Rewriting 1990's Big 4 PPVs, Part 1 of 4: The Royal Rumble

[LODemolition]

As I've stated many times before on this forum, 1990-1992 was my favorite time to be a WWE fan. The roster at that time gave us terrific cards from top to bottom, yet left so many options open in hindsight for even more to have been done. Maybe you've read my "Rewriting WrestleMania" series, maybe not. This series will cover the big 4 ppv events from 1990-92 in chronological order, giving my opinion of changes that should have been made. Championship wins, face/heel turns, anything that comes to mind when I look back at what I feel is the greatest era in WWE history. Today's event, the 1990 Royal Rumble.

Actual Results:

1. The Bushwhackers def. The Fabulous Rougeaus (w/ Jimmy Hart)

2. Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake fought The Genius to a double count out

3. Submission Match: Ronnie Garvin def. Greg "The Hammer" Valentine (w/ Jimmy Hart)

4. "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan def. The Big Boss Man (w/ Slick)

5. Hulk Hogan won the Royal Rumble by last eliminating Mr. Perfect


Well, in all honesty, this may have been the weakest ppv of the 2-year span in which this series will be covering. The Royal Rumble was still a new concept, as this was only the 3rd in its history. Back then, a new participant would enter every 2 minutes which of course took twice as long as what we've grown accustomed to over the years. The Rumble match itself was fine, but could have been so much better. And the undercard was very weak. No title matches? They should have known better. Hulk Hogan was your WWE Champion and should have been in his own match rather than the Rumble match imo. Your tag team champions of the Colossal Connection (Andre the Giant and Haku) and your Intercontinental Champion the Ultimate Warrior also took part in the battle royal. They threw all of their eggs into one basket in this one. Here is my rewrite of the 1990 Royal Rumble.


1. Tag Team Championship: Demolition def. The Colossal Connection (c) w/ Bobby Heenan

I would crowned Demolition as a 3-time tag team champion here at the Rumble instead of at WrestleMania VI. Andre's career was dwindling down and barely participating in the matches at this point, having Haku do all of the heavy lifting. Andre turns face just as he did 3 months later so he can make one last entrance without Bobby Heenan, as the gentle giant we all knew and loved. Demolition goes into Mania as the champs and puts on a far better match with another team in their prime.

2. Intercontinental Championship: Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake def. "Ravishing" Rick Rude (c) w/ Bobby Heenan **By Disqualification**

Beefcake getting his own match was the lone spot of the undercard I liked. However, I would have paired him my IC Champion Rick Rude rather than The Genius. I would have had Rick Rude remain IC Champion going into the new year rather than lose to the Ultimate Warrior, and remain champion after the Rumble as well. Beefcake was on his way to winning gold in the summer of this year, but as we all know an unfortunate parasailing accident changed all that. Rude retains thanks to his manager getting involved.

3. Hart Foundation def. the Twin Towers (w/ Slick)

I flip flopped between the Twin Towers (Boss Man and Akeem for those who don't remember) and the Powers of Pain (the team of the Warlord and Barbarian). I landed on Twin Towers, because I would have also given Boss Man a spotlight where we would tease dissention. Akeem and Slick blame Boss Man for the loss and turn on him completely in the coming weeks.

4. Ultimate Warrior wins the Royal Rumble match by last eliminating "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase

I juggled between 3 possible winners here: Warrior, DiBiase, and Mr. Perfect. DiBiase had drew #1 and hung in there for 45 minutes, the longest of any competitor and twice as long as the actual winner Hulk Hogan. Curt Hennig drew #30 and was the last to be thrown over the top rope so would have also made a great choice, but as you'll see below he wouldn't have even been in my Rumble match. So in the end, I chose the Ultimate Warrior because for starters he wasn't my IC Champion, so we're not throwing all our eggs into one basket. And second, not to give away the WM6 Rewrite already, but let's face it, there's not much to change about the main event of Hogan vs. Warrior. The Ultimate one wins the Royal Rumble and gains a ton of momentum on his way to challenging for the WWE Championship.

5. WWE Championship: Hulk Hogan (c) def. Mr. Perfect (w/ The Genius)

Mr. Perfect deserved to headline and he deserved to be WWE Champion at some point. I don't care if it was at the Royal Rumble, SummerSlam, whenever. The only reason I didn't put him over here is because again, I would keep the Hogan/Warrior match in tact. Warrior enters the ring after the match and we have a staredown between the 2 most popular wrestlers in the company. We're on to a phenomenal main event at the Toronto Skydome.


