Guest Aero Report post Posted September 3, 2002 Live from Providence, RI, it's the 1994 WWF Royal Rumble! Commentators: Vince McMahon & Ted DiBiase --- Opening Match- Tatanka vs. Bam Bam Bigelow This was supposed to be Tatanka vs. Ludvig Borga, but Borga suffered an ankle injury, so Bigelow took his place. In fact, we were lucky that Borga got injured because rumor had it that he was supposed to main event Wrestlemania X with Lex Luger, as he would win the title soon after this match, I hear. Back and forth start. Bigelow locks in a bearhug for what seems like forever. Tatanka pounds his way out of it, and gets some shots in. Bigelow tries to regain control, but Tatanka starts his comeback strut/dance. Bigelow finally hits him with a ghetto-blaster to hit him down, and look at him go now! Bam Bam starts mocking Tatanka with a little Indian dance of his own! Bigelow slams him back down and goes up top. He misses a moonsault, and Tatanka gets to his feet. Tatanka goes up top and nails a flying crossbody to get the win, at 8:11. * for effort. --- Wrestlemania X, live from Madison Square Garden on March 20! Plus, a look at Wrestlemanias of the past, like Randy Savage winning the Title in 1988. --- Video package for the upcoming Tag Team Title match. At the Survivor Series, Bret and his brothers Owen, Keith, & Bruce went up against Shawn Michaels and his Knights. After the Knights were eliminated, Owen & Shawn were in the ring. A criss cross had Owen colliding with Bret, who was on the apron. Bret was forced into the guard railing, so Owen & the other Harts checked on him. Shawn rolled him up to eliminate Owen, who was obviously upset, but he returned to the locker room. Later on, Bret, Keith, & Bruce all survived and celebrated in the ring. Owen stormed out and immediately got in Bret's face about the miscommunication earlier. Bret walked away that night. Weeks following the Survivor Series, Owen constantly made challenges, but Bret refused to fight his younger brother. Weeks later, Bret & Owen came on TV saying that they patched things up over Christmas. "United we stand, divided we fall!" theys say, as they challenge the Quebecers to a Tag Team Title match tonight. --- Backstage, Todd Pettengil interviews Bret & Owen. Bret promises a win tonight! --- WWF Tag Team Championship- Quebecers © vs. Bret & Owen Hart Quebecers had just lost the titles to 1-2-3 Kid & Marty Jannetty actually, but they immediately won them back. Hey look, it's Raven, errr, Johnny Polo with the Quebecers. It's weird to see Raven so happy and positive. Owen & Pierre start off. Owen controls with his quickness. Pierre tags out to Jacques, who applauds. Owen answers back with an enzuiguri. The Harts double-team for two, and Bret tags in. Bret maintains control, with a numerous nearfalls. Owen gets tagged, and he dropkicks for two, as all four guys are now in. Harts hold down the fort, and the Quebecers bail outside. Back inside, they're all in again. The Quebecers try and whip Bret & Owen into each other, but Bret "catches" Owen and immediately whips him toward Pierre with a mid-air spear for two! Great spot! Owen hits an enzuiguri for two. Suplex gets two. Owen tags Bret, who gets powerslammed by Pierre for two. The Quebecers double-team Bret, as the crowd starts to get behind him. Owen finally gets the hot tag and cleans house. Belly-to-belly on Pierre, and he's able to lock Jacques in the Sharpshooter! Pierre comes in with a bulldog to save, as the referee restrains Bret. Owen makes a comeback by hitting a double dropkick. Tag to Bret who dominates Jacques. He goes off the ropes but falls outside due to Johnny Polo pulling open the ropes. Bret hurts his knee on the impact. The referee is ready to count Bret out, but Owen tosses Bret back inside. Heelish? Maybe, but his current motive is to win the belts with his brother. The work the knee for a bit before setting Bret up for the Cannonball off the top. It misses, and Owen is reaching out for the tag! Bret has the oppurtunity, all he has to do is crawl over. The crowd is hot. Rather than tag Owen, Bret heads over to the fallen Pierre to lock in the Sharpshooter. Not much time passes before Bret's knee gives way, forcing him to collapse. The referee decides to stop the match on a judgment call, meaning that the Quebecers retain, at 16:44. The Quebecers celebrate their win heading into the back. Meanwhile, inside, Bret