It’s been quite the year. With 2018 coming to a close, it’s time to look back at various things that WWE has done over the year. That’s what WWE has done and now we get to explain why they’re wrong.

In a series of articles and playlists, WWE has announced some of its bests of the year. Since we can’t have the Slammys anymore, this will have to do.

Match Of The Year – Charlotte vs. Becky Lynch, Last Woman Standing – Evolution

I get the idea here but with NXT matches included, this had to be something involving Johnny Gargano. Speaking of which, his match with Ciampa in Chicago is second, but the New Orleans match is nowhere to be seen. I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt on that one and say that it’s a one match per feud deal.

Microphone Moment Of The Year – The YES Movement Is Dead – Daniel Bryan, Smackdown – November 20

Yeah I’ve got no issues here. This was one of the best done heel explanations I’ve seen in a long time. It’s not what Bryan said, but the way he said it. How bad would you imagine something like this to be? Bryan is one of the most popular wrestlers of this generation with one of the most chantable catchphrases but he managed to make the fans hate him all over again and shut them down like almost no one else can do. This was very impressive and worthy of the spot.

Debut Of The Year – Ronda Rousey

Oh come on like this was going to be anyone else. Rousey had been rumored for months and then finally showed up after the first ever Women’s Royal Rumble to shake things up that much more. She got a pop and a half and then turned out to be one of the best rookies anyone had ever seen. No one knew she would be this good and it all started with an awesome moment, including the worst pointing ever seen.

Return Of The Year – Rey Mysterio – Smackdown 1000

There weren’t a lot of options here and Mysterio’s return (both of them) worked fine. They’re going with the full time version here and that’s fine, with Mysterio being announced in advance instead of as the big surprise. I can go back and forth on that and either would have worked here. Mysterio is a big name star and having him show up made the show feel that much more important.

NXT Maneuver Of The Year – Adam Cole superkicks Ricochet out of the air – Takeover: Brooklyn IV

Ok so I completely short changed this one in the initial review as I saw it again on the highlight reel and EGADS this looked awesome. The timing it took to hit that so perfectly is straight up there with Shawn Michaels vs. Shelton Benjamin, which is some pretty high praise. This was awesome and deserved way more credit than I gave it.

Just bring back the Slammys already.

I’ll be starting my awards next week, and this year I’ll be doing them far faster as I’ve taken forever to get them done in previous years.

For those of you who don’t know, this is one of the holy grails of wrestling books as there was a single printing and nothing else.  I heard that it was available at a used bookstore in town and was there as soon as possible to see if it was still available.  As you might be able to guess, it was, meaning I got to have some fun.Now I didn’t buy it, as I can’t bring myself to pay $100 for the sake of a single book (though it regularly sells for more than that online).  I did however sit down and read it cover to cover in the store (which took some time).  This one had a little something inside though, as in addition to being autographed by Cornette himself, there was this surprise:

That would be an autograph from Bill Watts, saying “Jimmy, without a doubt, my life has been blessed by your wonderful friendship and talent”.  Watts was the owner of Mid-South Wrestling and very influential in developing Cornette’s character and star power.

Now what is so special about this book?  Well in addition to some amazing photographs, including personal letters and even pay slips from shows, Cornette kept a log of nearly every Midnight Express match ever and included them here, plus most of the houses for the shows.  This includes notes under several matches, including why a house might have been up or down or impressive or a disappointment.  There are also several of Cornette’s hilarious stories, funny Christmas poems he wrote on Christmas cards to the locker room back in WCW (he read them on a recent podcast and they’re worth hearing) and a complete history of the team, both before they got together and after their split.

All in all, if you can somehow find this thing (good luck) and can afford it, check this out as it’s one of the most unique and informative wrestling books you’ll ever find.

IMG Credit: Major League Wrestling

Fusion #36
Date: December 28, 2018
Location: Scottish Rite Temple, Miami, Florida
Commentators: Rich Bocchini, Tony Schiavone

It’s time for one of the biggest matches of this taping, if not the main event of the whole thing. This week we’ll be seeing Konnan come out of retirement to challenge Low Ki for the World Title in a match that is almost destined to go the way of shenanigans. Other than that, it’s time for more build towards Super Fight, which should be a changing of the guard. Let’s get to it.

Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.

We open with a recap of the war between Konnan and Salina de la Renta, which has seen Konnan bringing in one name after another to go after Low Ki. With all of them having been vanquished, it’s Konnan’s time to do it himself.

Opening sequence.

The announcers preview the World Title match.

We look back at Tom Lawlor choking out Simon Gotch last week.

Here’s Gotch for the $20,000 open challenge, which is almost never a good idea.

Simon Gotch vs. Ace Romero

Romero weighs about 400lbs and Gotch knows he screwed up. Some chops just annoy Ace so Gotch jumps on his back for a choke. That goes as well as expected, meaning Gotch bails outside for a breather. The threat of a suicide dive has Gotch terrified but he comes back with some strikes to the face. Romero shrugs those off and slams Gotch, setting up the running splash for the win at 2:02. Total squash, as it should have been. You have to think that’s about it for Gotch around here after two straight losses.

Romero throws some of the money to the crowd.

Rush vs. LA Park is still confirmed for the April 4 show.

Kotto Brazil is out due to injuries suffered at a nightclub. Ricky Martinez was there and rather enjoying himself with some strippers. Martinez has been suspended but he’s not exactly worried because MLW can’t hold Promociones Dorado down.

Ariel Dominguez vs. Andrew Everett

Dominguez is a hometown boy and rather small in stature. Feeling out process to start with the overly cocky Everett getting taken down by the leg. Everett takes him down as well and hits a very soft Lionsault to the back. The nerve hold goes on for a bit before Everett goes with a big boot instead. Dominguez is right back up with a rolling German suplex, which Bocchini says Dominguez learned from training with Team Filthy. That’s quite the detail. Dominguez gets taken down again and Everett goes up, only to have his shooting star press hit knees. A small package gives Dominguez the upset at 3:05.

Rating: C. Perfectly fine, albeit short match. The big upset was a nice surprise with the much smaller Dominguez taking advantage of the cocky veteran. That’s a story that is going to work no matter what and it was fine here too. I’m not sure how far Dominguez can go but at least they’re going him something to build from.

We look back at Teddy Hart winning the Middleweight Title.

Konnan is ready to expose Salina and Low Ki tonight.

We look back at Brian Pillman Jr. hitting Tommy Dreamer low to win a tag match.

Dreamer applauds Pillman for teaching him something. He looks into Pillman’s eyes and sees doubt and insecurity, which he had when was Pillman’s age. They’re going into a Singapore cane match and Dreamer knows what’s going on in Pillman’s head. For every Charlotte and Randy Orton, there’s an Angelo Mosca Jr. and Bruno Sammartino Jr. (David was so lame that he’s become Bruno Jr.) and Pillman needs to know what he’s doing. Dreamer has some evil things in his head and Pillman is about to find them out.

We recap Tom Lawlor vs. Low Ki, including the long brawl between the two of them on the live show from two weeks back.

We get a new H2 video with Pillman working out at a gym. He’s on the phone with a girl, saying he needs to get in his cardio but insists that she’s his best girl. Later, Teddy is with him, saying that the Hart Foundation wants the Tag Team Titles.

Lawlor is fired up about waiting seven months since winning the Battle Riot and biding his time until he gets his title shot. Low Ki is a coward who will never see a real champion when he looks in the mirror. Next week, Lawlor is coming for him.

Matt Striker hypes up the main event.

MLW World Title: Konnan vs. Low Ki

Hometown boy Konnan is challenging and there’s no DQ. Konnan gets smart by knocking him cold with a loaded sock but Ricky Martinez pulls the champ to the floor for the early save. Salina comes out to check on the bloody Low Ki, who finally crawls back inside. He’s still able to kick at the mostly immobile Konnan but falls down into the Tequila Sunrise. That’s enough to draw Martinez inside for the save but Low Ki dropkicks him by mistake.

What looked like a battery shot puts Low Ki down again so Salina comes in, only to have Konnan take the cane away. Low Ki makes another save and gets a beer bottle, which he stomps Konnan face first into for even more blood. Some shots to the cut make things even worse for Konnan and Martinez comes in for a few shots of his own. Cue Hijo de LA Park to make it even worse with Low Ki pounding on the kidneys until the referee stops it at 5:37.

Rating: D-. Well that wasn’t quite what I was expecting and I wasn’t sure what to expect. Konnan wasn’t going to be able to work a match here so that’s fine, but this felt more like “what was the point” more than anything else. It was entertaining in a freak show way, and that’s not exactly enough for a match that was hyped up this heavily.

Post match Salina hands Low Ki a spike….and he stabs Konnan in the back, which the announcers call a shanking. Lawlor FINALLY comes in for the save. That’s quite a bit too far and not something I really wanted to see in a wrestling show. Once you get into attempted murder, it’s a little too much for me to take.

Pentagon is down in the back to end the show (with Tony saying it must be the work of Promociones “Delrado”). At least that explains the lack of a save.

Overall Rating: D. The opening two matches weren’t much to see but they weren’t the point of the show. Part of the problem at the moment is we’re waiting on Super Fight where Lawlor should win the title in the most obvious title changes in years. That’s all well and good, but at the same time it can make for some trying times before we get to the title change. The shanking things was a bit much, but maybe they need to write Konnan off TV for a bit. Not a great show, but most of that is due to me not liking the big angle at the end. We’ll call it a misfire, instead of something horrible though and that’s going to happen.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 1997 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2018/11/20/new-paperback-complete-1997-monday-night-raw-reviews/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

IMG Credit: Major League Wrestling

Fusion Christmas Day Special
Date: December 25, 2018
Location: Cicero Stadium, Chicago, Illinois
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Rich Bocchini

So this is exactly what the title says it is: a special show that aired as a surprise on Christmas Day. It’s not quite as long as the regular episode of Fusion but in this case that might be a good thing. For a special show like this, you don’t want to overstay your welcome and if you get a good show out of it, cool. Let’s get to it.

Opening sequence.

PCO says he’s not human and Brody King can’t handle the electricity.

PCO vs. Brody King

No DQ and a rematch of a match that went insane. They slug it out to start with King being sent outside for a quick suicide dive. King’s chop hits the post and he hurts his hand trying to chop PCO again. Well what else was he expecting? A chair shot slows PCO down a bit and King sits him in said chair for a running cannonball. It takes a few seconds but the chair does indeed break underneath the two of them.

PCO is right back with a DDT on the floor (THUD) and let’s bring in a table just because. King is laid on top and there’s the big flip dive from the balcony, which of course doesn’t break the table. Of course he’s still walking and staggers to the ring as King puts a piece of the barricade inside. A suplex sends PCO through the barricade for two with Tony losing it on these kickouts.

PCO gets loaded up to the top but shoves King down, setting up a moonsault to the referee as King made a switch for some illogical reason. I mean, he could have just rolled away instead but I guess that’s not violent enough. Four chairs are set up in the middle and PCO shoves him into the corner, setting up a chokeslam onto the chairs for the pin at 9:24.

Rating: C+. You know, the tagline of PCO is not human is about as appropriate as you can get. The guy really does come off as a monster and for the life of me I still can’t believe that it’s the same guy that was in the Quebecers. That’s one of the all time great comebacks and I’m very happy for him to get an ROH deal out of this, as no one pulls off something like this.

Maxwell Jacob Friedman challenged Puma King to a flag match because he’s sick of these luchadors stealing jobs from American wrestlers. Tonight he’s going to literally skin the cat because he’s just better.

Ace Austin vs. Myron Reed

Austin is making his debut. They fight over a test of strength to start and it’s time for the flips without the grip being broken. Totally not choreographed at all. Reed gets two off a rollup and kicks Austin into the corner. Austin’s knee to the head gets the same and a kick to the head makes it even worse. A springboard Disaster Kick sends Reed outside and the Fosbury Flop moonsault connects back inside. Reed shoves him off the top for a BIG crash to the floor, followed by an even bigger running flip dive over the post for the huge spot of the night.

Back in and Reed nips up for a cutter, followed by an Oscutter for a rather near fall. Austin is smart enough to roll outside before Reed can hit something else. Well in theory that’s smart as you don’t know about Reed. Back in and Austin gets in a shot to the face, setting up a top rope spinning Fameasser and another near fall. Another Oscutter is countered into a not great looking exchange of rollups, capped off by another cutter to Austin. Back up and Austin tries another rollup but Reed sits down on it for the pin at 7:08.

Rating: C. This had a little bit of the too pre-planned feeling to it but it was still entertaining enough. What matters the most here is both guys looking good and giving the fans something that they would want to see again. Reed’s huge dive looked awesome and was one of the better looking flips I’ve seen in a good while. Austin was rather good too and you can almost guarantee that both of them will be back.

Maxwell Jacob Friedman vs. Puma King

Non-title flag match, meaning you pull down your own flag to win with Aria Blake and Konnan are the seconds. Friedman’s America is AWESOME speech is cut off and, after some of Puma’s rather energetic antics, we’re ready to go. Friedman draws a line in the middle of the ring so Puma lays on the top rope. They go to some basic takedowns until King stops for the required Fortnite dancing.

A cheap shot from Konnan earns some cheering but Friedman knocks King outside for a Fosbury Flop of his own (giving us some continuity issues as Bocchini said the one in the previous match was the second of the night, whereas here he made it sound like the first). They head outside with Puma being whipped into the barricade as Tony can’t figure out why the fans are chanting for Friedman. The fight heads into the crowd but Friedman is smart enough to run back over the barricade as King has a chair loaded up.

A Blake distraction lets Friedman snap King’s throat across the ropes, leaving the announcers to wonder why Friedman isn’t going for the flag. The chinlock goes on instead until King kicks him in the head. King gets tied in the Tree of Woe but manages to pull himself up for a hurricanrana. A push into the rope crotches King but he’s right back with a superbomb. That, plus a kiss to Blake, is enough for King to pull the flag down for the win at 7:12.

