callanvass Live from Houston, TX (The Summit)Attendance 19,000Your commentators are Jessie Ventura & Gorilla Monsoon2 out of 3 fallsDino Bravo & The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers Vs The Hart Foundation & "Hacksaw" Jim DugganThe Hart Foundation & Duggan win 2 falls to 1. Duggan cheats to win it for his team. Not a bad way to start the show. Somewhat fun and very energetic with a hot crowd. You could certainly do a lot worse for openers.**1/2 out of 5Ted Dibiase buys off Slick to get a better number for the Royal Rumble. Other superstars like The Bushwhackers, The Rockers, Jake Roberts, The Honky Tonk Man, etc get their numbers as well.Women's ChampionshipRockin' Robin (C) Vs Judy MartinSensational Sherri challenges the winner. Robin wins with a flying cross body. They tried hard, but it just didn't gell. Nothing terribly wrong with it, just rather ordinary.** out of 5Ultimate Warrior beats Rick Rude in a posedown and pays the price for it after Rick Rude beats him up with a metal bar. Harmless fun. Winner is King of the RingHarley Race Vs HakuHaku is the current King of The Ring. Both are heels and Bobby Heenan manages both. The crowd is in favor of Harley Race. Haku wins with a crescent kick. This was pretty bad. Harley looked out of shape and he was super slow. *1/2 out of 5It's time for the Royal Rumble! I'm just gonna mention the big highlights. In a very cool moment, Demolition members, Axe and Smash draw numbers 1 and 2. Demolition were still getting their feet warm as faces at this juncture. Andre the Giant draws #3. Mr. Perfect draws #4. Andre almost sends Hennig to tim-buck-two with a big headbutt. Hennig's selling is awesome. Jake "The Snake" Roberts draws #7 and goes after Andre. Andre eliminates Roberts. Shawn Michaels is #9. Hennig and Michaels have a fun exchange. Jake chases Andre out of the ring with a snake. Andre eliminates himself. This rumble is way too long. The intervals are ridiculous. I'm not saying be short like Royal Rumble 95...but it's a bit too much. Randy Savage is #16 to liven the building and myself up. Hulk Hogan is 318 and the crowd goes wild. Hogan goes on an eliminating spree and accidentally gets rid of Randy Savage when dumping Bad News Brown. Savage gets extremely angry and confronts Hogan. Miss Elizabeth runs out and plays peacemaker. Savage and Hogan shake hands as The Big Bossman comes out. I've lost track of the entrée numbers. Akeem is out and double teams Hogan with The Big Bossman. They eliminate Hogan. Ted Dibiase bought his way to number 30. The Rumble has become dead ever since Hogan and Savage got eliminated. Final Four are Rick Martel, Akeem, Ted Dibiase & Big John Studd. Akeem dumps Martel. Big John Studd gets rid of Akeem and then Dibiase to win the Rumble.The Rumle started off really hot, then kinda got tedious after a while. I really question the decision to have Studd win as well. The PPV is decent overall and is worth a look6/10

bh_tafe3 The WWE was building nicely to one of the biggest shows in history as the 1989 Royal Runble came along. This was either the second or third rumble to occur, depending on whether one happened at a house show in 1987 or not, was the second to be shown live on television, and the first to be shown on PPV.The big story going into this was the rivalry, which had been going for months between the Mega Powers Hulk Hogan and WWE Champion Randy Savage and the Twin Towers Big Boss Man and Akeem. The Powers had outlasted the Towers at Survivor Series two months earlier and the Towers were keen for revenge. And also, some issues appeared to be brewing between Hogan and Savage. With 28 other men in the Royal Rumble, they would need to stick together tonight.The night started off with Hacksaw Jim Duggan and the Hart Foundation Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart defeating the Fabulous Rougeaus Jacques and Raymond and Dino Bravo in a 2 out of 3 falls six man tag match. The team shared a fall each, but Hacksaw was able to get in a shot on Bravo with his trusty 2 by 4 while the ref had his back turned, allowing Hart to get the pin and th victory. This was a fun match to watch. Two tag teams who could really go.Next up, and through out the show we had a running joke with DiBiase who buys the coveted No.30 in the Royal Rumble after drawing a low number himself.Next up is a super posedown between Rick Rude and the Ultimate Warrior, with the audience deciding the winner. Well Rude is a bad guy, Warrior is a good guy, so of course things turn out badly for Rude who beats the Warrior senseless.Next up comes the WWE Women's Championship match between Rockin Robin and Judy Martin. This was not an easy match to watch, Robin wins and I