wrestling / Video Reviews
Dunn’s Countdown To The Rumble: Royal Rumble (1992)
RE: Royal Rumble (1989)
I beleive you are wrong about the shortest elimination…It wasnt warlord, that honor goes to either Buswacker luke, or butch i cant remember which. Or jerry lawler from 97.
I’m pretty sure Warlord has the quickest elimination from the time he stepped foot in the ring to when Hogan clotheslined him out. I would bet that the reason the Warlord didn’t get mentioned was because he was in the midst of a singles push. It may also be that the WWE is counting from the time the horn sounds for your number to the time of elimination and not “in-ring” time.
From 411’s own Mike Campbell:
Two things. When you were talking about the whole DiBiase/Slick storyline, you left out the best line. When Mooney shows him the footage Slick comes back with “Oh you mean THAT Ted Dibaise, I thought you meant homeboy Ted’s, where I get my shoes shined”.
I just finished reading Harley’s book, and Harley and Haku had a big past relationship. Harley helped him break into the business and always kind of had his back. So Harley saw it as a way to help elevate him.
I did get a kick out of the Slickster. It was kind of like Homer Simpson’s “Oh, SideSHOW Bob.'”
I knew Race and Haku worked together for a while, but I did not know they were that close. Funny how they wound up on the other side of the globe like that. Thanks, Mike.
Believe it or not, i really think this is one of the best rumbles. Do you think it was better when there was no title shot on the line? I do, because then you knew ANYONE could win it, where now, it is only like a few people that would win. You would not see William regal or gene snitsky headlining another pay per view..…
I think the 1989 Rumble is like an old chair. It may not be as nice as a nice new leather sofa, but it’s comfortable and you’re used to it, so you like it more.
Interesting thing about the winner getting a title shot: Only the 1993, 1995, 1998, 2001 and 2003 winners have gone directly on to face the champion one-on-one at Wrestlemania. The other winners all had some sort of obstacle to overcome in the interim, showing that even the WWE knows how boring it is to have your main event set up two/three months in advance.
It would be a lot easier on the bookers if they didn’t have to honor the winner-gets-a-title-shot stip. Imagine, Batista could win this year and you wouldn’t have to go through all the drama of either screwing him out of the main event or turning on Triple H.
Re: Royal Rumble (1990)
Dig your Royal Rumble recaps!
I thought I should point out that although Strike Force (what a lame name) lost the tag belts to a cane shot from Demolition at Wrestlemania IV, that was not what put Rick Martel out of action (at least storyline-wise). He was taken out by a Demolition Decapitation from the apron to the floor on an episode of Superstars about a month or so later. The Royal Rumble ’89 was his “big” return.
I remember this because I had a subscription to the WWF magazine at the time and they had a big article about this. And since there was no internet back then (and I was 14), I read each magazine cover to cover many times.
Anyhow, I’m looking forward to Rumble ’92 in a couple days! Keep up the good work!
Rob
D’OH! That’s right. I got the two matches mixed up. The rematch with the wicked decapitation is featured on “The Best of the WWF Vol. 17.” My mistake.
