waylon gets back up and goes right back to the sleeper hold but Savio drops him with a belly to back suplex.

Both guys get up and they exchange lefts and rights. Savio drops Waylon with a big ass big boot. He got that one flush in the chin. Savio then hits a nice spin kick to the face of Waylon for a 2 count. Waylon is going for a hip toss but Savio ends up dropping him with a bulldog instead for another 2 count. Waylon then picks up Savio and dumps him with a sloppy ass brain buster that looked pretty dangerous. Waylon picks up Savio and drops him with a belly to back suplex for another 2 count.

Savio goes up and over on a body slam attempt and hits Waylon with a German suplex for a 2 count. Savio then goes off the ropes and hits a spinning wheel kick on Waylon Mercy for the 1-2-3. Your winner of the match by pinfall….Savio Vega!

Recap
This match was sloppy and trash if you ask me. Waylon messed up 3-4 spots and they are extremely visible and easy to point out. Waylon could barely go by this point and Savio exposed that. Savio got a little sloppy but his offense was good and I really liked his kicks. Not the best of openers but not the worst either but I would probably skip this one if you watch this show.

They go to the back where Gorilla Monsoon and Jim Cornette are discussing the main event. Cornette says that Owen is here, in Michigan, but not in the building yet. Gorilla says the triple header match will go down tonight pretty much no matter what.

Pre-Match Thoughts:
A month prior on Raw Godwinn ended up slopping Ted Dibiase and then he turned around and did it again on Superstars this past weekend. Sid came out and dropped Henry with a power bomb on the floor. Later on in that episode of Superstars, Godwinn ended up coming out while Sid was laid out on the floor and slopped him. DiBiase is using his hired gun to do his dirty work and take care of Henry Godwinn for slopping him on Raw.

Match 2: Sycho Sid vs. Henry O. Godwinn

Godwinn gets the control early when he slams Sid face first into the mat. Godwinn hits a few right hands and it sends Sid to the apron. Sid stands up and Godwinn drops him with a clothesline and this sends Sid to the floor. Godwinn shows off the strength by suplexing Sid back into the ring. This took a tole on the back of Godwinn and he couldn’t get Sid up for a body slam.

Godwinn is standing in front of the ropes and Sid ends up hitting him with a knee to the back. DiBiase works over Godwinn on the floor while Sid distracts the ref. Sid hits a couple of ax handles to the lower back of Godwinn before throwing him back into the ring. Sid continues to work the lower body and back of Godwinn. Sid then gets Godwinn in a camel clutch to continue to work the lower back of Godwinn. Sid lets go of the camel clutch, works the lower back some more, and then back to the camel clutch we go.

Sid goes for a big boot in the corner but Godwinn moves out of the way and Sid racks himself on the middle rope. Sid tries to hit an ax handle off the middle rope but Godwinn hits him in the gut instead. Godwinn drops Sid with a big time shoulder block. Godwinn then drops Sid with the Slop Drop but DiBiase pulls Godwinn off of Sid to break up the pin fall. Godwinn goes out after DiBiase until he decides to get back into the ring. Godwinn hits the ropes and DiBiase ends up tripping him up. Sid then drops a huge leg drop to the back of the head of Godwinn. Sid then picks up Henry and drops him with a power bomb for the 1-2-3. Your winner by pinfall….Sycho Sid!

After the match Sid and DiBiase fight over who is going to slop Godwinn. Bam Bam comes out of no where and attacks both Sid and DiBiase. Kama comes down to help Sid fend off Bam Bam. When DiBiase goes to slop Bam Bam, Godwinn grabs the bucket from DiBiase and slops him.

Recap:
This match was okay but nothing special. Sid did the bare minimum and worked over the lower back of Godwinn throughout. The post match stuff was pretty solid with DiBiase getting slopped again. From bell to bell and the aftermath, this was a decent segment that is worth checking out only to see DiBiase sell the slop again. He was a pro’s pro and made you hate him. He was such a great heel.

They go to the back where Gorilla is telling Cornette that the match is going down with or without Owen. Gorilla says that Cornette can have Yoko square off against Diesel/Shawn by himself. Gorilla also tells Cornette that he can go find a partner and he will sanction him to be a WWF Tag Team champion for 1 night only. Cornette says he will find somebody.

Pre-Match Thoughts:

This match was setup when the Bulldog ended up trading on Diesel on Monday Night Raw. Bam Bam is a good friend of Diesel’s so he is taking up the fight with the Bulldog to get some revenge for his friend. Both of these guys can go so it should be an entertaining match up here.

Match 3: British Bulldog vs. Bam Bam Bigelow

Bigelow starts this one off with two big shoulder blocks that drop Davey Boy and send him to the outside. They cut to the back where Cornette is asking Sid to be Yokozuna’s partner. Bam Bam keeps control with a hip toss and then a body slam before he misses an elbow drop. Bulldog goes to the head lock to slow this one down. Bam Bam flips Bulldog over him and drops him before he misses a head butt. Bulldog then hits Bam Bam with a nice suplex but Bam Bam gets right up and floors Bulldog with a couple of clotheslines. Bam Bam goes for a splash on Bulldog but Bulldog ducks down and pulls the top rope down with him as Bam Bam goes flying over the top rope.

Bulldog tries to suplex Bam Bam back into the ring but Bam Bam blocks it and drops Bulldog on the top rope racking him. Bam Bam then goes to the top rope and hits the flying head butt for a 2 1/2 count. Bam Bam is arguing with the ref when Bulldog gets up and drops Bam Bam with a chop block. Bulldog starts to work over the leg a little bit here. Bam Bam hits Bulldog with an enziguri to the back of the head but Bulldog gets back in control by working the leg some more. Bulldog hits a knee to the stomach of Bam Bam and gets a 2 count out of it. Back to the head lock we go.

Bam Bam gets to his feet and drives Bulldog into the corner and then starts laying in some right hands. Bulldog tries a body slam but Bam Bam ends up falling down on him and gets a 2 count of his own. Bulldog goes for a sunset flip but Bam Bam drops down on the Bulldog to prevent the pin fall. Bam Bam then drops a head butt and then goes to the top rope for the moonsault but Bulldog moves out of the way. Bulldog goes off the top with a head butt of his own and gets a 2 count out of it. Bulldog reverses an Irish whip and ends up dropping Bam Bam with a power slam for the 1-2-3. Your winner by pinfall….The British Bulldog!

Recap:
This was a solid match here as well. Bulldog’s power was on display in full force tonight and he looked good. Bam Bam as a face just wasn’t working for me or the crowd because he went from main eventing back to back pay per views to jobbing out in no time. This was a good match with two big guys who can really work in the ring and they delivered.

They tout the WWF Hotline by showing Henry Godwinn and Ted Dibiase on the phones talking to fans. DiBiase is still covered in the slop while Godwinn is laughing about slopping him.

In Ring Promo: Bob Backlund

Backlund comes out and cuts a promo using a bunch of big words that nobody knows the meaning of. This is a waste of time and not worth sitting through. Backlund asks the fans where their lexicon is. Backlund says everyone that comes to this earth has acute limitations. Backlund says we all have challenges in life that we have to get through. Backlund says we become dormant when we have to learn how to read and write. Bob Backlund then introduces Dean Douglas to the ring.

Pre-Match Thoughts:

This match is the follow up to Dean Douglas critiquing Razor Ramon after the ladder match at SummerSlam. If you remember Douglas criticized Ramon right after the match and Ramon didn’t like it so he leveled Douglas with a big right hand. This pissed Douglas off and they had a pull apart. Douglas also went one on one with the 1-2-3 Kid on Superstars where he kept pulling him up instead of actually beating him so Razor came out and attacked him. Douglas also ran into the match between the Kid and Razor on Raw and hit a splash on to the lower back of Ramon. Theres a lot of history here already but this should definitely be a good match with two of my favorites going at it.

