Royal Rumble '93

Legacy Review

Royal Rumble '93

January 24, 1993 from the ARCO Arena in Sacramento, CA

Commentary: Gorrilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan, for sadly the last time on a PPV

After having the '92 Rumble match for the vacant WWF title be such a success, this year introduces the stipulation that's made the Rumble the massive event it is every year: the winner will be the challenger for the WWF Title at Wrestlemania.

The Steiner Brothers def The Beverly Brothers in 10:34- The Steiners are making their WWF PPV debut. Unfortunately for them, WWF's tag division has atrophied to the point that the get the Beverlys here, AKA the Vanilla Heels. The Steiners get a real nice pop, proving once again that badass wrestling will get you over anywhere and across companies. In classic Heenan fashion, 10 seconds in he asks why Rick is wearing earmuffs, then goes on a diatribe on how having cauliflower ears is a sign of constant losing. Will you stop! Scott and Blake start. The first few minutes are Scott grabs a move, Blake heel 101 bitches about phantom tights or hair pulls, repeeat. Scott goes for a tiltawhirl slam but Blake can't hold his end of the deal and it only goes about halfway. Beau tags in, takes a shot at Rick on the apron, and quickly hides in the heel corner. When Rick gets in he playfully pushes Blake off the apron. Beau hits a powerslam. After a nice extended speed sequence Rick grabs Beau midair during a leapfrog and powerslams him. Scott comes in and hits a belly to belly suplex. He goes for a double underhook, but Blake runs in and clotheslines him. The Beverlys work Scott's back as he goes Steiner in peril. They choke him with the tag rope. Blake puts on a Boston crab. Scott channels some early Big Poppa Pump and starts doing pushups while in it. Beau drops an elbow on him to stop it. Scott blocks a suplex and hits his own but the Beverlys cut the tag off. Scott counters a backdrop by grabbing and hitting a double underhook suplex, then *just* leaps over to get the tag. Rick his a backdrop and a HUGE German suplex. The Beverlys try to stop his momentum...Steinerline! Steinerline! Mini-donnybrook. Scott got tagged in again somewhere in there. The Beverlys go for their finisher with Scott on Blake's shoulders, but Scott ducks the top rope clothesline and gets a roll up for 2. Frankensteiner! Good night, Beverlys. The Steiners carried this to an almost fun match. How generic were the Beverlys? I'm pretty certain I've had them backwards this whole match, but I can't be bothered to double check or fix it. **1/2

Recap of the epic Rockers breakup angle from just over a year earlier. I mean, how could anyone not know Shawn was turning heel that day in the Barber Shop. He's wearing all black! The angle wasn't immediately followed up on, partially so Janetty could sell the injuries, but also because he spent most of '92 fired from WWF and serving six months house arrest for assaulting a police officer. Wonder if they asked if he made a man disappear when he was 13. Anyway, once Janetty's legal issues were resolved WWF brought him back in the fall of '92, where he reemerged on weekly TV to attack Shawn from the crowd. He tried to hit Shawn with his mirror, but Sherri took the shot and Shawn did the scardey runaway. This played into Shawn and Sherri teasing dissension ever since the Summerslam '92 match with Rick Martel.

 

