Ranking Every Pay-Per-View

[VaderBomb]

I might be the only one who's favorite WrestleManias are 4 and 8 from the early years. I love IV so much, even the hoss matches are fun.

[EmperorWu]

Easily one of the worst commentators ever was that lady at Wrestlemania 3. She didn't know jack shit about the product, and would say the stupidest things. Have a little respect for yourself WWE...

Also who the hell was she? Was she supposed to be famous? At least it would make a tiny bit of sense why she was there, since The E loves to have their celebrities.

[Messiah]

'87 Survivor Series
The debut of Survivor Series. Only four matches on this card, all of which are your traditional Five-on-Five Survivor Series elimination matches. I'm really looking forward to this. I'm always a fan of these matches! They start with a video with cheesy music. Tonight will be the first time Andre the Giant and Hulk Hogan are in the ring together in a match since WrestleMania III, according to Ventura.

Five-on-Five Survivor Series Elimination Match - Randy Savage (with Miss Elizabeth), Jake Roberts, Ricky Steamboat, Brutus Beefcake, and Jim Duggan vs The Honky Tonk Man, Hercules, Danny Davis, Ron Bass, and Harley Race (with Bobby Heenan and Jimmy Hart)

Savage, Roberts, Steamboat, Beefcake, and Duggan is a stacked team. The other, not so much. Race should not be in a wrestling ring at this point. Honky Tonk WAS THE GREATEST INTERCONTINENTAL CHAMPION OF ALL-TIME at this point. Tonk says if Elizabeth enters the ring, he is going to Shake, Rattle, and Roll her. Crowd is A+ so far. BEEFCAKE ARM DRAGS EVERYBODY. Frequent tags by Team Savage. They are destroying Danny Davis. Harley Race looks terrible. Hacksaw and Race got a double count-out. Wouldn't be an 80s WWF show without it, huh?

Beefcake eliminates Bass with a running knee. Honky Tonk talking trash while he works over on Beefcake's arm. Shake, Rattle, and Roll and Beefcake is eliminated! Roberts gets worked on for a long time but finally nails DDT on Danny Davis to eliminate him. Honky Tonk continues to taunt Savage. Honky Tonk has Jake in the sleeper but Roberts escapes it. Damn, the referees can be really annoying. Way too over the top. The Snake gets the hot tag to Steamboat! Diving chop to Hercules, tag to Savage! Elbow drop eliminates Hercules. Honky Tonk is by himself now and Savage beats the hell out of him until Honky Tonk sends him into the turnbuckle. This match was really good... until Honky Tonk was eliminated because he walked out and got counted out. What is it with the WWF and count-outs?! Sigh. This was a good opener but weak finish.

Bobby Heenan claims Andre the Giant won the match at WrestleMania 3 and will again tonight. Andre tells everyone to shut-up and says he will be the Survivor.

Five-on-Five Survivor Series Elimination Match - The Fabulous Moolah, Rockin' Robin, Velvet McIntyre, and The Jumping Bomb Angels (Itsuki Yamazaki and Noriyo Tateno) vs Sensational Sherri, The Glamour Girls (Leilani Kai and Judy Martin), Donna Christianello, and Dawn Marie (with Jimmy Hart)

This is not the Dawn Marie we all know. A different Dawn Marie. Gotta be honest, I don't know who any of these women are outside of Moolah and Sherri. Looks like Team Sherri is heel and Team Moolah is face. Donna just got eliminated by a victory roll. Sherri with the dropkick to Rockin' Robin I think. Dawn Marie just got eliminated, so Sherri's team is down to 3. The Jumping Bomb Angels can really wrestle, Itsuki is great! Noriyo with the arm drag off the top rope. Double underhook suplex to Sherri! Aww, Noriyo tagged out.

Sherri just eliminated Rockin' Robin and Itsuki is back in. Martin and Moolah going at it. Noriyo is in. I guess they had WWF Women's Tag Team titles back then, Monsoon said the Glamour Girls held them. Moolah eliminated after a double clothesline from the Glamour Girls. KO punch from Itsuki. Velvet with the Boston Crab on Judy Martin. Leg drop from Sherri to Velvet. Giant Swing on Sherri! Velvet eliminates Sherri with the Victory Roll. Sunset Flip by Itsuki, only a 2 count. Velvet went for victory roll but Leilani dropped her on her back and eliminated her. Down to Glamour Girls vs Bomb Angels. Leilani going to top rope, but Noriyo moves out of the way! Itsuki to the top rope for a diving cross body and Leilani is eliminated! Mouth of the South dropkicked by Itsuki, and the Bomb Angels pin Martin to win the match.

