WWE Royal Rumble '90

WWE Royal Rumble ‘90
January 21, 1990
Orlando Arena
Orlando, Florida

With the benefit of watching almost every Royal Rumble (2011 is the only one I have not yet witnessed yet) I have plenty of matches to rate against each other. This one in particular I have a new appreciation for. The show itself was at an interesting time in WWE history. A lot of the older stars of the 80’s were still around, while some of the stars of the 90’s were about to be unleashed. Any more plans (if there were any) with Hogan and Zeus was pretty much scrapped. Hogan and the Warrior were on a collision course. Rhodes and Savage were now in a full-fledged feud, while Dibiase and Roberts were on the final sprint of their feud. Andre and Haku had recently defeated Demolition for the tag team titles, as that was more or less a way to say thank you to Andre as his career was winding down to an end. The best part of this show though and the Rumble in particular is the crowd. They loved every second of this thing and into every storyline.

Commentators: Tony Schiavonie and Jesse “The Body” Ventura

Fabulous Rougeaus (Jacques Rougeau and Raymond Rougeau) w/ “Mouth of the South” Jimmy Hart vs. Bushwhackers (Luke and Butch)
Pure comedy match here, and this is a rematch from their WrestleMania V encounter. This one is a much better match (not saying that much). Bushwhackers win with a double battery ram on Jacques. Rougeaus were on their way out and Jacques was going to get re-packaged as the Mountie. Fun, inoffensive match. **

Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake vs. Genius
This is the extension of a feud brewing between Beefcake and Mr. Perfect, whom the Genius manages at this point. This match is pretty awful, as it ultimately ends in a double disqualification. Beefcake was giving a haircut to Genius and Perfect came out and attacked Beefcake with a chair. That’s pretty much the only good thing about the match is that it did extend the feud. ¼*

Submission Match
“Rugged” Ronnie Garvin vs. Greg “The Hammer” Valentine w/ Jimmy Hart
Believe it or not, this is actually a really good match. Both guys were hitting their high impact stiff shots that they were both known for and the crowd was totally into the emotion of the feud that both guys were brilliantly telling. The match is just an emotional brawl. Garvin hits Valentine with the heartbreaker (a shin guard) and puts him in the sharpshooter (Garvin calls it the reverse figure four) and he wins the match and the crowd explodes. This was Garvin’s shining moment in WWE, as before this and after this, he’s nothing but a JTTS. Valentine would go onto dye his hair black and join up with Honky Tonk Man as the team Rhythm and Blues. It’s a match that really needs to be seen to be appreciated. ***3/4

Big Bossman w/ Slick vs. “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan
This is a surprisingly good match (for a Duggan match). Just a classic brawl that you would expect from these two. It ends in a Duggan win when Bossman hits him with the nightstick. Bossman was on the verge of turning baby face; Duggan would just continue to be Duggan. **

Main Event
Royal Rumble

This is one of the best Rumbles you’ll ever see. Everyone was on, and it was tremendously booked. Dibiase comes out #1 and they were playing off the fact that he got #30 at last year’s Rumble under rather dubious circumstances. Things are going ok until Jake Roberts comes out at #4 and the crowd just goes absolutely apeshit. Savage is next and he and Dibiase team up on Snake. Then comes Piper and the crowd is just out of control crazy. Eventually Rhodes comes in and goes after Savage and eliminates him to a huge pop. Andre also enters the fray and this is pretty much his last great performance. Demolition eliminates him in a fine moment for them. Dibiase is the iron man lasting over 40 minutes until the Warrior finally gets the honors of eliminating him. Everything is going smoothly and then Hogan comes out and then in one of the best moments in Rumble history the match dwindles down to Hogan and Warrior in the ring at the same time. You have to remember this was just insane at the time. These were the two biggest stars in wrestling, and the two biggest baby-faces. Seriously this was awesome. They exchange a couple blows, and then do the double clothesline spot. Barbarian comes in next and has free pickings. Then comes Rude and he re-vives his feud with Warrior. Barbarian and Rude are trying to get Warrior out, and like last year, Hogan “accidentally” eliminates Warrior. Hercules is out at #29 and Perfect comes in at #30. Barbarian gets eliminated by Hercules, and that is your Final Four. Hogan, Perfect, Rude, and Hercules. Herc gets eliminated right away, and Rude and Perfect double team Hogan. But Rude accidentally nails Perfect, and then Perfect accidentally pulls the rope down and Rude tumbles over, leaving Perfect and Hogan. Perfect inexplicably uses his perfect plex pinning maneuver in a rumble, and Hogan “hulks up” and eliminates Perfect for the win. Fantastic Rumble. *****

Final Analysis: Legend has it that Perfect was supposed to win here and Hogan balked. Not sure if that is true or not, but it doesn’t take away from the match either way. This is one of the most star-studded Royal Rumbles of all time when you consider who was in it. Andre, Dusty, Snake, Dibiase, Piper, Rude, Perfect, Hogan, Warrior, Demolition. It also had future stars like Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels (albeit briefly). It was brilliantly booked and left you begging for WrestleMania VI.