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Pro Wrestling

RDT Reviews the 1992 WWF Royal Rumble

Royal_Rumble_1992

1992 WWF Royal Rumble
January 19, 1992
Albany, NY
Reviewed on January 23, 2015

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

1991 was an interesting year for the WWF. They lost a major top star in The Ultimate Warrior, but created two others in Sid Justice and The Undertaker. They also signed the biggest non-WWF name in professional wrestling: Ric Flair.

That’s what makes this Royal Rumble so interesting. The WWF could have went in a number of directions here. Recapping This Tuesday In Texas, Hulk Hogan regained the WWF Title from The Undertaker…only there were murky circumstances regarding the finish. Jack Tunney held the WWF Title up…and made it the prize of the 1992 Royal Rumble match. There are five conceivable winners, three that were likely and two that were less likely. They each represented a different direction for the WWF. They were:

Hogan: It would be the “status quo”. Hogan winning here would have gotten a big pop, but Hulk’s star had been fading ever so slightly at this point. It would only get worse with all the steroid issues surrounding him.

Sid: Considered to be the next Hogan and had clearly been on Hogan’s side back at Summerslam where he was a ref.

Flair: Other than Savage, Flair would be the first “wrestling” WWF Champion in the Vince Jr. era. A showdown with Hogan would be assured for Mania though (of course, that’s not what happened). It would also give a huge sense of legitimacy to WCW.

And the two who had a chance, but not a great one.

Undertaker: Basically the transitional champion to lead to this situation. His gimmick was crazy over though, and he could have been the top heel at Mania. He’s already established as a main eventer (and would be forever) because of his win over Hogan for the title at Survivor Series. I’m sure there was a scenario out there that could have had Taker vs. Sid for the title five years earlier than it actually happened.

Randy Savage: The face route that isn’t Sid or Hogan, but he should be facing Jake at Mania (which he didn’t, but that would be the logic).

Let’s see which way the WWF went.

The Card

Vince’s announcement of who is in the Rumble is hilarious.

The Orient Express vs. The New Foundation

The New Foundation is Owen and Neidhart. I have no idea what the point of making them look ridiculous was. When they teamed up in 1994 they were a lot more badass since they dressed just like the original Foundation.

The Express is Pat Tanaka and Kaito…who is really Paul Diamond.

Owen was always really good. Frankensteiner was nice.

Owen becomes the face in peril. He was great at that too.

Pat Tanaka screws up an Owen bulldog by falling too quickly.

Awesome suicide dive from Owen!

The New Foundation win when Owen pinned Tanaka in 17:18. Rocket Launcher for the win. Good match that seemed a bit long, but it’s Owen, so no problem there. Anvil and Owen played the opening match babyface role well, I just don’t get why they had to wear Doink’s pajama paints.

Story about Bret Hart defending the IC title against The Mountie despite a 104 degree fever. This would be the Mania VIII set-up for Bret and Piper. Piper is Bret’s replacement here.

Amazing Piper promo. He points out that he’s here to win two titles. How crazy would have that been?

Intercontinental Championship: The Mountie© vs. Roddy Piper

There’s not much to say here, it’s a bad match but Piper as the crowd in the palm of his hand.

Roddy Piper wins the title when the Mountie passes out in 5:22. Crowd reaction here is nuts. Piper puts the Mountie to sleep and that does it. Except for a bulldog, all of Piper’s offense was punches and the sleeper. But who cares really?

The Bushwackers vs. The Beverly Brothers

I don’t know who the Bushwacker manager, Jameson is, but he sounds ridiculous and he’s eating his tie. I hear this is an infamous match, so I’m curious to see what happens here.

The Genius recites a poem about Jameson. I have a bad feeling about all of this.

A lot of wasted time early on. A lot of the Bushwackers swinging their arms and licking each other and stuff.

The Genius slapping Jameson is the highlight of the match. Jameson is insufferable as he complains to Butch.

The Beverly Brothers win when Blake pinned Butch in 14:56. Illegal double axehandle off the top for the win. It wasn’t even entertainingly horrible, it was just horrible. The match had no heat whatsoever and nothing of significance takes place at all. The finish was out of nowhere too. Jameson gets his revenge on the Genius by kicking him in the shin at the end. Just horrible everywhere.

World Tag Team Championship
The Legion of Doom© vs. The Natural Disasters

I can’t help but feel like this should have been a Wrestlemania match or something. Earthquake, Hawk and Animal were all huge names, and Typhoon was a big deal cause of Quake.

Match is mostly Hawk as the face in peril. Seems weird seeing LOD be dominated in 1992.

The Natural Disasters win by countout in 9:24. All four men end up on the outside, but Typhoon gets back into the ring. LOD just didn’t care at this point did they? Or at least Hawk didn’t. Second terrible match in a row here. Unsurprisingly, LOD dropped the belts on a house show shortly afterwards.

We get a ton of interviews. Shawn Michaels seemed surprisingly good on the mic pretty quickly. He had JUST turned on Jannetty at this point.

The 1992 Royal Rumble

The British Bulldog draws #1 and Ted Dibiase didn’t bribe anyone at this point as he draws #2. The Bulldog gets rid of Dibiase really quickly.

Bobby Heenan basically goes ballistic on the air as Ric Flair draws #3. Bulldog whips him too.

Jerry Sags is #4. Bulldog wastes to time getting rid of him too.

#5 is Haku. He sides with Flair at first, but then he turns on Flair.

“It’s not fair to Flair!”

Bulldog dumps Haku as HBK comes out as #6. Huge boos for HBK.

Flair and HBK go at it 17 years before Flair’s last WWF match.

Flair, HBK and the Bulldog is an interesting trio in there considering all the interactions HBK would have with both over the years.

El Matador is #7. He too goes after Flair.

The Barbarian is #8.

HBK was already doing the near eliminations all over the place thing.

The Texas Tornado: Kerry Von Erich is #9. Of course he goes after Flair. There is good history there.

Repo Man is #10.

Greg Valentine is #11. He was in the Rumble for 44 minutes in 1991.

#12 is Nikolai Volkoff. Crowd is growing restless…but it’ll pick up soon.

Big pop as Valentine locks Flair in the Figure Four. Repo Man takes out Volkoff.

#13 is the Bossman. Nice pop and he of course attacks Flair.

Valentine is gone thanks to the Repo Man.

Repo Man is gone due to Flair.

Flair gets rid of the British Bulldog. Von Erich also goes out due to Flair.

#14 is Hercules but the Bossman takes him out in a minute.

Hercules takes out Barbarian, and Bossman takes out Hercules. Bossman hilariously eliminates himself with a missed flying body block.

#15 is Piper, and the crowd goes nuts. Flair tries to beg off. Piper kicks Flair’s ass for the whole two minutes before #16, Jake The Snake comes in.

Jake tells Piper to continue what he’s doing, then immediately attacks him from behind. Jake was awesome.

I can’t get over Heenan’s commentary. Amazing.

Jim Duggan is #17. Huge reaction for him as he goes for Flair.

IRS is #18.

Superfly Jimmy Snuka is #19. This was near the end of the Superfly.

#20 is The Undertaker. This was actually bad luck for Taker. Tunney allowed Taker and Hogan to have a number between 20 and 30, and he drew 20.

Heenan: “Death takes a holiday!”

Snuka jobs to Taker again!

#21 is Randy Savage and he wants Jake. Undertaker cuts Savage off. Taker getting involved in Jake-Savage was weird as it seemed Jake had a hold on Taker…until Taker turned face.

Savage throws Jake, then jumps over the top rope to continue attacking. Savage gets to stay though…for some reason. He must be winning!!!

#22 is The Beserker. I feel like he never gets enough Wrestlecrap credit.

#23 is Virgil. He goes right after IRS. I miss those long standing rivalries that would surface in the Rumble.

#24 is Col. Mustafa. Always thought it was weird that the Iron Sheik would change names and all.

Monsoon randomly uses Rick Martel’s name when talking about Flair. Odd.

#25 is Martel. I assume Monsoon just got confused.

Here comes Hogan at #26! He surprisingly takes out Undertaker early. Beserker goes next.

Duggan and Virgil take one another out.

#27 is Skinner. I guess #27 wasn’t lucky yet.

Flair sets the longevity record. It would stand I believe until Benoit.

#28 is Sgt. Slaughter. All the heat died with Slaughter after the heel turn. No one would care about Slaughter again until he become commissioner in 1997.

Piper and Martel take out Skinner.

#29 is Sid. He doesn’t really do anything though, which I find odd.

#30 is the Warlord. Ah, the days where #30 wasn’t guaranteed to be a big star.

Sid sends Slaughter out. About time Sid did something.

Piper eliminates IRS by his tie. That was awesome.

Sid and Hogan dump the Warlord.

Piper, Hogan, Savage, Flair, Sid and Martel.

Sid gets rid of Piper and Martel. Lame ending for Piper.

Flair nails Sid in the back, which causes Sid to shove Savage out. Down to three.

Ric Flair wins the WWF Championship in 1:02:02. Sid dumps Hogan to HUGE cheers. Hogan grabs Sid’s arm, and Flair dumps Sid to win the title. Heenan goes nuts. This was one of the first signs of the fans turning on Hogan here. Flair leaves while Sid and Hogan argue. We get some Sid chants too…although some feint Hogan ones are audible.

Flair cuts an awesome interview as the new WWF Champion. He also takes a big shot at WCW by saying this is the only world title that matters.

Anyway this Rumble is basically an hour long Flair match. It’s the 2nd greatest Rumble of all time in my opinion. All the big stars were in there. A lot of the stories played out as well. There were great moments with Piper and Flair, and Hogan and Sid.

The opener was solid and Piper winning the IC title was a cool moment. The show went downhill fast after that. But the amazing 1992 Royal Rumble made up for it. There was a lot of history here as well. Nevermind it being Flair’s 1st WWF Title win, but also this was a big match that showed the WWF needed to get past Hulkamania. Vince wouldn’t learn for another 18 months though.

It’s the Rumble that matters, right? I just wish those tag matches weren’t so bad.

Final Grade: A-

Pro Wrestling

RDT Reviews WWF This Tuesday In Texas

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WWF This Tuesday in Texas
December 3, 1991
San Antonio, TX
Reviewed on January 22, 2015

And you thought Taboo Tuesday was the first experiment for weekday WWF PPVs?

Just six nights after Survivor Series (held on a Thursday back then), the WWF tried a new form of revenue stream in the form of a Tuesday night PPV. It had a pretty hot main event as well, with new WWF Champion The Undertaker going up again the man he took it from, Hulk Hogan. The WWF had been on the bit of a slide business wise, although the true reason for that was that fans were tiring of the Hulkster and Vince had no one hot enough to replace him. Sid was a popular choice at the time. Vince had also acquired Ric Flair, but he was never one to really build his promotion around a heel like Flair.

