Austin101

Austin101's "WWF ROYAL RUMBLE 1993" Review

Live on PPV from Sacremento, California.

It's The Brain and Gorilla again for this edition and there as hillarious as they've ever been.



1) The Steiner Brothers (Rick and Scott) vs The Beverly Brothers (Blake and Beau)

These two teams worked well together on this night. Is it just me or do the Steiners have one of the most catchiest themes ever? I'm not saying that it's a good theme but it just sticks in my head for days after I hear it, and it kind of annoys me to tell you the truth. Either way these two teams like I said worked well together on this night and put on a solid tag team wrestling match to open the rumble ppv. It wasn't as good as the tag team openers from years 1991 and 1992 but it was still very good. Scott pinned Blake after a Frankensteiner at 10:34.


** 3/4



2) Shawn Michaels vs Marty Jannetty for the WWF Intercontinental Championship


Before the match, Sensational Sherri came out in a neutral role. She later later tried to hit Michaels with her shoe but ended up hitting Jannetty with it by accident. Also there's a funny spot after the match where she goes backstage all upset and Mean Gene yells at the top of his lungs "SHERRI! DAMN IT! SETTLE DOWN!" As if he was yelling at his son for freaking out at his worst time. The crowd even laughs. Great stuff.

This was a match for some reason when I was younger always thought was amazing. But now that I'm older and know a lot more about "wrestling" this isn't as much the case. This was in all actuality rather sloppy and it was rumored these guys showed up drunk to the match and I could believe it. They did do some good stuff though, Shawn worked on Jannetty's shoulder and a lot of high risk moves. The Brain was funny as always and a lot of near falls at the end of the contest. Shawn Michaels ended up winning though to retain his IC Title at 14:20 with the Sweet Chin Music.


*** (but no more for reasons stated above)



3) Bam Bam Bigelow vs The Big Boss Man

It's time for the yearly mediocre Rumble undercard match. This time around the contest is very slow. Bigelow moves around so great for his size, and the way he performs aerial moves is just incredible given his size as well. However it's the Bossman as usual who is in the undercard rumble ppv suckathon. Very slow and not very entertaining although some of it was OK.

Bigelow pinned Boss Man after a diving headbutt at 10:10.

*




4) Bret "Hitman" Hart vs "The Bad Guy" (literally as he was heel) Razor Ramon for the WWF Championship

According to Bret Hart during an interview with the Below the Belt show, the WWF was actually preparing to have a Hart/Warrior match at Royal Rumble 1993. Warrior was replaced by Razor Ramon after he left....interesting.

Bret's parents were front row for this PPV in Southern California, and Stu always has that look of "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU LOOKING AT ME FOR" Hillarious. But they were both proud of there son after the match and during, as they should have been at this time as he started to carry the ball in a very tough time period for the WWF.

The Hitman and Razor have some pretty good chemistry as shown by this match and the opening match at King of the Ring 93. I'm still unsure of what match I like better. I belive this match was a little slower then that one but it still was very good overall. Bret Hart forced Ramon to submit with the Sharpshooter at 17:52 to retain the WWF Title when it was all said and done. This came kind of out of no where as Razor was applying a lot of pressure just before this and a lot during the second half.

*** 1/4



Before the Royal Rumble match, Bobby Heenan introduced Lex Luger "The Narccisist" (spelling?) Kind of a funny segment but kind of boring as all Lex does is flex in front of a mirror for a few minutes while Heenan gloats.





5) Main Event- The 1993 Royal Rumble Match

A few notes to begin a Rumble match that wasn't very exciting ESPECIALLY if you were to compare it to the one the year before.

Bob Backlund (who was slammed on the concrete floor by The Berzerker and remained there for a short period) broke the record for longest lasting in a Royal Rumble, lasting 1:01:10. The record was previously held by Ric Flair who had set the record in 1992.

Tito Santana competed in the Rumble for a sixth consecutive year, making him the only wrestler to appear in all 6 Rumbles to that point.

This was the first Royal Rumble match to feature the stipulation of the winner receiving a WWF Championship shot at WrestleMania.

The Royal Rumble started with Flair and Backlund. Backlund as stated would break the record (as it breaked every year at this time) and Flair would last about half the duration before being thrown out by Mr. Perfect. (who was a face at the time) Flair and Perect would have a "loser leaves WWF" match the next night on Raw, Flair would lose and go back to WCW. There was also a spot mid-match where Taker and Gonzalez would confront one another as the ring cleared out setting up there forgettable WM 9 match, but this was still interesting to see a guy of his size in that kind of suit. Stu Hart must have been thinking "What has wrestling turned into...oh well at least my boy is champion!" And speaking of there sons, "THE ROCKET" Owen Hart entered 28th before being eliminated by Yoko and on his way out landed very bad in front of mom and dad. Must have twisted his knee, ouch. Funny spot where Monsoon calls Carlos Colon a "youngster" when he was in his 50's, ahaha. The final two participants were Yokozuna and Randy Savage. Savage hit the Savage Elbow and instinctively went for a pinfall, despite pinfalls not counting in this match. Yokozuna "kicked out" of the pinfall, and in the process, catapulted Savage over the top rope, winning the Royal Rumble at 1:06:35. Kind of a ridiculous ending.

Overall I can't rate this Rumble match as poorly as I would have liked to. For one there have been far worse in ring rumbles over the years (1995, 1998, 1999, to name a select few) and this one for how boring it was DID have a few solid spots in it with Flair, Perfect, Taker, Backlund, Savage, Yoko, etc.

** (And I'm being very generous)

------------------------------------------------------------

Final PPV Rating for RR 1993= 7/10

The Rumble match itself left a lot to be desired but it's a good thing the undercard had three matches around the *** area. Which would start a theme for the next few Rumble PPV's but more on that next time around!

Stay tuned....

Up Next from Austin101: Royal Rumble 1994

Feedback if you want to discuss as always.....