-Today we look at the 1989 Royal Rumble from the WWF.
-The 1989 Royal Rumble was shown on PPV on January 15, 1989 (the day before my birthday). It originated from The Summit in Houston, Texas. There were 19,000 in attendance.
-What the world is watching intro.
-Opening credits of Vince McMahon announcing some of the participants of the Royal Rumble match.
-Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura welcome us and talk about the Royal Rumble match as well as the rest of the card.
-Six man tag team 2/3 falls bout. The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers Jacques and Raymond and Dino Bravo with Frenchy Martin and Jimmy Hart VS. The Hart Foundation Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart and Jim Duggan. Nice pop for the faces coming out. Heels have a confab before they start. Neidhart and Bravo start. Gorilla and Jesse argue about Bravo’s bench pressing record if you’re drinking at home. Neidhart with the advantage. Duggan tagged in. Does some damage to Raymond Rougeau before tagging Bret Hart in. He gets a small package on for a two count. Then a sunset flip for 2. Jacques Rougeau coming back. All 6 men in and fighting. Bret Hart knocked out of the ring. Back in, the Fabulous Rougeaus hit their finishing maneuver on Bret Hart and win the first fall. 2nd Fall: Heels keep up the beating on Bret Hart. Quick tags by the heels. USA chant going out while Bret Hart is in a bearhug by Dino Bravo. Typical Americans. Jesse has the same question. Jacques Rougeau gets a clutch on. Bret Hart sand crabs to his corner, but the referee is distracted and doesn’t see the tag. More quick tags by the heels. Bret Hart blocks a monkey flip and hits an inverted atomic drop. Duggan tagged in and takes on all heels. He catapults Neidhart and Bret Hart in to hit Raymond Rougeau. Duggan then pins Raymond Rougeau. 3rd Fall: Duggan continues to pummel Raymond Rougeau. Heels take the advantage. Bravo gets a two count. Bret Hart tagged in. Duggan hits Bravo with the 2x4 when the referee wasn’t looking Bret Hart gets the pin. Jesse is livid.
-They show some superstars getting their numbers. Ted DiBiase and Virgil are not happy with their number and talk to Slick about trading. The Honky Tonk Man is not happy with his number. The Bushwhackers swap numbers. Bad News Brown is happy with his number. Jake Roberts has Damien with him and says he hopes Andre is still in it when he gets there. The Rockers wish each other good luck.
-WWF Ladies Championship Match: Rockin’ Robin VS. Judy Martin. Sherri Martel is there and gets on the mic to challenge the winner to a match. Music Dub USA when Robin comes out but they acknowledge that it’s Sam Houston’s music. That establishes a connection that will never be revealed on air. Back and forth to start. Sherri joins commentary. Puts both women down. Martin with a nice slam. Robin comes back with a Boston Crab. A couple of close pinning combinations. Robin misses a dropkick and a roll up. Robin does an awkward DDT but doesn’t get the pin but now has borrowed from both brothers. Martin gets a two count. Robin then gets a two count from a small package. Robin then fakes a crossbody but then gets one for the pin.
-WrestleMania V promo
-Sean Mooney interviews Slick and The Twin Towers. Slick says all the marbles rest on his men. He then says nothing went down between him and Ted DiBiase. They then showed the video from earlier. Slick says he misunderstood Sean. He says it doesn’t matter anyway.
-Super Posedown: Mean Gene Okerlund is in the ring to emcee. Rick Rude with Bobby Heenan VS. The Ultimate Warrior. Gorilla brings up Rude winning the Jesse The Body Award if you’re drinking at home. Rude does his pre match shtick, then Warrior comes down and does his shtick. Jesse calls the Warrior an idiot. Double bicep pose. Crowd says Warrior is the winner. Best Abs. Crowd says Warrior again, but Rude is clearly the winner. Most muscular pose. Crowd again chooses Warrior. Medley of poses. Rude does his best poses. Then, as Warrior is doing his, Heenan sprays his eyes with oil and Rude attacks him with a workout bar. Heenan and Rude leave as agents come in to check on Warrior. Warrior attacks the agents and chases Rude.
-Another WrestleMania V promo.
-Mr. Fuji says the Powers of Pain will go over everyone in the Royal Rumble, especially Demolition. Miss Elizabeth says she will be cheering for both the Mega Powers. She’s been hoping they don’t have to fight each other. Jimmy Hart says that Greg Valentine and The Honky Tonk Man will do whatever it takes to win.
-Jesse is at the throne to talk about the next match.
-King Haku with Bobby Heenan VS. Harley Race. The winner will be the king of the WWF. Haku gets carried down on a throne. Race comes down and knocks Haku off the throne. Race on fire to begin with. They go outsides and Haku takes over. Back in, Race takes the advantage back. Haku then throws Race out. Continues to punish Race back in the ring. Race comes back and hits a piledriver, gets a two count. Haku hits a suplex for a two count. Race then hits a suplex for a two count. Haku reverses a piledriver outside. Race later hits it outside. Back in, Race hits a neckbreaker. Then he hits a knee. Haku then hits a scoop slam. Misses a splash. Race goes up and misses a headbutt. Haku hits the thrust kick and pins Race.
