Nickrj’s rant for Royal Rumble 1989
I rented a few videos from Hollywood video and I thought that I should start to do some more tapes. I also have several others so those should be on the page within the next few months. Let’s get started with the tapes I rented today!
The first one I rented is Royal Rumble 1989 which aired January 15 1989 from the Summit in Houston, Texas
Your hosts are Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura
This is the Coliseum version, which edited out the Harley Race/King Haku crown match (Thank god.)
Opening Match: 2 out of 3 falls Six Man Tag, Hacksaw Jim Duggan and The Hart Foundation VS Dino Bravo (with Frenchy Martin) and The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers (with Jimmy Hart)
1st Fall
Interesting as Bravo and the Rougeaus are from Montreal and Jesse notes that they can all speak French. Jim Neidhart and Bravo start off. Bravo with a side headlock and a shoulderblock doesn’t budge the Anvil. Anvil hits a clothesline but misses an elbow and so does Bravo. Duggan comes in and the arena explodes for him. Raymond comes in and Duggan starts a USA chant. Duggan slams Raymond and hits a kneedrop. Bret Hart comes in and grabs the right arm. He gets an inside cradle for 2 and a sunset flip for 2. A cross body gets another 2. Jacques comes in now and starts working on Bret but takes a clothesline and an elbow. Anvil comes in and nails both Rougeaus and it turns into a 6 man brawl. Bret kicks Jacques from behind but Ray pulls the top rope down and Bret goes to the outside. Bravo comes in now and hits a sidewalk slam and the Rougeaus hit their finisher for the pin at 4:31 giving the first fall to Bravo and the Rougeaus.
2nd Fall
Bret and Jacques start the second fall and Jacques does the camel clutch. Anvil comes in and breaks it but Raymond continues to work on it. Bravo comes in and nearly misses Bret for 2. Jacques comes back in and does a Boston Crab. Bret tries to make it to his own corner though but Ray comes in to tie up the ref and the Anvil is tagged in but the ref escorts him out. Ray comes in illegally and does an Ab Stretch and uses Jacques for leverage. Jacques continues the ab stretch. Ray comes in and hits a savat kick for 2. Bret falls on top of Ray on a slam attempt for 2. Jacques climbs on top but Bret blocks a monkey flip and hits an inverted atomic drop. Bret makes the hot tag to Duggan and he pounds on everyone. He sends Anvil on top of Ray and Bret as well. Duggan hits an elbow for the pin at 10:10. We’re tied at 1 fall apiece!
3rd Fall
Duggan starts with Ray. Duggan pounds away on Ray but he gets caught in the wrong corner. Bravo comes in and kicks Duggan in the gut. Triple team occurs on Duggan. Jacques comes in and hits a dropkick. Another 6 man brawl erupts but the ref gets the Harts back out. Bravo comes in and hits an inverted atomic drop that sends Duggan into his own corner. Bret comes in and hammers on Bravo and hits a back breaker but misses a 2nd rope elbow. The ref is tied up in the heel’s corner. And in the melee Duggan hits Bravo with the 2X4 and Bret gets the pin at 14:55 giving the win to Duggan and the Harts. Okay match but it’s no beauty *1/2
We get a look at some wrestlers drawing their numbers for the Royal Rumble match. Ted Dibiase draws his number and he’s not happy so he gets Slick to talk with him. The Bushwhackers draw and they want to trade. Honky Tonk Man draws his and is pissed. Bad News Brown is happy with his number. Demolition draws theirs and Ax says the he’s gonna have a long night and Smash says the same. Jake Roberts draws his and he and Damien hope Andre is in the ring when he’s there.
The fans choose the winner of this. Boy I bet I know who’s going to win this then! Rude brings with him a flexible workout bar that looks like a vacumn tube. There are 4 different poses. The first is Double Biceps. Rude does his pose and he looks pretty good however the fans don’t like it because HE IS A HEEL! Warrior does his and the fans goes nuts for it because HE IS A FACE! The next two poses are best abdonimals and most muscular and it goes the same way. The last one is a medley of poses and as the Warrior does his pose Rude nails the Warrior with the workout bar and chokes him out with it. The Warrior goes nuts and clears the ring of all the officals and goes after Ravishing Rick. Only thing noteworthy of this is this set up Wrestlemania V. Which I’ll get into sometime soon.