Match 4: Dean Douglas vs. Razor Ramon

Douglas cuts a promo before the match and says he can finally say he is proud of a WWF Superstar in Bob Backlund. Douglas says he came to In Your House to teach one WWF Superstar one hard lesson. Douglas says if he hasn’t done his homework and hasn’t prepared then it is a test he will definitely fail. Douglas then does the ring introduction for Razor Ramon as the car tires start screeching.

Razor comes charging into the ring and floors Douglas with numerous right hands and then a clothesline to the outside on Douglas. They get some mat wrestling going until Razor floors Douglas with a big time right hand for a 2 count. Razor reverses a hip toss and sends Douglas up and over to the outside with a hip toss of his own. They go to the back again where Cornette is trying to convince Mabel to be Yokozuna’s tag team partner. Back to the action we go where Douglas starts working the arm of Razor until Razor returns the favor and starts working the arm himself.

Douglas gets out of the top wrist lock and then trips up Ramon. Douglas runs off the back of Ramon and hits the ropes and goes for a cross body but Razor catches him and dumps him with the fall away slam for a 2 count. Razor continues to work the arm of Douglas. Douglas gets to his feet and ends up on the middle rope where he fakes a cross body and then goes for a sunset flip instead. Razor lays in a right hand to Douglas to block the pin attempt. They then exchange multiple near falls until they both get up and Razor drops Douglas with a clothesline.

Douglas finally gets out of the arm bar and he ends tossing Razor over the top rope to the outside. Douglas goes up and over to the outside with a forearm to the lower back. Douglas drives the lower back of Razor into the apron and he follows that up with a body slam on the floor. Douglas drives his knee into the back of Razor and that sends him flying into the steel steps. Douglas picks up Ramon and rams him back first into the steel post. Douglas throws Ramon back into the ring and Douglas goes the top rope with an ax handle to the back of Ramon and gets a 2 count.

Douglas pushes Ramon into the ropes and goes for a hold but Ramon just floors him with a big time right hand. That sounded nasty as hell. Douglas snaps Ramon over and then gets him into a surf board type submission. Ramon breaks free and gets Douglas into the submission himself until Douglas gets it broken by getting into the ropes. Douglas continues to work the lower back with a spring board splash to the back and he ends up getting a 2 count out of it.

Douglas gets a chin lock on Ramon in the middle of the ring. Razor gets up to his feet with Douglas on his back and he drops him with the electric chair drop. Looks like Douglas landed on his neck area there but both guys are now laid out in the middle of the ring as the ref does the 10 count. Razor does an awesome knuckle lock suplex for a 2 count. That looked pretty sweet there. Ramon picks up Douglas and puts him on the to top rope and he is going for his belly to back suplex but Douglas drops Ramon with an elbow and then a twisting cross body off the top rope but Ramon rolls through and gets a 2 count.

Ramon gets up and Douglas pushes him right into the ref and knocks out the ref. Douglas goes for the running spring board splash again but Ramon moves out of the way. Ramon then picks up Douglas and drops him with the Razor’s Edge. The 1-2-3 Kid comes out of no where and counts the three. Ramon pushes the kid out of the ring and this allows Douglas to roll up Ramon. Douglas gets a hand full of tights and he ends up getting the 1-2-3. Your winner by pinfall….Dean Douglas!

After the match Ramon goes to the outside and throws the Kid into the ring. Ramon nails the Kid with a big time right hand. They then square up on each other but a lot of officials come in and break this one up.

Recap:
This was another solid match here. Douglas did some pretty good moves in the ring that were different from his ECW days. He was more of a high flyer here and that is always a plus. Ramon got his typical work in and looked good doing it as well. It’s a shame Ramon never got past the IC part of the card because he had the look, charisma, and the skills to be a top guy but it just never really happened for him. The finish was to be expected as Ramon was entangled in a mini feud amongst friends with the 1-2-3 Kid at the time. All in all a pretty solid match and one worth checking out.

Backstage Interview: Diesel and Shawn Michaels

Dok asks Shawn what their thoughts are on the Owen Hart missing situation. Shawn says its like being in love with a chick but she’s a little batty in the head and you just can’t make it work so it’s frustrating. Shawn says he is frustrated. Diesel says that he smells a rat and Shawn says he thought it was Dok. Diesel says they are two dudes with attitudes and after tonight they will be two dudes with four belts.

Backstage Interview: Bret Hart

Vince asks Bret how he feels about the match and Bret says he’s looking at this match like Captain Crook vs. Captain Crunch. Bret says Lafitte thinks it’s just a jacket that he stole but it is something special to Bret and he wants it back. Bret says Lafitte being a thief is enough for him. Bret says that Lafitte likes to fancy himself as a pirate but tonight he is going to walk the plank.

Pre-Match Thoughts:

This one started when Lafitte stole the jacket of the Hitman. Bret was in between feuds here so getting in the ring with Lafitte made a little bit of sense. Also if anyone can get a good match out of Lafitte it would be the Hitman so this one should be solid.

Match 5: Bret Hart vs. Jean-Pierre Lafitte

Bret gets this one going early with a big time suicide dive through the middle rope. Bret nearly flips over Lafitte and goes crashing to the floor without even touching him. That just looked awesome and is is on a lot of the Bret Hart highlight reels from this time period. Just a really sweet looking move to get this one started.

This one finally gets in the ring as Bret starts working over Lafitte with right hands in the corner. Lafitte gets the upper hand by poking Bret in the eyes. Lafitte then works over Bret in the corner with double fists to the back of the neck of the Hitman. Lafitte misses a charging shoulder block in the corner and Bret goes right to the arm with an arm bar and knee drops. Bret hits a crucifix pin on Lafitte for a 2 count. Back to the arm bar we go. Bret goes for a hip toss but Lafitte blocks it and just floors Bret with an awesome clothesline. That was pretty damn awesome.

Lafitte starts working over the midsection of Bret. He lays in 5-6 stomps to the gut of Bret to keep control of the match. Bret goes up and over and rolls up Lafitte for another near fall. Bret reverses an Irish whip into the corner and goes for a shoulder block but Lafitte moves out of the way and Bret goes crashing into the steel post. Lafitte takes Bret and throws him into the steel post shoulder first once again. We then get the sternum first Irish whip into the corner on Bret. There is always a sickening thud when he does that and it sucks.

Lafitte hits the ropes but Bret back drops him out of the ring but Lafitte lands on his feet. Lafitte then drags Bret to the outside and throws him shoulder first into the steel steps. Bret hits the ropes but Lafitte catches him and drops him with a spine buster for a near fall. Lafitte then gets Bret in a head lock. Lafitte drops Bret with a back elbow and then a leg drop for another near fall on Bret before we head back into a head lock.

Bret gets out of the head lock and tries to get a pin with a sunset flip but Lafitte kicks out at 2. When Lafitte gets up to his feet he hits Bret with a sidewalk slam. Lafitte goes to the top rope and hits Bret with a leg drop off the top for another 2 count. Lafitte goes for the cannonball but Bret moves out of the way as both men are laid out in the ring as the ref counts the 10. Bret hits Lafitte with an atomic drop and then a clothesline. Bret tries the Sharpshooter but Lafitte kicks him to the outside. Lafitte then runs and does a flip over the top rope but Bret moves out of the way and Lafitte just goes crashing to the outside. That couldn’t have felt to good.

Bret picks up Lafitte and throws him into the steel steps. Bret gets Lafitte back into the ring and whips him into the turnbuckle sternum first. Bret hits the Russian leg sweep for a 2 count. Bret picks up Lafitte and goes for the small package win but Lafitte gets out at 2. We get the back breaker/middle rope elbow from Bret but Lafitte gets the boot up on the elbow and stops Bret’s momentum. Bret goes for the crucifix again but Lafitte catches him and drops Bret with a rolling senton for another near fall. This is such a great match so far.

