WWF Royal Rumble 1989

After finding terrific success with their Royal Rumble cable-TV special the year before – both generating monumental ratings, and undermining the NWA’s effort to compete in the pay per view marketplace – the WWF brought the Rumble back, this time as a proper pay per view.

From Houston, Texas; Your Hosts are Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura.


Opening 2/3 Falls Six-Man Tag Team Match: Dino Bravo and The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers v Jim Duggan and The Hart Foundation: Dino Bravo and Jim Neidhart start, and do a power showdown - matched evenly - until Neidhart throws a clothesline, and tags Duggan. Bravo bails to Raymond Rougeau, and Raymond tries to work the arm, but walks into a bodyslam. Tag to Bret Hart, and he cradles Rougeau for two. Sunset flip gets two. Bodypress for two, but Jacques Rougeau breaks it up by tagging himself in. Bret catches him with a hangman's clothesline, drawing Raymond in, and everybody else follows for a six-way brawl. The faces clean house, but when they settle back into Hart/Rougeau, the Rougeau’s throw a cheap shot to down Hart, and win a fall with their bearhug/flying seated senton combo at 5:00. The Rougeau’s keep hammering Hart to try and score a quick follow-up fall, and Bret takes his chest-first corner bump for two. Inverted atomic drop gets two, and a Rougeau double-team backbreaker gets two. They continue to cut the ring in half, trading off with quick tags and double-teams, but Bret counters a Jacques monkey-flip with an inverted atomic drop, and gets the tag off to Duggan. He's a house of arson, and puts Rougeau away at 13:00. Duggan keeps it going on Raymond Rougeau, but gets caught in the wrong part of town, and triple-teamed. He gets the tag off to Hart, and he hits Bravo with a backbreaker. 2^nd rope elbow, but Rougeau shoves him off, so Duggan responds by nailing Bravo with his 2x4 and Bret gets the pin at 15:42. Slowed down quite a bit towards the end, but was a really well worked, well paced match. ***

Super Posedown: Rick Rude and WWF Intercontinental Champion The Ultimate Warrior come to the ring to literally pose. Basically, the idea is that both guys are ripped, so Mean Gene Okerlund has them go through individual poses, and judges based on the crowd reaction. As you'd expect, the fans cheer Warrior, and after several poses, Rude gets frustrated, and jumps him to set up their match at WrestleMania V. This was basic Saturday Night's Main Event stuff - didn't like this segment as a kid, still don't today. Also, how did Hulk Hogan not work his way into this bit?

WWF Women's Title Match: Rockin' Robin v Judy Martin: Robin does the Ultimate Warrior entrance, in a possible effort to trick people into thinking she's over. Martin jumps her on the way in anyway, but misses a blind charge, and Robin unloads a pair of dropkick. She misses her own blind charge, however, and gets slammed. Robin manages to supermarket sweep the leg, and hooks a Boston Crab, but Martin escapes, as the fans take a popcorn break – heading out of their seats en masse. Martin slams her for two, and hooks a backslide for two, but gets caught with a 2^nd rope bodypress, and Robin retains at 6:24. Decent back-and-forth match, though no one other than guest commentator Sensational Sherri had any interest. *

King of the Ring Match: Haku v Harley Race: Haku took over the 'king of wrestling' gimmick after Harley Race suffered a legit, essentially career ending injury on SNME the year before. Both are managed by Bobby Heenan, because he really is 'the Brain.' Race comes out during Haku's royal entrance (which includes being carried to the ring on a throne), and tips it over. With Haku still in it. He posts him, and hits a suplex, but gets reversed into the post a second time. Inside, Haku catches him with a savate kick, but they get into a headbutt-fest, actually controlled by Race. Piledriver gets two, but Race gets knocked to the floor off of a shoulderblock. Haku suplexes him back in for two, but misses an elbowdrop, and Race hits his own suplex. He dumps Haku to the floor for a proper piledriver, but gets backdropped. Second try works out, but Haku beats the count in, so Harley hits a swinging neckbreaker for two. He dodges a Haku flying headbutt, but then misses a 2^nd rope version of his own, and walks into a superkick at 9:01. These guys both have solid reputations for being two of the biggest legitimate tough guys in the wrestling business, but this match was pretty dull - if technically fine. * ¼

