Legacy Review
Royal Rumble '89
January 15, 1989 from The Summit in Houston, TXCommentary: Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura
After the success of the first Rumble on regular cable TV, the last of the Big Four PPVs is born. No counter move from Atlanta this time, as both the next Clash and WCW PPV would be in February.
2 Out of 3 Falls Match: The Hart Foundation and "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan def The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers and Dino Bravo (w/Jimmy Hart and Frenchy Martin) 2-1 in 15:42- Officially this match is "International Rules", which is just their fancy way of saying two out of three. One of the Royal Rumble logo ceiling banners is swaying awfully bad. Good thing it's not the old Boston Garden or half the upper deck wouldn't be able to see. The heels come out to Bravo's music instead of All American Boys, which almost makes me want to knock a full star off the match. I'm petty.
FIRST FALL- Anvil and Bravo start. Mandatory power guys shoulderblock standoff. It never gets old. They do it almost every match in New Japan today and I still like it. They swap elbow misses. Duggan scoops up a running Raymond and slams him, then hits him with a diving....something or other. It's Duggan. Bret rolls through some Ricky Steamboat-like rapid fire pin attempts. The Rougeaus hug in the corner to regain health. Jacques flips out of a backdrop attempt. Bret congratulates him with his fall down clothesline. The faces stack the heels in the corner and Anvil gives the lot of them the shoulder! Fun. Raymond pulls the top rope down on a Bret rope run and he tumbles out. Bravo gets him back in, hits him with the side suplex, and the Rougeaus hit their finisher and get the pin.
SECOND FALL- Bret is face in peril. Bret bump! That gets a long 2 count. Bret fights out of a Bravo bearhug. USA chant for Bret. Er, who wants to tell them? Heh, Ventura actually points that out. Bret with a sunset flip for 2. Double chinlock on Bret. Anvil runs in and the Rougeaus swap without a tag. Boston Crab. Bret slowly crawls toward the corner while in it and gets a tag to Anvil, but the ref was distracted and didn't see it. The Rougeaus work a double team abdominal stretch. Bret blocks a monkey flip, hits an inverted atomic drop and gets the hot tag to Duggan. Duggan slingshot splashes both Anvil and Bret onto Raymond, but there's some awkwardness as both try for covers but Duggan never actually tagged them. Duggan finally realizes this, drops an elbow, and gets the 3. Good on Joey Marella for calling it straight. The
THIRD FALL- Duggan works Raymond over. He goes into the heel corner to attack the rest of the team but they get him tied down instead. Duggan goes mild FIP until Bravo inverted atomic drops him right into the face corner! Well that was dumb. Bret tags in. A semi-donnybrook leads to Duggan whacking Bravo with the 2x4 and Bret covering to get the pin. Perfectly acceptable. It tried to be good, especially in the first fall, but the Bret FIP sequence felt bogged down and overlong with not enough hope spots. Bret overall seemed oddly off tonight. **1/2
Montage of wrestlers drawing their numbers for the Rumble. Ted DiBiase is not happy and calls Slick over for a chat.
WWF Women's Championship: Rockin' Robin (c) def Judy Martin in 6:24- Former champion Sensational Sherri is in the ring and challenges the winner. Sherri showed more personality in 30 seconds than anyone else in the ring the whole match. She then goes into commentary. Judy Martin looks older than Moolah. Fast back and forth start. Robin dodges a corner charge and hits some dropkicks. Martin gets a boot up on a charge. Robin tries a crossbody but Martin catches and drops her. Robin recovers and works the knee a bit (which goes nowhere). Boston Crab. Martin counters into a cradle for 2, then Robin counters into one of her own for 2. Sloppy small package from Martin for 2. Martin counters a dropkick and a roll up attempt. Robin has a horrible DDT counter than she had to stall and get herself in position for. Sherri: "Somebody win!". I concur. Robin fakes a reverse crossbody off the 2nd rope, waits for Martin to stop ducking, then hits it for the 3. Pacey but sloppy. The crowd didn't give two smegs. Contrast that to the women's tag title match the year before, where the Jumping Bomb Angels hooked the crowd in through sheer workrate awesomeness. Sherri never got her rematch. This would be the last appearance of the women's title until Medusa/Alundra Blayze signed and Vince got it off the shelf and dusted it off for her. 3/4*
Date promo for Wrestlemania 5: April 2, 1989
Sean Mooney is in the back with Slick and the Twin Towers. Mooney asks Slick about DiBiase. "Who?" "The Million Dollar Man." "Haven't seen him in a month!" Mooney counters with the footage from earlier. Slick claims he misunderstood the question and it's none of your business anyway because shut up.
