Random Rumble Observations

[lildude8218]

Doing my yearly re-watch of all the Rumble matches and figured I'd start a thread. I'll edit this as I go along the match.

1988

Never noticed Bret Hart getting a babyface pop during his intro.

Where the hell was Rick Martel?

Butch Reed coming out at #3 needed a little blurb from the announce team about how Reed and Santana had feuded the year prior.

I'm not sure if using theme music and entrance videos in later years is better or not but this year not having a buzzer is definitely a bad thing.

Jake Roberts hitting Jim Neidhart. Jesse Ventura says "It's hard to keep up with who's doing what to who." Well it looks like Jake Roberts is elbowing Who right now.

The WWF actually ran a show in Nova Scotia on this same night. You would have thought that it would've been "all hands on deck" for a live broadcast just in case there was an injury or something. The card in Nova Scotia was as follows:

WWF Women's Champion Sensational Sherri defeated Rockin Robin
Koko B. Ware defeated Sika
Jacques & Raymond Rougeau defeated the Conquistadors
Demolition Ax defeated Buddy Lane
Demolition Smash defeated Ken Patera
Brutus Beefcake defeated Greg Valentine
WWF IC Champion the Honkytonk Man defeated Randy Savage via disqualification

I wonder if the Rumble would have been better if a few of those guys had been in it instead.

Nikolai Volkoff was the best partner a person could have. No one else ever tried to enter the Rumble early to save their partner from elimination.

Jim Duggan comes out with his stick in his hand and yells "HOOOOOOO!" and gets a standing ovation. I do it and I'm trespassed from the strip club.

I think Nikolai was afraid of bumping. Every time I've seen him eliminated from a battle royal it's basically been him doing a cartwheel out of the ring to the floor

[lildude8218]

1989

The Bushwhackers should have been disqualified for switching numbers.

Jake Roberts hopes Andre is still in there when he gets there....but Jake only pulled #7, not 30. Did he know something about Andre's number? Shenanigans!

Sean Mooney asks Slick about "The Million Dollar Man" and Slick says he hasn't seen him in a month. They show footage from earlier and Slick says "Oh, that Ted DiBiase? I thought you meant Ted where I get my shoes shined." Any lawyer would have blown a hole in that story immediately.

Just remembered how confused I was when the Haku/Race match wasn't on the VHS version of this show. Now I realize why that match and what feels like a thousand interviews were removed from that version. Seriously, they interview the managers at one point and then instead of using that as their promo, they interview some of those guys again later.

Gorilla Monsoon calls Ax "X" for some reason

Honestly, I don't understand why Jake wanted to get to Andre so badly. If anything it should have been the other way around. Andre was the one with the real grudge.

Arn Anderson's spinebuster is "that move."

They protect the hell out of Marty Jannetty for some reason. It takes 2 men over 30 seconds to eliminate him.

Randy Savage and Arn Anderson eliminate Shawn Michaels AND Tito Santana together but the monkeys in the truck miss the 2nd one. Savage teams up in this match more with a heel than his own partner.

Luke attacking Hogan is still so weird to me. Especially that weird DX chop to his throat.

Koko B. Ware had only been with the company for 2 years or so at this point but feels like such a relic from the past compared to so many newcomers in the ring with him at the time.

Hogan and Savage wind up in the ring with The Brain Busters and Bad News Brown. That seems like a random 2 on 3 handicap match they would have done as a dark match at a Superstars taping.

I always wondered if it was Bossman or Akeem that drew the #30 that DiBiase bought from Slick. Also why DiBiase would have been so upset with 22 or 23. Sure it wasn't 30 but he freaked like he had drawn #1. It may have made more sense for DiBiase to sell #3 to Heenan since he would be shitty enough to give his guy a bad pick just for some cash. Like there should have been a deleted scene added where he sells #3 to Heenan for Andre's number (22 or 23) and then he sells THAT to Slick for #30.

Everything kind of falls flat once Hogan gets eliminated.

This Rumble makes it two straight where it ends with the famous "Babyface against two heels" format where the babyface overcomes the odds and wins it all.

[chronocross]

I definitely have to agree after Savage/Hogan are elminated, that there is nothing else really to watch.

I remember Savage/Anderson eliminating Shawn Michaels really bothering me when I was younger, maybe it was a sign of things to come for Savage and his heel turn, but could easily be used as every man for himself.