That was way better than I was expecting. There was some parts where the action was really slow, but the Bomb Angels and Glamour Girls were impressive and carried this to a solid match worthy of being on PPV.

20-man tag team Survivor Series Elimination Match - Strike Force (Rick Martel and Tito Santana), The British Bulldogs (Davey Boy Smith and The Dynamite Kid), The Killer Bees (B. Brian Blair and Jim Brunzell), The Rougeau Brothers (Jacques Rougeau and Raymond Rougeau) and The Young Stallions (Jim Powers and Paul Roma) vs The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart) Demolition (Ax and Smash), The Bolsheviks (Boris Zhukov and Nikolai Volkoff), The Dream Team (Dino Bravo and Greg Valentine), and The Islanders (Haku and Tama) (with Bobby Heenan, Mr. Fuji, Jimmy Hart, Johnny Valiant, and Slick)

Holy batman, tag teams! This is almost too big of a match for me, but it goes to show the strength of the tag team division back in the day. I think this is the match Hanley was talking about the other day in the tag team thread. Monsoon explains that if your partner is eliminated, then you are eliminated too. That is a really good stipulation. Martel and Volkoff start off. Santana ends up eliminating Zhukov, which means The Bolsheviks are eliminated. Haku, toughest guy in professional wrestling. Neidhart's goatee belongs in the Hall of Fame. Not liking the pace of the match so far. So many frequent tags, not allowing anyone to get in a rhythm. Guess it comes with territory for having so many people in the match, but it seems really disorganized. Ax eliminated the Rougeau Brothers. Smash and Ax got disqualified for not letting up on their beatdown on Dynamite Kid, shocking elimination! Bret Hart in with Dynamite Kid now. Monsoon/Ventura could be a little repetitive sometimes. For example, they would always say someone has been in the ring too long, and it'd be like 2 minutes.

Hart landed an elbow drop on the back of Santana's head and Neidhart eliminated him. They (Strike Force) were the tag team champions. 6-on-6 match right now, getting a lot better now. Powers got worked on by Team Hart but he finally tagged in Roma, but he couldn't do much either. Bulldog with the Running Powerslam on Haku but Haku manages to kick-out. Bulldog hits a suplex and Dynamite connects with the headbutt, but Dynamite hurts himself doing the move because you never headbutt Haku. Haku superkicks him and The British Bulldogs are eliminated, really wasn't expecting that. Great sequence, though.

Valentine went for Figure Four but Powers tagged in Roma, who sunset flipped him while he was doing it and got the pin to eliminate The Dream Team. That was sweet! 2 teams on both sides left. Holy shit, Killer Bees eliminated The Hart Foundation! The Islanders are the only team left now for the bad guys. Haku and Tama look really good, controlling the match right now. The match break downs, and then one of the Killer Bees puts a mask on and sunset flips Tama to win the match. I'm kind of confused as to what happened there, but I'm going to assume it made sense with their gimmick.

This match was OK. There were some good finishes, but I was constantly waiting for the action to pick up which it did at the end when it was just Haku and Tama but it took 30+ minutes for it to get to that point. So not a bad match, but I was expecting better.

"The Million Dollar Man" makes his pay-per-view debut. He is spending his Thanksgiving Day counting his money in a limo. They recap some of the things he would make people do for money. There is the kid who went for 10 push ups and DiBiase laughed at him for not getting to it. "Your best just ain't good enough for the Million Dollar Man."

My favorite one was him kicking the basketball away from the kid. "I can tell just by looking at you, you could use a lot more than $500." What a heel. Honky Tonk comes out and cuts a promo. There was like 20-25 minutes between the last match and the main event.

Five-on-Five Survivor Series Elimination Match - Hulk Hogan, Paul Orndorff, Don Muraco, Ken Patera, and Bam Bam Bigelow (with Oliver Humperdink) vs Andre the Giant, One Man Gang, King Kong Bundy, Butch Reed, and Rick Rude (with Bobby Heenan and Slick)

The Brain introduces Andre the Giant. I really, really like the idea of a manager having a lot of clients. Sort of like a sports agent. It is an effective way to get guys over who have the look and in-ring talent but lack the personality, charisma, etc. That is what the WWE tried to do with Paul Heyman but they end up butchering the booking and the connection isn't there. Hogan's theme is one of my favorites. Also, was Muraco really called "The Rock" back then?

