Post by DiBiase is Good on Sept 9, 2007 22:55:51 GMT -5
Oh yes. It's another one of my old-school PPV reviews dressed up as a random thoughts thread. And I've chosen the 1990 Royal Rumble.
Why you ask? Well, as much as I love the 1992 Royal Rumble which always seems to be the fave, I actually prefer this Rumble match. I love any PPV between SummerSlam 1989 and Royal Rumble 1991, but there is something about the 1990 Rumble that I love more than most.
So, here's a brief recap on what was happening in the WWF at the time....
With the Zeus feud finished and DiBiase being Hogan's main challenge over the previous 3 months, Hogan was just starting a feud with Mr.Perfect who was still undefeated at this point. Wrestlemania 6 was a few months away and we needed a big feud to help sell-out the 65,000 capacity Skydome. Mr.Perfect was a joy to watch in the ring, but I don't think he was quite ready for a part in a huge main-event, so who would challenge Hogan at WM6?
The Ultimate Warrior was dominating the Intercontinental Scene and was in the midst of a feud with Dino Bravo and to a lesser extent, Earthquake who was being pushed as the next Monster Heel.
Demolition had dropped the Tag titles to the Collossal Connection team of Andre and Haku. The Hart Foundation were about to be given a major push as a tag-team after going off in singles competition for a few months.
There were other feuds around at the time, such as Jake/DiBiase, Garvin/Valentine and the Piper/Rude feud was still not settled.
The first match is The Rougeaus vs The Bushwhackers. And Jacques Rougeau has grown a beard (random I know, but it was the only time I've seen him like that). I've mentioned this before, but "All American Boys" is the greatest entrance theme ever. The Whackers are really over with the crowd and as such this is a good choice for the opener. Luke and Butch get the win with "The vicious headbutt... the battering ram" in the words of Jesse Ventura. This was pretty much the end of the Rougeaus as Raymond would retire and jacques would re-appear a year later as The Mountie.
Up next we have Beefcake vs The Genius. A few weeks before, the Genius had beaten Hulk Hogan by count-out when Mr.Perfect interfered (and proceeded to smash the WWF Title). Beefcake was pretty much done with his brief main-event run in the latter months of 1989, but was still insanely over as a solid midcard face. It's not the best match ever and ends in a Double-DQ. Brutus cuts the Genius' hair until Perfect comes to ringside and destroys Brutus. I always wonder why the genius was so protected around this time. Neither Hogan nor Beefcake could beat him at this time.
Next up we have Ronnie Garvin vs Greg Valentine in a submission match, which was a rarity around this time in the WWF. They had been feuding for months and this was the blow-off match. I love this match and angle and although neither Valentine nor Garvin were the most gifted of athletes, they put on a great match. Garvin eventually wins it with the "Reverse Figure-Four" which would be better known as the Sharpshooter in the years ahead.
Yay! The Brother Love show. Or, piss-break segment as it should be called. Love and Sherri take turns insulting Sapphire until Sapphire has enough and slaps Brother Love. Savage and Dusty Rhodes end up brawling and Rhodes roughs up Brother Love for good measure.
And then we have Jim Duggan vs the Big Boss Man. This is a pretty dull affair until Boss Man hits a beautiful enziguri which is just amazing for a 350 pound man to hit. The rest of the match is a typical brawl and Duggan gets the DQ win after a nightstick shot.
I should mention that it has been revealed that DiBiase has drawn #1 and Mr. Perfect has drawn #30. We have various promos from some of the competitors and then we're ready to Rumble!!!
