Royal Rumble Rewind: 1992

With the WWF Championship vacant at the time, this year's Rumble gained a level of importance as the winner was going home with the title.

1992 Royal Rumble

Emanating from the Knickerbocker Arena in Albany, NY

The backstory for this Rumble is that the title was vacated by Jack Tunney, after he saw the dubious way Hogan won the title from the Undertaker, back at This Tuesday in Texas. Tunney comes out before the match to announce this is for the title and wishes the participants the best of luck. There were numerous boos heard during Tunney’s speech. To think, they could have wasted Vince’s evil owner angle years earlier with Tunney as the evil president. Bulldog is #1. Million Dollar Man is #2. Man, he is still paying for supposedly buying #30 in 1989. Bulldog starts off hot, but soon enough Dibiase takes Bulldog to school. Dibiase dumps Bulldog over but Davey Boy stays on the apron. He comes back in and clotheslines a gloating Dibiase to the floor. No title for Teddy. And now here comes Flair at #3. Bobby does not like this draw at all. Gorilla mentions that no one drawing #1 – 5 have won the Rumble. That’s funny since we’ve now had numbers 1, 2, 3, and 5 all win it. Bulldog manhandles Flair for the next 2 minutes. Jerry Sags is #4. Sags and Flair double-team the Bulldog. Bulldog comes back with a double clothesline. Davey Boy tosses Sags over, but he hangs on. As he brags on the apron, the Bulldog dropkicks him to the floor. Now it’s back to Bulldog and Flair. Haku (subbing for Brian Knobbs) is #5. Haku and Flair start to beat up on the Bulldog but soon Haku turns on the Nature Boy. As the countdown begins, Bulldog casually dumps Haku out. #6 is Shawn Michaels, who receives a not so warm welcome after recently putting Marty Jannetty through the Barber Shop window. Michaels comes in and takes it to Flair. He even gets Sweet Chin Music on him, except not to the same effect it would have later on in his career. The Bulldog clotheslines Shawn over the top but he hangs on. I love how so many people are hanging on as it shows how much they want to win. El Matador is #7 and he goes right after Ric. Flair gets nailed with a Santana flying forearm. #8 is Barbarian. Flair and Barbarian attack the Bulldog, while Shawn and Tito duke it out. Texas Tornado strolls out at #9 and does his usual aimless punching to everyone. Pairing off are Flair and the Tornado, Santana and the Barbarian and the Bulldog and Michaels. Repo Man marks the third-way point at #10. He stalks around the ring for a few seconds before entering. Everyone is making the rounds trying to meet…er…attack each other.

Greg Valentine is #11 and immediately trades chops with Flair. Ring is filling up with some fluff now. However, the bickering between Heenan and Monsoon is easily keeping this entertaining. Shawn is hanging on the apron again. #12 is Nikolai Volkof, who is subbing for Marty Janetty. At this point, if Volkof won the title, he could probably get a loaf of bread and two buttons for it in Mother Russia. Heenan is going crazy again as Valentine has slapped the figure four on Flair. Repo Man just backdropped Nikolai to the floor, so scratch my previous statement. Big Boss Man comes in at #13 and punches away on everyone. Repo Man tosses out Valentine. Who would have guessed Repo would eliminate 2 guys in less than 2 minutes? But before Repo can do anymore damage, Big Boss Man grabs and heaves him to the floor. Out of nowhere, Flair musters enough strength to hoist Bulldog up and out. And just like that, Flair also sends Texas Tornado to the floor. Bye Bye Kerry! Flair is getting his second wind. #14 Hercules comes out as Michaels and Santana eliminate each other. Barbarian tries to eliminate Flair but Hercules comes up and dumps the Barbarian. Boss Man follows that up by clotheslining Hercules out. We’re down to Flair and the Boss Man. It’s all Boss Man until he tries a charge. Flair moves out of the way and the Boss Man ends up launching himself over the rope and to the floor. No one can believe it, as the Nature Boy is left alone in the ring. Flair can barely rest, when #15 is the new Intercontinental champ Roddy Piper. If you recall, Piper and Flair have had issues before this too. Piper dominates Flair; including giving him an airplane spin and sleeper. Jake Roberts is #16 and just sits in the corner to allow Piper and Flair to fight. That doesn’t last long as soon Roberts jumps Piper. What a snake! Flair puts a figure four on Jake and Roddy comes over to stomp on both of them. The buzzer sounds, but it might as well be a groan because it’s Hacksaw. He’s #17. The faces and heels square off now. #18 is IRS, who takes his time heading to the ring. IRS and Duggan brawl, while Flair and Jake try to eliminate Piper. Gorilla announces that it has been 36 minutes for Flair so far. Ol’ Coconut Head Jimmy Snuka is #19. Flair teeters on the brink of elimination a couple of times. The Undertaker strolls out at #20. It should be noted that the Undertaker and Hogan were given “special treatment” because of their involvement with the title match at Tuesday in Texas. This meant they would get to draw between #20 – 30 only. As you can see, Taker didn’t even get that great of a number. Regardless, he walks into the ring and with one shot eliminates Snuka. Man, Taker loves to beat the crap out of Superfly. Taker then begins to choke out Ric. Is that anyway to say thanks to the man who helped you win your first title?