Sherri Martel issues a challenge to the winner of the match and joins Gorilla and Jesse. Robin of course would sing the CLASSIC version of America The Beautiful at WM V. This match is heavily clipped I believe. Martin work on Robin and hits a clothesline for 2. She hits a slam for another 2. Robin comes back with a DDT for 2 but misses an elbow. Martin misses her’s as well. Martin reverses a slam and gets 2. Martin gets a backslide for 2. Robin kicks Martin in the gut for 2 and gets an inside cradle for 2. Robin does a fake on the 2nd rope and hits a spinning high cross body for the pin at 2:47. Thank god it was clipped and the finish gave this match ¼*
2 minute intervals here. Ax is #1 and Smash is #2 and it sets up as a fight between Demolition. They pretty much do nothing in a brawl between each other. Ax almost throws his partner out but Smash land on the apron. Andre the Giant is #3 and Demolition turns to face the Giant. They knock Andre down with a double clothesline and try to choke him out. Andre fights back with a knee buster though. Mr. Perfect (Curt Henning) is #4. We finally have a good worker in there now. Andre throws Smash out. Ax and Henning try to get Andre out but can’t. Ax turns on Perfect and rams him into the turnbuckle. Andre chokes out Ax and nails Pefect with a head butt. Ron Garvin is #5 and he chops Andre and is tied in the ropes. All 3 guys work on Andre who is tied. Andre breaks free though and starts going back to work. Greg Valentine is #6 and it turns into 4 on 1 on Andre. But Andre fights back and throws out Garvin. Man this is a boring rumble so far. Andre chokes out Valentine and then does the same to Ax. Jake Roberts is #7 and he goes after Andre who he was feuding with at the time. But Andre quickly takes the advantage over Jake. Henning and Valentine double team Ax who’s been in there for 11 and a half minutes now. #8 is Ron Bass with a crew cut courtesy of Brutus Beefcaks on SNME. Andre tosses out Jake. He’s eliminated everyone thus far and he works on Henning and Valentine but gets caught by Bass. #9 is Shawn Michaels who goes to work on Bass. Perfect throws out Ax after nearly 15 minutes. He almost throws out Shawn but he gets back in. Shawn dropkicks Perfect but he manages to stay on the apron. Andre is choking out Bass in the corner. Henning and Shawn are having a pretty good match in there. Butch of the Bushwhackers is #10. Jake comes back in with Damian and sends Andre over the top rope and out. That’s how afraid Andre was of snakes. He should’ve appeared on the Maury show. Down to 5 men in there now. Perfect really nails Bass. #11 is the Honky Tonk Man and he and Bass go to work on Butch (Yaaaaay!). Perfect almost gets Honky out. But Honky gets back in and rams Shawn into Perfect. They try to get Shawn out but can’t. Perfect almost dumps Honky again. #12 is Tito Santana who goes after Henning. Good matchup there. But he gets caught by Bass. Butch almost gets rid of Honky. Bass hits a big back drop on Shawn as Valentine tries to get Santana out rekindling their feud from 1984/85. #13 is Bad News Brown and he goes after Bass. Santana and Butch get rid of Honky. Butch and Shawn double team on Brown. Bass and Valentine double team on Santana. Shawn nails a nice top rope elbow on Brown and Bass. But he’s almost atomic dropped out by Valentine. Marty Jeanetty is #14 who goes after Bass but Bass turns the tables. The Rockers now double team Bass and a double drop kick sends him out. Santana is limping, I don’t know if this is real or not but he nails Valentine with the flying forearm. He and Butch try to get Valentine out but Valentine gets an eye poke. WWF Champ Randy Savage is #15 who goes after Bad News Brown. But he gets nailed by Valentine. Marty and Valentine try to get Brown out. Brown misses a charge in the corner on Savage. Arn Anderson is #16 as Savage dumps Valentine out. Arn goes after Shawn and he and Savage double team Shawn and get rid of him. Santana and Butch try to get Henning out now. These two make a pretty good team J. Anderson gets caught on the top rope. Tully Blanchard is #17. and he goes after