WWF Intercontinental Championship: Shawn Michaels (c) def Marty Janetty in 14:20- Sherri comes out first by herself and parks it in a neutral corner. Shawn tries to get her in the ring to disrobe him but Sherri ignores him. Shawn shoves. Janetty punches. Shawn bails. Janetty gives Shawn a face plant. Corner flip! A kneelift sends Shawn over the top rope and to the floor. Janetty flips him back in, then 360 clotheslines him back out again. Shawn's in overdrive selling mode early. TOPE SUICIDA! That move is still so new in WWF that Monsoon and Heenan barely react to it. Janetty hits a fistdrop off the top to the floor and Shawn 360 sells it. Janetty goes for it again but Shawn counters him. He hoists Janetty up and posts his shoulder. Now, small problem here. Shawn rammed Janetty's right shoulder into the post, but Janetty sells the *left* shoulder! I guess that was some serious reverb. Shawn rams the left into the post for good measure, then hits a shoulderbreaker back in the ring. They go outside again and Shawn slams Janetty on the floor. More shoulder work in the ring. Janetty's shoulder is run into the top turnbuckle. Shawn hits a double ax handle off the top to the shoulder. Janetty tries to come back. Shawn kills it with another slam on the shoulder. Wild swing from Janetty that Shawn casually ducks. Janetty starts to punch back so Shawn gives him the ol' eye poke. He comes off the second rope, but Janetty gets a boot up and Shawn does the fish flop sell. Janetty dodges a charge and Shawn posts his shoulder. Slugfest. Shawn tights pulls Janetty to the floor. He tries to suplex Janetty back in, but Janetty blocks and reverses it, suplexing Shawn from the ring to the floor! Sherri inches toward Shawn and slaps him silly! Janetty back suplexes Shawn back in the ring and bridges for a long 2 count. Corner whip and Shawn flips over the top to the floor! Stair shot. Janetty hits a powerslam. He goes for a fist drop off the top rope. Shawn anticipates it, but Janetty anticipates the counter, lands on his feet, and hits a DDT! That gets another long 2 count. Janetty ducks Shawn's superkick. Janetty superkick! Shawn just kicks out! Shawn hits a sunset flip and they do some reverses until Shawn gets slingshot into the post followed by another long 2. Ref bump! Janetty hooks Shawn and Sherri comes in to hit him with the Shoe of Pointy Justice +3, but Shawn ducks and Janetty gets it! The faces are undone by their own cheating! It's kind of poetic. Superkick! Shawn covers and it's over. Sherri runs off in distress. Now, the obvious flaw: all the emphasis on the shoulder work the middle of the match ended up going nowhere. But once they got in their groove after that, yeah, sweet ass match. ***3/4

Mean Gene tells Sherri to "DAMN IT CALM DOWN, you're hysterical!". Shawn gets in her face and Janetty tackles him from behind, triggering another brawl. This isn't over, folks.

 

Bam Bam Bigelow def The Big Boss Man in 10:10- Two big guys that can move, so this has some potential. Ironically Bigelow had just returned to WWF after long runs in Japan broken up by short US stopovers in WCW, while Boss Man was about to leave the company. Bigelow ambushes from behind and beats Boss Man down. Avalanche and trash talking. Boss Man Bret bumps and a Bigelow forearm in the back sends him to the floor. Boss Man ducks a clothesline and hits two of his own to put Bigelow down. Bigelow back suplexes out of a headlock. Boss Man dodges a falling headbutt. Boss Man charges but Bigelow backdrops him to the floor. After a long recovery (might have given Boss Man time after he whacked his back on the apron) Bigelow goes to work on the back. He puts on a reverse bear hug. Boss Man powers out but Bigelow catches him on a run and gives him a hot shot for 2. Back to the reverse bear hug. Boss Man's in it for a while before he tires to power out again. Bigelow kills it with a headbutt to the back. Boss Man ducks a wild Bigelow dive that I guess was supposed to be a crossbody. Bigelow gets a boot up in the corner and hits a clothesline. The headbutt off the top rope finishes it. Pretty disappointing. *1/4

Footage of Razor Ramon attacking Owen Hart on weekly TV to get Bret riled up.

 

