*WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS*

Royal Rumble 1988

The first ever Royal Rumble, and it's not on PPV! This was back before the winner received a WM title shot, and even though they tried to make it a big deal early on, the first couple really weren't that important tbh.


Rick Rude Vs Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat

A great match to start off what has now been a 21 year tradition. I am a HUGE fan of both men, and always feel they were both underused in WWF, which was a huge shame as they were better wrestlers than half the main eventers...

Some great wrestling here from both men, and I love the pop Steamboat gets from just doing an Arm Drag .

Steamboat spent a lot of time working on the arm of Rude, and I was quite surprised at how long Steamboat was in charge, as the heel usually takes control for most of the match. I prefer it when both men are able to go back and forth though, makes it more interesting.

Its funny to watch old wrestling matches and see guys tapping like crazy when they are in a submission hold, but back then it didn't mean anything.

One part that didn't make sense was that the ref lifted the arm of Steamboat 3 times to see if he was out, and it dropped 3 times. I always thought that ended the match? Not in this case though, as the ref did it a forth time, and Steamboat was able to keep it from dropping, and made a small come back.

Plenty of near falls in this match, which always gets the crowd excited.

Match ends when Steamboat goes to the top rope, and Rude moves the ref in front of him. Rude then puts Steamboat in his submission hold, and the ref wakes up and calls for the bell. Rude thinks he has won by submission, but the ref has DQ'd him instead!

A great opener which was given a decent amount of time.

Rating: ***1/4


The Jumping Bomb Angels (Noriyo Tateno & Itsuki Yamazaki) Vs The Glamour Girls (Judy Martin & Leilani Kai) - 2 out of 3 Falls WWF Women's Tag Team Title Match

Yes, you read correctly. This is a Women's Tag Team Titles match!

Some GOOD wrestling from both teams, with a cool spot (anyone remember cool spot? Off topic? Yeah ) that involved the Bomb Angels both in the ring locking on a figure four leg lock to their opponents at the same time. Not often you see that from Women wrestlers.

More good submission moves from the Angles, which I feel is something the current WWE Women's division lacks. Gail Kim needs to come back and show them how to lock in some decent submission holds .

First fall is won by The Glamour Girls, who pick up the win with an Allyoop (or Ally hoop?) type move (that move The Big Show started doing in 2001 for a short period of time).

A botched sunset flip pin is how the second fall ends, giving the Angels a win. The match is now 1-1.

Some pretty good action during the third fall, which ends with a double dropkick from the top rope, and we have NEW WWF Women's Tag Team Champions in the Jumping Bomb Angels!

I was very impressed with this match! Much better than the crap we get these days from most of the "divas". Plenty of action, and the double top rope drop kick was cool to see, as I don't see it that often, and I don't think I have ever seen a women's tag team do it.

Rating: ***


I would like to point out that this event has been going for an hour now, with only two matches. Between the opener and the tag match, we had the Weight lifting crap from Dino Bravo, that lasted WAY too long. Rude and Steamboat could have been given another 10 minutes dammit! All of this was followed by a lengthy contract signing between Hogan and Andre. More time wasted that could have been used for another match.


1988 Royal Rumble Match

The first ever RR match, and unlike the ones that happen today, only 20 wrestlers were part of this match, and the winner did not receive a title shot at WrestleMania.

The first 2 guys in the first ever RR were Bret Hart (who we all know went on to co-win the 1994 rumble match), and Tito Santana. A nice start to the match, as both men are great wrestlers.

Butch Reed and Jim Neidhart are the next 2 entrants, and it turns into a 3 on 1 for Santana. He manages to hang on as the time counts down, and Jake Roberts comes out next to help, and eliminated Reed! Fans are going crazy for Jake!

This rumble match is very different from how they are these days, as the heels and faces don't really go after each other, but join up with each other instead. Because of this, it didn't really have the feel of "every man for themselves" that we have now.

While this is only the first match of its kind in WWF/E and it was from 1988, a lot of people might consider it to be pretty bad, but I am happy to say it isn't! Very enjoyable, and there really isn't any boring parts IMO. Being only 33 minutes could help though lol.

I was quite surprised that The Ultimate Warrior was eliminated not long after he entered, but then again he wasn't that big then.

The last three men were Jim Duggan, One Man Gang and Dino Bravo. Duggan gets double teamed by the heels for a short amount of time, before OMG (that's One Man Gang, not Oh My God :p) eliminated Bravo by mistake.

