Legacy Review
Royal Rumble '88
January 24, 1988 from the Copps Coliseum in Hamilton, ON
Commentary: Vince McMahon and Jesse Ventura
This
very first Royal Rumble was born from the WWF/Jim Crockett Promotions
scheduling tit for tat that had started the previous fall. Round 1 was
WWF putting the first Survivor Series directly against Starrcade while
also strongarming cable companies to carry the WWF show on their single
PPV channel. To try to recoup some PPV buys, Crockett decided to put
their annual Bunkhouse Stampede final on PPV. WWF pounced again,
countering with this special on basic cable USA at the same time (PPV
distributors politely asked to not be put in a position to have to
choose between the two promotions again), while at the same time trying
out Pat Patterson's crazy idea of having a battle royal with staggered
entrances determined by a random (or "random") draw.
Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat def "Ravishing" Rick Rude by DQ in 17:39- I
hate Rude's overdubbed music so much. Why after all these years have
they not been able to fix that situation. It plays all during Vince's
show intro too, with a really bad mix. Ah hell, and then we get
Steamboat's eternal replacement music and recording studio Howard Finkel
intro. Bobby Heenan isn't with Rude because he's wherever the other
half of the house show loop roster was. There's a lady ringside with her
own megaphone trying to be Jimmy Hart. How did she even get in the
building with that? Much more lax security and show controls back in
those days. Rude opens up with some forearms. Steamboat fires back with
chops. We get an early skin the cat from Steamboat, then he dumps a
charging Rude over the top to the floor. Rude's out of the Rumble. Back
in Rude wants a test of strength, then lets himself get distracted by
the lady with the megaphone. Steamboat goes in for the knucklelock. Very
even battle, then Rude gets a slow advantage. The crowd wills Steamboat
back up. Steamboat does a fancy sequence to escape and get an arm
takedown into an ARMBAR. A+ selling of the arm work from Rude. Speed
run. Steamboat slides under Rude and hits the first DEEP armdrag of the
match. Commentary notices the megaphone woman. While Steamboat cranks on
the arm I'll note Dave Hebner is reffing this match. At the same time
over at Bunkhouse Stampede his twin brother Earl was working his last
show with Jim Crockett before moving over to WWF and becoming their
senior ref for many years. Another forearm/chop exchange. More speed and
whip reversals. Steamboat hits a running chop and another DEEP armdrag.
The arm work continues. I like Steamboat big splashing the arm. Rude
gets free with a kick and gives Steamboat a buckle shot. Back elbow from
Rude. More buckle shots all around the world. More slide unders from
Steamboat into another DEEP armdrag. Can't fault Steamboat's focus, he's
100% on Rude's arm. "BREAK IT OFF" says megaphone lady. Rude works into
another whip and hits another back elbow that catches Steamboat in the
eye. That'll slow him down. Rude tries to pose but only can with one
arm, the other one hurts too much. He's still putting all the pieces
together, but it's that attention to detail that will eventually turn
him into a phenomenal worker. Another slugfest with Steamboat getting
the edge with chops. Another long speed run and Rude just barely catches
Steamboat with a knee to the gut, sending Steamboat tumbling out to the
floor. They did a good job of making that look glancing, it almost
looked like a legit accident at first. Rude follows to the floor,
ramming Steamboat into the side of the ring and slamming him on the
floor. He's recovered enough to give us a hip swivel back in. Rude
suplexes Steamboat back in for 2. He sits on Steamboat's back with a
double chinlock. Steamboat's tapping like crazy trying to fire back up,
but fortunately for him we're still in the verbal submission only days.
Rude takes a moment to pose again, much to Ventura's delight. Steamboat
fades and we go to arm drops. Steamboat's arm goes down three times, but
for some reason DHebner doesn't call it. Someone muffed up there. On
the fourth drop Steamboat fires back up. He lifts Rude up into an
electric chair (first "WHAT A MANEUVER" from Vince tonight for that) and
drops him. He tries for a splash but Rude gets his knees up. Atomic
drop-ish from Rude that Steamboat doesn't sell very well. Back to the
chinlock. Steamboat powers up again and pushes Rude into the corner.