This Orient Express is Paul Diamond (Kato) and Pat Tanaka (Tanaka) who were Bad Company in the AWA — one of my personal favorite teams. The New Foundation is Jim Neidhart and Owen Hart. Owen flips out of a wristlock and grabs his own on Kato. Kato forces him down in an overhand knuckle lock. Owen springboards off the top rope to counter. Crowd loves that. Owen huracanranas Kato for two. Neidhart tags in and manhandles Kato. Kato goes for a hiptoss, but Neidhart chokeslams him down. Tanaka tags in but can’t slam Neidhart. Neidhart steamrolls him down three or four times. Anvil slams him down, and Owen comes off the second rope with an elbow drop for two. Owen backflips over Tanaka’s head and enzuigiris him. Neidhart comes in and clotheslines both Express members. Owen comes off the top on both of them with a crossbody for two. He puts Kato down with the spinning leg lariat. Fuji cheapshots Owen with the cane to give the Express the advantage. Kato thrust kicks Owen and delivers a verycrisp back elbow. Paul Diamond was very underrated. Owen takes the “Bret Bump” to the corner. Owen reverses a whip but runs into a thrust kick. Owen gets a surprise crucifix on Kato for two. Tanaka headbutts Owen in the crotch and taunts the crowd. Owen elbows out of a chinlock but runs right into Tanaka’s WHIP ASS~! Twisting Cross Chop. Owen comes back with a facebuster and makes the tag, but the ref doesn’t see it. Fuji sets his cane in the corner, and the Express whips Owen’s shoulder into it. Cool. Kato delivers a hammerlock slam, and the Express goes to work on Owen’s arm. Owen catches Tanaka with a belly-to-belly out of nowhere. Kato cuts off the tag. The Express double clotheslines Owen for two. Anvil comes in and distracts the ref. The Express do their springboard into a vertical splash while the opponent’s stretched on the ropes. Owen hits them with a double dropkick. HOT TAG! Neidhart slingshots into a shoulderblock on both Express members. He whips Owen into a tope on Kato. Crwd is rocking! The New Foundation finishes Tanaka with the Rocket Launcher at 16:36. To think, they gave the jobber teams this much time back then! Match was almost as good as the Rockers/Express match from the previous year. ****
Piper attacks Mountie with his kilt. Mountie runs to the outside. Piper gives chase, but Jimmy Hart gets in the way. Roddy counters a reverse monkey flip with a fist drop. A bulldog gets two for Roddy. Hart distracts Piper again, allowing the Mountie to hit him from behind. Piper misses a wild dropkick. Mountie grabs a half Nelson and rams Piper’s head into the turnbuckle. Piper sunset flips Mountie for two. Roddy slugs his way back and backdrops him. Mountie goes over the top but skins-the-cat back in. He charges, but Roddy sends him into Jimmy Hart and grabs a sleeper. Mountie passes out to give Piper his first title at 5:32! Big ovation for Roddy. **
You know, I still have no idea what the Beverlys were supposed to be. They’re sorta gay, but they’re sorta snobs. Jamison is sort of like Mort Goldman from “Family Guy.” He made his first appearance on the “Bobby Heenan Show” and stuck around for a while. Brain gets a good crack on him: His parents were going to get divorced, but no one wanted custody of him. They used to wrap his lunch in a road map. Blake cheapshots Luke, and the Beverlys take over immediately. Luke bites him in the ass. The Bushwhackers clear the ring and stomp around. Genius shouts some epithets at Jamison for fun. Not much to recap. Jamison blows his nose in his sock. Butch takes a little punishment before all four guys get in again. The Whackers clear the ring again and run around a bit. The Beverlys stretch Luke across the ropes and drop a double ax-handle on his back. Gorilla says, “Will you stop!” to Heenan about a dozen times as Bobby exhausts his cadre of vaudeville jokes. The Bevs rip off Bad Company’s tretch into a vertical splash. Brain protests Jamison leaching off his tax dollars — “I paid almost $200 in taxes last year!” Luke gets two off a schoolboy. Genius slaps Jamison in the face. Luke comes back with a clothesline. The Beverlys finish with a simple double ax-handle off the top at 14:56. Thank God. After the match, the Bushies and Jamison abuse the Genius. Kids seemed to like it. 1/4*
Typhoon no-sells a couple of Hawk shoulderblocks. Hawk is all, “That’s MY gimmick!” and knocks him down with a flying clothesline. Earthquake tags in and goes toe-to-toe with Hawk. Hawk’s dropkick doesn’t phase Quake, so Quake tries one and misses. Quake and Animal duke it out. Neither man budges. They double clothesline one another. Animal recovers and collapses under a bodyslam. Typhoon charges into a big boot. Animal clotheslines him down. Hawk gets caught on a crossbody. Typhoon delivers a few backbreakers. The Disasters go to work, keeping Hawk in their corner. Lots of bearhugs and other moves targeting the lower back. Hawk comes back with a flying elbow off the top to fell the Quake. Animal flips out of a double backdrop attempt and clotheslines both men down. A four men brawl breaks out on the floor. The Disasters sneak back in before the ten count to pick up the win but not the titles (9:22). The LOD grabs a few chairs and clears the ring. *1/4
Hogan and Taker got “preferential treatment” in the drawing. I don’t know exactly what that means, but they don’t show up for a while. Davey Boy Smith is #1. Ted Dibiase is #2 having awful luck after buying #30 in 1989. Dibiase gets in some good offense but doesn’t even last until #3 before he gets clotheslined out. Ric Flair is #3 as Bobby Heenan’s head explodes. Flair is cool though and he has Mr. Perfect with him. Flair to Dibiase: “How’s your wife and my kid?” I’m just guessing on that one. Davey Boy overpowers him early on playing the role of Lex Luger. Jerry Sags of the Nasty Boys is #4 and the heels double-team the Bulldog until Davey ducks under a double-clothesline and tosses Saggs. Haku is #5 back in the days after he was “good” and before he was a steaming pile of Meng. I swear that name was a rib by someone in WCW. I mean, come on — “manure” + “dung” = Meng.