can't get to his feet. Owen is pissed off, kicking and pounding the ropes in frustration. Owen approaches Bret, screaming that he could have tagged him. Bret finally gets to his feet, saying he's sorry. Finally, Owen just kicks Bret's injured leg! Bret falls to the mat clutching his knee in pain. Can you say Immediate Heel Heat? Owen heads backstage, as officials rush to the ring to help Bret. As for the rating, a great match plus a great story in the making equals ***3/4 Bret is being stretchered out of the ring area. Meanwhile, backstage, Todd Pettingil interviews Owen. Owen basically says Bret is too selfish. Bret is hearing/watching this in the arena as it's right in front of him on the video wall. Owen says that famous line, "I just kicked your leg out of your... LEG!" Yuh-huh... but the point was made nevertheless. --- JR & Gorilla Monsoon take over broadcasting duties for the next match. --- WWF Intercontinental Championship- Razor Ramon © vs. IRS Let's get some history on this whole situation, shall we? In September, the then-Intercontinental champion Shawn Michaels had a contract clause of some kind, forcing him to drop the belt. During that time, Razor Ramon & Rick Martel were the final two men remaining in a battle royal, so they fought for the title, and Razor obviously won. Meanwhile, Shawn Michaels settled the entire clause and returned, but he still wore his IC Title that he left with. So, although Razor is legitimately the champion, Shawn Michaels still carries a fake one around. As for THIS match's feud, it's a brutal build-up. See, IRS repossessed Razor's gold, so now Razor wants it back! Razor starts out in control, getting his shots in, but IRS dumps him over the top. They fight outside for a bit. IRS comes off the top, and Razor tries to counter by sticking his foot up, but IRS manages to change his direction in mid-air to avoid it. IRS locks in a chinlock and uses the ropes for leverage. Razor makes a comeback, hitting some punches. Fallaway slam gets two. Razor goes for a punch, but IRS moves, so the referee gets hit. IRS grabs his briefcase, but Razor grabs it and hits him with it. Razor covers, but there's no ref. They fight up top, and Razor hits the back suplex down to the mat! Razor sets up for the Razor's Edge, but in comes Shawn Michaels, who hits him with the fake IC Title. Meanwhile, the ref comes to his senses, and IRS covers to get the win. IRS celebrates in the ring, of course without any music. Another referee comes in to try and explain what happened to the other ref. Once they spot the fake IC Title still there, the match continues. Razor immediately grabs IRS off the second rope and hits him with the Razor's Edge to get the win, at 11:42. Razor celebrates his win by holding up both belts. * for the match. --- Video package for Undertaker-Yokozuna. Undertaker started making all these threats toward Yokozuna, who was freaked out. In some videos, we would see Undertaker and Paul Bearer at some barn making a casket for Yoko. --- WWF Championship: Casket Match- Yokozuna © vs. Undertaker Big staredown to start. They fight to the floor. Yoko smashes his head into the steel steps, but Taker isn't affected. He grabs a chair, but Undertaker steals it from him and hits him over the head with it. He even grabs a non-folding chair and hits Yoko with it. Yoko grabs some salt and blinds Taker with it. Taker swings and misses, so Yoko easily takes control, bringing him back in the ring. Belly-to-belly and he tries to put Taker in the casket. Taker fights back into the ring. Chokeslam and big DDT knock Yoko out. He pushes him into the casket, and just before he can close it, Crush runs out to fight Taker. They fight in the ring, and Taker fights him off. Soon Kabuki, Tenryu, Bam Bam Bigelow, Adam Bomb, the Headshrinkers, Jeff Jarrett, & Diesel all run in. Taker manages to fight them all off time and time again, but once Yokozuna steals the urn from Paul Bearer, it's over. The urn starts to let a bunch of green smoke out. This just keeps getting worse. The Headshrinkers work him with splashes from the top, and they finally roll him into the casket. The close it, and Bam Bam crawls on top to make sure he can't escape. Yokozuna retains, at 14:26. They wheel the casket into the aisle, when suddenly, the lights go off and his music plays. The video wall shows Undertaker laying "dead" in the casket. He "wakes up" and delivers