Austin101's "WWF Royal Rumble 1991" Review:
Live on PPV from Miami, Florida.
Monsoon and Piper are broadcasting this time around. Piper kind of annoyed me during the night, but he's Piper so I'll let it go, he's always been rather eccentric... it's just the way he is.
1) The Rockers (Marty Jannetty and Shawn Michaels) vs The Orient Express (Pat Tanaka and Kato) (w/Mr. Fuji)
Wow, wow, wow.
That's all that can be said about this match, but I'll go a little further in depth. This was the best match in Royal Rumble history to this point and still stands as one of the best ever. One of the best opening PPV matches of all time as well although not one of the very elite. The opening PPV match is usually a tag match that gets the crowd ready for the event and usually has two quick tag teams going at it. This was no exception and blew everyones expectations out of the water. There was a sequence mid-match where there were a ton of rerverals and then it ended with a double drop-kick that was absolutely spectacular as was the whole match. The crowd got what they wanted and Jannety pinned Tanaka with a roll up at 19:15.
**** 1/4
2) The Big Boss Man vs The Barbarian (w/Bobby Heenan)
They sure know how to follow up classics with piss poor, slower undercard matches at these Rumble events don't they? This one was once again no exception. Everybody knows the Bossman usually gets carried in a match but the Barbarian PROBABLY wasn't the best choice to put him in the ring with for half, a half an hour. At least when he won the fans were happy because the Bossman was face at this point, but the match went on far to long for anybody's liking. The Big Boss Man went to the top and pinned The Barbarian after he rolled through a high crossbody at 14:15.
*
3) Sgt. Slaughter (w/General Adnan) vs The Ultimate Warrior for the WWF Championship
This was the first time the WWF Title was on the line at a Royal Rumble event. It comes half way through the show which was a good booking decision and the crowd was red hot at this time for the match as it was during both character's peaks. Slaughter heel wise, and Warrior face wise (especially with the war.) The Formula was your basic Warrior one but it set up the Wrestlemania 7 main events perfectly. Slaughter and Warrior went back and forth dominating and Savage interfered a couple times, giving Slaughter the win after a weak elbow drop at 12:47. (This after Savage struck Warrior with his Macho King sceptor behind the ref's back) The fans weren't to happy with the result to say the least but this match came off better then it should have.
**
4) The Mountie vs Koko B. Ware
This marked the debut of The Mountie after months of promos.
Not to many things to say about another one of those average Rumble PPV undercard fillers, so I just wont. I doubt anyone would care either. Anyways The Mountie defeated Koko B. Ware by pinfall at 9:12.
3/4*
5) Ted DiBiase and Virgil vs Dusty Rhodes and Dustin Rhodes
Goldust (the better son of Rhodes) known as a young Dustin here tagging with his Daddy the Hall of Fame Dream against Pre-Money Inc.
Ted DiBiase ended up pinning Dusty with a roll-up at 9:57. After the match, DiBiase demanded that Virgil wrap the Million Dollar Belt around his waist. Virgil turned on DiBiase and hit him with the Million Dollar Belt setting up there Wrestlemania 7 match. You'd think Hogan, Austin, or Rock won the title from Flair, McMahon or Triple H with the pop it got. It was predictable and a long time coming but the fans were happy and I would have liked it a little more if Roddy would of just been a little more quiet.
** 3/4
6) Main-Event- The 1991 Royal Rumble Match
This Rumble preached endurance. A lot of time was spent in the ring by a lot of different wrestlers which can either be a good thing or a bad thing. It's pretty "MEH" for me as I like to see the focus on a few people, while some like to watch many different guys go at it at a time. This Rumble match did probably come off as the best to this point in time though overall.
Bret and Dino Bravo started it off.
Rick Martel broke the longevity record, lasting 52:17.
Randy Savage became the first Rumble no-show as no one came out at number eighteen. When all the wrestlers had entered, commentators Gorilla Monsoon and Roddy Piper realized Savage was the missing man and suggested the Warrior had chased Savage out of the building.
A lot of Pre-Wrestlemania 7 feuds exposed in the rumble such as Roberts-Martel which is always a good idea.
The final two participants were Hulk Hogan and Earthquake. Hogan gave Earthquake a bodyslam and a clothesline to eliminate Earthquake and achieve his second Royal Rumble win in a row at 1:05:17, and the fans were kind of tired of it. Well some were, Hogan was kind of peaking at this point popularity wise. It was getting a little bit predictable which is why some fans cheered Taker over him this year, and why the next year half cheered when Sid eliminated him, more on that in the next review.
*** 1/4
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Final PPV Rating for Royal Rumble 1991= 7/10
A pretty great PPV overall. The opener was excellent, a pretty decent WWF Title match, a good tag match and a very good Rumble despite not the best ending to the actual Rumble match. The Rumble's as always get a generous rating overall once again and this one was probably the best PPV to this point.
Next Up from Austin101: Royal Rumble 1992
Feedback as always if you want to discuss...../