Also on this card is a match regarding the big Jake Roberts vs. Randy Savage feud. So while this PPV seems pretty random and is forgotten now, you can tell the WWF tried hard with it to see if it would work. Does it? Let’s see.

The Card

We kick off with a post Survivor Series promo with Paul Bearer and The Undertaker. They are already hyping up This Tuesday in Texas. Bearer says nothing is immortal, not even Hogan. He says Hulkamania at Survivor Series…all that’s left is the funeral services. Bearer and Taker were pretty awesome characters in 1991.

WWF Intercontinental Championship
Bret Hart© vs. Skinner

Skinner actually gets the jobber entrance here. Not sure why he’s getting an IC title shot on a PPV but we’re told he’s undefeated so far, so there’s that.

Starting with Bret is a good idea though.

There’s not much to say about this match other than Bret is mega over.

Bret Hart retains when he makes Skinner submit in 13:46. Bret tosses Skinner off the top rope and makes him submit to the Sharpshooter. Went about 6 minutes too long. Match was as bare bones as you can think of. The only move I can remember Skinner doing that seemed remotely unique was his reverse DDT. Boring overall. Crowd was into it though, as Bret was as I wrote earlier, mega over.

Jake “The Snake” Roberts promo. Roberts was terrifying at this point. You really thought he’d beat the crap out of Miss Elizabeth if given the chance.

Randy Savage with a crazy nutty promo himself. Both are pretty awesome.

Jake “The Snake” Roberts vs. “Macho Man” Randy Savage

This really should have happened at Wrestlemania VIII, but I get putting it here to sell the PPV. Story here: Jake turned heel earlier in 1991, and had put a snake in Elizabeth’s wedding gifts. There was an angle later that actually used a real cobra to bite Randy Savage. Savage eventually got re-instated as he lost a retirement match to The Ultimate Warrior back at Mania VII, and got his match with Jake.

Savage attacks Jake during his entrance. I think this is his first match since Mania, but I could be wrong.

Jake quickly takes control, ramming Savage’s arm into the ring post.

Randy Savage pins Roberts in 6:25. Savage drops the big elbow on Jake for the win. It surprisingly just ends like that. While it was fun, it was too short for a feud of this caliber. I would be okay with it if it led to a Wrestlemania match…but it didn’t. Savage tries the post-match chair shot, but the ref stops him, leading to Savage getting the DDT. Jake drops Savage with a 2nd DDT for good measure.

Jake then brings out a snake, and Miss Elizabeth runs in and begs Jake to leave Savage alone. Jake drops a third DDT on Savage right in front of Elizabeth. Jake forces Liz to beg in order to save Savage. Jake then SLAPS Elizabeth, which is one of the most despicable things a heel could have done in 1991. It takes President Tunney to get Jake out of there. Nuclear heat for Jake.

Another great Jake promo. He’s sick.

The British Bulldog vs. The Warlord

A pretty good power match here. Warlord has more moves than I ever realized.

Warlord actually locks his full nelson in by using the Bulldog’s hair. Creative heel stuff.

This long full nelson is kinda killing it though. It just went too long.

The British Bulldog pins the Warlord in 12:45. Bulldog gets a crucifix to win. It was the best Warlord match I’ve ever seen and a decent match overall. The full nelson really took me out of the match though. The Bulldog and Warlord didn’t get through 1992 I don’t believe with the steroid issues the WWF would have.

Randy Savage interview. He’s furious about what happened with Jake and Elizabeth. It’s an awesome promo. How didn’t they blow this off at Mania?!

Repo Man and Ted Dibiase vs. El Madator and Virgil

Part of the Virgil-Dibiase feud…Dibiase hired Repo Man to re-obtain the Million Dollar Championship from Virgil.

Dibiase and the Repo Man dominate Virgil. Makes sense as the storyline is with him, not Tito.

Man, crowd is hot for Virgil, especially when he gets his hands on Dibiase. You just don’t see that for midcarders these days.

Ted Dibiase and Repo Man win when Dibiase pinned Virgil in 11:28. Strange finish here. Dibiase holds Virgil for Sherri to hit with her shoe, but Virgil moves and she clocks Dibiase. Virgil grabs Sherri, but gets kneed in the back by the Repo Man. Dibiase then makes the pin. What was the point of Sherri hitting Dibiase there? Anyway, this was a good match, best on the card. Virgil was over…but sadly no one really cared about him without Dibiase.

Hulk Hogan interview. Hogan really was one of the best promo men of all time.

WWF World Championship
The Undertaker© vs. Hulk Hogan

Bobby Heenan with an awesome line. Monsoon is busy praising Hogan, and Heenan responds with “quiet Monsoon, here comes the WWF…Champion.

Taker and Paul Bearer attack right away. President Jack Tunney is at ringside to prevent any shenanigans.

We get our first botch. Taker goes for his top rope hangman from the apron, but Hogan keeps punching. Well this wasn’t going to be a technical classic.

It’s pretty amazing what Undertaker was in the ring in 1991 and what he was some 16 years later. The only submission Taker knew here was the choke.

Huge botch, although it may have been the ring. Taker was going for his flying clothesline…but he gets caught in the ropes and falls.

Flair is here! Hogan smacks him with a chair and Tunney goes down as well!

Hulk Hogan regains the WWF Title by pin in 13:09. Paul Bearer tries to hit Hogan with the urn…but gets Taker! Hogan grabs the urn, pours out ashes and throws them in Taker’s face before rolling him up for the three. Flair propped Tunney up though so he saw the finish…which led to the title being vacated and being up for grabs in the ’92 Rumble. Uh…this match was terrible. All Undertaker choking with some botches in-between. Historically though this led to the ’92 Rumble, and Hogan failing to obtain a clean victory over Undertaker really helped establish him as a top guy for basically forever.

Interesting attempt at a Tuesday PPV. It was entertaining, but they had to give Bret a better opponent in the opener. I mean what was Rick Martel doing at the time. Taker vs. Hogan was what it was. Everything else wasn’t too bad. Jake slapping Elizabeth is a crazy moment.

Main event is just too bad to put this in B range though.

Final Grade: C+

Pro Wrestling

RDT Reviews NWA/WCW Halloween Havoc ’89

Halloween_Havoc_1989

WCW/NWA Halloween Havoc 1989
October 28, 1989
Philadelphia, PA

We are just past the Ric Flair vs. Ricky Steamboat classics and into the Flair vs. Terry Funk feud. Flair and Funk had a title match at the Great American match which ended with a Flair victory…and an attack from The Great Muta.

It had been about five years since the birth of Hulkamania, and it seemed that the NWA was just fine being #2 with their “real wrasslin” as opposed to the mainstream kiddie WWF. I think looking at the men in the main event of this PPV: Flair, Muta, Funk (Stingtoo, but he doesn’t really fit what I am saying) showed that this was still an old school promotion. Really, until Jim Herd showed up that would be the case.

This was also the rare time that not only was Ric Flair a face, but he was on Sting’s side. A little odd considering they would be rivals shortly again.

This is the first Halloween Havoc.

The Card

Captain Mike Rotunda vs. Tom Zenk

No entrances for the first match.

I do feel like I’ve missed something not seeing a lot of Z-Man matches.

He’s also undefeated apparently. Rotunda is the TV Champ. Don’t think this is for the title.

Near the end of the match there is a pretty nice clothesline by Rotunda. Looked crisp.

Tom Zenk pins Mike Rotunda in 13:23. Zenk rolls through a flying bodypress. Pretty boring overall to be fair. I mean, I guess it would technically be classified as good, but I just didn’t get into it. Also looks like Rotunda kicked out in time.

Bruno Sammartino is being interviews. He is the referee in the main event…a Thunderdome Cage Match. Sammartino talks about the type of match and how dangerous it is. I’m sure they had Thundercage matches in the 60s and 70s.

The Samoan Swat Team (Samu, The Samoan Savage and Fatu) vs. The Midnight Express and Dr. Death

I had no idea there were Samoans in WCW.

That’s a really young Rikishi in there as well.

This match feels designed to put Dr. Death over.

The Samoans mess up crotching Eaton on the railing. Samu and Fatu especially seem green here.

Commentary is really making it seem like the Samoans are idiots. Shrug.

Crowd is HOT for Dr. Death.

Horrible botch with a neckbreaker attempt by Lane on the Savage.

The Samoans win when the Savage pins Lane in 18:23. Jim Cornette ends up getting knocked off the apron after he knocked Oliver Humperdink off the apron, and the Samoan Savage pinned Lane. Pretty sloppy from the Samoans…all of them. Fatu and Samu weren’t ready yet.

Gary Hart and Terry Funk interview. Funk looks in monster shape.

How come there are no entrances at all? I coulda swore Starrace ’88 had them (maybe I am misremembering).

The Cuban Assassin vs. Tommy Rich

Of course Rich has an entrance to make me seem stupid.

Rich is a former NWA World Champion, crazy as that sounds.

I think that’s a Tommy Rich sucks chant. Even in 1989, Philly fans were smart.

Opening sequence was horrid. Looked like a WWF 1989 preliminary match!

The Cuban just busted out the ugliest high knee I’ve ever seen.

Timmy Rich pins The Cuban Assassin in 8:29. Thesz Press for the win. Awful match. Fans booed it and Rich right out of the building. Just a bunch of armbars and ugly looking armdrags. Terrible all around.

NWA World Tag Team Championship
The Freebirds © vs. The Dynamic Dudes

The Dudes: Shane Douglas and Johnny Ace, are up there for worst major tag team of all time.

Philly boos the Dudes out of the building too. No surprise. At least Douglas would become Philly famous later.

Huge boos for the Dudes, including a You Suck chant for big Johnny. They are the faces. This is 1989 no less! I didn’t know this happened in 1989!

The Freebirds win when Garvin pins Douglas in 11:28. Wow. Weird slingshot double team leads to Garvin countering and landing on Douglas for the pin. Pop is MASSIVE. One of the biggest I’ve ever heard. Quite the spectacle there just for the crowd reaction. Another bad match though. Douglas wasn’t there yet and Ace never would be. Freebirds were never the best wrestlers either.

Steiners interview. Rick sounds different.

The Steiner Bros. vs. Doom

Doom is Ron Simmons and Butch Reed.

The story here is that a fan wanted to be with Rick Steiner, but he said no, and she got him back somehow by turning into Woman. Woman manages Doom. This is Doom’s debut.

Another boring match here…and it’s not a good boring either.

Rick Steiner almost breaks Reed’s neck with a powerslam. Wow on that one.

Doom wins when Reed (or Doom #2) pins Rick in 15:28. Woman loads Reed’s mask with something and a headbutt gets the upset win. Slow and not good.

