wrestling / Video Reviews
Leighty’s Retro Review: WWF Royal Rumble 1993
Image Credit: WWE
Loading...-We start the WWF side of 1993 and it’s a transition year that we will see as we work through all these shows. We will see faces from down South show up here and some long time faces in the WWF will be heading South soon. This is also the first year the winner of The Rumble gets a WWF Title Match at WrestleMania. Let’s get to it!
-Announce Team: Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby “The Brain” Heenan
-Jan. 24, 1993
-ARCO Arena, Sacramento, CA
-Attendance: 16,000
-PPV Buys: 300,000
-PPV buys up from 1992 by 60,000 thousand but down over 100,000 from 1991.
The Beverly Brothers vs. The Steiner Brothers
-This is the Steiners WWF PPV debut. Scott starts with Beau and dominates without too much trouble. Beau complains to the ref and then gets advice from his “brother.” That advice was to go to the hair, or make sure you are in the ring in a nothing match that has someone come through the crowd to kick off one of the biggest money drawing angles of all time. Beau goes the hair route. Then he stalls as Scott sends him to the floor. Blake in and he shoves Rick off the apron and then runs away and hides. Scott makes the tag to Rick and Blake sends him into the top buckle. Powerslam from Blake as we are getting somewhere now after wasting about 4 minutes. Blake goes for a leap frog, but Rick catches him in mid-air and gets a powerslam of his own. Scott back in and he hits a nice release overhead suplex. Beau jumps in illegally and delivers a clothesline to prevent another suplex. Blake with a weak backbreaker and Gorilla even notes he didn’t get all of that. No kidding! Beau off the middle ropes with an elbow to the back and he drops another. He hits a better looking backbreaker for two. Blake in and he drops a head-butt and then goes back to work on the damaged back. Blake uses the tag rope to choke and then Blake gets a double under hook suplex for two as Heenan says they need to hook the tights. The crowd is getting restless as they want to see The Steiners suplex and throw people all round the ring but instead it’s a Boston Crab. Blake tries a suplex, but Scott blocks and hits his own. A tag is made to Beau and he cuts off the tag to Rick. Beau sets too early on a backdrop and Steiner gets a butterfly suplex. Hot tag to Rick is made and he runs wild and gives the fans what they want with suplexes and clotheslines. Steinerlines for everyone! Scott back in and he punches away in the corner. He ends up on Blake’s shoulders and Beau comes off the top, but Scott rolls forward and gets a victory roll for two. Frankensteiner ends it at 10:45.
Winners: The Steiners Brothers via pin at 10:45
-The Steiners should have just slaughtered the Beverlys here. I mean, just suplex and clotheslines and get it done in under five minutes. Instead it was a standard tag match with a restless crowd that wanted to see The Steiners do their thing. **
-Video package on The Rockers and their eventual break-up. That barbershop moment is still so awesome and should be played on a constant loop on a monitor in WWE HQ. They need a wall of monitors with each playing iconic moments 24 hours a day. The break-up was Jan. of 91, but Marty got arrested, was put on house arrest, and fired. With his legal issues (for the time) behind him, he returned in October to pick up the feud and accidentally blasted Sherri with a mirror when he meant to hit Shawn.