think they got rid of Women's Wrestling matches from the WWE following this effort.Next up Ravishing Rick Rude comes on with his manager Bobby Heenan to tell everyone about his brilliant plan and guarantee he will beat Warrior for the Intercontinental Title in the near future. This was good stuff Next up we have two former King of the Ring winners King Haku and Harley Race pitted against each other in a fun match, with Haku wining to be crowned "King of Wrestling." This brings us to the big one, the main event, the 1989 Royal Rumbler. The 1988 edition had featured only 20 men, but this one expanded to 30. The time between entries (which is not strictly adhered to at any rate) was two minutes. Mr Perfect clocked up the longest time in the rumble, going 28 minutes, Andre the Giant eliminated himself after Jake Roberts let a snake loose in the ring. Savage got upset with Hogan after Hogan had eliminated him, but they shook hands and it was all good. Hogan was dominant from here with 9 eliminations but was eventually eliminated by the Twin Towers, meaning they'd won the battle with the Mega Powers on this night. But eventually it all came down to Big John Studd, a good guy, taking on bad guys Akeem and Ted DiBiase. Akeem and Ted worked together to beat Studd down, but then got in an argument. Studd took advantage eliminating Akeen and then had some fun beating on DiBiase before throwing him out like a rag doll. And so, in an anti-climactic ending Big John Studd won the 1989 Royal Rumble.All in all though, the fans couldn't complain. The Twin Towers may have beaten Hogan and Savage, but they weren't victorious in the end. The Mega Powers had sorted out their little quarrel. All was well with the world and the only question that remained was who was going to take on the Mega Powers at Wrestlemania V in two months?

Scarecrow-88 I guess one could look at the second Royal Rumble as Big John Studd's last hurrah, and a fitting finale to a rather unfulfilled career. He enters the 30 Man Battle Royal rather late, but, once he's in the ring, everyone else(..especially Akeem & Million Dollar Man Ted Dibiase)knows it. I had never realized just how massive and imposing he really is because I hearken back to his times opposite André the Giant in the *squared circle*, and everyone looks small compared to him. But, anyone can see, if you are watching it on home video, that Studd was having the time of his life, pounding away at Akeem throughout most of his time in the ring. If anyone attempted to attack him, they were tossed aside with ease.The major running story-line at the time was the crack in the foundation of The Mega Powers, WWF World Heavyweight champion Randy 'Macho Man' Savage and former champion Hulk Hogan, mainly due to beautiful manager Elizabeth. Savage, no matter how successful during his one-year tenure as champion, was always under Hogan's shadow, and if you add jealousy into the equation(..at the previous Thanksgiving wrestling card, Survivor Series, Hogan hoists Liz in the air after their victory and Savage doesn't exactly like it)eventually the foundation will capsize. In the Royal Rumble, Savage was in a continuing battle with a foe at the time, Bad News Brown(a rough Harlem streetfighter, always carrying a scowl, never getting along with anyone)when Hogan eliminates both of them. Savage confronts Hogan after his accidental exit and this is a definite sign that the relationship, once quite strong, has deteriorated. Liz is able to separate the two and they end in a handshake, but later(..in the Saturday Night Main Event card where The Twin Towers, Big Boss Man & Akeem, wrestle the Mega Powers)the situation between the two would end quite ugly, thanks to Hogan's leaving Savage to fend for himself against the Twin Towers while taking to an injured Liz(Savage would accidentally fall on her)to medical assistance.The opening of the card features a six-man tag match consisting of three falls(..whoever wins two out of three times is the victor)between Hacksaw Jim Duggan & The Hart Foundation against "Canada's Strongest Man" Dino Bravo & The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers. Pretty entertaining, although, at times, sloppily performed. Duggan is quite a fan favorite at this time, although his style is not necessarily graceful(..Bret was a fine compliment to the team, his *excellence of execution* adding quality to the proceedings). The Rougeau Bros(..never given a chance to hoist the tag titles in the air)have an abundance of talent and work extraordinarily well as a team while Bravo uses his brute strength to extend punishment to whoever the victim might be. Bret is pinned after the Rougeaus apply their fabulous finishing maneuver, and mostly dominate the opening of the bout pummeling Hart who finally breaks free to tag Duggan. Duggan pins one of the Rougeaus, then uses his 2X4 across the back of another Rougeau to win the match. This kind of cheating raises the ire of commentator Jesse the Body Ventura. The "pose off" between 'Ravishing" Rick Rude and Intercontinental Champion The Ultimate Warrior, is little more than filler, providing the audience with a new feud which would lead to an exchange of the IC belt between the two at both Wrestlemania V & Summerslam '89. The Women's Championship is a joke and shows the viewer that this division will never work despite Vince McMahon's continual efforts. 