NWA US Championship
Lex Luger© vs. Flyin’ Brian Pillman

Lex Luger and Brian Pillman sadly show the sad sides of pro wrestling.

Luger seems like an amazing heel here. And he can work.

Pretty fast paced so far.

Pillman has cheerleaders in the crowd. Seems distracting.

Man Luger is killing Pillman with these clotheslines! One to the back of the head was vicious!

I thought Luger screwed up…but it was actually a brilliant dodge of the top rope dropkick!

Lex Luger pinned Brian Pillman to retain in 16:49. Hotshot for the win after the missed dropkick. Well, this match saved what was a lackluster show so far. Luger sells for Pillman like a million bucks and still looks like a bad ass. What a great big man vs. little man match where both men just go at it full blast. What happened to this Lex Luger? Jeez. Great match. Philly loved Luger.

The Road Warriors vs. The Skyscrapers

Selling won’t be a major theme here.

Interestingly the Road Warriors are announced as the Legion of Doom…I thought that was only a WWE thing.

The Skyscrapers are Dan Spivey and Sid. Two WWF ’95 staples!

Man Spivey just takes an Animal clothesline and no sells. You heard that one.

Sid with a pretty awesome spinning helicopter bomb to Hawk. Why didn’t he keep that move?

The Road Warriors win by DQ in 11:39. LOD has it won, but Teddy Long gets involved and throws the golden key to Spivey to cause the DQ. Weak ending, but this was a bad ass power match. Technically I guess it wasn’t wrestled well, Sid especially misses some stuff, but it’s really a good power match overall.

Thunderdome Cage Match: Bruno Sammartino is the Special Referee
Ric Flair and Sting vs. The Great Muta and Terry Funk

The only way this ends is if Ole Anderson or Gary Hart throws in the towel for their teams. Eh.

There is something amazing about Terry Funk and The Great Muta as a tag team.

The cage is apparently electrified.

The top of the cage actually catches fire. Well damn. I don’t think that was supposed to happen.

Wow Muta Misted the fire! That alone owned.

For some reason this is being wrestled as a regular tag. Why? I have no idea, it’s supposed to be no DQ.

Why in WCW 2000 didn’t Russo just run Sting vs. Muta again instead of that talentless bum Vampiro?

Bruno being the ref just seems so out of place.

Muta gets shocked climbing high on the cage. Why climb at all? I don’t understand this logic. Commentary actually brings this up.

There’s a rope hanging for some Tarzan action…but it really doesn’t work.

Sting takes out Funk my leaping off the cage, which was cool.

Sting and Ric Flair win in 23:46. Flair locks Funk in the Figure Four and Sting splashes him off the top rope twice! (Ouch). Gary Hart still refuses to throw in the towel. Muta attacks Bruno, and Bruno decks him. Ole Anderson attacks Hart and the towel goes flying into the ring. The stipulations pretty much guaranteed a shit finish, so we got it. The cage gimmick is pretty disappointing overall. It was mostly used for some Tarzan stuff, and honestly the logic of anyone climbing the cage was stupid. The match was well wrestled…an old school no DQ Texas Tornado woulda been awesome between these four. If anything the cage probably hurt the match.

Pretty subpar PPV overall. Most of the card sucked. Pillman vs. Luger ruled. LOD vs. Skyscrapers served its purpose. Main event had a gimmick that didn’t fit the match. Could have been a lot better of a show, but here we are.

Historically…I guess we keep building Sting up as a main event guy…and I think this was the start of the Sid to the top run? I do think the non-finish of the main led to the I Quit match between Flair and Funk, so there is that.

Luger vs. Pillman the rest of the second half of the show helped it, but I still wouldn’t say this was good overall.

Final Grade: C+

Pro Wrestling

RDT Reviews NWA/WCW Starrcade ’88

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NWA/WCW Starrcade 1988
December 26, 1988
Norfolk, VA
Reviewed on June 21, 2014

A high point for the NWA. The NWA had tons of talent and while not drawing as well as the WWF, they were arguably putting on a better quality of shows. Earlier in 1988 WCW put on a Clash of the Champions PPV that hurt the WWF’s Wrestlemania IV, headlined by a Sting vs. Ric Flair classic.

Ric Flair was truly the man at this point. Flair and the Horsemen were the main event, and Flair was doing all he could to get Lex Luger over as a top face. At the time, Luger was a pretty solid wrestler and it worked out well, leading to the main event here. Unlike the main for Starrcade 1987 (Flair vs. Ronnie Garvin) this felt like one of the biggest matches the NWA could throw out there at the time. The NWA would continue the roll they were on through 1989 with the Flair-Steamboat series.

The Card

US Tag Team Championship
The Fantastics © vs. Steve Williams and Kevin Sullivan

The Fantastics are Tommy Rogers and Bobby Fulton. Williamd and Sullivan had a brighter future, even then.

Apparently the Bushwackers were supposed to be in this, but Vince signed them away.

Not sure if it’s supposed to be booked this way, but the champs are getting no offense in whatsoever.

JR is putting over Dr. Death like a million bucks…of course.

Williams and Sullivan win the title when Williams pins Fulton in 15:50. Hotshot for the win. Pretty solid hard hitting opener. Match was clear designed for Williamd and Sullivan to get over.

The Midnight Express vs. The Original Midnight Express

Jim Cornette’s Stan Lane and Bobby Eaton (the most popular version) against Paul E’s Dennis Condrey and Randy Rose.

Kinda amazing not only how long Paul Heyman has been around, but how many different things he’s done in wrestling.

The story is really a battle of managers. To be fair, this seems like the older teams comes back to take back their glory angle, but it seems quite well done here.

Referee asking the crowd if the Old Express cheated was interesting.

New Midnight Express wins when Lane pins Condrey in 17:46. After referee Teddy Long (playa!) determines the Originals used Paul E’s telephone as a weapon, the Express get the Goozie for the win. They get beat down afterwards. Pretty solid back and forth match, crowd was into it.

The Russian Assassins vs. Junkyard Dog and Ivan Koloff

If the Assassins lose their manager Paul Jones has to retire.

Pretty big downgrade from earlier.

The Assassins win when #1 pins Koloff in 6:47. Koloff has it won, but the #2 Assassin puts something in his mask and headbutts Koloff, leading to the win. A lot of whatever here. I don’t think the fans caught onto what happened in the finish.

NWA Television Championship
Mike Rotonda© vs. Rick Steiner

Sullivan is locked in a cage here. This is the big blowoff to all the Varsity Club stuff.

Rick Steiner could really go at this point.

Dr. Death comes down and rings the bell, confusing everyone…

Rick Steiner wins the title by pin in 17:59. The ref, Steiner and Rotunda are confused about the bell. Even the cage comes down and Sullivan gets on the apron. Steiner shoves Rotunda into Sullivan and gets the pin. Really fun finish and a good match here too. Rick Steiner was pretty good at one time for sure. Crowd pops huge for Steiner’s win.

NWA US Championship
Barry Windham © vs. Bam Bam Bigelow

Bam Bam looks like a star ahead of his time here…but interestingly by 1998 he would look behind the times.

Bam Bam was just coming off his first WWF stint, which had mixed results.

Windham is a Horseman here.

What’s weird about Bam Bam is that he doesn’t look like he ages.

Always thought it was crazy how aerial Bigelow was.

Seriously Barry Windham used a clawhold?

Barry Windham retains by countout in 16:17. Both men end up on the outside, and Bigelow misses a charge and slams into the post, allowing Windham to get back in. Pretty good back and forth match, Windham seemed like a good workhorse back in the day. Disappointing ending though.

Rick Steiner interview. Very happy about winning the TV title. Of course he is.

NWA World Tag Team Championship
The Road Warriors © vs. Sting and Dusty Rhodes

Fans are mega into Sting here. Sting gets a dropkick to stop the Warriors from attacking early, which is smart booking.

Pretty crazy dive from Sting off the top to the outside onto Animal!

Dusty’s no selling comeback is pretty entertaining to watch.

Dusty is the face in peril.

Sting is getting a huge reaction destroying The Warriors.

Sting and Dusty win by DQ in 11:20. Sting has it won, but Paul Ellering breaks up the count for the DQ. Pretty basic match and the crowd was hot. Sting stole the show and no wonder he was the future of the company. Of course, another non-finish is pretty lame.

NWA World Championship – If Ric Flair is DQed he loses the title
Ric Flair© vs. Lex Luger

Flair gets a huge reaction.

Flair knew how to make strong babyfaces look great, and this match is no exception.

It’s absolutely jarring seeing Luger as this good wrestler. Leapfrogs, great agility, just a lot of stuff from Luger you didn’t remotely see seven years later.

Luger amazingly no sells the Figure Four with some flexing.

The story has been working on the leg, and there’s some great psychology here as Luger keeps going for slams and such, but always tending to, or even further hurting, the leg.

Ric Flair retains by pin at 30:59. Luger gets on fire and totally no sells a big forearm from Flair. Big powerslam and then the Torture Rack…but the leg gives way! Flair gets the pin AND the feet on the ropes, and Flair gets the three! Great match, Luger looked like a million bucks and Flair showed he was the best in the world at the time. How the NWA didn’t ride the Luger gravy train is surprising to me, but some of that sounds like it’s on Flair since he wanted to work with Steamboat. To be fair, those are some of the best matches of all time.

A very good Starrcade with a great main event. So what’s wrong with this show? Absolutely no historical significance here. This wasn’t a really important card in the development of Sting, and Luger’s career ended up with a choker label that could actually be traced to this match. I’m not sure Flair winning was a good idea…even though he was the man. Everything else? I mean Rick Steiner got development here, but nothing else really mattered in the long run. Even early on, I thought Starrcade should make of solidify stars. Despite Luger looking like a million bucks, that didn’t happen here. The first few Starrcades made Ric Flair, but Flair was already made here. Maybe I am being too hard on this aspect of the show, but does anyone really remember Starrcade 1988?

Great card match quality wise though. Can’t deny that.

Final Grade: B+

Pro Wrestling

RDT Reviews WWF Wrestlemania II

WrestleMania2

WWF Wrestlemania 2
April 7, 1986
Uniondale, NY
Rosemont, IL
Los Angeles, CA
Reviewed on March 15, 2014

Background: HULKAMANIA was running wild brother! In an attempt to make the 2nd Wrestlemania bigger than the 1st, Vince McMahon decided this would be the first one on PPV. Also, for attendance, this would be held in three different venues, which I’m curious to see what the thinking would be there. This had tons of celebrities as well. Weird fact as well: this was held on a Monday.

The three main events? Piper vs. Mr. T in a Boxing Match, a 20 Man Battle Royal and Hogan vs. Bundy in a Cage. That’s Piper, Andre and Hogan, so it makes sense.