a speech which basically says, "I will not rest in peace, and my rebirth is coming!" Taker "dies" again. The casket on the video wall starts being zapped with electricity, and it explodes. Paul Bearer seems to have regained the urn and is shouting stuff near the casket. I guess the heels all left by now. Now, "Undertaker" is seen levitating from the entrance. Of course, this was really just Marty Jannetty dressed up as the Taker. Hey look! He's not really levitating, it's just a rope! Well, this whole segment will go down as one of the most idiotic things ever in wrestling. Sure, we all were supposed to believe that Undertaker was "dead" or something in his character, but this was too much. When rating this, it's based on not only the match, but the aftermath, too. At first, before the whole "death", I was ready to go with DUD-1/4*, but I think I'll go with... -*** --- Now that that's over with, let's watch some Royal Rumble pre-recorded comments! Randy Savage, Jeff Jarrett, Tatanka, Doink, Diesel, Shawn Michaels, & Lex Luger all talk. Luger basically takes Howard Finkel's job and explains the rules to us, and FINALLY says that he'll win. Of course, this was to be his last chance to get a title shot following that whole contract angle for Summerslam 1993. --- Royal Rumble Match Vince says that Gorilla Monsoon has made the intervals 1:30 this year. Scott Steiner is # 1, and he's obviously not too happy by the looks of his face. # 2 is Samu. They fight with usual Rumble tactics. Scott hits a few nice suplexes. # 3 turns out to be Rick Steiner, so they double-team Samu. # 4 is Kwang, just as the Steiners eliminate Samu. As soon as Kwang enters the ring, he blinds Rick Steiner with some mist. Scott takes it to him, and Rick seems to be hurt. Scott keeps taking Kwang down and checking on Rick, only to be jumped by Kwang. This goes on about three times. # 5 is Owen Hart, who comes out to incredible heat. Owen immediately goes after the fallen Rick Steiner. Owen throws Rick out. Bart Gunn is # 6, and he goes for Owen. # 7 is Diesel, who takes everyone out. He immediately tosses Bart and works on Owen. He eliminates Owen, who's pissed off. Kwang goes next, leaving Diesel all alone. # 8 is Bob Backlund, who goes right for Diesel's legs. He almost eliminates him, but Diesel is too much for him, and he gets tossed. Diesel waits again. Billy Gunn is # 9, and he fails like usual, getting eliminated in short order. # 10 is Virgil, and DiBiase loves watching him get beat. Diesel easily tosses him out. # 11 is Randy Savage to a big pop. Savage holds out, and nearly eliminates Diesel a few times. # 12 is Jeff Jarrett, and he helps Diesel beat down Savage. Diesel for the most part rests while Jarrett holds Savage off. In between, Jarrett gets some strutting in. He tosses him, but Savage holds on. Savage comes right back in and throws Jarrett out, just like that. Savage and Diesel fight some more. # 13 is Savage's arch-rival, Crush. Crush is happy to team with Diesel to beat down Savage. Together, Crush & Diesel eliminate Savage. # 14 is Doink, along with Dink. In the ring, Diesel and Crush start to fight it out. Doink gets in and laughs in the corner. Crush and Diesel notice and immediately start the double-teaming. # 15 is Bam Bam Bigelow, along with Luna Vachon. Crush and Diesel hold open the ropes for Bam Bam, so he can finish off his rival, Doink. Bam Bam throws him around, before press slamming him over the top. Diesel and Crush immediately turn on Bam Bam, trying to eliminate him. # 16 is Mabel, who gives everyone in there a corner avalanche. # 17 is the debuting Bob "Sparkyplugg" Holly, who apparently replaced the 1-2-3 Kid. # 18 is Shawn Michaels, who runs right into his body guard, Diesel. Diesel corners him, and Shawn sits on the top turnbuckle trying to reason with him. Diesel seems to agree to leave him alone. He turns around into Mabel and crew, who work together to throw him out. Michaels even gets in on it. # 19 is Mo, who works together with his partner, Mabel. They do a criss cross avalanche to the guys. # 20 is Greg Valentine, and # 21 is Tatanka. Tatanka fights with Shawn Michaels and Bam Bam. # 22 is the Great Kabuki. Everyone, minus Mo, teams up to toss Mabel out. # 23 is Lex Luger, who was jumped by Kabuki & Tenryu backstage earlier. Luger goes right for Kabuki, in between fighting off Valentine. Luger quickly eliminates Kabuki. # 24 