Time for the "super posedown" between Rick Rude and the Ultimate Warrior. Mean Gene is hosting. Warrior runs in as per usual. No belt though. In fact, commentary never once mentions he's the Intercontinental champion. Weird. It's basic kayfabe era face/heel stuff. Both guys pose (I'm not a bodybuilding guy so don't ask me for details), the crowd boos Rude and cheers Warrior no matter what. Heenan even tries to butter them up by saying how much they love Houston. I wonder if this gave Vince the idea for trying to start the WBF. During Warrior's last pose a fed up Rude attacks him with his exercise bar and chokes him out with it. When Warrior comes to he beats up all the officials trying to help him and runs to the back. It was a bit long for a PPV segment, they probably should have done this on weekly TV. But it's not horrible, and it set up the Warrior/Rude IC title match at WM 5 and their longer feud that ended up elevating both guys.
For the King of the Ring Crown: King Haku (w/Bobby Heenan) def Harley Race in 9:01- Haku was awarded the King crown after Race had to take time off for a hernia injury that required surgery. This is heel vs heel so crowd investment will be difficult. Race does get a bit of a pop. Probably old school NWA fans. These are two of the legit tough guys in wrestling history. If it was the WWF style they could probably go at it like Suzuki and Ishii and both of them would be perfectly OK with it. Race dumps Haku's jobber carried throne over while he's still on it! They fight on the floor a bit. Race gets some '70s offense in the ring before clotheslining Haku out again. Haku counters and Race gets posted. Heenan is hilarious in this match. He cheers on whoever is on offense at the time with no shame. Race JUST gets over the top with a Flair Flip and falls to the floor. Back in they start headbutting each other like a couple of drunk Klingons with no sells on both sides. Race hits a piledriver. Shoulderblock, and both guys go down. Race falls crashing outside. Haku suplexes him back in. Race suplexes Haku. Race tries for a piledriver on the floor but Haku backdrops out. Race counters, then does hit the piledriver on the floor. Swinging neckbreaker for 2. Race is really moving slow now. Race dodges a headbutt off the top rope. Haku dodges a headbutt of the 2nd rope. While Race is running the ropes Haku catches him with a superkick and gets the 3. Race was trying every tool left in his diminished toolbox to make this decent but he was clearly spent by the time the match was half done. This would be his last WWF match. He'd continue to wrestle in smaller promotions through mid-'90 (including getting a shot at the AWA world title) before hanging it up and closing out the career of, if not the biggest wrestling star of the 1970s, then certainly the second biggest after Bruno Sammartino. And then go on to have a successful second career in WCW as a manager. *3/4
Royal Rumble- This is the first true 30 man Rumble. Before we get going Howard Finkel (who passed away less than two weeks before writing this, RIP Fink, the best ring announcer there's ever been) gives us the rules rundown. Let's all find out who drew NUMBER ONE....
1. & 2. WWF Tag Team Champion Ax & WWF Tag Team Champion Smash- Now here's a Rumble moment, right at the start. Demolition ends up 1 and 2. Not just a great moment, but smart booking as it perfectly encapsulates the every man for himself angle. Smash charges in and they go right at it with no hesitation. Ax axes. Smash smashes. Ax was always better at that spot. Ax sends Smash over the top but he lands on the apron.
3. Andre the Giant- Business is here early. I highly doubt he's going the distance. The Demos wait for him to get in and take him down with a double clothesline. After a bit of a beating Andre gets back up and fights them both off.
4. Mr. Perfect- Very early in his WWF run and in trunks instead of a singlet. I think they had just dropped Curt Hennig from his ring name as well. He goes after everyone. Andre eliminates Smash. Ax and Perfect team up against Andre until Ax turns on Perfect. Perfect with the Bret bump!