I liked how Ax and Smash did not hesitate for a minute and went after each other, and had no hard feelings afterwards.

[lildude8218]

1990

DiBiase just said "Golden Opportuname"

I was able to watch a bunch of episodes of Superstars of Wrestling leading up to this show. What's weird is on television they were really pushing a Brutus Beefcake/Rick Martel feud. It had only started a few weeks prior to the Rumble and was set for all the house shows. So it seemed really weird for them to hotshot this Beefcake/Perfect feud suddenly. Especially when they still had weeks worth of taped shows where Beefcake and Martel cut promos on each other. It made it seem like Beefcake was completely ignoring what happened to him at the PPV.

Haku is completely hidden by Sean Mooney at some points during the backstage interview. He always looked so small during his WWF run and then HUGE when he went to WCW.

I know that Ronnie Garvin took over Don Muraco's spot in his feud with Greg Valentine. He took all the house show matches long before they started feuding on TV. I always wondered if Muraco hadn't been fired if their feud would have ended in a submission match or not.

I always hated Mr. Perfect's awkward hair flip after he says "Number 30" in his promo with Mean Gene. Looked like he had a nervous tic or something

Just noticed that Savage is wearing a different outfit when he runs out during the Brother Love interview than he wore in the Rumble. The pair he wore in the Rumble always looked like something Haku would wear to me.

Earthquake bouncing during his promos makes him look like he REALLY has to pee.

Still not sure how they overlooked the whole "Jake steals the Million $ title" thing and had DiBiase walk out wearing it.

Koko somehow doesn't look like THAT much of a relic this time around with his updated hairstyle.

Earlier Fuji said he picked the numbers for the Powers of Pain. I wonder if The Warlord was pissed at him for giving him 5 while The Barbarian got 27.

I always thought DiBiase needed to use more subtle comedy. Randy Savage eliminates Jake Roberts and DiBiase shakes his hand. He should have yelled "Virgil!" and handed Savage a hundred for his troubles.

Dusty goes right after the Red Rooster like they were feuding or something.

I finally remembered to keep an eye out for Bret Hart's elimination. So easy to miss.

Jim Neidhart softly lands on the apron and basically eliminates himself

There's this weird moment where it's down to Hogan, Warrior, Honky and Martel which to me seemed like an obvious set up for the Hogan/Warrior faceoff later but then it seemed like they went "oh shit, Shawn Michaels hasn't come out yet."

Never understood the point of the criss-cross in pro wrestling or the whole dropping down thing.

Rick Rude coming out only 45 seconds after The Barbarian is still jarring. I understand that they didn't want The Barbarian kicking the shit out of two top guys by himself for 2 minutes but I think there could have been a better way to pull this off.

Everything after the Hogan/Warrior showdown feels like it takes an hour.

Three years in a row where a babyface overcomes the odds of 2 on 1. At least this one had a bit longer of a 1 on 1 segment to end it.

[thegatewaydrug]

Dec 27, 2016 22:34:39 GMT -5 lildude8218 said:

1990
Haku is completely hidden by Sean Mooney at some points during the backstage interview. He always looked so small during his WWF run and then HUGE when he went to WCW.

I attribute this a bit to him not wearing boots and full length tights in WWF. He appeared shorter and, of course, could get no potential help from lifts. And eventhough he hung with the taller Barbarian in WCW, Andre dwarfed King Tonga in WWF.

Oh yeah...the massive afro and gold hammer pants of 2000-2001 sure helped make his stature seem bigger.

[GuyOfOwnage]

Dec 27, 2016 20:59:06 GMT -5 lildude8218 said:

Luke attacking Hogan is still so weird to me. Especially that weird DX chop to his throat.

Oyyyyyy, suck it, mate!

[lildude8218]

1991

I hated the shock of Valentine attacking Bravo as a kid because in New York they had played footage of the Hart/Valentine split to promote a Valentine/HTM match that never wound up taking place. I assumed it was common knowledge that Valentine had turned.

Monsoon watches Saba Simba and Rick Martel go over with Martel sneaking back in. He complains about Martel being still in and then asks what happened to Saba Simba. Uhh....you just watched him get eliminated!

I wonder why Paul Roma didn't just change his name to "Romeo Roma" when he had his heel turn.