Haku goes after both men but gets tossed just as the horn sounds for #6 — a recently heel-turned Shawn Michaels. Shawn goes after Flair oddly enough in the dream matchup that just got missed. Bulldog presses Michaels overhead and drops him in the ring. IDIOT! Just toss him!!! Michaels goes over two or three times but keeps sliding back in. Tito Santana is #7 and goes after Flair. Michaels catches him from behind to set up their Wrestlemania match. Tito always seemed to be the guy you started with if you were getting a big heel push. Flair nails THE #1 AND THE BEST LOW-BLOW on Davey Boy. Tito hits the Flying Forearm on Flair. Barbarian is #8 and Gorilla mocks Brain by reminding him that the Barbarian doesn’t like Flair either. Fortunately for Naitch, he goes after the British Bulldog (again, setting up their ‘Mania match.) We’ve reached the “hold onto the ropes and pretend to do stuff” period. Kerry Von Erich is #9 as we start to get to the fun stuff. ee, up until now most of the people in there with Flair have been WWF stalwarts. Now, we’re getting into all the demons from Flair’s past and the great thing is if you’re a mark back in the day you just assume they had each other because one is “good” and one is “bad”. If you followed the NWA, you just have that much more fun. Of course, Kerry goes after Flair. Repo Man is #10. You may know him from such former identities as Demolition Smash. Barbarian holds Von Erich for Flair’s chops.
Greg “the Hammer” Valentine is #11 and you see my point. Valentine had just turned face for the first time so it makes sense for him to go after Flair from a WWF standpoint, but they also were tag team champions in the NWA together back in the 70’s. Valentine turned heel on Flair in one of the great angles of all time. They trade some vicious chops in the corner just to see who is more manly. Nikolai Volkoff is #12. Gorilla: “Things are tough over there right now.” Bobby: (dryly) “Too bad.” Valentine locks the figure-four in on Flair. THIS IS AWESOME! Nikolai gets tossed. The Big Bossman is #13 and is one of the top faces in the WWF at this point. Not only that, but he is actually pretty good in the ring. Repo tosses Valentine in a travesty. Flair should have been the one to send him out. Bossman tosses the Repo Man. Repossess the Smash gimmick! Bobby says he has to go to ringside but Gorilla tells him to stay put. Flair backdrops the Bulldog and Von Erich out. Michaels an Santana eliminate each other. Hercules is #14 and goes after Flair in retaliation for Heenan’s treatment years earlier. At least that’s what Gorilla implies. Flair double-crosses the Barbarian and nearly gets tossed but Hercules tosses Barbarian from behind. Bossman sends Hercules out and nearly falls out himself. Flair thinks he’s the only one left but Bossman is still legal. He gets a running start but Flair ducks and the Boss goes over the top leaving Flair alone. Bobby declares Flair the champ but Gorilla reminds him that it is far from over. To drive that point home, newly-crowned IC Champ Roddy Piper is #15 and I recall the stiff matches Piper had with Flair during Flair’s first world title reign back in the early 80’s. Piper no sells an atomic drop and pokes Flair in the eyes. An airplane spin and a sleeper follow.
