Royal Rumble (1991)
Royal Rumble | |||
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Promotion World Wrestling Federation | | ||
Date | January 19, 1991 | ||
City | Miami, Florida | ||
Venue | Miami Arena | ||
Attendance | 16,000 | ||
Tagline(s) | Friend vs Friend, Foe vs Foe It's Every Man for Himself! | ||
Pay-per-view chronology | |||
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Royal Rumble chronology | |||
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The 1991 Royal Rumble was the fourth annual
Seven matches were contested at the event, including one
).Production
Background
The
Storylines
The card consisted of seven matches. The matches resulted from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portrayed heroes, villains, or less distinguishable characters to build tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches. Results were predetermined by WWF's writers, with storylines produced on their weekly television shows, Superstars, Wrestling Challenge, and Prime Time Wrestling.[4]
The main feud heading into the Royal Rumble was between the WWF World Heavyweight Champion The Ultimate Warrior, who had been champion since defeating Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania VI on April 1, 1990, and Sgt. Slaughter, who had returned to the WWF in 1990 and became a villainous (heel) sympathizer of the Iraqi government. Their feud began building during a time when the United States was engaged in Operation Desert Shield (which became Operation Desert Storm on January 17, two days before the Royal Rumble). During the build-up to their match, Slaughter and his manager, General Adnan, cut several anti-American promos to build heat for the event; at one point, Slaughter unwrapped a present and revealed a pair of boots purportedly sent to him by Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. In the meantime, "Macho King" Randy Savage challenged Warrior to his own series of matches, which Warrior successfully answered.
Event
Role: | Name: |
---|---|
Commentator | Gorilla Monsoon |
Roddy Piper | |
Interviewer | Gene Okerlund |
Sean Mooney | |
Ring announcer | Howard Finkel |
Official | Shane Stevens |
Referees | Fred Sparta |
Mike Chioda | |
Earl Hebner | |
Joey Marella |
Main event matches
The tag team match pitting
Prior to the Warrior-Slaughter match at the Royal Rumble, Queen Sherri (Savage's valet) attempted to seduce Warrior into granting Savage a title shot. Warrior refused, enraging Savage. During the match itself, Warrior easily fought off a double-team attack by Adnan and Slaughter, running Adnan off before shredding the Iraqi flag and stuffing it into Slaughter's mouth. As Warrior was attempting to finish off Slaughter, Sherri interfered by grabbing Warrior's leg; Warrior chased Sherri down the aisle before he was attacked by Savage near the platform area. Savage struck Warrior with a spotlight as Slaughter regained his senses and distracted the referee. After several minutes of Slaughter holding the advantage, Warrior rallied and set up Slaughter for the gorilla press slam (Warrior's finishing move). However, Warrior grabbed Sherri (who had returned to ringside) and press slammed her onto Savage, who had also appeared at ringside. This gave Slaughter time to hit a knee strike to Warrior's back. Warrior fell into the ropes, where Savage shattered his royal scepter on Warrior's head while the referee was distracted. Slaughter then hit the unconscious Warrior with an elbow drop and pinned him to win the match and championship. After Warrior came to his senses, he ran backstage to find Savage.[5]
The Royal Rumble marked the continuation of an ongoing feud between Hulk Hogan and Earthquake, whose roots dated to mid-1990 when Earthquake injured Hogan in a sneak attack during "The Brother Love Show". Hogan and Earthquake were the final two competitors in the Royal Rumble, and Hogan eliminated Earthquake to win the Royal Rumble.
The pay-per-view broadcast also included featured pre-taped comments from fans outside the arena, wishing United States troops a quick and safe return from the Middle East, and an announcement that Hogan would tour military bases across the country to support the troops.[5]
Reception
In the January 28, 1991 issue of his Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer referred to the match between The Rockers and The Orient Express as the best WWF pay-per-view match since the WrestleMania III match between Ricky Steamboat and Randy Savage.[6] Meltzer also wrote that he considered it the best WWF pay-per-view to that point in time.[7]
A fan vote in the February 11, 1991 issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter had 268 out of 328 fans give the show a thumbs up. 41 gave a thumbs down, while 19 gave a thumbs in the middle. The Rockers vs. The Orient Express received the majority of votes for the show's best match, with 157. Koko B. Ware vs. The Mountie received the most votes for the worst match of the night with 98.[8]
Aftermath
Following his WWF World Heavyweight Championship loss, Warrior focused on revenge against Savage, with their first encounter being a
Hogan, meanwhile, was named the number one contender for Slaughter's WWF World Heavyweight Championship. During a promo that took place right after the Slaughter-Warrior match,
The Barbarian would begin teaming with Haku for tag team matches, but were both mired in the midcard. Barbarian would leave WWF in mid-1992 and return to WCW.