-Yet another WrestleMania V promo, they are really pushing this thing.
-Brutus Beefcake says he has the right tools for the job. Greg Valentine says that he’s been around a long time and he knows he can’t trust anyone but himself. Mr. Fuji says the Powers of Pain will run over everyone in the Rumble and that makes Mr. Fuji the big winner. Big John Studd says that his time away has been good for him and he is his own man. Mr. Perfect says that this is the year of perfection and he will start it by winning the Rumble. Randy Savage says No partners, every man for himself. Mean Gene interviews Ted DiBiase and Virgil. He says he’s as lucky as he wants to be when he has the money to do what he wants. Sean Mooney interviews Bobby Heenan and The Heenan Family. They say if you want to win, you’ve got to go through the numbers. Mean Gene interviews Hulk Hogan. He says this is the resurrection of Hulkamania. If someone gets in the way he is going to take them out. If Savage is in the ring, even though he is a friend, he will find out the Hulkster can’t be beaten.
-Howard Finkel goes over the rules for the audience.
-The 1989 Royal Rumble Match: 1. Ax comes out. 2. Smash comes out. Jesse and Gorilla can’t believe it. They look at each other and start fighting and it’s awesome. They slug it out. Smash is almost eliminated. 3. Andre The Giant. Ax and Smash drop him down. They go at him hard. He fights them off. 4. Mr. Perfect. He goes after everyone. Smash Eliminated. 5. Ronnie Garvin. He goes after Andre who does his ropes tied up spot. They all try to eliminate Andre. Everyone is bumping for Andre. 6. Greg Valentine. They still can’t eliminated the Giant, who then eliminates Garvin. 7. Jake Roberts the crowd goes wild as he goes after Andre. Andre chokes Roberts as Valentine keeps hammering away at Andre’s back (no pun intended). 8. Ron Bass Andre eliminates Roberts Bass goes after Perfect. Forearms thrown everywhere. 9. Shawn Michaels. He goes after Bass. Perfect eliminates Ax. Perfect and Michaels go at it and Michaels skins the cat. Perfect bumping for half of the Rockers. 10. Bushwhacker Butch. Jake Roberts comes back with Damien. Andre eliminates himself to get away from the snake. 11. The Honky Tonk Man. Perfect tries to eliminate HTM. HTM and Valentine try to eliminate Michaels. 12. Tito Santana Perfect is bouncing all over. 13. Bad News Brown. HTM eliminated. 14. Marty Jannetty. Bass attacks him. The Rockers double dropkick Bass to eliminate him. 15. Randy Savage guys are pairing off to do damage. 16. Arn Anderson Savage eliminates Valentine. Savage and Anderson eliminate Michaels. 17. Tully Blanchard Anderson hits a nice Spinebuster on Jannetty. The Brain Busters eliminate Jannetty. 18. Hulk Hogan. He eliminates Mr. Perfect. Tito Santana Eliminated. Brown trying to eliminate Hogan, and others coming over to try to eliminate Hogan. Savage not helping to save him, despite Hogan saving Savage earlier. 19. Bushwhacker Luke. Brown eliminates Butch. 20. Koko B. Ware Hogan eliminates Koko. He then eliminates Luke. 21. The Warlord Hogan eliminates both Brain Busters. The Warlord steps in and is clotheslined by Hogan to be eliminated. Hogan goes to dump Brown but Savage gets dumped too. Savage comes back in screaming mad at Hogan. They shove each other. Liz comes down to try to calm things down. Savage wants to shake hands. Hogan reluctantly does so then they hug. 22. The Big Boss Man. He and Hogan go at it. Hogan slams Boss Man. Boss Man hits an avalanche and a piledriver. Monsoon says Boss Man has the advantage because Hogan has been out there for a half an hour. Jesse says it’s more like 5 minutes. It’s more like 9 but Jesse’s point is valid. 23. Akeem. Hogan takes on both Twin Towers. They batter Hogan in the corner. They eliminate Hogan. He pulls Boss Man out. Hogan really doesn’t like being eliminated in the Rumble. 24. Brutus Beefcake. He helps Hogan with the Twin Towers outside. They team up on Brutus inside. Hogan pulls the rope down so Boss Man tumbles outside. Hogan really does cheat a lot. He and Boss Man brawl to the back. 25. The Red Rooster you would have to rile the crowd up some to get them to care. 26. The Barbarian Random brawling. 27. Big John Studd 28. Hercules 29. Rick Martel 30. Ted DiBiase. Rooster eliminated by DiBiase. Beefcake and Hercules both eliminated. Martel ducks a Barbarian clothesline and eliminates him. Akeem dumps Martel out. DiBiase directing Akeem in attacking Studd. Studd pulls DiBiase in the way and then attacks and eliminates Akeem. DiBiase tries to bribe Studd, then climbs the second rope to attack. Studd grabs him by the throat. DiBiase sells hard. Studd hits a double arm suplex. DiBiase making Studd look good. DiBiase is then eliminated. Virgil attacks Studd. Studd takes him out. The Fink announces Big John Studd as the winner. They sign off from Houston.