WWF Intercontinental Championship: Shawn Michaels (c) vs. Marty Jannetty
-Sherri is in a neutral corner after making her return. It’s not Liz between Hogan and Savage, but it’s fine. Shawn with a shove, so Jannetty punches him in the face. Shawn takes a bump in the corner and bounces around off an inverted atomic drop. Another super ball bump to the floor and then a sling shot brings him back into the ring only for Marty to clothesline him back out on the other side. Marty with a suicide dive to the floor and he fires away with right hands. The crowd isn’t as into this as you would think. Perhaps it’s early. Marty heads up top, but gets caught with a right hand on the way down to the floor. Shawn sends Marty shoulder first into the post and a second time. Back in the ring Shawn pounds away in the corner and Marty ends up on the floor as he tries to protect the shoulder. Shawn chases after him and gets a slam on the floor. Monsoon and Brain argue over the hierarchy in the Rockers and Monsoon notes they were equals. History has shown that not to be the case, but we hope Marty is doing well. Shawn continues to work the shoulder and gets a sweet single arm DDT. Mary gets off a few punches, but Shaw goes right to the eyes. Shawn heads to the middle rope, but Marty gets a boot up to catch him on the way down. Shawn eats an elbow in the corner and then misses a charge which causes him to go shoulder first into the post. The crowd is starting to get into it as Marty makes his comeback. He fires away with right hands and knocks Shawn on his ass. Shawn uses the tights to send Marty to the floor which quiets the crowd. Suplex attempt, but Shawn feels like he needs to bump like a crazy man, and takes a suplex from the apron to the floor. Sherri delivers a slap to the face and you would think that would be a DQ, but not here. Belly-to-back suplex gets two! Whip to the corner and Shawn bumps to the floor. He gets run into the steps and then fired back into the ring. Powerslam from Marty and he celebrates like a geek. He heads up, but Shawn moves out of way. Marty is a step ahead and lands on his feet and then hits a DDT for two. Shawn floats over in the corner, but misses a super kick. Marty gets his own for a two count. Sunset flip is blocked, which is then countered and turned into a sling shot as Shawn goes head first into the post. He falls back into a pin attempt that gets two. The ref gets bumped, so Sherri is back in and accidentally hist Marty with her high heel. Here I thought I had gotten away from high heels as weapons once I got past March/April of 96 Nitros. Shawn puts the bad mouth on Sherri and then his yet to be named, Sweet Chin Music, for the pin at 14:20.
Winner and Still WWF Intercontinental Champion: Shawn Michaels via pin at 14:20
-Started slow as I wasn’t all that into the shoulder work. I wanted more of a brawl considering the history, but it got really good down the stretch with the near falls and counters. ***1/4
-Gene tries to talk to Sherri backstage, but Shawn rushes back to run her down some more. Marty is right behind him and they get into another fight. Cool!
Bam Bam Bigelow vs. The Big Boss Man
-Bigelow attacks from behind and gets a splash in the corner. He gets another whip to the corner and beats Boss Man down to the mat. Heenan starts with insults directed at Boss Man’s mother again to bring that feud back up. Clothesline is ducked and Boss Man gets one and then another to knock Bigelow down. He goes ground and pound with 10 consecutive punches to the face. Boss Man throws more punches (with a taped hand) in the corner, but gets caught with a side suplex. Bigelow misses a head-butt though and Boss Man plants him face first on the canvas. He charges, but Bigelow backdrops him to the floor where Boss Man hits his back on the way down. Bammer has something to work on now and the match kind of slows because of it. Reverse bearhug, but Boss Man escapes quickly enough for it not to be boring. He runs into a Bigelow Stun-gun though and back to the reverse bearhug, Yay! That goes on way longer than needed. Bigelow tries a suplex, but Boss Man breaks and gets a modified version due to his back being damaged. He can’t follow up though as Bigelow lands another show to the damaged back. Bigelow misses a cross-body in a funny bump as he just flew over Boss Man’s head. Backdrop followed by a right hand and then he drops the leg on the ropes. Bammer gets a boot up in the corner to block a charge and heads up top. He hits the diving headbutt for the win at 10:10.
Winner: Bam Bam Bigelow via pin at 10:10
-Not a fan of this one. I wanted a HOSS FIGHT and we didn’t get that sadly. That ending was kind of weak as well as it just came out of nowhere. *
-We go to video from WWF Mania from two weeks ago where Razor Ramon attacked Owen Hart backstage to send a message to Bret.
-We also get a Razor interview while he is at ARCO watching a Sacramento Kings game. Thanks to the Rock, this wasn’t the only time the Kings were part of WWE programming.