Rude was probably the smallest man in this match, him or Orndorff, and neither are small guys which goes to show you how big the WWF liked their main eventers back in the 80s. Bam Bam moved so well for his size, he's always been impressive in the matches I have seen of him. Fast-paced early on. Leg drop to Butch Reed eliminates him early on. Andre and Hogan for the first time since WrestleMania 3... until the referee tells Hogan he was tagged out when he high fived his partner. Andre leaves too, playing it up as if he only is interested in fighting Hogan.

Muraco was definitely on steroids by this point. I hate accusing anyone of it (I'm not sure if it has been proven or not, but it was 80s wrestling), but the guy was bulky and kind of fat at the first WrestleMania. Suddenly, he got ripped as fuck despite getting up there in age (38). He looks too big, actually. One Man Gang eliminated Pantera with a clothesline. Cool double boot from Bam Bam and Hogan to One Man Gang. Crowd loved Bam Bam, he got a huge pop when Hogan tagged him in. Rude rolled up Orndorff, pulling the tights, and eliminated him. I was expecting this to be a slow paced match considering the big guys involved but I was wrong. Muraco powerslammed Rude and eliminated him. Eliminations coming quick! 3 on 3. Muraco tried to slam OMG but couldn't. One Man Gang eliminated Muraco with a big splash. Huge clothesline from Bundy to Bam Bam.

Andre the Giant is in and Bam Bam tags in Hogan. Hogan going to town on everybody in the match. He slammed Bundy and OMG on the outside, but got counted out. Dammit, WWF.

Bam Bam by himself now. Bam Bam drops headbutt on Bundy but Bundy kicks out. Slingshot from Bigelow and he eliminates Bundy! OMG goes to top rope but misses and Bam Bam eliminates him! Bigelow tries to fight Andre but Andre hit him with like, I'm not sure. A suplex, I guess, and won the match in a really anti-climatic ending. Then Hogan came out and beat him up to send the fans home happy. Ventura was pissed. This was better than you would expect. Everyone put in a good performance.

Conclusion: This isn't as bad of a show as the score would indicate. However, a couple of things hurt it. While I'm a huge fan of the Survivor Series Elimination concept, I'm not sure I was a big fan of there being only 4 matches and all of them being of that type. It made for a repetitive show, from the backstage promos, to the in-ring action, to even the commentary. Nothing really felt that important. It was almost the opposite of WM1, which got a huge boost because it was WM1 while this show gets put down a lot because it truly felt like a throwaway show. The main event came close to being meaningful with Hogan and Andre, until they eliminated Hogan with a fucking count-out. No title matches. The opening match got me really excited, until again, it ended with a damn count-out. The tag team match could have really benefited from cutting it down to a smaller number. It was too long and too jumbled as is. Also, that 20-25 minute gap before the main event, damn. I wouldn't advise someone against watching this PPV because it is the first of its kind, but I wouldn't advise them to watch it either. Score: 2.1

Next Up...WrestleMania IV

[Messiah]

I'm using Wikipedia to make sure I go in order with the PPVs. However, the WWE Network includes the '88 Royal Rumble in the PPV section. I will not be reviewing it because it was not actually a pay-per-view. Plus, it looks like shit. So yeah.

WrestleMania IV
Looks like I'm going to have to endure The Wrestling Classic all over again. Another big ass tournament on a pay-per-view and WrestleMania IV no less. Hopefully it can prove me wrong because TWC was a drag. For those not familiar, WrestleMania IV hosts a fourteen-man tournament to crown the new WWF Champion, which was vacant at the time. This venue looks kind of small. They really regressed from WM3, look-wise.

20-man Battle Royal

Interesting way to start WrestleMania. Some key names in it are Nikolai Volkoff, The Hart Foundation, Junkyard Dog, Harley Race, and George Steele. Stupid guest commentary. Steele hasn't entered the match yet. He was too cartoonish even for that time period. Neidhart slaps Steele on the outside and Animal Steele yanks his arm to eliminate him. This is a pre-show quality battle royal. Monsoon and Ventura aren't on the top of their game right now. JYD, Bad News Barrett Brown, and Bret Hart left. Hart and BNB double teaming JYD. They eliminate Junkyard, and then BNB turns on him and eliminates him in anti-climatic fashion. This was bad by even battle royal standards. Hart attacked BNB after the match and destroyed the trophy. The guest commentator leaves, thank God.

Some guy gives like a tournament speech.