Buckle shots for Rude. Snap mare/chop combo for 2. After
headlock/headscissors exchange they *barely* pull off the bridge up spot
and Steamboat gets a backslide for 2. That kicks off the classic
Steamboat rapid fire cover attempts. Rude drops Steamboat with a
clothesline for 2. Steamboat blocks a suplex and hits his own. He points
up top and goes up there. Rude pulls DHebner in the way and Hebner
takes the crossbody! Rude puts Steamboat up in a Canadian backbreaker.
Hebner gets up and calls for the bell. Rude thinks Steamboat submitted,
and Rude's (shitty replaced) music plays. He walks away thinking he's
won. BUT WAIT! Fink says the winner by DQ is Steamboat! Cue up the other
shitty replacement music. Rude gets back in the ring to protest as we
go to commercial. Very dull and paint by numbers for a while, but they
got going much better in the second half. These two would reconnect in
WCW over the US title in 1992 and put on some absolutely incredible
matches. **1/4
We
come back to Mean Gene on the interview stage with Ventura, along with
some weightlifting equipment. Apparently Dino Bravo is going to attempt
some kind of feat of bench pressing here tonight. Ventura has
volunteered to spot for him. The bench press world record is 705 pounds,
and Bravo is going to have a go at breaking that tonight. OK then. He's
also going to do this in his wrestling gear. Weird workout clothes.
Ventura narrates Bravo putting powder and gloves on, then he says we're
going to start with a "warm up" lift at.....415 pounds. Smeg. That's a
long way away from 705. Couldn't he have done that backstage? Bravo then
tries to wake the crowd up by doing the heel thing of saying he needs
total silence to make sure he gets anything but. 415 is easily cleared
with multiple reps. Great, now we can go up to 705 right? No, of course
not. They slowly work up by increments, going from 505 to 555 to 595 to
655 (Ventura even had to think about that one), all with the requisite
heel stalling in between lifts. This goes on, no exaggeration, as long
as the last match did. Finally we get to 715, which would be a new
record. But Ventura stresses it's UNOFFICIAL because the bar has to be
weighed after. Why not before? And who knew weightlifting had so many
rules? Oh for frak's sake, now Bravo teases walking away to try to make
the crowd react. NO ONE CARES ABOUT THIS. Finally they do the lift and
of course Bravo can't do it so Ventura helps him out, then they claim
Bravo did it and broke the record. It's a testament to how great
Okerlund was on his feet that this segment didn't completely fall to
pieces. That was as entertaining as watching some random dude across the
gym lift weights.
Next
up is a match for the WWF women's tag titles. Wait, WWF had women's tag
titles? Yes they did, something modern WWE doesn't want you to
remember. If you'll indulge me and my title lineage obsession for a
moment I'll explain. The NWA had women's tag titles dating back to the
early '50s alongside the singles women's title. When the WWF withdrew
from the NWA in 1983 as part of their plan to go national, eternal NWA
women's champ The Fabulous Moolah was under WWF contract and in legal
possession of both the NWA women's and women's tag title belts, so she
sold them all to WWF. The now WWF women's title became one of the
centerpieces of the Rock 'N' Wrestling era thanks to pop star Cyndi
Lauper's involvement. The women's tag titles flew under the radar, but
they were also active and defended from '83 on. The Glamour Girls had
held them about two and a half years coming into this show.
2
out of 3 Falls Match for the WWF Women's Tag Team Championship: The
Jumping Bomb Angels def The Glamour Girls (c) (w/Jimmy Hart) n 15:40- Jobber
entrance for the champs, that's never a good sign. The Bomb Angels have
been a sensation since signing with WWF from All Japan Women's,
bringing a style no one outside Japan had seen in women's wrestling to
this point. Since I've mentioned it so much I should point out someone
from the arena or WWF has finally confiscated ringside lady's megaphone.
No stepping on Jimmy Hart's gimmick.
FIRST
FALL- The Angels lose patience, run over and double shotgun dropkick
the champs! Kai quickly dodges another dropkick attempt by Tatento and
tosses her around by the hair. Martin slam on Tatento. Tatento does her
fancy bridge out, the Angels' legs are freaking tree trunks, and rolls
Martin up for 2. Yamazaki lifts Martin up for a possible piledriver but
just suplexes her instead. Tatento traps Martin in a body scissors while
Ventura ribs McMahon about not knowing the Angels' names, which he
hasn't even tried to say yet. Vince's excuse is he can't speak Japanese.
Weak. Names are easy, you don't have to speak the language for that.