The Card

Opening has a sax solo. I believe the sax was the instrument of the 80s, but I don’t really know.

Vince’s co-host is Susan St. James. No idea who that is. Ray Charles for America the Beautiful works though.

Piper interview! Pretty racist promo.

We start off in New York.

”Mr. Wonderful” Paul Orndorff vs. “Magnificent” Muraco

Old wrestling makes me miss entrance themes.

Don’t know the whole story, but Orndorff turned face and sided with Hogan, and Muraco was on Bundy’s side. I think.

Orndorff with some good wrestling to start.

Double countout in 4:10. Muraco and Orndorff fight to a double countout. Fans chant bullshit! No idea fans had that in them in 1986! I don’t blame them, that was stupid, especially since Orndorff would have a Hogan feud later.

Mr. T promo. Speaks really quickly.

Intercontinental Championship
Randy Savage© vs. George “The Animal” Steele

Story is simple: The Animal liked Elizabeth, Savage was jealous. Worked out well.

Animal bites Savage! St. James says “Yeah Animal, eat his leg!”

A lot of biting in this match.

Macho Man slams the Animal with a bouquet of flowers. Where’s the DQ?!

The Animal has eaten the turnbuckle! Did people really think this was real?

The Animal kicks out of the flying elbow!

Randy Savage retains by pin in 5:10. Savage takes down the Animal and gets his feet on the ropes for the pin. Match was horrible, but this was the George The Animal Steele character afterall. 2nd turnbuckle gets eaten.

Off in Chicago, NFL star Bill Fralic and Big John Studd argue.

George Wells vs. Jake Roberts

This feels like a jobber match.

Vince says Wells is Jake’s biggest challenge so far. So, easy road for Jake so far.

Jake was one of the great workers in wrestling right up until Honky Tonk Man almost crippled him.

Jake Roberts pins George Wells in 3:15. DDT out of nowhere. DAMIEN! Match was nothing.

Hogan promo! He’s with his “buddy” Jesse Ventura.

Ring announcer is Joan Rivers.

Darryl Dawkins is a judge. Bunch of other celebs I don’t care about.

Boxing Match
Mr. T vs. Roddy Piper

Oh god this can possibly go 10 rounds.

They got Joe Frazier for this.

If Mr. T is from Chicago, why didn’t they run this one for the Chicago main event?

Round 1 ends with a lot of punching. You know this is WRESTLEmania. Jeez.

I feel like the amount punches landing in round 2 doesn’t actually happen in real boxing.

Piper knocks down T and the crowd erupts.

Crowd heavily behind Piper now. He’s the heel, so that should show how well this match is doing.

Cowboy Bob Orton throws water at T.

Round 3 is all T. T even hits a shot where Piper goes flying out of the ring.

Round 4 starts with a wrestling-style slugfest. No blocking whatsoever.

Mr. T wins by DQ in 13:15. Piper slugs the ref then bodyslams T for the DQ. While it’s kinda entertaining, I still would have preferred a wrestling match at Wrestlemania, you know? I know it’s 1986, but that’s still a pretty lame show for the Uniondale crowd.

Off to the Chicago portion of the show. We have Gorilla Monsoon and Cathy Lee Crosby as your announcers!

Women’s Championship
The Fabulous Moolah © vs. Velvet McIntyre

Moolah is the Hogan of women’s wrestling, and that stretches to the backstage politic part of wrestling too.

McIntyre is owning in a fast paced match early on!

The Fabulous Moolah retains the title when she pinned McIntyre in 1:25. McIntyre misses a crossbody…and Moolah with the pin. Well that sucked. Especially since McIntyre looked like she could really go.

Flag Match
Corporal Kirchner vs. Nikolai Volkoff

Russian National Anthem! Gotta love the xenophobic fears of the WWF.

I believe the rules here is that the winner gets to wave his flag.

Kirchner is busted wide open…but that was obvious when they CLEARLY showed Volkoff cut him.

Corporal Kirchner pinned Nikolai Volkoff in 2:05. Freddie Blassie throws his cane in the ring…but Kirchner catches it and nails Volkoff for the win. It was so badly done that Monsoon thought it was a double cross. A lot of wasteful matches here.

20 Man Battle Royal: NFL vs. WWF

Some notable names: Andre, Bruno, Iron Sheik, Morales, very young Bret Hart. On the NFL side the only notable one is The Fridge. Seems like an Andre vs. Fridge finish makes the most sense, but that isn’t what happens here.

King Tonga, aka Meng is one of the first guys out.

Seeing Bruno in this makes me wonder why they didn’t ever run a Hogan vs. Bruno program.

Studd gets the last laugh eliminating Fralic.

Studd dumps Bruno too.

Bret and The Anvil oversell near eliminations from the Fridge, but then Studd takes him out.

Fridge calls for a handshake…and pulls Studd out!

Andre, NFLer Russ Francis, Bret and Neidhart.

Harts take out Francis. Harts vs. Andre.

Andre the Giant wins in 9:09, last eliminating Bret Hart. Andre kicks the Anvil and he oversells and goes flying over. Andre presses Bret over his head and tosses him onto the Anvil. According to Bret, he suggested this finish to Andre after Andre had a different idea, to the shock of the locker room (no one ever suggested changes to Andre). But, Andre went for it. Pretty bad match overall though, but again, this match really isn’t about the wrestling.

Piper interview with Vince. Piper said he was ready for a fight and that T cheated.

World Tag Team Championship
The Dream Team (Greg Valentine and Brutus Beefcake) © vs. The British Bulldogs

Ozzy Osbourne is out here as well.

Easily the best match of the night so far and we are only 3 minutes in.

Davey’s hanging vertical suplex is always impressive, but moreso back then.

Great teamwork from the Bulldogs. Unsurprisingly.

That piledriver from Valentine to Dynamite looks like it clearly hit Dynamite’s head.

The British Bulldogs win the title when Dynamite pins Valentine in 13:03. Finish comes out of nowhere. Dynamite whips Valentine into the corner but Davey was on the ropes. Davey takes a plunge to the floor, but Valentine knocked heads with Davey so goes down for the pin. Interesting thing about this match. It’s clear that the purpose was to showcase the Bulldogs. The Bulldogs dominated Valentine the whole time (because you can’t trust Beefcake to make anyone look good). It’s a good match, but nothing special or anything.

Time to head to LA.

Ventura, Lord Alfred Hayes and Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. What a cast of characters.

Hercules Hernandez vs. Ricky Steamboat

There’s a huge difference of talent here.

A lot of armdrags here.

Ricky Steamboat pins Hercules Hernandez in 7:19. Steamboat wins with a top rope bodypress. Nothing really to say about the match. Hercules controlled most and slipped on a banana peel when Steamboat got his legs up on a top rope move.

Adorable Adrian Adonis vs. Uncle Elmer

Crowd actually chants faggot at Adonis. How far we’ve come. I think.

Elmer somehow falls after throwing a punch.

Adonis is overselling everywhere.

Adrian Adonis pinned Uncle Elmer in 3:00. Elmer misses a legdrop. Adonis comes off the top with a splash for the win. Terrible, but you can tell Adonis tried with his selling.

I feel like the Adorable Adrian Adonis character is a shot at the original Gorgeous George.

Hogan promo brother!

Junkyard Dog and Tito Santana vs. Terry and Hoss Funk

For some reason Dory Funk Jr. is named Hoss Funk.

Terry Funk always does weird things in the ring…but intentionally. Like things that would happen naturally in the ring that would add legitimacy to it (like tripping on Santana’s feet and almost going over the top rope here).

Terry’s great here. Awesome save from Funk.

Really great hot tag sequence to JYD. Santana tries to get by Funk and eventually does so.

Funk takes an over the top rope backdrop. Wow.

Terry gets slammed on a table. What? This is 1986!

Terry and Hoss Funk when Terry pins JYD in 11:33. Jimmy Hart throws in the megaphone! Terry nails JYD and gets the win. Pretty fun brawl! Terry Funk was great. Another bullshit chant. Although I guess its LA’s first.

Here comes the cage.

We get 5 minutes of Hogan working out. Great.

Now we have a Bobby Heenan and King Kong Bundy interview.

WWF Championship: Steel Cage Match
Hulk Hogan© vs. King Kong Bundy

Story is simple. Bundy avalanched Hogan three times, injuring his ribs. This is Hogan’s revenge.

Hogan’s ribs are taped here.

Bundy works the ribs and he rips the tape off (which Elvira calls as “he’s taking off more clothes! Oh it’s his belt”).

Another on camera blade. Not trying are we cameramen? Anyway Bundy is busted open.

Hogan survives an Avalanche!

Hulk Hogan wins in 10:11. Hogan outright no sells a second avalanche. Big slam. Legdrop. Escape for the win. Well, that’s classic Hogan for you I guess. It was pretty much a main event squash of Bundy. Hogan beats the crap out of Heenan afterwards. Seems underwhelming for a Wrestlemania main event…but that’s of course hindsight as this was only the 2nd Wrestlemania. Commentary was pretty bad there too, although hilariously so.

You know Vince didn’t like this show. That’s why he threw everything at Andre vs. Hogan for Mania III. The idea of expanding to three venues was weird. I don’t think Bundy was nearly a big enough name to headline Mania. Some finishes were lame (opening match double countout? Come on). Hogan vs. Bundy was underwhelming. Kudos to Vince for trying new things, but Wrestlemania 2 is largely forgettable. Heck I don’t remember half the show and I just watched it. No surprise that 70K less people bought this show.

The plus side: The Bulldogs match was nice, and the Funks weren’t that bad either…and I guess Hogan doing his thing was still a big deal in 1986.

Final Grade: C

Pro Wrestling

The Fastlane to Wrestlemania

FastLane replaces the Elimination Chamber
FastLane replaces the Elimination Chamber

WWE Fastlane replaces the Elimination Chamber Pay-Per-View (rumored to be done later in the year) as the penultimate PPV stop on the Road to Wrestlemania. After a lackluster Royal Rumble, WWE has created one of the least exciting atmospheres on the Road to Wrestlemania in recent memory. While a lot of this has to do with the Royal Rumble winner Roman Reigns, it moreso is the issue of new talent not being pushed properly, popular talent being made fools of (see Ambrose, Dean) and a thin roster overall. The most interesting rivalries are HHH vs. Sting, Bray Wyatt against whomever he is talking about, presumably The Undertaker and Daniel Bryan vs. Reigns, which seemingly has a forced narrative after Reigns was booed out of Philadelphia at the Royal Rumble. Three of the six of those matches have legendary guys that don’t (or rarely) wrestle on any of the other PPVs, one is Wyatt, who while interesting, is interesting despite of the booking crew. Bryan of course should be the top guy in the company right now no question, and Reigns is the guy WWE wants to be the top guy.