Macho Man is #21 and immediately runs after Jake. Taker catches Macho before he can get to him though. Finally, Savage gets to Roberts and goes to town on him. It doesn’t take long before Macho kneedrops Jake out. Macho then makes a major faux pas by going up to the top rope and jumping out and onto Jake. The announcers try their best to cover it up, but we all know he f*cked up. Right now, the pairs are Macho and Flair, Duggan and Taker, and Piper and IRS. Berzerker husses his way out at #22. Flair tries suplexing Macho Man from the apron, but Savage reverses it and brings Flair back in. Virgil is #23 and sadly no one cares. Nothing of note happens as they are slowly getting ready for the big finish. #24 is Col. Mustafa who Monsoon calls “dangerous”. Oooh, I’m trembling! Monsoon then catches a bout of J.R.itis by calling Ric Flair, Rick Martel. Speaking of Martel, he comes out now at #25. Duggan decides he’s tired, so he mugs for the crowd and tries getting a U.S.A. chant started. The fans don’t want to chant U.S.A., you dolt! They are too interested in watching the real wrestlers actually fight! Hulk Hogan is #26. Of course he got a good number. Hogan gets trapped in a corner by Taker, Berzerker and IRS. Hulk comes firing back and clotheslines both Taker and the Berzerker out of the ring. Fans are going nuts as Heenan is sweating bullets. Hacksaw and Virgil eliminate each other. So long to dead weight. Skinner, chaw and all, comes out at #27. I have to laugh as Martel sells a Piper headscissors, as if someone is using a taser on him. #28 is Sgt. Slaughter. The announcers mention that he’s a former WWF champ as if that actually means he is a candidate to win here. Rick Martel dumps out Skinner. At this point, it is announced that Flair has the new longevity record beating the previous record set the year prior by Martel. Great pop for Sid Justice who is #29. Flair and Hulk duke it out. The Warlord gets lucky #30. One of these guys is getting the strap. Hogan and Flair brawl on the floor but aren’t eliminated. Sid whips Slaughter so hard into the corner that he falls all the way to the floor. Piper eliminates IRS via his own necktie. Hogan and Sid team up to get rid of the Warlord. As Piper and Martel brawl, Sid walks up and pushes both of them out.

Your Final Four are: Hulk Hogan, Sid Justice, Ric Flair and Macho Man. A decent quartet any way you look at it, as all four are still viable candidates to win. Savage is eliminated by Sid and Flair. Hulk knocks Flair onto the apron and tries to kick him off. Sid comes from behind and tosses out Hulk, much to the glee of a number of fans. Hulk, furious over Sid’s actions, grabs Sid’s arm and begins to tug. OUR HERO! Flair gives enough of an assist to eliminate Sid and become the NEW WWF CHAMPION. Wooo! Heenan is beyond jubilant and immediately leaves the booth to congratulate the new champ.

Postmatch, the suits have to come out and prevent Sid and Hulk from going at it. In a sign that things were changing, the crowd was largely behind Sid during their standoff.

Backstage Jack Tunney presents Flair with the WWF title. Flair then delivers an emotional promo and gets his moment in the sun. In the middle of it all, Mean Gene has to reprimand someone for lighting a cigarette. I’m sure Gene was just cranky because his buddy Hogan didn’t win.