WWF Championship: Bret "Hitman" Hart (c) def Razor Ramon in 17:52- Ramon flicks his toothpick at the kid that got Bret's sunglasses and Bret jumps him from behind. Slugfest. Ramon hits some knees in the corner. Bret his his usual 150 MPH corner bumps. After the second one he dodges and Ramon knees the top turnbuckle. Target acquired. Bret rolls through the knee work. Figure four! Ramon and his super long arms quickly get to the bottom rope. More knee work. Bret posts the knee. Ramon reverses a corner whip and Bret slides down gut first into the post! Freaking hell, I still don't know how Bret made all those hits look so good yet never got hurt. Ramon hits some backbreakers on the floor and posts Bret's back. Beatdown in the ring partially targeting Bret's hurt ribs. Ramon fallaway slam for 2, then he gets 2 off a Bret bump. Abdominal stretch. Bret fights it and manages to reverse. Ramon hiptosses out. Bret dodges an elbow and gets a crossbody for 2. Bret sunset flip. Ramon sits on him, but Bret reverses that for 2. Ramon locks in a bear hug and they do the arm drops. Bret bites Ramon's face to get out and backdrops him to the floor. TOPE SUICIDA! MAMMA MIA! Back in the ring Bret is pissed off, refusing to go for any wrestling holds and bombarding Ramon with punches until he finally goes down. Now he cranks up the Five Moves of Doom. After a Russian leg sweep he sells the ribs again. He goes for the Sharpshooter. Ramon quickly scrambles for the ropes. Bret gets him out and starts to hook it in. Ramon fights it and Hebner ends up getting dragged down, breaking the whole thing up. Ramon goes back to the ribs. He mounts Bret on the top turnbuckle. Bret back elbows, rolls over Ramon's back and hits a back suplex! He tries coming off the second rope but Ramon gets a boot up. He calls for and goes for the Razor's Edge. Bret fights out and turns it into a backslide for a long 2 count! Ramon wraps Bret's hands in knuckle locks and goes into humiliation mode. After a bit Bret uses the hold to leverage Ramon around and flips him over for a 2 count. While they're both down Bret locks in the Sharpshooter, rolls over and that's it. Perfectly standard Bret Hart title defense, with Ramon getting his first taste of the main event. ***1/2

Bobby Heenan leaves commentary for his big presentation. For the last few weeks he's been teasing this amazing new specimen: Narcissus. And now we are getting the big debut of Narcissus: Lex Luger! This was Luger's re-debut after the collapse of Vince's World Bodybuilding Federation. Luger poses and stares in mirrors while Heenan orgasms on the mic. Heenan and Luger both call out Heenan's former wrestler, Mr. Perfect. It's an OK if overlong segment (and was serving as the replacement for the then-traditional intermission so it needed to kill time), but it was a bit weird making Heenan the point man on this when he wasn't managing anymore.

The over the top Las Vegas theme for WM 9 cranks up early with "Caesar and Cleopatra" coming out to make a proclamation that one and all are invited to the "family entertainment capital of the world". Family? That's not what season 3 of GLOW looked like.

 

Royal Rumble

1 & 2. Ric Flair and Bob Backlund- Now this is an interesting pairing. Flair, one year removed from being the centerpiece of the greatest Rumble ever and his first WWF Title win, is making his final WWF PPV appearance until after the fall of WCW. His loss in a Loser Leaves WWF match with Perfect on Raw the night after the Rumble had already been taped. Meanwhile, Backlund, who was the main WW(W)F Champion in between the runs of Bruno Sammartino and Hulk Hogan, had come out of retirement to attempt a comeback at the ripe old age of 43. It's hilarious listening to commentary talk about him like some ancient relic. Flair is just under a year older than him! Backlund, still in his old babyface persona, offers a handshake and Flair blows it off with some Slick Ric. Flair sells Backlund's '70s offense, including a huge sell and Flair Flop off an atomic drop. Flair tries an eye poke but Backlund doesn't do anything so he does it a second time. They struggled to get on the same page multiple times.

3. Papa Shango- He pounds on Backlund. Flair sneaks in behind and eliminates Shango. Backlund goes over the top but lands on the apron. Chop exchange.

4. WWF Tag Team Champion "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase- The heels double team Backlund but he manages to hang on.

5. Brian Knobbs- Remember (I say that because until I watched Survivor Series '92 again even I forgot!) the Nastys are faces here. He takes out the heels with a double clothesline. After a double noggin knocker Flair looks like he's about to Flair Flop again but Knobbs grabs him and throws him over. Flair lands on the apron. All four guys split into pairs.

6. Virgil- DiBiase jumps him as soon as he hits the ring. Virgil slides under his legs and hits an inverted atomic drop. DiBiase dodges a Knobbs charge and Knobbs flies over and is elminated.