WWF Championship: Bret Hart (c) vs. Razor Ramon
-They are still hammering the point that Bret is a fighting Champion as he gets a pre-match interview with Gene. He kind of butchers the promo a bit, but he was still growing into the role. Hey, we see JJ Dillon sitting in Gorilla as Bret waits to make his entrance. Cool! Stu and Helen are in the front row, so I assume we will be getting some jokes from Heenan. Gorilla keeps mentioning whoever wins this match heads to Mania to face the Rumble winner, but if Bret is a fighting Champion, can we guarantee he gets through all his other Title defenses, or is this his last one and he gets a few months off? Razor throws his toothpick at the kid who received Bret’s sunglasses. What a fantastic heel move! Bret attacks but Razor wins the battle of punches. He beats Bret down in the corner, but misses a knee in the opposite corner. Bret attacks the knee and gets a figure-four early in this one. Razor fights to the ropes and forces a break. Bret goes back to the knee and stretches out the hamstring as well. Bret rams the bad knee around the ring post as Heenan starts making fun of Stu. There we go! Razor reverses a whip and buries a knee to the gut (used his bad knee). He sends Bret into the corner and he slides into the post. Now he has damaged ribs and Razor has a body part to attack. He gets a couple back breakers and then runs Bret back first into the post. Only fair since Bret used the post first. Razor takes control as he drops elbows to the small of the pack and the crowd is not happy. Heenan lets us all know that Stu was a quitter, but perhaps it was Helen. SOS Slam! That move was brought up in the comments once and some call it a fall-away slam, but I watched a video where Hall liked to call it a Sack of Shit slam, so I go with that now. Bret takes his chest first bump into the corner and Razor gets two off that. Abdominal stretch which makes sense due to Bret’s rib issues. Razor makes me happy by landing punches to the ribs and digging an elbow into the ribs as well. I appreciate that! Bret is able to reverse, but Razor hip tosses to escape. He misses an elbow but knocks Bret down with a shoulder tackle for two. Brain and Gorilla yell at each other and I am going to soak in that as much as possible because we know it doesn’t last much longer. Elbow misses and Bret gets a cross-body for a two count. Bret spills to the floor, but comes back in with a sunset flip. Razor drops to his knees for two, but Bret completes the sunset flip and gets his own two count. Modified Camel Clutch from Razor, but he drops that and hooks a bear-hug. The arm drops twice, but not thrice and Bret goes to biting to escape. Heenan: “That’s nice for a Champion to do.” Razor charges and takes a backdrop to the floor. Bret hits a suicide dive and then sends Razor into the steps. Bret pounds away in the ring and one final one sends him to the mat which pops the crowd. Inverted Atomic Drop followed by a clothesline for two. Backbreaker as Bret rolls through his Five Moves of Doom! Clothesline from the second rope gets a two count. Bulldog gets two. That was kind of a weak one. Side Russian Leg Sweep gets two as Bret took a it to cover as his ribs are hurting. He goes for the Sharpshooter, but Razor gets to the ropes. Bret doesn’t break and just pulls Razor back to the ring. Wow, that’s some crappy officiating there. Razor fights enough so the ref gets caught between them and Bret can’t get the hold. Razor lands a shot to the ribs to regain control. Bret knocks Razor off the ropes and then hits a belly-to-back suplex. No cover though as he heads to the middle ropes. He gets caught with a boot from Razor on the way down. Razor’s Edge is prepped, but Bret slides out and gets a backslide for two. Nice! Razor hooks a knuckle lock and sends Bret into the corner with a whip to continue the rib damage. Back to the knuckle lock but Bret gets a wacky counter into a pin and then counters Razor’s kick-out into The Sharpshooter and Razor gives it up at 17:58.
Winner and Still WWF Champion: Bret Hart via submission at 17:58
-This was fine and a solid match, but Bret was never in any danger of losing. There were some slow spots and I think they went a bit too long, but again, they were trying to get over the new style with Bret on top. Still a solid match with both guys attacking a body part and Bret finding a way to get the sharpshooter. ***
-Bobby Heenan heads to the arena floor and unveils The Narcissist. Lex Luger (or Narcissus as Heenan keeps calling him). So this is Luger’s WWF “debut” as far as being a wrestler as he was part of the WBF that failed. He cuts a promo on Mr. Perfect once Heenan stops fawning over him. You can’t say Heenan didn’t go all out selling this man.