Bottom Line: What a truly great Rumble. Not only for Flair’s marathon performance, but also for all the mini angles that were played up throughout the match. (Flair-Piper, Savage-Roberts, Hulk-Sid) This will perhaps be the best Rumble ever. *****

Royal Rumble Rewind: 1991

1991 saw us in the middle of the first Gulf War and the booking of that year's Rumble match certainly reflected that.

1991 Royal Rumble

Emanating from the Miami Arena in Miami, FL

Bret Hart is #1, as those signs of a singles career seem to keep popping up. Dino Bravo is #2. Gorilla seems to think Bravo is a cheapskate. Maybe that’s what got him shot gangland style. Bret starts off hot, but Dino soon takes control. Greg Valentine is #3. Valentine nails Dino to the shock of Jimmy Hart. Valentine quickly disposes of Dino. Valentine tries to go after Jimmy Hart but he escapes. Bret, who had been resting, goes right to work on Valentine. Paul Roma is #4. Valentine and Roma gang up on Bret but then Roma turns on The Hammer. Texas Tornado is #5. Tornado gives his usual crappy punches to everyone. Valentine gives us a Flair flop. It’s now Valentine and the Tornado and Bret and Roma paired up. Roma with a near Bob Holly-like dropkick on Von Erich. Rick Martel is #6. He goes immediately after the Hitman. Bret puts Martel on the brink of elimination. #7 is Saba Simba and thankfully Piper doesn’t shout, “it’s Tony Atlas!” this time. Pairings now are Saba and Roma, Hart and Valentine, and Tornado and Martel. The Model comes close to being dumped again but no dice. Sidenote: Shane McMahon is one of the floor referees. Tornado puts the dreaded palmhold on Paul Roma. Butch is #8. He whacks his way around the ring for 10 seconds before someone realizes how idiotic he looks and hits him. Saba Simba and Martel go flying over the top rope. Simba falls to the floor, but Martel hangs on. Not 30 seconds later, Gorilla asks Piper, “I don’t see Saba Simba, where did he go?” How Piper didn’t laugh in his face for such an idiotic question baffles me to this day. Jake the Snake is #9 and right away goes after Martel since they were in the middle of their feud. Jake goes for the DDT but Martel bails under the bottom rope. Hercules is #10. Ring is filling up fast. Everyone is now casually punching each other with no real direction. Valentine and Jake try to eliminate Bret but he pantomimes to the camera that he’s bored with their efforts. What a dick!

#11 is Tito Santana. Roma tries for a high crossbody on Jake but misses and launches himself over the top rope. Tito immediately goes after Martel as always. Undertaker is #12 and now we can hopefully clean out some deadweight. Just as I say that, Taker casually dumps Bret Hart out. As much as I don’t care for the Hitman, he wasn’t who I had in mind when I said deadweight. Superfly Jimmy Snuka is #13. Major afro on Snuka tonight. Taker launches Butch out. That’s more like it. Despite Undertaker’s efforts, the ring is still pretty crowded right now. Jake goes back to trying to eliminate Martel. British Bulldog is #14. Only thing of note going on now is some drunk in a green shirt who keeps walking past the front row. Smash is #15. From the apron, the Model is able to eliminate Roberts. #16 is Hawk. Hawk tries to punch everyone so everyone gangs up on Hawk in return. No complaints here. Newcomer Shane Douglas is #16. Undertaker heaves Tornado over the top rope. Vaya con dios Kerry! Hawk follows that up by eliminating the Superfly. #18 is…is…is…no one! It was revealed later though to be Macho Man’s number but he “left the building to avoid the Warrior.” Funny moment though as when the buzzer rings you see Animal start come out an then quickly hide behind the curtain. I can just hear someone backstage screaming at him, “No, no you moron! Not yet!” It’s time for #19 and whoa, what a surprise, it’s Animal. Legion of Doom work on the Undertaker and clothesline him out. Martel sneaks up behind Hawk and dumps him right after. Crush is #20. The Demos work over the British Bulldog.