7. Jerry "The King" Lawler- The King of Memphis, one of the last territory megastars not to work with WWF or WCW, is finally making his big WWF in-ring debut after working as a commentator on Superstars for a couple of months. He's much more Memphis Lawler here and not the weasel chickenshit heel he'd soon become in WWF. Flair grabs and chops him. Lawler punches back. Flair rolls under the bottom rope to get some breathing room but the refs quickly usher him back in.

8. Max Moon- There's few things that scream "crappy mid '90s WWF gimmick" more than Mr. Moon. Flair tosses Moon but he skins the cat. Lawler eliminates Moon during the countdown for #9.

9. Genichiro Tenryu- He has a chop off with Flair in what would be a pretty big dream match. Flair Flop 2!

10. Mr. Perfect- Heenan freaks out on commentary as he tears right for Flair. Huge energy face off. Flair goes up top and gets slammed off. Neck snap. Flair gets an eye poke and chops to slow things down. Perfect chops back as Monsoon hypes the Loser Leaves Town match tomorrow night on Raw. You know Perfect's super cereal because he's already got a strap down. Everyone else in the ring is going about quarter speed to let Flair and Perfect take center stage.

11. Skinner- He interrupts Flair and Perfect then wanders off. Vince probably yelled at a ref to yell at him to get the hell out of the way. Perfect eliminates Flair! Heenan has a complete meltdown.

12. Koko B Ware- This is the High Energy era and Ware hikes his pajama bottoms all the way above his nipples. Skinner skins (pun unintentional) the cat, but Perfect dropkicks him out.

13. Samu- Afa literally throws him into the ring. He and Ware trade no selling headbutts. Lawler and Perfect get together to renew their classic '88 AWA World title feud.

14. The Berzerker- HUSS! HUSS! This would end up being one of Nord's last WWF matches. The match slows down for a second as everyone seems to lose their place, stop, then start going again. Perfect eliminates Lawler. DiBiase gets Perfect on the apron and tries to push him off while Lawler tries to pull him down. After a bit of struggle Perfect is eliminated and he and Lawler fight a bit on the floor. Perfect hilariously gives a resting DiBiase a casual quick chop on his way out.

15. The Undertaker- Business has picked up. Taker was hyped as a favorite in this match. Samu works him over. Backlund and Berzerker end up on the floor. Berzerker gives him a chair shot. Taker eliminates Samu. Berzerker pulls the mat of the floor and slams Backlund on the straight concrete. Taker eliminates Tenryu.

16. Terry Taylor- NOT the Red Rooster, thank goodness. I honestly forgot Taylor had a WWF run here. He was in a period where he'd bounce from WWF to WCW every year or two. Taylor and Ware fight. DiBiase sneaks up and dumps both of them. Taker choke slams and eliminates DiBiase. Taker and Berzerker are the last two in the ring as Backlund is still recovering on the floor. As Taker eliminates Berzerker to clear the ring, Giant Gonzalez makes his way to the ring in his WWF debut. Commentary wonders who, or "what", is this guy. One of the worst wrestlers you'll ever see, that's what. The body suit spray painted to look like he's naked with strategically placed fur is a disaster too. After Taker took Kamala out in their casket match, Harvey Wippleman had promised to drop a "bomb" to get revenge on Taker. Gonzalez, not an official entrant, gets in the ring and stares Taker down as the countdown for #17 runs.

17. Damien Demento- Demento comes in offscreen as the camera stays with the two giants. They go nose to nose (well, nose to chest) to highlight Gonzalez' one asset as a wrestler: he's tall. Really, really tall. Taker takes a swing but Gonzalez beats him to the (literal) punch, chops him a couple of times, and Taker goes over the top and out. But that's not enough as Gonzalez continues the beatdown on the floor. He rolls Taker back in and hits a chokeslam.

18. WWF Tag Team Champion Irwin R Schyster- Gonzalez still isn't done, posting Taker's knee multiple times. Finally a gaggle of refs and officials get him to leave. Taker tries to sit up but can't. The match resumes with IRS and Demento beating on the recovered Backlund.

