Royal Rumble '90

Legacy Review

Royal Rumble '90

January 21, 1990 from the Orlando Arena in Orlando, FL

Commentary: Tony Schiavone (in his last major WWF appearance) and Jesse Ventura

The Bushwhackers def The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers (w/Jimmy Hart) in 13:35- Jacques grew a beard? The Bushwhackers play to the crowd and stall......and stall.......and...zzzzzzzz.... The Rougeaus share a prematch hug. Butch and Raymond start. The Bushwhackers fight off a double team. Sleeper on Butch. He backs Raymond into the corner to get out, then bites his ass. And bites the ref's ass! How is that not a DQ? The Bushwhackers tease a battering ram but the Rougeaus bail. Tags on both sides. Luke bites Jacques in the face. And I thought Red Shoes was lenient. Well, Danny Davis has barely started reffing again, he's probably too scared for his job to do anything. Another Bushwhackers blindside sends the Rougeaus out again and they need a hug. Me too. The Rougeaus taunt and hit Luke from behind, sending him whacker in peril. Tag rope choke. Luke tries to get his corner by biting Raymond's leg. Some double team near falls. Jacques gives Luke a taste of his own medicine and bites him in the corner. Hope he's had his shots. Assisted abdominal stretch. Luke gets his knees up on a Jacques splash attempt and gets the hot tag. Jacques goes into super selling mode. Donnybrook! The heels are whipped into each other. The Bushwhackers go for the battering ram again but Hart grabs a leg. They drag Hart into the ring. A double dropkick from the Rougeaus saves him. The Bushwhackers hit the battering ram from behind and get the pin. As good as it possibly could have been, with the Rougeaus doing their thing and letting the Bushwhackers play to their few strengths. This would turn out to be the Rougeaus' last major match. Raymond would retire due to back trouble and move into commentary. To this day he still does French commentary for some WWE PPVs. Jacques took some time off before coming back as the Mountie. *3/4

Mean Gene is in the back with Ted DiBiase and Virgil. DiBiase is outraged at the wild, baseless, uncorroborated, heinous accusation that he bought #30 last year. Okerlund says there's increased security for the number draw this year. DiBiase is furious and we soon see why: that idiot Virgil drew #1!

Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake and The Genius go to a double DQ in 11:07- Beefcake was in another of those stages where they're maybe possibly thinking about giving him a big singles push. Genius was mostly a manager and wrestles like one. Insincere handshake offer. Genius is a lefty, you know you can't trust him (yes that's a joke, chill out). Genius' strutting around is.....er, effeminate. He backs out of a lockup, goes outside and does a cartwheel. Beefcake does some counter strutting. Genius eye rakes on a corner break. He goes for mounted punches, but Beefcake grabs him for an inverted atomic drop. Test of strength that's easily won by Beefcake, followed by a hand stomp. Genius gets crotched on the top rope and goes outside again. Every time he comes back in the ring he finds a new and unique way to do it. Reminds me of one of Tom Baker's stories from while he was playing the Doctor. He loved finding new, interesting and weird ways to walk through doors. Amazingly they continue to go 50/50, with Genius even getting a near fall. A Genius eye rake and roll up gets 2. Beefcake goes for the sleeper but Genius manages to fight his way out. Ref bump! Beefcake locks the sleeper in and the lights go out. Beefcake, as usual cares more about cutting hair than winning and goes for the scissors instead of trying to revive the ref. He gets a bit off the top before Perfect runs in to save his manager. Perfectplex! Perfect attacks with a chair as the bell rings. The ref rules it a double DQ/sportz entertainment finish. This set up the Perfect/Beefcake match at Wrestlemania 6. If Beefcake was getting a push, I don't see how this did him any favors. Genius bumped like a champ, though. 3/4*

Sean Mooney asks the Heenan Family what might happen if they have to face each other at the end of the Rumble. Dissension ensues.