Fans want Bryan at the top
Fans want Bryan at the top

This forced push of Roman Reigns has led to WWE spinning their wheels. Roman Reigns has an amazing look and a ton of charisma, and is even a bit underrated as a worker (not different than Kevin Nash in 1995 really) but his monster push has turned fans against him. WWE might be turning him heel here…in the long run him fighting Bryan is only going to lead to a heel turn where WWE intended it or not. This is the best route though. If Reigns beats Bryan at Fastlane and gets his WWE Title shot against Brock Lesnar, Lesnar would be just fine as a face. The strength of Lesnar’s character is that for all intents and purposes what you see is what you get. Lesnar is a prize fighter who doesn’t really care about the business and is out to make his money. He doesn’t pretend to like anyone. He is true to himself. And honestly, while the reasoning is quite heelish, as a fan I can cheer that. I want to see Lesnar destroy the “WWE’s golden boy” Roman Reigns. Roman Reigns would be better off doing the same in being true to himself, and aligning himself with the Authority.

Rollins made himself a star at the Rumble
Rollins made himself a star at the Rumble

My favorite scenario for Wrestlemania? Lesnar vs. Reigns vs. Bryan vs. Money in the Bank Winner Seth Rollins. Lesnar is the champ. Having both Reigns and Bryan there make sense given their storyline at the moment. Rollins would be a great guy to say “hey, I almost beat Lesnar and Cena at the Rumble. I deserve to be in the main event at Wrestlemania and I’ll force my way in”. Also make this an elimination match. If Lesnar is leaving, you can still have Reigns Superman punch him to take him out of the match and give him that rub. Let Bryan and Rollins steal the show. Put the belt on Bryan and have Rollins and Reigns chase him, then Wyatt and Rusev afterwards. And don’t tell me there isn’t money in another Bryan vs. Cena match.

The other matches at Fastlane don’t quite excite me. Tyson Kidd and Cesaro hopefully will get a nice run with the tag titles. They remind me a little bit of Razor Ramon and the 1-2-3 Kid. I really don’t care about The Bella Twins anymore and I’m one of the few who isn’t a huge Paige fan, although her appearance on Total Divas is making me one. Rusev vs. Cena is interesting in the sense that Wrestlemania won’t be the beginning of their feud, and hopefully will end it. I’m fine with Cena ending Rusev’s undefeated streak for sure, but I want Rusev to come out on top at the end. Bad Bews Barrett I think is a little past the point of where I really care about him. It’s a shame as I wanted Barrett to be the World Champ every year through 2013. Ambrose, good as he is, just hasn’t been the same since the Shield broke up. That’s another booking disaster. I can’t say I care about the Dust Brother feud. I like them both and as a face team I enjoyed them. This is the closest they’ll get to that dream feud Goldust wanted between him and his brother years ago at Wrestlemania. I assume Sting shows up and I hope they fix that music. At the end of the night, we’ll know where we are at for Wrestlemania. I just hope it’s a good place.

Pro Wrestling

Ranting About What the Hell Happened At the 2015 Royal Rumble

Does WWE hate their audience?

               I seriously don’t get it.

               How does it make any sense to put Roman Reigns over in the Royal Rumble?

           This isn’t the same thing as 2003 Triple H and his reign of terror over the RAW roster. Whether fans liked it or didn’t, HHH was an established top guy. There was logic there.

            This isn’t the same thing even as HHH beating CM Punk during the Summer of Punk (although that was pretty bad anyway).

         This isn’t even the same thing as last year’s Royal Rumble, where Batista infamously won the Royal Rumble and Daniel Bryan, the clear crowd favorite, wasn’t even in the match. At least you can argue Batista being the returning star with a movie and all.

     This is, for all intents of purposes, outright ignoring your audience. There’s no argument here. There’s just no way could anyone think, at the moment of the 2015 Royal Rumble, that Roman Reigns going over was the way to go. Nothing has led to a point where this would be a remotely good idea. Let’s be clear though, there is money in Roman Reigns…he’s just not READY yet. And there is someone who is more than ready. Someone who is perhaps the most popular wrestler since Stone Cold and The Rock. That person is Daniel Bryan. He is practically a license to print money. The fans CLEARLY want him up top. I mean 2014 pretty much showed that Daniel Bryan should be the future of this company if he was healthy. Even if he isn’t healthy for the long term that’s fine. Let him be the top guy when Roman gets ready. Roman Reigns could be, and if he improves should be the face of Wrestlemania 32. Reigns’ 2015 should be similar to John Cena’s 2004.

     Let’s talk about the Rumble match itself. When Daniel Bryan came in at #10 I was sold that he was winning. When he starting doing all of his risky moves, I was sold he was winning. Obviously Bryan, the former World Champion who never lost the belt, who made a big retirement tease to come back and enter the Rumble, who is the MOST POPULAR PROFESSIONAL WRESTLER IN THE WORLD, was going to be there at the end. It seemed logical that Bryan being #10 meant he was going to be in there in the long run. And if WWE thought he had a long match in him, that could only be a positive thing.

 Daniel Bryan lasted only 10 minutes and 11 seconds. He was eliminated in such a boring manner as well, just being knocked off the apron by Bray Wyatt. It’s gotta be one of the most surprising moments I’ve ever seen as a wrestling fan. If Bryan wasn’t winning, I still fully expected him in the final four. I mean why wouldn’t we? HE’S THE MOST POPULAR WRESTLER IN THE PROMOTION! HE IS THE FORMER WORLD CHAMPION WHO DIDN’T LOSE THE TITLE IN THE RING! I mean what the hell?

      The Royal Rumble was dead at that moment. It’s a shame because it was quite fun up until that point. Still…there was hope. Dean Ambrose or Dolph Ziggler. The fans could buy one of those two. Especially Ziggler. But two men were set to ruin that.

              Look. It’s 2015. Enough with the Big Show and Kane. I’m sorry but we have to move on at some point. I wrote on a message board last year that WWE has to move on and stop with all the part timers. The time has passed. It really has. Kane debuted in 1997 and Glenn Jacobs actually start in 1995. That’s 20 years! Big Show debuted in 1999. Enough! How are we ever going to truly care about this generation and future generations when we can’t get past the Kane and Big Shows of the world? I can understand The Undertaker. I can understand The Rock and Triple H. Those three need to stop too, but at least they were the cream of the crop. But we need to move on. The wrestling business needs to move on. It just has to. I mean there’s more time between Kane’s debut and today than Hulk Hogan’s first World Title and his DEPARTURE from WCW. That’s insane. In no way should I be seeing The Rock beat up Big Show and Kane on a Pay-Per-View in 2015. Those three were in the final four of the Royal Rumble FIFTEEN YEARS ago.

   Let’s talk about our winner. Roman Reigns. Now, I have no problem with Reigns, and as recently as Summerslam I was all for him getting a push. I’m still for him getting a push. He’s got a great look. I can see him becoming a great promo guy (despite the comedy we have now). He should be feuding with the likes of Luke Harper, Bad News Barrett, Cesaro and all of those guys for the IC Title in the next 10 months. Instead he’s jackhammered down our throats. It’s crazy. It’s one thing to force someone down our throats. But at least some fans take to it. Lex Luger still got cheered in 1993 (and when he got booed at the Rumble, Bret Hart got the belt). Diesel was still cheered in 1995. No one is cheering Roman Reigns. No one!

          If you have to get The Rock to help you not get booed out of the building and you still get booed, you shouldn’t be in the main event of Wrestlemania.

          If you cause the fans to cheer for a guy whose gimmick is that he worships Vladimir Putin, you shouldn’t be in the main event of Wrestlemania.

         I don’t get it. Anyone watching the Royal Rumble. From a neutral standpoint. Tell me how Roman Reigns was a better choice than Daniel Bryan. Because I don’t get it. I just don’t.

Pro Wrestling

2015 WWE Royal Rumble Preview

royalrumble2015

The 2015 Royal Rumble is upon us. I will be attending the event, my 2nd Rumble (2008 in MSG), even though my interest in the current state of the WWE is at an all-time low. A great Royal Rumble though and all of that can change. To be honest, we haven’t had a real crowd pleasing winner of the Royal Rumble since 2010 when Edge returned from a seven month neck injury and won. In 2011 Alberto Del Rio won, opened Wrestlemania, lost to Edge and won Money in the Bank. In 2012 Sheamus surprisingly outlasted Chris Jericho, beat Daniel Bryan in 18 seconds at Wrestlemania and has had his career take a nosedive since. John Cena won the 2013 version just to set-up a rematch with The Rock at Wrestlemania XXIX. Batista made his return to the ring in 2014 to win the Rumble match, and pissed off the entire WWE Universe in the process. Fun fact here is that two of these Royal Rumble results cemented Daniel Bryan as a top guy, and yet he wasn’t apart of either of them (2012 because of what happened at Wrestlemania and 2014, which we will get to).

Let’s talk about the 2014 Royal Rumble. First, we’ll compare it to a scenario to a previous Royal Rumble: the 1998 version.

In 1998 there was clearly one man who was to win the Royal Rumble: Stone Cold Steve Austin. Any other situation would have made absolutely no sense. Business wise, logic wise, any of it. No sense whatsoever. Austin had to win. This was because of his anti-authority attitude that had been in place all the way back to the 1997 Royal Rumble. Austin was the most popular wrestler (really, in both major promotions at that time) in the WWF and a showdown with Shawn Michaels was where the obvious money was.

Daniel Bryan is perhaps the most popular wrestler since John Cena himself in 2005. The crowd has connected with him in an insane way that even CM Punk couldn’t accomplish in his 2011 run (matches in Chicago notwithstanding…and really this whole thing wasn’t his fault anyway). Bryan pretty much got his 2013 Summerslam World Title match because of his crowd reactions, and promptly beat Cena clean for the title. This led to a feud with The Authority when Triple H pedigreed Bryan and Randy Orton cashed in Money in the Bank to steal the title from him. Bryan would get close, but fail at regaining the title (except for one day) throughout the rest of 2013. The feud was clearly designed for Bryan to win the Royal Rumble and get one last shot at Orton, where he would ultimately win the title. Sometimes the obvious route is the best one.

Going back to 1998, imagine if The Ultimate Warrior returned and won that Royal Rumble while Stone Cold wasn’t in it? That would pretty much suck, wouldn’t it? Well we got the same thing in 2014 with Batista. And surprise surprise…it sucked. It did make it seem that there was a star in the making (who was already being pushed hard anyway) in Roman Reigns, as Reigns broke the elimination record and finished runner up to Batista. Still, the WWF had to rectify the situation, and Bryan got his World Title victory at Mania. And it was pretty awesome at that.