Bret tries to go up and over on Lafitte but Lafitte catches him until Bret breaks free and gets another 2 count. So many near falls here towards the end of the match. You really have no idea who is going to win this one. Bret nails Lafitte with a drop kick and then he goes for a running bulldog but Lafitte pushes him off and sends Bret sternum first into the turnbuckle again. Bret goes for a splash on the ropes but Lafitte movies out of the way and Bret gets all tangled up in the top and middle rope.

Lafitte heads to the top rope and goes for a splash but Bret moves out of the way as both guys are laid out again. Both guys get knocked out again with a double shoulder block. Bret crawls on the mat and ends up getting Lafitte in the Sharpshooter while both guys are laying on the mat. Bret cinches it in as the ref calls for the bell and this one is over. Your winner by submission….Bret Hart!

Recap:
This was a really good match here. Bret got the best out of Pierre here and it made the match pretty entertaining. Bret opened this one up awesome with that dive through the middle rope and it didn’t really stop from there. Lafitte had some good offense and was able to carry the middle portion of the match. Bret told a great story and made you believe that he was on his way out before over coming at the end. Just a really solid match and one worth checking out. It is also proof that Bret can put on a good match with anyone.

Backstage Interview: Yokozuna, British Bulldog, & Jim Cornette

Cornette says some things you search the hardest for end up being right under your nose. Cornette says that Bulldog is the man to get the job done and he will be the partner of Yokozuna tonight. Gorilla Monsoon then sanctions the Bulldog to be one half of the WWF Tag Team Champions for one night only. Cornette then says if Bulldog gets the pin then he will become the IC title or WWF title. Cornette says he has a lot of confidence in his boys to win a title tonight.

They have Alundra Blayze come out and model the Triple Header In Your House T-Shirt. They will also give you a free order with any order of the t-shirt.

Pre-Match Thoughts:
This match was setup when Yokozuna helped the British Bulldog trade on Diesel on the Raw before SummerSlam. Shawn Michaels became Diesel’s partner again and they wanted to exact some revenge on Yokozuna and Owen Hart for what they did. So we got this match and one hell of a stipulation. This is a really sweet idea for a stipulation and I am surprised that they haven’t done it more often. Somebody is going to lose their belts and thats a really good way to sell a pay per view.

Match 6: WWF Title, Intercontinental Title, Tag Team Title Match: Diesel (c)/Shawn Michaels (c) vs. Yokozuna/British Bulldog (c)

This one starts off with Shawn and Bulldog. They have a lot of back and forth action between the two here. This is some lightning quick action here. Shawn ends up dumping Bulldog over the top rope with a clothesline as Shawn skins the cat to get back into the ring. Yokozuna is waiting for him but he ends up missing Shawn as Shawn starts nailing him with some right hands. Diesel then comes into the ring and goes for a clothesline but Shawn is in the way and he barely hits him but Yoko falls through the ropes to the outside anyways. This is a fast and furious opening here.

Bulldog gets in the ring and tags in Yokozuna. Shawn mocks Yokozuna as he does the sumo stance stuff. They square off and then Yoko charges Shawn but Shawn does a baseball slide and ends up hitting some right hands on Yoko again. Shawn ducks a clothesline but ends up getting floored with a back elbow from Yoko. Yoko goes for an elbow but Shawn moves out of the way and quickly tags in Diesel.

Diesel ends up hitting Yoko with a flying clothesline and then a running big boot and this sends Yokozuna to the outside again. Davey Boy comes into the ring without a tag as he starts working over Diesel. Bulldog then picks up Diesel and tries to get him in the delayed vertical suplex but Diesel sandbags him a little bit so Bulldog ends up dropping him. Bulldog picks Diesel up again and nails him with that delayed vertical suplex for a 2 count on the WWF champion. Bulldog gets Diesel in a head lock to get a rest in.

They get up to their feet and Bulldog goes for the running power slam but Diesel slides down and pushes Bulldog into the corner. Diesel nails him with an elbow. Diesel tags in Shawn and Shawn jumps off the shoulders of Diesel with a big time splash for another near fall. That was a pretty awesome move there. Bulldog ends up catching Shawn in a gorilla press and he just dumps him on the top rope. Yokozuna follows it up with an elbow to the back of the head of Shawn and this sends Shawn outside to the floor.

Shawn gets whipped into the corner and he does his flip to the outside. Bulldog then goes out and drops Shawn with a body slam on the floor. Yokozuna then tags in the Bulldog. Bulldog ends up hitting Shawn with a massive back body drop as Vince says “Shawn almost took out some of the ring lights on that one.” Thats no lie. Back to the head lock we go for the Bulldog on Shawn. Bulldog draws Diesel into the ring so he and Yokozuna can double team Shawn. Yoko comes in and gets Shawn in the nerve hold in the trapezia area as Bulldog is waving the Japanese flag in the background.

Yokozuna goes up for the bonsai drop but Shawn moves out of the way as Yoko comes crashing down to the mat. Diesel and Bulldog get tagged in at the same time. Diesel hits Bulldog with a big time back drop and then snake eyes. Diesel hits a side slam on Bulldog and now we have all four guys in the ring at the same time. They end up Irish whipping Bulldog and Yokozuna into each other. They then whip Bulldog into Yokozuna in the corner and Bulldog flips over and nails Yokozuna, who ends up falling on top of the Bulldog.

Yokozuna ends up hitting Diesel with a fall away slam but Shawn comes in and drops Yokozuna with Sweet Chin Music. Bulldog then picks up Diesel and hits the power slam but Shawn breaks up the pin with an elbow off the top rope. Owen Hart comes out of no where and goes off the top rope but Diesel catches him and drops Owen with the Jackknife Power Bomb. Diesel then pins Owen Hart for the 1-2-3. Your winners of the match and new WWF Tag Team Champions….Diesel and Shawn Michaels!

Recap:
This match was all right. It’s not horrible but it’s not very good either. Bulldog did a lot of the same stuff he did in the ring with Bam Bam earlier on so it was like watching the same match again. By this point Yokozuna was completely useless because he was just way to big to do anything. He could barely move and when you have a guy that size the matches are very limited on what you can do. Shawn and Diesel looked great together and it looked like they were having a lot of fun out there and thats always a plus. The finish was smart because it gave the president of the company an out so they didn’t have two guys with all the gold. The booking was smart and solid for this one but the match itself was just kind of boring. I’d watch it if you are a fan of Shawn or Diesel but other than that theres really not much to see here with this match.

Show Recap:
So that does it for this one. This was right in the middle of arguably the worst era of WWF wrestling of all time and you can really tell throughout the show. You open up with a terrible Savio Vega vs. Waylon Mercy match. I really liked the Mercy gimmick but Spivey was well past a point where he could be serviceable and he looked terrible here. Vega was always good for some entertaining moments and the fire he had was always entertaining.

After that we got another trash match between Sid and Henry Godwinn. Sid just looked like he didn’t care at all for this match and Godwinn was terrible, to me, as well. This was a dud and the best part about it was DiBiase getting slopped after the fact. We then go into a match featuring Davey Boy and Bam Bam Bigelow. This match went way to long and just wasn’t entertaining at all. Bigelow was tapped out at this point with the WWF and he was pretty much going no where fast after his match with LT at Mania. Bulldog was being lazy on this one and just went through the motions to a not so good match.

After that we got one of the better matches on the card featuring Razor Ramon and Dean Douglas. We got a good 15 minutes out of this one and the match was solid. Douglas looked pretty good and he even threw in some high flying moves throughout the match. We all knew Douglas wasn’t going to amount to much because of politics and whatnot but I am a big time Shane Douglas fan and felt like it was a shame he never really got a fair shake in the WWF at any point. His dad got sick and forced him to leave when he had the babyface run in late 90 early 1991. Then Shawn and the rest of the Kliq didn’t really care for him so they were never going to allow him to be anything past what he was. Just a shame because he had a lot to offer.