Rating: D+. Puma is fun to watch and I’m a rather big fan of Friedman’s talking, but this didn’t do much for me. The wrestling wasn’t the point here so Puma got to shine, but is there really a need to have the champion lose like this? That happens to him too often and even though he’s on the shelf at the moment, it’s rather annoying to see it keep happening.

Overall Rating: C-. Considering this was a bonus show, there’s nothing too bad to see and that’s perfectly acceptable. This wasn’t even forty minutes long and they manages to keep things fast enough to prevent it from being boring. It wasn’t about storylines or anything like that and the action was watchable enough. It’s nothing you need to see, but it’s fine for a nice little surprise.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 1997 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2018/11/20/new-paperback-complete-1997-monday-night-raw-reviews/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

IMG Credit: WWE

Royal Rumble 1991
Date: January 19, 1991
Location: Miami Arena, Miami, Florida
Attendance: 16,000
Commentators: Gorilla Monsoon, Roddy Piper

So it’s 1991 now and the US is at war (kind of). Therefore, the main event here, other than the Rumble of course, is Warrior defending the world title against Slaughter. This is a major changeover from the old Rumble formula which was a bunch of nothing matches followed by the big battle royal to close the show. Well at least on PPV that is. This would become the norm after this (other than in 1992) so let’s get to it.

We open with the national anthem to really hammer home the AMERICA ROCKS theme.

We get the usual list of a bunch of people in the Rumble.

Piper goes on one his big America rants about how much he loves the troops.

Rockers vs. Orient Express

The Express are Kato and Tanaka. Kato is a white guy named Paul Diamond in a mask pretending to be a Japanese guy. Shawn gets jumped to start and hit with a big double backdrop. Marty dropkicks Kato to the floor and superkicks Tanaka down as the Rockers take over. The Rockers hit stereo suicide dives to take the Express (popular names for tag teams no?) down on the floor.

The crowd is LOVING the Rockers here because they’re AMERICAN! Jannetty and Kato start things off with Kato getting caught in a headlock. Things speed up already and Marty controls with a headscissors on the mat. That gets turned into a backslide for two for Jannetty and we have a standoff. Marty makes the Express collide with each other before working on Tanaka’s arm.

Shawn comes in off the top with another shot to the arm but Tanaka comes back with a kick to the face and a chinlock. We get an overly complicated running the ropes spot which results in the Express having their heads rammed together. It’s still Tanaka vs. Shawn here and we go from a chinlock to a sleeper by Shawn. Marty tries to come in for no apparent reason, allowing Kato to blast Michaels in the back to give the Express control for the first time.

Everything breaks down and we get multiple do-see-do sequences, finally resulting in the Express being rammed into each other and being sent to the floor. Shawn busts out a kind of prototype 619 before the Rockers dive on both members of the Express in a cool spot. Back to Kato vs. Marty and we hit another chinlock. Shawn comes back in for a vertical suplex but Tanaka breaks up a monkey flip by guillotining Shawn from the apron.

Tanaka comes in and we get the World’s Greatest Tag Team spot of Tanaka jumping over Kato’s back to land on Shawn’s back as Shawn is draped over the ropes. A shot to Shawn’s throat keeps him down and it’s off to the nerve hold. Things slow down a lot as Kato comes in to chop away. A superkick puts Shawn down again (how appropriate) but he comes back by slamming Tanaka’s face down into the mat.

The place is really getting into the Rockers here as Kato takes his belt off. The Express tries to clothesline him with it but Shawn dives onto the belt to ran both Express members into each other. Hot tag brings in Marty to clean house and a powerslam gets two on Kato. Tanaka breaks up a backslide attempt so Shawn trips up Kato to retaliate. Everything breaks down again and Tanaka breaks up the Rocket Launcher. Kato slingshots Marty into a Tanaka chop and Jannetty is in trouble. They load it up again, but Shawn blasts Tanaka, allowing Marty to counter the slingshot into a sunset flip on Tanaka for the pin out of nowhere.

Rating: B+. This would have been a masterpiece if they had cut out a minute or two of the chinlocks. Still though, this follows the Nitro formula to the letter: take four small guys, give them a long time, get an exciting match. That’s the perfect choice for an opener and it worked well here. The Rockers would continue to be awesome for the rest of the year until splitting in December in the famous Barber Shop incident.

Macho Man wants a shot at the winner of the title match. Slaughter has agreed to this idea for some reason, and Sherri is on her way to the arena to get Warrior to agree to the same.

Here’s Sherri on the platform (yeah back then they had an interview platform along with the one in the back) to call out Warrior. Savage is watching in the back and Sherri takes forever to get Warrior to come out. She begs the patriotic Warrior and tries to seduce him (oh dear that’s a terrifying thought) and gets on her knees, only to have Warrior shout NO. Savage LOSES IT in the back over this. Somehow these segments took like seven minutes.

Big Bossman vs. Barbarian

This is part of a storyline that worked quite well until the ending. Rick Rude had insulted Boss Man’s mother, but Boss Man was told he had to beat every member of the Heenan Family before he got a match with Rude. Unfortunately Rude left the company before Boss Man got to him so Boss Man got Mr. Perfect at Mania….but he didn’t win Perfect’s IC title and that basically ended the storyline. Still though, the build was good and it gave Boss Man something to do for months. The eventual payoff was him literally dropping a big metal ball on Heenan’s ribs.

Anyway Barbarian pounds away to start but gets kicked in the head and elbowed down. They head to the floor for Boss Man to send Barbarian into the post before heading back inside. Barbarian goes up but jumps into a punch, sending him right back to the floor. Barbie suplexes him down and punches Boss Man in the face, knocking him into the ropes where his feet get tied up.

Barbarian pounds away a bit before ramming Boss Man back first into the post. Off to a bearhug by Barbarian followed by an elbow for two. Back to the bearhug for a little bit longer until Boss Man headbutts (bad stereotypes!) his way out. A splash in the corner misses and Barbarian gets two off a rollup, only to have Boss Man get the same off a clothesline. They hit head to head and both guys go down.

Barbarian is on his feet first and goes up and hits his top rope clothesline for two. There’s the Boss Man Slam but Boss Man walks around before covering, allowing Barbie to grab a rope. An awkward looking piledriver puts Boss Man down for no cover again. Barbarian goes up for a cross body of all things but Boss Man rolls through it for the pin.

Rating: C. This was a fine match but the ending is kind of weird. I have no idea why they didn’t have the Slam end the match here but for some reason it kept going for another minute or two afterwards. Still though, decent enough match and Boss Man was just CRAZY over at this point. The hot crowd helped a lot here.

Slaughter and General Adnan rant for a bit and say Slaughter is winning the title tonight. For some reason while Slaughter is talking they shift to another camera so he has to turn ninety degrees.

The Warrior isn’t worried about Slaughter and says he’ll give the orders tonight.

Quick recap on the world title match: Slaughter is a former American patriot and is now changing over to Iraq because he’s that kind of a villain. Warrior is defending and that’s about all there is to it.

WWF World Title: Sgt. Slaughter vs. Ultimate Warrior

Gorilla gives a disclaimer, saying that Slaughter and Adnan’s views don’t represent those of the WWF or most of America. If that was anyone other than Gorilla Monsoon, I’d say he wasn’t allowed to speak for America, but Gorilla Monsoon speaks for me. There’s a t-shirt idea in there somewhere. The belt is purple tonight in case you’re wondering. Yeah Warrior went a bit nuts (shocking I know) with having multiple belt colors for some reason. The heels try to attack him with the Iraqi Flag but Warrior will have nothing of it and clotheslines them both down.

Slaughter gets the flag shoved into his mouth and Warrior pounds away. He chokes Slaughter with said flag and chops away in the corner as Slaughter is in trouble. Warrior sends Slaughter into the corner for his over the buckle bump to the floor. Here’s Sherri to trip up Warrior and draw him back up towards the entrance. Savage is waiting on Warrior and beats the tar out of the champion with light fixtures as Slaughter gets a breather.

The Sarge wisely stops the count a few times, allowing Warrior to get back in. Slaughter pounds away in the corner as he starts softening up the back for the Camel Clutch. Apparently the middle eastern moveset comes with becoming an Iraqi sympathizer. The crowd absolutely HATES Slaughter here and boos anything he does. Warrior gets sent into the buckle but they clothesline each other down. Naturally a single clothesline is enough to counteract that long run of offense by Slaughter and get us back to even.

Slaughter gets up first and puts on a bearhug for a LONG time. Warrior breaks it up but walks right into a backbreaker for two. There’s the Camel Clutch but Warrior’s legs are under the ropes. Warrior Warriors Up and beats Slaughter down but here’s Sherri again to frenzy up the crowd. Warrior loads her up in the gorilla press and throws her onto a charging Savage in the aisle. Savage pops up again and blasts Warrior in the face with his scepter, allowing Slaughter to drop an elbow for the pin and the title, STUNNING the crowd.

Rating: D+. The match was dull for the most part but the heat was insane. The crowd audibly calls this BS and you can’t really argue that point. Aside from that, this sets up Wrestlemania really well, as we need a REAL AMERICAN to take the title back. Pay no attention to the fact that the war had already been over by Wrestlemania.

Gorilla LOSES IS when the title change is announced.

Koko B. Ware vs. The Mountie

The crowd is still in shock at this point so here’s a match to pass some time. Mountie has Jimmy Hart with him here and is doing the shock stick gimmick still. A lot of stalling to start things off here until Koko hits that dropkick of his. Ware cranks on the arm after Mountie hides on the floor for a bit. Mountie backdrops him to the floor in a big bump and takes over. Hart gets in a shouting match with Frankie the parrot as this match drags on and on. Koko gets a quick two on a sunset flip as Jimmy argues with Frankie some more.

A piledriver is broken up by Ware but Mountie pounds away even more to stop the comeback. Koko grabs a neckbreaker and hits a few headbutts to put Mountie down. The missile dropkick (Koko hits the kick and lands on his feet. That’s AWESOME) drops Mountie again and a cross body gets two. Koko hits the ropes a few times but charges into a…..into a……I think it was a choke takedown or something like that. Whatever it was it gets the pin for Mountie.

Rating: D. This match sucked but it was the only thing they could have done here. They had to do something to give the fans a chance to breathe after that previous title match and while it didn’t really work, they made the right move here. Mountie would be IC Champion the next year while Koko would be in a tag team I believe.

Savage says he’s the next WWF Champion and runs away with Sherri as he can hear Warrior pounding on the door.

Gorilla and Piper lament Warrior’s loss.

Slaughter says he told us all he’d win.

Gorilla and Piper rants some more.

Some fans get to send messages to some American troops in the middle east.

We hear about Hogan going to various American armed forces bases because he’s not allowed to go to Saudi Arabia at the moment. Thankfully Piper mentions that he and Hogan don’t agree on everything.

We hear from some Rumble participants: Roberts, Earthquake, Valentine, Tornado, the LOD, Undertaker (still with Brother Love), Duggan, Martel, British Bulldog, Perfect (IC Champion here) and Tugboat.

Piper talks about having lunch with Virgil today. Remember that.

DiBiase and Virgil are ready to face Dustin and Dusty. Ted talks about having bought and paid for Virgil, who glares as DiBiase talks.

Ted Dibiase/Virgil vs. Dustin Rhodes/Dusty Rhodes

Dustin is BRAND new here as this is his first WWF match. It’s also Dusty’s last in the WWF/E for over fifteen years. This is the blowoff to DiBiase vs. Dusty which started at Summerslam with Ted buying Sapphire and taking her from Dusty. Sapphire left soon afterwards because she didn’t want to be away from Dusty. Anyway the Rhodes Family takes over to start with elbows a go-go, sending the heels to a huddle on the floor.

Dustin, only 21 here, starts with Virgil who barely ever wrestled at this point. I mean it was like once every year or two. Dustin hits a clothesline and a dropkick to send Virgil (the real name of Dusty for you trivia geeks) to the floor as DiBiase is getting frustrated. Another clothesline puts Virgil on the floor again and Ted yells a lot. Off to DiBiase to backdrop the young gun but a second attempt results in a face jam.

The Rhodes dudes hammer DiBiase back and forth with elbows to send him to the floor as well. Here’s Big Dust who puts on a sleeper but Virgil breaks it up. Back to Dustin for a dropkick for two, but a charging knee at Virgil misses to put Dustin down. Virgil stays on the knee and wraps it around the post, as does his boss. The heels try some double teaming, but Virgil accidentally clotheslines DiBiase. Ted beats the tar out of him, allowing Dustin to tag his dad. Said dad is rolled up for the pin almost immediately by DiBiase.

Rating: D+. Another dull match here but it was almost all for the ending and post match stuff. Like I said, the Rhodes guys were on their way out so they didn’t have a chance at all in this one. Dusty stopped meaning anything months before this and it was the right move to go back to WCW for him where he could do what he wanted and book as well.

Post match we get the important part of the match. DiBiase yells at Virgil and says he’s tired of having to save his worker. He tells Virgil to get the belt and wrap it around his boss’ waist, but Virgil is mad. DiBiase keeps running his mouth, talking about how Virgil needs this job. DiBiase turns his back on Virgil and turns into a belt shot to the head, drawing one of the handful of pops in Virgil’s entire career.

Hogan is ready for the Rumble and wants the title from the un-American too. Gene tells Hogan that Slaughter might have just defaced the American Flag. Oh you know it’s on now. Hulk goes into such a rant that he forgets the name of the guy America is at war with (Sadaam Hussein) in a semi-famous bit.

Royal Rumble

Bret gets #1 for the second time in four years. He and Neidhart are tag champions here and he gets to face Dino Bravo at #2. Feeling out process to start until Bret clotheslines Bravo to the apron. Bravo comes back but misses an elbow. We go to an annoying wide shot as Greg Valentine is #3. I think he’s a face here but it was such an unmemorable turn that I can’t remember if it had happened yet or not. Well he’s fighting Bravo so I’d assume so. Actually he does a bit better than that by eliminating Bravo quickly.