Duggan eventually wins by using OMG's own momentum to eliminate him.

Surprisingly good for the first one ever, though it doesn't hold a candle to such rumble matches as 92, 01 and 02 etc.

Rating: ***


The Islanders (Haku and Tama) Vs The Young Stallions (Paul Roma and Jim Powers) - 2 out of 3 Falls Match

Another tag team match, and again its 2 out of 3 falls.

Hey, isn't that one of the Four Horsemen? LOL at Paul Roma being a Horsemen.

Nothing special for the first part of the match. Paul Roma gets counted out to give The Islanders the first fall. Made Roma look really weak, as he took about a minute to get back into the ring after simply being thrown out of the ring... To make it seem less of a crap finish they have Roma fake a knee injury. Still made the finish look bad IMO, as Roma didn't even try to make it look like he landed on his knee or anything.

Powers gets in control for most of the second fall, but is unable to get a pinfall or submission. Its not too long before The Islanders get the advantage once again, and begin to beat down Powers.

Powers manages to make a tag to Roma (despite the fact he has an "injured" knee), and it doesn't help The Yound Stallions at all. A half Boston Crab to Roma forces him to tap out, and The Islanders win the match and win 2 straight falls.

A boring and not so good match, and even worse for the main event of the first ever Royal Rumble event. The Women's 2 out of 3 Falls tag match was WAY better than this!

Rating: *1/4




Overall Show Rating: 6.5 out of 10

There are only 4 matches on the card, and 3 of them are *** or higher, making it a fairly solid event. Unfortunately the main event is terrible, and there is too much time wasted with the weight lifting crap and the Hogan/Andre contract signing. Good event to watch just for the fact its the first of the second greatest tradition in WWF/E (WrestleMania being number 1).




Royal Rumble 1989

The second Royal Rumble event, and the first to feature a 30 man Rumble match!


Dino Bravo & The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers Vs "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan & The Hart Foundation - 2 Out of 3 Falls Match

The match starts with "Canada's Strongest Man" Dino Bravo and Jim Neidhart locking up and trying to move each other, followed by them both trying to knock each other down.

Some decent tag work early on, and Bret stars to get beaten down. He gets pinned around 4 minutes with a Bombe de Rougeau (I have no idea, I just remember Austin101 calling it that in his review ).

Bret continues to get worked on by all 3 of his opponents who make plenty of quick tags and try to wear the Hitman down with submission holds. Bret manages to crawl over to hs corner while in a Boston Crab, and tags in Neidhart, but the referee doesn't see it, and Bret continues to get beaten down.

After a few minutes of submission holds, Bret finally gets a tag to Duggan, and the match turns wild. All 6 men end up getting in the ring, with Neidhart and Bret both getting into the ring with a slingshot over the ropes by Duggan, and landing on one of the Rougeau's. Duggan folows it up with an elbow drop, and gets the 3 count.

We are now into the 3rd fall. Duggan has the advantage to start with, but soon gets double and triple teamed behind the referee's back. Duggan gets a tag to Bret, and he begins to work on Bravo. The referee gets distracted by Neidhart going after the Rougeau's, who keep interfering, and Duggan hits Bravo with his 2x4, allowing Bret to pick up the win for his team.

I really enjoy watching this match. Its a good old school tag match, and being 2 out of 3 falls makes it even better. I wish WWE had a tag division these days so they could throw out some more tag team 2 out of 3 falls.

Rating: ***


The legendary super pose down took place next, but it was just too awesome for me to review. [/sarcasm]


Rockin' Robin Vs Judy Martin - WWF Women's Title

How...long...match...this...was?

Too...long...

Rating: 1/2*


King Haku Vs Harley Race

This match isn't exactly great, but it does have its good points. For starters, Harley Race is in it .

Funny spot with both men head butting each other with most of them having no effect. Also, LOL at Monsoon trying to make an excuse for the fans being so quiet. They really didn't care for the match.

Good solid wrestling for the most part of this match, and a nice piledriver on the floor by Race. Race remains in control for a while until Haku hits a reverse thrust kick and pins him.

Maybe a little slow at times, but I have no problems sitting through it instead of skipping it.

Rating: *3/4


1989 Royal Rumble Match

Ax and Smash are numbers 1 and 2, so we get to see not only a tag team go at it, but also the current Tag Team Champions go at it!