5. "Rugged" Ronnie Garvin- Goes right after Andre. Andre gets tied up in the ropes. The other three try to lift him up but Andre fights out of it. Perfect and Garvin get in a nice chopfest.
6. Greg "The Hammer" Valentine- Goes right for Andre. Andre eliminates Garvin. Perfect gets Ax back for the double cross earlier.
7. Jake "The Snake" Roberts- This is during the "Andre's so afraid of snakes the sight of Damien gave him a heart attack" feud so Roberts goes right after him, but Andre quickly shuts him down.
8. "Outlaw" Ron Bass- Sporting a near clean shaven look after Brutus Beefcake finally got his revenge for Bass taking him out of Summerslam '88. He does not go right for Andre. Andre eliminates Roberts. That was the Rumble equivalent of a squash match. Commentary can't believe Ax is still in. We're only up to #8, guys!
9. Shawn Michaels- Perfect eliminates Ax. Perfect tosses Shawn, Shawn skins the cat back in, clotheslines Perfect, and gets a Perfect 360 sell. A Shawn dropkick sends Perfect over but not out. Ventura floats the idea of Sherri in the Rumble. A decade later it could have happened. She was good enough. Shawn and Perfect are still paired off, sending the overall match workrate level sky high.
10. Butch- Roberts comes back in with Damien! Andre flies over the top rope in terror and eliminates himself.
11. The Honky Tonk Man- Perfect and Honky pair off for a bit. Every man for himself! The other wrestlers whip Perfect and Shawn into each other. Perfect takes a Flair Flop like bump face first into the middle turnbuckle.
12. Tito Santana- No Martel for him to go after....oh wait, they're still tag partners. He and Perfect pair off to continue the workrate Rumble. Bass and Perfect double team Shawn.
13. Bad News Brown- Commentary points out this is his style of match. Ventura: "This is a regular Saturday night for him!" Santana and Butch eliminate Honky. Shawn has a near elimination off a Valentine atomic drop.
14. Marty Janetty- Bass nails him as he comes in. Shawn helps and the Rockers get their double team mojo going. The Rockers eliminate Bass. Ventura: "The Rockers won't turn on each other unless they're the last two guys in". Or there's a Barber Shop window nearby. Santana with the Flying Tortilla on Valentine.
15. WWF Champion "Macho Man" Randy Savage- Now business is picking up. Savage goes right for Brown, who he'd been feuding on the house show loop with. Savage and Perfect pair off. Hell yes, please.
16. Arn Anderson- Savage eliminates Valentine. We're right in the middle of the absolutely awesome Rockers/Brain Busters feud so Arn and Shawn quickly find each other. Shawn slips out of a slam and gives Arn a superkick. Arn and Savage team up to eliminate Shawn! Every man for himself. Janetty goes after Arn.
17. Tully Blanchard- Bad luck for Janetty, great luck for Arn. The Busters temporarily turn their attention to Butch. Savage and Perfect pair off to tease us again. World's Greatest Spinebuster on Janetty! The Busters get Janetty mostly over. Janetty tries to fight them off, even hooking his feet across the top rope, but they eventually eliminate him.
18. Hulk Hogan- And speaking of business picking up. Hogan eliminates Perfect. Perfect got the first ever Rumble ironman run and would hold the first longevity record at just under 28 minutes. Hogan and Brown pair off. Santana is eliminated off camera. My stat sheet says it was the Savage and Arn combo again.
19. Luke- Before the Bushwackers can team up Brown eliminates Butch. The Busters are doing their best to work as a team. Hogan press slams Tully but just drops him throat first on the top rope. Everyone teams up against the Mega Powers, who have been slow to try to help each other.
20. Koko B Ware- Luke holds Hogan down for Arn. Every man for himself. Arn goes up top. Hogan catches him and gives him the Flair throw. Savage rams the Busters together. Hogan eliminates Ware, then Luke. The Busters double team Hogan.
