callanvass
Live from Houston, TX (The Summit)Attendance 19,000Your commentators are Jessie Ventura & Gorilla Monsoon2 out of 3 fallsDino Bravo & The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers Vs The Hart Foundation & "Hacksaw" Jim DugganThe Hart Foundation & Duggan win 2 falls to 1. Duggan cheats to win it for his team. Not a bad way to start the show. Somewhat fun and very energetic with a hot crowd. You could certainly do a lot worse for openers.**1/2 out of 5Ted Dibiase buys off Slick to get a better number for the Royal Rumble. Other superstars like The Bushwhackers, The Rockers, Jake Roberts, The Honky Tonk Man, etc get their numbers as well.Women's ChampionshipRockin' Robin (C) Vs Judy MartinSensational Sherri challenges the winner. Robin wins with a flying cross body. They tried hard, but it just didn't gell. Nothing terribly wrong with it, just rather ordinary.** out of 5Ultimate Warrior beats Rick Rude in a posedown and pays the price for it after Rick Rude beats him up with a metal bar. Harmless fun. Winner is King of the RingHarley Race Vs HakuHaku is the current King of The Ring. Both are heels and Bobby Heenan manages both. The crowd is in favor of Harley Race. Haku wins with a crescent kick. This was pretty bad. Harley looked out of shape and he was super slow. *1/2 out of 5It's time for the Royal Rumble! I'm just gonna mention the big highlights. In a very cool moment, Demolition members, Axe and Smash draw numbers 1 and 2. Demolition were still getting their feet warm as faces at this juncture. Andre the Giant draws #3. Mr. Perfect draws #4. Andre almost sends Hennig to tim-buck-two with a big headbutt. Hennig's selling is awesome. Jake "The Snake" Roberts draws #7 and goes after Andre. Andre eliminates Roberts. Shawn Michaels is #9. Hennig and Michaels have a fun exchange. Jake chases Andre out of the ring with a snake. Andre eliminates himself. This rumble is way too long. The intervals are ridiculous. I'm not saying be short like Royal Rumble 95...but it's a bit too much. Randy Savage is #16 to liven the building and myself up. Hulk Hogan is 318 and the crowd goes wild. Hogan goes on an eliminating spree and accidentally gets rid of Randy Savage when dumping Bad News Brown. Savage gets extremely angry and confronts Hogan. Miss Elizabeth runs out and plays peacemaker. Savage and Hogan shake hands as The Big Bossman comes out. I've lost track of the entrée numbers. Akeem is out and double teams Hogan with The Big Bossman. They eliminate Hogan. Ted Dibiase bought his way to number 30. The Rumble has become dead ever since Hogan and Savage got eliminated. Final Four are Rick Martel, Akeem, Ted Dibiase & Big John Studd. Akeem dumps Martel. Big John Studd gets rid of Akeem and then Dibiase to win the Rumble.The Rumle started off really hot, then kinda got tedious after a while. I really question the decision to have Studd win as well. The PPV is decent overall and is worth a look6/10
alexanderdavies-99382
The 1989 Royal Rumble was the first official one after the experimental one from 1988. From now on, it was going to be 30 participants and the main event would last longer.
Only one match from the card was any good for me. The six man tag team match was simply magnificent. The Hart Foundation and Hacksaw Jim Duggan squared off against The Rougeau Brothers and Dino Bravo in a two out of three falls match up. The choreography and twists and turns built up the excitement right to the end.
The women's title match was rubbish and I've seen far better women's wrestling where they can duke it out, just like the men. The silly posedown between The Ultimate Warrior and Ravishing Rick Rude was a complete waste of time as nothing happened. It did create the feud that would result and it was a very good one.
Haku and Harley Race battled it out to see who would be crowned the King of the WWE. This was actually not too bad.
The Rumble event was a brief return appearance for Big John Studd, now a babyface. The likes of Rugged Ronnie Garvin, The Bushwhackers, The Brain Busters and the Big Boss Man all made their debuts on the Royal Rumble P.P.V. The heat was building between the current heavyweight champion Macho Man Randy Savage and his tag team partner Hulk Hogan. A sign of things to come.....
I thought the main event compensated for the disappointment of how the matches panned out.