Main Event: Royal Rumble Match: Two minute intervals this year. Ax and Smash draw numbers one and two respectively, which is the perfect way to establish this concept match to the fans: every man for himself. They go right at each other, slugging it out, without either particularly dominating. Andre the Giant draws #3, and Demolition predictably stop fighting to go for the Giant. Both of them can't dump him, however, and only serve to piss him off as Mr. Perfect joins the fun at #4. Further hammering home the concept, he doesn't stay within face/heel lines like in most battle royals, but goes after everyone. Andre manages to dump Smash, but Perfect and Ax double-team him - and then turn on each other. Ron Garvin gets #5, and joins the union to dump Andre. He still manages to fight all three off (with Perfect doing his usual, fantastic overselling - like a 360 flip off of a simple punch), as Greg Valentine comes in at #6. He jumps Andre, too, but even four men can't do it, and he tosses Garvin as a warning to the others. Jake Roberts gets #7, and goes right for Andre, too - but gets choked out. In fact, Andre is so dedicated to killing Jake that he swats away anyone who even gets near them while he does it. #8 is Ron Bass, hitting the ring just as Andre disposes of Roberts. He goes for Valentine next, continuing his choke routine as Shawn Michaels enters at #9 – going right for Ron Bass. Perfect dumps Ax, and tries the same with Shawn, but Michaels skins the cat, and dropkicks Perfect for a near elimination. Butch draws #10, but the crowd is more interested in the return of Jake Roberts, who hits the ring with his snake in hand - going right for Andre. That's enough for the big guy, and he practically dives over the top rope to avoid Jake, and eliminate himself. Great bit to further the Andre/Roberts feud, as well as working as a satisfying elimination for Andre. Honky Tonk Man enters at #11, and goes for Shawn Michaels. Tito Santana joins at #12, and jumps Mr. Perfect like he owes him money. Michaels takes a fantastic backdrop from Bass, but manages to avoid elimination as Bad News Brown gets lucky #13. Predictably, he goes after everybody - but it's Tito who dumps the Honky. Brown's 'I'll kill 'em all' plan backfires when everybody teams up on him, with even Michaels and Bass teaming up. Marty Jannetty gets #14, and heads right for Bass - likely jealous of his brief teaming with Michaels. Shawn clearly feels bad about stepping out, though, and joins Marty with a double dropkick to eliminate Bass. WWF Champion Randy Savage draws #15, and goes ballistic on Bad News Brown. He has a World Title shaped target on his back, however, and Valentine jumps him to try and eliminate him. That doesn't go, so Perfect gives it a shot - but runs into an elbowsmash as Arn Anderson gets #16. He goes for fellow tag wrestler Michaels, as Savage dumps Valentine. Then, in a brilliant bit of foreshadowing, Savage runs right over to help heel Anderson dump Michaels after a double-backelbow. They'd already established the 'every man for himself' bit, but Mega Power uber-babyface Savage actually working double-team moves with a member of the Heenan family came off as awkward - in a good way. Tully Blanchard gets #17, and teams with Arn to toss Jannetty. Kind makes you wish Savage helped eliminate the damn Bushwhacker in the match instead of Michaels - as a mini-Rockers/Brain Busters match would have been great. #18 is Hulk Hogan, and he immediately saves Savage from near elimination by dumping Mr. Perfect, who breaks Bret Hart's longevity record from the year before at 27:58. He goes for Brown next, but gets ganged up on by most everyone, and in another great bit of foreshadowing, Savage doesn't save - instead battling Butch. Luke gets #19, just as Butch gets tossed. Everyone gangs up on the Mega Powers, with Hogan continuing to try to save Savage at every turn, as Koko B. Ware draws #20 - but gets quickly tossed by Hogan. The Hulkster starts going on a rampage, dumping Luke, and both Brain Busters as Savage battles Bad News, and