Bret atomic drops Greg down and adds a clothesline for good measure but he can’t get the elimination. Here’s Paul Roma of Power and Glory at #4. Actually the team might have broken up by this point. Again they weren’t that memorable, just like most of this time period aside from the top stars. Bret rams their heads together, causing Roma and Valentine to fight for a bit.

Here’s Kerry Von Erich to give us I think three faces and one heel, or at least two faces a heel and a tweener. Bret misses an elbow drop off the middle rope and everyone pounds away on various people until Rick Martel is #6. Bret almost puts Martel out but Roma makes a save. Well no one ever accused him of being all that bright. Saba Simba (Tony Atlas as a tribal guy. It didn’t last long) is #7 as things continue to go slowly. Von Erich puts the Claw on Martel and that’s about the extent of the highlights.

To really liven things up, Butch is #8. That’s actually not sarcastic as the fans do the Bushwhacker arm swing. Martel puts Simba out to keep us at an equal number of average guys and Bret. Don’t get me wrong: these guys are talented, but other than Bret, most of them never got above the midcard. Jake Roberts is #9 to go immediately after Martel and give us an actual feud (Martel blinded him, leading to an AWFUL blowoff match at Mania).

Martel bails under the bottom rope and Jake goes right after him through the ropes. Martel gets put on the apron and punched in the face as everyone else just punches people. Hercules is #10 to give us Power and Glory in the ring. Why would I have thought they were broken up? They had a match at Mania. Bret gets double teamed in the corner but nothing comes of it.

There are too many people in the ring at the moment at I think eight. Tito Santana is #11 as Roma misses a cross body to eliminate himself. FINALLY we get someone to clear some of these guys out with Undertaker coming in at #12. He’s still this unknown monster at this point and would be that for years. Taker puts out Bret as soon as he gets there and beats up Von Erich for fun. That could have been a solid house show feud.

Jimmy Snuka is #13 as Taker throws out Butch. There are still way too many people in the ring, as we currently have Valentine, Tornado, Martel, Roberts, Hercules, Santana, Snuka and Undertaker. Taker chokes on Von Erich a bit in the corner before shifting over to Valentine. The freshly returned British Bulldog is #14 and guess what happens. The correct answer would be nothing, so here’s Smash at #15. No one cares as Demolition would be done at Wrestlemania, so he’s another nobody for all intents and purposes.

Good grief there are ten people in there now. Martel gets knocked to the apron and FINALLY puts Jake out to get us down a little bit. Superfly headbutts Martel and Hercules for a reaction from the crowd and Hawk is #16. STILL nothing of note happens and it’s Shane freaking Douglas at #17. Taker FINALLY puts out Tornado and Hawk puts out Snuka to get the numbers down a bit.

No one is #18, which would later be revealed as Randy Savage, who isn’t in the match because he’s running from Warrior. This is called continuity, which you don’t get enough of in wrestling today. Animal is #19, allowing the LOD to double clothesline Taker out. Martel uses the distraction to knock Hawk out and we’ve got eight in there again: Santana, Martel, Smith, Smash, Animal, Hercules, Valentine and Douglas.

The ninth person in the ring and #20 overall is Crush, Ax’s replacement in Demolition. Jim Duggan is #21. I’m not saying much between the entrances because there’s nothing to talk about. Literally it’s people pushing others on the ropes and a lot of punching. WAY too many people in the ring again and the match is really dull so far. Martel gets caught by Animal but gets out via a thumb to the eye. That’s an exciting moment at this point.

Earthquake is #22, giving us an insane eleven people in the match at once. Animal staggers Quake with some clotheslines but a third misses, resulting in Animal getting dumped. Perfect is #23 to get us back to eleven in the ring at once. The first person he sells like a crazy man for: Duggan, but Jim gets eliminated by Perfect pretty quickly. I’m not going to bother listing everyone in there for awhile due to it being nearly impossible to tell. Seriously, that’s how full the ring is.

FINALLY Hogan comes in at #24 and you know some people are going out now. It’s Smash thrown out first and Hogan goes straight for Earthquake, who he was technically still feuding with at this point. Bulldog and Perfect have a very energetic slugout as Haku is #25. Hogan dumps Valentine after a near record breaking 44 minutes. Hogan finally gets his own shirt off as Martel and Haku fight.

Jim Neidhart is #26 as Earthquake dumps an exhausted Santana after thirty minutes. A bunch of heels work over Hogan in the corner but Shane Douglas breaks it up. In a semi-famous moment, Luke is in at #27 and is immediately dumped out by Quake after about four seconds. He immediately marches back to the locker room. Brian Knobs of the freshly debuted Nasty Boys is #28 and after doing nothing for awhile, he dumps Hercules.

Warlord is #29 and he goes straight for Davey Boy. Crush goes up on the corner to punch Hogan and deserves the elimination he gets for trying. Hogan clotheslines Warlord out as the ring is FINALLY emptying out a bit. Tugboat is #30, giving us a final group of Perfect, Tugboat, Knobs, Douglas, Neidhart, Martel, Smith, Haku, Earthquake and Hogan. Quake and Tugboat go at it as Knobs dumps Douglas. Brian Knobs gets to eliminate two people? Really?

Tugboat goes after Hogan but only gets him to the apron. Hogan gets back in and clotheslines him out to get us to eight. Bulldog dropkicks Hennig off the ropes to the floor and Martel, who has been in there over 50 minutes, shattering the record, puts Neidhart out. Bulldog dumps Haku and we’re down to five. Martel goes up top but gets crotched and clotheslined out by Smith. That puts us at a final four but Smith is put out before I can type out said four. We’ve got Knobs, Earthquake and Hogan. That’s a step below Rude, Hennig and Hogan last year I’d think.

The heels double team Hogan of course and Quake splashes him down. The Earthquake hits Hogan but it’s no sold as you would expect. Big boot puts Knobs out but Hogan can’t slam the fat man. Quake hits an elbow drop and a second one as Hogan goes into his spasms. There’s the powerslam, there’s the Hulk Up, there’s the big boot, there’s the slam, there’s the winning clothesline for Hogan.

Rating: D. This is one, if not the worst Rumble I’ve ever seen. It’s just boring all around and there’s no other word to describe it. There were at least three moments where there were TEN people in the ring at once. The prime option for the Rumble is about six to seven at most at a time, not freaking TEN. There was never a moment where this got exciting and it was really boring at times too. Not good at all here.

Hogan poses a lot and waves an American flag to end the show.

Overall Rating: D+. The opener is really good but the rest of the show is mostly boring stuff. 1991 was a really boring time for the company and things wouldn’t pick up until the end of the year when Flair and Undertaker gave some jolts of life into things. This didn’t work for the most part though and it was a chore to sit through. Nothing to see here other than a really awesome tag match to open the show.

Ratings Comparison

The Rockers vs. The Orient Express

Original: A

Redo: B+

Big Boss Man vs. Barbarian

Original: B

Redo: C

Sgt. Slaughter vs. Ultimate Warrior

Original: D

Redo: D+

The Mountie vs. Koko B. Ware

Original: D

Redo: D

Ted DiBiase/Virgil vs. Dustin Rhodes/Dusty Rhodes

Original: B

Redo: D+

Royal Rumble

Original: D+

Redo: D

Overall Rating

Original: C-

Redo: D+

What was I thinking on that DiBiase match? I must have REALLY liked the angle, but it happened after the match.

Here’s the original review if you’re interested:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2011/01/10/royal-rumble-count-up-1991/

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 1997 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2018/11/20/new-paperback-complete-1997-monday-night-raw-reviews/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

IMG Credit: WWE

Royal Rumble 1990
Date: January 21, 1990
Location: Orlando Arena, Orlando, Florida
Attendance: 16,000
Commentators: Tony Schiavone, Jesse Ventura

We hit the 90s and there’s a bit of a new feel to the company with that new decade. Things are now being made to look a little newer and it’s probably a good thing that they are. Oh and there’s also probably the biggest moment in the Rumble for…..arguably ever actually so there’s that to look forward to. Let’s get to it.

We get the list of almost everyone in the Rumble to start just like last year.

Jesse Ventura in Mickey Mouse Ears is a scary sight.

Buschwhackers vs. Fabulous Rougeaus

We get ALL AMERICAN BOYS for the Rougeaus and Jacques has his MANLY beard. This is a Wrestlemania rematch from the previous year. We start with Butch vs. Ray and while this may sound like a stretch, I think this might be a comedy match. A quick sleeper by Ray is broken up and it’s time to bite the trunks as well as the referee for some reason. The Whackers clear the ring but Jacques hits the floor to avoid the Battering Ram.

Off to Luke vs. Jacques, with Luke taking a bite out of his nose. Jacques says hit me in the face, so Luke charges with a clothesline and hits Ray instead. Things slow down again and the Rougeaus easily distract Luke, allowing Ray to jump him for two. Ray comes in for real and kicks Luke down for two more. Luke is sent to the floor and goes back first into the apron. This match is already dragging.

Back in and Luke bites some more but it doesn’t get him anywhere. Luke gets rammed into the corner a bit, drawing Butch in which allows even more double teaming. We hit the chinlock followed by an abdominal stretch from Jacques. Now it’s off to a reverse chinlock to keep things slow.

We get the Arn Anderson cannonball drop onto a guy on the mat but the guy on the mat gets his knees up to crush Arn’s balls spot, followed by a hot tag to Butch. The Rougeaus are sent into each other and Jimmy Hart gets involved and beaten up. Jacques gets a quick rollup for two and Ray puts a Boston Crab on Butch. With the Rougeaus hugging for some reason, the Battering Ram to the back of Ray is enough for the pin by Butch.

Rating: D+. This was WAY too long at nearly fourteen minutes. The idea behind comedy matches is to keep things quick so that people don’t realize that half of the stuff you see here is stupid. The Rougeaus clearly didn’t care anymore and this would be the last match of Ray’s career. Jacques would go on to be the Mountie and win the Intercontinental Title, in one of the biggest surprises ever. Well not really but it was pretty surprising.

Gene is with DiBiase and Virgil and Ted is annoyed. Gene brings up the shenanigans last year with Ted “drawing” number thirty, but this year there’s additional security. Virgil drew the number for DiBiase and he got number 1. DiBiase’s “Let me tell you something little man” is a GREAT delivery as he’s so great at talking down to people.

The Genius vs. Brutus Beefcake

If you’re not familiar with Genius, think Damien Sandow if he read WWF themed poetry. Oh and he’s a jobber. And Macho Man’s real life brother. Genius offers a left-handed handshake but Brutus isn’t interested. Jesse gets on Tony about Genius beating Hogan via countout on SNME. Tony: “Well…..” Jesse: “WHO WON THE MATCH???” Genius heads to the floor for a cartwheel and we finally get the first lockup.

We get a clean break and Beefcake tells Genius what he can kiss. They lock up again and Genius goes to the eyes to get the first advantage. Beefcake comes out with an atomic drop and Genius gets to do his way overdone selling. I miss that. Back in and Genius fires off some shockingly good punches so Brutus comes back with an even bigger punch. Expect to hear the word punch a lot in this match.

Beefcake steps on Genius’ fingers like a total jerk and crotches Genius on the top rope. Half of Beefcake’s taunts would get him fired today for suggesting that Genius is effeminate. We go back to the standard story of the match: Genius gets in some strikes, Brutus hits him once to take over again. A dropkick gets two for Genius as does a rollup, but Brutus catches him coming off the middle rope with a punch to the ribs.

There’s the sleeper but Genius quickly escapes. Another sleeper attempt is quickly countered, but the Genius is knocked into the referee. Ref bumps weren’t cliched back in the 80s, so this is kind of a big development. Anyway the sleeper goes on again and Genius is going down quickly. Brutus puts him out and starts cutting his hair, but Genius’ buddy Mr. Perfect comes out for the save and the DQ.

Rating: D. This is one of those matches that was bad but it was energetic. For as much of a mess as Brutus would become in real life, the guy could get the fans fired up. That’s pretty impressive as he was almost all punching and a sleeper. This was pretty lame stuff but the fans loved it which is the right idea.

Perfect and Genius DESTROY Brutus’ ribs with the chair post match.

Sean Mooney is with the Heenan Family and suggests that they could fight each other. An argument ensues. That’s what Mooney was good at: ticking people off.

A show is coming. It’s called Wrestlemania.

Greg Valentine vs. Ronnie Garvin

This is a submission match as they both use submissions for a finisher. See? Not that complicated. Now the interesting thing here is that both guys have shin guards (Garvin even has his named: the Hammer Jammer) which blocks the pain of a Figure Four. They slug it out to start with Valentine being rammed into the buckles repeatedly. Greg comes back with chops and they slug it out in the middle of the ring.

It turns into a boxing match until Valentine goes after the leg. That gets him a thumb in the eye and they slug it out some more with both guys going down via a Garvin headbutt. Ronnie tries a sunset flip for reasons of stupidity and Valentine tries a cover of his own. Both guys go down again as this match is already running too long. Garvin rolls him up again to REALLY make it clear that it’s a submission match. See, wrestling fans are stupid and can’t understand the basic explanation of the rules.

Valentine adjusts his own shin guard (the Heartbreaker) and puts Garvin in the Figure Four. Ronnie’s guard blocks the pain, so Garvin makes funny faces at Valentine. Since that doesn’t work, Valentine puts on an over the shoulder backbreaker, much to Jesse’s delight (his old hold). Garvin pounds away in the corner and puts on an Indian Deathlock which has an effect on Greg but Valentine finally makes a rope.

They slug it out for the fifth time, although this one is at least on the floor. Valentine backdrops out of a piledriver on the concrete and we head back inside. Garvin misses a dropkick in the corner and gets caught in the Tree of Woe. That goes nowhere so they collide again and both guys go down. Hart steals Garvin’s shin guard and there’s the Figure Four. After a rope is grabbed, Garvin can’t even stand up.

Valentine goes up and Garvin slams him down from one leg. He takes off Valentine’s shin guard and tries a rollup because Ronnie is STUPID. Valentine gets tied up in the ropes so Garvin beats up Hart for fun. A shin guard shot to the head knocks out Valentine and the Sharpshooter (called a reverse Figure Four) makes Valentine give up.

