WWF Royal Rumble 1989

WWF Royal Rumble 1989
Venue: Houston, Texas
Date: 15/01/89
Attendance: 19,000
Commentators: Gorilla Monsoon & Jesse Ventura

Officially the first Royal Rumble was a TV special that aired on the USA Network going head to head with Jim Crockett Promotions' NWA Bunkhouse Stampede pay-per-view on 24th January 1988. However there was a Royal Rumble prior to that on 4th October 1987 in St. Louis, Missouri which was used as a test run for the concept. It was won by the One Man Gang who lastly eliminated the Junkyard Dog. The 1989 Royal Rumble was the first to be a pay-per-view event and would become one of the WWF's 'big four' alongside Wrestlemania, Summerslam and Survivor Series.

 

Jacques Rougeau has Bret Hart in trouble in the opening bout

Review

The show got off to a good start as the Hart Foundation teamed with Hacksaw Jim Duggan to face the Fabulous Rougeau Brothers and Dino Bravo in a best two out of three falls contest. The French Canadians took the first fall when Raymond Rougeau pinned Bret Hart only for the faces to even the scores when Jim Duggan pinned Raymond. The decisive fall came when Duggan nailed Dino Bravo with a 2x4 behind the referee's back allowing Hart to cover for the victory. The match was action packed and the crowd was very into it but one of my pet hates is to see babyfaces blatantly cheating to win a match especially when it's unjustified. Duggan did this a lot during his WWF run...

 

A great shot of the Houston Summit

Rockin' Robin defeated Judy Martin to retain the Women's Title in a match that very few in the arena appeared to care about. The ladies rushed through a lot of moves and the match only seemed to exist to set up a future match between Robin and Sensational Sherri who had challenged the winner. Sherri also sat in with the commentary team during the match but sounded uncomfortable and added little... Intercontinental Champion the Ultimate Warrior faced Ravishing Rick Rude in a "Super Pose Down" where the winner was decided by the response from the crowd. Naturally under those rules, Warrior was the victor. During Warrior's final pose Bobby Heenan sprayed oil in his face, which Warrior neglected to sell for some reason, and Rude attacked him from behind to set up their title clash at Wrestlemania... The all-heel match between King Haku and former King Harley Race was another strange inclusion and was in fact cut from the video release of the event. The match was designed to help legitimise Haku as the King of the WWF but the highlight was Bobby Heenan, who managed both men, repeatedly switching his allegiance throughout the match depending on who had the advantage. Haku won clean by pinfall in a plodding but passable affair in what would be Race's last match in the WWF... Big John Studd was the surprise winner of the Royal Rumble match lastly eliminating Ted Dibiase who had supposedly purchased his number thirty entrance spot from Slick which enabled the Twin Towers to have their entrances next to each other. The decision to have Studd win the match was a strange one as his career was all but over and his victory led to precisely nothing.

 

The Rockers perform a double elbow as Mr Perfect looks on

In other happenings in the match: Ax and Smash of Demolition drew numbers one and two and had to battle each other... Andre the Giant jobbed Jake The Snake Roberts and sent him packing about two minutes after he entered the fray. Roberts returned later with Damien and caused Andre to eliminate himself, you know, because even monster heels are scared of snakes... Randy Savage entered at number 15 closely followed by Hulk Hogan at 18 in the hottest portion of the match. Hogan eliminated Savage who raced back into the ring to confront the Hulkster prompting Elizabeth to enter the ring and help smooth things over between the Mega Powers. Hogan then had to face both members of the Twin Towers alone but ultimately he was unsuccessful and found himself eliminated soon after. Showing great sportsmanship Hogan then eliminated the Big Boss Man from the outside and the two men fought all the way to the back... In an ending similar to the Survivor Series, Mean Gene Okerlund interviewed Savage who claimed there was no problems between he and Hogan and their clash during the Rumble was nothing more than a misunderstanding. The Mega Powers were about to explode...

 

Things heat up as Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage enter the fray

Overall
Two good matches out of four makes the Royal Rumble look average on paper but thankfully the two good matches on the night were the more important ones. The Rumble match itself was enjoyable and unpredictable although it fell a bit flat after the eliminations of Randy Savage and Hulk Hogan. The six man tag team match was also a fun bout but the remaining two contests were nothing much to write home about. The "Super Pose Down" was an important part of the Warrior/Rude feud leading into Wrestlemania but it was in truth a bit boring until Rude's sneak attack at the end. The first Royal Rumble pay-per-view drew just 165,000 buys.

He may have bought number 30 but it's not looking good for Ted Dibiase

Results
1 The Hart Foundation & Jim Duggan def The Fabulous Rougeaus & Dino Bravo in a Best 2 out of 3 Falls Match (15:42) ***
2 Rockin' Robin (c) pinned Judy Martin (6:24) *1/2
3 The Ultimate Warrior def Rick Rude in a "Super Posedown" contest N/A
4 Haku pinned Harley Race (9:01) *1/2
5 Big John Studd won the Royal Rumble match (64:53) **3/4

Rating

8.75/20 = 43.75%

Star Rating Guide

*****   Excellent/World Class

****     Very Good

***        Good

**           OK/Acceptable

*             Poor

DUD       Abysmal

SQ          Squash (Less than 1 min)