DiBiase enters and eliminates Koko B Ware and Marty Janetty at #2 #3 respectively. We all wait for #4 and Jake's music hits, the crowd (and me) go apes***. We get some nice sequences as Piper and Savage enter and team up with Jake and Ted. There is even a cheesy segment where Jake and Roddy tease hitting each other (cheesy, but admittedly good). Various other people enter and Andre the Giant dumps the Warlord with one arm (did the Warlord suck at Rumbles or what?) and Rhodes delivers a huge backdrop to eliminate Savage. Piper eliminates Bad News Brown who then pulls Piper out too and we get the brawl to the back. Why do wrestlers always brawl back to the dressing room? They pay no attention to the refs (one of which is Shane McMahon!) but always brawl in a nice straight line.
Eventually we get the Demolition/Collossal Connection confrontation and Ax and Smash team up to clothesline out Andre. Earthquake enters around #18 (I can't be bothered to look up exactly what number he drew) and eliminates Rhodes and Ax. About 6 people team up to dump Quake.
Then out comes the Warrior and the crowd goes mad. He dumps Bravo quickly and eventually eliminates DiBiase who lasted 45 minutes. Hogan comes out shortly after and between him and the Warrior they clear the ring. And we're left with Hogan and the Warrior staring each other down. The crowd (and me, again) completely piss their pants and we get a few criss-crosses and a double clothesline. It's pretty obvious at this point just who will be challenging Hulk at WM6.
Eventually Hogan "accidentally" eliminates Warrior and the last few competitors come and go. It's down to Hogan and Perfect and Perfect gets the upper hand. Perfects hits the perfect plex, but Hogan gets straight up and after a bit of hulking-up, Curt is slung over the top rope and Hogan is the victor.
Even though this was before the days when the rumble winner got a title shot at Wrestlemania, I really can't think of anyone else who should have won the Rumble. Maybe Mr. Perfect, but as he was now starting a feud with Brutus it wouldn't have made much sense.
This event set up several matches for Wrestlemania 6. Hogan/Warrior, Demolition/Collossal Connection, Beefcake/Mr. Perfect, Piper/Bad News, Savage & Sherri/Rhodes & Sapphire and the blow-off to Jake/DiBiase.
And so ends this long rambling review of this PPV. If anyone actually managed to read this whole thing then kudos. I love writing these recaps and for anyone who cares, up next we have SummerSlam 1990!
Why you ask? Well, as much as I love the 1992 Royal Rumble which always seems to be the fave, I actually prefer this Rumble match. I love any PPV between SummerSlam 1989 and Royal Rumble 1991, but there is something about the 1990 Rumble that I love more than most.
So, here's a brief recap on what was happening in the WWF at the time....
With the Zeus feud finished and DiBiase being Hogan's main challenge over the previous 3 months, Hogan was just starting a feud with Mr.Perfect who was still undefeated at this point. Wrestlemania 6 was a few months away and we needed a big feud to help sell-out the 65,000 capacity Skydome. Mr.Perfect was a joy to watch in the ring, but I don't think he was quite ready for a part in a huge main-event, so who would challenge Hogan at WM6?
The Ultimate Warrior was dominating the Intercontinental Scene and was in the midst of a feud with Dino Bravo and to a lesser extent, Earthquake who was being pushed as the next Monster Heel.
Demolition had dropped the Tag titles to the Collossal Connection team of Andre and Haku. The Hart Foundation were about to be given a major push as a tag-team after going off in singles competition for a few months.
There were other feuds around at the time, such as Jake/DiBiase, Garvin/Valentine and the Piper/Rude feud was still not settled.
The first match is The Rougeaus vs The Bushwhackers. And Jacques Rougeau has grown a beard (random I know, but it was the only time I've seen him like that). I've mentioned this before, but "All American Boys" is the greatest entrance theme ever. The Whackers are really over with the crowd and as such this is a good choice for the opener. Luke and Butch get the win with "The vicious headbutt... the battering ram" in the words of Jesse Ventura. This was pretty much the end of the Rougeaus as Raymond would retire and jacques would re-appear a year later as The Mountie.
