Shining a Spotlight 1.21.10: The 1990 Royal Rumble

Posted by Michael Weyer on 01.21.2010

Looking back twenty years at my personal favorite Rumble featuring one of the best showdowns WWF has ever offered.


　
A pretty good Genesis overall. I'm still not sold on TNA giving up the six-sided ring as that really had set them apart and made them look unique. But otherwise, we got some good stuff. Kendrick in the X Division is a good move to brighten things up and overjoyed to see Tara as Knockouts champ again, hopefully TNA gives her a real run this time. I believe Nash's absence shifted the tag match with Beer Money but nice to see the younger guys get the push. As for the main event, the idea of a heel AJ as champion managed by Flair is something I'm looking quite forward to. Glad to see my worries about TNA are, for the moment, over exaggerated, as long as they keep running with the momentum.


　
The Royal Rumble has always been a highlight of WWE's year. As the first PPV of the year, it sets the tone for the company's plans, lets you know how things will be. One thing WWE has always done well is that, while the rest of the year may be shaky, the build-up to Wrestlemania is generally excellent as they know this is the biggest show of the year and want to do it right. The Rumble has been a key part of that with the stip of the winner getting a title shot and thus directly sets up Mania.

It wasn't always that way, though. When it started out, there was no prize to the Rumble aside from being able to say you were the toughest guy in the WWF. It was just a match, albeit one with a unique gimmick that drew fans in. But in its first PPV incarnation, it wasn't the major showcase it is now. Sure, you had some nice stuff like when then-tag champions Demolition drew 1 and 2 and spent the first two minutes fighting each other. And when Hulk Hogan accidentally eliminated Randy Savage, teasing the Megapowers split. But not quite a major event it is now.

I think that changed a bit in 1990 with what is my own personal favorite Rumble. Yes, there have been better ones in quality. 1992 is a treat with Ric Flair going so long to win the WWF title while Bobby Heenan goes through a complete nervous breakdown on commentary. 2004 was a fave for awhile with Chris Benoit going back-to-back to win it all but of course, that good feeling has faded in the last three years. And 2008 was good with the Madison Square Garden setting and John Cena's surprise return.

But me, personally, I liked the Rumble of twenty years ago as my own favorite. This was at one of WWF's heights of talent, a mix of over-the-top musclemen but also some really good workers as well. This was a high when Hulk Hogan was in his prime as champion while the Ultimate Warrior was rising with his wild character as Intercontinental champ. It was when the tag division was so strong that there were serious requests for a secondary tag title to accommodate so many teams. It was an amazing time and the Rumble marked a turning point for that particular period.

It took place on January 21st in Orlando, a town known for its amazingly hot crowds. The commentators were Jesse Ventura and Tony Schiavone, taking a one-year break from WCW (Gorilla Monsoon had been suffering from a mild heart attack). The show kicked off with a tag battle between the Fabulous Rougeau Brothers and the Bushwhackers. The Rougeaus were a really underrated team despite their wonderful gimmick: French-Canadians who had embraced American life, waving American flags with the theme song "All-American Boys" but coming off so obnoxious about it, they were heels. It was a fun characterization to play with but it was a mismatch against the Bushwhackers. It's always bugged me that these guys were once an incredibly brutal and bloody tag team as the Sheepherders but were turned into goofball idiots in WWF. The match was a rough affair with the Rougeaus in control most of the time while the Bushwhackers did whacky stuff like bite the ref on the ass. The Rougeaus brought out a move that really needs to come back with Raymond got Butch into a Boston Crab while Jacques ran the ropes to drop a knee on him but Luke tripped Jacques up. That allowed the Bushwhackers to get the Battering Ram and the pin for a not-too-bad match.

The first of several interview segments started as Gene Okerlund was with Ted DiBiase. The previous year, the Million Dollar Man had bribed his way to number 30 but it was stated that security was tighter this year. After ranting about how it was more like "downright Gestapoism!" DiBiase chastised bodyguard Virgil for messing the pick up and then revealed he'd drawn number 1. It was a fun bit of continuity you didn't see too much of in WWF at the time. DiBiase declared it didn't matter what number he drew as he would end up winning.

Back in the ring, The Genius Lanny Poffo was taking on Brutus Beefcake, part of a feud with Beefcake and Curt "Mr. Perfect" Henning. Poffo was the brother of Randy Savage but despite his talent, never got beyond jobber status while Beefcake had some talent but was more over being best friends with Hogan. The match was a ton of stalling complete with a ref bump before Beefcake got Poffo into the sleeper. He began cutting Poffo's hair as Perfect ran in to attack and the ref called for a double-DQ. The two heels did do a good job pounding on Beefcake, ramming a chair into his ribs before leaving.

