User Reviews

1. Dick Bruno/The Rougeau Brothers Vs. The Hart Foundation/"Ridiculous" Jim Duggan 6/10

2. The Ultimate Warrior Vs. Rick Rude - WTF taunting match 2/10

3. Judy Martin Vs. Rockin' Robin 6.5/10

4. King Haku Vs. Harley Race

5. Royal Rumble 6/10

Hey Macho and Hogan have disagreement. Big deal!!! Who cares?? :) Thanks God, that Beefcake didn't win the Rumble. He is Mega idiot. Same pays for Big Boss Man. Really useless like a wrestler. I almost forgot Hacksaw Jim Duggan and The Ultimate Warrior...

The 1989 Royal Rumble was the first official one after the experimental one from 1988. From now on, it was going to be 30 participants and the main event would last longer. Only one match from the card was any good for me. The six man tag team match was simply magnificent. The Hart Foundation and Hacksaw Jim Duggan squared off against The Rougeau Brothers and Dino Bravo in a two out of three falls match up. The choreography and twists and turns built up the excitement right to the end. The women's title match was rubbish and I've seen far better women's wrestling where they can duke it out, just like the men. The silly posedown between The Ultimate Warrior and Ravishing Rick Rude was a complete waste of time as nothing happened. It did create the feud that would result and it was a very good one. Haku and Harley Race battled it out to see who would be crowned the King of the WWE. This was actually not too bad. The Rumble event was a brief return appearance for Big John Studd, now a babyface. The likes of Rugged Ronnie Garvin, The Bushwhackers, The Brain Busters and the Big Boss Man all made their debuts on the Royal Rumble P.P.V. The heat was building between the current heavyweight champion Macho Man Randy Savage and his tag team partner Hulk Hogan. A sign of things to come..... I thought the main event compensated for the disappointment of how the matches panned out.

The WWE was building nicely to one of the biggest shows in history as the 1989 Royal Runble came along. This was either the second or third rumble to occur, depending on whether one happened at a house show in 1987 or not, was the second to be shown live on television, and the first to be shown on PPV.

The big story going into this was the rivalry, which had been going for months between the Mega Powers Hulk Hogan and WWE Champion Randy Savage and the Twin Towers Big Boss Man and Akeem. The Powers had outlasted the Towers at Survivor Series two months earlier and the Towers were keen for revenge. And also, some issues appeared to be brewing between Hogan and Savage. With 28 other men in the Royal Rumble, they would need to stick together tonight.

The night started off with Hacksaw Jim Duggan and the Hart Foundation Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart defeating the Fabulous Rougeaus Jacques and Raymond and Dino Bravo in a 2 out of 3 falls six man tag match. The team shared a fall each, but Hacksaw was able to get in a shot on Bravo with his trusty 2 by 4 while the ref had his back turned, allowing Hart to get the pin and th victory. This was a fun match to watch. Two tag teams who could really go.

Next up, and through out the show we had a running joke with DiBiase who buys the coveted No.30 in the Royal Rumble after drawing a low number himself.

Next up is a super posedown between Rick Rude and the Ultimate Warrior, with the audience deciding the winner. Well Rude is a bad guy, Warrior is a good guy, so of course things turn out badly for Rude who beats the Warrior senseless.

Next up comes the WWE Women's Championship match between Rockin Robin and Judy Martin. This was not an easy match to watch, Robin wins and I think they got rid of Women's Wrestling matches from the WWE following this effort.

Next up Ravishing Rick Rude comes on with his manager Bobby Heenan to tell everyone about his brilliant plan and guarantee he will beat Warrior for the Intercontinental Title in the near future. This was good stuff Next up we have two former King of the Ring winners King Haku and Harley Race pitted against each other in a fun match, with Haku wining to be crowned "King of Wrestling."