Jeanetty and they almost get rid of Jeanetty. Santana is now clutching his back. Blanchard hits an inverted atomic drop on Jeanetty. Anderson hits the spinebuster. And the Busters almost get Jeanetty out and finally do. Hulk Hogan is #18! He goes after Perfect and gets rid of him after 28 minutes. He goes after Brown next. Savage gets Santana out. Brown almost gets Hogan out. Savage almost has Butch out but Brown saves him. Luke is #19. He lasts longer than he would 2 years later but Butch is eliminated by Brown. The Mega Powers try to get Brown out but can’t. Hogan gives Blanchard a stunner. Blanchard and Luke double team on Hogan as Anderson and Brown double team on Savage. Koko B. Ware is #20. Koko dropkicks Butch and Anderson. Anderson gets caught on the top by Hogan. Hogan gets rid of Koko and Butch not at the same time though. But he does get rid of both Busters at the same time. #21 is the Warlord. He comes in and immediately gets clotheslined out by Hogan. Maybe the shortest time ever and that includes Luke. Hogan dumps both Brown and Savage and Savage jumps into the ring and starts arguing with Hogan and Elizabeth comes into the ring to settle things down. The Mega Powers make up inside the ring and shake hands and then Savage leaves. Big Boss Man is #22 and he and Hogan have had problems in the past. Hogan clotheslines Boss Man and slams him. Boss Man nails an avalanche in the corner though as well as a piledriver. Akeem is #23 and now it’s both Twin Towers VS Hogan. Hogan works on both fat boys and slams Akeem but it quickly turns into a 2 on 1. Hogan climbs back in after almost getting dumped out by Boss Man. He hurts himself on a back suplex and the Towers hit a club sandwich in the corner and they get rid of Hogan. Hogan pulls Boss Man underneath the bottom rope and rams him into the ring bell. #24 is Brutus Beefcake. and he jumps on Akeem who went outside to save the Boss Man. All 3 participants are back in and The Towers double team Beefcake but Hogan pulls the top rope down and pulls the Boss Man out. Jeez Hogan go back to the locker room already! Hogan and the Boss Man fight back into the locker room. Akeem almost gets Beefcake out. #25 is The Red Rooster (Terry Taylor) who goes after Akeem but Akeem quickly turns the tables. Beefcake and Taylor try to get Akeem out but can’t. The Barbarian is #26 and he goes after Beefcake and Taylor and then Akeem. This match is getting boring once again. Barbie tries to get rid of Beefcake and Akeem hits the BIG FAT SPLASH on Taylor. #27 is Big John Studd. He goes after Akeem and tries to get him out. Barbie tries to get Taylor out and Beefcake tries to get rid of Barbie. #28 is Hercules who goes after Barbie. Studd continues to work on Akeem. Hercules works on Taylor. #29 is Rick Martel who goes to work on Akeem. He nails a drop kick on Taylor. Nothing of note continues to happen in the ring as #30 is the Million Dollar Man, Ted Dibiase who obviously didn’t draw number 30. Virgil decides to stay at ringside as Dibiase goes after his nemesis Hercules and then he goes to work on Taylor. Taylor hits an elbow on Dibiase. But Dibiase throws the Rooster out and goes after Herc again. Beefcake hits the sleeper on Herc and Dibiase and Barbie dump both those guys out. 5 men are left. Barbie hits a flying tackle on Martel. Dibiase goes after Studd. Barbie hits a powerslam on Martel and a top rope flying headbutt. He misses a charge and a dropkick sends Barbie out. He runs into Akeem who dumps Martel. Akeem and Dibiase start the double team on Studd but Studd fights back They continue to work on Studd and Akeem hits an avalanche. He tries again but Studd pulls Dibiase in front of him and Studd clothelines Akeem out. Down to Studd and Dibiase and Teddy tries to bribe his way out of this but it doesn’t work and he’s dumped out at 63:08 and Virgil attacks Studd but gets beat up for it. Big John Studd is the winner of the 2nd annual Royal Rumble matchup! But this was a pretty mediocre rumble **3/4.
Summary: Pretty lackluster show all around. It’s good for historical reasons but nothing much else.
RECOMMENDATION TO AVOID