Another interview segment had Sean Mooney with Bobby Heenan and his Family, which at the time was Rick Rude and tag champs Haku and Andre the Giant. Heenan was confident, saying the Family would stick together but when Mooney suggested the three men could end up the last, each began talking about how they'd do their best to win for themselves as Heenan tried to make peace.

Up next was a match that sounded promising but didn't quite live up to it. For months, Greg Valentine had been feuding with Ronnie Garvin, including an angle where Garvin lost a retirement match but became a ref who favored the faces. Garvin was reinstated and began feuding with Valentine, who started to wear a knee brace to enhance the figure-four leglock. Garvin responded by wearing his own brace for his Rammer Jammer (a rough early version of the Sharpshooter). The two were set to blow the feud off with a submission match. Sounded good but the problem was that several times during the bout, each man seemed to forget the rules and went for a pin before realizing they couldn't win that way. There was a lot of hard hitting (with Garvin laying a series of chops across Valentine that would do Ric Flair proud) but also stalling with a couple of double-knockouts and teasing their finishers. Valentine did get the figure-four in but Garvin no-sold it, even making faces at Valentine before breaking it. It went to the outside with Valentine breaking up a piledriver attempt and getting a figure-four around the ringpost which the ref broke up, which really made no sense as the whole point was to win by submission. Jimmy Hart took advantage of the no-DQ rule to race in and remove a stunned Garvin's knee brace. Valentine got the figure-four again, using the ropes for leverage which again the ref broke up which again didn't make sense. Valentine pulled a Flair by going to the top rope only to have Garvin (who'd fought Flair enough times to know this trick) slamming him off. He tore off Valentine's brace and hit him with it, slapping on the Jammer to finally win the match. A stiff battle that might have been better except for so much stalling and forgetting the rules while the ref breaking up a no-DQ battle made no sense.

Once again, interview time, this one with Mr. Perfect who boasted about putting Beefcake down, then revealed he'd drawn "the perfect number, 30."

We then returned to the ring for the Brother Love show. Bruce Pritchard deserves immense credit for taking a character who should have had a shelf life of six months tops and making it work for three years. With a heavily-made up face, white suit and shirt and tie almost as red as his complexion, Pritchard played the evangelist part to the hilt with his boisterous Southern accented voice making him a guy you instantly loved to hate. His guests for the Rumble were Sensational Queen Sherri and Sapphire, the valet for Dusty Rhodes. The two had a brief war of words which Sherri pretty much won before Sapphire slapped her. Randy Savage raced in to grab Sapphire but Dusty showed up to fight him off. Dusty then held Love for Sapphire to slap before slamming him and tossing him from the ring before the two danced together. And you thought WWE today did time-wasting stuff.

The final undercard bout pitted Hacksaw Jim Duggan against the Big Bossman. The two worked pretty well together for a mostly stiff battle although Bossman showed some great agility for his time. It was a back and forth affair with both men going down after charging each other. Slick got on the apron to distract the ref but it backfired with Bossman caught using his night-stick and getting disqualified. Hacksaw rolled out of the ring to grab his 2X4 to retaliate and left in victory. Pretty much the most notable part of the match was that it was one of the last of the Bossman as a heel as he'd go face not long afterward.

Back then, WWF did some long intermissions during their big shows and to fill the time we got stuff like talking to fans about who they thought would win the Rumble. It then moved to a series of promos by the various participants (with the exceptions of Koko B. Ware, Red Rooster and, oddly, Roddy Piper). There were some nice stuff here like Jake Roberts doing a killer bit on how the guy who would win would be the guy willing to do whatever it took. "Me? That sounds a lot like me." Man, no one could do a promo like Jake in his prime.



　
　

　
　

　
　
　
We also had fun ones like the Hart Foundation with Jim Neidhart going nuts about the action and Bret declaring "the pink and black attack is back" promising they'd work together; Ax and Smash noted how they'd started things off the year before and promised to work together but also threatened to fight again if it came down to the two of them in the end; Rick Martel boasting of his skills followed by former partner Tito Santana fired up to take on everyone; and most notably the Ultimate Warrior doing one of his better promos, noting how 28 of the competitors were normal men "but the 29th man…YOU Hulk Hogan…you walk with a different force field around you…" setting up things nicely as Hogan noted all the challengers about and determined to win.