This brings us to the big one, the main event, the 1989 Royal Rumbler. The 1988 edition had featured only 20 men, but this one expanded to 30. The time between entries (which is not strictly adhered to at any rate) was two minutes. Mr Perfect clocked up the longest time in the rumble, going 28 minutes, Andre the Giant eliminated himself after Jake Roberts let a snake loose in the ring. Savage got upset with Hogan after Hogan had eliminated him, but they shook hands and it was all good. Hogan was dominant from here with 9 eliminations but was eventually eliminated by the Twin Towers, meaning they'd won the battle with the Mega Powers on this night. But eventually it all came down to Big John Studd, a good guy, taking on bad guys Akeem and Ted DiBiase. Akeem and Ted worked together to beat Studd down, but then got in an argument. Studd took advantage eliminating Akeen and then had some fun beating on DiBiase before throwing him out like a rag doll. And so, in an anti-climactic ending Big John Studd won the 1989 Royal Rumble.

All in all though, the fans couldn't complain. The Twin Towers may have beaten Hogan and Savage, but they weren't victorious in the end. The Mega Powers had sorted out their little quarrel. All was well with the world and the only question that remained was who was going to take on the Mega Powers at Wrestlemania V in two months?

The second Royal Rumble added an additional 10 wrestlers than the previous year. The other matched on the card weren't bad except for the womens title match which was a waste of time. For some reason the crown match has been omitted from most copies of this event.

It was fun seeing Ax and Smash of Demolition start the Rumble drawing numbers 1 and 2. They sure battled each other! I never quite understood why Big John Studd was the eventual winner of the event, he didn't wrestle too much longer after the event took place. Wouldn't you rather have an up and coming star win such a prestigious event? Overall a satisfactory event that is still fun to watch to this day.

I guess one could look at the second Royal Rumble as Big John Studd's last hurrah, and a fitting finale to a rather unfulfilled career. He enters the 30 Man Battle Royal rather late, but, once he's in the ring, everyone else(..especially Akeem & Million Dollar Man Ted Dibiase)knows it. I had never realized just how massive and imposing he really is because I hearken back to his times opposite André the Giant in the *squared circle*, and everyone looks small compared to him. But, anyone can see, if you are watching it on home video, that Studd was having the time of his life, pounding away at Akeem throughout most of his time in the ring. If anyone attempted to attack him, they were tossed aside with ease.

The major running story-line at the time was the crack in the foundation of The Mega Powers, WWF World Heavyweight champion Randy 'Macho Man' Savage and former champion Hulk Hogan, mainly due to beautiful manager Elizabeth. Savage, no matter how successful during his one-year tenure as champion, was always under Hogan's shadow, and if you add jealousy into the equation(..at the previous Thanksgiving wrestling card, Survivor Series, Hogan hoists Liz in the air after their victory and Savage doesn't exactly like it)eventually the foundation will capsize. In the Royal Rumble, Savage was in a continuing battle with a foe at the time, Bad News Brown(a rough Harlem streetfighter, always carrying a scowl, never getting along with anyone)when Hogan eliminates both of them. Savage confronts Hogan after his accidental exit and this is a definite sign that the relationship, once quite strong, has deteriorated. Liz is able to separate the two and they end in a handshake, but later(..in the Saturday Night Main Event card where The Twin Towers, Big Boss Man & Akeem, wrestle the Mega Powers)the situation between the two would end quite ugly, thanks to Hogan's leaving Savage to fend for himself against the Twin Towers while taking to an injured Liz(Savage would accidentally fall on her)to medical assistance.

The opening of the card features a six-man tag match consisting of three falls(..whoever wins two out of three times is the victor)between Hacksaw Jim Duggan & The Hart Foundation against "Canada's Strongest Man" Dino Bravo & The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers. Pretty entertaining, although, at times, sloppily performed. Duggan is quite a fan favorite at this time, although his style is not necessarily graceful(..Bret was a fine compliment to the team, his *excellence of execution* adding quality to the proceedings). The Rougeau Bros(..never given a chance to hoist the tag titles in the air)have an abundance of talent and work extraordinarily well as a team while Bravo uses his brute strength to extend punishment to whoever the victim might be. Bret is pinned after the Rougeaus apply their fabulous finishing maneuver, and mostly dominate the opening of the bout pummeling Hart who finally breaks free to tag Duggan. Duggan pins one of the Rougeaus, then uses his 2X4 across the back of another Rougeau to win the match. This kind of cheating raises the ire of commentator Jesse the Body Ventura. The "pose off" between 'Ravishing" Rick Rude and Intercontinental Champion The Ultimate Warrior, is little more than filler, providing the audience with a new feud which would lead to an exchange of the IC belt between the two at both Wrestlemania V & Summerslam '89. The Women's Championship is a joke and shows the viewer that this division will never work despite Vince McMahon's continual efforts. 'Sensational' Sherry('Scary' Sherry, she'd later be labeled, making her presence felt when joining Randy Savage's side later after he turns heel)makes an appearance disrupting the women's bout before it begins.

