WWF Royal Rumble 1991

WWF Royal Rumble 1991
Venue: Miami, Florida
Date: 19/01/91
Attendance: 16,000
Commentators: Gorilla Monsoon & Rowdy Roddy Piper

The 1991 Royal Rumble took place just days after the start of Operation Desert Storm where coalition forces entered into battle as part of the Gulf War and with heavy U.S. involvement the show began with the playing of the Star-Spangled Banner. However the World Wrestling Federation was gaining lots of negative press for portraying Sergeant Slaughter as an Iraqi sympathiser who had turned his back on the United States. Many deemed this as extremely distasteful exploitation of a war that would claim many lives. Undeterred, the WWF installed Slaughter as the number one contender to the Ultimate Warrior's WWF Heavyweight Title in order to capitalise on the very real events in the Middle East thus making Slaughter a red hot heel (for a short time at least).

Review

The Rockers defeated The Orient Express in a superb opening bout featuring lots of innovative sequences and manoeuvres. The Express' Sato had been replaced by Kato who was Paul Diamond under a mask. Diamond and Tanaka had teamed previously as Bad Company in the AWA and were familiar with The (Midnight) Rockers who they'd faced many times. The two teams clearly had great chemistry and the Miami crowd was hot for this exciting tag team contest...

Sensational Queen Sherri called out the Ultimate Warrior in an attempt to persuade the champion to grant Randy Savage a title shot should he defeat Sgt Slaughter later in the evening. She tried insulting, flirting and begging but to no avail as Warrior flat out refused. Savage's reaction was fantastic...

Next up the Big Boss Man continued his war against the Heenan Family as he pinned The Barbarian in a surprisingly good encounter. Boss Man was at his peak as a worker around this time and The Barbarian was also able to pull out good matches in the right circumstances. Intercontinental Champion Mr Perfect would be next in line for the Big Boss Man at WrestleMania...

Sgt Slaughter defeated the Ultimate Warrior to become the new WWF Heavyweight Champion in a super-heated title match with lots of help from Randy Savage and Sherri. There was not much in the way of wrestling but the match told a great story as a bitter and vengeful Savage ensured Warrior would not leave the Royal Rumble as champion. After interfering early in the match Warrior chased Sherri away from ringside only to be blindsided by Savage while Slaughter distracted the referee. Warrior managed to make his way back to the ring where Slaughter was able to capitalise. Just as it looked like Warrior was making a comeback Sherri and Savage returned to ringside and Savage smashed a sceptre over Warrior's head allowing Slaughter to take the championship. Gorilla Monsoon and Roddy Piper's outrage on commentary only added to the drama. While Slaughter's offense continued to look weak it must be said he was excellent at selling a beating. Warrior and Savage were on a collision course set for WrestleMania...

Jacques Rougeau had recently been repackaged as The Mountie and was a bit more serious at this point as opposed to the comedy character he would later become. Mountie beat Koko B Ware in a boring contest that went too long. The crowd were obviously deflated after Warrior's shock title loss but I can't believe this bout would've been much better received had it been placed after the Boss Man/Barbarian match. The best part was Jimmy Hart talking trash to Frankie when Mountie was on the offense. This match did not appear on the original video release of the event, which was not a bad thing...

The Ted Dibiase/Dusty Rhodes feud came to an end as Dibiase teamed with his bodyguard Virgil to face Rhodes and his son Dustin. The younger Rhodes took a beating for a big chunk of the bout until Dusty was finally able to tag in but he was easily beaten by Dibiase which was understandable as the American Dream was just about to return to WCW. The real story in this match though was a tremendous post match angle between Dibiase and Virgil. After finally having enough of being treated so appallingly by his employer, Virgil knocked out Dibiase with the Million Dollar belt and left the arena to a huge ovation...

The Royal Rumble match itself was entertaining although it lacked in big memorable moments. Rick Martel became the new record holder for endurance clocking in with over 52 minutes and there were good showings for Bret Hart, a young Shane Douglas and the returning British Bulldog. Randy Savage would not appear as scheduled as he was run out of the building by the Ultimate Warrior. Hulk Hogan won the match for the second year running by lastly eliminating Earthquake. Hogan would now become the number one contender to face Sgt Slaughter at WrestleMania VII.

Overall
A really good show that tends to be remembered for the Ultimate Warrior's dramatic title loss to Sgt Slaughter but every match on the card is worthwhile (well, except one) and set the scene nicely for WrestleMania VII. With 440,000 buys on pay-per-view, this would be the highest drawing Royal Rumble until 1999.