I remember reading that Valentine lasting so long was a punishment for him working dates for Herb Abrams in 1990. It's funny because if anything it just helped him get over better as a babyface here, even though he never really got higher than mid-card at this point.

For someone who blinded him just a few months earlier, Jake really doesn't seem all that concerned with Rick Martel, at least not as concerned as he was with Andre or DiBiase.

It's amazing how far Tito Santana fell in only a few years. He wasn't even originally scheduled for this Rumble but Buddy Rose was originally. He had been around for 6+ years at this point but was still a solid hand. Guess they could have given his spot to Jerry Sags to make Knobbs' appearance seem less random.

They could have done a way better job with the whole Macho King thing. They should have had him come out but keep looking over his shoulder until Warrior eventually comes out and Macho eliminates himself. It's too confusing otherwise.

Odd moment where Hogan holds Earthquake so Haku can chop him. Hogan and Haku = Mega Powers II

The Hogan/Tugboat thing here and a few months later at Saturday Night's Main Event were really wasted. Tugboat later turns heel and it has nothing to do with Hogan.

I'm not sure Rick Martel's elimination should have counted since he went through the ropes and was on the top turnbuckle before getting knocked off.

Also pretty weird that they had Knobbs in the final 3 to once again do the same ending sequences from the last 3 Rumbles.

[lildude8218]

1992

It's amazing how different Darsow looks as Repo Man rather than Smash but a real shame they didn't hide his tattoo better.

DiBiase was really crappy at drawing numbers

Using the Coliseum Video version of this PPV on the Network is weird because they include an interview where Ric Flair reveals he pulled #3 and it kind of blows that surprise.

I watched this Rumble live on PPV. This was the PPV where I said "Oh wow, I had forgotten about him" around 6 times. Haku, Volkoff, Valentine, Barbarian, and Hercules felt like such filler.

Nikolai had been gone for over a year at this point and then wasn't seen again for another 3 years. People forgot that he was a babyface.

They should have just called an audible and been like "Randy, you f***ed up, you're out." Especially since he didn't win the thing.

16 members of the WWE Hall of Fame are in this match and a few others that should go in eventually.

Hogan probably wouldn't have grabbed Sid's arm if Sid hadn't talked so much shit after throwing Hulk out.

[lildude8218]

1993

Shawn's tights during his first heel run always reminded me of cow print.

I still want to know why there was a random orange sitting backstage.

Just noticed one of the Beverly Brothers and possibly Samu standing backstage watching Michaels and Jannetty fight

They did a much better job making Bam Bam look like a monster the 2nd time around. 6 years away helped both parties.

I always assumed that if Bobby Heenan had stayed a manager that he would have picked up Shawn Michaels and maybe Razor Ramon as singles guys and probably The Beverly Brothers.

Bob Backlund here is what it would be like if Richie Cunningham's band was somehow a wrestler

As a kid I was convinced that Papa Shango was King Kong Bundy after a massive weight loss. He didn't even look like a black dude to me.

It's great watching Tenryu literally just stand around doing nothing at one point

if Koko pulled his pants over his head he could have passed for a Lidsville character

One of my all time favorite quotes to pull out randomly is "Demento! Demento!"

I wonder how Bob Backlund's mid-match nap went

Earthquake attacking Typhoon instead of IRS really made no sense. It's not like they were forced to face each other like Ax and Smash. Both were gone soon enough anyway.

When I first heard about Power Uti, I envisioned someone looking more like Carlos Colon.

Not sure why Santana seemed so pissed with Bob Backlund. He wouldn't leave him alone.

[ThankGodForSidJustice]

Volkoff definitely didn't like taking bumps. If you watch any match of his he never takes a flat back bump that all wrestlers take. Instead he would do this awkward little half jump and then gingerly land on his side. Looked terrible.

Martel not being at the 1988 Rumble was always weird to me too. A lot of bigger names at the time weren't in that match but with him it's just strange that they would have Tito in it but not his partner. I guess maybe he was really sick or maybe had transportation issues and couldn't make the show. Only possible reasons I can think of.

