Royal Rumble | |||
---|---|---|---|
![]() Promotional poster featuring various WWF wrestlers | |||
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 | |||
| |||
Royal Rumble chronology | |||
|
The 1991 Royal Rumble was the fourth annual Royal Rumble professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). It took place on January 19, 1991, at the Miami Arena in Miami, Florida. It centered on the Royal Rumble match, a modified battle royal in which participants enter at timed intervals instead of all beginning in the ring at the same time.
Seven matches were contested at the event, including one dark match. The main event was the 1991 Royal Rumble match, which was won by Hulk Hogan, who last eliminated Earthquake, making Hogan the first multi-time Royal Rumble winner. In other featured matches on the undercard, Sgt. Slaughter defeated The Ultimate Warrior to win the WWF Championship, Ted DiBiase, and Virgil defeated Dusty Rhodes, and Dustin Rhodes, The Mountie defeated Koko B. Ware, and The Rockers (Marty Jannetty and Shawn Michaels) defeated The Orient Express (Kato and Tanaka).
The Royal Rumble is an annual gimmick pay-per-view (PPV), produced every January by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) since 1988. It is one of the promotion's original four pay-per-views, along with WrestleMania, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series, which were dubbed the "Big Four". [1] It is named after the Royal Rumble match, a modified battle royal in which the participants enter at timed intervals instead of all beginning in the ring at the same time. The match generally features 30 wrestlers. The 1991 event was the fourth event in the Royal Rumble chronology, and was scheduled to be held on January 19, 1991, at the Miami Arena in Miami, Florida. [2] [3]
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 a series of matches, which Warrior successfully answered.
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 | |
The tag team match pitting Ted DiBiase, and Virgil against Dusty Rhodes, and Rhodes' son, Dustin Rhodes was most notable for Virgil's split from DiBiase. Tensions that had been building between the two in the previous weeks exploded when – after the match – Virgil struck DiBiase in the head with his Million Dollar Championship to turn into a face. DiBiase had verbally abused Virgil throughout the match, and at one point, attacked him and threw him from the ring after he was being dominated by the Rhodes team. DiBiase went on to pin Dusty Rhodes with a roll-up. [5] After the match, DiBiase demanded Virgil bring the Million Dollar Championship into the ring and strap it around his waist. Once he got in the ring, Virgil would drop the belt at DiBiase's feet, to which DiBiase ordered Virgil to pick it up. As DiBiase gloated and then turned back around, Virgil hit him in the face with the championship.
Before 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 pre-taped comments from fans outside the arena, wishing the 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]
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]
Following his WWF World Heavyweight Championship loss, Warrior focused on revenge against Savage, with their first encounter being a steel cage match on January 21 at Madison Square Garden in New York City, which Savage won (with help from Sensational Sherri); Warrior was enraged and – despite being restrained by several referees, and other wrestlers – attacked Sherri after the match by slamming her in the ring. Meanwhile, Warrior was unsuccessful in regaining the title, losing a series of steel cage matches to Slaughter, usually due to interference from Sensational Sherri. Warrior and Savage eventually agreed to a "career vs. career match" at WrestleMania VII, which Warrior won. (Slaughter, meanwhile, also defended his belt against "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan, with Duggan winning a majority of these matches by countout or disqualification.)
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, Gene Okerlund "received word" that Slaughter was defacing the American flag; to which Hogan vowed that Slaughter's reign as World Heavyweight Champion would be short-lived. At WrestleMania VII, Hogan defeated Slaughter to become WWF World Heavyweight Champion for the third time. (Before WrestleMania VII, Hogan defeated Earthquake in a series of "stretcher matches" to finish their feud.) Though Hogan received a title shot against Sgt. Slaughter in WrestleMania, it would not be until 1993 that the Royal Rumble match winner automatically received a WWF World Title shot at the following WrestleMania.
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 began feuding with Larry Zbyszko and later Terry Taylor. Four years later, Dustin would return to the WWF as the androgynous wrestler "Goldust".
No. | Results | Stipulations | Times | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1D | Jerry Sags defeated Sam Houston | Singles match | 5:25 | ||||
2 | The Rockers (Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty) defeated The Orient Express (Kato and Tanaka) (with Mr. Fuji) | Tag team match | 19:15 | ||||
3 | Big Boss Man defeated The Barbarian (with Bobby Heenan) | Singles match | 14:15 | ||||
4 | Sgt. Slaughter (with General Adnan) defeated The Ultimate Warrior (c) | Singles match for the WWF Championship | 12:47 | ||||
5 | The Mountie (with Jimmy Hart) defeated Koko B. Ware | Singles match | 9:12 | ||||
6 | Ted DiBiase and Virgil defeated Dusty Rhodes and Dustin Rhodes | Tag team match | 9:57 | ||||
7 | Hulk Hogan won by last eliminating Earthquake | 30-man Royal Rumble match | 1:05:17 | ||||
|
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 |
Theodore Marvin DiBiase Sr. is an American retired professional wrestler, manager, and color commentator. He is signed to WWE as of 2023, where he works in their Legends program. DiBiase achieved championship success in a number of wrestling promotions, holding thirty titles during his professional wrestling career. He is best recalled by mainstream audiences for his time in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), where he wrestled as "the Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase. He has been named as one of the best technical wrestlers, and greatest villains, in pro wrestling history.