Austin vs. McMahon made the '98 Rumble obvious.
Austin vs. McMahon made the ’98 Rumble obvious.

Fast forward to 2015. We have a new obstacle in Bryan’s way, Diesel Power 2K15. I’ll explain in a moment, but first let’s go over why Daniel Bryan should be winning this match. For one, he’s still the most popular wrestler in the promotion. Now he has the injury comeback going for him. Bryan broke his neck and there were even retirement rumors for him throughout 2014, cutting short his title reign. How could there be any more money made than Bryan coming back in the Rumble and winning it outright? It’s a storyline that’s worked one way or another in 2001 with Austin, 2002 with Triple H, 2008 with Cena and 2010 with Edge. Once again Daniel Bryan is the clear path to an awesome Wrestlemania main event, where he could face Brock Lesnar for the WWE Title in a version of the Wrestlemania X Bret Hart vs. Yokozuna title match. We even have our Lex Luger in Roman Reigns.

I have no issues with Reigns, but the writing team has screwed him over a ton. He still doesn’t have the workrate down pat either. He had his Diesel Power moment at Summerslam when he kicked out of Randy Orton’s super RKO. The Diesel Power moment refers to Diesel strongly kicking out of Shawn Michaels’ superkick at Wrestlemania XI. He’s just not ready yet. I do think Roman Reigns has the tools to be a huge star down the line. He’s just not there yet. WWE has constantly blown top face runs by pushing them way too fast. Best example is Sheamus beating Bryan in 18 seconds. There’s big money in Reigns, but if he’s pushed way too fast too soon, he will fall. The best thing for Reigns to do is to fight someone like Big Show at Wrestlemania. It worked for Cena didn’t it? If Roman Reigns wins the 2015 Royal Rumble…he will be booed out of the building as fans chant “NO! NO! NO!” They want Bryan. He’s the logical choice once again.

Fans did not want Batista to win the Rumble
Fans did not want Batista to win the Rumble

The other key component of the Royal Rumble is the WWE World Title Match itself. There’s an argument for any of Cena, Lesnar or Seth Rollins to win the title. I’m pretty much the only person in the world who isn’t a huge fan of Rollins and I don’t think he’s quite earned the right to defend the WWE Title at Wrestlemania yet (he too can get there one day though. I just think he won MITB because Bad News Barrett got hurt). I don’t see Seth Rollins having the name value needed to main event a Wrestlemania in a World Title match yet (this is one of the drawbacks of having only one world title, although it’s still better that way). That leaves Cena and Lesnar. If Bryan wins the Rumble, either one of these winning the title will be fine. Cena vs. Bryan II would be awesome, and I already outline why Lesnar and Bryan would be awesome.

The other matches on the card don’t have huge implications. Mizdow seem to be breaking up soon, so I assume they aren’t winning the titles back from the Usos. I don’t even know why The Bellas are back together and I really don’t care. It’s a shame as I was a fan of the Bellas right up until Nikki turned on Brie. The New Age Outlaws being back last year and winning the tag titles was good for nostalgia, but hopefully The Ascension gets the win they need as they’ve been treated like a joke since their call up to WWE. I think the Outlaws are going to steal a Mania payday though. I’m not sure how Tyson Kidd, Cesaro and Adam Rose became a trio, but their match against The New Day seems irrelevant.

As for surprise Rumble entrants, I’ve heard about a couple but I’m trying to keep this spoiler free. I’ll just write for those I am hoping for that in no way have been confirmed or I’ve heard about. RVD (I’m a RVD mark and its Philly), The Sandman, Raven, The Dudley Boyz (all ECW talents. Raven is by far the least likely and Sandman isn’t likely either. The Dudleyz wouldn’t shock me now that they are free from TNA.), and someone totally out of nowhere, like Flash Funk (he was from Philly, right? He also has a Philly ECW rep).

But none of this matters unless Daniel Bryan wins at the end. Do the ring thing WWE.

Pro Wrestling

RDT Reviews the WWE 2003 Royal Rumble

Royal_Rumble_2003

WWE Royal Rumble 2003
January 19, 2003
Boston, MA

The Brand Extension is in full force.

The WWE has established their monopoly of pro wrestling in the United States at this point (TNA was still pretty new…although they’d never be a real threat anyway). Vince McMahon decided he needed to instill competition into the product and the Brand Extension was born. The Brand Extension allowed WWE to push new talent, although it would be shown a lot of them weren’t ready for the challenge.

One of them that looked more than ready was Brock Lesnar. Lesnar, who just dropped the WWE Title at Survivor Series was on his way to the massive face push that would make him the WWE’s top guy (Lesnar would be the Hogan on Smackdown, where HHH would be the Flair on RAW). In a post Austin and full time Rock world, WWE needed to create some megastars on top in the babyface mold. HHH showed he was a lot better off as a heel. Undertaker would never fit that mold. Austin was gone, Rock was basically gone. Goldberg wasn’t here yet. Angle was a heel at the time (although he got a shot at the face run later) and Benoit would never have the charisma to be that guy, although he got a shot later.

Still, the early days of Brand Extension provided interesting content on both sides for sure. Returning legends (HBK, Hogan, Flair), guys way too talented not to be in the main event but somehow not in it (Jericho, Benoit, Booker T), top guys who weren’t ready to leave the top (Taker, HHH) and top newcomers (Lesnar) were just some of the elements out there. I mean in that group I didn’t even mention Angle or Big Show.

Let’s see how the first Brand Extension Royal Rumble plays out.

The Card

Winner Gets in the Royal Rumble
Brock Lesnar vs. Big Show

Story here: Lesnar dropped the WWE Title (and was pinned for the first time) to Big Show at Survivor Series when Paul Heyman turned on him. In actuality two things caused that change: Lesnar had injured ribs that WWE wasn’t sure of the extent of, and WWE was planning Lesnar vs. Angle at Mania and decided to switch the face/heel alignments, so had to make Lesnar a face. Of course, face Angle had to beat heel Big Show for the belt, which led to a weird Angle heel turn, but I guess that was the best way to make this happen. Angle would JOIN Heyman afterwards, and for some reason this didn’t turn Big Show face.

Back to the story, Lesnar then cost Big Show the title at Armageddon against Angle. So we got this match. I’m usually not a big fan of these type matches, as for a storyline like this it’s obvious Lesnar is winning this match AND the Rumble. There was one other option for the Rumble winner, which I’ll get into when we get there.

The way Lesnar would just suplex Big Show all over the place was ridiculous.

The way Show would throw Lesnar around was also ridiculous. While he obviously could, no one else did anything like that to Brock up to this point.

Big Show does a great, if not hilarious shocked face when Lesnar kicks out of the chokeslam.

Brock Lesnar pins Big Show in 6:29. Lesnar escapes a 2nd chokeslam attempt, and gets the F5! That’s so damn impressive and the crowd pops huge. Lesnar gets the pin and is in the Rumble. Good match, if only for how smooth Lesnar is in throwing around Big Show. These two had a strange chemistry.

Terri interviews Chris Jericho. She asks him about Jericho choosing #2 when he had the choice to pick any number. Jericho says because HBK was #1 Jericho HAD to be #2. This was setting up the Jericho-HBK feud.

Jericho sure got A LOT of mileage out of beating Austin and Rock the same night to become Undisputed Champion (as he should have).

RAW World Tag Team Championship
William Regal and Lance Storm vs. The Dudley Boyz

This would be the third Rumble in a row that the Dudleyz were in the World Tag Title slot. They are already 15 Time World Tag Team Champions at this point.

Regal and Storm were what was left of the UnAmericans. Test started being advertised by male genitalia. Christian became Jericho’s sidekick.

Regal still had the brass knuckles gimmick going at this point as well.

The Dudleyz actually weren’t stale here, as they were split up throughout most of 2002 due to the Brand Extension (that led to Reverend D-Von!). D-Von was part of the Big Show to Smackdown trade and immediately rejoined Bubba at Survivor Series.

One of the problems with the Dudley reunion was they didn’t change anything up at all. They literally acted like the same team they always did, moves and all.

Chief Morley comes out to argue about something, and Regal has Brass Knucks!

The Dudley Boyz wins the title when D-Von pinned Storm in 7:24. Regal has the Knucks…but gets the 3D anyway. D-Von picks up the knucks and nails Storm for the win. A good pop for the Dudley title win. This is a waste of Storm and Regal though. Match wasn’t anything special and pretty boring.

Nathan Jones promo! He escaped from prison in Tasmania! It’s like Nailz all over again.

Stepmother vs. Stepdaughter
Torrie Wilson vs. Dawn Marie

Oh god. This storyline was Wrestlecrap from the get go. Dawn Marie fell in love with Torrie Wilson’s father, Al Wilson. This at first seemed like an attempt to have a fling with Torrie, which was “shown” at Armageddon. Dawn and Al continued their relationship and got married, but Al died on the honeymoon because of a heart attack as a result of too much sex or something. Then Torrie and Dawn fought at the wake. It was actually worse than it sounds.

I mean who the hell thought any of that was a good idea?

Torrie doesn’t fall on the Dawn Marie armbar. That could have been a broken arm right there.

Dawn Marie with a springboard clothesline! How about that. It didn’t look great though.

Torrie Wilson pins Dawn Marie in 3:36. Swinging neckbreaker for the win. Torrie and Dawn are not really wrestlers, so to expect anything more than a bad match would be unrealistic. We got that springboard clothesline so there’s that at least? At least this was short. Storyline is still horrid.

Stephanie McMahon and Eric Bischoff meet backstage (where Bischoff was speaking to a still rookie Randy Orton). Steph tells Bischoff good bye, as Vince had given Bischoff 30 days to turn RAW around. Bischoff said he had a bombshell to save his job (which turned out to be Austin). Stephanie said she had a bombshell of her own (which turned out to be Hogan).

Sean O’Haire vignette! I still think he would have worked out if not for Roddy Piper’s involvement in the angle.

World Heavyweight Championship
Triple H© vs. Scott Steiner

Story: Steiner debuted at Survivor Series (as a face no less. Pretty sure that was the opposite of what the Big Poppa Pump character was about) and decided on RAW as his home. A part of the agreement was he gets a World Title shot.

The match actually has a solid start. Hard hitting from Steiner followed by a gorilla press slam. It would get worse though…

I hate Boston Crabs where the guy doesn’t sit on the back. That’s the point Steiner!

Steiner with a belly to belly suplex! He goes for the Recliner but Flair pulls HHH out.

Steiner is breathing HEAVY. He’s already exhausted.

Another belly to belly (kinda) from Steiner.

We get a weird Tombstone reversal sequence which ends with a botched HHH neckbreaker.

Steiner catches HHH coming off the top…for another belly to belly suplex.

Fans begin turning on Steiner….there’s ANOTHER belly to belly.