I also never understood the supposed punishing guys by making them last a long time in the Rumble. How is staying in a long time, having a good showing, and being made to look strong by lasting a long time a punishment? To me I would consider it a reward and a sign of good faith that they think enough of you and enough confidence in your ability to be in that long. I guess if your lazy and don't want to put the time in and just want to get the quickest and easiest pay possible then yeah, but working a battle royal isn't as demanding on your cardio as it is a regular match even if your in for 30 to 50 minutes, as it's mainly just walking around and punching and kicking people with maybe a few bigger spots here and there. To me getting eliminated super quick and being to made to look like a complete jabroni like Warlord in 89 is more of a punishment.

[lildude8218]

1994

It's amazing how Undertaker never got revenge over any of the other guys who helped Yokozuna. You would think they would have had him go through them all to get back to Yokozuna last. I also wish it was better explained why certain guys helped out. Crush, Tenryu and Kabuki made sense since they were aligned with Fuji but the other guys had nothing to do with him. Must've cost Fuji a fortune. No wonder he couldn't afford those suits anymore.

Due to time constraints Jack Tunney shortens the intervals to 90 seconds. I think they just knew this wasn't a star studded Rumble and were trying to get it over with.

The Steiners both look like "Tired of your shit, McMahon" at this point. Scott just kinda shoves Samu off the apron after he goes over the top.

It took Diesel to finally wake the crowd up.

When I was a kid I thought Kabuki wasn't the real Kabuki and they just put paint on Pat Tanaka

Greg Valentine was such a random entrant here. Was shocked to read that he actually had a few more house show appearances during the summer. I thought he was one and done.

Jack Tunney takes his sweet time coming out while his two top officials are arguing over the winner.

[Ben Wyatt]

Dec 28, 2016 15:53:27 GMT -5 lildude8218 said:

1994

It's amazing how Undertaker never got revenge over any of the other guys who helped Yokozuna. You would think they would have had him go through them all to get back to Yokozuna last. I also wish it was better explained why certain guys helped out. Crush, Tenryu and Kabuki made sense since they were aligned with Fuji but the other guys had nothing to do with him. Must've cost Fuji a fortune. No wonder he couldn't afford those suits anymore.

Actually, I recall that this *was* explained during the build to Undertaker vs Underfaker at Summerslam '94 as DiBiase (who returned to TV as a commentator that night) being behind it

[lildude8218]

1995

Everyone in the company sexually harasses Pamela Anderson as she gets to the arena. Real nice, guys.

"We'll all find out now who drew #1" even though his music is playing already.

I always wondered who "TK" was on HBK's fist

Random Rick Martel appearance when he'd been gone since the previous Wrestlemania roughly

I wonder how many people were confused when Jacob Blu came out thinking it was Eli trying to enter again.

Funny how Bret didn't seem to care about HBK or Jarrett messing up his title match but wanted to kill Owen and Backlund.

Dick Murdoch channels JYD during the match and attempts to headbutt a Samoan.

Fatu made it to the end a lot actually.

[lildude8218]

1996

Dory Funk, Jr. has looked 85 years old for the last 30 years

Hunter being the workhorse of the match is interesting since it was his first Rumble. They clearly thought a lot of him early on.

This Omori guy looks way too Asian

Sorta appropriate that the first person Vader bullies in the Rumble is Bob Holly.

It's amazing that Doug Gilbert didn't manage to work himself into a shoot with Lawler in the small amount of time he was in the ring

I never understood why they tried so many times with The Headhunters but then barely put in the effort. The Squat Team? And then they don't even have names?

Part of me wishes that HBK found Lawler and a bunch of dead Doinks under the ring

It's amazing how we got a few moments of Diesel vs. Fake Diesel in this match.

Kama in the Final Four is weird. Never saw him as anything but midcard. Wow, he was actually in the final 3.

Mr. Perfect says it's impossible that HBK won two years in a row even though Hogan had already done it.

Diesel takes his frustrations out on The British Bulldog because he's bizarre

Shawn celebrates his victory by taking his clothes off in the ring....yikes

[James Fabiano]

Dec 28, 2016 15:53:27 GMT -5 lildude8218 said:

1994

It's amazing how Undertaker never got revenge over any of the other guys who helped Yokozuna. You would think they would have had him go through them all to get back to Yokozuna last. I also wish it was better explained why certain guys helped out. Crush, Tenryu and Kabuki made sense since they were aligned with Fuji but the other guys had nothing to do with him. Must've cost Fuji a fortune. No wonder he couldn't afford those suits anymore.