I hope you enjoyed part 1 of my Rewriting 1990 series. Please feel free to comment and/or post your changes to this card.

 

[AnthonyM4]

So you would have had this be Andre's last match? What would he have done at WM VI? I guess that's in part 2?

 

[LODemolition]

So you would have had this be Andre's last match? What would he have done at WM VI? I guess that's in part 2?

No, I would've turned him face at the RR so he could walk to the ring to a hero's welcome at WM6. Yes his opponent will be revealed in part 2.

 

[sikkbones]

No, I would've turned him face at the RR so he could walk to the ring to a hero's welcome at WM6. Yes his opponent will be revealed in part 2.

Wouldn't it have made sense for him to face haku (who could have carried him to a short match, ) then a few minutes with Heenan in the ring?

It would have made sense.

 

[relentless1]

nah, Hogan had to be in that Rumble; it was because of that crowd reaction to Hogan and Warrior facing off that made Vince do that WM 6 main event. Only thing i wouldve changed is reversing the way it went down... Warrior "accidentally" eliminated Hogan after their epic showdown leading to WrestleMania 6

 

[HeenanGorilla]

Good idea for a thread! I look forward to the responses. I too very much enjoyed this era of the WWF.

For Royal Rumble 1990, I would have changed a few things.

First and foremost, see ya Schiavone! He would soon be gone after this event anyway, but I would rather Monsoon here instead. Ventura did, however, have some good lines at the expense of Schiavone. But I’m sure he would have been solid with Gorilla as well.

The opener was ok. An entertaining, face-win tag match is always a nice way to kick off a card. Maybe the Rockers could have been used here, but I am fine with the Bushwhackers being that team. Not only were they really over and more than capable of getting the crowd warmed up for the evening, but they were also not a “can’t miss” attraction for those late to their seats. Even as a fan of what the Bushwhackers were in the WWF at that time, I would have been more disappointed if I was a little late to the show and missed Rockers/Orient Express than I’d have been if I missed another Bushwhackers/Rougeaus confrontation. So, I would leave this match as is, with Luke and Butch getting the victory to please the fans.

I am in the minority here, but I loved the Beefcake/Genius match. Brutus as “The Barber” was purely an entertainment act. His look, his gimmick, his playing to the crowd. He was never going to put on a wrestling clinic and, to me, that was absolutely fine. The Genius was very athletic and could handle himself in the ring; but, in this match, he was the ideal heel to be matched up with Brutus. He was flamboyant and also pompous which was a great combo for getting under the fans’ skin. Brutus mimicked the Genius and it was an entertaining bout. Genius would also leave the ring and point to his brain, showing how he would outthink Brutus…which made Brutus’ offense all the more enjoyable to the fans. I would leave the match as it was and even some of the ending. I would still have Perfect defend the Genius by attacking Bruti, only after he took a nice chunk off the top of Genius’ hair, but I would not have that attack lead to Brutus vs. Perfect as WrestleMania VI. More on this later…

Next was the Garvin/Valentine submission match, which went on far too long for my taste. I wouldn’t mind the bout being included, but maybe cut in half. Valentine had the Heartbreaker and Garvin countered with the Hammer Jammer, so a submission match between the two was a fine idea. When Valentine put Ronnie in the figure-four and Garvin just taunted him, that was a fun little spot. But GOOD GOD how many times did Garvin go for a pin in this submission match? Valentine did it once I believe, and that is ok because submission matches are not the norm—so old habits could lead to needless pin attempts. But Garvin kept doing it! At what point do we just accept that this guy has become the biggest idiot to ever step foot in the ring? So, minimize the mistaken pin attempts and cut the time in half.

Then, Duggan faced Boss Man and I really have no memories of that one aside from Duggan winning. I don’t believe this match was very long. Hacksaw was very over at the time, so why not?

I never especially cared for Rumbles that included wrestlers who already performed earlier in the night. There have been a few exceptions, such as Piper going for both titles in ’92 and Bret limping out in ’94, but generally, I like fresh faces. So, I will leave the Rumble roster as is and not add any of them to the undercard. So, using the same people, I would leave the Rumble pretty much untouched. The one difference I would have circles around Hogan, Warrior and Perfect. I would still have the Hogan/Warrior standoff to plant a seed in the minds of the fans. But, I would then put a pin in their involvement with each other for the time being. The end of the Rumble would be Hogan and Perfect, with Perfect winning, perhaps with an assist from the Genius who is returning the favor from earlier in night and adding to the heat of this victory.