30 Man Royal Rumble Match
-As noted, the winner gets a WWF TItle Match at WrestleMania. The first time for that stip and is has stuck ever since (outside of the 1 year Roman defended the WWE Title in The Rumble Match). The Fink brings out Caesar and Cleopatra as the Mania IX is in Vegas and this was a way to tie into that show. Now we get Vegas back to back years after a 30 plus year drought. Ric Flair draws #1 as he just has bad luck with picking numbers in this event and then when he gets a good one years later, Eddie Guerrero stole it. Bob Backlund is #2 and this is quite the deal for fans of early 80s wrestling. Backlund offers a handshake and Flair just woos at him. Monsoon already notes that neither of this men will be there at the end. I mean, Flair just won it the previous year from #3 so you would think he would have learned it’s possible. Heenan puts over how crazy it would be for 43 year old Backlund to get a WWF Title Match. Basically a young guy at 43 now. Papa Shango is in at #3 and that’s three Hall of Famers so far. Shango chokes Backlund which lets Flair come up from behind and toss him at 2:40. Flair stomps Backlund on the mat and fires off a right hand in the corner. Woo! Backlund fires back and sends Flair to the corner. He begs off as the crowd counts down the next entrant. Ted Dibiase is #4 and that’s four Hall of Famers to start. Interesting threesome in there right now. Flair and Ted could have made a pretty kick ass Tag Team at one point. They double team Backlund as they have him trapped in the ropes. Smart! Double elbow from Flair/Ted. Brian Knobbs is next at 5 and that ends our run of Hall of Famers, but you can make a case for The Nasty Boys to be in there. He runs wild as he saves Backlund from elimination. Flair gets tossed but lands on the apron as Heenan nearly had a heart attack. They pair off in the corners as Flair battles Backlund and Ted fights Knobbs. Pit Stop to Ted which pops the crowd. Number Six is up and it’s Virgil. He and Ted go right at each other which makes me smile. Inverted atomic drop from Virgil and he drops Ted with a clothesline. Backlund and Flair continue to torment each other. Knobbs misses a clothesline and spills to the floor at 9:00 to end his night. Jerry “The King” Lawler is 7 (Hall of Famer) and this is his Rumble debut and in ring WWF PPV debut. He and Flair immediately go at each other in a cool segment. Flair rolls to the floor to get away from The King. I am digging the unique matchups we’re getting here. That gear Lawler is wearing is something else. Not much happening as they just fight on the ropes. Max Moon is #8 and he throws a lot of punches. Dropkick to Lawler! Backdrop to Flair and he begs off. Where else are you going to see Ric Flair bump for Max Moon? Outside of the excitement with the entrance, not much is happening which sucks. Tenryu is 9 and the crowd is silent but he keeps the tradition started last year of going right for Ric Flair. He lights Flair up in the corner with chops and we get a Flair Flop! Oh and it seems Max Moon was dumped somewhere off screen. Gorilla wants to know how long Flair and Backlund and Flair have been out there. It’s 15:40, but he tells us it’s 20. Um, no! Mr. Perfect is 10 and now we have something to work with as he sprints to the ring and attacks Flair. Heenan is losing his mind as Flair goes up top and Perfect slams him down. Flair begs off and gets a knee to the ribs. He goes to the eyes as Heenan needs water. Heavy chops from Flair! Gorilla notes Perfect vs. Flair tomorrow on RAW with the loser being out of the WWF. The other stip is the loser heads back to WCW in other words. Gorilla clears up that if Perfect or Flair win, but lose tomorrow, they give up the Mania spot. You know, I am glad they mentioned that. Skinner is #11 as we have too many people in the ring. As I say that Flair gets tossed by Perfect at 18:42 which causes Heenan to swear. To show how weird wrestling is, Flair wouldn’t be back at The Rumble for 9 years and when he came back it was a match with Vince McMahon. With Flair out the match is missing the fun of everyone entering and attacking him. Perfect and Lawler renew acquaintances. Koko B Ware is 