Results
1 The Rockers def The Orient Express by pinfall (19:15) ****
2 The Big Boss Man pinned The Barbarian (14:15) ***
3 Sgt Slaughter pinned The Ultimate Warrior (c) to win the WWF Heavyweight Title (12:47) ***
4 The Mountie pinned Koko B Ware (9:12) *
5 Ted Dibiase & Virgil def Dusty Rhodes & Dustin Rhodes (9:57) **1/2
6 Hulk Hogan won the Royal Rumble match (65:17) ***

Rating
16.50/30 = 55%

Star Rating Guide
***** Excellent/World Class
**** Very Good
***    Good
**     OK/Acceptable
* Poor
DUD Abysmal
SQ Squash (Less than 1 min)

WWF Survivor Series 1992

WWF Survivor Series 1992
Venue: Richfield, Ohio
Date: 25/11/92
Attendance: 17,500
Commentators: Vince McMahon & Bobby Heenan




The WWF were forced into a major change to the Survivor Series line up just a couple of weeks prior to the event as the Ultimate Warrior and the British Bulldog were both fired for failing drug tests. Bulldog's match with The Mountie was scrapped but much more disruptive was Warrior's dismissal as he was part of the main event program that had been built for months. With few options left open to them Mr Perfect (who had to come out of retirement and cease claiming his Lloyds of London insurance pay) was chosen as the man to partner Randy Savage in his battle with Ric Flair and Razor Ramon in the headline bout. It didn't make a great deal of sense considering what Perfect (and Flair) had done to Savage all year but it was a case of needs must. It was however a memorable turn as Perfect accepted Savage's offer on Prime Time Wrestling by pouring water over the head of Bobby Heenan after being slapped by "The Brain". Warrior would be gone from the company for over three years while Bulldog would be back in the summer of 1994 after a stint in WCW.

The original main event line up

Review
The Headshrinkers defeated High Energy (Owen Hart & Koko B Ware) in a fairly good opener which was designed to get the new heel team over. High Energy would prove to be another dead end role for the talented Owen Hart... The Big Boss Man beat Nailz in a "Knightstick (on a pole) Match" in what was supposed to be their big showdown but turned out to be a bit of a damp squib. This match was six months in the making but was over in less than six minutes and despite all the hype being about the knightstick it was barely a factor as Boss Man won clean and suddenly with the Boss Man Slam. A passable brawl... Tatanka and Rick Martel had a pretty boring bout which was overshadowed by the appearance of Matt Borne at ringside introducing the as yet unnamed Doink the Clown gimmick. Tatanka won clean with the "Papoose To Go" (Fallaway Slam).

The original plan was for Davey Boy Smith to face The Mountie

Next up was the main event which went on at half way to allow the World Title bout to go on last. Mr Perfect and Randy Savage defeated Ric Flair and Razor Ramon in a really good tag match although it did end with a weak disqualification finish. Despite a 15 month lay-off Perfect looked good here. They teased him having second thoughts on teaming with Savage mid-way through the contest... Yokozuna made his PPV debut with a squash victory over Virgil. Yoko's offense looked devastating... The Nasty Boys and The Natural Disasters overcame tag champions Money Inc and The Beverly Brothers in a tag team elimination match. While not offensive the match was pretty lifeless and seemed to drag. The Nasty's were the surviving team here confirming them as number one contenders to Money Inc's title... The Undertaker beat Kamala in a terrible "Coffin Match". It was as bad as their Summerslam bout but at least it had a finish. Undertaker pinned Kamala after a Tombstone and then rolled him into the coffin and nailed it shut.

Randy Savage and Mr Perfect double team Ric Flair

Finally WWF Heavyweight Champion Bret Hart defeated Shawn Michaels by submission in a quality wrestling match. Hart was being put over as a fighting champion who defended the title regularly and although Michaels was his biggest challenge so far, nobody really believed "The Heartbreak Kid" had a chance of winning the big one here. Michaels was without Sensational Sherri following an angle where the returning Marty Jannetty smashed a mirror over her head after Shawn had pulled her into harm's way. Santa Claus joined Hart in the ring to end the show on a feel good note for the younger fans.

Overall
Survivor Series 1992, much like Summerslam was a two match show and thankfully the two feature bouts delivered in the ring because the rest of the show was quite forgettable. Considering the disruption caused by Warrior's exit the main event was a success thanks to the intrigue of Mr Perfect turning on Ric Flair and Bobby Heenan to join forces with Randy Savage, regardless of whether it made sense or not. Bret Hart's first PPV title defence against Shawn Michaels was a great technical exhibition with the only possible negative being it was a touch hold heavy in places. The only other notable happening was the emergence of new super heel Yokozuna. Survivor Series 1992 pulled in approximately 250,000 buys on pay-per-view with a 1.4 buy rate.

Bret Hart applies the match winning Sharpshooter

Results
1 The Headshrinkers def High Energy by pinfall (7:38) **1/2
2 The Big Boss Man pinned Nailz in a "Knightstick Match" (5:43) *1/2
3 Tatanka pinned Rick Martel (11:04) *3/4
4 Randy Savage & Mr Perfect def Ric Flair & Razor Ramon by disqualification (16:29) ***1/2
5 Yokozuna pinned Virgil (3:34) *
6 The Nasty Boys & The Natural Disasters def Money Inc & The Beverly Brothers in an Elimination Match (15:50) *3/4
7 The Undertaker def Kamala in a "Coffin Match" (5:27) DUD
8 Bret Hart (c) def Shawn Michaels by submission to retain the WWF Heavyweight Title (26:40) ***3/4




Rating
15.75/40 = 39.38%