Submission Match: "Rugged" Ronnie Garvin def Greg "The Hammer" Valentine (w/Jimmy Hart) in 16:55- This is the final blowoff of the nearly year long Garvin/Valentine feud that saw Garvin lose a retirement match to Valentine and come back as a referee and ring announcer to annoy him to the point that Valentine agreed to have him reinstated. Garvin is wearing a shin brace to counter Valentine's own brace. Valentine complains about it and threatens to walk. Garvin chases him down, gives him some chops, and rolls him back in. More stiff chops and Garvin is swinging some potatoes around. Valentine comes back with chops of his own. We're talking .8 or .9 Flair here. Chopfest! Valentine flop! It turns into a mini boxing match for a bit. Garvin grabs a leg. Valentine uses the opening to pop him with a left. Some hard Valentine forearms and Garvin flops in the ropes. More chops exchanged. Good lord this match is *stiff*. Garvin hits a headbutt and both guys slowly go down. Garvin goes for a piledriver. Valentine backdrops him out, but Garvin keeps control and turns over into a sunset flip. No pins. More hard Valentine chops. Full speed midring collision with the sound of a car crash and both guys go down again. This is way out of the usual WWF style, the crowd's not sure what to make of it. Valentine hooks in the figure four, but Garvin just smiles and makes faces at Valentine. His brace is blocking it! Valentine shifts gears and tries a Canadian backbreaker but can't hold it for long. Garvin gets some more stiff chops in. Drop toe hold and Garvin hooks Valentine in an Indian Death Lock. Valentine gets to the ropes. They go outside and have one last chopfest. Garvin teases a piledriver on the floor but Valentine backdrops out. Another midring collision. Garvin is near the apron and Hart sneaks his brace off. Figure four! Garvin's feeling it this time. He fights and manages to reverse it. Valentine gets to the rope and goes back to the leg work. Valentine goes to the top rope, but Garvin hobbles over on one leg and gives him the Flair throw. He takes Valentine's brace off. Both guys take a swing at each other with their braces! Garvin wins the exchange. He puts Valentine into what Tony calls a reverse figure four (a Scorpion Death Lock or Sharpshooter) and Valentine submits! I went to a WWF show and a mid-'80s NWA match broke out. Damn good stuff, if a little lacking in personality (far from either guys' strength). All the attempted pinfalls with the ref having to remind them no pins got old. This was both guys' last feud of any significance in WWF. Valentine moved into a really ill conceived tag pairing with Honky Tonk Man, then turned face and settled into a Tito Santana-style jobber to the stars role before going back to WCW. Garvin floated around midcard hell and left before the end of the year, worked in Jim Cornette's Smokey Mountain for a bit then settled into semi-retirement. ***1/2

Perfect is with Gene Mean. He says he drew the perfect number for the Rumble.

Brother Love show time, featuring Queen Sherri and Sapphire. Usual stuff. The heels run Sapphire down until she snaps and hits Sherri. Savage and Dusty come out and have a small brawl. Brother Love takes his bumps. This was part of the build for the mixed tag match at WM 6 that's better off not mentioned again. It's fine for weekly TV but a bit of a time waster on PPV.

"Hacksaw" Jim Duggan def The Big Boss Man (w/Slick) by DQ in 6:13- They charge right into each other on the lockup and slug it out. Boss Man keeps hitting Duggan in the head, like that's going to damage anything. Duggan hits a couple of hard clotheslines and Boss Man goes outside. More slugfest on the floor. Duggan gets posted. Boss Man charges but Duggan dodges and Boss Man's shoulder is posted. Duggan works on it a bit until his ADD kicks in. Boss Man hits an avalanche to take control. Duggan catches a kick. Boss Man responds with an enzuguri! Buckle shots on Duggan that he no sells and starts to hulk up. He goes for a backdrop but Boss Man nails him in the back of the neck and covers for 2. While the ref is distracted Slick chokes Duggan with a chain. Another comeback attempt is squashed. Bear hug. Duggan tries to bell ring his way out but Boss Man hangs on. After a couple of arm drops Duggan wakes up and hits a headbutt. Boss Man still hangs on and falls on Duggan, who gets a foot on the rope. More haymakers. Duggan clotheslines Boss Man 360 and out. Boss Man dodges a corner charge, then Duggan dodges a splash off the top. Slick throws Boss Man his nightstick, and Boss Man whacks Duggan in front of the ref for a blatant DQ. Duggan chases them off with the 2x4. Serviceable, and it sure wasn't lacking for effort from either guy. This was when Boss Man was just starting to develop into a really good worker. He'd also turn face soon after this show. **