After the Douglas match we go into the best match on the card. Bret vs. Lafitte was pretty damn awesome. The story telling and psychology by Bret throughout the match was just on point and typical for a Bret match. Lafitte put on his best performance ever for the WWF in this one and what you got is a damn good match by one of the best to ever do it in Bret Hart. The one thing about 1995 WWF that is still fun to watch is Bret putting on pretty damn good matches with guys you really don’t expect to see in the ring with a guy like Bret. He had a great match with Hakushi on another In Your House that is worth checking out. This match is really damn good as well. Even though he was a main event guy he was willing to get into the ring with lower level talent (card spot wise) and put on entertaining and matches that are still good today. Kudos to Bret.

Lastly we got the Two Dudes with Attitudes vs. Yokozuna and Bulldog. This match was decent but nothing special. Two out of the 4 guys couldn’t do much and the other two didn’t get enough time together in the ring to put something decent together. One thing that sucked about this match is the fact that Bulldog basically puts on the same match that he did with Bigelow in the main event. We got the garbage finish of Owen coming back and getting pinned so they can put the titles up the next night on Raw. Just a cluster of a match and a cluster of a finish. Also there wasn’t much entertaining in between the start and the finish of this match.

All in all this was a decent show that was saved by Bret’s match as well as the Razor Ramon and Dean Douglas match. The rest of the card of skip worthy if you ask me. WWF was in a rough shape by this point and the gimmicks were just horrendous. On this card alone we got a teacher, a hog farmer, a schizo, and a pirate. Unless you grew up watching this stuff it is nearly impossible to go back and watch. Like anything there are positives that you can find but it’s brutal getting through that. I would recommend checking out the Bret Hart match and the Douglas match and you can skip the rest.

I hope you have enjoyed this review of WWF In Your House 3 right here on the Event Center. Up next on the docket is some more WCW 2000 for you. We are heading back to September and hitting up WCW Fall Brawl 2000. We get the caged heat match between Booker T and Kevin Nash for the WCW title. Thats whats coming up next so I hope you stick around and take that in as well. Thanks again for readying and until next time stay safe everyone.

The Event Center: WCW Bash at the Beach 1998 Review

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The Event Center: WCW Bash at the Beach 1998

Introduction:
Hello everyone and welcome back to the Event Center. I am your host, xstat32x, and we are back with another round of great wrestling action. Last time we were together we finished up our SummerSlam 1990 trilogy by doing the actual event itself. The show was fun and one of my favorites but it’s time to switch gears one more time. This show will mark an end to our Summer Review series as we start heading towards the fall. After this one, I will be doing shows from September through to November. That way we get the likes of Halloween Havoc and Survivor Series as well as others. Before get there we have to get through this doozy of a show in Bash at the Beach 1998. WCW loved outside athletes and they put them in prominent roles and this show is no exception. We have Karl Malone and Dennis Rodman in the main event as well as Kevin Greene in a match with the Giant. So without further delay it’s time to see what this show is all about.

Event Information:
Date: July 12th, 1998
Location: Cox Arena in San Diego, California
Attendance: 10,095
Main Event: Hulk Hogan/Dennis Rodman vs. Diamond Dallas Page/Karl Malone

Show Opening:

They open up with a terrible ass video with a noise that sounds like electricity and it’s not really good on the ears. They go through the main event matches such as DDP/Malone vs. Hogan/Rodman. The video is over and they go inside the building where Tony tells us that history will be made tonight. Tony says there has never been so much talk about one match on one night. They head up tot he commentators table where Tony, Bobby, and Mike are standing by. Tony says everyone is talking about one match and one match only and thats the main event. Tenay says this is truly an event the world is watching. Heenan says that these two have to get it on. Heenan says that Hogan is blaming Malone and DDP for his title loss.

They head to Gene who is standing by at the entrance. Gene says that Goldberg will be squaring off against Curt Hennig, who is a member of nWo Hollywood. Gene starts hocking his 1-900 hotline to the fans as well. Gene sends it to the ring to get this one started.

Pre-Match Thoughts:
This feud is setup based off the fact that Saturn didn’t want to conform to the sheep like mentality that it takes to be a member of the Flock. Saturn basically had enough of Raven’s shit so they started feuding. Saturn looked awesome and could really go at this point and Raven was well Raven. This should be a nice solid opener here at the Bash.

Match 1: Raven’s Rules Match: Raven vs. Saturn

Saturn goes out after Raven and nails him with a big right hand to get this one started. Saturn whips Raven into the guard rail a few times to work the back of Raven. Saturn takes the flannel shirt off Raven and chokes him out with it and then whips him into the guard rail again. Saturn throws Raven into the ring and then hits him with a drop kick. Raven tries to reverse an Irish whip but Saturn stops him and drops him with a drop toe hold into a submission. Saturn picks up Raven and drops him with a gut wrench suplex. Saturn goes for a leg drop off the top rope but Raven moves out of the way.

Raven picks up Saturn and hits him with a double under hook suplex. Raven goes to the outside and pulls out a table from under the ring. Tony, of course, calls it a chair. Raven is about to suplex Saturn from inside the ring to the outside and on to the table but Saturn picks him up and racks him on the top rope. Saturn is going for a spring board drop kick but Raven ducked and Saturn goes falling to the outside. Raven goes to the outside and hits a Russian leg sweep into the guard rail. That was freakin awesome.

Raven gets back in the ring and goes for a pin but only gets a 2 count. Raven hits a nice snap suplex on Saturn. Raven then gets Saturn in a sleeper hold in the middle of the ring but Saturn is fighting it and rams Raven back into the corner. Raven doesn’t really let go and keeps it on but Saturn drops down and hits a jawbreaker on Raven. Saturn picks up Raven and hits him with a release overhead suplex. Saturn goes to the outside and gets a chair and nails him in the head with it. Saturn then does a spring board leg drop on to the chair onto Raven for a 2 count.

Saturn sets up the chair but Lodi and Riggs end up attacking him from behind. Saturn dumps both of them with a belly to back suplex. Saturn is going for a kick to the face of Raven but Raven pulls the ref in front of it and Saturn goes crashing into the ref instead of Raven. Both guys go outside and Saturn ends up hitting Raven with a bulldog into the steel steps. Saturn gets out another table and he sets it up in front of the other table. Saturn lays Raven on top of the table and then he stacks the other table on top of it. Saturn then climbs to the top rope and he goes for an elbow through the table but Kanyon comes out of no where and pulls Raven off the table and Saturn completely misses everything.

Kanyon then throws Raven into the ring and acts like he is going to celebrate with him but he ends up dropping Raven with the Flatliner on to a chair. Riggs rolls Saturn into the ring and Raven gets his arm on him for a 2 1/2 count. Raven hits the drop toe hold on to a steel chair for another 2 count on Saturn. Raven picks up the chair and Saturn hits him with a standing side kick but Riggs comes in and breaks up the pin. Saturn picks up Riggs and nails him with the DVD. Raven then grabs Saturn and drops him with the Evenflow DDT for the 1-2-3. Your winner by pinfall….Raven!

Recap:
This was a solid opening match here. They took advantage of Raven’s Rules and put on a hell of a show. We had some interference, which is to be expected from a Raven match but thats okay. Saturn looked awesome here and looked somebody that could become a player if WCW actually gave a shit and gave him a shot. The spot with Kanyon was pretty awesome but Saturn looked like a complete idiot by jumping on to the tables knowing Kanyon pulled Raven off the table. The Flatliner on the chair was a pretty awesome spot while we are talking about Kanyon. All in all this was a solid opener and a match that is worth checking out.