Hacksaw Jim Duggan is #21 and I’m immediately board. (rimshot please) It’s getting pretty obvious at this point that everyone is sticking around in the ring in hopes of being tossed out by His Holiness. (coughHogancough) #22 is Earthquake. He quickly disposes of Animal. More chit-chat goes on between the wrestlers. Mr. Perfect is #23 and finally I’m interested. Perfect does his bumping for Duggan of all people. It’s all good though as Perfect soon dumps that idiot. Thanks Curt! Hogan is #24. Yippee! Victim #1 for the Hulkster is Smash. See ya Brother! Haku is #25. Now Hogan dumps Valentine after a 37-minute performance for the Hammer. It’s only now that Hogan finally gets his shirt off. #26 is Jim Neidhart. Earthquake eliminates Tito nonchalantly. Luke is #27. In a classic Rumble moment, Luke walks in and Quake just as quickly tosses him out the other side. Luke, we hardly knew ye. Nasty Boy Brian Knobbs is #28. Everyone gangs up on him as if he poses some threat. Knobbs pitches Hercules who was out there longer than he had any right to be. Warlord is #29. Hogan dumps Crush, or as my roommate calls him, “that bondage guy”. Hogan clotheslines Warlord out of there. That marks two different times (89 and 91) that Hogan has eliminated the Warlord via a clothesline in less than 2 minutes from the Rumble. Tugboat is #30. I promise no Shockmaster jokes.

He goes after Earthquake. Knobbs knocks out Shane Douglas. Tugboat goes after his “friend” the Hulkster. I guess this was the precursor to his ‘shocking’ heel turn. (OK, so I lied) Angered, Hulk comes back and dumps Tugboat. Bulldog dropkicks Perfect out. That’s a shame! Martel eliminates the Anvil. Haku gets tossed out by the Bulldog. Martel goes up top but Bulldog catches him and throws him out. Finally, after 53 minutes, Martel was gone. As a young fan watching this back in ‘91, I was sooo glad when he finally was eliminated because he was so close so many times during the night. Final Four is British Bulldog, Hulk Hogan, Earthquake and Brian Knobbs. Why in God’s green Earth was Knobbs booked to go this late into the Rumble? I think “Hogan Knows Best” gave us the answer to that one. The heels team up and dump the Bulldog out. Poor Davey Boy, always a bridesmaid, never a bride. Quake and Knobbs then work over Hulk which includes the big butt splash. Hogan of course pops up and boots Knobbs out. Hogan gets some offense before a slam attempt backfires on him. Quakes squashes Hogan some more before Hulk pops up again. 2 pop-ups in one match? They must really want to send the fans home happy. It’s all a formality after that as Hogan gets his obligatory slam on Quake before clotheslining him out of the ring.

Bottom Line: Well star power was non-existent in this Rumble. Too many times there was a bunch of guys standing around doing nothing. Even though the notion of Hogan winning back-to-back Rumbles nauseated me, it was the right thing to do, given the Slaughter win. Had he not won the previous year, this would have been more tolerable. ** ¾

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. ****

Royal Rumble Rewind: 1989

- As we continue on, this is the first Rumble to appear on PPV. We're also up to the tradition 30 participants here.

Royal Rumble 1989

Emanating from The Summit in Houston, TX

Historical moment right from the get-go as Ax is #1 and Smash is #2. It’s a good thing they never split and feuded because their action here is not worth noting. Thankfully Andre is #3 and the Demos turn their attention to him. Jesse says Andre is up by 1 or 2 on him on Battle Royal wins. Ha! More punching and kicking as Mr. Perfect strolls in at #4. Perfect slugs everyone as Andre casually tosses Smash out. Ax sends Perfect CRASHING into the corner. “Rugged” Ronnie Garvin is #5. Andre gets triple teamed but fights back. Perfect oversells like only he can to Andre’s offense. Greg Valentine is #6. Andre continues to be the focus of attack. This angers the Giant as he sends Garvin to the floor. Jake Roberts is #7 to wake up the crowd. Jake who actually has a beef with Andre can’t attack him as Andre beats him to the punch. Jake is getting squashed in there! Cueball Ron Bass is #8 as Andre tosses out Jake. Off to the bars for Roberts. Valentine and Perfect take over on Andre while Ax and Bass square off. Shriek! It’s Shawn Michaels at #9. Perfect perfectly launches Ax out. Perfect and Michaels face off and now I’m interested. Butch is #10. Man what a POP for Butch! Oh wait, never mind, it’s for Jake who is back out with Damian. Jake chases Andre over the top rope and out.

