WWE Royal Rumble 1991 (1991)

The 1991 Royal Rumble was partly remembered for the rather controversial heavyweight title match between The Ultimate Warrior and Sgt. Slaughter. The latter wrestler was receiving a lot of heat, on account of being a sympathiser for Saddam Hussain. Equally, the ending of the title match was a bit controversial. The Ultimate Warrior was worthy of being given the title and should have held it again. I love the matches with The Rockers vs. The Orient Express and The Big Boss Man vs. The Barbarian. Both matches are exciting and have genuine name value. Ah the good old days of the WWE! The tag team match with Ted DiBiase and Virgil vs. Dusty and Dustin Rhodes was OK if a bit limited. Watch carefully and you will see a few security guards rush off in the direction of someone who threw a drinks carton that landed on DiBiase's back! The Rumble event is one of the best I've ever seen and it's also one of the longest. Clocking in at 65 minutes, the action has to be good in order to be that long. Luckily, it is brilliant. There are some wrestlers who never made another PPV appearance, like Saba Simba (what happened to him?) and Shane Douglas. The Rumble event marks the first appearance for the likes of The Undertaker, Legion of Doom and Tugboat. This is how American wrestling should be: plenty of great characters, good workers and fun that the whole family can enjoy!

After a Rumble event the previous year that, truth be told, may have been a bit disappointing, this 1991 edition comes back with a bang!As usual, the preliminaries fall a bit flat (this time "headlined" by perhaps the worst Heavyweight Title match in WWF history), but the main event is as hilarious and entertaining as usual. All the stars are given their time to shine, and there is a lot of overall energy to the event.About the only negative I can say about this tape is the absence of Jesse "The Body" Ventura from the announcing booth. "Rowdy" Roddy Piper fills in as best as can be expected, but Ventura's sardonic wit is missed.Thus, if you are looking for a great walk down memory lane, this event will do it for you!