Ringside Interview: Eddie Guerrero

Gene says that Chavo has to square off against Stevie Ray and that is going to give an unfair competitive advantage to Eddie Guerrero. Eddie says that when he went home the other night looking and thinking about the match ahead, he is concerned a little bit. Eddie says that Chavo is a whacko and not all there and that makes him concerned. Eddie says when Chavo challenged Stevie Ray when he already had a match with Eddie and thats when he knew he was a whacko. Eddie says that Stevie is going to leave him laying in the ring. Eddie then said he will be a nice uncle and come in and hit him with a frog splash, cut his hair, and send him back home to his momma. Eddie says he is not only going to cut Chavo’s hair, he is going to shave it.

Pre-Match Thoughts:
There really isn’t much back story behind this one outside of Juvi going against members of the Flock. I guess on the previous pay per view Juvi went up against the monster Reese. This time he is in the ring with a guy more his size in Kidman. Should be a solid match here.

Match 2: Juventud Guerrera vs. Kidman

They tie up and roll around the ring as this one starts. We get a bunch of counters from each guy until Juvi gets the advantage with some chops and then a tilt a whirl head scissors takedown. Juvi then hits Kidman with a clothesline to the outside. Juvi was going to do a move on Kidman but Lodi ends up tripping Juvi up and dragging him to the outside on the other side of the ring. Kidman goes for a spring board splash on to Juvi but he moves out of the way and Kidman lands on Lodi. Lodi and Kidman are standing next to each other and Juvi hits a spring board plunga on both guys.

Juvi goes up and over and then they exchange reversals until Kidman just destroys Juvi with a wheel barrow suplex. That looked brutal there. Kidman throws Juvi to the outside and then he goes out after him. Kidman does a power bomb type move but dumps him over his head and Juvi lands on his jaw of of the guard rail. Juvi moves out of the way of a splash and it sends Kidman flying into the guard rail. Juvi then hits a back drop on Kidman on the floor. Kidman gets up and back on the apron but Juvi does a front flip power bomb to the floor on Kidman.

Both guys get back in the in the ring and Juvi puts Kidman on the top rope. Juvi is laying in the rights but Kidman hits him with a low blow and then hits a spine buster bomb off the top rope that nets him a 2 count. Both guys miss clotheslines until Juvi nails Kidman with a chop that is followed up by Kidman going for a body slam on Juvi but Juvi holds on and rolls up Kidman for a 2 count of his own. Juvi goes charging at Kidman and Kidman kicks him in the ass and Juvi goes flying through the middle rope and goes crashing to the outside. That looked bad.

Kidman goes up to the top rope but Juvi ends up meeting him at the top turnbuckle as well. Kidman is trying to Suplex Juvi but Juvi blocks it and ends up racking Kidman. Juvi then hits a springboard hurricanrana for a 2 count. That was awesome looking as well. Juvi dumps Kidman with a rock bottom type suplex for another 2 count. Kidman hits a spring board DDT for another 2 count. Kidman goes for a release German suplex but Juvi lands on his feet and dumps Kidman with the Juvi Driver but Kidman ends up kicking out at 2 1/2.

Juvi goes charging at Kidman and Kidman drops him a spine buster near the corner. Kidman goes up top and goes for the 7 Year Itch but Juvi moves out of the way. Juvi sets up Kidman for the 450 splash and he connects with it for the 1-2-3. Your winner of the match….Juventud Guerrera!

Recap:
This match was pretty damn good here. A lot of fast paced action and near falls. There was also a lot of power moves that you got from the cruiser weights. Kidman really looked good here and probably showed some things to the WCW office because soon after this one he is out of the Flock and doing things in the cruiserweight division. Just a really good cruiserweight match here that is worth checking out.

They head to the back to the WCW internet location where Lee Marshall is interviewing Konnan.

Pre-Match Thoughts:
This match was created because they are pushing this Chavo is a nut job gimmick. Therefore they had Chavo challenge Stevie Ray even though he already has a hair vs. hair match against Eddie Guerrero. Thats about all you need to know when it comes to this one so lets get to it.

Match 3: Stevie Ray vs. Chavo Guerrero

Chavo comes out wearing a pool float and using a super soaker. Dude looks like a complete jackass. Chavo gets on the mic before the match starts and dedicates the match to his favorite wrestler Eddie Guerrero. Chavo is running from Stevie Ray early on. Chavo is dancing and pissing off Stevie Ray. They shake hands and Chavo immediately taps out. Your winner by submission….Stevie Ray!

Recap:
This was nothing more than a storyline to piss off Eddie Guerrero prior to Chavo’s real match. The benefit is we didn’t get to see Stevie Ray try to put on a good wrestling match on this show. Nothing more needs to be said about this one.

Pre-Match Thoughts:
This feud dates quite a while and it was set up with Chavo wanting to be with his uncle Eddie but Eddie wants no business with him. Eddie is your classic heel and doing everything he can to teach Chavo a lesson and tonight they are putting their hair on the line. This is a big match in Lucha Libre so it’s only natural that this feud ended up here.

Match 4: Hair vs. Hair Match: Eddie Guerrero vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr.

Chavo is still in the ring from his last match and he gets on the mic again and tells Eddie that he is so tired and exhausted. Chavo then says its him and Eddie right now. Chavo ends up biting the ass of Eddie Guerrero and this sends Eddie to the outside and already regrouping. Eddie gets frustrated and kicks the bottom rope and then sells it like it hurts. Chavo then mocks him as if he is dancing and this pisses Eddie off more so Eddie goes outside and grabs a chair and throws it in the ring but Chavo just takes it and sits down to relax. Just a lot of story telling going on early here.

Chavo shakes the hands of Eddie and then drops him with a nice clothesline. Chavo hits Eddie with a big time back drop and Eddie damn near landed on his feet. Eddie crawls over to the ref and grabs on to him and then Chavo comes over and bites him on the ass again. Eddie hits a drop kick on the knee of Chavo to get control of the match. Eddie then hits a nice looking drop kick in the lower back of Chavo while he was resting in the corner. Eddie hits the con hilo on the back of Chavo. Chavo is draped over the apron chest first and then Eddie goes up and over and applies a forearm to the back of Chavo.

Eddie goes to the outside and whips Chavo into the guard rail to continue to work the lower back. Eddie gets Chavo back in the ring and gets Chavo in the Gory Special in the middle of the ring. Chavo hits Eddie with an arm drag but Eddie gets right back up and floors Chavo with a clothesline. Eddie then gets Chavo in a beautiful looking camel clutch and he is just pulling on the chin to work over the lower back some more.

Eddie whips Chavo into the ropes but Chavo hits Eddie with a head scissors take down and then a monkey flip that sends Eddie flying into the ropes and landing on the back of his neck. Chavo goes for a move off the top rope but ends up rolling through and then hitting Eddie with a tilt a whirl back breaker. Chavo gets a little to close to Eddie and he grabs him by the tights and throws him to the outside. Eddie lifts up the mat on the outside and he goes for a snap suplex but Chavo ends up reversing it and hitting a suplex on Eddie on the unprotected floor.

Both guys get back in the ring and Chavo drops Eddie with a body slam. Chavo tries to hit a move off the top rope but Eddie shakes the top rope and racks Chavo on the top rope. Eddie goes up to meet Chavo and he ends up hitting him with a nice super plex off the top rope. Chavo hits a body slam on Eddie and then he heads up to the top and goes for a frog splash but Eddie gets the knees up to block the move. Eddie then nails Chavo with the Tornado DDT.

