1993 WWF Royal Rumble Review

Royal rumble 1993 review by reader the antichrist
send your view on this review to him at theantichrist4@activemail.co.uk


Its January 1993 and its time for The Royal Rumble. This year see's WWF
Champion Bret Hart's second title defense on PPV following his successful
first defense against Shawn Michaels at the 1992 Survivor Series a few
months earlier. However at this event, Bret will be facing proberbly his
toughest challenge todate against a relative newcomer to the WWF Razor
Ramon who in a matter of months has become the number one contender for the
biggest prize in sports entertainment. Razor is of course Scott Hall who a
year earlier was jobbing in WCW as The Diamond Studd. On paper this looked
like a promising match and if Bret Hart could carry guys like Skinner and
The Mountie to decent matches then we could be assured he could carry
anybody he faces. Thankfully Scott Hall was an extremely talented wrestler
for a bigman and was at the peak of his Latino heel Gimmick-eat your heart
out Carlito! Also on the card we would see Shawn Michaels defending his
Intercontinental Championship against his for tag team partner Marty
Jannetty in a match that would mark the return of Sensational Sherri-the
lady who had guided Shawn since he became a singles star a year earlier.
But who's corner would Sherri be in? Would she be in Jannetty's-the man who
hit her over the head with a mirror, albiet inadvertantly or would she be
in Shawn's-the man she guided from the beginning but also the man who
caused her to be hit by the mirror Jannetty was targeting Shawn with! On
paper this looked like another promising match especially with these two
being former partners who knew each other better than anyone. The Big
Bossman would meet the returning superstar Bam Bam Bigelow in a battle of
the bigmen. The Bossman was a decent worker back in 1993 and Bigelow had
always been an exceptional bigman so this match looked like it could
suprise us. The Royal Rumble would also feature the debut of 4 former WCW
superstars. Firstly we'd see The Steiner Brothers take on The Beverly
Brothers in tag team action-a match that had a predictable result but it
would be interesting to see how the Steiner's brand of amateur wrestling
and power moves would cross over to the WWF fans. Former WCW Champion Lex
Luger would also debut at this event, but he would not be in a match. Luger
would be unveiled by Bobby Heenan during the event-obviously as a successor
to Rick Rude who had left the WWF for WCW years earlier. Anyone who watched
WCW knew Luger was limited in the ring but he had "the look" to make it in
the business and more importantly Vince's steroid pumped vision of sports
entertainment. Luger was seen as a successor to Rude in the short term and
a successor to Hulk Hogan in the longterm but would he succeed in the WWF?
Finally the 4th debuting WCW star is......hmmm you'll have to read on to
find out because this "wrestler" wasn't announced to be at the PPV and
appeared as a suprise to everyone, particularly a certain former WWF
Champion and one of the favourites in tonights Royal Rumble. Finally who
would win the Rumble? This year we had no clear winner but a handful of
favourites including Randy Savage, Yokozuna and The Undertaker. Last years
winner Ric Flair was also in the 1993 Rumble but it was pretty obvious that
he'd end up getting eliminated by Mr Perfect-who he was locked in a bitter
feud with at the time.

Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan are on commentary for this event and this
would be their final appearence together on PPV commentary.

The Steiner Brothers defeated The Beverly Brothers in a decent opening
match which had it's dull moments when The Beverly's were in control but
the match had many highs when The Steiners were in control including their
trademark suplexes. Scott Steiner caught Blake Beverly in a vicious
Frankensteiner with a sick landing to score the pin. An obvious outcome to
a solid opener. 6.5/10-who would have thought that 10 years later at the
2003 Royal Rumble the same mat wrestling powerhouse Scott
Steiner would be a shell of his former self, blowing move after move and
sucking wind only a few minutes into his match with Triple H.

Lord Alfred Hayes interviews Sensational Sherri as we see a recap of the
Shawn Michaels/Marty Jannetty feud.

Shawn Michaels defeated Marty Jannetty in a good match that although
exciting in places, sagged abit in the middle when Shawn worked over
Jannett's shoulder. Sherri revealed late in the match who's side she was on
when she slapped Shawn across the face and proceded to hit him with her
shoe but accidently hit Marty instead. Shawn gave Marty a weak early
version of his Sweet Chin Music to score the victory. 7/10-Shawn went
backstage to confront a hysterical Sherri but Marty made the save and the
two brawled backstage.

Bam Bam Bigelow defeated The Big Bossman in an average encounter that had
some good stuff from the two bigmen but you are likely to be reaching for
the fast forward button to get to those good moments as theres alot of rest
holds in this one. 5/10-Bigelow won with his flying headbutt and The
Bossman would soon be seen in WCW under the best forgotten Guardian Angel
gimmick.

We see Razor Ramon assaulting Bret Hart's brother Owen during an interview
which is hilarious to say the least.