Here are the matches...The Rockers vs The Orient Express: This was probably the best match these two tag teams ever had and certainly the best match of the night. Almost perfect choreography featuring some nice touches (examples being the 'accidental' bumps Kato and Tanaka take when they collide into each other and the excellent Shawn Michaels spot where he drops into the belt the Express attempt to double-clothesline him with and makes them clash into each other). The match ends in excellent fashion when Jannetty rolls up Tanaka after failing a slingshot/chop combination tag team move. An inspired start. 9/10 The Bigbossman v Barbarian: This was building up to Wrestlemania 7 as Bossman systematically defeated The Heenan Family and Barbarian was his next and biggest challenge. The match was watchable but quite slow (probably because Bossman was ensnared in the bear-hug for too long and given too much time to do the clichéd heroic comeback). Not bad in itself but probably better watched in fast-forward. 5/10 Ultimate Warrior v Sgt Slaughter for the WWF world title: You can forget about wrestling in this one as it is fuelled by controversial events. Warrior gets first blood by assaulting Slaughter after breaking the Iraqi flag and ripping it up. I find it odd that Ultimate Warrior is used in this patriotic way as his character hails from Parts Unknown, presumably from another planet. Warrior then starts choking Slaughter with the flag, forcing it in his mouth. Slaughter bumps for Warrior until 'Machoking' Randy Savage's manager Sherri comes to the ring (Warrior refused Savage a title shot if he kept the title). Warrior chases Sherri down the aisle only to get ambushed by Savage on the way to the back, dropping a spotlight stand on him. The fans urge Warrior on as he makes a desperate crawl back towards the ring. Slaughter takes control and puts Warrior in the camel clutch. Warrior gets out of it and starts to make a comeback, gorilla pressing an invading Sherri onto a returning Savage outside the ring with a lot of force. Savage gets the last laugh by smashing his sceptre in Warrior's face allowing Slaughter to get the pin. The fans were hot for this all the way through and the antics by Savage had an intensity about them. This wasn't much of a wrestling match (scores 3) but great story-telling throughout, a genuinely surprising ending, a set up match for Wrestlemania and commentators Gorilla Monsoon and 'Rowdy' Roddy Piper sell the action like Slaughter committed murder (scores 8). 5/10 Koko B Ware vs The Mountie: For a squash match against Koko this was given far too much time and it looked like both men didn't really know what to do with the time they were given. Mountie stalls quite a bit and throws Ware to the outside twice. Ware does a lot of arm flapping but completes a half-decent dropkick from the top rope and a bodycross. However, Mountie bests him with what looks like The Bossman Slam. In the Colloseum Video version this match was removed. Luckily in this case you truly haven't missed anything. 3/10Dusty and Dustin Rhodes v 'Million Dollar Man' Ted Dibiase and Virgil: Dusty Rhodes's feud with Dibiase started at Summerslam 1990. Pacing here was quite choppy to start as Dibiase was stalling the match, showing his dominance over Virgil and often scolding him if he messed up. During the match, Dustin got injured and Dusty got rolled up by Dibiase, distracted by concern for his son. This would spell the end of Dusty's often ridiculed run with the WWF and both father and son would later go to WCW. After the match, 'manservant' Virgil after 3 years of waiting on Dibiase hand on foot finally rebels and wallops Dibiase with The Million Dollar Belt becoming a face. The crowd went absolutely crazy! I'll give it 4/10 for the match and 8/10 for the aftermath so I'll make it 5/10). Royal Rumble 1991: The theme of the night was endurance and a celebration of the mid-carder. Paul Roma from 'Power and Glory' and The Undertaker almost lasted 15 minutes. Hulk Hogan, Mr Perfect, 'Crush' and 'Smash' of Demoliton and Earthquake lasted over 15 minutes, Bret Hart of Hart Foundation, Shane Douglas and Texas Tornado lasted over 20 minutes (remember Tornado did this on one foot!). Tito Santana and Hercules lasted over 30 minutes but the old-timers were Greg Valentine who entered at number 3 lasting almost 45 minutes beating Ted Dibiase's record the year before and then Rick 'The Model' Martel (wrestler of the night without a doubt) at number 6 bettered Valentine again by lasting over 50 minutes. Some Rumble highlights include Greg Valentine starting his face turn by turning on Dino Bravo, Jake Roberts chasing Rick Martel around the ring, Legion of Doom eliminating an impressive Undertaker and the start of a character turn by Tugboat who almost eliminates Hulk Hogan. Bushwhacker 'Butch' lasts a laughable 4 seconds entering the ring from one end and leaving the other. Interestingly, these wrestlers looked like they were at war, desperately doing anything they could to survive and a sharp contrast to the almost feather-like quality wrestlers have today who seem to springboard over the top rope to get eliminated far too easily.Hulk Hogan was the obvious choice to win the contest after dedicating it to the armed forces in the Persian Gulf and I'm happy with a bit of predictability now and then. Hogan eliminated 6 people before finally hoofing Earthquake over from behind to win making his second Royal Rumble win in succession. It makes you wonder how much better this rumble would have been if 'Machoking' Randy Savage showed up at number 18! Royal Rumble 1991 is often overlooked but it does have some real history to it, a wonderful opener, a crazy WWF title match and a feel-good Rumble.

here it is....this was the first pay per view that I ever saw...its not the best card or anything..its not even the best Rumble ever...but there are certalny some historical stuff here.....it has a very good Rockers vs Orient Express match, fast paced and very well done....Boss Man vs Barbarian is a pretty good power match in its own right...the infamous Sgt. Slaughter world title win (he was supporting Iraq at the time and it was during the Gulf War..and I admit I was pullin for him back then...prolly the only sixth grader in american goin for the Iraqi sympatheizer) it had Virgils' classic face turn...where he hits Ted Dibiasie with his own Million Dollar Belt...it was great...and the Rumble itself...pretty entertaining brawl over all...and it had an Iron Man like performance from one of my all time favorites....Rick Martel who lasts damn near an hour...in the end that bald son of a b*tch Hulk Hogan won yet again...over all it was a decent card...and for me...its a true classic....I dont watch wrestling anymore....the early 90s was when I was truly a fan...it might be popular now....but I miss the old days..well, thats all I have to say right now....today made 10 years since I saw it the first time....i'll never forget this event thanks for reading