During this time period, wrestling completely denied that it was "fake" so to speak. So if you are having a Royal Rumble match and you and your partner are the first 2 in, in real life wouldn't you and your partner just stand around and wait for number 3? That way you can double team him and try to throw each guy out 1 at a time until it is just the 2 of you left. So to have Ax and Smash go at each other straight away doesn't seem realistic at all to me.

Number 3 for the 1989 Royal Rumble is none other than Andre the Giant! Now Ax and Smash realise it is smarter for them to work together, and they begin to double team Andre. Being so big and powerful, Andre does manage to get some offence in. Next into the ring is one of my all time favs, Mr Perfect!

About 15 seconds after Mr Perfect gets in the ring, Smash is thrown out by Andre, leaving just 3 men again. A couple of more entrants come out, someone gets eliminated, then Jake Roberts comes out to a HUGE pop and goes right after Andre.

Jake, while he starts off on fire when he gets into the ring, ends up being dominated by Andre and thrown out just as number 8 enters.

Number 9 is HBK himself. Who would have guess that he would do on to win 2 Rumbles in a row in a few years time? It was cool to see Perfect and Michaels hook it up in the rumble, as to my knowledge they wouldn't face each other in the ring again until 93.

Butch of the Bushwhackers comes out at number 10, and we are only a third of the way through. Jake Roberts comes out just behind Butch, and he brings his snake! Andre is scared to death and eliminates himself!

After Jake is taken to the back, the rumble kinda slows down a bit IMO. Guys come out and get eliminated, but I didn't really pay much attention as they didn't really interest me.

The WWF Champion Macho Man Randy Savage enters at number 15, and we are half way through the first 30 man Rumble match! It also begins to pick up a little here.

Arn Anderson is in it next, making is only Rumble match appearance. He teams up with Savage to eliminate HBK before fighting with Marty. He almost gets eliminated but manages to hold on, and Tully is next into the rumble. Arn and Tully double team Marty for a while before eliminating him.

Number 18 is Hulk Hogan, and within a few seconds eliminates Mr Perfect! :(

Arn Anderson and Bad New Brown double team Savage while Tully and Butch (I know!) double team Hogan. One thing that I really like about this rumble over the original is that the heels and faces actually team up as well as face each other, instead of sticking to heel vs face like last years.

Hogan eliminates about 4 guys (including the Brain Busters), followed by the Warlord (as soon as he enters). Bad News Brown is trying to get Savage over, and Hulk goes over to eliminate him, but ends up throwing Savage over too! Savage is pissed, and Miss Elizabeth comes out to make sure they don't fight, and they end up shaking hands instead...

Big Boss Man comes out next, and we see Boss Man and Hogan one on one for a while. I had forgotten how BIG the Big Boss Man was back then. Monsoon said he was about 400lbs, and looking at him I could believe that he was close to that, though he was very quick on his feet. Hogan starts to gain momentum, until Boss Man's partner comes out next; Akeem the African Dream! A double avalanche in the corner to Hogan is enough for The Twin Towers to eliminate him!

Brutus is next, and before he gets punished too much by the Twin Towers, Hogan pulled the ropes down, eliminating Boss Man, and they fight towards the backstage area.

A few more guys come out, followed by number 27, Big John Studd! Yeah, I really wasn't as excited as it seems when I wrote that...

Number 30 is none other than Ted DiBiase! Looking at the talent left in the ring, DiBiase is really the only guy I would consider good enough to win the rumble. WWF apparently thought VERY different...

I couldn't help but laugh when Hercules started to go after DiBiase. With his hair the way it was, and the way he was moving around hitting clotheslines, he looked JUST LIKE Eugene!

Everyone else gets eliminated leaving Akeem, DiBiase and Studd, but Akeem is soon eliminated by a club to the back from Studd. Looked like a weak way to go lol.

Big John Studd and DiBiase go at it for a few minutes, then Studd throws out DiBiase.

Seriously, if you have guys like Hogan, Savage, DiBiase, Andre and others in the Royal Rumble, why the hell would you have Big John Studd win? What the hell has he ever done before or since? Along with Hacksaw Jim Duggan, he will go down as the worst Royal Rumble winner ever.

So while I didn't agree on the winner, the actual match was pretty good. There was a short time when I got a little bored, but it didn't last long, and overall I really enjoyed watching it. Better than the first.