Tatento tries a crossbody but Martin catches and slams her. Tatento
dodges an elbow drop attempt. Kai tags in but quickly gets worked over.
All the women are moving at top speed and then some. Hitting the ropes
as hard as the guys. Yamazaki gets Kai in an Inoki-style octopus hold.
Martin comes in to break it up. Stereo figure fours on the champs from
the Angels! Yamazaki holds it on Kai a bit longer, then hits a couple of
unique split legged drops on Kai's legs. Kai then gets wrapped up in an
Indian death lock. Again an attempted champ double team goes awry.
Yamazaki tries a kick off the top rope on Martin but Martin blocks it
and drops her. Kai kicks Yamazaki in the back from the apron. Big
modified German suplex from Martin, and that gets the pin for the first
fall.
SECOND
FALL- Since we're on regular TV there's commercial breaks between each
fall. Martin opens up with another hair toss on Yamazaki. Flying forearm
from Martin. Splash and Yamazaki does another crazy bridge up. She
dodges another Martin splash attempt. Tatento comes in with a dropkick.
Diving clothesline. Clothesline off the second rope for 2. Crossbody for
2. Someone must have handed Vince the Angels' names during the break,
but he still gets them all wrong. Double suplex from the Angels. The
Girls get maneuvered into clotheslining each other. Martin clotheslines
Yamazaki and lifts her up for a powerbomb. Yamazaki flips over into a
sunset flip and gets a pin to even the match up!
THIRD
FALL- At the bell the Angels quickly hit some more double teams on Kai.
Yamazaki hits Martin with an enzuguri. Tatento tries for a fisherman's
suplex but Martin blocks it and chops her back down. Tatento tries a
corner floatover cradle but Martin blocks that too. Double underhook
suplex from Kai for 2. Kai bites Tatento's hand! That's heel work.
Martin makes a tactical error, kicking Tatento so hard she falls in her
own corner and tags out. Martin gets Yamazaki trapped in the heel corner
and Kai chokes her. Yamazaki blocks a strike and plants Kai right on
her tailbone. Another one and a cover for 2. She deposits Kai in the
corner and flips Martin in the ring. Guess that was a tag. Slam/top rope
kneedrop combo from the Angels for 2. Tatento double underhook suplex
with a bridge for 2. Flying tackle from Yamazaki for 2. Martin dodges a
second rope senton attempt and covers for 2. Tatento clothesline off the
second rope. Kai breaks the pin up. Both Angels go up top. Double
missile dropkick! Tatento covers and gets the pin to win the titles!
HUGE pop from the crowd for the win too! Great wrestling always gets
over. That's definitely one of the best women's matches from the period,
everyone was working their asses off in there. The Angels were pioneers
that don't get the credit they deserve today, bringing pure joshi
puroresu to American (and Canadian) audiences decades before it became
more mainstream. ***1/4
The
Glamour Girls would regain the titles in June on the Bomb Angels' home
turf, an All Japan Women's show. They won the match by countout, but
it's standard rules in Japan that titles can change hands on countouts.
It's discouraged because it's considered a tainted and cheap title win
by most honorable wrestlers, but it's legally possible. By this time WWF
was doing less and less with their dwindling women's roster, and the
titles were deactivated in February '89. There wouldn't be another tag
title for the women until the creation of the modern ones in 2019.
Next
up is one of the centerpieces of this show, the contract signing for
the big Hulk Hogan/Andre the Giant rematch. Before getting going we
revisit the Wrestlemania 3 encounter and the near fall early in the
match that Andre and Heenan have argued in the near year since really
was a 3 count and pin. A new wrinkle in the long running feud is the
arrival of Ted DiBiase in WWF. True to character, he declared he was
going to buy the WWF Championship instead of win it in a match. Hogan,
naturally, refused the money on principle. We then get footage of Andre
attacking Hogan after Hogan's match on the last Saturday Night's Main
Event. After that is a clip from weekly TV of Andre promising DiBiase
that if he beats Hogan for the title, he'll happily sell the title to
DiBiase. DiBiase has also bought out Heenan's contract and taken over as
Andre's official representation.
Back
to live. Andre comes to the ring, accompanied by DiBiase and Virgil.
