- January 24th, Sacramento California.
- Buyrate: 1.25
- Attendance: 16,000
- This PPV is significant as it starts the Rumble/Mania link.
Lord Alfred Hayes chats to the Steiners pre-show for the Coliseum Video team.
Steiners Vs. The Beverley Brothers
Bobby and Monsson on commentary. The Steiners WWF PPV debut, the match had its sloppy moments for sure but it did have tag psychology which I always appreciate, a couple would have psychology as well as i'll get into, the Beverley's isolated Scott and cut the ring in half. Rick did get the hot tag, so the psychology stuff worked then, most notable was a german he hit which almost sent a Beverley across the pacific to Hawaii, the Beverley's tried a Doomsday Device, Whaaaaaaaat a rip, but Scott avoided with a victory roll the ended with a brutal Frankensteiner at 10:45. ** - Some sloppiness holds it back and gives it a ceiling but as noted I did appreciate the psychology involved and who doesn't love the Frankensteiner?
Coliseum bit again as Lord Alfred Hayes chats with Sensational Sherri about whos corner she'll be in for Maty/Michaels.
Video plays for the Michaels/Jannetty match, I liked the bit where Jannetty is spotted in the mirror by HBK, unfortunately for Michaels it was not a Warrior style illusion. It started with the Rockers break-up, then the reason Sherris is pulling a Mania V Liz is that Marty went to hit Shawn with a mirror but HBK pulled Sherri in the way and she took the hit.
Intercontinental Title - Shawn Michaels (c) Vs. Marty Jannetty
HBK started with selling Henning would've been proud of but then started working over Jannetty's shoulder, I thought Marty sold the wrong one at first, Bobby points out why it's good to work the shoulder he also claims piledrivering Jannetty on the steps would be a good amateur move. Jannetty does the comeback that gets cut a short but does soon suplex HBK over the ropes to the outside, you don't see that often. Good nearfall happened after Marty hit a DDT. Ref gets KO'd and Sherri tries to hit Michaels with his shoe but he ducks and Jannetty gets the heel to the bonce, Superkick gets 3 @ 14:20 for Michaels, not sure it was yet quite Sweet. *** - Again I enjoyed the psychology in the match but I don't agree with the way it played out, doesn't someone trying to cheat then getting their comeuppance by losing sound something more for a heel than a face? Ending was an anti-climax but I enjoyed what came before it.
Lord Alfred Hayes and his Coliseum Video Crew catch up with Undertaker and Paul Bearer.
Bam Bam Bigelow Vs. Bossman
These two could be good when they wanted to but I guess they didn't quite feel like it on this night, boring punch-kick match which BBB pretty much dominates, I was expecting a Bossman comeback and win but it ended via a Bigelow diving headbutt so we got basically an extended squash, lasted 10:10. *
We see Razor attacking Owen Hart.
WWF Title - Bret Hart (c) vs. Razor Ramon
Okay before I get to the match itself, this one is flawed as Razor didn't seem like a title contender here as he's not long been in the WWF, due to the fact we have the Rumble I think Vince got away with this but it is akin to say Ken Shamrock Vs. Stone Cold on a 1999 PPV (Kens not a great example as he'd been there 2 years by then) or Dean Malenko Vs. HHH in 2000. Razor had a corking heel moment pre-match as he flicked his tooth pick at the kid Bret gave his shades to. The match again had psychology, a running theme tonight which is nice to see, from both guys as Bret worked the knee/leg and Razor worked the ribs of Hart, giving an abdominal stretch a reason to be used, I never thought i'd see that. Bret did some of his usual moves to spark a comeback. Bret avoided Razors Edge then soon after when both on the mat after a pinning predicament Bret managed to apply the Sharpshooter for the submission at 17:58. *** - Razor never seemed like winning but credit to both guys for having a decent match.
Macho is interviewed and he predicts he'll win.
Bobby Heenan introduces 'Narcissus' who is Lex Luger, as much as I like Bobby his OTT loving of Lex here bordered on wrestling parody almost. The gimmick wouldn't do much for Lex and over the summer he'd be turned into an All-American hero to face the not japanese japanese heel monster Yokozuna at SummerSlam - http://july-dec-reviews.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/summerslam-1993.html
Ramon says he never quit.
Finkel introduces Ceasar and Cleopatra pre-Rumble as a build to the Mania IX debacle.
Royal Rumble Match
This is the Rumble that started the winner goes to Mania tradition (bar 1999 where Vince didn't and 2016 where WWE Title was defended), there was pretty much nothing of note in this Rumble beyond Backlund being the ironman and lasting from the #2 spot to finishing third, and the Perfect/Flair stuff. Giant Gonzalez debuted and eliminated Undertaker, despite the fact Gonzalez wasn't in the match so if that counts then if Vince didn't want Austin to win in 99 why not send out entire roster to eliminate him? UT was 'revived' by Bearer and an urn, man that was embarrassing. Papa Shango appeared and lasted about a minute at best, thus he went away to the mountains where he trained to become a Supreme Fighting Machine and when that failed he turned to pimping. The ending is well known and not for good reasons as Macho tried to pin Yokozuna so he jsut pushed him over the top from the cover. Below I'll list the entrant order and in brackets who eliminated them. Rumble gets ** which is poor for Rumble.
#1 Ric Flair (Mr. Perfect), #2 Bob Backlund (Yokozuna), #3 Papa Shango (Ric Flair), #4 Ted Dibiase (Undertaker), #5 Brian Knobbs (Ted Dibiase), #6 Virgil (The Berzerker), #7 Jerry Lawler (Mr. Perfect), #8 Max Moon (Jerry Lawler), #9 Tenryu (Undertaker), #10 Mr. Perfect (Dibiase, Lawler and Ware). #11 Skinner (Mr. Perfect), #12 Koko B. Ware (Ted Dibiase), #13 Samu (The Undertaker), #14 Berzerker (Undertaker), #15 Undertaker (Gonzalez - not an entrant), #16 Terry Taylor (Ted Dibiase), #17 Damian Demento (Carlos Colon), #18 IRS (Earthquake), #19 Tatanka (Yokozuna) #20 Jerry Sags (Owen Hart), #21 Typhoon (Earthquake), #22 Fatu (Bob Backlund), #23 Earthquake (Yokozuna), #24 Carlos Colon (Yokozuna), #25 Tito Santana (Yokozuna), #26 Rick Martel (Bob Backlund), #27 Yokozuna (n/a as he won), #28 Owen Hart (Yokozuna), #29 Repo Man (Randy Savage), #30 Randy Savage (Yokozuna).
12.5 / 25 - I quite enjoyed the under card, notably the IC Title and the WWF Title, though BBB/BB was poor, some say the Rumble PPV lives or dies on the Rumble itself and if that's your thinking then this PPV isn't for you on the other hand if you look at these PPVs as a whole then this is okay at best, I wouldn't avoid it ala Rumble 99 but don't expect to be blown away or anything.
Thumb in the middle from me.