Rating: ***1/2



Overall Show Rating: 5 out of 10

The opener and the Rumble match are the ONLY good things to come from this event, but they are both good enough to make me want to watch this event again and again. Its a shame the rest of the event absolutely sucked, as it brings down the whole rating.




Royal Rumble 1990

The third annual Royal Rumble event! Pretty much like the last 2 RR events, the undercard is just there for the hell of it, and the main attraction that they put all of their effort into is of course the Rumble Match.

Oh, and don't forget, TONY SCHIAVONE is an announcer!


The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers Vs The Bushwhackers

This match takes a while to really start, as the Bushwhackers spend a lot of time playing to the crowd. As bad as they were in WWF, the fans loved them lol.

In fact, this match never really got started. It was more of a tag team brawl, and not a very good one, though the fans just love Luke and Butch. Poor Rougeau Brothers. They were a great tag team and are often forgotten about, and losing matches like this didn't help them.

1/2* just because I like the Battering Ram

Rating: 1/2*


The Genuis Vs Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake

Sorry, but I had to skip this match. I can normally sit through anything for my reviews (see: In Your House 1), but the thought of watching this made me want to put JBL/Cena WM21 as ***** (so as you can see, it was making me go crazy)

Rating: Didn't watch


"Rugged" Ronnie Garven Vs Greg "The Hammer" Valentine - Submissions Match

This is a great "old school" type match. Hard hitting with some great submission moves, and both men do a great job. I remember when I first got my RR Anthology set, and when I put this one in, I look at the card and skipped past everything to just watch the rumble match. Shame on me!

I am so glad I decided to review the RR's, and I have been able to see a damn good submissions match. Looking at the next match, and remembering the Rumble match from when I last watched it, this IS the MOTN.

Rating: ***1/2


Big Boss Man Vs "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan

10 minutes. This match lasted around 10 minutes. 10 minutes of 2 huge men slugging it out in a boring match, and it ended with a DQ. Waste of my f***** time.

Rating: 1/4*


1990 Royal Rumble Match

Number 30 from last year is now number 1 this year, and that of course is Ted DiBiase. Number 2 is Koco B. Ware. DiBiase beats him down and throws him out before the next guy can enter.

Number 3 is Marty Jannetty, and he takes it to DiBiase to start with, but is soon eliminated when he goes for a cross body and ends up going over the ropes himself. Nice to see Ted "dominating". This might not last too long though, as number 4 is none other than Jake "The Snake" Roberts!

Jake and DiBiase go at it, then the "Macho King" Randy Savage comes out and the double teaming to Roberts beings. Savage was a great heel as the Macho King btw. The double teaming didn't last too long, as Rowdy Roddy Piper was the next entrant! HUGE pop for Piper.

More people come in, and some people get eliminated. Then the crowd pops like hell for Dusty Rhodes. Huh, I guess people do like him. Can't say I'm with them on that...

Sucks that the Macho King gets eliminated by Rhodes, or just eliminated at all. I wanted to see more of him dammit!

"Business is about to pick up" as JR would say, as Andre the Giant comes out next. Andre throws out the Warlord with one arm about 10 seconds in the ring.

Piper eliminated Bad News Brown, who drags Piper over the ropes and eliminates him. They start to brawl on the outside. This would lead up to a WrestleMania match, when Piper painted half of his body black to show that he doesn't care about skin colour. That angle got over big time...

More guys come in and are thrown out, one of them is Andre! Demolition manage to eliminate him together, and that helps build to the WrestleMania tag title match. Jimmy Snuka comes out next and eliminates Akeem, in what seems to be a very weak way. These days, big guys are always built up as being near impossible to eliminate. In this match, Snuka jumps towards Akeem, barely touches him and he goes flying over the ropes!

I would like to point out that entrant number 1, Ted DiBiase is STILL in this thing! Why the man was never given the WWF title is beyond me...

Earthquake comes out next and eliminates Rhodes (yey!), then eliminates Ax right after! Jim Heidhart comes out next and goes after Earthquake, and he is helped by 5 other guys, and they manage to eliminate him. I think that is the first time a big man has been eliminated by multiple people! A much better way to put over a big man rather than have him knocked over the ropes with a slap to the back or something...

The fans are on their feet from the last few guys coming in and being eliminated, and it doesn't stop now! Ulimate Warrior is next in, and quickly throws out Dino Bravo.