Mean Gene officiates this, and WWF President Jack Tunney is also here to
show how important it is. Mean Gene calls Hogan out to the usual Hogan
pop. Side note, this is the final major appearance of the pre-Winged
Eagle belt. The Winged Eagle will be introduced in the Hogan/Andre
rematch. You may be cool, but you're not as cool as Andre casually
chilling against the ropes during Hogan's entrance, absolutely zero
fucks given. Textbook nonchalance. Tunney tries to get everyone to the
very tiny table that's been set up in the ring. Hogan does sit down.
Andre doesn't move a muscle. After some pleading from Okerlund and
conferring with DiBiase Andre finally sits. DiBiase takes the mic and
eggs on Hogan to sign. Hogan has enough and signs it. Over to Andre.
Andre takes a look through the paperwork. DiBiase points out a little
sweetener he got in for Andre. One Hogan probably didn't even read.
Andre continues to read, annoying Hogan no end. Finally Andre is
satisfied and signs. DiBiase tells Andre to put his "stamp of approval"
on it. He grabs Hogan and smashes him into the table! End scene. Good
stuff for a contract signing, with both DiBiase and Andre nailing their
roles.
The
match would take place just a couple of weeks after this, February 5 on
a special live Friday night edition of usually pretaped SNME on NBC
called simply The Main Event. The big rematch drew what is still to this
day the largest TV rating for any wrestling program in history. The
match saw Andre win very controversially thanks to some referee twin
magic with the Hebner brothers, ending Hogan's title reign at just over
four years, the last of the classic multi-year title reigns that were
the norm in the company to that point. He then immediately tried to hand
the title over to DiBiase as promised. That would lead to the title
being vacated and the tournament to crown a new champion that made up
the bulk of Wrestlemania 4.
Royal Rumble- This
first ever Rumble is a 20 man affair, which was generally considered
normal size for a battle royale at the time. As I mentioned at the top,
this was Pat Patterson's brainchild and this first one he was trying to
prove to a skeptical Vince the concept would work. Entrances are
(theoretically) at the 2 minute intervals that will be standard for a
long time, though elimination is loosely described as "over the top
rope" without mention of one or both feet hitting the floor. We'll see
how that holds up. Since we've got a house show style partial roster for
this show rather than a full PPV one there's not going to be a lot of
top stars in this. The first two guys are already in the ring as The
Fink goes through the Rumble rules for the first time ever, which means
he *really* has to explain it because no one's ever seen this before.
1 & 2. Bret "Hitman" Hart and WWF Tag Team Champion Tito Santana- Weird
Santana is in this but his Strike Force partner Rick Martel isn't.
Strike Force defeated the Hart Foundation for the tag titles so there's
definitely priors here. Pretty standard match back and forth start.
Santana hits the brakes under a Bret leapfrog and does some ground and
pound on him. Bret fires back with an inverted atomic drop and the elbow
off the second rope. We get the 10 second countdown clock on screen for
the first time. It's a little thing, but crucial to making this work as
intended.
3. "The Natural" Butch Reed- As
Reed is coming in Santana hits Bret with the flying forearm, but then
Reed is all over him. That gives us our first real elimination tease.
Bret needs to fix his kneepads, one of them is backwards all the way
down on his ankle. The heels double team Santana as natural alliances
form. There's no countdown clock before the next entrant. Teething
troubles.
4. Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart- I
bet Santana really wishes Martel was in the match now. The Harts
quickly gang up on him, with Reed joining in. Santana still somehow
manages to save himself from being eliminated.
5. Jake "The Snake" Roberts- HUGE
pop for the biggest babyface star in the match. The heel trio is still
trying to get Santana over. Roberts comes from behind and dumps Reed!
The first ever Rumble elimination. He pounds away on both Harts and
whips them into each other. Roberts calls for the DDT on Bret. Anvil
murders Roberts with a clothesline to stop that quick. Bret piledriver
on Santana as we count down again.
6. "King" Harley Race- Anvil
holds Roberts while Race drops elbows on him. Lots of fluidity so far
as guys are constantly moving and changing pair offs. So far the layout
is working very well.
7."Jumping" Jim Brunzell- Brunzell goes right after the Harts and nearly gets Bret out before Anvil grabs his leg to save him.
8. Sam Houston- No
way he's going to last in this, dude weighs maybe 50 pounds. Bret and
Santana continue to focus on each other while Roberts and Anvil seem to
have something going on too. The Harts get back together, grab Santana and toss him out.