Randy Mario Poffo, better known by his ring name "Macho Man" Randy Savage, was an American professional wrestler, actor, rapper and professional baseball player. He is best known for his time in the World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling (WCW).
Sherry Schrull was an American professional wrestler and manager, better known by her ring names, Sherri Martel and Sensational Sherri.
WrestleMania IV was the fourth annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation. The event took place on March 27, 1988, at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The announced attendance of the event was 19,199.
WrestleMania V was the fifth annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation. It took place on April 2, 1989, at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey. A total of 14 matches were contested at the event.
WrestleMania VI was the sixth annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation. It took place on April 1, 1990, at the SkyDome in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, marking the first WrestleMania to be held outside of the United States. The event had an announced attendance of 67,678, a record for the Skydome at the time. The main event of WrestleMania VI was "the Ultimate Challenge" — the main event match pitting WWF World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan against WWF Intercontinental Heavyweight Champion the Ultimate Warrior.
WrestleMania VII was the seventh annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation. It took place on March 24, 1991, at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena in Los Angeles, California in the United States. Fourteen matches were shown during the live broadcast, with one dark match held before the event.
Virgil Riley Runnels Jr., better known as "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes, was an American professional wrestler, booker, and trainer who worked for the National Wrestling Alliance and the World Wrestling Federation, later known as WWE. Rhodes was considered a star wrestler and presented the persona of an American everyman, the American Dream personified. Rhodes is widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time.
The Mega Powers was a tag team in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) from 1987 to 1989, consisting of Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage, and managed by Savage's wife, Miss Elizabeth. Lust and jealousy surrounding her led to the team's demise and subsequent feud, culminating in a match at WrestleMania V. They briefly reformed in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in 1994 as The Monster Maniacs before returning to their original name. They then interacted regularly thereafter as both teammates and rivals, particularly as members of the New World Order (nWo), until their departures from WCW in 2000.
Michael Charles Jones, better known by his ring name Virgil, was an American professional wrestler and actor. He is best known for his tenures in the World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling (WCW).
This Tuesday in Texas was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation. It took place on December 3, 1991, at the Freeman Coliseum in San Antonio, Texas. The event was an attempt by the WWF to establish Tuesday as a secondary pay-per-view night. Lukewarm reaction and a disappointing 1.0 buyrate rendered the experiment a failure, and the company shelved its plans until October 2004, when it held Taboo Tuesday.
The 1989 SummerSlam was the second annual SummerSlam professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation. It took place on August 28, 1989, in the Meadowlands Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Ten matches were contested at the event, including one dark match held before the live broadcast.
The 1990 SummerSlam was the third annual SummerSlam professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by the World Wrestling Federation. It took place on August 27, 1990, at The Spectrum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The card consisted of 10 televised matches, including two main events. The Ultimate Warrior successfully defended the WWF Championship against Rick Rude in a Steel Cage match, and Hulk Hogan defeated Earthquake by countout.
The 1991 SummerSlam was the fourth annual SummerSlam professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation. It took place on Monday, August 26, 1991, at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York. Nine matches were contested at the event, including a dark match held before the live broadcast. This was the second event to take place in Madison Square Garden, the first since 1988.
The 1993 Royal Rumble was the sixth annual Royal Rumble professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation. It took place on January 24, 1993, at the ARCO Arena in Sacramento, California. It centered on the Royal Rumble match, a modified battle royal in which participants enter at timed intervals instead of all beginning in the ring at the same time.
The 1990 Royal Rumble was the third annual Royal Rumble professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation. It took place on January 21, 1990, at the Orlando Arena in Orlando, Florida. It centered on the Royal Rumble match, a modified battle royal in which participants enter at timed intervals instead of all beginning in the ring at the same time.
The 1988 Survivor Series was the second annual Survivor Series professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation. It took place on November 24, 1988, at the Richfield Coliseum in Richfield Township, Ohio for the second consecutive year. Four matches were contested at the event.
The 1989 Survivor Series was the third annual Survivor Series professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation. It took place on Thanksgiving Day on November 23, 1989, at the Rosemont Horizon in the Chicago suburb of Rosemont, Illinois.
The 1990 Survivor Series was the fourth annual Survivor Series professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation. It took place on Thanksgiving Day on November 22, 1990, at the Hartford Civic Center in Hartford, Connecticut. Seven matches were contested at the event, including one dark match before the live broadcast.
No Holds Barred: The Match/The Movie was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation. The program aired on December 27, 1989, and consisted of the film No Holds Barred in its entirety, followed by a match previously recorded at a Wrestling Challenge taping on December 12 at the Nashville Municipal Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee. It was one of the few pay-per-view events not made available for streaming at the launch of WWE Network service, although in 2018, the cage match became available as part of the WWE Supertape compilation in the service's Classic Home Video section.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)