12 and yes, he is a Hall of Famer no matter how much people complain. Skinner skins the cat but a Perfect dropkick sends him back out at 21:22. Heenan challenges Monsoon to a fight but notes he has a bad back. Samu is next at 13 and he goes over Virgil and Backlund. Lawler and Perfect are still going at it which is nice to see. Heavy chop to Lawler from Perfect. Lawler with a DDT on Perfect which you don’t see often in a Rumble. Gorilla’s time for Backlund is getting closer to reality as he has it at 26 minutes when it’s 24 minutes. Bezerker is 14 as we just keep filling up the ring. Lawler gets backdropped out by Perfect at 24:55. Dibiase and Koko go crazy to get Perfect off the apron and Lawler joins in to help from the floor as the refs try to pull him away. Perfect gets pulled to the floor at 25:30 and Heenan laughs. Virgil gets eliminated a few seconds later. The Undertaker is in at 15 and that gets a big reaction from the crowd. Please start tossing people! Bezerker uses a chair on Backlund on the floor. Samu is out at 27:10 thanks to Taker. Backund gets slammed on the exposed concrete . Tenryu out at 27:32 by Taker! We have four left in the ring and Backlind on the floor as I guess he needed a break. Roman Reigns would take that strategy years later. Terry Taylor is 16 and I honestly didn’t know he was still wrestling for WWF in 1993. Koko and Taylor both get dumped by Dibiase at 28:50. Taker with a choke slam and Dibiase is out at 29:06. Bezerker goes after Taker as they are the only two left in the ring. The Giant Gonzalez makes his debut as Taker tosses Bezerker at 29:45. The crowd is kind of in awe as Taker walks right up to Gonzalez and the size difference is pretty staggering. Now, that fur and airbrushed gear is awful. He lands one shot on Taker that sends him to the floor at 30:55. He mauls Taker on the floor as we are told Damian Demento is 17 and he just stands back and let’s Gonzalez beat the piss out of Taker. Gonzalez with a chokeslam to Taker and the crowd is pretty pissed. IRS is 18 and he makes sure to take his time as well. Smart! He continues to beat on Taker as he rams his knee against the post and they are getting the reaction they want. After four minutes we have people back in the ring for The Rumble as Demento and IRS double team Backlund and then turn on each other. Tatanka is 19 to give the crowd someone to cheer for after Taker got destroyed. Paul Bearer is down and uses the urn to get Taker up, but he is limping as he makes his way to the back. Now we are really back to the Rumble match and it still kind of sucks as it is more laying on the ropes and throwing punches. Backlund just passed 36 minutes. Oh, and IRS and Taker are also Hall of Famers that were/are in this match. Saggs is 20 and he grabs IRS by the tie and punches him in the face. No Monsoon’s timer is slow as he has Backlund at 36 minutes when it’s been 37:30. More laying on the ropes and more punching. Here comes #21 and it’s Typhoon (Hall of Famer) and the crowd likes him. Heenan accidentally calls him Tugboat, but recovers nicely. Not sure if I have said this before, but there’s lots of rope laying and punching. Typhoon lifts Demento off the mat with a choke and throws him down. Thankfully #22 is next and it’s Fatu (Hall of Famer)! Superkick to Typhoon and then a head-butt to Tatanka. Saggs tries a head-butt and that goes as you would expect. Then it dies off again and we need someone to wake this crowd up and start eliminating people. Earthquake (Hall of Fame) is 23 and the crowd likes him as well. H goes right after Typhoon to make sure we know it is every man for himself. Skip that man! Wreck shop together and then face each other. Typhoon with a splash in the corner but Quake ducks a second one and Typhoon spills to the floor at 44:00. Heenan gives us sage advice as he says you should shake a man’s hand when offered, but then kick him when he turns his back. Buzzer time and it’s Carlos Colon (Hall of Famer) at 24 and as everyone has noted before, Gorilla actually calls him a “youngster.” So we have three people in there who ended up with sons that competed in Rumble Match (IRS, Colon, and Fatu). Damian gets backdropped out by