What's funnier is about half the attackers turned face or were about to turn by the time Taker came back. (Adam Bomb, Headshrinkers, Diesel's turn began at SummerSlam...when UT returned!) I tried to invent my own kayfabe reasoning thinking that they were afraid of retribution so they decided to be on UT's side.

[James Fabiano]

Dec 28, 2016 16:45:48 GMT -5 lildude8218 said:

1995


I always wondered who "TK" was on HBK's fist

It was the initials of one of the ring girls/models who used to hold the signs on Raw. I think they were going out at the time.

Kayfabe I thought it just meant "The (Heartbreak) Kid".

[CeilingFan]

I love this thread!

[Cranjis McBasketball]

Dec 28, 2016 10:27:56 GMT -5 lildude8218 said:

1991

I hated the shock of Valentine attacking Bravo as a kid because in New York they had played footage of the Hart/Valentine split to promote a Valentine/HTM match that never wound up taking place. I assumed it was common knowledge that Valentine had turned.

Monsoon watches Saba Simba and Rick Martel go over with Martel sneaking back in. He complains about Martel being still in and then asks what happened to Saba Simba. Uhh....you just watched him get eliminated!

I wonder why Paul Roma didn't just change his name to "Romeo Roma" when he had his heel turn.

I remember reading that Valentine lasting so long was a punishment for him working dates for Herb Abrams in 1990. It's funny because if anything it just helped him get over better as a babyface here, even though he never really got higher than mid-card at this point.

For someone who blinded him just a few months earlier, Jake really doesn't seem all that concerned with Rick Martel, at least not as concerned as he was with Andre or DiBiase.

It's amazing how far Tito Santana fell in only a few years. He wasn't even originally scheduled for this Rumble but Buddy Rose was originally. He had been around for 6+ years at this point but was still a solid hand. Guess they could have given his spot to Jerry Sags to make Knobbs' appearance seem less random.

They could have done a way better job with the whole Macho King thing. They should have had him come out but keep looking over his shoulder until Warrior eventually comes out and Macho eliminates himself. It's too confusing otherwise.

Odd moment where Hogan holds Earthquake so Haku can chop him. Hogan and Haku = Mega Powers II

The Hogan/Tugboat thing here and a few months later at Saturday Night's Main Event were really wasted. Tugboat later turns heel and it has nothing to do with Hogan.

I'm not sure Rick Martel's elimination should have counted since he went through the ropes and was on the top turnbuckle before getting knocked off.

Also pretty weird that they had Knobbs in the final 3 to once again do the same ending sequences from the last 3 Rumbles.

I thought Tugboat turning was all Hogan? Sure it happened attacking the Bushwhackers but Tugboat said he joined Quake because he was always there for Hulk but Hulk never helped him at all.

[GuyOfOwnage]

Dec 28, 2016 15:53:27 GMT -5 lildude8218 said:

It's amazing how Undertaker never got revenge over any of the other guys who helped Yokozuna. You would think they would have had him go through them all to get back to Yokozuna last.

The problem was, by the time the Fall of 94 came around, a good majority of those guys were either gone or turned babyface. It would've been cool, but I get why they couldn't really do it.

[lildude8218]

1997

"Ahmed is so thick" hehehe

Razor Ramon's music no shows

and Ahmed eliminates himself to go after Faarooq. Blood feuds are more important than title shots.

Austin completely no sells the snake

Kind of a shame we never got that Face Bulldog vs. Heel Owen feud that they were building up to for months

I'm not sure why Mascaras would be eliminated when he went through the middle rope first before jumping off the top turnbuckle

Austin vs. The World got old quick

Funny how Rocky goes right after Austin. Almost like he knew something.

Even as a punk 14-year-old kid I knew why Mankind and Funk were spending so much time with each other

Hillbilly Jim doesn't even bother walking the whole way with Henry Godwinn. He shows up later though.

"They're balling each other." Heh

The whole ending reeks of Russo. Bret really wins but Austin cheats to win. The last four guys that were left have another battle royal to determine the real winner. Shawn leaves so it becomes a title match. The winner of the battle royal has to face Sid the next night. Bret loses the title to Sid the next night. Instead of getting a rematch he faces Austin and Undertaker gets a title shot at Mania. Vader gets to team with Mankind and that's it.