Dusty and Dustin Rhodes left the WWF after their match, both returning to WCW, Dusty retired from active wrestling and became a booker and commentator, and Dustin returned to wrestling as "The Natural" and feuding with Larry Zbyszko and later Terry Taylor. Four years later Dustin would return to the WWF as the androgynous wrestler "Goldust".
Results
No. | Results | Stipulations | Times |
---|---|---|---|
1D | dark match |
Royal Rumble entrances and eliminations
A new entrant came out approximately every 2 minutes.
Draw | Entrant | Order | Eliminated by | Time[9] | Eliminations |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Bret Hart | 4 | The Undertaker | 20:33 | 0 |
2 | Dino Bravo | 1 | Greg Valentine | 03:06 | 0 |
3 | Greg Valentine | 15 | Hulk Hogan | 44:03 | 1 |
4 | Paul Roma | 3 | Jake Roberts | 14:05 | 0 |
5 | The Texas Tornado | 7 | The Undertaker | 24:17 | 0 |
6 | Rick Martel | 26 | The British Bulldog | 52:17 | 4 |
7 | Saba Simba
|
2 | Rick Martel | 02:27 | 0 |
8 | Bushwhacker Butch | 5 | The Undertaker | 10:07 | 0 |
9 | Jake Roberts | 6 | Rick Martel | 12:58 | 1 |
10 | Hercules | 18 | Brian Knobbs | 37:36 | 1 |
11 | Tito Santana | 16 | Earthquake | 30:23 | 0 |
12 | The Undertaker | 10 | Hawk & Animal | 14:16 | 3 |
13 | Jimmy Snuka | 8 | Hawk | 08:06 | 0 |
14 | The British Bulldog
|
27 | Earthquake & Brian Knobbs | 36:43 | 3 |
15 | Smash | 14 | Hulk Hogan | 18:22 | 0 |
16 | Hawk | 11 | Rick Martel & Hercules | 06:37 | 2 |
17 | Shane Douglas | 21 | Brian Knobbs | 26:23 | 0 |
18 | Randy Savage | 9 | (never entered match) | 00:00 | 0 |
19 | Animal | 12 | Earthquake | 06:39 | 1 |
20 | Crush | 19 | Hulk Hogan | 18:34 | 0 |
21 | Jim Duggan | 13 | Mr. Perfect | 04:44 | 0 |
22 | Earthquake | 29 | Hulk Hogan | 24:42 | 4 |
23 | Mr. Perfect | 23 | The British Bulldog | 16:14 | 1 |
24 | Hulk Hogan | - | Winner | 21:00 | 7 |
25 | Haku
|
25 | The British Bulldog | 13:24 | 0 |
26 | Jim Neidhart | 24 | Rick Martel | 11:11 | 0 |
27 | Bushwhacker Luke | 17 | Earthquake | 00:04 | 0 |
28 | Brian Knobbs | 28 | Hulk Hogan | 10:07 | 3 |
29 | The Warlord | 20 | 01:35 | 0 | |
30 | Tugboat | 22 | 02:32 | 0 |
- Hulk Hogan became the first man to win the Royal Rumble twice.
- Rick Martel set a new longevity record with a time of 52:17.
- Randy Savage no-showed the match and was officially eliminated when the buzzer sounded for the next entrant (Animal).
- First time in royal rumble match history where at least one third of the field (10 Participants) all lasted for at least 20 minutes or more during the match
References
- ^ Ian Hamilton. Wrestling's Sinking Ship: What Happens to an Industry Without Competition (p. 160)
- ^ "Specialty Matches: Royal Rumble". WWE. Retrieved 2007-12-03.
- ^ Waldman, Jon (2005-02-02). "Statistical survival – breaking down the Royal Rumble". SLAM! Wrestling. Archived from the original on July 14, 2012. Retrieved 2007-12-09.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - World Wrestling Entertainment. Archived from the originalon 2013-10-20. Retrieved 2009-10-25.
- ^ a b c [1] The History of WWE – 1991. Accessed 08-23-2010.
- ^ Observer Staff (January 28, 1991). "January 28, 1991 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: WWF Royal Rumble review, tons of news". F4WOnline.com. Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved September 4, 2019. (subscription required)
- ^ Observer Staff (February 4, 1991). "February 4, 1991 Observer Newsletter: Pivotal week in the life of Dave Meltzer". F4WOnline.com. Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved September 4, 2019. (subscription required)
- ^ Observer Staff (February 11, 1991). "February 11, 1991 Observer Newsletter: WrestleMania relocated, Clash of Champions reviewed". F4WOnline.com. Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved September 4, 2019. (subscription required)
- ^ "Hulk Hogan (spot No. 24) wins the Royal Rumble Match". WWE. Retrieved January 31, 2014.