Pre-Rumble promo montage. Man, I miss those. Hercules says he's going to win the Rumble Royal. Warrior directly calls out Hogan. Tonight's Warrior strap color is classic IC title yellow.

Royal Rumble

1 & 2. "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase and Koko B Ware- DiBiase jumps Ware as soon as he hits the ring. Ware does his usual no sells of buckle shots, flaps up and hits a dropkick. He charges DiBiase, but DiBiase backdrops him out and eliminates him. Thanks for coming, Birdman.

3. Marty Janetty- DiBiase goes aggressive again but Janetty slides under the legs and hits a series of dropkicks. Lots of good back and forth. Janetty 360 sells a DiBiase clothesline. Janetty pushes DiBiase into the ropes, rolls back and charges, but DiBiase ducks and Janetty flies over the top rope and is gone.

4. Jake "The Snake" Roberts- Again DiBiase with the instant attack. They end up on the floor and Roberts eats a slam on the concrete. DiBiase tries to hook on the Million Dollar Dream but Roberts runs him into the post. Back in, DiBiase backdrops out of a DDT attempt.

5. "Macho King" Randy Savage- DiBiase dodges a Roberts running high knee. The heels double team Roberts but never try to eliminate him.

6. "Rowdy" Roddy Piper- Lots of big names coming out early this year. Piper hits the ring and goes rowdy. Face/heel pairoffs. Roberts and Piper tease almost hitting each other then turn away.

7. The Warlord- And he's already in for longer than he was last year. Warlord and Piper slug it out. Savage and DiBiase try to eliminate Roberts.

8. Bret "Hitman" Hart- Bret ducks a double team attempt and DiBiase hits Savage. Bret and Piper double team Warlord. It's been all face vs heel so far, not much every man for himself. As soon as I say that Piper and Roberts trade some punches.

9. Bad News Brown- Roberts hooks DiBiase in for a DDT, but they're by the ropes and Savage charges and clotheslines Roberts over and out. DiBiase does some more elimination teasing with Virgil helping to keep him in.

10. "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes- Goes right for Savage. Bionic Elbows. Savage charges, Dusty eliminates him.

11. WWF Tag Team Champion Andre the Giant- Warlord jumps him as he gets in. Andre eliminates him. Heenan and Fuji argue about it. Dusty and Piper try to beat Andre down.

12. The Red Rooster- Dusty goes after him. I'd say that they'd likely crossed paths in some territory during the '80s, but they both primarily worked as faces so probably not. Piper eliminates Brown. A pissed off (well, usual mood) Brown pulls Piper out. They brawl on the floor and all the way to the back. Another WM 6 match set. Bret and Taylor both sell like crazy for Andre.

13. Ax- Andre eliminates Rooster. This was Taylor's last major WWF appearance before finally freeing himself from this awful gimmick and going back to WCW. Ax axes Andre. Dusty and Ax get Andre tied up in the ropes.

14. WWF Tag Team Champion Haku- More pair offs with the heels mostly on offense. Dusty looks gassed.

15. Smash- Both teams in the current tag title feud are in. The Demos team up on Andre.

16. Akeem- During his entrance off camera Dusty eliminates Bret. It takes a while for commentary to catch he's gone. Akeem goes after Andre for a large hoss fight. Demolition clothesline Andre from behind and eliminate him.

17. "Superfly" Jimmy Snuka- Snuka hits Akeem from behind and eliminates him. The Demos double team Snuka.