Rating: C+. Not a bad match here and it was even good at times, but MAN it was long, running nearly seventeen minutes. On top of that, the stupid pin thing went WAY too long into the match. This is probably the best Garvin match I’ve ever seen, but that doesn’t really mean much as he absolutely sucks most of the time.

Mr. Perfect doesn’t like Beefcake trying to take advantage of the Genius and we get a look at the chair attack from earlier tonight. Perfect says he got #30 in the Rumble. Well he is perfect after all.

It’s time for the Brother Love Show. You might know Love as Bruce Prichard, or one of the Gut Check judges on Impact. This is his most famous role, as a parody of 80s televangelists. He talks about what it means to be a lady, and brings out the woman whose picture is in the dictionary next to the word lady: Queen Sherri. Love sucks up to her and says he also looked up the word peasant in the Book of Love. The Book of Love is the dictionary?

Anyway the point is Sapphire (Dusty’s chick) is the definition of a peasant, making her fat and ugly. Sapphire comes out and they make fun of her looks, clothes and whatever else you would expect them to make fun of, while not letting Sapphire say a word at all. Now they make fun of Dusty for being fat and Sapphire finally blasts Sherri. Savage and Dusty come out and it’s a big brawl. Even Brother Love gets in on it until security breaks it up. A dance party ensues between Dusty and Sapphire, resulting in Love being thrown to the floor.

Duggan doesn’t have much to say about his match with Boss Man.

Big Boss Man vs. Jim Duggan

Boss Man has clearly lost a TON of weight since last year and he looks much better as a result. Duggan knocks him to the floor in a bump that Boss Man couldn’t have taken a year ago. They slug it out on the floor with Duggan taking over for a bit. Back inside and Boss Man reverses a whip before crushing Duggan with a splash. Boss Man busts out an ENZIGURI to put Duggan down again. It really is amazing to see how much better Boss Man looks after being a big fat blob last year at this show.

Boss Man hits his running crotch attack on the ropes to keep Duggan in trouble but he makes the mistake of ramming Jim face first into the buckles. Duggan’s comeback is short lived though as Boss Man hits him in the back to take over again. He cannonballs down on Duggan’s ribs as this is a good physical fight so far.

That of course comes to a screeching halt as we hit a neck crank by the cop. Duggan fights up and makes a quick comeback, only to get caught by a knee lift to the ribs. Back to the neck crank followed by a bearhug which Duggan fails to break with some smacks to the head. Instead he falls into the ropes and the brawl continues.

They slug it out some more and Duggan clotheslines him out to the floor. Back in and more punching (notice a theme here?) ensues by Jim. Boss Man comes back with a clothesline but misses a top rope splash. They collide again to put both guys down but Slick slips the nightstick to Boss Man which draws the DQ.

Rating: C+. They definitely made the right move here by going with a pure brawl instead of anything resembling a wrestling match. The fans absolutely love Jim Duggan so there was no way the crowd wasn’t going to be into this. Not a good match from a quality standpoint, but it was very fun which is the better way to go sometimes.

Wrestlemania is still coming.

We get some promos from guys in the Rumble, most of which are spent talking about whoever they’re feuding with at the time: Earthquake, Bravo, Demolition, Bad News Brown, Dusty Rhodes, the Rockers, Hercules (calling it the Rumble Royal, which was the original name for the show actually), Rick Martel, Tito Santana, Snuka, Akeem (Slick does the talking) and Warrior (Intercontinental Champion), who talks about Hulk Hogan. This would have given fans chills up their spine at the thought of it happening but then they would say “Nah, that couldn’t happen.”

More promos as we’re in intermission: Savage, the Powers of Pain (Fuji does the talking), Roberts, the Hart Foundation, Honky Tonk Man and Hogan (WWF Champion of course) who looks either bloated or high as a kite.

Royal Rumble

DiBiase is #1 and Koko B. Ware is #2. Ted jumps Koko as he gets in and stomps him down. The beating goes on for awhile until trying to ram Koko’s head into the buckle, which has no effect. See Koko is black and in WWF logic, that means he has a hard head. Koko fights back and misses a charge, sending him to the floor. Marty Jannetty is in at #3 and in literally one second less time, basically the exact same thing happens as did to Koko (minus the racial aspects) and Marty goes out.

Jake Roberts is #4 and they fight on the floor which I think is a first in the Rumble. DiBiase slams him on the floor before they head back inside. A backdrop puts DiBiase down but the DDT is countered into another backdrop. They keep brawling and #5 is Randy Savage. DiBiase and Savage forget their past hatred to double team Jake for awhile until Roddy Piper is #6, setting up one of those AWESOME tag matches we never got. Seriously, that would be excellent on a Coliseum Video.

Piper and Jake beat up the heels, nearly punch each other, and then beat up the heels even more. The energy for this match is WAY better than the previous two years, which is saying a lot. Warlord is #7 and he should be solid cannon fodder for some of these guys. Piper pairs off with him as DiBiase and Savage continue their beatdown on Roberts. Roddy makes the save until Bret Hart is #8, drawing a BIG pop.

We get a six man tag for all intents and purposes, which would be another pretty interesting one with Bret being there to bump like crazy for Warlord. Bret goes after Savage, which would be great like their match on SNME. Bad News is #9 as the good run of talent continues. Jake loads up a DDT on DiBiase but Savage clotheslines him out, which is probably a good idea given how many people we’ve got out there.

Dusty Rhodes is #10 and the place continues to erupt. He heads right for Savage as you would expect him do and it’s elbows a go-go. A backdrop puts Savage out and we get Brown vs. Dusty for awhile, which I’m not sure what to think of. DiBiase takes Brown’s place which is probably the right idea. Andre is #11 and the fans aren’t sure what to think of this. Warlord goes right to him and gets tossed to a big pop. The fans still love the Giant.

Heenan and Fuji get into a fight on the floor as Andre rams Piper and Dusty’s heads together before crushing them in the corner. They come back on him and it’s the Red Rooster at #12. Even HE gets a bit of a pop before people realize that’s who just came out. Piper eliminates Brown but Brown comes back to the apron and eliminates Piper. They brawl to the back, setting up one of the strangest matches you’ll ever see at Mania.

Andre beats up Rooster and tosses him out as Ax is #13. Their teams are fighting over the tag titles at this point so there’s a story there. Hart and Rhodes try to throw out DiBiase and we get the traditional Andre is tied up in the ropes spot. Haku, Andre’s partner, is #14. Andre stands on Ax as Haku beats on Dusty. Things slow down a bit, which is understandable after the very hot first twenty minutes.

Smash is #15, giving us a group of Ax, Smash, Haku, Andre, Hart, DiBiase and Dusty. Demolition demolishes Andre down for the second time in two years before going off to beat on Haku. Rhodes and Hart beat on Dusty as people swap partners a bit. Akeem is #16 to give us another big fat guy in there. He goes after the Giant, but it’s a Demolition double clothesline that eliminates Andre. I’ve always loved that moment. Bret went out somewhere in there too.

Here’s Snuka at #17 to go after Akeem and take him out with a running headbutt. Ted and Dusty hammer away on each other a bit more until Dino Bravo is #18 with his manly powder blood trunks. Demolition beats up DiBiase and Earthquake is #19. There’s another team getting back to back numbers. Rhodes is out at Earthquake’s hands, as is Ax. Neidhart is #20, giving us Neidhart, Earthquake, Haku, Bravo, Snuka, Smash and DiBiase. Everyone gangs up on Earthquake and eliminates him, much to Bravo’s chagrin.

Neidhart and Smash work together on DiBiase, which would be unthinkable in about eight months. Here’s Warrior at #21 to go right after Bravo. They’ve got a bit of a feud going right now so Warrior dumps him with ease. Things slow down until Martel is in at #22. Haku backdrops Smash to the apron and superkicks him out. We were getting too many people in there so that’s a good idea.

Tito is #23 and of course we get a Strike Force battle, as they feuded for like, ever. Honky Tonk Man is #24 as things slow down a bit. We need another blast of energy in this soon. A bunch of people get together and dump Neidhart and Warrior clotheslines DiBiase out, giving him a new Iron Man record at just under 45 minutes. At the moment we’ve got Warrior, Honky, Martel, Santana, Snuka and Haku. Remember that blast of energy I said we needed? Hulk Hogan is #25.

Snuka goes after him and is immediately put out. Haku takes a big boot and is gone. Warrior and Martel dump Santana and we’re down to four in the ring. Shawn Michaels is #26. Hogan dumps Honky and it occurs to me that for some reason the entrance music for people stopped after like #6. Hogan dumps Honky, Warrior dumps Shawn and Martel and there are only two left in the ring.

This is the moment that changed the course of wrestling for a LONG time. You often hear the expression “everyone is on their feet”. In this case, that’s literally true as the place goes nuts and everyone in unison stands up. It’s a really cool visual and proof that this would work for Wrestlemania. They collide a few times and no one moves.

We get a criss cross to set up a double clothesline to put both guys down and the place is eating this up. As I said, this changed wrestling because we now have a Wrestlemania main event, instead of the potential Hogan vs. Zeus or Hogan vs. Perfect. Perfect is great, but it wouldn’t have worked as the main event in front of 67,000 people. Anyway Barbarian comes in at #27 and doesn’t do much so Rick Rude comes in like twenty second early at #28. I’ve always wondered if that was intentional to prevent more of just Hogan vs. Warrior.

The heels double team Hogan to put him down but Warrior saves. They beat up Warrior a bit until Hogan Hulks Up and goes to the corner, eliminating Warrior in the process. Hercules is #29, which is pretty awesome luck as he got #28 the year before. Hogan tries to put Barbarian out but gets poked in the eye. Perfect is #30, giving us a final five of Hogan, Rude, Barbarian, Hercules and Perfect.

Hercules backdrops Barbarian out to get us down to four and we pair off with Herc vs. Rude and Perfect vs. Hogan. Rude backdrops the power dude out and we’re down to a handicap match. I think you can see how this is going to end. A quick double team ends with Perfect getting punched to the apron by Rude. Perfect low bridges Rude out and we’re down to two. Hennig pounds away and hits the PerfectPlex but it’s time for more Hulking Up. Slingshot into the post, clothesline, Hogan wins.

Rating: A-. THIS IS MORE LIKE IT! They totally got the formula down here and had a white hot crowd to do it in front of. The first twenty minutes or so here are just about perfect with a ton of talented guys working HARD. The next big drags just slightly but certainly aren’t bad, and then things went through the roof with Hogan vs. Warrior and the ending. Perfect was supposed to win here, but Hogan vetoed it and got the win himself. The more I think about that the less I dislike it because after the first two matches, you almost had to have a main eventer win this. Either way, great stuff here and one of the best Rumbles ever.

Overall Rating: B-. This is one of those tricky shows to rate as you have four pretty weak matches to start things off, but the Rumble is great and is longer than all four other matches combined. The Rumble is all that mattered here anyway and we got a great one to really establish a standard for the match for years to come. Also Wrestlemania is shaping up really well, so I don’t have many complaints here at all. Good stuff.

Ratings Comparison

Bushwhackers vs. Fabulous Rougeaus

Original: D+

Redo: D+

Brutus Beefcake vs. The Genius

Original: C+

Redo: D

Ronnie Garvin vs. Greg Valentine

Original: F (Biased). B- (Unbiased).

Redo: C+

Jim Duggan vs. Big Boss Man

Original: C+

Redo: C+

Royal Rumble

Original: A-

Redo: A-

Overall Rating

Original: C-

Redo: B-

Dang the weight of the Rumble has gone way up in the last few years.

Here’s the original review if you’re interested:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2011/01/09/royal-rumble-count-up-1990/

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 1997 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2018/11/20/new-paperback-complete-1997-monday-night-raw-reviews/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

IMG Credit: WWE

Smackdown
Date: July 29, 2004
Location: US Bank Arena, Cincinnati, Ohio
Commentators: Michael Cole, Tazz

Things are picking up around here and that’s a good thing. Last week Vince McMahon reinstated Kurt Angle as a wrestler after Angle went nuts and fired a bunch of people. That set up Eddie Guerrero vs. Angle at Summerslam, but there’s a lot of stuff to get through tonight first. Tonight we have two title matches with the Cruiserweight and Tag Team Titles on the line. Let’s get to it.

Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.

We open with a recap of Vince and Angle with Eddie coming out in the car to celebrate. Not noteworthy on its own, but Vince getting in the car and being scared by the bouncing was funny.

Opening sequence.

Tonight: a new General Manager made.

Cole clears up a point by saying Vince rehired everyone that Angle fired after the show went off the air last week. Simple, to the point, and fixes the whole thing in one sentence during an introduction. Learn from Michael Cole people.

Here’s Booker T., wearing the US Title, for a chat. Angle promised to make him the new US Champion but now Angle is gone, so the new boss needs to officially name him champion. Instead here are Kenzo Suzuki and Hiroko to interrupt. Booker says he doesn’t want to hear from someone in charge of the late night sushi bar at the Tokyo Inn. Kenzo rants a lot and Hiroko translates to “he should be US Champion.” Oh and Booker’s breath smells bad.

This brings out Rob Van Dam but before he can say anything, Luther Reigns cuts them off. Now it’s Rene Dupree as the ring is starting to fill up. Charlie Haas and Billy Gunn are next but John Cena comes out to the big reaction. Cena makes it clear that this is his house and the big fight is on. Before that goes very far though, here’s Vince McMahon to say this isn’t happening. It’s not his place to fix things though because that’s up to the new General Manager. Vince wants the new boss out here right now and it’s…..Theodore Long.

That’s enough for Vince as Long says we have eight men arguing like children over the US Title. Only one of them deserves to be the champion and that is….not revealed yet as Booker cuts him off to accept the title. Long says not so fast because tonight, it’s an eight way elimination match to crown the new champion. Holla.