A few more guys come out, and a few more are eliminated. As you can see I can't be arsed to go through everyone coming in and out of the match :p. One guy that does need to be mentioned for getting eliminated, is Ted DiBiase! The Ultimate Warrior of all people was the guy to finally get him out, after DiBiase's great effort.

Hogan is next into the ring and throws out Snuka and Haku within seconds of entering. Warrior then throws out everyone left, leaving just himself and Hogan. Now we get to see a small preview of WrestleMania 6's main event!

The Barbarian and Rick Rude are in next, and begin to beat down both faces. Warrior is about to be eliminated by Rude and Barbarian, and Hogan runs at them to try and help (at least it looks that way), but ends up eliminating Warrior! Warrior comes back into the ring and knocks down both heels, then leaves! Random!

The final four are Hogan, Perfect, Rude and Hercules. Hercules is soon thrown out by Rude, leaving a 2 on 1 situation for Hogan. TBH, even though I don't like Hogan, any of these 3 guys left were great choices to win the Rumble match.

Rude accidentally knocks Perfect through the middle ropes, and as he is using the ropes to pull himself up, Hoagn whips Rude into them, and he falls over and out of the match. PerfectPlex to Hogan, who gets right back up, and starts to Hulk Up, then throws him out. Winner of the match, Hulk Hogan.

A very entertaining Rumble Match, though I wish Mr Perfect would have won. Probably on par with last years in terms of how entertained I was.

Rating: ***1/2



Overall Show Rating: 5.5 out of 10

The Rumble match and the Submission match were the ONLY good things from this event. Everything else was crap. At least the 2 good matches were really good, and made me feel better about sitting through this event.




Royal Rumble 1991

This was during the Gulf War I believe (I'm not good with history, so please correct me if I am wrong ), so WWF wanted a suitable winner of the Royal Rumble. Any guesses as to who it will be? :P


The Rockers Vs Orient Express

High flying, high impact, high energy. The best way I could think to describe this match. A great opener and a great match in general.

I would have only rating this ***, but the "We will, we will ROCK YOU" chant at one point made me bump it up! (well, that and it deserves more than 3 stars anyway...)

While I can't remember every opener for all the Royal Rumble's, I think its safe to say that this is the best opener in RR history! I'm glad they were given nearly 20 minutes to put on such a great show.

Rating: ****


Big Boss Man Vs Barbarian

A surprisingly decent big man match, though it lasted way too long. It should have only gone about half the time it did, which would have been a pretty good 7 minute match IMO.

I am a Boss Man fan, so maybe that helped me enjoy it a little more. Boss Man was pretty quick on his feet for being as big as he was back then, and could pull out some good athletic moves when he wanted to.

Rating: *3/4


The Ultimate Warrior Vs Sgt. Slaughter - WWF Title

LMAO at the grown men with huge grins on their faces giving the thumbs up to Warrior as he comes out to the ring .

If anything, this match was just a way to build up to Savage/Warrior at WM, and even Slaughter/Hogan too.

Way too long for my liking, but the fans seemed to be into it. Match ended when Savage hit Warrior over the head with his sceptre, allowing Slaughter to win the WWF title.

The fans didn't really seem to care about Warrior at that point, as they were either booing Slaughter or chanting for Hogan...

Rating: *1/2


Koko B. Ware Vs The Mountie

I didn't care, and the fans didn't care. Once again, the match was way too long. Strange, some PPV's you have matches that could be really good only getting a short amount of time, then you get a series of matches like on this PPV that go on for too long and were awful for the most part.

Rating: 1/4*


Dusty & Dustin Rhodes Vs "Million-Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase & Virgil

Nothing special here, but it was a relatively solid tag match, which I feel DiBiase carried for the most part. I think I would have preferred a singles match between DiBiase and Dustin tbh.

Rating: **


1991 Royal Rumble Match

Once again, Bret Hart is number 1 in a Rumble match! Number 2 is "Canada's Strongest Man" Dino Bravo. They go at it until Greg Valentine comes out and attacks Bravo. They ignore Hart and go after each other, and "The Hammer" eliminates Bravo!

The legendary Paul Roma is out next! Remember when he was a Four Horsemen? You do? I know, sucks doesn't it .

Rock Martel is number 6, and we would be seeing a lot of him tonight. Martel gets his first elimination of the night when he reverses Saba Simba (who?) and causes him to go over the ropes.