Eddie grabs the scissors and is about to cut the hair of Chavo but the ref stops him. Eddie goes for the frog splash of his own but Chavo rolls out of the way and Eddie misses. Chavo hits the Tornado DDT on Eddie and then he picks up the scissors but the ref stops him as well. Eddie then grabs Chavo and rolls him up for the 1-2-3. Your winner of the match by pinfall….Eddie Guerrero!

After the match the ref hands the clippers to Eddie Guerrero. Chavo steals the clippers from Eddie and is telling Eddie to sit down. Chavo then takes the clippers and starts cutting his on his own. Eddie just rolls out of the ring and is laughing it off as Chavo continues to shave his own head. Chavo even shaves off his arm pit hair. This whacko gimmick is pretty damn funny I guess.

Recap:
This was a pretty good match as well. Eddie and Chavo can go and they showed that on this night. I enjoyed the crazy gimmick that Chavo was doing because it basically flipped the switch on Eddie and thats pretty good booking if you ask me. The hair vs. hair match is a pretty big deal in Lucha Libre so this was a pretty good ending to the feud here. A solid match with good storytelling and a funny ending with Chavo shaving his own head.

They go to the commentary table and talk about how Chris Jericho was going to fight Dean Malenko tonight but it’s not happening because Malenko has been suspended. They tell us that Jericho will be wrestling tonight but they don’t know against who.

Pre-Match Thoughts:
I have no idea why this match is going on. Tony says that this is a special added match so there really is no build to this one.

Match 5: Konnan vs. Disco Inferno

Alex Wright gets on the mic and starts talking but you can’t understand a word he is saying. Disco takes over the mic and says that Konnan isn’t the only guy who knows the south hispanic scene because he and Alex are getting with the lingo of these people. They then mock Konnan’s saying. This is brutal and stupid. Nash and Luger come out with Konnan and they get in ring Nash gets on the mic. He says that the Wolfpac is most definitely in the house. Nash says that a lot of people are saying that the Wolfpac are nothing but a bunch of players. Nash says they aren’t players but they just crush a lot. Konnan then starts speaking in Mexican and then runs through his normal spiel.

This one starts with Konnan laying in some right hands and then a hip toss to Disco. Konnan whips Disco into the ropes and hits him with an arm drag. Konnan goes for a sunset flip on Disco but Disco hits him with a punch and then he starts doing the Disco dance. Konnan has had enough and hits Disco with a face buster and then the rolling clothesline. Konnan goes for the cradle DDT but Disco blocks it and throws Konnan to the outside.

Alex Wright attacks Konnan on the outside and then he throws him back into the ring and Alex Wright starts dancing. Luger comes around and gets Wright in the torture rack. Meanwhile, in the ring Kevin Nash picks up Disco and drops him with the Jackknife Power Bomb. Konnan then gets Disco in the Tequila Sunrise and Disco is laid out as the ref calls for the bell. Your winner by submission….Konnan!

Recap:
This match was trash and it looked like they really had no idea what they were going to do in the match. You can see them calling it throughout the entire match. This was also used to make the crowd happy by having the Wolfpac just destroy these two goofs. Nash destroying Disco with the power bomb is an awesome sight. Other then that theres no other reason to watch this one.

Pre-Match Thoughts:
This was supposed to be a tag team match with the Giant and Curt Hennig vs. Goldberg and Kevin Greene. That all changed when Goldberg won the WCW title 6 days prior to this event. So, WCW decided to split the match up and give us two separate matches to fill the void of the one. I guess that makes sense but why not do Greene vs. Hennig and then Goldberg vs. the Giant. That makes more sense but they probably didn’t want to job out the Giant without a proper build. This was one of those rock and a hard place spots and I guess they did the best they could with what they had.

Match 6: The Giant vs. Kevin Greene

The Giant is trying to get to Greene but Greene keeps rolling out of the way. Giant misses a chop and then Greene slaps him in the face. The Giant goes after him again and again misses but Greene ends up hitting him with a boot to the gut. The Giant goes out after Greene but Greene quickly gets back in the ring and when the Giant gets back in Greene kicks the rope and racks the Giant on the top rope.

Greene tries to lay in some rights in the corner but Giant keeps pushing him down and on the third one the Giant catches Greene and just drops him with a body slam in the middle in the ring. Giant then drops a big ass elbow on Greene. The Giant then rolls Greene under the bottom rope and then he stands on the bottom rope and chokes Greene with it. Greene goes for a cross body but the Giant catches him and ends up dropping him on the apron so Greene ends up clotheslining the Giant over the top rope.

Greene gets back on the apron and the Giant gets tired of dealing with him so he just head butts him back off the apron. Giant ends up going to the outside after Greene and he tries to ram him into the guard rail but Greene blocks it. Greene then rams the Giant into the guard rail and then into the steel post numerous times. Greene climbs to the top rope and hits a flying shoulder block on the Giant.

Greene does a big splash for a 2 count on the Giant. Greene goes for a chop block on the Giant but he can’t get him down. Greene gets into the three point stance and goes charging at the Giant but the Giant catches him and drops him with a big time choke slam for the 1-2-3. Your winner of the match….The Giant!

Recap:
This wasn’t as bad as it looks on paper but it’s still bad. Greene did his best but that’s not really good enough for a pay per view match if you ask me. I don’t know what WCWs fascination was with bringing in football players and basketball players. The only reason you would do it is to get a spot on Sportscenter but man is it really worth it? I would say no but WCW just kept doing it. This is one that you can skip on this card unless you are a fan of either guy.

They go to the internet location again where Lee Marshall is with Curt Hennig this time around.

They show a highlight video on the feud between Chris Jericho and Dean Malenko.

Pre-Match Thoughts:
This match was supposed to be Chris Jericho vs. Dean Malenko but they had a clause where they couldn’t put their hands on each other or they would be suspended. Well Malenko snapped on an episode of Nitro and got himself suspended so they put in Rey Mysterio Jr to take his place. You can’t go wrong with either guy going against Jericho so this is a win either way you go.

Match 7: WCW Cruiserweight Title No Disqualification Match: Chris Jericho (c) vs. Rey Mysterio Jr.

Jericho gets on the mic and says he wants us to want him. Jericho says that Stinko Malenko went and got himself suspended so he robbed all the fans of the match tonight. Jericho says he would never ever rob the fans. Jericho is about to dance and sing for the fans but James J. Dillon shows up. Dillon says that he may have made a mistake and that he may have misjudged Jericho. Dillon says he would be the first guy to come out and say he did wrong and offer an apology and let bygones be bygones. Dillon says he is surprised by how many fans Jericho has and Jericho says he has millions of Jerichoholics everywhere.

Dillon says the fans are disappointed because they want to see Jericho wrestle and defend his belt. Dillon then says he got on the phone and tried to find somebody in the area on short notice. Dillon says he hasn’t wrestled in 6 months and he wants to get into the ring for a title shot. Jericho asks if it can still be a no disqualification match. Dillon says thats fine. Jericho says bring in the jobber and he will defend his title. Dillon then calls for the guy and it ends up being Rey Mysterio Jr.

Rey comes out and is guns blazing as he hits Jericho with some right hands, a back drop, and then a drop kick to Jericho. Rey does a baseball slide trip to Jericho and then a spring board leg drop to the back of Jericho’s head and gets a 2 count. Rey tried to use the post to swing around and catch Jericho but he slipped off but he was able to hold on to it and he head scissored Jericho into the guard rail. We get back in the ring and Rey goes for a leap frog but Jericho holds on and then chop blocks Rey in his bad knee right away.

Jericho goes for a splash in the corner but Rey moves out of the way and Jericho goes flying up and over to the outside. Jericho leaves the ring and heads toward the entrance ramp but Rey goes out after him. Jericho is trying to climb the life guard stand but Rey grabs him and pulls him into the sand castle and giant beach ball. Rey then climbs to the top of the life guard chair and hits Jericho with a hurricanrana onto Jericho in the sand. That was pretty damn awesome there.