Cruiserweight Title: Rey Mysterio vs. Spike Dudley

Rey is defending and we’re ready to go after a handshake. Feeling out process to start as they both seem rather tentative. Rey grabs an armbar which seems to annoy Spike and it turns into a brawl, with both guys falling out to the floor. Back in and Rey hits a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker for two and it’s off to a double arm pull. Spike fights up and sends him hard into the corner to take over.

A headscissors sends Rey face first into the buckle but he’s fine enough to block a superplex attempt. Rey gets two off a basement dropkick but Spike sends him into the corner again, setting up a bulldog for two of his own. The top rope double stomp hits raised boots so Rey loads up the 619. Cue D-Von to distract the referee though and Bubba to trip Rey, setting up a springboard Dudley Dog to give Spike the pin and the title.

Rating: C. This didn’t have the time to get very far but what we had was good. Bubba and D-Von interfering comes off like a big storyline point and it’s not like Rey losing the title hurts him very much. He’s the most successful cruiserweight of all time and there isn’t much of a need to keep the title on him. Let the title build up someone else, like Spike for example.

Spike isn’t pleased with what his brothers did.

Raw Rebound.

In case you didn’t get it, bonus footage during the break shows that Spike isn’t pleased with what his brothers did.

We recap the Undertaker coming out last week to challenge JBL for Summerslam.

Long promises to make sure the women are utilized on Smackdown going forward. He heads into his office (an empty room aside from the desk) and finds Angle, who insists he isn’t hiding. Angle came here to get his stuff, but it’s already been packed. So wait. Angle was fired last week in Philadelphia but people came to Cincinnati and set up his stuff anyway?

With that leap in logic out of the way, Angle suggests the Long got the job because he’s black. Teddy: “You mean after all these years, it turns out that I’m black???” Long puts Angle in a match against an unspecified opponent for later. Angle isn’t happy so Long fines him for not bringing his gear. The match is moved to next week since Angle isn’t prepared.

Paul Heyman and Heidenreich are coming.

Tag Team Titles: Billy Kidman/Paul London vs. Dudley Boyz

The Dudleys are challenging. London armdrags and dropkicks D-Von for two to start. It’s off to Bubba and you can feel things getting a little more intense. A toss sends London into the corner so Kidman comes in instead. Bubba can’t quite get out of an armbar and some armdrags make things even worse. Everything breaks down for a bit until Bubba pulls Kidman down by the hair to take over. The Dudleys seem rather popular here as London gets sent to the floor, leaving Kidman in that much more trouble.

Back from a break with Kidman sunset flipping D-Von for two but getting caught in the neck crank. A quick knee to the head gets Kidman out of trouble and the hot tag brings London back in. D-Von gets kicked in the jaw for two and there’s a rolling version to Bubba’s head for a bonus. A double superplex brings D-Von back down for two but Bubba pulls Kidman to the floor. One heck of a clothesline gets two on London and Bubba grabs a chair, only to have Mysterio show up for a dropkick to drive it into Bubba’s face. Back inside and London small packages D-Von tor retain.

Rating: C. The ending made sense given the previous match so the storyline certainly fits. London and Kidman retaining the titles was the right call as, just like Mysterio, the Dudleys don’t need the titles and there’s no reason to give them back when you can build up some fresh people. It was good action too and that makes for a rather nice match as some new champions (who weren’t beaten when Rey got involved) get another good win.

Mick Foley and Ivory were at the Democratic National Convention.

Eddie Guerrero has something in the back of his rather great looking low rider. One thing he doesn’t have: a smudge on the car, which he cleans off and grins a lot.

Here’s Eddie for a chat. He enjoyed seeing Angle begging for his life last week but knows that’s nothing compared to what’s going to happen at Summerslam. If Angle wants, they can do this tonight. With no Angle, Eddie says to unload the car….which is all of the stuff from Angle’s office. He stole it if that wasn’t clear. Since Angle isn’t in charge anymore, let’s give this stuff to someone else.

That’s why he’s putting all of this stuff up for auction on WWE.com, with the proceeds going to charity. That includes a fake cast, a framed photo complete with WWE Championship (Eddie recommends putting it in the bathroom), a wheelchair primed for hydraulics and a photo of Angle….which gets a few bonus drawings from Eddie.

Now we get the big item: gold medals for sale. With the bidding up to a full dollar, Angle comes out to interrupt. He has a seat in the low rider but Eddie says there’s an anti-theft device included. Angle turns the key and powder sprays into his face. Eddie: “You think I was lying?” Eddie plays Angle’s music so the fans can get in some YOU SUCK’S.

Next week: Spike and Rey vs. the Dudleys.

On Velocity: JBL in action.

Speaking of JBL, here’s a video on why he’s an amazing American who deserves your support, including videos of him playing baseball as a kid. He was a great football player but wanted one on one competition so he became a wrestler. Oh and he’s a patriot, self made millionaire, and kisser of babies.

US Title: Rob Van Dam vs. Billy Gunn vs. Charlie Haas vs. Luther Reigns vs. Kenzo Suzuki vs. Booker T., vs. John Cena vs. Rene Dupree

The title is vacant coming in and this is under elimination rules. Thankfully there are only two in at a time so tags are required. Charlie and Rob start things off with Van Dam missing a kick and getting armdragged down. Back up and Rene pulls Van Dam by the hair before tagging himself in to pound Haas between the shoulders. Haas armbars him for a bit until a right hand puts him right back in trouble. The fans chant for Cena but the preliminaries aren’t quite over yet. Billy makes a quick blind tag and hits a Fameasser for the pin on Haas.

Back from a break with Dupree flapjacking Gunn for two and hitting some rather lame right hands. The French Tickler is broken up and Gunn hits a big backdrop before hammering away in the corner. Reigns comes in and hits hit swinging neckbreaker to get rid of Dupree and now it’s off to Cena for the big reaction. Cena hammers away in the corner but gets shoved away, setting up a butterfly suplex for two.

The chinlock goes on for a bit until Cena takes him to the floor for a whip into the steps. Hiroko distracts Cena so he kisses her and dances, earning a belt to the back from Suzuki. We’ll ignore the “pinfall and submission are the only ways to be eliminated” line from Cole at the beginning of the match because Suzuki is disqualified.

Back from another break with Booker kicking Cena in the face but getting punched into the corner. That’s enough for the latest tag to Gunn, who gets two off a fisherman’s suplex. The chinlock is countered into a belly to back suplex and Cena scores with a DDT. Billy grabs the One And Only for a very close two but walks into the FU for the elimination. Reigns comes in next and runs Cena over for two more. Stomping and a knee drop look to set up a powerslam but Cena slips out and another FU gets rid of Reigns.

We’re down to Cena, Van Dam and Booker, who comes in with a Book End for two on Cena. A DDT drops Booker but Rob tags himself in for some kicks to the ribs and a northern lights suplex for two more. Cena gets kicked in the face again and there’s the split legged moonsault for another near fall. This time it’s Booker tagging himself in though and, after a Five Star from Van Dam, he steals a pin on Cena. A quick rollup finishes Van Dam to make Booker champion.

Rating: C-. The match was longer than I would have liked, but at the same time I definitely prefer something like this over having Booker beat Cena by shenanigans in a singles match. You can almost guarantee Booker vs. Cena in a big time title match at Summerslam so why burn through it here? Cena lost clean by the rules here but it wasn’t in a singles match, so maybe he can win the title back later on. Today, this would have been Booker cheats to win, then Cena wins a rematch to get another title shot, then they have three matches in a row for the title. At least this keeps things a bit more fresh, which would be very welcome today.

Overall Rating: C. The wrestling wasn’t the best here but the booking and storytelling made sense with a lot of stuff being set up for next week and beyond. Throw in JBL not actually appearing with the over the top vignette airing instead and this was a lot easier to watch. They’ve changed things for the better in recent weeks and I’ll certainly take that over the nightmares they were producing in the early summer.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 1997 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2018/11/20/new-paperback-complete-1997-monday-night-raw-reviews/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

IMG Credit: Ring of Honor Wrestling

Final Battle 2018
Date: December 14, 2018
Location: Hammerstein Ballroom, New York City, New York
Commentators: Ian Riccaboni, Colt Cabana

As tends to be the case, this is the best promotion of a show that ROH has done all year and that’s the best thing that could happen on the biggest show of the year. The big question here is whether this will be the last big show for Cody and the Young Bucks, who both happen to be in title matches tonight. Let’s get to it.

The opening video looks at Cody debuting here two years ago and then losing the World Title here last year. The rest of the big matches get some attention as well.

The announcers run down more of the card.

Kenny King vs. Eli Isom

They added an extra hour to this show and this is the kind of thing they spent the extra time on? Before the match, King says he doesn’t want to be here against a commercial for the ROH Dojo. Tonight, King gets to prove that the old school is better than the new school. King knocks Isom into the corner to take over and sends him outside for the big corkscrew dive. A clothesline hits the post but Isom can’t do anything because King can beat him up with one arm.

Back in and Isom goes with three straight leapfrogs into a knee to the face to send King outside. That means the no hands flip dive as the fans are already getting into Isom. Isom’s armbar doesn’t get him far as King dropkicks him down and grabs a reverse suplex into a Stunner. Isom hits an enziguri and gets two off a very low lifting powerbomb. King is right back with Be Kind Rewind for two with King pulling him up before three. A quick Gory Bomb sets up a backslide driver for two on King but he dives into the Samoan driver for the pin at 9:00.

Rating: C-. Not a great match or anything but Isom has been a very pleasant surprise in the last few months. While he’s not great in the ring, I was expecting another Cheeseburger and got someone I could see turning into a completely solid midcarder one day. He had a nice performance here and with while he wasn’t ready to beat King, it was nice to see him hanging in there with him.

Post match King won’t shake his hand.

We recap Adam Page vs. Jeff Cobb. Jeff showed up and immediately won the TV Title but Page isn’t impressed. He wants to show that someone is just as strong as Cobb and can hang with him everywhere. I’m not sure if he can do that, but I’m also not sure Page can’t pull it off, which makes for an entertaining match.

TV Title: Jeff Cobb vs. Adam Page

Cobb is defending. Page isn’t playing here and goes right at Cobb with some running forearms and big boots to the jaw. He keeps getting shoved off but Page goes at him again and again as they’re certainly starting fast. Another dropkick puts Cobb on the floor but he catches the shooting star off the apron and sends Page flying with an overhead belly to belly. Back in and Page takes the knee out but mostly misses a Lionsault (barely slapping Cobb’s chest) for two.

Page heads up but gets caught in a fifteen second one armed superplex (good freaking grief). Cobb’s standing shooting star (because of course) misses so he goes to the middle rope, only to have Page roll through a crossbody into a fall away slam. That sends Cobb outside for the suicide dive and the middle rope moonsault as the fans are losing it over this stuff. Back in and Page hits a pair of running shooting stars for two and it’s time for the big slugout.

Cobb pulls Page out of the corner and flips him up into a sitout Tombstone for two more and Page is shaken. He’s fine enough to hit a superkick and a pair of discus forearms to rattle Cobb, who headbutts him right out to the apron. That’s the perfect place for the Buckshot Lariat but the Right of Passage is countered into a release F5 for two more. The Tour of the Islands is countered into a crucifix but another Buckshot Lariat attempt doesn’t work, allowing Cobb to hit the Tour of the Islands on the second attempt. Cobb isn’t done though and hits a second in a row to retain at 13:34.

Rating: B+. Cobb is right there with Brian Cage for the THAT’S NOT NORMAL award. He’s big and stout but can do flips and dives while also being an Olympic wrestler. I mean, what are you supposed to do with someone like that? At the same time, Page has become one of the most well rounded workers in the company and would have a rocket attached to his back if and when he winds up in NXT. This was a blast and worth checking out.

Madison Rayne talks about training her entire career for this moment.

Kelly Klein wants a fair title shot. These are the same promos that aired on TV.

We recap the Women’s Title match, which is basically Sumie Sakai defending against most of the division.

Women of Honor Title: Sumie Sakai vs. Kelly Klein vs. Karen Q vs. Madison Rayne

Sakai is defending under elimination rules with Mandy Leon on commentary. Kelly and Madison fight in one corner while the others fight in another, leaving Leon to offer her, ahem…eh screw the sarcasm. She’s really not good at this and we’d be better off with Caprice Coleman instead. Klein and Karen are sent outside with Sumie chopping away at Madison and getting two off a middle rope crossbody.

Karen breaks up a crossface chickenwing on Madison for no apparent reason and puts both of them in a Boston crab at the same time. Kelly and Karen start double teaming Madison with a t-bone suplex, only to have Karen kick Kelly in the face by mistake. We get the required Tower of Doom with Kelly handling the powerbombing but Sumie hangs onto the top and hits a missile dropkick on Kelly. It doesn’t do much damage though as Kelly is up with K Power to finish Karen at 6:56.

Madison hits a quick tornado DDT for two on Kelly and the Rayne Drop gets the same on Sumie. The champ is right back up with Smash Mouth to Madison and Kelly steals the pin at 8:58 to get us down to two. Sumie takes her down into a cross armbreaker but Kelly keeps her grip. The powerbomb isn’t enough to break it up so they stand up where Smash Mouth can connect for two. A hurricanrana is countered into a powerbomb to give Klein two and K Power gets the same. Super K Power finally gives us a new champion at 13:41.

Rating: C. Not bad but they didn’t have the epic match that they were shooting for. No matter what Ring of Honor tried to do, Sumie’s title reign wasn’t epic and the title change is just a regular title change. There’s nothing special or important about this because Sumie’s time with the title wasn’t all that great. She wasn’t interesting and her matches were nothing of note, but the company stuck with her forever and it made the title seem less and less important every time.

Kelly is presented with the title and hugs Sakai. Totally out of character for Kelly but when does that ever stop anyone?

Jonathan Gresham wants to prove himself against the other best technical wrestler in the world.

Jonathan Gresham vs. Zack Sabre Jr.

This should be awesome. Sabre slaps him in the face before the bell and Gresham manages to stay calm. Gresham wins the early wrestle off and they’re both right back up. It turns into a shoving match until Sabre takes him down by the wrist. Gresham grabs the leg to escape but can’t get much further than that. Some headlocks into headscissors let Sabre grab a hammerlock before going back to the headscissors to keep Gresham down.