19. Tatanka- Taker's still lying in the corner. Paul Bearer comes out and uses the power of the urn to get Taker to sit up and limp to the back.

20. Jerry Saggs- He uses IRS's tie to beat him up as the match starts to bog down.

21. Typhoon- This doesn't help the bad case of jobberitis the match is starting to develop.

22. Fatu- Samoan headbutts for everyone. Still a lot of random brawling with not much happening.

23. Earthquake- Quake goes after his tag partner Typhoon! Every man for himself! After a bit of fighting Typhoon hits Quake with an avalanche. Quake dodges a second one, lifts up and eliminates Typhoon, giving him an "it is what it is" look on the way out. This wasn't technically a heel turn or breakup, just the Rumble, but Quake did leave after this for a run in the WWF-partnered SWS promotion in Japan, while Typhoon would hang around for a few singles months before jumping to WCW and being the front man in the most infamous botched entrance of all time.

24. Carlos Colon- Tatanka throws Demento over but he lands on the apron. Colon eliminates Demento. Backlund fights Quake off.

25. "El Matador" Tito Santana- Backlund eliminates Fatu. He's looking pretty gassed. Unlike Flair the previous year, he's taking a lot of breaks between spots. Santana gets Backlund over but not out.

26. "The Model" Rick Martel- As always, he goes right for old tag partner Santana. Heenan even calls it before it happens! Quake eliminates IRS. Again Santana gets Backlund over but not all the way out.

27. Yokozuna- Business is here. He trades chops with Tatanka. Yokozuna eliminates Tatanka, then Colon. Quake and Yoko take center stage for a superheavyweight collision. Shoulderblock standoff.

28. "The Rocket" Owen Hart- Quake clotheslines stagger Yokozuna. Avalanche. Yokozuna dodges a second one and belly to belly suplexes Quake over the top (with some difficulty on both sides) and out.

29. Repo Man- Goes straight for Yokozuna. Bad move. A minute later Yokozuna gets on the ropes and everyone in the ring gangs up on him to try to get him out. Yokozuna fights them all off.

30. "Macho Man" Randy Savage- At least we have two guys that could realistically win in there now. Sorry Backlund, great run but you don't count. Yokozuna eliminates Santana. Owen eliminates Saggs. Owen needs two tries to skin the cat after Martel throws him over. Yokozuna eliminates Owen. Savage eliminates Repo.

FINAL FOUR: Backlund, Martel, Yokozuna and Savage. Martel spends a lot of time trying to lift Backlund, finally gets him up and slowly tries to get him over. Backlund fights out, lifts Martel up in a suplex but places him on the top rope, and knocks him off to eliminate him! Then Backlund tries to go after Yokozuna. A couple of dropkicks stagger him. Backlund charges, but Yokozuna eliminates him. We're down to Yokozuna and Savage. Yokozuna beats him down for a while, not even trying for an elimination. After a long choke Savage goes into desperation comeback mode. Clotheslines stagger Yokozuna. Double ax handle off the top. A second one gets Yokozuna to one knee. Yokozuna comes back with a superkick and belly to belly suplex. Legdrop. Avalanche! Savage dodges a second one and Yokozuna goes down for the first time in his WWF career! Savage elbow! But for some insane, lunatic, whacked out reason he covers Yokozuna to pin him! Yokozuna presses Savage over the top rope and out to eliminate him and win the Royal Rumble! Yokouna is going to Wrestlemania!

This was another Rumble that was really good for the first half and bogged down in the second. The Taker/Giant Gonzalez stuff went on a bit too long but got the point across, especially since it was really the first time anyone's ever gotten the better of Taker in his WWF career. The less said about the matches that followed the better (which I am dreading watching again to review). The Yokozuna/Savage mini-match at the end was also pretty fun. I'm a sucker for long mini-match final two showdowns in Rumbles. So overall, good, not great. ***1/4

OVERALL SHOW THOUGHTS: Two really good title matches (with Shawn and Bret, of course) and a solid Rumble get 1993 off to a decent start. Unfortunately, the Worst Wrestlemania Ever is looming on the horizon.....

OVERALL SHOW GRADE: B