Big pop once again for Jake Roberts, who always gets a big pop in the Rumble matches. He goes right for Martel, who he looks to be feuding with from the promo earlier in the night. Martel runs out of the ring to get away from him, and Jake almost eliminates him from the apron.

A couple more entrants into the Rumble, and some more good Rumble action, including Jake Roberts eliminating Paul Roma! I was expecting him to win...

Number 12 marks the Royal Rumble debut of The Undertaker! He comes in and straight away launches Bret Hart over the ropes, ending Bret's 20+ minute streak in there. Its always strange seeing Brother Love coming out with 'Taker lol. What an odd couple they were lol. It's not too long before The Undertaker eliminates his second man, Butch.

Nice to see Bulldog make his RR debut. The ring is starting to fill up now, but Jake Roberts gets thrown out to clear up a bit of space .

Hawk comes running to the ring and attacks everyone, until they all start to gang up on him for revenge. I have to say that so far I have been entertained so much by this Rumble. If it carries on being this good, I think I can safely say that they are getting better every year, before finally peaking in 92.

The Undertaker eliminates another star, though I couldn't make out who it was. Jimmy Snuka was eliminated at the same time as well, but I couldn't tell who did it.

Randy Savage was supposed to enter at one point, but didn't come out. Animal came out next, and LOD double teamed The Undertaker and were successful at throwing him out. Hawk taunted him for a second and was thrown out as well.

The first RR winner, "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan comes out to a huge pop. It always amazes me how popular Duggan was, when he was pretty damn awful in the ring .

Earthquake came out next, and from what I could tell, he was really being built up as a monster heel. He did a promo earlier in the night talking about taking care of Hogan, and he either already had a big profile match against Hogan, or would go on to have one later in the year. Animal goes after him as soon as he comes into the ring, but ends up being tossed over the ropes.

The IC champion, and the man that should have won the previous Rumble Match, Mr Perfect was out next! The exact same thing that happened between Earthquake and Animal now happened with "Hacksaw" and Perfect, with the same results. Duggan is out!

Rick Martel is still in the ring btw!

Hulk Hogan is next out (wow, quite a few "big" names coming out in a row), and he takes it to everyone that wants some, and eliminates Ax I think. He goes after Earthquake, but Mr Perfect puts a stop to that, and Earthquake gets the advantage. Imagine if Earthquake eliminated him? Yeah, it wouldn't be that great tbh lol.

"The Hammer" Greg Valentine was in there for quite a while, but was eventually eliminated. He had been in there the longest at the time, but with him gone its down to Martel to make a new RR record.

A great RR moment was made here, as Bushwhacker Luck did his walk down to the ring, walked into the ring, got grabed by Earthquake, walked across the ring, thrown out and then carried on walking to the back. I love it .

Number 29 is the Warlord, who looks like a roided up Steve Austin :p. Not long after he comes up, Hogan throws out Smash. Hogan and the Warlord go at it and Hogan eliminates him. For all of you who have not seen that bit, go watch it because that's as close to Hogan/Austin as we are gonna get!

The huge Tugboat enters at number 30, and goes right after his future tag team partner, Earthquake.

No more guys are left to enter, and the ring is filled with about 7 or 8 superstars all fighting to be the 1991 Royal Rumble winner. Hogan and Tugboat go at it, who I think were friends at the time, and Hogan was almost eliminated! Hogan returned the favour by actually thrown Tugboat out. Neidhart is thrown out soon after by Rick Martel! A few seconds later, Bulldog throws out Haku! We are down to only 5 men now. Martel is doing so well, he decides to go to the top rope, but ends up being thrown out by Bulldog after 53 minutes!

Bulldog isn't in for long after that, leaving Hulk Hogan in a 2 on 1 situation (like last year) against Knobbs and Earthquake. Earthquake hits his quake splash thingy, and Earthquake and Knobbs think they have him beat. Hogan gets right up though, and boots Knobbs over the ropes. He then tries to slam Earthquake, but he falls back and gets crushed. Earthquake then picks him and and hits a huge powerslam, only to have Hogan Hulk Up.

Hogan then slams the huge man, and clotheslines him over the ropes to become the first man to win back to back Rumble matches.