Another belly to belly. It’s clear Steiner has nothing else. Fans booing.

A sixth belly to belly.

Steiner goes for a double underhook suplex, and Steiner FALLS before the move is finished. Yikes.

HHH gets busted open by the leather part of the World Title.

ANOTHER BELLY TO BELLY.

Steiner doing his push-up taunt is like a NFL defensive lineman celebrating a sack when his team is down 30 points.

HHH tries to get counted out and DQed, but Earl Hebner won’t allow it. Steiner throws in yet another belly to belly while he’s at it.

Scott Steiner wins by DQ in 18:14. HHH finally uses the sledgehammer, forcing the DQ. Post match, Steiner destroys HHH and locks him in the Recliner. Crowd is dead for it. Match was historically bad, and has an argument for being the worst PPV World Title match ever. Scott Steiner was dreadful. There’s a reason he was a midcarder after this (although he did get a HHH rematch at No Way Out).

WWE World Championship
Kurt Angle© vs. Chris Benoit

We covered Angle’s story earlier. We’ll add here that this feud also involved the debut of Team Angle, Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas, which owned.

Benoit actually turned amidst all this as well, and became the #1 contender after being Big Show on Smackdown. Angle and Benoit were reluctant Smackdown Tag Team Champions back in October, and even had a match at Unforgiven as well. This was the end of Benoit the heel, as this face run would go through the rest of his career.

So, as all Benoit vs. Angle feuds go, it comes down to who’s the better wrestler?

Team Angle gets ejected quickly for trying to hold Benoit back.

Watching this match makes me feel that Steiner and HHH was in slow motion.

Benoit DDTs Angle on the apron! Nice.

Angle’s belly to belly suplexes are about 100 times better than Steiner’s.

This has been a non-stop action packed match from the get go.

Rolling Germans from Benoit…but Angle counters into his own!

Benoit re-counters!

I never got why Benoit did that snot thing.

Angle tosses Benoit off the top rope with a belly to belly!

Angle Slam attempt turns into the Crossface! Crowd is very into it. Angle survives though.

Benoit locks Angle into the Ankle Lock…but Angle reverses into his own Ankle Lock! THAT gets turned into the Crossface!

Angle counters a Crossface with an Angle Slam! Wow!

Another great false finish with Benoit countering a German with a victory roll.

Benoit gets a German…only it turns into an overhead release German where Angle lands face first!

Flying Headbutt 3/4th of the ring away!

Angle drops Benoit face first on the turnbuckles leading to another Angle Slam…but Benoit survives THAT too.

Kurt Angle retains by submission in 19:50. Angle counters another Crossface into the Ankle Lock. Benoit tries to escape, but Angle hangs on. Benoit does an amazing sell job here, screaming in pain. Angle grapevines the leg and Benoit is trapped, and taps out (makes you wonder why Angle didn’t always do that). I was blown away the first time I saw this 12 years ago, but it holds up today as well. Incredible match. This match was the match that showed Benoit could play an incredible underdog babyface, and he rode that all the way to winning the title at Mania XX (well, there was a haphazard team with Rhino in there). Just an amazing match. Benoit gets a standing ovation afterwards.

Kane and Rob Van Dam talk about how it’s every man for himself. This leads to a good spot later.

The Royal Rumble

#1 is Shawn Michaels. Jericho is supposed to be #2, but for some reason Christian shows up in the entrance way. Jericho attacks HBK from behind and beats the holy hell out of him. Jericho lays HBK out with a chair and HBK sells it like a million bucks. Chris Nowinski is #3, but he waits on the outside. Jericho beats on HBK a bit more then dumps him, to the horror of the crowd.

#4 is Rey Mysterio, and he owns Jericho for a bit. Nowinski finally gets in there to attack Rey from behind.

Edge is #5. Edge and Rey had been a team, so they natural work together. They eventually go at it though and there’s a false elimination that I think gets screwed up. I think Edge’s feet do hit the floor. No biggie though.

Christian is #6, for real this time. He tries to get on Edge’s good side to double team Mysterio. Edge spears him though.

Rey and Edge hit a double dropkick off the top to Nowinski, but the timing is off and I think Nowinski got hurt here as Edge’s leg lands on his face.

#7 is Chavo Guerrero. Good workrate early on for sure. Rey gets Nowinski out. Jericho gets out Rey. Great heat for Jericho eliminating HBK and Rey so far.

#8 is Tajiri. Crazy airplane spin on Chavo.

#9 is Bill DeMott. What a random push this was.

#10 is Tommy Dreamer. It’s Hardcore Rumble II! Dreamer accidentally legit cracks Jericho in the eye with a kendo stick, busting him open bad.

Con-garbage can lid-to on Dreamer! He’s gone by Jericho and Christian.

#11 is B2. Too lazy to super script here. He’s injured as John Cena turned on him on Smackdown. He lasts about 30 seconds. Jericho gets rid of Tajiri. Edge gets rid of Chavo. Jericho gets rid of Edge and Christian. Jericho is alone in the ring.

#12 is Rob Van Dam! A great near-elimination is in there, where Jericho barely hangs on.

Matt Strongly Dislikes Mustard. #13 is Matt Hardy! Hardy and Jericho double team RVD. Jericho takes a Five Star Frog Splash!

#14 is Eddie Guerrero. No reaction for Eddie…but boy would that change over the next year.

Eddie with a kinda botched Frog Splash there. Matt turns right on him and hits a Twist of Fate. Just in time for…

Jeff Hardy at #15! The Hardys did not get along at this point.

Shannon Moore tries to push Matt back into the ring with his feet. He then takes a Swanton for Matt! Shannon Moore was a great sidekick.

#16 is Rosey. Out goes the workrate.

#17 is Test. The Testicle marketing was just weird.

#18 is John Cena, and we get a whole rap on his way to the ring. He rhymes explain to ya and Wrestlemania. So there’s that. We get Latrell Sprewell and Mike Tyson references as well.

#19 is Team Angle’s Charlie Haas

RVD gets rid of Jeff when Jeff went to the top rope and RVD shoved him off.

#20 is Rikishi. Apparently he’s been in more Royal Rumbles than anyone else in history at this point. RIkishi’s spinning sell of the clothesline was already pretty good.

#21 is Jamal. Both members of Three Minute Warning are in there.

#22 is Kane. JR mentions no one has come close to Kane’s 11 man elimination record…even though the previous record was 10. He gets rid of Rosey on cue.

#23 is Shelton Benjamin. Both members of Team Angle in there now.

#24 is Booker T. This is the other possible winner I mentioned earlier. There were rumors he would win (which made sense since he eventually got the World Title slot at Mania against HHH), but Lesnar was the “safe choice”. In retrospect you had to do Lesnar for the story. But Booker was the dark horse.

Booker dumps Eddie!

#25 is A-Train. He immediately derails Cena, a precursor to the Tensai-Cena feud nine years later surely.

Shawn Michaels runs in and attacks Jericho, and it’s enough of a distraction for Test to eliminate Jericho. While this set up Jericho vs. HBK…what the hell was Test eliminating Jericho for? Weird choice there.

#26 is Maven. Not much to say here.

#27 is Goldust. It was pretty crazy Goldust actually got a full time run in 2002, but he wouldn’t last that much longer. He’d come back a lot later though. Charlie Haas eliminates him after about 40 seconds.

Team Angle surprisingly eliminates Booker T. Odd choice there too.

#28 is Batista with awesome music. He gets rid of Test and Rikishi.

#29 is Brock Lesnar! Team Angle double teams, but Lesnar sends them both out. Matt Hardy is F5ed onto them as well.

A-Train kills both Batista and Lesnar in one sequence. How weird does that seem now.

#30 is Undertaker. While the crowd pops, this was a pretty big disappointment. There were several promo videos about Taker coming back at the Rumble, but the first one hinted he could be the Deadman, and the second mentioned the Ministry. So there was hope he would be back in the Deadman character here.

Taker is the only man to have three #30 Rumble appearances I believe, ’97, ’03 and ’07.

Taker gets rid of Cena and Jamal. A great spot follows though, as Maven dropkicks Taker and immediately celebrates. Maven shocking eliminated Taker in this manner in 2002. Taker sends Maven out.

RVD, A-Train, Kane, Lesnar, Batista and Taker left. All the workrate didn’t make it.

RVD and Kane work together to get rid of A-Train. Then another great moment: Kane goes to slam RVD on Batista…only to toss RVD out instead! They foreshadowed this in their promo earlier.

Batista, Lesnar, Taker and Kane are your final four. Crazy final four considering what Batista would become later.

Lesnar and Taker almost mess up a hangman, and Taker almost goes over the top rope. Lesnar noticeably saves him.

Interestingly, Taker tombstones Lesnar here, but Lesnar’s head is obviously too high up. It’s interesting because the same thing happens at Wrestlemania XXX.

Taker clotheslines Batista out, then tries to convince Kane to double team Lesnar. Taker turns on Kane immediately (not a big fan of that either) and tosses him. Batista runs in with a chair but Taker takes him out and whacks him with the chair.

Brock Lesnar wins the Royal Rumble in 53:41, last eliminating the Undertaker. Taker says something to Batista, and Lesnar sneaks up behind him and dumps him. Taker shakes his head in disbelief and gives Lesnar props. I am not a big fan of this ending though and this only fueled the idea that HHH and Taker were holding people down (I’ve come to think Taker wasn’t really doing this though). Taker took out Batista twice, outsmarted his brother, and Lesnar could only beat him by a sneak attack? While there are certainly some good moments, the outcome was never in doubt and the Rumble itself, while fine, is mostly forgettable.

It’s rare that a Royal Rumble PPV is known more for the title matches than the Rumble match itself, but that is what happened here. HHH vs. Steiner is remembered for all the wrong reasons. Benoit vs. Angle for all the right ones. Having one of the worst World Title matches and best World Title matches back to back is quite the oddity. Steiner didn’t last too long as a main eventer and was a midcarder by Mania (and wasn’t on the Mania card!). Benoit eventually got to the top. So at least something went right there. The Lesnar win was expected obviously, but the finish was pretty weak. I love Undertaker, but that whole return was pretty weak as well, and there was no need to make everyone look bad there.

I’ll give this show a historical bonus though. Cena Royal Rumble debut. Randy Orton on PPV (his first time maybe? His first PPV match wasn’t until Summerslam I know that). Batista with his first top 4 Rumble finish (in fact, in every Rumble Batista has been in he ended up in the top 4). The Lesnar victory. These were small building blocks to the future.

Final Grade: B

Pro Wrestling

RDT Reviews the 2001 WWF Royal Rumble

Royal_Rumble_2001

WWF Royal Rumble 2001
January 21, 2001
New Orleans, LA

It’s over.