Scarecrow-88
I guess one could look at the second Royal Rumble as Big John Studd's last hurrah, and a fitting finale to a rather unfulfilled career. He enters the 30 Man Battle Royal rather late, but, once he's in the ring, everyone else(..especially Akeem & Million Dollar Man Ted Dibiase)knows it. I had never realized just how massive and imposing he really is because I hearken back to his times opposite André the Giant in the *squared circle*, and everyone looks small compared to him. But, anyone can see, if you are watching it on home video, that Studd was having the time of his life, pounding away at Akeem throughout most of his time in the ring. If anyone attempted to attack him, they were tossed aside with ease.The major running story-line at the time was the crack in the foundation of The Mega Powers, WWF World Heavyweight champion Randy 'Macho Man' Savage and former champion Hulk Hogan, mainly due to beautiful manager Elizabeth. Savage, no matter how successful during his one-year tenure as champion, was always under Hogan's shadow, and if you add jealousy into the equation(..at the previous Thanksgiving wrestling card, Survivor Series, Hogan hoists Liz in the air after their victory and Savage doesn't exactly like it)eventually the foundation will capsize. In the Royal Rumble, Savage was in a continuing battle with a foe at the time, Bad News Brown(a rough Harlem streetfighter, always carrying a scowl, never getting along with anyone)when Hogan eliminates both of them. Savage confronts Hogan after his accidental exit and this is a definite sign that the relationship, once quite strong, has deteriorated. Liz is able to separate the two and they end in a handshake, but later(..in the Saturday Night Main Event card where The Twin Towers, Big Boss Man & Akeem, wrestle the Mega Powers)the situation between the two would end quite ugly, thanks to Hogan's leaving Savage to fend for himself against the Twin Towers while taking to an injured Liz(Savage would accidentally fall on her)to medical assistance.The opening of the card features a six-man tag match consisting of three falls(..whoever wins two out of three times is the victor)between Hacksaw Jim Duggan & The Hart Foundation against "Canada's Strongest Man" Dino Bravo & The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers. Pretty entertaining, although, at times, sloppily performed. Duggan is quite a fan favorite at this time, although his style is not necessarily graceful(..Bret was a fine compliment to the team, his *excellence of execution* adding quality to the proceedings). The Rougeau Bros(..never given a chance to hoist the tag titles in the air)have an abundance of talent and work extraordinarily well as a team while Bravo uses his brute strength to extend punishment to whoever the victim might be. Bret is pinned after the Rougeaus apply their fabulous finishing maneuver, and mostly dominate the opening of the bout pummeling Hart who finally breaks free to tag Duggan. Duggan pins one of the Rougeaus, then uses his 2X4 across the back of another Rougeau to win the match. This kind of cheating raises the ire of commentator Jesse the Body Ventura. The "pose off" between 'Ravishing" Rick Rude and Intercontinental Champion The Ultimate Warrior, is little more than filler, providing the audience with a new feud which would lead to an exchange of the IC belt between the two at both Wrestlemania V & Summerslam '89. The Women's Championship is a joke and shows the viewer that this division will never work despite Vince McMahon's continual efforts. 'Sensational' Sherry('Scary' Sherry, she'd later be labeled, making her presence felt when joining Randy Savage's side later after he turns heel)makes an appearance disrupting the women's bout before it begins.The Battle Royal itself consists of a lot of WWF wrestlers of that time(..some like Shawn Michaels & 'Mr. Perfect' Curt Henning were just pups at this point in their careers). Many tag teams represented the event, providing numbers to the 30 because no one expects the Bushwackers to win it. The Powers of Pain, Strike Force(Tito Santana & Rick Martel), The Brain Busters(Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard), The Rockers(Marty Jannety and Shawn Michaels), & Demolition(Ax & Smash who would draw numbers 1&2 tearing into each other at the beginning). André the Giant was easily the one favored, at first, to win the Battle Royal, and, despite multiple attacks by an army of wrestlers, was pummeling everyone in his path and tossing them around. André the Giant definitely used his size and girth to dominate those who dared challenge him. Fortunate for those in the ring, Jake Roberts(..who had been tossed over the ropes by André)had his secret weapon, his pet snake Damian, with André the Giant eliminating himself and running for his life in absolute fear. Until Macho Man and Hogan arrived, it loses steam with the exit of André. A running feud at the time was between The Mega Powers & The Twin Towers, and the crowd would shockingly witness Hogan being thrown out of the Royal Rumble by the gargantuan duo. The final act would have Big John Studd, Ted Dibiase and Akeem going at it, with a surprising win going for the more unlikely candidate..Big John Studd, who was not amongst any hot story-lines during this point in 1989. It was a great thrill to see a very satisfied Big John Studd win the Royal Rumble in such a memorable fashion, disposing of Akeem(..once One Man Gang, and quite the behemoth)and Dibiase, barely breaking a sweat. A sense of funny irony was that Dibiase had purchased the final draw to enter the event, and was not at all successful in his desire to win The Royal Rumble. This victory is not as recognized as many others mainly because of the Mega Powers soap opera, but I was proud for Studd, a man who would walk tall celebrating quite a substantial victory, a shining exit to a rather disappointing career.
TheBossMan316
A great wrestling event. This was start off to a ppv that would be aired every january as the first ppv of the year. 30 Men One Ring, One Winner. The Winner going to wrestlemania to face whoever the champion is. This one Featured: Hulk Hogan, Smash, Ax, Andre the Giant, Bad News Brown, Akeem, Million Dollar Man, Ronny Garvin, The Boss Man, Tito Santana, Rick Martel, The Bushwackers, Koko B. Ware, Honky Tonk Man and more. Great event, the first of a series to come, rent it.