The Battle Royal itself consists of a lot of WWF wrestlers of that time(..some like Shawn Michaels & 'Mr. Perfect' Curt Henning were just pups at this point in their careers). Many tag teams represented the event, providing numbers to the 30 because no one expects the Bushwackers to win it. The Powers of Pain, Strike Force(Tito Santana & Rick Martel), The Brain Busters(Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard), The Rockers(Marty Jannety and Shawn Michaels), & Demolition(Ax & Smash who would draw numbers 1&2 tearing into each other at the beginning). André the Giant was easily the one favored, at first, to win the Battle Royal, and, despite multiple attacks by an army of wrestlers, was pummeling everyone in his path and tossing them around. André the Giant definitely used his size and girth to dominate those who dared challenge him. Fortunate for those in the ring, Jake Roberts(..who had been tossed over the ropes by André)had his secret weapon, his pet snake Damian, with André the Giant eliminating himself and running for his life in absolute fear. Until Macho Man and Hogan arrived, it loses steam with the exit of André. A running feud at the time was between The Mega Powers & The Twin Towers, and the crowd would shockingly witness Hogan being thrown out of the Royal Rumble by the gargantuan duo. The final act would have Big John Studd, Ted Dibiase and Akeem going at it, with a surprising win going for the more unlikely candidate..Big John Studd, who was not amongst any hot story-lines during this point in 1989. It was a great thrill to see a very satisfied Big John Studd win the Royal Rumble in such a memorable fashion, disposing of Akeem(..once One Man Gang, and quite the behemoth)and Dibiase, barely breaking a sweat. A sense of funny irony was that Dibiase had purchased the final draw to enter the event, and was not at all successful in his desire to win The Royal Rumble. This victory is not as recognized as many others mainly because of the Mega Powers soap opera, but I was proud for Studd, a man who would walk tall celebrating quite a substantial victory, a shining exit to a rather disappointing career.

*SPOILERS*

Rumbles started getting really good in '90, but this one wasn't bad.

The opening six-man match was very good. Listen closely after the second fall and you'll hear Jim Duggan say "Get off my (expletive)" to the ref. Remember, this was back in the day. Wrestlers never cussed. It was nice to see two major feuds settled in one match.

Why was King Haku vs. Harley Race edited from the tape? In fact, the commentators never even mention this match. I know nothing about this apparent feud, and if either of them was a face in this match.

The Rumble: Ax and Smash, the most dominant tag team in WWF history, did simply poorly here. Smash barely lasted till number 4, and Ax didn't do much better. And they never cross paths with the Powers of Pain. Usually, this was a great opportunity for all rivals to fight. Mr. Perfect and the Brain Busters did the best here before a fresh Hulk Hogan disposed of them. The Warlord proved his mediocrity by stepping in and right back out courtesy of a Hogan clothesline. The Barbarian fared surprisingly well, by eliminating Brutus Beefcake AND Hercules, two men who have defeated him several times. I liked seeing Butch eliminate the Honky Tonk Man.

Hulk Hogan kind of shocked me by getting easily eliminated by the Towers, then just reaching in and pulling Bossman out. Did he even lose any popularity at all? This wasn't the best Rumble match, not even close; but it was much better than some of them, too. It was somewhere in the middle.

It was also an interesting decision to put the previous year's winner, Duggan, and its iron man, Bret Hart, in an undercard match, but hey, it was actually a better match than the Rumble.

Royal Rumble 1989 Thoughts *note I watched the VHS version*

Royal Rumble 1989 was 2nd annual Royal Rumble event produced by the WWF and the first ever Royal Rumble event to be produced on PPV. It took place on January 15, 1989 at the The Summit in Houston, Texas with attendence at 19,000. This was the first Royal Rumble to showcase the 30-Man tradition.