Gresham manages to lock up the legs and sit up for a slugout but it’s another standoff as the fans are very pleased. They hit the mat again with Gresham grabbing the arm until Sabre fights up and grabs an abdominal stretch. He even rolls down into an armbar on the mat as the crazy counters continue. Back up and Sabre uppercuts him, with Gresham saying bring it on. It turns into a slap off, which just looks pathetic no matter what explanation they have. Throw punches already.

A half crab has Sabre in trouble but he reverses into a triangle choke because that’s something people can do. That’s reversed into the Octopus, which Sabre reverses into an ankle lock. Gresham turns that into an ankle lock of his own until Sabre rolls out and hits a kick to the chest. Another strike off goes to Sabre but he misses a moonsault, allowing Gresham to drop a knee on the arm. The armbar is countered into a cradle with Sabre bridging off his head for the pin (like the cocky jerk that he is) at 11:49.

Rating: B. This felt like something out of Kurt Angle vs. Chris Benoit from the 2003 Royal Rumble where Benoit got caught instead of getting beaten. It was exactly what this should have been with both guys looking incredible and having an excellent display of holds and counterholds. There’s going to be a rematch at some point, and that should certainly be the case.

Sabre won’t shake hands, because he’s a jerk.

We recap Dalton Castle vs. Matt Taven. Castle is back from an injury but Taven called him weak for missing time. Taven also says that he’s the real World Champion so a win over Castle would be a big deal for him.

Dalton Castle vs. Matt Taven

Castle has an army of Boys and is rolled out on the back of a glittery mini stage. Sounds normal for him. TK O’Ryan insists that Taven be introduced as the REAL World Champion and we get some confetti falling. Matt is feeling extra generous tonight and makes this a title match, with Castle touching the title because why not. It’s straight into a slugout to start and they head outside. Back in and Castle strikes the peacock pose so Taven sends him to the apron.

A springboard kick to the face knocks Castle off but the Boys catch him, allowing Castle to come back in and slug away. Taven knocks him outside for a running dropkick through the ropes and a suicide dive, but the big no hands dive hits barricade. Castle hammers away a bit more but Taven scores with a backbreaker back inside. The seated armbar gets Castle out of trouble until Taven flips out of the corner and grabs a DDT for two. A short DDT plants Taven again but O’Ryan gets in a cheap shot.

The Boys take him out but Marseglia comes out from underneath the ring for a double DDT. The distracted referee lets Taven get in a belt shot for two with frustration setting in on the kickout. Castle dropkicks him off the apron and hits a hurricanrana from the apron. The Bang A Rang sends Taven into the post so the Kingdom gets involved again, earning themselves a double ejection. Back in and another Bang A Rang gets two with Taven grabbing the rope. Another attempt is escaped and Taven knees him in the face. The Climax gives Taven the pin at 15:50.

Rating: B. I liked this one more than I was expecting to, with Castle not being able to overcome the odds and eventually falling clean to Taven in the end. Taven might not be the most interesting guy in the world, but at least they’re pushing him very hard and he’ll likely get the World Title at Supercard of Honor in April.

We recap Marty Scurll vs. Christopher Daniels. Scurll beat Daniels to win the World Title shot at Survival of the Fittest, with Daniels claiming he would have won in a one on one match. Scurll agreed to put the title shot on the line, but Daniels only has one match left on his contract. Therefore, it’s title shot vs. career.

Christopher Daniels vs. Marty Scurll

Daniels has a bad neck coming in. Feeling out process to start with an exchange of shoves and Daniels headlocking him down. Scurll slips out and pats him on the bald head, which of course means war. Another takedown sets up a hammerlock on Scurll, followed by the slingshot elbow for two. Scurll elbows him to the floor but misses the superkick from the apron. Instead Daniels pulls him down for the Arabian moonsault.

Back in and Marty hits a superplex to send Daniels outside again. That means the apron superkick can connect, followed by a regular one against the barricade. Back in and they chop it out but Scurll grabs a neckbreaker to stay on…well the neck of course. There’s a dropkick to the back and Daniels’ neck is jarred all over again. The cravate doesn’t last long and Daniels shrugs off a half and half suplex to hit a Blue Thunder Bomb. A belly to back faceplant gets two and the Lionsault gives Daniels the same.

To mix things up a bit, Daniels pulls Scurll up by the fingers but, being nicer than he was in his younger years, goes with some chops instead. Scurll kicks the leg out and gets two off a piledriver as the fans chant for Bruiser Brody (I think). The chickenwing is countered into a cradle and Daniels busts out a Burning Hammer for two.

Angel’s Wings is countered into a Tombstone with the Undertaker cover getting two. Scurll snaps the fingers but Daniels hits a not completely locked Angel’s Wings for two more. The Best Moonsault Ever misses and Marty superkicks him twice. Graduation gets two so Marty stomps on the neck to knock Daniels silly, setting up the chickenwing for the tap at 17:36.

Rating: B. Another good match here with a very well told story. Daniels wasn’t the man he used to be and didn’t quite have it anymore while Scurll was more than willing to be the villain that he was born to be. Daniels going out in defeat is exactly what you would expect here and it was a heck of a big win for Scurll. Well done all around and the ending was exactly as it should have gone.

Post match Scurll leaves and Daniels gets the big moment….until Bully Ray comes in to low blow him. Ray calls out Flip Gordon and it’s time for the I Quit match, which is all about Ray being a jerk to the younger Gordon, who he doesn’t think is a man.

Flip Gordon vs. Bully Ray

Gordon is in military gear and comes through the crowd carrying the American flag. He comes over the barricade and springboards in with a Phenomenal forearm as commentary is completely behind Gordon here. They fight to the floor with Ray being sent into the barricade for a running forearm. A trashcan to the head gets Ray out of trouble and it’s time for a table. Ray can’t powerbomb him through it though and Gordon grabs another table as commentary admits that they’re a bit biased here. Just in case you’re kind of dumb you see.

Ray gets in what looked like a chain shot and stops to yell at various executives before shoving ring announcer Bobby Cruise. The referee yells at him too and gets tossed aside, leaving Ray to threaten ROH ambassador Cary Silkin. Daniels runs back in and dives over Silkin to protect him but gets dropped as well. Gordon gets thrown down but won’t quite. Instead Ray grabs Gordon’s girlfriend and threatens to powerbomb her through the table.

The bloody Gordon wants to quit (without actually doing it) to save her but Silkin hits Ray with the kendo stick instead. Gordon gets up and makes the save before giving his girlfriend a very bloody kiss. A top rope flag shot to the head sets up a Crossface with the flag but Silas Young runs in for the save and Misery. It’s time for lighter fluid both on Gordon and a table so here’s Cheeseburger to go after Young.

That earns him Misery (shame they didn’t burn him instead) so Colt Cabana comes in to fight them both until a low blow from Young stops him as well. Silas gets the lighter….and there go the lights because Sandman is here. On the biggest ROH show of the year because THIS NEEDS TO BE ABOUT ECW TOO!!! Beer is consumed and Ray misses a charge, allowing Gordon to hit a good superkick (Sandman didn’t hit Ray). A less good Star Spangled Stunner lets Gordon grab a pair of kendo sticks and unload on Ray for the win at 14:23.

Rating: C+. I’m not sure on this one. They had a bunch of stuff that fit with the story, but at the same time there was too much crammed into less than fifteen minutes. Gordon winning on his own in the end was the right call so they got the finish right, but at the same time there wasn’t enough of a focus on him having to fight back and overcome the adversity. I did like it and it was good, but they needed either more time or less stuff. Like less Sandman for example.

Caprice Coleman joins commentary to replace Cabana.

We recap the World Title match. Cody debuted here two years ago at Final Battle and then lost the World Title to Dalton Castle here last year. He hasn’t gotten a one on one title rematch yet so tonight it’s his second match against Lethal at Final Battle. This hasn’t been a strong build, but that happens a lot with the World Title.

ROH World Title: Cody vs. Jay Lethal

Cody is defending and has Brandi Rhodes with him. He’s also in military gear, which is probably too close to the previous match. Jay has a wish list on his back, ala Cody’s list when he left WWE for a nice touch. Hang on though as Cody grabs the mic and says it sounds like the fans love him. Fans: “WE DON’T LOVE YOU!” Well you can’t say they aren’t being clear about their thoughts.

Cody certainly doesn’t love them, because if he did, he would be working the Madison Square Garden show. That earns him a Stardust chant and Cody is a little panicked. Jay says this is his company and he’s leaving the new gold of the company dull. Feeling out process to start with Cody not being able to take over on the leg. A headlock doesn’t work either and Cody slides between the legs but comes up holding his own knee. Of course he’s faking and slides outside for a kiss from Brandi and a chorus of booing.

Lethal hits another dropkick, stops to glare at the crowd (interesting), and fails at the Lethal Combination. Instead Cody starts in on the arm but pauses for some pushups. The Disaster Kick misses though and Lethal kicks the knee out again. If you’re going with a regular knee attack, why do the fake knee injury earlier? The knee gets wrapped around the post but Lethal hasn’t completed the Ric Flair requirements yet, meaning no Figure Four.

Jay kicks at the leg before getting an O’Connor roll but Brandi distracts the ref. Said ref is sent into the corner for a distraction, allowing Brandi to hit a spear (with her surgically repaired shoulder, her new finisher) to set up Cross Rhodes for a near fall. Back up and the referee won’t let Lethal hit Shattered Dreams so Brandi comes in again, only to spear Cody by mistake. Lethal tries the Lethal Injection but hits Brandi (I use the word hits loosely as it wasn’t even close), mainly due to Cody pulling her in the way.

Another Cross Rhodes gets another two and Cody slaps on the Figure Four….with the bell ringing because Adam Page runs in to ring it. I’m not sure why you would do that, as you already had Jay in trouble and ring the bell in a hurry instead of letting it do more damage. In theory it’s to allow more interference, but it seems a little more complicated than it needs to be. Lethal hits his own Cross Rhodes for two but Hail to the King hits Cody’s knee.

As it turns out that hurts the knee again, allowing Jay to knock him outside for the triple suicide dives. Eh it’s Final Battle though so let’s make it SEVEN, though Cody is fine enough to block the eighth with a spit of water to the face. Din’s Fire (Vertebreaker) gives Cody two and Jay kicks Cody into the referee. That means a belt shot to Cody’s knee, some low superkicks, the Lethal Injection, more low superkicks, and the Figure Four to retain at 23:51.

Rating: B-. There were a few too many shenanigans here with Lethal teasing a heel turn to go with everything else going on. With Cody likely leaving soon, I’m not complaining about Lethal retaining, but he seems to be in the middle of a six month filler reign. This place really does need some better main eventers, and as usual it feels like they take WAY too long to set people up.

Post match Scurll comes out to stare at Lethal, followed by Nick Aldis and the unnamed Kamilla Kaine for the staredown from the ramp. I….eh maybe this could work.

We recap the Ladder War. The Briscoes and Young Bucks had a heck of a match for the titles that ended in a double DQ. SCU won the titles in a triple threat match and have their new contracts, but now we’re having a big ladder match to decide things. To be fair, this is the best done story on the show and it should be the main event. If nothing else, who is supposed to follow them?

SCU says New York is the worst town but they’ll make it a great memory.

Tag Team Titles: Briscoes vs. Young Bucks vs. SCU

SCU (Scorpio Sky and Frankie Kazarian) are defending here. The Briscoes head outside and start throwing chairs inside, leaving the Bucks to slug it out with the champs. The Bucks get the better of it and start superkicking until Kazarian slingshots out into a hurricanrana on Mark, sending him into a spear on Jay. Everyone heads outside with Sky being put on a table but the Briscoes chair Matt down.

Jay hits a double stomp to put Sky through the table and the Briscoes take over with various metal shots. Kazarian is busted open and Mark puts the ladder around his neck to slam into people’s faces. Some superkicks break that up and Coleman thinks we might see some more later. Jay gets kicked to the floor and a wheelbarrow faceplant drops Sky. The Bucks hit a double dropkick on Sky before stopping for a Too Sweet.

The first ladder is set up but the champs take over on the Bucks, complete with some loud swearing from Sky. It’s too early for the titles though and the fight over getting to climb is on. Nick and Kazarian shove the ladder back and forth at each other until stereo superkicks put the champs down. The Briscoes come back in with some chairs to clean house though until Kazarian hits a chair shot to Jay’s back. Another shot takes out Kazarian’s ankle though and the Briscoes take over again.

Mark gets kicked out to the floor for a flip dive from Sky and it’s time to unleash the series of dives until Matt is suplexed through a table. The bloody Jay finds a staple gun but Kazarian breaks it up with a slingshot cutter through the table at ringside. And now, a sledgehammer from Matt has Jay begging him to swing. Since that’s a bad idea, we get another ladder instead.

After catapulting it into Sky’s face, Matt goes up but gets pulled back down into a backbreaker onto the open chair because the back injury is his thing. Nick hits the slingshot X Factor to send Jay into a chair but the also bloody Mark brings in another ladder. A springboard spear knocks Sky off the ladder so it’s time for the Meltzer Driver, with Mark diving off the ladder with a cutter for the save.

There’s a Jay Driller to Matt and everyone is down for a few seconds. Jay loads up yet another ladder and then bridges a second between the standing version and the corner. Kazarian is back in with a Styles Clash to drive Jay crotch first into a chair. That’s enough to get a hand on a belt with Nick going up for the save but being tossed WAY down and through a table on the floor. Jay climbs up as well and Mark pelts a chair up at Kazarian to knock him through another table, leaving Jay to pull down the titles for the win at 22:40.

Rating: A. Well that was great. This was the exact same idea that worked for the original TLC matches: take six guys and let them go completely insane with one spot after another until one team finally puts the others away after a big move. It was entertaining and nothing was going to follow it so this was the right call for the main event. Great stuff with the blood making it seem more intense, which is exactly what it should have been.