Bret Hart defeated Razor Ramon in a very good back and forth match thats
become quite underrated over the years. Razor worked over Bret's ribs, Bret
worked over Razor's leg, Bret locked in his Sharpshooter out of nowhere and
got the submission. 8/10-This is a feud that should have continued and
these two would have another great match later in the year at The King Of
The Ring 1993.
Bobby Heenan unveils Lex Luger who poses in front of a mirror for about 5
minutes before giving an interview which does little more than to promote
Lex Luger's feud with Mr Perfect. They would battle at "Wrestlemania IX" in
a
dull match and by the summer of 1993 Luger would be turned babyface and
pushed to the moon by Vince and his "Lex Express" idea which saw Luger tour
the country promoting himself as the second coming of Hulk Hogan. however
Luger's popularity in the WWF soon diminished-mainly due to poor matches
and by 1994 he was jobbing to the likes of Tatanka before defecting to WCW
in 1995. This was seen as one of the biggest failures in WWF history and
Luger's career never fully recovered despite recapturing the WCW Title in
the late 90's.

The crowd is then subjected to one of the worst segments in Wrestling
history. A speech by some guy claiming to be Julias Ceasar with a girl on
his arm claiming to be Cleopatra! The costumes in "Carry On Cleo" were more
convincing! Ceasar adresses the crowd as Romans for some reason and
understandably the segment drew boo's from the crowd who wondered why they
had to endure such nonsense.
Number 1 is.......Ric Flair!!! The man who won the Royal Rumble the
previous year can certainly go the distance as proved when he won the WWF
Title after entering the Rumble at Number 3. Number 2 is.....Bob
Backlund??? Thats right the man who 10 years previously was WWF Champion
returns to the ring at the age of 43. A great way to start the match with
two legends who've never met in the ring before. If Flair had stayed on
with the WWF in 1993, he would have been tipped to face Mr Perfect at
Wrestlemania but since Perfect was booked into a program with Lex Luger i'd
have had Flair vs Backlund at "Wrestlemania" which could have been an old
school classic. However Flair left the following night after losing a
career ending match to Mr Perfect and Backlund was soon on jobbing duty,
most memorably to Razor Ramon at "Wrestlemania IX". Backlund did enjoy a
short WWF Title reign in late 1994 though. Flair and Backlund went back and
forth in the ring until Papa Shango came out as Number 3. Shango went to
work on Backlund but was soon eliminated by Flair less than 30 seconds
after entering! Ted Dibiase is Number 4 and he joins forces with his old
pal Flair to double team Backlund until Nasty Boy Brian Knobbs hits the
ring to make the save. Ted Dibiase's former bodyguard turned arch-nemesis
and soon to be career jobber, Virgil is Number 6 and he goes right for The
Million Dollar Man. Brian Knobbs gets eliminated by Ted Dibiase as Jerry
Lawler makes his WWF PPV debut. Lawler goes toe to toe with Ric Flair while
Maxx Moon enters the ring. Moon had the unenviable gimmick of a space
travelling grappler. Moon is soon eliminated after missing a spinning wheel
kick in the turnbuckle before Japanese superstar Tenyru hits the ring.
Skinner is out next while the action in th ring is pretty boring. This
would soon change as Mr Perfect storms down the aisle faster than anyone in
WWF history. The crowd goes wild and Perfect goes straight after Flair.
Headshrinker Samu is out next. Mr Perfect eliminates Ric Flair to the
crowds delight but then we are back to dull in ring action. Koko B Ware
comes down the aisle in his baggy pants-they suited the wacky Koko but
Koko's partner at the time Owen Hart would never be taken seriously while
he looked like a circus act! The Bezerker hits the ring chanting "Huss" and
goes after everyone. Mr Perfect has eliminated Skinner and soon he
eliminates Jerry Lawler who is so irate that he attacks Perfect and aids
Ted Dibiase and Koko B Ware in eliminating him from the match. Perfect and
Lawler brawl for a few seconds before being separated. During the
elimination of Perfect, The Bezerker eliminates Virgil from the match.
Number 14 is....The Undertaker who draws the biggest pop of the night so
far. The Phenom wastes no time in eliminating everyone in sight, starting
with Samu by chokeslamming him out. Next is Tenyru who gets backdropped
out. During The Undertakers dominance, The Bezerker drags Bob Backlund
outside and gives him some WEAK chair shots. Number 15 is The Red Rooster!
Oh no i mean Terry Taylor who is wearing the same attire he wore as the
Rooster but he is now playing a heel character called "Terrific" Terry
Taylor. Koko B Ware and Taylor go at it before both are eliminated by
Dibiase. But Dibiase is the next to hit the arena floor courtesy of The
Undertaker.