'Sensational' Sherry('Scary' Sherry, she'd later be labeled, making her presence felt when joining Randy Savage's side later after he turns heel)makes an appearance disrupting the women's bout before it begins.The Battle Royal itself consists of a lot of WWF wrestlers of that time(..some like Shawn Michaels & 'Mr. Perfect' Curt Henning were just pups at this point in their careers). Many tag teams represented the event, providing numbers to the 30 because no one expects the Bushwackers to win it. The Powers of Pain, Strike Force(Tito Santana & Rick Martel), The Brain Busters(Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard), The Rockers(Marty Jannety and Shawn Michaels), & Demolition(Ax & Smash who would draw numbers 1&2 tearing into each other at the beginning). André the Giant was easily the one favored, at first, to win the Battle Royal, and, despite multiple attacks by an army of wrestlers, was pummeling everyone in his path and tossing them around. André the Giant definitely used his size and girth to dominate those who dared challenge him. Fortunate for those in the ring, Jake Roberts(..who had been tossed over the ropes by André)had his secret weapon, his pet snake Damian, with André the Giant eliminating himself and running for his life in absolute fear. Until Macho Man and Hogan arrived, it loses steam with the exit of André. A running feud at the time was between The Mega Powers & The Twin Towers, and the crowd would shockingly witness Hogan being thrown out of the Royal Rumble by the gargantuan duo. The final act would have Big John Studd, Ted Dibiase and Akeem going at it, with a surprising win going for the more unlikely candidate..Big John Studd, who was not amongst any hot story-lines during this point in 1989. It was a great thrill to see a very satisfied Big John Studd win the Royal Rumble in such a memorable fashion, disposing of Akeem(..once One Man Gang, and quite the behemoth)and Dibiase, barely breaking a sweat. A sense of funny irony was that Dibiase had purchased the final draw to enter the event, and was not at all successful in his desire to win The Royal Rumble. This victory is not as recognized as many others mainly because of the Mega Powers soap opera, but I was proud for Studd, a man who would walk tall celebrating quite a substantial victory, a shining exit to a rather disappointing career.

wwfhistoryguy *SPOILERS*Rumbles started getting really good in '90, but this one wasn't bad.The opening six-man match was very good. Listen closely after the second fall and you'll hear Jim Duggan say "Get off my (expletive)" to the ref. Remember, this was back in the day. Wrestlers never cussed. It was nice to see two major feuds settled in one match.Why was King Haku vs. Harley Race edited from the tape? In fact, the commentators never even mention this match. I know nothing about this apparent feud, and if either of them was a face in this match.The Rumble: Ax and Smash, the most dominant tag team in WWF history, did simply poorly here. Smash barely lasted till number 4, and Ax didn't do much better. And they never cross paths with the Powers of Pain. Usually, this was a great opportunity for all rivals to fight. Mr. Perfect and the Brain Busters did the best here before a fresh Hulk Hogan disposed of them. The Warlord proved his mediocrity by stepping in and right back out courtesy of a Hogan clothesline. The Barbarian fared surprisingly well, by eliminating Brutus Beefcake AND Hercules, two men who have defeated him several times. I liked seeing Butch eliminate the Honky Tonk Man.Hulk Hogan kind of shocked me by getting easily eliminated by the Towers, then just reaching in and pulling Bossman out. Did he even lose any popularity at all? This wasn't the best Rumble match, not even close; but it was much better than some of them, too. It was somewhere in the middle.It was also an interesting decision to put the previous year's winner, Duggan, and its iron man, Bret Hart, in an undercard match, but hey, it was actually a better match than the Rumble.