Colon at 46:05. Judgment Day vs. Bloodline as Colon and Fatu fight each other in the corner. Now Gorilla’s timer for Backlund is right on point. Tito Santana (Hall of Famer) is 25 and he goes after Backlund and then Quake. Fatu gets tossed off screen at 47:30 as Heenan thinks he threw himself out. Gorilla: “Nobody would do that.” Randy Savage did so last year, and they had to change the rules on the fly to cover for it. Ugly clothesline by Backlund to IRS as Rick Martel enters at 26. He goes right for Tito and HELL YEAH! STRIKE FORCE EXPLODES! IRS get tossed by Quake at 49:39. Can we get a Legends Battle Royal on RAW so Tito and Martel can torment each other again? I’d watch! Backlund has surpassed 50 minutes! Yokozuna (Hall of Fame) is 27 and you can feel the mood in the arena change. He lights up Tatanka with chops and fires him over the top at 52:11. Colon tries next and Bloodline wins that exchange as Colon is tossed at 52:38. Quake wants some of Yoko and the crowd is fired up for this as it gets the biggest reaction on the show. The camera actually shakes a little bit. Quake charges and Yoko doesn’t budge. Owen Hart enters at 28 and slides past the big men doing battle and goes after Saggs. Smart! Quake with a splash in the corner. He misses a second one and Yoko throws him over the ropes with a belly-to-belly at 54:00. Heenan picks Yoko as the winner and to beat whoever The Champion is at WrestleMania. That’s why he’s The Brain. Tito makes the mistake of charging at Yoko and gets flattened. Repo Man is 29 and this isn’t the greatest field to close this thing. If it wasn’t for a Title Shot, maybe, but other than Yoko who really has a chance? They gang up on Yoko, but he just pushes them all away. Randy Savage (Hall of Famer) is 30 and that wakes up the crowd and he is certainly a believable option to win. Watching through the scrambled lines as a child, I actually thought it would be him as I didn’t see the Yoko pushing coming. Yoko sends Tito packing at 58:12. Owen dropkicks Saggs out at 58:30. Owen skins the cat back in as he avoids elimination and he goes after future Tag Team Partner Yokozuna. That backfires as he is tossed at 59:00. Repo is tossed by Savage at 59:03. We are down to four: Savage, Yoko, Backlund, and Martel. Backlund and Martel square off in one corner while Yoko and Savage battle in another. The crowd freaks out as Backlund is nearly eliminated. He hits the 1 hour mark though Gorilla notes it is 61 minutes. Backlund powers Martel up to the top rope and dumps him at 1:00:30. The crowd is into Backlund and would be thrilled if he won. He goes after Yoko and again, not smart. He tries a series of dropkicks, but charges and gets dumped at 1:01:15 to big time boos. We are down to Savage and Yoko and again, I thought Savage had this on lock watching live. Yoko yells for Samoa! The crowd is into this ending and I give them credit after sitting through all the rope laying and punches. Yoko chokes in the corner. Savage starts a comeback as he unloads with right hands and he staggers Yoko. Clothesline! Clothesline! He heads up top and hits the double axe, but Yoko is still standing. Another double axe to the back of the head and Yoko drops to one knee. Savage charges and super kick takes his head off. Belly-to-belly suplex and the reaction from the crowd when Yoko hits a move like that is great. He drops the leg and Savage should be used to take those. Yoko hits a backsplash in the corner and Fuji wants another one. Macho has life as he moves out of the way. He heads up top and hits the flying elbow, but goes for a cover for some stupid reason and Yoko throws him off and over the top to the floor for the win at 1:06:38.
Winner: Yokozuna at 1:06:38
-Some memorable moments and more Hall of Famers in this one than you probably remember, but certainly the weakest Rumble to that point. The first 1/3 was pretty good with Flair, Lawler, Perfect, and Dibiase tearing it up, but then it kind of died. The Taker stuff went on long for a Rumble run-in, but again, it was memorable. The ending was pretty good with the fans getting behind Backlund and then Savage, but too boring to call it a good match. **1/2
-Thanks for reading!