I look forward to your WrestleMania VI post and will address most of that card at that time; but, for now, I will say that I would have the Perfect record vs. Hogan main-eventing WrestleMania VI. I think the way they had Beefcake be the first to gain a pinfall victory (on TV anyway) over Perfect in an undercard match at Mania—and not even addressed as such on the broadcast—was a truly horrible way to go. So, instead, I would have Genius/Beefcake Part II on the pre-Mania SNME, with Genius getting some revenge and cutting Beefcake’s hair a bit (this would also include Perfect and Hogan getting involved and fueling the fire of their program). I would then have Brutus/Genius settle the score at Mania VI with the Genius being shaved completely bald. As for the main event of Mania, Hogan gets a clean leg drop victory over Perfect and the end of his Perfect record is made a bigger deal. I believe that, done correctly, this could have been big enough to sell Mania VI. I also believe that Warrior had enough steam to stay hot without being involved with Hogan for another year. But I won’t get too far ahead of myself…

 

[THTRobtaylor]

This was the second WWF video I bought, with a gift money given to me when I finished my work experience (we all did it at 15 in those days, 2 weeks in a shop lol) with Mania 6 being the first and it was a fun show... It had some novelty value for Tony on commentary (as I was getting into WCW at the time) and had some interesting booking.

I agree Rude should really have kept the belt, but I wouldn't have been putting Beefcake against him here, I'd personally have gone with Bret Hart. They'd started a Hart split at Survivor Series and I'd have followed through rather than reuniting them so soon. Bret faces Rude with Heenan... Neidhart is in Bret's corner but turns on him to join the Heenan Family!

I like the idea of Hogan v Perfect and that is how the actual Rumble ended... Personally, I'd have held off the title match and had Perfect and Genius face Brutus and Hulk, with a different set up for Hogan Warrior... Brutus gets taken out and Warrior comes to make the save, accidentally costing Hogan a pinfall loss to Perfect.

Garvin v Valentine seemed really out of place to me, but as a match it was something different. I think Garvin just didn't gel in the WWF and both guys looked really old to me, even though Valentine actually wasn't. Both could have gone into the Rumble and it not lost anything.

I always remember being stunned by Bossman losing... It was the beginning of his face turn of course, but I personally would have done that in full here... Have Akeem v Duggan and Akeem pissed off Bossman didn't help him at the right moment, later costing him the Rumble.

As for the Rumble itself... I loathe the idea of the winner automatically going to Mania, but here I think Warrior winning would have made a lot of sense if Hogan wasn't in it... he could have looked so dominant and the miscommunication in the title match causes that "confrontation" they had, just at the end of the show.

Good job!

 

[Wrestlingaholic]

Personally, this was the one show in 1990 that I'd barely touch. I loved the 1990 Royal Rumble and to this day think that the Rumble match itself is one of the best ever, after the classics of 1992 and 2001.

The Rumble match was booked perfectly. Big names filtering through at staggered points, rather than WWE's preferred option nowadays of either having them all in the last 10 entrants or starting the Rumble and lasting the distance. DiBiase making short work of Koko B. Ware and Marty Jannetty before bing stopped in his tracks by Jake Roberts, then Savage, Piper, Andre all in the first half, and after that Hogan, Warrior, Rude and Perfect 'back loading' the match, meaning it never really suffered a point of audience apathy. I only wish Rumbles were booked like this today.

I for one enjoyed the submission match. Yes it was foolish of Garvin to repeatedly go for pinfalls, but it was a fresh and unique match type and the two bruisers carried it off well. Bushwackers v Rougeaus, Beefcake v Genius and Bossman v Duggan were all nothing special but I don't see what else you could switch around, maybe have the Rockers v the Rougeaus with Butch and Luke taking Marty and Shawn's Rumble spots, given that neither Rocker lasted two minutes - given what happens in 1991 with Luke and in 1995 with both, it could have become their 'gimmick', the duo that can't last in the Rumble match. But Bossman was blatantly pulled from the Rumble because too many big men were in it (Akeem, Andre, Earthquake), they gave the gang-up elimination spot to 'Quake and wanted to highlight Demolition eliminating Andre, so Bossman needed a suitable opponent. Given he was still a heel at this time, I can't think of anyone other than Duggan who was a regular in the company at this point.

Later in the year, things could have benefitted with a change - Wrestlemania was the epitome of a one-match show, Summerslam (the first ppv I ever watched) was average, saved due to two decent singles and one amazing tag team title matches; but Survivor Series was one of, if not THE, worst WWE ppv of all time, so I look forward to that edition of this series