21. The Warlord- As he's coming in Hogan eliminates the Brain Busters. As soon as Warlord steps in the ring Hogan clotheslines him out for the first Rumble lightning elimination. Brown and Savage are fighting on the ropes. Hogan comes up from behind and tosses Brown, AND SAVAGE. Savage is IRATE. He gets back in and he and Hogan have a calm, logical discussion about it. With pointing and shoving. Elizabeth runs in to mediate. After a minute Savage calms down and offers a handshake. They hug it out. All is well with the Mega Powers. For now.
22. The Big Boss Man- This is convenient, as the Mega Powers/Twin Towers feud was ongoing. All Hogan to start. Boss Man gets an avalanche in the corner to take over, followed by a piledriver. Hogan dodges a big splash.
23. Akeem- Boss Man's tag partner, how even more convenient! Hogan tries to fight them off but the Towers are too much beef even for Hogan. He tries to come back and gets a side suplex on Boss Man, but that also seems to take the last out of him. The Twin Towers eliminate Hogan. There's a shocker. The whole thing is wide open now. Hogan, always the gracious loser, pulls Boss Man under the bottom rope and beats on him some more. Akeem makes the save.
24. Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake- Attacks Akeem while he's still on the floor. Hogan tries to get back in but the refs stop him. Someone still has to pay though, so he reaches up and pulls Boss Man over the top and out, eliminating him! Taking sore loser to a whole new level. They brawl to the back. Monsoon tries to defend Hogan but Ventura destroys every debate point and, in this instance, has the winning argument in my opinion. Hogan's just a bad loser.
25.
26. The Barbarian- He saves Akeem then attacks him? Monsoon and Ventura agree that was stupid. Akeem squashes the Rooster with a big splash.
27. Big John Studd- Studd had just unretired after two years out and turned face to feud with the Heenan Family. He pushes Rooster aside to attack Akeem.
28. Hercules- The match is starting to bog down and suffer from the fact that almost all the best workers and biggest stars have already been eliminated. Studd and Akeem keep at the hoss fight.
29. Rick Martel- Fortunately it's babyface Martel so here's a good hope to liven things up again. And he does turn it up a bit with a nice sequence with Rooster.
30. "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase- I suspect money was exchanged to secure this spot, but nothing can be proven in a court of law. From a "guess the booking" perspective DiBiase would look like a good bet to win at this point. He and Rooster reacquaint from their Mid-South days and have a very nice sequence, including Taylor breaking out the old Fivearm. DiBiase whips Rooster into the corner and he Flair Flips out. They don't call him Ric Flair Lite for nothing. Herc goes to town on DiBiase, referencing their mini-feud (Heenan sold Herc's contract to DiBiase, DiBiase said he'd bought a slave, Herc said screw you and turned face). Beefcake gets a sleeper on Herc. DiBiase and Barbarian sneak up and eliminate them both. Barbarian powerslams Martel and hits him with the headbutt off the top. Martel ducks a Barbarian clothesline and eliminates him.
FINAL FOUR- Akeem, Studd, Martel and DiBiase. Martel unloads on DiBiase. Martel dodges an Akeem corner charge and hits some dropkicks. He tries a crossbody, but Akeem catches him and dumps him out. The heels gang up on Studd. DiBiase takes on a coaching role while Akeem does the heavy lifting. Studd pulls DiBiase in the way of an avalanche. Studd eliminates Akeem. DiBiase offers to buy the win. Studd is not interested. After an overly long beatdown and no drama, Studd eliminates DiBiase and Big John Studd is the winner of the first 30 man Royal Rumble!
This was a great Rumble, up until Savage and Hogan were eliminated. After that it was just.....there. It peaked too early. They're still working on the formula, and we all know they'll get there. Studd winning is a nice underdog win, something you could have in the days before the winner got the WM title shot, but it went nowhere long term as Studd's only other major WWF appearance was as the guest ref for the Andre/Roberts WM 5 match and then he'd retire again. ***1/4
OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS- Like other shows of the era, you won't see a lot of snowflakes but you'll have a mostly good time watching it. There's nothing close to can't miss on the undercard, but Rumbles usually live or die by how good the Rumble match is, and this was a good one, especially for the first full attempt at it.
OVERALL SHOW GRADE: B
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