Royal Rumble Rewind: 1990

We begin the nineties with the WWF(E) beginning to learn how to really utilize this match as a way to build up Wrestlemania.

Royal Rumble 1990

Emanating from the Orlando Arena in Orlando, Fl

In a cruel twist of scripted irony, Ted DiBiase is #1 this year after being #30 last year. His first opponent is Koko B. Ware at #2. Koko gets jumped as soon as he enters. DiBiase makes a mistake by trying to ram Koko’s cranium into the turnbuckle. Koko charges but DiBiase backdrops him to the floor. Now there are only 28 more to go. DiBiase waits as #3 Marty Jannetty makes his way down. Jannetty tries a high flying move that DiBiase dodges and causes Jannetty to be eliminated. Second verse same as the first. Jake Roberts is #4 and these two have issues at this point. DiBiase meets Roberts on the floor and slaps on the Million Dollar Dream. Roberts escapes by ramming DiBiase into the post. Inside, Roberts tries for the DDT, but DiBiase backdrops him. As Roberts hits a kneelift, Macho Man makes his way down at #5. The heels quickly begin to double-team Roberts. With Roberts tied in the ropes, he gets some help in the form of #6 “Rowdy” Roddy Piper. Piper takes care of both heels and then frees Roberts. The faces and the heels team up with Piper and Macho nearly eliminating each other. The Warlord saunters out at #7. He goes right after Piper. Meanwhile, Macho and DiBiase unsuccessfully try to eliminate Roberts. #8 is Bret Hart who again evens the face/heel ratio. Everyone is pairing up but no one is close to elimination. Everybody’s friend, Bad News Brown is #9. Roberts again goes for the DDT on DiBiase, but Macho comes over and clotheslines him to the floor. It’s now Bret/Warlord, Bad News/DiBiase, and Piper/Macho squaring off. The fat quotient just skyrocketed as #10 is Dusty Rhodes and he goes right after Macho Man. Macho charges at Dusty but gets backdropped to the floor. Crowd loved that one.

#11 is Andre who makes his impact felt immediately by eliminating the Warlord. Heenan and Fuji get into a scuffle as a result of that elimination. That was a nice touch. Andre now takes on both Piper and Dusty, while Bad News and DiBiase beat up Bret. The Red Rooster is #12 as Piper is almost eliminated by Bad News. Piper then actually does eliminate Bad News. Angered by this, Bad News pulls Piper out and the two brawl all the way back to the dressing room. Dusty tries to dump DiBiase but Virgil keeps him in. Andre dumps the Rooster as #13 Ax makes his way down. Just to be cruel, the fans start a ‘Weasel’ chant for Heenan. Dusty and Ax get Andre tied up in the ropes and pound on his head. As they free him, Andre nails each of them in the gut. It would have been really cool if he would have ball-tapped them. To help his partner Andre, Haku is #14. He goes after Dusty while Andre sits on Ax. Conveniently, Ax’s partner Smash now comes out at #15. Demolition now pair off against the Colossal Connection. #16 is Akeem and the ring really has some tonnage now. Demolition both hit shouldertackles on Andre and that’s enough to eliminate him. As Demolition now tries to eliminate Haku, the announcers inform us that Bret was eliminated off camera. But just remember, the cameraman didn’t screw Bret. Bret screwed Bret. Superfly Jimmy Snuka is #17 and gets hit by Akeem as soon as he enters. Virgil once again helps DiBiase stave off elimination. Meanwhile, Snuka comes back and knocks Akeem out. Haku and Snuka double headbutt Smash and then beat each other up. Now that’s what a Rumble’s all about. #18 is Dino Bravo to the interest of no one. Everyone seems to be milling around now. Earthquake is #19 and he’s already ripped his unitard before he even hits the ring. Dusty gets tossed by Earthquake within seconds of his arrival. Demolition tries to double-team Earthquake but he casually dumps Ax out of the ring. #20 Jim “the Anvil” Neidhart who goes right after Earthquake and soon everyone joins him to eliminate the huge Canadian. DiBiase, still surviving, gets hit with a double atomic drop by Smash and Neidhart.

Crowd wakes up as the Ultimate Warrior hits the ring at #21. He goes after Dino Bravo and eliminates him soon thereafter. Everyone pairs up again as #22 Rick Martel makes his way down. Haku dumps Smash over but he hangs on only to be knocked off by a Haku kick. Neidhart heaves Martel over but he hangs on and sneaks back in under the bottom rope. #23 is Tito Santana and he begins fighting Martel to no one’s surprise. Those two will probably be fighting at the 2015 Royal Rumble. Honky Tonk Man is #24 and is greeted right away by the Warrior. A bunch of guys brawl on one side and Neidhart gets eliminated in the process. Warrior reverses a DiBiase whip and then clotheslines him to the floor. Nice effort by DiBiase who becomes the first Iron Man of Rumble matches. #25 is Hulk Hogan and the exit sign lights up for a lot of guys. Snuka gone! Haku gone! Santana gone! It’s now Martel paired up with the Warrior and Honky tangling with Hogan. Shawn Michaels comes down at #26 as Hogan tosses Honky out. Warrior goes into hurry up mode and eliminates Shawn and Martel back-to-back. Shawn gets the Bushwhacker award tonight. We’re left with the Ultimate Face-off. Hogan and Warrior stare at each other as the crowd goes nuts. They criss-cross and then they clothesline each other. With both men down, the Barbarian comes out at #27. He has his way with both Warrior and Hogan. Before we get a countdown, Rick Rude enters at #28. Rude hits Warrior with a dropkick as the Barbarian tries to eliminate Hogan. Rude comes over to help the Barbarian, but Warrior makes the save. Soon the Barbarian and Rude try to eliminate the Warrior and Hogan comes over and finishes the job. Oh Hulk, you are a devious one. Warrior comes back in and beats up the heels some more, simply because he’s crazy. Hogan gets some help, as if he needs it, from #29 Hercules. Hogan gives the Barbarian a back rake to show how tough he is. And because he is what he says he is, Mr. Perfect is our #30 entrant.

Heel miscommunication between the Barbarian and Rude allows Hercules to eliminate the Barbarian. That makes our Final Four Hogan, Perfect, Rude and Hercules. The weak link of the bunch, Hercules gets eliminated by a Rude clothesline. Rude accidentally hits Perfect with a forearm and knocks him through the ropes. Hogan whips Rude to the ropes which are pulled down as Perfect hoists himself up. That causes Rude to be eliminated. Perfect comes in and hits Hogan with the PerfectPlex. That causes Hogan to pop up and go to work on Perfect. After Perfect hits the top of the post from a slingshot, Hogan grabs him and tosses him out for the victory.

Bottom Line: A pretty decent Rumble that nicely set up numerous feuds for Wrestlemania (Hogan/Warrior, Jake/DiBiase, Dusty/Macho, Piper/Bad News, and Demolition/Colossal Connection). There were also very few lulls during the course of the match. The only negative was the uncreative finish. Perfect was originally booked to win the match, but you can guess who vetoed that idea. That’s right, HHH. ****