WWE Royal Rumble '91

WWE Royal Rumble ‘91
January 19, 1991
Miami Arena
Miami, Florida

The 1991 Royal Rumble came at rather unique times, as we had just began the first gulf war so there was a patriotic theme to not only this show, but certainly WrestleMania VII which was a little over 2 months away. Speaking of that, the WWE was still planning on trying to have WrestleMania at the LA Coliseum. Getting 100,000 people to come see that show was going to be difficult, but as of Royal Rumble time, they still were advertising that it was going to happen. Logic suggests that you go with a Hogan-Warrior rematch for the ages, but I’m not sure that was ever in the cards. They didn’t really seem to know what to do.

Commentators: Gorilla Monsoon and Rowdy Roddy Piper

Orient Express (Kato and Tanaka) w/ Mr. Fuji vs. Rockers (Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty)
Sato was out, and in comes Kato (Paul Diamond in a mask). This would actually be an upgrade for the team, and when you plug in their opponents, this match is absolute gold. This is a classic match that has to be seen to be appreciated. It has everything you want in a tag team contest and also includes some heel tactics from Fuji on the outside. The Rockers pretty much were at their peak as well and could do no wrong. After their aborted tag team title reign back in October, there really were no plans to put the tag titles on them, and the Legion of Doom was destined to be the tag champions. The problem at this time was there were just too many baby face tag teams at this time. That’s why in less than a year, the Rockers would break up and Shawn Michaels would be on his way to stardom. This is a sensational tag team match as the Rockers prevail. ****3/4

Big Bossman vs. Barbarian w/ Bobby “The Brain” Heenan
The Bossman-Heenan Family feud continues here, and this match is better than you might think. Bossman was pretty much at his peak as a worker, and Barbarian is pretty athletic for a big man. The feud began with Rick Rude and Heenan insulting Bossman’s mother. Rude left so the Bossman turned his attention at Bobby Heenan and the Heenan family. It was actually a simple and pretty good feud. Bossman wins by reversing a cross body into a pin. **1/2

WWE Championship
Ultimate Warrior (champion) vs. Sgt. Slaughter w/ General Adnan
You see, Sgt. Slaughter is an Iraqi sympathizer, and Hulk Hogan is a real American hero. So in one of the most shocking (not really when you look back though) events ever, Sgt. Slaughter defeats the Ultimate Warrior for the title. The best part of the match though is that it probably gives the Warrior-Savage feud something greater to feud over than the WWE title ever could. Savage cost Warrior the match against Slaughter, so at WrestleMania Warrior will want his career. And unlike the Undertaker-Shawn Michaels match 2 years ago, that career match will actually feel like everything is on the line. This match was pretty bad, but does get a little bit of an upgrade with the Savage stuff. *3/4

Mountie w/ “Mouth of the South” Jimmy Hart vs. Koko B. Ware
This was a match that was left off of the Coliseum Video version of this show. Monsoon and Piper spend most of the match complaining that Slaughter is the new champion. Mountie is Jacuqes Rougeau, and he recently made his debut. He beats Koko rather easily here. 3/4*

“Million Dollar Man” Ted Dibiase and Virgil vs. Dusty Rhodes and Dustin Rhodes
This match is historical for the aftermath of it. The match itself wasn’t in doubt. Dusty and Dustin would be in WCW less than a week after this show so Dibiase was going to go over here and he did. The aftermath was truly special though. After years of waiting, Virgil finally left Dibiase after years of abuse. This set up the long awaited Dibiase-Virgil feud. Match was decent enough. **1/4

Main Event
Royal Rumble
After the Slaughter title win, this match became a formality. They had to send the fans home happy, and there was only one way to do that. Hogan wins, but this is a fun Rumble. Bret Hart gets some good face-time coming out #1 as they began to prep him for his big singles run. We saw great performances out of Greg Valentine and Rick Martel. Undertaker made his Royal Rumble debut as did the Legion of Doom. It didn’t have near the star power or raw emotion of the 1990 Rumble though but it was still pretty good. Really hard to have a bad Rumble. The Final four came down to Hogan, Earthquake, Nasty Boy Brian Knobbs, and the returning British Bulldog Davey Boy Smith. Hogan gets the big blow off win over Earthquake and celebrates with the usual. ****

Final Analysis: The Warrior experiment is finally over. Ironically, people were more interested in the Warrior right after he lost the title than they were in the 9 months prior during his reign. Everything was now setting up for Hulk Hogan to regain his title from Sgt. Slaughter at WrestleMania. Dibiase-Virgil was also in place, as well as Snake-Martel. They had something going after this show, unlike at Survivor Series 2 months before.