is the other one, Tenryu, who fights with Luger. # 25 is... no one. Vince speculates that that was Bret Hart's number, and he isn't capable of fighting after the knee injury earlier. # 26 is Rick Martel, and he's nearly eliminated a few times. # 27 is Bret Hart, who limps out. He rolls inside, and Crush & Tenryu immediately work his knee. # 28 is Fatu, and Luger and others manage to eliminate Crush. # 29 is Marty Jannetty, and he gets into a hot slugfest with former partner, Shawn Michaels right away. Shawn misses a superkick, so Jannetty hits one of his own. # 30 is Adam Bomb, who takes his time getting to the ring. There's alot of guys in now, and since we're in the home-stretch, get ready for some fast eliminations. Shawn Michaels tosses Bob Holly out. Meanwhile, Bret Hart is trying to defend himself against Adam Bomb. Rick Martel manages to eliminate Greg Valentine, and Martel goes out courtesy of Tatanka. Adam Bomb charges at Luger, but gets low bridged and eliminated. Fatu hits Mo out. Bam Bam eliminates Tatanka. Bam Bam has been in there for a while actually. He starts fighting it out with Luger in the corner. He charges, but misses, and does a Flair flip out of the match. Shawn Michaels hits Jannetty out. Shawn and Fatu try a double-team effort on Tenryu, but it fails when he bangs both of their heads together. Shawn gets hurt, but Headshrinker Fatu isn't and takes it to Tenryu. Tenryu heads over to Luger and gives him some Flair chops. Bret makes the save and eliminates Tenryu along with Luger. We're down to the Final Four of Lex Luger, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, & Fatu. Everyone is in separate corners, restling I presume. Shawn immediately charges and tackles Bret, while Luger and Fatu fight it off. Shawn and Fatu trade, and they have Bret and Luger in opposite corners. They each charge, but Luger tosses Shawn, and Bret tosses Fatu! It's down to Luger & Bret. They slug it out for a bit. Bret charges Luger toward the ropes, and they both go flying out to the floor, to end the match, at 55:32. No one knows who exactly won. From my view, it looked like Luger had unfortunately won. Two referees are arguing over it. One thinks Luger won, the other thinks Bret won. Howard Finkel announces the winner as Lex Luger, based on the referee's decision. His music plays, and Bret starts walking to the back. The other ref talks to Finkel, and now Bret is announced as the winner, with his music playing. Everyone argues, until Jack Tunney makes his way out. He talks to Finkel, and finally, it's announced that they both won. Bret & Luger shake hands and go separate ways. Luger heads to the back, while Bret autographs a fan's sign. The Rumble was decent, although not too great. On the Rumble Scale, I'll give it *** --- --- --- --- --- --- As we would see weeks later, Lex Luger would win a coin toss to get the first title shot at Wrestlemania X, while Bret would face Owen and then get the last match. Meanwhile, on the show, we get even more set-up for the Shawn Michaels-Razor Ramon Ladder match at WM X, along with Randy Savage-Crush, not to mention when Owen finally snaps. The show features a great tag match, in Bret & Owen vs. Quebecers. The ending is pretty historic for what it lead to at WM X. However, almost everything on the show is completely overshadowed by the ridiculous Undertaker-Yokozuna Casket Match and its aftermatch. Really the only thing worth watching on this show is the Tag Title match, but don't seek it out at all costs or anything. I'll go with... Recommendation to Avoid Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest nWoScorpion Report post Posted September 4, 2002 Good Review as always, but weren't you a little tough on The Tag & World Title Matches? YEs, the UT/Yoko thing was garbage but not -*** garbage, and Bret/Owen vs. Quebecers was at least **** (ending spoiled it from being *****). Just an opinion. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Aero Report post Posted September 4, 2002 I never really found the Tag Team Title match to be the greatest. Still, I thought ***3/4 was well-justified. As for the Undertaker-Yokozuna match, like I said, I was ready to go with DUD-1/4*, but all those run-ins and Taker comebacks just got a little tedious. Then, with the story afterward, I just hate it. Thanks for the positive feedback, though! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