4 matches were produced on the main card most importantly, The Royal Rumble. The Royal Rumble here was really set up just as a tradition every year after the success of the match concept the previous year on television. This Rumble had a lot more star power added with the likes of Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, and Andre the Giant featured. Can also say storylines were also set during the conflicts in the rumble for WrestleMania V.

The Good - The opening 6-Man 2 out of 3 Falls ended up being a great opening. Crowd was hot and the face team was really over. The Hart Foundation as babyfaces were never guys to disappoint crowds and they did well teaming with Jim Duggan. The Royal Rumble overall turned out to be fun and I feel it was even better than the previous year. I feel the middle of it when Hogan and Savage were in was the hottest period of the night.

The Meh - King Haku vs. Harley Race was somewhat of a decent match. I don't think the heel vs. Heel worked well for crowd response. I also have a minor criticism for Randy Savage being booked here in the Rumble as the WWF Champion. I feel he never looked too strong in their compared to others like Hogan and Andre who dominated a lot during the match.

The Bad - The last 10 minutes became a snoozed fest of the Rumble and I feel Ted DiBiase winning would have been a heck of a lot better choice than Big John Studd. Big John Studd didn't do much in the rumble and his run post this show of not doing much kinda made him winning pointless. Also the WWF Women's Championship match was very bad and the crowd was dead for it. Also Warrior vs. Rude segment of skills was such a drag that should have been on TV instead.

Overrall - It was meh show. It is a cult classic to some due to it being the first Royal Rumble event on PPV but that's it. I pretty much enjoyed majority of the show and 2/3 of the Rumble so there's that.

Score - 5 out of 10: Mediocre

0 = Terrible : 1 = Bad/Lackluster : 2 = Decent : 3 = Good : 4 = Awesome : 5 = One of the Best of all Time

1. Jim Duggan and The Hart Foundation vs. Dino Bravo and the Rougeau Brothers (2 out of 3 Falls) - 3/5

2. Rockin' Robin vs. Judy Martin: WWF Women's Championship - 1/5

3. King Haku vs. Harley Race: Battle for the Crown - 2/5

4. 30-Man Royal Rumble - 2.5/5

Best Match - Jim Duggan & Hart Foundation vs. Rougeau Brothers & Dino Bravo

Worst Match - Rockin' Robin vs. Judy Martin

Most Memorable Moment - Hogan/Savage conflict. You can tell this was a tease to what's to come.

Top 5 Performers

1. Hulk Hogan - Rumble was on fire as he was in

2. Mr. Perfect - 27 minutes and look sharp

3. Bret Hart - Good Performance

4. Andre the Giant - Good Performance

5. Jim Duggan - Good Performance.

The Royal Rumble has always been one of my favourite events. For those who don't know the Royal Rumble is an event where 30 men compete in the ring. They draw numbers from 1 to 30. At the start numbers 1 and 2 start off and every two minutes after that those who drew the later numbers entered the ring. Eliminations occurred when someone was sent over the top rope to the arena floor.

The great thing about the Rumble was that it was a free for all. Friends battled friends, tag team partners battled tag team partners (in this event tag team partners Demolition had a brutal scrap)and the bad guys battled fellow bad guys. There was always plenty of action which made the Rumble great.

(SPOILERS AHEAD)It wasn't until 1993 that the Royal Rumble winner would receive an automatic title shot; before that the winner didn't receive anything except immediate fan adulation. The late Big John Studd won this event by eliminating the Million Dollar Man who tried to bribe Studd. Throughout the Rumble there was plenty of entertainment. Andre the Giant left the ring when Jake "The Snake" Roberts threw his python into the ring. Hulk Hogan eliminated about a dozen stars and then had a falling out with his tag team partner the Macho Man. This was probably the best Rumble match ever-back then you never knew what to expect.

All in all, a good event with a brilliant six-man tag team match on the undercard and a posedown between The Ultimate Warrior and the late Rick Rude. There was also a ladies match but it was far too short to be a good match.