9. "Dangerous" Danny Davis- The
former ref that's aligned with the Harts. He goes right for Houston,
the easiest target. Race does some see sawing in the ropes off Roberts
punches. Davis escapes a Roberts DDT attempt.
10. Boris Zhukov- Good
Party man Zhukov goes right for capitalist pig Texan Houston. Nothing
to do with the fact that he's, again, the easiest pickings out there. We
finally get some "every man for himself" as Race gives fellow heel
Zhukov some shots, but it doesn't last long.
11. "The Rock" Don Muraco- We
have our first real frak up of the night as next entrant Volkoff comes
out right behind Muraco, but the way it's played I think it was
intentional to show that guys can't get in before their number comes up.
The contingent of refs ringside stop Volkoff from coming in. Roberts
and Brunzell slowwwwwwwwly teeter Zhukov over the top to eliminate him while his partner helplessly watches.
12. Nikolai Volkoff- After
the full countdown the refs let Volkoff in. After a lot of very obvious
setup Muraco gives Race a shot against the ropes and Race goes 360 and out! Pissed Race tries to get back in but the refs won't let him.
13. "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan- With
2x4. Race is still there and naturally these two were feuding, or at
least had last year. Duggan shoves Race aside. Race clotheslines him! As
he leaves Duggan initially follows, then turns back around and gets in
the ring.
14. "Outlaw" Ron Bass- I'm not sure who I'm more surprised is still in, Houston or Davis. Volkoff straight muscles Brunzell up by the ropes and dumps him out. At almost the same time Muraco does a crazy upside down flip into the corner.
15. B Brian Blair- Get
rid of one Killer Bee, another one takes him place. Lots of brawling
all over as the ring has filled up but nothing much of note.
16. Hillbilly Jim- One of the biggest guys in the match. Amazing how they always seem to draw late numbers. Jim quickly dumps Anvil out! Jim
gets Davis sitting on the top rope, then takes him down and then tries
to dump him out. Horrible thinking there. Bass throws Blair over the top
but he lands on the apron, not an official elimination. Figuring out
where the lines are.
17. Dino Bravo- Fresh
off destroying the world bench press record and don't you dare question
it. Houston gets up on Bass' shoulders which seems like a REALLY bad
idea. And as I type that Bass easily drops Houston down to the floor and out. Honestly shocked he lasted as long as he did.
18. The Ultimate Warrior- Making
his first major appearance and very much still a work in progress. Zero
reaction from the crowd for him. He's wearing Hogan yellow and red for
some reason. Muraco tosses Bret out. #1 entrant Bret lasted a bit
over 25 minutes, becoming the first Rumble ironman. Warrior and Bravo
pair off, which is not at all pretty to watch.
19. One Man Gang- Speaking of big guys with late numbers. THE biggest guy in the match has arrived. He quickly makes his presence felt. Out goes Blair. Out goes Roberts, a big elimination.
20. The Junkyard Dog- JYD is the first lucky last entrant, and we have 10 of the 20 entrants still in the ring and in contention. Duggan dumps Volkoff over and out FOR AMERICA. OMG gets Jim up and out. OMG easily the biggest left now. Duggan sets Davis up against the ropes, gives him the 3 point stance clothesline and Davis is out. He also lasted way longer than anyone would have thought. Bravo and OMG get Warrior out. Bass grabs JYD and gets him over and out! Man, he just plain caught JYD napping there. So much for luck of the draw. Muraco nudges Bass in the back of the head and Bass essentially throws himself over and out. It's a long while before it'll become A Thing, but we have our unofficial first final four.
FINAL FOUR: Muraco, Duggan, Bravo and OMG- Conveniently
there's two faces and two heels left. OMG squashes Duggan with an
avalanche in the corner. He goes for one on Muraco but Muraco rolls
free. The heels try to corner him but Muraco fights them off. Dropkick
on OMG and he teeters near the ropes. Bravo's manager Frenchie Martin
gets on the apron and Muraco dropkicks him off. Bravo holds Muraco, OMG
clotheslines him, and Muraco is out. The heels turn their
attention to Duggan, who looks like a dead man walking. Small standoff
and Bravo calls the play. Duggan tries to fight both of them, which
starts good but doesn't last. Double clothesline on Duggan. Bravo sets
Duggan up near the ropes just like he did Muraco. Duggan ducks and OMG clotheslines Bravo out!