Overall Rating: B+. The extra hour didn’t really need to exist here, especially with an added match of Eli Isom vs. Kenny King. I think we’ve established that ROH isn’t going to do the sane thing of just trimming some of the longer matches down, so this is pretty much all we can do in the future.

Speaking of the future, it’s clear that things are changing around here and that could be scary. Cody and the Young Bucks and company have dominated ROH for a long time now and with the strong chance that they’re gone (assuming there aren’t shenanigans afoot), ROH needs to change a lot going forward. I’m not sure where things are going to go, but it could be a heck of a bad time if they’re not handled the right way. Or it’ll be an improvement because so many people have to step up to fill in the gap. Anyway, very strong show here and a great way to close out the year.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 1997 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2018/11/20/new-paperback-complete-1997-monday-night-raw-reviews/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

IMG Credit: Ring of Honor

Ring of Honor
Date: December 26, 2018
Host: Ian Riccaboni

It’s time for a Best of 2018 show, which is something that I can live with for a change instead of the filler episodes before the next regular TV show. There’s been good stuff over the year and that means we should be getting some good matches and moments on the card. Just don’t focus on the stuff that only ROH seems to find important and we should be fine. Let’s get to it.

Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.

As usual, I’ll be posting the full versions of the matches, even if they’re clipped on the broadcast.

Opening sequence.

We open with a look at some of the bigger shows and moments of the year with Ian narrating in a nice start.

From Supercard of Honor XII.

Cody vs. Kenny Omega

Cody comes in with Bernard the Business Bear (there better be a good reveal), Brandi Rhodes, and a bunch of cops. The fans lose their minds at the opening bell but hang on because Cody needs a kiss from Brandi. It takes over a minute to lock up….and they immediately cut to the crowd. Cody’s headlock goes nowhere as Kenny kicks him to the floor and runs the ropes until Bernard trips him up.

Omega dives onto Bernard and takes off the head revealing….just a guy, or at least someone not important enough to show. Cody uses the distraction to get in a cheap shot as the bear is ejected. Oh come on now. Hasn’t he suffered enough? Cody loads up Shattered Dreams but stops and flips off the crowd instead. So to clarify: the WWE Hall of Famer who works here is a heel move but Goldust is a face. Got it. I think? The fans sing for Omega and are rewarded by Cody powerbombing him to cut off a comeback attempt.

The American Deathlock goes on but Kenny makes the rope, only to be slapped by Brandi. In a blatant bit of cheating, Cody has a foreign object thrown in but uses the referee distraction to kick Omega low. All Cody so far. The beating continues on the floor with Cody shifting his focus to the back. Omega gets sent face first into a chair but hang on because Cody has to steal a beer and spit it at fans. Of course that gets Cody a chant and it’s time to slap it out.

Omega gets the better of the chopping but his moonsault hits knees. Cody heads outside and takes one heck of a suicide dive, followed by a sitout bulldog for two back inside. Something like Adam Cole’s old Last Shot plants Cody again and there’s the V Trigger for a big reaction. A pair of Snapdragons makes things even worse but Cody breaks up a third attempt and scores with a Disaster Kick for two.

Another V Trigger in the corner looks to set up the One Winged Angel but Cody reverses into a Figure Four instead. Omega is in trouble and rolls around to little avail. A few slaps to the face wake him up enough for the turnover though and the hold is broken. Cody grabs a dragon screw legwhip to send Omega to the apron and it’s table time (Kevin: “Did we have a banquet earlier today?”).

Cross Rhodes through the table is broken up and a piledriver is blocked as well with Omega trying the Snapdragon on the apron. It knocks Cody down, though it would be a little more effective if Cody’s head actually touched the apron. Amazingly enough that’s not enough to finish Cody, who picks Omega up and drops him ribs first on the side of the table for a good looking crash. Instead of, you know, using the table again, Cody throws Omega back in for two off the Alabama Slam (almost no reaction from the crowd) and they’re both down again.

Another V Trigger rocks Cody and the reverse hurricanrana gets almost no rotation and Cody nearly lands on his back. Again, the fans aren’t reacting to most of this stuff and it’s not a good sign when they’re only about twenty minutes in to what’s likely going to be a crazy long match. Brandi sets up a table on the floor and gets on the apron, meaning it’s a missed V Trigger to put her through the table. Kenny is distracted so Cross Rhodes gets a close two, again with VERY little reaction.

Cody doesn’t know that Brandi is down so here’s Flip Gordon to help her out, following up on a Being the Elite angle. I know that’s the case because commentary tells us about it, which is all I need. A superplex brings Omega back down and it’s time for a whipping with the weightlifting belt as we move into the Hollywood Hogan period. Cody misses the moonsault though and one heck of a knee to the face has him in even more trouble.

Two more running knees get two (Remember: when Omega spams moves, he’s awesome. When someone in WWE does it, they’re not real wrestlers.) but the One Winged Angel is reversed into a Vertebreaker for two more. We get the required ref bump (How else are you going to get the Bucks in there?) and a double crossbody puts both guys down. Cue the Bucks (with a Being the Elite camera) to decide whom to superkick. They aim for Cody but hit Omega instead with reality setting in very quickly. Cross Rhodes gives Cody the pin at 36:35.

Rating: B-. Well, it was good and long (you could have cut 10-15 minutes) and it advanced the story. The problem is this felt like a big chapter but not a chapter important enough for 36 minutes of nothing mind blowing. Cody can’t get to that level and it’s showing more and more every time he’s in a major match. They did a very good job of explaining things that set up the match and feud, which was a major issue coming in so well done there. Overall though, this was lacking and nothing that I’m going to remember as really, the big spot was Brandi’s table bump and that was nothing great. Good, but not what they were hyping.

Omega glares at the Bucks as he’s helped to the back.

Video on Punishment Martinez winning the TV Title.

From October 24.

TV Title: Jeff Cobb vs. Punishment Martinez

Martinez is defending. They slug it out at the bell and Cobb shoves him around. The stomp out of the corner is easily blocked and Cobb hits the spinning belly to back suplex instead. A knee to the face has no effect and Martinez isn’t sure what to do. Martinez kicks him in the face to put Cobb down on one knee. The Silencer is shrugged off and Cobb clotheslines him down with ease. The Tour of the Islands gives Cobb the pin and the title at 1:28 as Martinez is off to WWE. This was EXACTLY how this should have gone as Martinez has been a monster but now the bigger monster has devoured him. Very smart booking.

Quick look at the Briscoes vs. the Young Bucks from Best in the World.

Clip of the Kingdom winning the Six Man Tag Team Titles at Survival of the Fittest.

From July 25.

ROH World Title: Cody vs. Matt Taven vs. Jay Lethal vs. Dalton Castle

Castle is defending and it’s one fall to a finish, even though the match is called a Survival Match. I get what they’re going for and it’s not terrible by any means but I’ve never liked that name for a one fall match. Castle is also very banged up but has the Boys with him to counter Cody’s seconds in Brandi and Bernard. Taven and Castle go straight to the floor so Lethal can dropkick Cody back inside.

Back in and Taven misses a missile dropkick but backdrops Letha to the apron for a springboard kick to the head. The Disaster Kick puts Taven on the floor as Castle gets back in for a running clothesline to put Cody on the floor. There’s the Peacock strut but Lethal comes back in to clear things out. Two suicide dives per opponent has Lethal in full control and we actually don’t take a break. Bernard even takes one of his own so Castle gets back inside where Brandi tosses him something.

That’s just a ruse though so a low blow can take Taven down, meaning it’s a showdown with Cody vs. Castle. The American Deathlock works on Castle’s bad knee so Lethal goes up for the save. Taven breaks it up and does the frog splash for a save instead, which fits him perfectly. Back from a break with Lethal hitting a DDT on Cody and a Downward Spiral for two on Castle. The Figure Four goes on Castle with Cody making a save, only to get kicked in the face for his efforts. Lethal goes crazy with chops on Taven, who collapses against the ropes in a heap.

Castle can’t hit the Bang a Rang on Taven, who rolls him up for a VERY delayed two (there’s your conspiracy). With Taven panicking, Cody comes in and hits Cross Rhodes for two and it’s a three way strike off between everyone but Taven. Cody powerslams Lethal and there’s the Disaster Kick to Castle. Taven is back in with a Climax for two on Castle as Cody saves. A double Lethal Injection drops Cody and Taven to the floor and the single version drops Castle. Taven pulls the referee out at two though and we take a break.

Back again with Lethal diving into a chair and Taven hitting his great looking dive onto Cody. It’s table time (completely unnecessary) and a Tower of Doom sends Taven and Cody through the wood with Lethal sliding in to get two. Lethal and Castle slug it out but the Lethal Injection is countered into the Bang a Rang. That’s countered as well and the Lethal Injection ends Castle to give Lethal the title back at 17:44.

Rating: B+. The more I think about this, the more I like it. Castle retaining at Best in the World was just a swerve so they could do something like this and there’s nothing wrong with that. Lethal feels a bit like a transitional champion and the safe choice to take the title off of the injured Castle but there are far worse choices. You’ll get solid to great matches and the fans respect him so it’s as good of an option as there was available. Now ROH can figure out where they want to go and Lethal is a fine placeholder. It came in an entertaining match as well, with everyone working hard and feeling like they could pull it off.

From Best in the World.

Tag Team Titles: Briscoe Brothers vs. Young Bucks

The Bucks are challenging and it’s Nick vs. Mark to start. It’s an early standoff until Nick gets in Mark’s face and knocks Jay off the apron. A low bridge sends Nick outside but he’s fine enough to kick Jay in the head. Everything breaks down and the superkicks are blocked (the Briscoes must be psychics), setting up double face to face staredowns. The Briscoes hit the ropes though and NOW the superkicks connect.

Nick dropkicks them both and a double basement dropkick has Jay in trouble. A Razor’s Edge/neckbreaker combination gets two on Matt and we settle down to a more standard formula. The fans are split here (again, well duh) as Mark stomps away and Jay gets in a choke behind the referee’s back. Matt tries to slide to the floor and run around but has to stop for a superkick, allowing Mark to stomp him down again.

Another superkick is enough for the hot tag off to Nick, who wastes no time with the springboard flip dive. Nick knees Jay in the face but Mark pulls him off the ropes into a rear naked choke of all things. Matt gets Blockbustered and it’s the neckbreaker into the Froggy Bow for two on Nick. The super crucifix bomb is broken up by Matt and a double clothesline takes the champs down. An exchange of superkicks actually goes to the Briscoes and the Jay Driller plants Matt with Nick having to make a save.

The Doomsday Device is broken up by a springboard cutter and a victory roll gets a rather close two. With Mark knocked to the floor, the Bucks hit a springboard Doomsday Device for another near fall on Jay but Mark takes out the referee. Mark brings in a chair, which is promptly superkicked right back into his face. The Meltzer Driver gets two on Jay as Mark makes another save.

Another Driver is loaded up but Mark pelts a chair at Nick’s head (that looked BAD, in a painful way) and the Jay Driller on a chair gets two on Matt. An elevated piledriver on a chair can’t get a pin? Now the super Razor’s Edge/neckbreaker combination is enough to put Matt away at 17:00. That last move looked great but they didn’t need to do that and the Jay Driller.

Rating: A-. Yep this was awesome and that’s really not a surprise. The Briscoes are an awesome team and can put on a great match with just about anyone. When you have the Bucks with their heads on straight and they’re being serious, they can carry their end of an excellent match too. This was the best thing on the show so far and that tends to be the case with the tag matches.

Next week: the Women of Honor. Must we?

Overall Rating: A-. Well that was easy. This was a bunch of good matches that I’ve seen before (or at least clips of them with the last match shown in full) so it’s really hard to complain about much on here. They do know how to put together a good show like this and that’s what we got with this one. There isn’t much to say on something like this but it was still rather entertaining, which was the idea.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 1997 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2018/11/20/new-paperback-complete-1997-monday-night-raw-reviews/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

IMG Credit: WWE

Royal Rumble 1989
Date: January 15, 1989
Location: The Summit, Houston, Texas
Attendance: 19,000
Commentators: Gorilla Monsoon, Jesse Ventura

This is the first PPV version of the show and things have changed a lot. Tonight, everyone is in the match and they’re focusing more on the idea of every man being for himself. The match wouldn’t be worth anything for a few more years but things should be a little bit stronger tonight as they have a better idea what they’re doing. Let’s get to it.

We start off with a listing of presumably everyone in the Rumble tonight. If not then it’s at least most of them.

Dino Bravo/Fabulous Rougeaus vs. Jim Duggan/Hart Foundation

2/3 falls here. Anvil vs. Bravo gets things going and they collide a few times with no one going anywhere. Both guys miss elbows and it’s off to Duggan for a BIG reaction. Ray Rougeau comes in and is immediately slammed down and hit by a knee drop. Hart comes in to a small but audible reaction and gets two each off a small package and a sunset flip. Jacques comes in and things break down a bit with all three heels being caught in one corner where Anvil drives shoulders into them, crushing Ray against the corner under two other guys.

Ray FINALLY gets something in by low bridging Bret to send him to the floor. At the end of the day, when you need someone to sell something you call on Bret. Dino’s side suplex puts Bret down and The Rougeau Bomb gets the first fall. Bret and Ray start things off in the second fall with Hart in big trouble. Jacques comes in and sends Bret into the corner for the traditional chest first bump in the corner which gives Dino two.

Bravo puts on a bear hug for a bit before it’s back to Jacques. A sunset flip gives Bret a quick breather but he’s immediately put in a camel clutch. Anvil makes the save but as he’s being put back in the corner, Ray comes in and puts the same hold back on. That’s good stuff there. The heels take turns working over Bret until Jacques puts on a Boston Crab. Gorilla wants Duggan or Neidhart to come in and break the hold up, because you’ve got five seconds. I love the hypocrisy you would get from him at times.

Bret breaks the hold and tags in Anvil but the referee didn’t see it. That’s such a basic spot but you don’t see it much anymore. Ray puts on an abdominal stretch before it’s off to Jacques for the exact same hold. Bret FINALLY hits an atomic drop to break up the momentum and there’s the white hot tag to Duggan. Anvil hits a slingshot shoulder on Ray and a Duggan elbow drop ties the match up at a fall apiece.