A hugely entertaining Royal Rumble match. The best so far! I would just like to point out, that my Rumble Match ratings are different to my normal match ratings. For example, ***** for a Rumble Match wouldn't mean its as good as the likes of Austin/Bret etc, it just means its a good as a Rumble Match can be.

Rating: ****





Overall Show Rating: 6.5 out of 10

The best Royal Rumble event so far. It had a fantastic opener, the best Rumble match so far, and an ok tag match. The WWF Title match was ok at best, and the other 2 matches went on too long for my liking. Overall though, a good event with a hot crowd for the most part.




Royal Rumble 1992

Regarded by many as the greatest Royal Rumble Match ever, 1992 is one of the most star studded rumbles matches ever. It was also the first (and only) time that the winner of the Rumble match would be the WWF Champion!


The New Foundation Vs Orient Express

For those of you who don't know, The New Foundation is Jim Neidhart and Owen Hart. Bret has moved on to bigger and better things in singles competition, and Jim was left behind needing a new tag partner. Funny as hell to see Jim dressed like Owen at the time. If you have seen it, you will understand why .

Orient Express had an amazing match (also the opener) at last years RR with The Rockers. Owen Hart definatly has the in ring skills to out perform either of The Rockers at this point in time, and with Jim in his corner, there is potential to see a very good yet very different tag match compared to last year.

Nice to see the crowd go crazy when Owen does some cool athletic moves.

As expected, the heels dominate the most of the match after a good start from the faces. Owen is the one they target, as he is the smaller and therefore "easier" to beat.

Owen finally got the hot tag to Jim, and they did some double team moves that allowed them to pick up the win.

Very solid tag team match. Not as good as the opener from last years RR, but very good none the less. Neidhart and Owen made a pretty good team too.

Rating: ***1/2


The Mountie Vs "Rowdy" Roddy Piper - WWF Intercontinental Title

Piper did a great promo just before this match, which I found myself laughing out loud for real at. I won't bother going into detail what he said, but basically: The Mountie is gay .

Watching the match, Piper kinda reminded me of Eddie Guerrero. No, I'm not saying Piper is like Eddie when it comes to wrestling skills :p. I mean that he just seems to have a great presence in the ring, and does little things in the ring that just make me smile, and he keeps me entertained no matter who he is wrestling.

This match isn't great by any means, but it is enjoyable to watch Piper and to finally see him win a title in WWF.

Rating: *3/4


Beverly Brothers Vs The Bushwhackers

*shudders*

Please make it stop. Oh, there is a "skip to next chapter button"? Awesome.

Rating: Didn't Watch


Legion of Doom Vs The Natural Disasters - WWF Tag Team Titles

Just last year at this event, Typhoon was Tugboat, and even had a mini feud with Earthquake I believe.

This was pretty fasted paced considering the size of the guys involved. Decent enough tag match that thankfully didn't go on for too long. Ended with a count out, so TND didn't get the titles. Shame, I always liked them.

Rating: **


1992 Royal Rumble Match

The match starts with The British Bulldog and Ted DiBiase. These 2 men put on a good show for the time they had together, before DiBiase was eliminated! DiBiase had had great success in previous Rumble matches, so for him to be eliminated so quickly was a shock.

Speaking for shocks... RIC FLAIR is number 3! Flair was a HUGE favourite to win this match, and how many at the time really expected Flair to win from this number?

Flair and Bulldog go at it one on one until Saggs comes out and teams up with Flair. Saggs makes a mistake and Bulldog drop kicks him out, leaving him alone with Flair once again.

Haku is out next, and he doesn't just go after Bulldog, but Flair as well. Unfortunately for him, Bulldog manages to get him over the ropes just before the next entrant, who happens to be HBK!So we now have HBK, Bulldog and Flair in the ring. How awesome would a triple threat between these guys be?

The ring starts to fill up now, with nobody getting eliminated for a while.

The Big Boss Man comes out and goes crazy on everyone, while Valentine gets eliminated by... Repo Man? He gets thrown out shortly afterwards by Boss Man.

After relentlessly attacking Flair for most of the time, Bulldog is finally eliminated by Flair. Just after, HBK and Tito eliminate each other. We just went from a pretty full ring to only 2 guys, after Flair and Bossman take everyone out. Boss Man goes after Flair, but ends up throwing himself over the ropes, leaving Flair alone to rest... for about 10 seconds.