Honky is #11. Everyone is squared off: Butch and Bass, Perfect and Honky, Michaels and Hammer. Fans squeal over the prospects of Honky getting pitched. Tito is #12. He goes straight for Perfect. Butch bites Honky; nothing new there. Bad News is #13. Ring is getting crowded now. Honky finally gets tossed by Tito and Butch. Marty Jannetty is #14. Rockers join forces to eliminate Ron Bass with a double dropkick. Jannetty bashes Perfect’s head in the top, middle, and bottom turnbuckles. Talk about driving home a point. Macho Man is #15 and immediately goes after Bad News. Arn Anderson is #16. Savage eliminates Valentine. Double A and Macho team up (talk about strange bedfellows) and eliminate Shawn Michaels. Anderson goes up top but gets crotched. Have no fear Arn because Tully is #17 to help you out. The Brainbusters soon work over Jannetty. Jannetty, on the brink of elimination, eventually gets shoved out by Blanchard. Hogan is #18 and I think we’re going to see some spring-cleaning. Bye Perfect! Bye Tito! Hogan gets into trouble and Macho doesn’t help. Hmmm… Luke is #19. As he hits the ring, Bad News and The Hulkster eliminate Butch. Koko B. Ware is #20. Anderson goes up top again and gets caught again. Think Arn! Koko gets dumped by Hogan. He’s got the record tonight for shortest appearance. Luke gets tossed by Hogan now too. We’re down to the Busters on Hogan and Bad News fighting Macho Man.

Here comes Warlord at #21. Hogan has now eliminated Tully and Arn. Warlord steps in and goes right back out via a Hogan clothesline. Spoke too soon about Koko, congrats Warlord. Now Hogan runs over and dumps Bad News AND Macho Man. “Uh oh, Savage is hot” so says Ventura. And I would be too. Elizabeth comes out to play peacekeeper. She gets Savage to agree to shake hands and Hulk is reluctant. What should he be reluctant for?!? Hulk then shakes and hugs. AWW! Before the lovefest can continue the buzzer sounds and here comes the Bossman at #22. Man, Bossman was huge back then. It’s all Hogan to start off with. Avalanche slows Hogan down. Akeem waddles down at #23 to even the sides against Hogan. Yes, I said even the sides. Towers eventually get the upper hand and eliminate Hulk. Whaaaa? Brutus Beefcake is #24. As the Towers double team Beefcake, Hogan pulls the top rope down to eliminate the Bossman. Our Hero! Hulk and Bossman fight to the locker room. Meanwhile, Akeem works over Beefcake in the corner. You’ll notice Brutus looks to the cameraman to see if he’s filming and then shouts in pain as if he was a nervous young girl filming her first porn video. The Red Rooster is #25 and struts and pecks his way down to ringside. Akeem gets double-teamed by the Barber and Taylor. The Barbarian is #26. Crowd is beginning to realize there isn’t much left in the way of star power. Big John Studd is #27. Studd shoves the Rooster down so he can have Akeem all to himself. Hercules is #28. Nothing of note happening. Rick Martel is #29 and Jesse wonders how he got such a high number. I have my suspicions as well. Million Dollar Man is #30. Man, I don’t know why Ted was so upset at the drawing earlier in the evening. I’d be thrilled with #30. But hey, that’s me. Virgil stays at ringside. Just to spectate I assume.

Dibiase makes an immediate impact by tossing the Rooster out. Sleeper by Brutus on Hercules is costly as Dibiase and The Barbarian dump them both. Barbarian charges but misses and Martel eliminates him. Down to the Final Four, consisting of Dibiase, Martel, Studd, and Akeem. Eh, could be worse. Martel doesn’t learn from the Barbarian though as a charge gets him tossed by Akeem. Dibiase then begins directing traffic, ordering an Akeem attack on Studd. Studd says no more and uses Dibiase as a shield. He then dumps Akeem leaving Dibiase all alone. Studd toys with him for a few minutes before eventually vanquishing him. Virgil then tries his luck and gets tossed too. Crowd politely cheers.

Bottom Line: Fairly entertaining Rumble. They did a nice job of continuing the slow boil that led to the MegaPowers exploding. Booking Studd as the winner came as a shock. Obviously, this was before they used the Rumble as a method for determining the #1 contender. *** ½