brief review
The 2nd annual Royal Rumble, with a terrible undercard (only about two regular matches), and an ok royal rumble match (30 men this year) which was slightly better than 1988's 20-man contest. There's also the super posedown with Rick Rude and the Ultimate Warrior which was a waste of time, but interesting to watch for the first time.
The King Harley Race vs. Haku match isn't on my copy either, that would have made this show quite a bit better, knowing that this is the match where King Haku was born. Oh well.....
The Royal Rumble match started off pretty interesting. Demolition Ax had #1 and Smash had #2 so they go at it for two minutes pounding on each other. Andre the Giant had #3, guess what happens? Yep. Andre goes down courtesy of the Demos. But Andre gets some revenge when he throws out Smash easily, and quickly.
Mr. Perfect debuted in his first rumble here at #4, in blue Steve Austin style trunks, not in his trademark attire he'd start to wear later. He'd get the new endurance record from Bret Hart later on when he's eliminated by Hulk Hogan, who came in #18. Hogan eliminated NINE guys in this one plus got credit for 1/2 of another! But it's all for naught as the Twin Towers, Big Boss Man and Akeem, double team him and toss him out like a loaf of bread.
Shawn Michaels makes his Rumble debut at #9 and does very well. His partner, Marty Jannetty enters at #14 and hangs in with young HBK for a few minutes. Then current WWF Champion Randy Savage enters after Marty, and the crowd is nuts again! Seems every year someone makes the crowd erupt. The Rumble went downhill after Hogan eliminates Savage, he didn't really mean to do it, he saw other guys trying to get savage out and Hulk throws him out accidentally. They shake hands before Savage leaves.
Just before Savage was eliminated, the Warlord came down at #21, he steps in the ring, and IMMEDIATELY is clotheslined back out to the floor by Hulk Hogan! TWO SECONDS!!! It is still the shortest amount of time in any Royal Rumble and probably will be forever.
After Savage leaves, the Big Bossman and Akeem come down at numbers 22 and 23 consecutively and eliminate Hogan. Boo-Hoo. Hogan whines and then cheats by pulling down the top rope causing Bossman to get eliminated. By this time, Brutus Beefcake had entered the match, at #24. He actually helped Hogan on the outside for a minute.
Noting much of note happens the rest of the way. Big John Studd enters at #27 and the only guy he's after in there is Akeem. He shoves everyone else away. Ted Dibiase is last, and after Akeem is sent packing with a John Studd club to the back and out of the ring, they're the only two left, and Studd makes short work of him and wins the 1989 Royal Rumble. Virgil even gets into the ring and tries to get Studd, but he's also thrown over the top!
WINNER: Big John Studd
The top guys in endurance again:
#4 Mr Perfect ------ 27:56
#6 Greg Valentine -- 19:52
#23 Akeem ---------- 18:35
#10 Butch ---------- 18:14
#13 Bad News Brown - 16:24
The rest:
#1 Ax--------------- 14:37
#9 Shawn Michaels -- 14:31
#24 Brutus Beefcake- 13:56
#3 Andre the Giant - 13:56
#12 Tito Santana --- 12:47
#8 Ron Bass -------- 12:37
#15 Randy Savage --- 12:26
#27 Big John Studd - 12:21
#18 Hulk Hogan ----- 11:32
#25 Red Rooster ---- 11:17
#26 Barbarian ------ 11:14
#16 Arn Anderson --- 10:00
That's alot of guys in there (17) for that amount of time! Just wait until 1991....