Bob Backlund has not been eliminated but is on the outside in pain from the
chair shots from The Bezerker. The Undertaker and The Bezerker are going at
it but the crowds eyes are on the aisle because a huge giant is on his way
to the ring. This is the other WCW star that i was talking about, however
this one lacks the wrestling ability of The Steiners and the physique of
Lex Luger. It can only be......El Gigante!!! El Gigante was a giant
babyface in WCW but now he's appeared as an unamed heel who's later known
as Giant Gonzalez. However this guy may be 7 foot 7, but he is also
extremely thin! The genius's at the WWF decided to bulk Gonzalez up by
clothing him in a ridiculous muscle suit complete with hair! Someone
obviously screwed up because they forgot to design underwear for the suit
and Gonzalez comes out looking like a naturist! Anyone without their
contact lenses in or glasses on may have thought they were witnessing a
streaker coming down the aisle! The Undertaker eliminates The Bezerker and
turns to face the first man who he's ever looked up to in his career.
Gonzalez dwarfs Undertaker and it's definetly a memorable moment in WWF
history but this feud would produce some of the worst matches in wrestling
history! Gonzales eliminates Undertaker despite not being in the Rumble and
proceeds to disable The Phenom by ramming his leg against the steel post.
The Rumble entrants have been coming down the aisle and are too scared to
enter the ring. However once the naked Giant has left the arena, Damien
Demento and I.R.S drag Bob Backlund into the ring and double team him
before turning on each other. The Undertaker is still lying helpless in the
ring as Tatanka hits the ring to a decent pop.

The Undertaker rises once Paul Bearer comes to ringside with the urn and
limps up the aisle. Nasty Boy Jerry Saggs is out next and he goes straight
for I.R.S. The massive Typhoon enters the ring and assaults Damien Demento
in the turnbuckle. The Future Rikishi, Headshrinker Fatu is out next and he
unleashes a devestating superkick on Typhoon. Typhoons partner Earthquake
walks down the aisle to a decent pop and suprisingly attacks his own
partner. Typhoon fights back but is soon eliminated by Earthquake. Carltio
Caribbean Cool's father Carlos Colon is out next and Gorilla Monsoon makes
a hilarious screw up by calling Carlos a youngster! Damien Demento is
eliminated as Tito Santana enters. Earthquake eliminates I.R.S. The 500
pound Yokozuna enters the ring next and immediately eliminates Tatanka and
Carlos Colon. The entire arena is then standing on its feet as Yokozuna and
Earthquake lock eyes. Owen Hart hits the ring during the staredown and
Earthquake gets the best of Yoko, knocking him into the corner before
giving him a splash. Earthquake tries again but misses and Yokozuna belly
to belly suplexes him out of the ring. Rick Martel is out next and he goes
at it with his former partner Tito Santana. The former Demolition Smash,
Repo Man is out next and soon every wrestler in the ring gangs up on
Yokozuna but he fights them all off. Finally Macho Man Randy Savge runs to
the ring to a monster pop and he goes straight for Repo Man. Owen Hart
dropkicks Jerry Saggs out. Yokozuna eliminates Tito and Owen. Randy Savage
eliminates Repo Man. We are down to the final 4 now and its Yokozuna, Bob
Backlund, Randy Savage and Rick Martel. Backund looks spent but he
eliminates Martel as the crowd pop and get behind the 43 year old who goes
after Yokozuna but this turns out to be a mistake an Yoko eliminates him to
the crowds boos. Yokozuna dominates Savage but misses a splash in the
corner and falls to the canvas. Savage hits Yoko with his flying elbow but
for some reason goes for the cover. Yoko kicks out and sends Savage over
the top! This is the worst ending to the Rumble match EVER!!! Not only did
it make Savage look like a bufoon but Yokozuna's Rumble win meant nothing
at "Wrestlemania" because as we all know he beat Bret Hart for the title
but a couple of minutes later he was pinned by Hulk Hogan in the worst
ending to a "Wrestlemania" EVER! The 1993 Rumble was ok, nothing special
though and the ending sucked bigtime! 6/10 On the whole i'll give the
entire event 6/10-Bret vs Razor is a must see but apart from that the other
matches ranged from average(Steiners/Beverlys, Bam Bam/Bossman) to
decent(Shawn/Marty) and the Rumble itself was nothing to write home
about. Plus the additions of Ceasar & Cleopatra and the human atrocity that
was Giant Gonzalez make this event unintentionally hilarious one. This
wasn't the best Rumble PPV of alltime(That went to 1991 or 1992 for sure)
but it was far from the worst either(That was definetly the 1988 or 1989
version). Anyhow not a bad start to 1993, a year that would be very hit and
miss for the WWF with the atrocious Wrestlemania IX, the mostly good King
Of The Ring 1993, the average Summerslam 1993 and finally Survivor Series
1993 which was proberbly the best PPV of 1993 despite having a couple of
stinkers on the card!