Duggan jabs on OMG. OMG counters an ill advised backdrop attempt. He
chokes Duggan on the ropes. OMG charges. Duggan ducks, pulls the top
rope down, and OMG goes out! Hacksaw Jim Duggan is the first ever Royal Rumble winner!
This
first Rumble isn't going to blow any minds, but as a proof of concept
match it does everything it needs to do and does it very well. Make some
adjustments- raise the entrants to 30, get the top guys in, play into
the "every man for himself" concept more (or at all), and make some
massages to the layout and in short order the Rumble will be not just a
yearly fixture, but possibly the most anticipated single event in
wrestling every single year. As I write this nearly 40 years later it
still is. ***
Hogan joins us on the in arena interview stage. He's so fired up after Andre's cheap shot earlier he tears his shirt off.
2 out of 3 Falls: The Islanders def The Young Stallions in 14:59- Tacking
on a fairly pointless match to close out the show, which was a pretty
standard thing for regular TV at the time. Saw it all the time on SNME.
FIRST
FALL- Powers and Tama start while commentary goes over the whole angle
the Islanders are involved in where they dognapped the British Bulldogs'
mascot Matilda. That will get a final payoff at WM. Powers gets the
edge with some punches and a slam. Tama slowly slides to the floor to
recover, then offers an insincere handshake back in. Vince says the
bench press segment was so boring it almost put him to sleep. Shoot
comments! Powers hits an atomic drop. Both sides dodge and tag. Roma
cranks on Haku's arm. Speed run and they massively frak up a hiptoss
counter spot. Haku recovers quickly with stomps. Roma hits a crossbody
barely on target for 2. Double back elbow from the Stallions. The
Islanders get Powers down and slowly get him in peril with some double
teams. Haku/Powers double clothesline. Both sides tag. Hot tag run from
Roma. Tama begs off but Roma stays on him. Dropkick. Backdrop. Another
dropkick. Tama eye rakes and tosses Roma over the top rope, helped by
Haku pulling the rope down. Roma hurt his knee on the fall and can't get
back up on his own. He's counted out to give the Islanders the first
fall.
SECOND
FALL- No, wait. Roma is in the back getting his knee worked on, so we
get rebuttal promo time with Andre and DiBiase instead. While the
Islanders are still in the ring. It's perfectly fine but nothing of real
note is said. Once they're done the Stallions make their way back in,
Powers clearly helping Roma walk.
SECOND
FALL FOR REAL- Despite Powers' protests Roma is forced to start the
fall as he was legal for the end of the last one. Tama is quickly all
over the hurt knee. Roma gets his knees up on a splash attempt but that
hurts him just as much. He is able to get a tag out to Powers. Powers
backdrop on Haku for 2. Buckle shots and a clothesline for another 2.
Dropkick for 2. Suplex for 2. I'm just noticing, there's a lot of empty
seats across from hard camera. A lot of people left during the last
promo segment. Haku fires back with a shot to Powers' gut and tags out.
Double headbutt from the Islanders. Powers counters Haku into a small
package for 2. Backbreaker from Haku for 2. Flying back elbow from Tama.
Haku standing dropkick for 2. Gutwrench suplex for 2. He hooks on an
abdominal stretch. Monsoon would definitely criticize how badly that is
applied. Powers dodges a senton. Powers kicks Haku, then takes an
obvious bump himself like Haku had hit him. The hell was that? Big chop
from Haku. A dropkick goes right over Powers' head but Powers sells it
anyway. This is falling to pieces. Powers actually tags hurt Roma back
in. Roma tries to slug it out with Haku but Haku kicks his leg out of
his leg. Tama big splashes Roma's knee off the top rope. Haku puts on a
half crab and Roma quickly submits. Meh. That felt little more than an
unneeded tack on to make the show longer. The injury break and promo
gave it a weird flow too, not to mention they had several very ugly
botches. *1/2
As
the show closes Vince is STILL bitching about Ventura cheating during
Bravo's bench press segment. Sure, focus on by far the worst part of the
show as the final moments.
OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- Come
for the historic first Rumble, stay for one of the few genuinely good
women's matches of the era. The Andre/Hogan promo to set the big rematch up is really well done, but the bench press segment was slow
motion torture.
OVERALL SHOW GRADE: C
v2.0 published 8/15/26