The Warlord enters at #21. He gets immediately clotheslined out by Hogan, who then heads over the Savage/Brown - and dumps them both. Randy flips out, actually shoving Hogan, but Miss Elizabeth runs in to talk him down, and get them to shake hands. Meanwhile, the Big Bossman gets #22, and we get their anticipated showdown. Bossman busts out a piledriver, and a bodyslam to set up a splash - but Hogan dodges. Unfortunately for Hogan, #23 is Akeem, and the Twin Towers team up to topple Hogan. Hogan apparently can't comprehend a clean elimination, however, and decides to come back to pull Bossman out for good measure. The Towers - and fairly so - decide to beat the piss out of him in response, but #24 - Brutus Beefcake - runs in for the save. Hogan and Bossman brawl to the back, as Beefcake teases elimination. The Red Rooster draws #25, and saves Beefcake from elimination, before getting slammed by Akeem. Enter Barbarian at #26, and he helps Akeem out with RoosterCake. Big John Studd draws #27, and he gets right into it with fellow big man, Akeem. Hercules gets #28, and helps Beefcake battle Barbarian, as Studd and Akeem continue their private war. Rick Martel draws #29, as the match has slowed down drastically since the Hogan drama ended. Martel makes the mistake of trying to interrupt Studd and Akeem's battle, but gets swatted away, so he goes for the easier Rooster prey. Ted DiBiase rounds the field out at #30, in a terrific bit of proper character development, as he drew a much lower number, but negotiated a trade with manager Slick. He goes right for Hercules, as Gorilla Monsoon quips how surprised he is that Rooster is still in it. Always nice when even the announcers think you're a total jobber. As if hearing it, DiBiase quickly eliminates him. Beefcake slaps a sleeper on Hercules (which isn't great strategy, as a 300-pound passed out dude is real hard to get up and over the top rope), so DiBiase helps them out of the jam by just shoving them both out. What a guy! Barbarian nails Martel with an impressive flying headbutt, but misses a blind charge, and gets dumped. That leaves Martel, DiBiase, Akeem, and Studd. Akeem and Studd are still engaged in their war, but stop long enough for Akeem to toss Martel. Akeem helps DiBiase double team Studd (which is mostly Ted standing their, shouting instructions), but Studd pulls DiBiase in to block an avalanche, and finally manages to toss Akeem. DiBiase does his best - trying a 2^nd rope axehandle - but he gets caught in a chokeslam, and viciously thrown into the turnbuckles. Studd slams him, and hits a well executed butterfly suplex - toying with DiBiase. He tosses him around some more, before casually eliminating him for the victory at 64:53. Fun, proper introduction to the real Rumble, filled with good timing of the entrants, and intrigue with the various angles playing out - particularly the tease of the Mega Powers breakup. As noted, the match slowed down significantly after the Hogan drama with Savage and the Twin Towers was over, leaving a field of mostly JTTS before the DiBiase stuff kicked in. Studd wasn't the best choice to win, but he had just returned to the WWF, and they had something of a renewed interest in pushing him, so a victory in the still not overly prestigious, glorified battle royal makes sense. ** ½

BUExperience: I never liked this one as a kid (my local video store carried it, but after the first viewing, it almost never made it back into my rental rotation), but it’s really not bad – especially for a first effort. As always, the Rumble match itself is pretty much the make-or-break of the show – taking up over a third of the runtime – and in this case, it certainly did the job, on top of an already solid show. I can understand why I didn’t care for it as a kid (the boring Super Posedown, real women’s wrestling (which I never cared for), and a winner I knew only as ‘that guy Andre slammed at the first WrestleMania’), and I’m still not hot on it for many of those same reasons today – but I certainly appreciate it more now than in 1994. **