Up next we have Beefcake vs The Genius. A few weeks before, the Genius had beaten Hulk Hogan by count-out when Mr.Perfect interfered (and proceeded to smash the WWF Title). Beefcake was pretty much done with his brief main-event run in the latter months of 1989, but was still insanely over as a solid midcard face. It's not the best match ever and ends in a Double-DQ. Brutus cuts the Genius' hair until Perfect comes to ringside and destroys Brutus. I always wonder why the genius was so protected around this time. Neither Hogan nor Beefcake could beat him at this time.
Next up we have Ronnie Garvin vs Greg Valentine in a submission match, which was a rarity around this time in the WWF. They had been feuding for months and this was the blow-off match. I love this match and angle and although neither Valentine nor Garvin were the most gifted of athletes, they put on a great match. Garvin eventually wins it with the "Reverse Figure-Four" which would be better known as the Sharpshooter in the years ahead.
Yay! The Brother Love show. Or, piss-break segment as it should be called. Love and Sherri take turns insulting Sapphire until Sapphire has enough and slaps Brother Love. Savage and Dusty Rhodes end up brawling and Rhodes roughs up Brother Love for good measure.
And then we have Jim Duggan vs the Big Boss Man. This is a pretty dull affair until Boss Man hits a beautiful enziguri which is just amazing for a 350 pound man to hit. The rest of the match is a typical brawl and Duggan gets the DQ win after a nightstick shot.
I should mention that it has been revealed that DiBiase has drawn #1 and Mr. Perfect has drawn #30. We have various promos from some of the competitors and then we're ready to Rumble!!!
DiBiase enters and eliminates Koko B Ware and Marty Janetty at #2 #3 respectively. We all wait for #4 and Jake's music hits, the crowd (and me) go apes***. We get some nice sequences as Piper and Savage enter and team up with Jake and Ted. There is even a cheesy segment where Jake and Roddy tease hitting each other (cheesy, but admittedly good). Various other people enter and Andre the Giant dumps the Warlord with one arm (did the Warlord suck at Rumbles or what?) and Rhodes delivers a huge backdrop to eliminate Savage. Piper eliminates Bad News Brown who then pulls Piper out too and we get the brawl to the back. Why do wrestlers always brawl back to the dressing room? They pay no attention to the refs (one of which is Shane McMahon!) but always brawl in a nice straight line.
Eventually we get the Demolition/Collossal Connection confrontation and Ax and Smash team up to clothesline out Andre. Earthquake enters around #18 (I can't be bothered to look up exactly what number he drew) and eliminates Rhodes and Ax. About 6 people team up to dump Quake.
Then out comes the Warrior and the crowd goes mad. He dumps Bravo quickly and eventually eliminates DiBiase who lasted 45 minutes. Hogan comes out shortly after and between him and the Warrior they clear the ring. And we're left with Hogan and the Warrior staring each other down. The crowd (and me, again) completely piss their pants and we get a few criss-crosses and a double clothesline. It's pretty obvious at this point just who will be challenging Hulk at WM6.
Eventually Hogan "accidentally" eliminates Warrior and the last few competitors come and go. It's down to Hogan and Perfect and Perfect gets the upper hand. Perfects hits the perfect plex, but Hogan gets straight up and after a bit of hulking-up, Curt is slung over the top rope and Hogan is the victor.
Even though this was before the days when the rumble winner got a title shot at Wrestlemania, I really can't think of anyone else who should have won the Rumble. Maybe Mr. Perfect, but as he was now starting a feud with Brutus it wouldn't have made much sense.
This event set up several matches for Wrestlemania 6. Hogan/Warrior, Demolition/Collossal Connection, Beefcake/Mr. Perfect, Piper/Bad News, Savage & Sherri/Rhodes & Sapphire and the blow-off to Jake/DiBiase.
And so ends this long rambling review of this PPV. If anyone actually managed to read this whole thing then kudos. I love writing these recaps and for anyone who cares, up next we have SummerSlam 1990!
"Is there a problem here?"