Next out is the NEW IC champ, Roddy Piper! He unloads on Flair, and they end up fighting on the outside, then back in the ring. Piper locks in his sleeper hold as the next entrant makes his way out.

Jake "The Snake" Roberts is out next, and for the first time in Royal Rumble history, he doesn't get a huge pop, as he has now turned heel. Watching Jake, Flair and Piper go at it was entertaining as hell. It was soon ruined with Jim Duggan came out though...

A couple more guys come out, then we see the second RR appearance of The Undertaker. Unlike last year, he has Paul Bearer at his side, which suits him much better than Brother Love. 'Taker steps into the ring and throws out Snuka straight away, then goes after Flair.

Macho man is out next and runs down to the ring to go after Jake, who has run out of the ring. He comes back in once he sees that Savage is being beat down, but Savage comes back and takes it to Roberts, and throws him out! Savage then throws himself over the ropes to attack Roberts, but has eliminated himself too. The Undertaker comes out to help Jake, and he throws Savage back in the ring. They claim that he has to be thrown out by someone else, so he is still in the match.

Once again the ring starts to fill up, and I can't believe we are only at entrant number 24. It feels like everyone should have been out now with the time, but I'm not complaining.

The Iron Sheik, or Colonel Mustafa as he is called at this time (???) gets eliminated pretty quickly, which is surprising considering he is a former champion.

Hogan comes out at number 26, and the fans go crazy. 4 guys trap Hogan in a corner, but he fight them off and eliminates The Undertaker, followed by The Berserker. Hacksaw and Virgil and eliminated too, but I didn't see who by.

Flair and Hogan go at it for a while, with Hogan trying to throw out Flair, but he isn't able to.

Sid is number 29, and like most other giants that come out, I was expecting him to throw a couple of guys over the ropes, but he doesn't. Number 30 is The Warlord, but I doubt anyone cares.

Flair and Hogan go at it again, and they even fight on the outside. Back in the ring, Sid gets his first elimination by launching Slaughter out. Piper, who has been in this match for quite some time as well, eliminates IRS. Hogan and Sid then double team Warlord out of the match. So much for being number 30.

Sid then throws out both Piper and Martel at the same time, and with help from Flair, he eliminates Savage. We are down to the final 3 now; Flair, Hogan and Sid. Hogan goes after Flair, and Sid comes from behind and eliminated Hogan! Hogan then grabs Sid, and Flair is able to throw Sid over. We have a new WWF Title!!!

As far as Royal Rumble Matches go, this is Perfect! So many big names, Flair entering number 3 and winning, and of course, having the title on the line made it even better.

Rating: *****




Overall Show Rating: 7 out of 10

The best Rumble match ever, a good opener, a solid tag team title match and an entertaining IC title match make this the best Royal Rumble PPV so far.

The first in the set of Royal Rumble anthology boxes, this set harks back to a time when the Royal Rumble match genuinely was one of the most exciting, anticipated matches of the year. This selection of Rumbles showcase the only era in which the winner was not generally predictable (nowadays they promote only a handful of viable winners, 2008 notwithstanding), and as such are incredibly heated matches.

1988: a network TV event, the first Royal Rumble is only a short event, but, a rarity at this time, completely lacks Hulk Hogan. an enjoyable event, despite the eventual winner!!

1989: probably the biggest suprise winner of any Royal Rumble match, plus an early PPV appearance by Shawn Michaels; under card is a little bland though

1990: the best Royal Rumble card until 2001, IMHO. a cracking undercard, espeially Greg Valentine vs Ronnie Garvin,despite the names listed, and one of the most heated Rumbles ever, with the first ever televised in-ring meeting of Hogan and the Ultimate Warrior - listen to the roar of the live crowd!

1991: a second consecutive strong Rumble match, the first in which the winner got a title shot a Wrestlemania (though not an official rule, it was strongly alluded to at the end) and an amazing performance by Rick Martel; a forgotten gem of an opener in the Rockers vs the Orient Express (this is what tag team wrestling should be like) but a mediocre selection of other matches

1992: many believe this to be the greatest Rumble match ever, and it is arguably Ric Flair's WWE 'magnum opus'. the last of the 'unpredictable' Rumbles. the under card, though, was quite poor

Overall: a must for 'wrestling historians' as many major events in WWE history occur; some fantastic action and a time where Rumbles were actually really good matches (note to WWE: bring back the 2-minute rule) - 8 out of 10