Finally, it was time for the Rumble and the crowd got a good laugh seeing DiBiase suffer the fate of irony and come out as #1. 2 was Koko B. Ware and the two fought for a few moments with Koko no-selling getting rammed into a turnbuckle and firing back with punches. He went for a splash but DiBiase ducked to send him out before the end of the first two minutes. #3 was Marty Jannetty and it was the same deal, starting off strong with punches and kicks but missing a dive to go out. DiBiase was getting pretty cocky as the countdown to #4 wound down…and then reacted in shock as Jake Roberts' music hit and the crowd popped big-time. After yelling at Virgil, as if blaming him for Roberts showing up, DiBiase charged Roberts before he could even get in the ring, attacking him and trying for the Million Dollar Dream but Jake rammed him into the post. Jake went for the DDT but DiBiase back dropped him, missing an elbow. Randy Savage was #5, helping DiBiase attacking Jake, beating him down and tying him up in the ropes. It looked bad but luckily for Jake, Roddy Piper was #6 to a huge pop, clothes lining Savage and DiBiase and untying Jake, which got Jesse upset on commentary as he thought it would be better for Roddy to fight on his own. Warlord was #7, taking on Piper so DiBiase and Savage could double-team Jake again. #8 was Bret Hart, still known as a tag team guy, who went after DiBiase, fighting off him and Savage. He was sent to the buckle by Warlord but beat off a charge with a kick. Stunned, the Warlord fell prey to a double-clothesline by Bret and Piper. In a nod to old Stampede fans, #9 Bad New Brown went right after old rival Bret. Across the ring, Jake got DiBiase into the DDT but that left him wide open to a Savage clothesline that made Jake the first elimination. Dusty Rhodes was #10, going right after Savage, the two exchanging blows before Savage made the mistake of trying a charge only to get back dropped right over the top. Dusty went right onto DiBiase while the other four paired off as well.

#11 was Andre the Giant who had pretty much passed the point of in-ring effectiveness about a year earlier. It was sad to see Andre barely mobile but doing his best to still be the monster in things as he climbed into the ring. Warlord went right after him and was quickly tossed, leading to a nice bit of Fuji yelling at Heenan, the two shoving each other and on commentary Schivaone getting in the good line of "every manager for himself as well." #12 was one of the most infamously horrible gimmicks in wrestling history as Terry Taylor, a truly great worker came out as the idiotic Red Rooster. Twenty years and I still shake my head at the red Mohawk in the middle of his blonde hair. Piper managed to backdrop Bad News out but Brown grabbed onto Piper and dragged him out, eliminating him. The two kept on brawling up the aisle and back to the dressing room as the match went on. As Andre tossed the Rooster, Ax was #13, going right after Andre. He and Dusty managed to tie Andre in the ropes to pound on him but Andre's tag team partner Haku was next in at 14 to help Andre out. However, Smash was #15, leading to Demolition and the Colossal Connection going at it. Giving Andre some competition in the massive competitor category, Akeem (the One Man Gang under a goofy "white guy who acts like an African" gimmick) was #16. Demolition managed to get Haku out of the way to charge Andre and knock him over the top. The cameras were so busy on that they completely missed Bret getting tossed out on the other side of the ring, supposedly by Dusty, according to post-match reports but it was unseen.

Jimmy Snauka was #17, going after Akeem. Akeem hammered with some blows but when he paused to do a dance, Snuka hit him with a head-butt to send him over the top rope. Dino Bravo as his jacked height was #18 but not much happened until #19 was Bravo's partner Earthquake (then billed as the Canadian Earthquake with a Maple Leaf on his outfit) who immediately tossed out Dusty. He then tossed out Ax and made a challenge with Haku charging to attack him. He pounded Earthquake to a corner as Snuka came over to help. Jim Neidhart was #20 and immediately raced over to help the two out. This led to an old-school battle royal technique you don't see as much anymore as everyone in the ring stopping fighting each other to get the biggest threat out. Neidhart braced Earthquake under him with his back as the others pushed him over the ropes, Bravo coming to give one final shove to get him out, then immediately went back to fighting each other. By this point, DiBiase had been in the ring for over half an hour and still holding strong with a nice bit of at one point, as a couple guys tried to get him out, Virgil stood outside and pushed DiBiase's back to help him stay in. But things took a turn with the next buzzer.

Fans today may only know the Ultimate Warrior by his less than stellar rep of being a complete lunatic. But back in 1990, the man was hugely over with fans. Sure, he sucked in the ring but he had stunning charisma, a great look and some of the best ring music around. So when the IC champ charged down the aisle as #21, the crowd exploded bigger than ever before. The Warrior went right for Bravo, who he'd been feuding with, Bravo countering with a reverse atomic drop but Warrior was unfazed and clotheslined him over the top. Highlighting the "every man for himself" aspect at last, the Warrior attacked everyone in sight, pounding DiBiase before chopping down Snuka and then Smash. Rick Martel was #22 and went after Smash, which actually made sense seeing as how Demolition put Martel on the shelf for a year. Smash managed to fight him off but was dumped over by Haku. He held onto the top rope only for Haku to nail him with a thrust kick to send him to the floor. #23 was Tito Santana who naturally went right after former partner Martel, the two pounding on each other hard. Virgil again helped DiBiase stave off elimination and the Million Dollar Man hit Snuka with a piledriver. #24 was the Honky Tonk Man as Neidhart fell victim to a teaming of Martel, DiBiase and the Warrior to get dumped out. DiBiase tried to whip Warrior into the ropes but Warrior reversed it and as DiBiase bounced back, the Warrior nailed him with a clothesline to send DiBiase out to a huge pop, ending his then-record forty-four minute stay.