Jake “the Snake” Roberts is #16. “Trust me.” This is after Jake famously turned heel on the Ultimate Warrior and joined the Undertaker but it was too late in his career to really do anything with it. That’s too bad, because Evil Jake was one of the best heels in a long time. All three men take turns helping and then turning on each other. Btw, I think Flair and Jake actually fought each other back when Jake was in Mid-South but I don’t remember specifically. Hacksaw Duggan is #17 and now I know that Duggan and Flair met in Mid-South so this is another of Flair’s former foes come back to haunt him. Duggan pairs off with Flair while Jake takes on Piper. Go, Jake, Go! Irwin R. Shyster is #18 and unless he’s in Japan, I just can’t bring myself to care. He nearly dumps Piper as Flair does the 3rd Flair flop of the match. Jimmy Snuka comes in at #19 and I’m reminded that it was in a match with Snuka that Valentine turned heel on Flair back in the day. This is ike Flair’s greatest hits. The Undertaker (w/Paul Bearer) is at #20 looking menacing. NOW, it’s going to start thinning out. Take shoves Superfly right out and goes after Flair. “Remember when I was a Skyscraper, you son of a bitch!” Duggan pulls him off of Flair but takes a ballshot. Taker no-sells Flair’s chops and grabs both he and Piper in a chokeslam.
“Macho Man” Randy Savage is #21 and Jake slides out to avoid his wrath long enough for Taker to attack him from behind. Jake back jumps him but misses a clothesline and Randy knocks him out. Savage apparently eliminates himself but gets to go back in as per the “Andre the Giant” rule (no one threw him out.) Flair hits #2 on the list of all-time ball shots; this time on the Undertaker. Heenan: (innocently) “He just tried to lift the Undertaker!” Gorilla: “He did not!” The Berserker is #22 and while an evil Viking might seem like a good gimmick, it really wasn’t. Piper and the Undertaker both choke Flair until Taker goes all Reservoir Dogs and turns on him as well. Maven…uh Virgil is #23 and goes after I.R.S. because Irwin is tight with Dibiase. That actually doesn’t make sense as a pairing when you think about it. Taker chokes Flair down in the corner as we are reminded he’s been in there 47 minutes. Col. Mustafa marches down at #24 a year after he flfilled his usefulness. Rick Martel is #25 and goes after Flair. “Hey, remember when I was the AWA champ and you were NWA champ and we wrestled in Japan, Ric? Go 50/50 with me, you bastard!” Duggan starts a “U.S.A.” chant.
Hulk Hogan is #26 to a big eruption. He goes after Flair and the Undertaker. Sadly, ten years later these three would still headline Raw. Hogan fights off Berserker, Undertaker, and I.R.S. by himself. Hogan tosses the Undertaker and Berserker shortly thereafter and the crowd goes wild. Hacksaw and Virgil eliminate each other. Skinner is #27 as a sort of poor man’s Jake the Snake. You know, the Fabulous Ones…well, I don’t remember them ever having an issue with Ric Flair but I’m sure I can think of some reason for them to hate each other. Uh…Flair parked in Keirn’s spot in the Oklahoma Civic Center back in ’86! Instant feud. Sgt. Slaughter is #28 and I ask myself why Colonel Mustafa was taking orders from Sergeant Slaughter in the first place. Piper and Hogan go at each other for old time’s sake. The Sarge tries to eliminate Flair unsuccessfully. Sid Justice is #29 and gets a Hoganesque pop. He doesn’t get to eliminate anyone right away lest he ge more over than Hogan. Warlord gets #30 looking like a juiced up Steve Austin. What? He’s pounding on Piper. What? He holds him for Martel to punch. What? Justice eliminates Slaughter. Oooh, it’s like a metaphor. Hogan no-sells a Flair chop. Sacrilege. Piper eliminates I.R.S. Warlord goes at the hands of Justice and Hogan. Piper and Martel fight near the ropes and Justice eliminates them both.
That leaves Savage, Hogan, Justice & Flair as the Final Four. Justice goes after Savage to celebrate dumping Piper and Martel. Flair knees him from behind, but that sends Randy out as well. Flair tumbles over the top and Hogan goes after him. Then, in an infamous WWF moment…Sid pushes Hogan over to a huge babyface pop which was dubbed over as outrage. Hogan cheats and helps Flair eliminate Sid to give Flair the win and the title. Best Rumble ever. *****
Final Thoughts: The Rumble match itself was one of the best matches of the 1990s. That earns a recommendation right there. The undercard is a mixed bag. The opening tag match was very good, and Piper’s title win is both historic and a big markout moment. The other two matches are pretty bad, but not enough to drag down the PPV.
Enthusiastic thumbs up for the 1992 Royal Rumble.
J.D. Dunn
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