Rey picks up a handful of sand and throws it into the face of Jericho. Rey goes to the top rope and goes for a cross body but Jericho floats over and gets a 2 count on Rey. Jericho puts Rey on the top rope and then he hits him with a belly to belly suplex off the top rope. That looked pretty damn cool as well. Jericho then goes to the outside and gets a chair and he nails Rey with it right in his bad knee. Jericho then puts the knee of Rey in between the chair and goes off the top rope with a knee drop but Rey moves out of the way and Jericho crashes into the chair.

Rey picks up the chair and nails Jericho with it in the knee. Jericho is in the corner and Rey sets the chair up on the knee of Jericho and Rey hits a drop kick into the chair. Rey hits Jericho with a face buster and then goes for a spring board hurricanrana but Jericho blocks it and tries to get Rey into the Walls of Jericho. Dean Malenko then shows up out of no where. Jericho picks up Rey and and is going for the Walls of Jericho again but Rey slides through and ends up rolling Jericho up for the 1-2-3. Your winner and new WCW Cruiserweight Champion….Rey Mysterio Jr.

After the match Jericho runs out to the ringside area and Malenko goes chasing after him. Arn ends up stopping Jericho from getting away and Dean gets his hands on Jericho and rams him face first into an equipment truck. They then go back into arena to show Rey celebrating.

Recap:
This match was pretty good but it didn’t get enough time. They missed a couple of spots which is surprising considering the two in the ring. I guess the following night on Nitro they take the title back from Rey and give it to Jericho because Malenko came out. That doesn’t make much sense to me but whatever. This match is solid and definitely worth checking out.

Pre-Match Thoughts:
This feud has been boiling over the last month or so on Thunder and Nitro. Bret tried to interfere and influence the outcome of the best of 7 series between Booker T and Benoit. Bret has also attacked the leg of Booker T on numerous occasions and has gotten him in the Sharp Shooter a few times as well. This one is finally coming to a head here at Bash at the Beach.

Match 8: WCW Television Title Match: Booker T (c) vs. Bret Hart

This one starts with Booker pushing Bret Hart. They tie up and Booker drops Bret with an arm drag immediately. They start doing some wrestling on the ground until they get back up and Bret hits Booker with a nice back elbow. Booker ends up hitting the flying forearm on Bret for a 2 count. Bret then hits a side kick and then a clotheslines for another 2 count. They then reverse hip tosses 2-3 times before Booker ends up getting the upper hand and hip tosses Bret over the top rope and out to the floor. Bret lost control of the rope and he went crashing down on the mat pretty hard. That didn’t look to good.

Booker gets a little distracted so Bret picks him up and drops him face first into the guard rail. Bret gets Booker back into the ring and he hits him in the back of he head with an elbow. Bret starts softening up the legs of Booker to get him ready for the Sharpshooter. Booker ends up reversing an Irish whip into a spine buster and a roll up for a 2 count. Bret gets back up and ends up sending Booker flying over the top rope with a clothesline. Bret picks up Booker and rams him back first into the steel post on the outside.

Bret gets Booker back in the ring and he ends up hitting him with a leg drop. Bret then drops Booker with a back breaker and the elbow drop off the middle rope. Bret goes for the cover and gets a 2 count. Bret then hits the Russian leg sweep for another 2 count. Bret then runs the eyes of Booker across the top rope. A dastardly heel move there. Bret continues to work over Booker in the corner with kicks. Booker tried a roll up out of the corner but he couldn’t get it so Bret was able to kick out at 2.

Booker blocks an Irish whip with a knee to the gut, a kick to the face, and then a spinning leg kick to get control of the match. Booker then nails Bret with the ax kick. Booker then drops Bret with a flapjack and then the spinarooni. Booker goes to the top rope and nails Bret with an awesome looking missile drop kick. Booker goes for the cover but Bret gets his foot on the rope at 2 1/2. Bret gets frustrated and goes to the outside. Bret grabs a chair and when Booker goes up and over to the outside Bret nails him with the steel chair. Your winner of the match by disqualification….Booker T!

After the match Bret takes the chair and just lays into the bad knee of Booker T. Bret then drags Booker into the corner and gets him in the figure four on the steel post. Stevie Ray comes out and checks on Booker T but he was in no hurry to get there. Stevie is yelling at Booker for the most part instead of actually helping him. Stevie helps Booker out of the ring and Booker is struggling to walk.

Recap:
This was a pretty damn good match if you ask me. The finish kind of sucked but I guess it makes sense. I really enjoyed the heel Bret here and I liked the after math where he just lays in the chair shots and the steel post figure four. That is one my favorite moves of all time because it looks so damn painful and it’s different. Just another reason to be a fan of Bret Hart. Booker held his own with Bret and thats pretty damn awesome. Just a solid match here that is worth checking out.

They show a highlight vide on the new WCW World Heavyweight Champion Goldberg!

Pre-Match Thoughts:
This was the other half of that tag team match that was booked ahead of time until Goldberg won the title in Atlanta. Theres really no build here but it just gives Goldberg a credible name on his winning streak. It’s also a good guy to have in the ring to make your new champ look good. Not a horrible decision by WCW here but you can tell they really only cared about the main event so nobody will remember this one.

Match 9: WCW World Heavyweight Title Match: Goldberg (c) vs. Curt Hennig

We get the Michael Buffer intros for this one. Anyways the match starts with Hennig on the outside thinking about what he is about to go through. Hennig looks jacked by the way. They start with a tie up and Goldberg gets a head lock on Hennig right away. Hennig pushes him off and Goldberg drops him with a big shoulder block and it sends Hennig flying. Hennig gets up and quickly gets dropped again with a hip toss. Hennig is already selling like a million bucks for Goldberg and I am not surprised.

Hennig lays in some chops but they do nothing to Goldberg. Goldberg then gets Hennig in a scissor roll take down that sends Hennig to the outside to regroup. Goldberg ends up grabbing Hennig and pulling him back into the ring. Hennig goes up to the top rope but Goldberg catches him and gorilla presses him into his shoulder and then down to the mat. Goldberg goes to pick up Hennig but Hennig trips him up and starts working over the leg of Goldberg.

Hennig hits Goldberg with the forearm shot and then the Hennig plex for a 2 count. Goldberg then lays out Hennig with a lay down clothesline. Goldberg then plants Hennig with the spear. He follows that up with the Jackhammer for the 1-2-3. Your winner by pinfall and still WCW World Heavyweight Champion….Goldberg!

Recap:
This was an okay match. Goldberg didn’t get exposed and if anything Hennig made him look better than he really was. Hennig sold like a million bucks for the guy and really made him look good. Goldberg was super over but he couldn’t do much in the ring so having him do these short matches were what worked for him. Hennig was a really good choice for Goldbergs first title defense and both guys did their part. A decent little match here.

They show a video package highlighting the feud between Hogan/Rodman vs. DDP/Malone.

Pre-Match Thoughts:
I’m not really sure what started this feud but the fact that they bring in Karl Malone and Dennis Rodman can be played up over their finals appearances in the NBA. They brought these guys in to bring in the buys and to get publicity on their product. Not a bad idea but putting NBA players in the main event can’t really be a good idea. They built this one up well so I am interested to see the payoff.

Match 10: Hollywood Hogan/Dennis Rodman vs. Diamond Dallas Page/Karl Malone

They are stalling to being but it looks like this one is going to start with Malone and Rodman. The crowd is already done with this shit because they are chanting “you both suck” before they even tie up or do anything. Rodman keeps stalling by getting into the ropes so Malone can’t get to him. They tease a test of strength but Malone slaps the hand away of Rodman before they can lock up. They finally tie up and Rodman gets a side head lock on Malone. Malone pushes him off and is charging at him but Rodman pulls under the bottom rope to stall some more. Rodman has enough and he tags in Hogan.