If you thought the Warrior had a big pop, Hogan blew the roof off the joint as he entered next, tossing out Snuka and then Haku with a couple of strong arms and boots. Martel and Santana fought by the ropes with Santana trying to get Martel out which left him open for the Warrior to toss him over instead. The heels and faces faced off with Honky pounding Hogan in one corner while Martel attacked Warrior in the other. As Shawn Michaels came down at #26, the heels whipped the two across the ring only for Warrior and Hogan to reverse it so the heels smacked into each other, Hogan then throwing Honky out. Michaels lasted all of ten seconds before the Warrior grabbed him and heaved him over the top, then did the same to Martel and it was just Hogan and Warrior with a minute and a half before the next entrant.

For once in his life, Tony Schiavone wasn't overly exaggerating when he declared "not a person is sitting down!" It's hard for fans today to get how huge a deal this was. This was the two most popular men in the company, the two biggest stars, the two champions, facing one another for the very first time. Face vs. face things weren't common back then, especially not on this level. The sheer power of the two men's charisma was incredible and the fans were going berserk at the idea of them actually facing down. Today, I still get goosebumps watching it and it's clear the crowd was eating it all up as the dream clash was upon them.

The two stared at one another as if not believing themselves this was happening. Hogan had faced lots of powerful men before but not quite like the Warrior while Warrior had never faced such a big name as Hogan. They finally got into it, circling each other and pumping their arms, which got the crowd going more. They went head to head yelling before Hogan shoved the Warrior, the Warrior shoving back so Hogan went off the ropes to hit him with a shoulder block. The Warrior was unfazed before going for his own shoulder block but Hogan didn't budge. They began a criss-cross, Warrior ducking a clothesline and coming back as the two nailed each other and went down hard. It was stunning as they lay there, the crowd still stunned by the sight of it all, one of the best moments of the classic WWF era.

　



Needless to say, when #27 the Barbarian entered, he was given a prime opportunity and used it, pounding on both men. Given his nature as one of the best heels ever, it was no surprise Rick Rude rushed the ring a few seconds early to help Barbarian out. The heels ganged together to try and eliminate Hogan but the Warrior broke it up and they attacked him. Hogan raced to nail them with clotheslines but that ended up knocking the Warrior outside. The Warrior got right back into the ring, took down Rude and Warlord, then ran right back to the dressing room to cheers while Jesse Ventura declared him an idiot on commentary. Always insightful, that Jesse. #29 was Hercules who went after Rude as Warlord pounded on Hogan. The fights went on before Perfect made the final entry, charging the ring to attack Hogan while Hercules back dropped Warlord out.

That left the final four facing off with Rude soon eliminating Hercules so he and Perfect could double-team Hogan. Perfect held Hogan for Rude to charge with a forearm but Hogan ducked and Rude sent Perfect through the ropes. Perfect held onto the top rope but was pulling it down so when Hogan nailed Rude with a punch, it sent him over and out. Perfect pounded on him, hitting the Perfectplex despite the fact that made no sense in a Rumble. Hogan broke it and immediately started "Hulking up", pounding on Perfect with punches. He then pulled off what would come to be a recurring thing for Curt Henning: With Perfect down, Hogan grabbed him by the legs and flipped back, sending Perfect flying over the turnbuckles and hitting his head on the ring post. Staggering about and selling as only he could, Henning was easy prey for Hogan to toss over the other ringpost and win the Rumble.




I know there's grousing from some using 20/20 hindsight and saying Perfect should have won. There's always been rumors that was the plan but Hogan got it squashed. For once, I think Hogan made the right call. The crowd was so mega-hot and hyper after the Hogan-Warrior encounter that having a heel win the match would have been too much of a downer. Keep in mind, it was a different time back then where the good guys won at the big events and Hogan was at the absolute height of his popularity. One can argue the Warrior might have benefited too, to set up the match with Hogan. But it was still a good result that let the crowd go home quite happy.

The undercard may have been rough but this remains one of the best Rumbles ever. The star power was terrific with only a few "what are they doing in this?" participants and the action was great throughout. You had DiBiase giving one of his best performances ever while the setups to Mania (Dusty/Savage, Piper/Brown, Demolition/Connection) were set up well. But what fans will always remember is that epic showdown between two of the biggest stars of the time, a clash that resonated so well fans still remember it today. It may be overlooked by some fans but this was a terrific Rumble that had major long-range effects but still stands on its own as a fine battle.