WCW didn’t really believe it to be so, but at this point it really was. The WWF vs. WCW war hadn’t really mattered to the WWF in over a year. WCW then proceeded to put on one of the worst years, if not the worst year, that a major wrestling promotion had ever put together. While WCW would have some strong moments in 2001 before its demise, it was way too little and way too late.

Meanwhile, the WWF was riding high. New stars such as Kurt Angle had really hit their stride. The WWF was also pushing the hell out of former WCW stars Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit, and even taking chances with guys like Rikishi. The WWF had all of that talent while also having their mainstays be at the very top. Stone Cold, HHH, Undertaker, Kane and The Rock were still at the top of their games. While that wouldn’t actually remain viable forever (not enough top spots), at this point the WWF was simply rolling.

Then again, there was some small concerns. Ratings in December were low comparing to past years, and that’s with the ultra-hot Austin comeback. Shouldn’t be a problem on the Road to Wrestlemania though…right?

The Card

WWF World Tag Team Championship: Edge and Christian © vs. The Dudley Boyz

From 2000 on, it’s just safe to assume the Hardyz, E and C and Dudleyz were feuding with one another. The con-chair-to was an awesome move. Shame we won’t ever see it again, although it’s for the best.

I always thought the chemistry between the three teams was awesome…especially since the Dudleyz adapted to the WWF style practically instantly.

This whole match revolves around the Dudleyz having concussions. My how times have changed.

Edge and Christian miss the con-chair-to and D-Von hot tags Bubba! The crowd is very into all of this.

“D-VON! GET THE TABLES!”

The Dudley Boyz win when D-Von Dudley pins Edge in 9:59. Edge and Christian go for the Dudleyz’ WASSUP! Headbutt, but it’s reversed. Edge eats the 3D, and the Dudleyz win the title! Crowd pops huge for a very good opening match. Chemistry was just perfect with these teams.

Drew Carey is here! I think he’s promoting a PPV or something. He talks to HHH and Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley and promotes his PPV.

Crash Holly then threatens The APA about the Rumble. Good for a laugh.

WWF Intercontinental Championship: Chris Benoit © vs. Chris Jericho

Their entire promo video is just them beating the hell out of one another throughout 2000. Sounds good to me.

Benoit and Jericho just go at it right away. No time to waste here.

One of the most cringeworthy moments I’ve ever seen: Benoit goes for a tope…and Jericho whacks him right in the head with a chair. Worse when you think about what ultimately happened with Benoit. What a sick spot.

This is just hard hitting stuff back and forth, not a lot of flying. It’s an old school ladder match and it’s awesome.

Ridiculous ladder teeter-totter spot that got Benoit in the face. Jeez.

Walls of Jericho on top of the ladder!

Benoit misses a top of the ladder diving headbutt. Sick.

Chris Jericho wins the title in 18:48. Jericho nails Benoit with a chair, then shoves him off the ladder and over the top. It’s enough time for Jericho to grab the IC Title. Great great match. One of the best ladder matches of all time. It’s forgotten because of the Benoit deal. Hard hitting, great spots and a great crowd. 2/2 so far tonight!

Drew Carey hits on Trish Stratus…but here comes Vince! Vince isn’t happy…so he has Drew enter the Royal Rumble! When Trish says it would impress her…Drew goes for it!

WWF Women’s Championship: Ivory© vs. Chyna

Storyline here: The Right to Censor injured Chyna’s neck…and Chyna wants revenge.

It may have been fun to see Chyna destroy Ivory at the time, but in retrospect this killed the Women’s title until Trish revived it at the end of the year.

Ivory retains the title via pin in 3:32. Chyna goes for her cartwheel elbow, but goes down and holds her neck. Ivory pins her. Chyna is stretchered out. Really a glorified angle. Chyna would crush Ivory two months later anyway.

Drew Carey meets Kane. Kane should be afraid.

WWF Championship: Kurt Angle© vs. Triple H

Weird match here. HHH and Angle had feuded in 2000 in the love triangle storyline, but we got past that randomly in the last couple of months…and HHH had turned heel on Stone Cold. Suddenly HHH is the #1 contender causing Angle to think he’s against the McMahon family…but he’s still a heel and enlists Trish to help him, which infuriates Stephanie (well that and Vince’s flirtations with Vince). Still, both are heels, and the match actually feels like a backdrop of the Steph-Trish feud sadly.

As a result, except for some early “Angle Sucks” chants, the crowd really isn’t into it.

HHH works on the knee, even using a chair against Angle’s knee against the post. This makes Angle the face of the match then?

HHH with a strange Indian Deathlock. He had been using the Indian Deathlock in late 2000, notably against Benoit at No Mercy 2000.

Trish breaks up a Figure Four, leading to a Steph-Trish catfight…and the crowd goes nuts.

Razor’s Edge! Angle kicks out.

Moonsault from Angle! HHH survives though.

The crowd is on HHH’s side now.

Ref gets taken out…twice! HHH has it won…

Kurt Angle retains by pin in 24:16. Stone Cold comes out and beats the hell out of HHH…and hits him with a Stunner. Angle gets the pin. While this is a very good match, the Trish-Steph angle was distracting, and we didn’t even get remotely a good finish. I mean, I know Angle is a chicken-shit heel, but he really struggled to beat anyone during this reign…this match included.

The Royal Rumble

#1 is Jeff Hardy. #2 is Bull Buchanan.

#3 is Matt Hardy, pretty much ending the Bull Buchanan run.

The Hardyz oddly don’t wait for the next guy and go at it after dumping Bull.

#4 is Faarooq, who fends for himself pretty well for a minute before getting eliminated.

#5 is Drew Carey! Carey watches on the outside…and the Hardyz eliminate each other at the same time! Drew wins!

#6 is Kane. Kane slowly walks around the ring and Drew begs him not to hurt him. Drew hilariously offers money, but Kane says no. Kane is about to chokeslam drew, but #7, Raven saves him with a kendo stick shot. Drew eliminates himself.

It’s a Hardcore Rumble!

Al Snow runs in early and attacks Raven he confirms himself to be #8 shortly.

Raven takes a bowling ball to the nuts. Ouch.

#9 is Saturn. Interestingly, Saturn’s titantron has the same style that would be used for Chris Jericho’s Save.Us campaign later.

#10 is Steve Blackman as the Hardcore Division keeps coming out.

#11 is Grandmaster Sexay. It would be his last appearance until 2004.

Kane literally has a “fuck this moment”. Trash can shot knocks out Grandmaster. Blackman is next. Then Al Snow. Raven goes afterwards….then Saturn as well. Kane has cleaned house!

#12 is The Honky Tonk Man! He wants to sing his song. He does so, before Kane whacks him with a guitar and throws him out.

#13 is The Rock. Business has picked up!

#14 is The Goodfather! Goodfather never recovered from his RTC heel turn sadly.

And Rock takes out the Goodfather. That was fast.

#15 is Tazz, and he lasts less time than the Goodfather does. Kane knocks him out in about 5 seconds.

#16 is Bradshaw. He actually kicks some ass and takes Rock out with a clothesline.

#17 is Albert.

#18 is Hardcore Holly. Five guys in there now.

GETTING ROWDY! #19 is K-Kwik. Amazing that Killings never really got higher than this spot other than his heel run in 2011.

#20 is a Right to Censored Val Venis. It seems like we are just waiting for someone to clean house here.

#21 is William Regal. Test follows at #22, and dumps Regal.

Business picks up now as The Big Show returns and is #23. Show was last seen in July after being sent to OVW to lose weight (which he didn’t do, for the record). He chokeslams everyone in sight and gets rid of K-Kwik and Test. The Rock counters the chokeslam and out goes Show.

Big Show drags Rock under the ropes as #24, Crash Holly gets in. Big Show chokeslams The Rock through the Announcer’s table before leaving.

Undertaker is #25, and he and Kane clean out the ring…and DON’T attack one another (see Hardyz, it works!). Scotty 2 Hotty comes out in total fear, and is promptly chokeslammed and eliminated.

#27 is Stone Cold Steve Austin, leading to one of my all time favorite Rumble moments. Taker and Kane in the ring where Stone Cold comes down with no fear. HHH ruins the moment though by attacking Austin. Austin doesn’t make it to the ring. Rock gets back in and fight Taker and Kane.

#28 is Billy Gunn. Gunn gets some good offense in, probably the last good offense he’d get in until 2013.

#29 is Haku. Haku is the current WCW Hardcore Champion! You knew it was a death knell for WCW when the WWF didn’t even acknowledge that they stole Haku.

#30 is Rikishi. Rikishi sees Austin trying to get back to the ring and tries to take advantage, but Austin springs into action and attacks! Anyway, Rikishi, Gunn, Austin, Rock, Kane, Haku and Undertaker are the final seven.

Austin dumps Haku.

You can see there is a little Austin fatigue at this point. It’s not that Austin couldn’t be a top draw, but his out of nowhere attack of Rikishi would have gotten a huge reaction before. Now, it’s just something Austin did.

Rikishi superkicks Undertaker out!

Rikishi goes for a Banzaii Drop, but Rock knocks him over the top rope. Really bad showing from Rikishi here kayfabe wise. All that hype for #30 and he ended up lasting 5 minutes?

Austin, Gunn, Kane, Rock is the final four. One of these is not like the other.

Gunn hits Austin with the Fameasser…then Austin throws Gunn out just like that. Down to three.

Austin and Rock have locked eyes. These two went at one another at Armageddon the month prior as well.

Austin and Rock going at each other here was a huge deal. It was funny when WWE tried to replicate it with Orton and Cena in 2011.

Austin and Rock keep going at it and Austin even gets a Stunner. Austin tries to dump Rock, but Rock counters and tries to dump Austin. Kane comes from behind and tries to dump both, but only succeeds in dumping Rock (the record setting 11th elimination).

Stone Cold wins the Royal Rumble at 61:55, last eliminating Kane. Austin and Kane go at it, and Kane grabs a chair. Austin gets the chair though and whacks Kane a few times, before clotheslining him over the top for the win. Very good Royal Rumble. Had some slow moments…but clearly had its moments as well.

A really good PPV here. Only one match was lacking, and it only lasted three minutes. Everything else ranged from awesome (the IC Ladder Match) to very good (the WWF Title match). Historically this was Austin’s last great babyface moment of the Attitude Era, and Kane got a historical accolade that took 13 years to beat. Kane did kinda get wasted though after this.

Royal Rumble really had some good stuff. Comedy with Carey, Honky Tonk and Scotty 2 Hotty. Kane’s reign of terror. The hardcore part of the Rumble. The Austin-Rock staredown. The Big Show comeback (it got a good pop and he was a main guy always before this).

The entire show did provide good build-up for Wrestlemania as well. Can’t go wrong there.

Final Grade: A