They tie up and Malone gets Hogan in a weird looking tie up/head lock. Hogan gets into the ropes but Malone picks him up and carries him back to the middle of the ring. Malone then picks up Hogan and drops him with a body slam. Malone finally tags in DDP as he squares off against Hogan. DDP calls for Rodman and he gets the tag in. They tie up and DDP throws Rodman down in the corner. The crowd is getting bored so they start a boring chant. I don’t think this match is taking off like they thought it would.

Rodman then drops DDP with an arm drag as Hogan starts doing a strut down the apron. They tie up and DDP gets Rodman in a head lock. Rodman pushes off and they end up running right into each other. This sends Rodman packing down in the ropes as DDP backs off as well. We get another tie up and this time Rodman gets the head lock on DDP. DDP goes for a pin after doing nothing and gets a 2 count. Rodman then does two straight leap frogs and then Rodman kind of just runs into DDP and he falls on his ass. Rodman is blown up already.

DDP tags in Malone as Rodman quickly tags in Hogan. Hogan gets a top wrist lock on Malone but Malone ends up powering through it and reversing it on Hogan and throws him to the mat. Rodman comes in and drops Malone with an ax handle to the back and this gives Hogan the advantage of the match. Hogan hits Malone with a body slam and then two straight elbows before he rakes the eyes with his boot. Hogan tags in Rodman and he comes in and drops an elbow on Malone. Rodman then takes the face of Malone and rams into the boot of Hogan.

Hogan lays in some right hands to Malone and gets a 2 count. Hogan then gets a reverse chin lock on Malone and he drives the knee into the back of Malone. Hogan tags in Rodman and he holds up Malone for Hogan. Hogan lays in a right hand and it knocks Malone down but it also knocks down Rodman. Hogan gets Malone in the softest looking belly to back suplex. Malone finally tags in DDP and he comes in off the top rope with a clothesline to Hogan. He then drops Rodman with a right hand off the apron. Rodman hits Page with a knee to the lower back and Hogan drops him with a clothesline to get control of the match.

Hogan takes off the weightlifting belt and lays it into the back of Page. Rodman gets the tag in and they drop Page with a double clothesline for a 2 count. Hogan whips Page into the corner and follows him in with a big ass clothesline that sends Page crashing to the mat. Hogan tags in Rodman and he comes in and they hit him with a double big boot. Rodman comes in and gets DDP in a front face lock before he tags in Hogan. Hogan ends up hitting a suplex on DDP and he gets a 2 count. Rodman gets in the ring and puts a head lock on Page. Page is picking up Rodman and getting close to a tag but Hogan ends up coming in to mess that up. Rodman and Hogan then pummel Page in the corner.

Hogan whips Page into the ropes and ends up hitting him with a big boot. Hogan goes for the big leg but Page rolls out of the way and Hogan misses. Page tags in Malone and he comes in after Hogan as Hogan falls down to his knees and tries to beg him off. Malone comes in and nails Hogan and Rodman with big time clotheslines as well as body slams to both guys. Malone then grabs Hogan and Rodman and rams them head first into each other. Malone rams the head of Hogan into the turnbuckle 10 times. Malone whips Hogan into the ropes and nails him with the big boot. Malone then calls for the Diamond Cutter as he tags in Page.

Page whips Hogan into the corner and then hits the ropes and drops Hogan with the Diamond Cutter. Page goes for the cover and Rodman comes in to break it up but Malone catches him and drops him with a Diamond Cutter of his own. The ref is distracted so the Disciple gets in the ring and nails Page with a stone cold stunner move. Hogan goes for the cover and gets the 1-2-3. Your winners of the match….Hollywood Hogan and Dennis Rodman!

After the match Malone gets back into the ring and nails the Disciple with a Diamond Cutter. Malone then gets pissed off and nails the ref with a Diamond Cutter. Hogan and Rodman celebrate with the rest of nWo Black & White while Malone and Page leave through the crowd.

Recap:
This match kind of sucked. I am guessing that they couldn’t do any real wrestling moves on Rodman or Malone because they didn’t want to be liable if they got injured. When you throw that in plus the fact that this thing goes 23-24 minutes it makes the shit drag on and on and on. I wish they would have kept Page and Hogan in for the majority of the match and then get the hot tag to Malone or Rodman for small spurts. Instead the first 10 minutes was just stalling and shit. This is not one of the better main events in WCW history and if you shut this show off after the Goldberg vs. Hennig match then you wouldn’t have missed anything. Also, there is no reason that Hogan and Rodman should have won this match. When you do a match like this you want the fans to go home happy so you should let the good guys win especially after Malone gets the Diamond Cutter in on both guys.

Show Recap:
So that about does it for this one here. Bash at the Beach was a pretty solid show but it had it’s pitfalls like most WCW shows back then. They started off hot with 3-4 really good matches at the start of the show and then it fell off a little bit. I didn’t really care for the angle between Eddie and Chavo so that segment with Stevie Ray really didn’t do much for me. Eddie and Chavo’s match itself was solid but that was more because of Eddie than anything else.

The squash with Disco sucked and was a waste of time. The Giant and Kevin Greene was thrown together when Goldberg got the strap and they actually had a pretty solid match. It wasn’t a wrestling clinic but it wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be. It looked like Kevin Greene laid in some pretty stiff shots to the Giant that made it believable for me. Kevin Greene did pretty damn good if you ask me.

After that we got the returning Rey Mysterio, in his home town of San Diego, to a nice ovation. This match could have been a little bit better if they got more time but it just felt rushed and thats a shame. Rey came back looking jacked so he must have started that Eddie Guerrero plan while he was away. After that we got a damn good match between Booker T and Bret Hart that ended in a DQ. It’s a shame it had the garbage finish because these two put on a really good match and I was quite entertained by it until the abrupt ending.

After that match we get the WCW World Heavyweight Title match between the new WCW champion Goldberg and Curt Hennig. Hennig did his best to get a good match out of Goldberg and he did a damn good job of doing it. Goldberg sold well for Hennig and he actually went a little longer in the match than Goldberg was accustomed to doing. Of course Goldberg was going to win but they put him in the ring with a pro’s pro and it forced him to show that he can actually work a match with the right competition. Hats off to both guys for their performance here.

Lastly, we get the tag team match with Karl Malone and Dennis Rodman involved. I have no idea why the hell they would give this match 22+ minutes but they did and it was dreadful. They couldn’t do much to either of the two basketball players for fear of injury. If something would have happened to either guy then that could have been bad news for WCW. They were heavily protected and you could tell throughout because they were basic spots throughout and nothing to dangerous. Malone looked pretty solid for the most part but his Diamond Cutter looked rough and it looked like he could hurt someone with it. Also, the finish is kind of stupid because the whole point of celebs is to get the good guys over so why would you have DDP and Malone job out to Hogan and Rodman? Anyways, this was a pretty bad match that should have been cut in half to make it better. Definitely made this show end on a stinker.

All in all there are some pretty damn good matches on this show that make it worth watching if you haven’t already. There are also some matches that are worth going back and watching again every once in a while because when WCW really wanted to they could put on some pretty good matches. The main event didn’t deliver in my book but both Rodman and Malone looked the part and thats pretty much all you can ask for. At the end of the day this is a show that is pretty fun and worth watching at least once.

There you have it for another episode of the Event Center. This wraps up our summer review series as we turn the calendar to September where we start picking up on some of the fall spectaculars. We will dive in to some more WCW 2000 to try and finish out that year. We will also touch on one of my favorite pay per views of all time from the WWF. Theres a lot of good stuff on the horizon so I hope you stick around to enjoy it. Remember, if you ever want to reach out to me then I am available on twitter @xstat32x. Thanks again for reading and until next time, stay safe.

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