18. Dino Bravo- Demolition tries to eliminate DiBiase. Virgil is still helping to save him.

19. The Canadian Earthquake- Quake eliminates both Dusty and Ax in short order. He and Haku then go at it.

20. Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart- Crazy man goes right for Quake. Quake backs into the corner and everyone in the ring teams up to eliminate him. Pretty obvious who's getting the next big boy push. Smash and Anvil double atomic drop DiBiase. Why not try to eliminate him?

21. WWF Intercontinental Champion The Ultimate Warrior- Tears right for Bravo and eliminates him. Smash, Snuka and Haku try to gang up on Warrior. Anvil and Warrior get into a slugfest. That'd be a fun match.

22. "The Model" Rick Martel- Martel and Warrior team up on Smash. Haku eliminates Smash. Anvil gets Martel over but he lands on the apron and gets back in.

23. Tito Santana- As is tradition, goes right for his former tag partner Martel. Virgil helps hold DiBiase in the ring again.

24. The Honky Tonk Man- Martel and Warrior eliminate Anvil. Warrior eliminates DiBiase. DiBiase is the new clubhouse leader for the Rumble longevity record at a shade under 45 minutes.

25. WWF Champion Hulk Hogan- Snuka of all people jumps him. Hogan eliminates him, then takes out Haku before he even gets a chance to rip his shirt off. Santana gets Martel over. While Martel is on the apron, Warrior comes from behind and eliminates Santana.

26. Shawn Michaels- Hogan eliminates Honky. Warrior takes out Martel and Shawn (thanks for coming). And HERE. WE. GO. Hogan and Warrior realize they're the only two left in the ring. The crowd is going mental. Let's go! Face to face. Shoving. Shoulderblock standoffs. Criss cross. Double clothesline! Unbeknownst to everyone but WWF brass at the time but knownst to us now, the Wrestlemania 6 main event was just set in stone thanks to the crowd eating that up like dollar menu hash browns.

27. The Barbarian- Hogan and Warrior are still recovering so he pecks away at the carcasses. Then Rude jumps the gun and comes in early....

28. "Ravishing" Rick Rude- Rude and Warrior renew their feud. Rude and Barbarian try to eliminate Warrior. Hogan comes up and hits the heels in the back, causing them to drop Warrior to the floor.

29. Hercules- Herc whips the heels into Hogan big boots.

30. Mr. Perfect- With the perfect number. He goes right for Hogan, who he feuded with at the end of '89 (the feud where Perfect destroyed a Winged Eagle belt with a hammer). Hogan eliminates Barbarian.

FINAL FOUR: Hogan, Rude, Hercules, and Perfect. The last 3 entrants are all in the final 4. Rude quickly eliminates Hercules. Then current Heenan Family frontman Rude and future Heenan Family frontman Perfect team up on Hogan. Hogan ducks a double team and Rude hits Perfect, sending him between the ropes to the apron. Hogan whips Rude, and Perfect pulls the top rope down (maybe accidentally maybe not) to eliminate Rude. Perfect hits Hogan with the Perfectplex, which is a double strategic blunder. 1. It doesn't help him get Hogan over the top rope, and 2. by activating finishing move Hogan automatically counters with a Hulk Up trap card. Hogan gives Perfect the slingshot into the post (Perfect loved doing that), a few clotheslines and dumps him. Hulk Hogan wins his first Royal Rumble.

I didn't like this one *quite* as much as '89 (which ended weak, but was a crazy workrate Rumble in the first half and had great Mega Powers feud development), but more than '91 (more the random brawling Rumble). The first half is a bit dull, it takes a while for them to go off basic heel/face pairings and there aren't nearly as many good elimination teases. Second half is pretty good though, and the Hogan/Warrior standoff is absolute magic. In retrospect, Warrior probably should have won this to really get him set up as a legitimate challenger to Hogan, but that's only a quibble in this case, not a major issue. ***

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS: Pretty solid across the board. Definitely a Rumble match worth watching, and Garvin/Valentine is a pre-Attitude Era WWF oddity worth checking out.

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: B-