Duggan pounds on Ray to start before going to the wrong corner to try to beat up both guys. Bravo hammers away a bit but rams Duggan’s head into the buckle for no effect at all. Duggan gets punched over into the corner and there’s the tag to Hart. Everything breaks down and Duggan hits Bravo with the board to give Hart the pin.

Rating: C. This was fine but Duggan’s reactions are amazing. The guy was probably the third most over guy in the company at this point, which is covering a lot of ground given how over some of the guys were in 1989. This was fine for an opener but the ending was never quite in doubt, which is ok.

We get a clip of some people pulling their numbers earlier. DiBiase isn’t thrilled at all and immediately goes to find Slick to work out a deal of some kind. These segments need to come back, if nothing else to try to make us believe the numbers are random. The Bushwhackers are happy with their numbers but they trade anyway. Honky is mad about his number. Bad News says his is good news. Demolition seems annoyed. Jake….you can’t tell emotion from him anyway. The Rockers don’t seem to hate theirs.

It’s time for the Super Posedown, which is exactly that: Ultimate Warrior and Rick Rude posing against each other to further their feud. Warrior is IC Champion here and man alive if this happened on a PPV today the fans would likely riot. Well not riot but boo heavily at least. Heenan actually sucks up to the fans because it’s decided by fan vote. Again, the ending here isn’t exactly in doubt. This goes on WAY too long, as it’s just posing and people booing/cheering depending on who is posing. Rude finally attacks Warrior with a bar and bails. Warrior chases after him and that’s it. This somehow took nearly fifteen minutes.

Womens’ Title: Judy Martin vs. Rockin Robin

Robin is defending and is Jake Roberts’ real life half sister. Sherri is in the ring and wants the title shot at the winner of this. Martin misses a charge and Sherri sits in on commentary. They pound on each other and it’s clear that they’re not incredibly skilled in the ring. Martin slams her down and blocks a sunset flip with a punch to the head. Robin puts on a Boston Crab as this is going nowhere.

Martin blocks an O’Connor Roll as Sherri complains about not getting a rematch yet. Gorilla talks about the process you have to go through to get a rematch, which is a nice sounding idea when you think about all the automatic title rematches you get today. Imagine that: EARNING a title match. Something resembling a DDT gets two on Martin but Robin misses an elbow drop. Martin misses one also but a backslide gets two for Judy. Robin kicks her in the face for two and gets the same off a small package. Sherri: “Come on somebody win.” Robin goes to the middle rope, fakes Martin out, and cross bodies her to retain.

Rating: D. Nothing to see here but the ending wasn’t bad. The Women’s Title would be retired about 13 months later and wouldn’t be restored until about 1993. At the end of the day, no one cares about womens wrestling other than for how small their outfits are. Robin and Martin aren’t exactly eye candy either, so this didn’t do much for anyone. At least it was short though.

Slick says the Twin Towers (Boss Man and Akeem) are probably winners of the Rumble but denies knowing anything about shenanigans with DiBiase. Sean Mooney has footage (the original Vickie Guerrer) of Slick and DiBiase together and suddenly Slick realizes he misunderstood Mooney the first time. He has no comment though.

Rude runs his mouth a bit about beating Warrior. This must be intermission.

Yep, it’s intermission as we get promos from a few managers, saying their guys are going to win. Nothing to see here but we hear from Fuji (representing the Powers of Pain), Liz (Mega Powers) and Jimmy Hart (Honky Tonk Man and Greg Valentine). Like I said, nothing to see here.

Jesse is sitting on the throne that will go to either Haku or Race. He thinks he might just run for King because the chair is comfortable.

King Haku vs. Harley Race

Race was King but got hurt and the crown went to Haku. This is his chance to get it back in a one time only return to the ring. Harley shoves over Haku’s throne to start and the brawl is on. You know Race is going to be the brawler in this. Back in and Race pounds away before suplexing Haku down for two. Heenan manages both guys here but Race is kind of the face by default.

They head to the floor again with Race being sent into the post and chopped a few times. Haku sends him back to the floor after a few seconds in the ring as we stall for a few moments. More chops have Race in trouble as Jesse talks about Hogan injuring Race, which is only kind of true. Race no sells a headbutt and gets two off a piledriver. They collide again and Race falls to the floor as Heenan plays both sides, saying he’s for both guys when the other is out of earshot.

Back in and Race punches some more before getting two off a suplex. Haku gets sent to the floor again as it’s pretty clear there’s not much to this match. Race tries to piledrive Haku on the floor but gets backdropped as is the usual. A second attempt at a piledriver works but not incredibly well. Back in and a clothesline puts Haku down for two but Haku comes back and misses a top rope headbutt. Race misses a headbutt of his own and charges into the superkick from Haku (looked GREAT) for the pin to keep the crown in Tonga or wherever he’s from.

Rating: D+. This wasn’t terrible and the ending kick looked awesome, but other than that there wasn’t much to see here. Race was clearly old and banged up and he didn’t have a lot to work with in the form of Haku. The crown was mostly a minor title that was only somewhat official. Nothing to see here, but no one cares about anything but the Rumble tonight anyway.

Time for more Rumble promos, with Beefcake, Greg Valentine (both of whom say they just need their fists), the Powers of Pain (Fuji does the talking for them), Big John Studd (freshly back in the company), Mr. Perfect (pretty new at this point) and Savage (insane of course).

DiBiase is much happier about his number now.

Heenan says the Family (Brainbusters and Andre) is ready and Andre says he’ll thrown them out if he has to. Arn whispers to Tully when Andre isn’t looking because Arn Anderson is more awesome than you.

Hogan gives his usual promo with the focus on Boss Man and Akeem this time.

Royal Rumble

The entrants are every two minutes, allegedly. #1 is Ax and #2 is Smash, beginning a tradition of having partners fight at the beginning of these matches. They immediately pound on each other and amazingly enough, they actually sell the offense. It’s a bunch of clotheslines and punches, but the key to Demolition has always been how HARD they hit each other, which is what you get a lot of here. In at #3 is Andre, which gives us one heck of a handicap match.

Demolition immediately hits a double clothesline on Andre and start demolishing him to a BIG pop. Andre is way past being past his prime here but this is still cool to see. Here’s Mr. Perfect at #4 and he strolls down the aisle, which is pretty wise for him. Andre starts fighting Demolition off and for some reason this turns into a tag match. Andre easily throws out Smash, resulting in a 2-1 attack on Andre.

The Giant fights them off and Perfect sells a headbutt as only Mr. Perfect can. Here’s Ronnie Garvin at #5 and they get Andre tied up in the ropes. The Giant breaks free and beats up Ax while Garvin and Hennig fight a bit. Andre shifts over to beat up Perfect, giving us some more awesome overselling. Greg Valentine is in at #6 to make it 4-1 against Andre. AGAIN Andre is all like BRING IT ON and knocks them away, eliminating Garvin in the process.

Andre chokes Valentine in the corner while Ax and Perfect continue their rather uninteresting fight. Andre starts choking Ax and the look on his face is eerie. Jake Roberts is #7 and Andre immediately pounds him down. Nothing of note happens for two minutes so here’s Ron Bass at #8 as Jake gets eliminated by Andre. Shawn Michaels is in at #9, giving us Ax, Perfect, Andre, Bass, Valentine and Michaels. As I type that, Perfect knocks out Ax.

Perfect throws Shawn over the top rope but some skinning the cat brings him back in. Shawn dropkicks Perfect to the apron as we get into a sell-off. #10 is Butch who gets a big pop of his own. As Butch gets in, here’s Jake Roberts again with the snake to scare Andre out of the match. The fans look at something, presumably Jake and Andre in the aisle, as things settle down a lot. It’s Honky Tonk Man at #11 as things are in that annoying slow period of most Rumbles.

Tito Santana is in at #12 to finally balance the heel/face ratio out a bit. There’s almost nothing going on here other than the energy burst you get from the new guys coming in. Bass hits a good backdrop on Michaels as Santana barely survives an attack from Valentine. Bad News Brown is #13 and Butch and Santana (there’s a pairing for you) dump Honky. Butch gets beaten up and Shawn goes up top to jump on Bad News and Bass. Marty Jannetty is #14 and the Rockers double dropkick Bass out.

Tito kills Valentine with the forearm and world champion Randy Savage is #15. NOW the place wakes up as he hammers away on Bad News. Perfect and Savage go at it in a match that would have the purists drooling. Speaking of making purists drool, Arn Anderson is #16. Savage dumps Valentine as Shawn fights Arn. Savage….saves Anderson and eliminates Shawn? Now there’s one I didn’t expect. To recap, we’ve got Marty, Anderson, Butch, Brown, Savage, Santana and Perfect in there at the moment. That’s quite the lineup for the most part.

Tully Blanchard makes the lineup even stronger at #17. Just to be clear, that’s two tag teams getting back to back numbers. Gee, what are the odds? The Brainbusters double team Marty as we’re just waiting for Hogan at this point. And here he is at #18. There goes Perfect, giving him the new Iron Man record at just under 28:00. Off camera, Savage and the Busters put Santana out as Hulk beats up Brown. Hogan fights off all three heels as Savage beats on Butch. Nice partner, especially after Hogan saved Savage when he got to the ring.

Here’s Luke at #19 as things slow down again. Butch gets thrown out after a remarkable 18 minutes. Hogan hot shots Blanchard but has to beat up Luke instead of eliminating Tully. After a brief lull, here’s Koko B. Ware at #20. After more of that epic Hulk vs. Luke showdown, Arn goes up top and is immediately slammed down by Hogan. Dude, you’re best friends with RIC FLAIR. Why would you think that’s smart? Hogan dumps Koko and Luke but gets double teamed by the Busters.

Warlord is #20 and Hogan clotheslines both Busters out at the same time. Warlord poses on the apron, gets in, and is clotheslined out in 2 seconds flat, setting a record that would last 20 years. Hogan also dumps Bad News, but it takes out Savage in the process which adds even more fuel to the Mega Powers Exploding in less than a month. Liz comes in to play peacemaker and the Powers shake hands.

Now we get the big showdown of the match as Big Boss Man is #21 and gets to face Hogan one on one. This is when Boss Man weighed like 400lbs and was just freaking fat. Hulk slams Boss Man down and pounds away in the corner but falls victim to a splash. A piledriver puts Hulk down and Boss Man stands tall. Gorilla says Hogan has been out there for half an hour (it’s been about 8 or 9 minutes) and Jesse is hilarious in freaking out.

To give us the third team back to back in this Rumble, #22 is Akeem. Hogan rams them together and slams Akeem but the numbers catch up with Hogan. After a brief comeback, a double splash crushes Hogan and he’s easily tossed. Hogan, ever the jerk, pulls Boss Man out and beats on him, which is apparently an elimination. Beefcake is #23, which means we just missed what could have been a good house show tag match.

Hogan and Boss Man brawl to the back as we get to the pretty dull third act of the Rumble. Red Rooster is #24 and helps double team Akeem a bit. They try to dump Akeem but Barbarian comes in at #25 and breaks it up. Gorilla: “That was kind of stupid.” Taylor and Akeem pair off, as do Barbarian and Beefcake and the heels take over. Akeem crushes the Rooster (Terry Taylor in case you’re some young kid) and here’s Big John Studd at #27.

Nothing of note happens there so here’s Hercules at #28. Again nothing happens so Rick Martel is #29. He goes right for Akeem but Studd shoves him away because Akeem is his big piece of chicken tonight. DiBiase is of course #30, giving us DiBiase, Akeem, Hercules, Beefcake, Studd, Barbarian, Rooster and Martel. Jesse and Gorilla have a debate about what a manager is as DiBiase throws out the Rooster to get us down to seven.

DiBiase and Barbarian team up to put out Hercules and Beefcake, leaving us with five. This last part isn’t quite death for the match but it’s certainly a bad sickness. Martel puts out the Barbarian to give us a final four. Akeem misses a splash on Martel in the corner and Rick fires off some dropkicks to no avail.

A cross body is caught and Akeem dumps Martel to get us down to Studd, Akeem and DiBiase. Akeem pounds on Studd as DiBiase gives instructions. Studd pulls Ted in front of a splash and dumps Akeem to get us down to two. DiBiase offers money but Studd shakes a finger at him. Studd actually fires off some suplexes to the shock of Monsoon. The elimination is academic and Studd wins.

Rating: C-. The last third REALLY hurts this. It’s not that it’s bad but after Hogan leaves you could almost hear a pin fall. Ha I made a wrestling joke. Also, John Studd? Really? They’ve got all those guys in there and they pick Studd to win? After Wrestlemania the guy was pretty much gone and I don’t think there was ever a clear reason for Studd winning given, other than they thought he was going to be a big deal. It’s just an odd pick and one that hindsight doesn’t look kindly on. Anyway not a terrible match but the booking hurts it.

Savage reassures himself that he’s still great. You can hear the paranoia and see the heel turn coming if you look hard enough.

Jesse and Gorilla wrap things up.

Overall Rating: D+. I can’t say this was a bad show because nothing on here is truly terrible, but it’s certainly not good either. This is very characteristic of the late 80s as other than Hogan and Savage, the stories were very limited at best. They were trying though and that’s something you can’t fake. Not a terrible show, but it’s nothing more than a moment \for the most part.

Ratings Comparison

Jim Duggan/Hart Foundation vs. Dino Bravo/Fabulous Rougeaus

Original: C+

Redo: C

Rockin’ Robin vs. Judy Martin

Original: C-

Redo: D

King Haku vs. Harley Race

Original: C

Redo: D+

Royal Rumble

Original: C+

Redo: C-

Overall Rating

Original: C-

Redo: D+

About the same again. That’s interesting compared to what happened with the Survivor Series Redos.

Here’s the original review if you’re interested:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2011/01/08/royal-rumble-count-up-1989/

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 1997 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2018/11/20/new-paperback-complete-1997-monday-night-raw-reviews/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6