First Round Tournament Match - Ted DiBiase (with Virgil and Andre the Giant) vs Jim Duggan

Like Piper, DiBiase was a natural bad guy to the core. Heck, that probably applies to DiBiase even more than it does Piper. This is why a full tournament doesn't work on PPV. This feels like a filler match more than anything. Not that it is a bad match, but you can tell how rushed it is. Andre tripped up Duggan and DiBiase hit a fist drop to win. Short match, about what I should expect the rest of the way.

Cool promo from Beefcake. He's competing for the IC Championship later.

First Round Tournament Match - Dino Bravo (with Frenchy Martin) vs Don Muraco (with Billy Graham)

Muraco and Graham is a fitting pair, and not in a good way. Muraco looks like he could pop at any point. Bravo got disqualified after he pulled the referee in the way to get hit by Muraco. The match sucked. Muraco was roided out of his mind.

First Round Tournament Match - Greg Valentine (with Jimmy Hart) vs Ricky Steamboat (with Little Dragon)

Ricky Steamboat brought his son (Richie Steamboat) out to the ring, really cool! Steamboat has been involved in the best matches from these PPVs so far. Hart never got tired talking on the outside. Donald Trump spotting. Valentine goes for the figure four but Steamboat escapes from it. Valentine hits a huge shoulder breaker but Steamboat kicks out. Steamboat escapes the figure four again and starts pounding Valentine's head into the canvas. Awesome selling from Valentine. Valentine rolls through on Steamboat's crossbody and gets the three! This was a solid match.

Cartoonish promo from The Birdman and Bulldogs.

First Round Tournament Match - Butch Reed (with Slick) vs Randy Savage (with Miss Elizabeth)

Butch Reed's theme music is about as jobber as it gets. Ventura still supports Macho Man even though he is babyface, which I think is cool. Reed started talking to Elizabeth, which allowed Savage to slam him and finish him off with an elbow drop. Terrible match. Not so much to the fault of Reed and Savage but nothing they could do in such little time.

Why does Bob Uecker keep showing up?

First Round Tournament Match - One Man Gang (with Slick) vs Bam Bam Bigelow (with Oliver Humperdink)

I prefer this Bam Bam Bigelow theme:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAGaZwVAzFs

Bam Bam got counted out after like a 2 minute match. It is going to be a marvelous day when I come across a PPV without a DQ or count-out finish.

Hogan with one of the most nonsensical promos ever.



First Round Tournament Match - Jake Roberts vs Rick Rude (with Bobby Heenan)

Rude showing off his abs for all of the ladies. His tights are awesome He was the original pornstache. Rude has a chin lock locked on for what feels like a year. Just as Robert escapes, Rude locks it in again. The crowd actually starts to chant "boring" for a little bit. Rude hits a back suplex. Both go for a clothesline at the same time. Rude goes for the cover but the bell rings because its a time limit draw. I can't believe a Rude/Roberts match was that bad. It felt like neither went their 100%.

Vanna White says she doesn't like DiBiase because she doesn't like anybody buying anything for anything. Have no clue what that means, but there you go.

The Ultimate Warrior vs Hercules (with Bobby Heenan)

Warrior's PPV debut. Holy shit, this is bad. Warrior tried to pull himself up with the ropes after he got thrown out like Steamboat did earlier but botched it. Warrior got out of the full nelson and both men have their shoulders down but Warrior's gets his up first to pick up the win. "This rivalry is far from over, Gorilla." For the WWF fans sake, lets hope Ventura was wrong on that.

Quarter-Final Tournament Match - André the Giant (with Ted DiBiase and Virgil) vs Hulk Hogan

Did that spot where Andre gets tied up in the ropes happen in all of his matches? Andre kind of sort of fell after a lot of punches. DiBiase comes in and hits Hogan with the chair as he went for the slam. Hogan hits Andre with the chair and for some reason isn't disqualified. Andre then uses the chair, which leads to a double disqualification. The match itself wasn't all too bad, but that ending, sigh. WWF overbooked the hell out of finishes. Hogan celebrates for an eternity minutes after the match. Ventura's commentary of this was hilarious.

Savage's robe is wonderful.

Quarter-Final Tournament Match - Don Muraco (with Billy Graham) vs Ted DiBiase

Not much to say about this match. DiBiase won after he flapjacked Muraco onto the ropes. It was good for the length it went.

Bob Uecker is still here. Not sure why. One Man Gang gets a bye.

Quarter-Final Tournament Match - Randy Savage (with Miss Elizabeth) vs Greg Valentine (with Jimmy Hart)

Valentine is a good worker from what I've seen. Savage turned Valentine's figure-four lock into the small package for the win. This was just a straight-forward, quality match.

The Honky Tonk Man (c) (with Jimmy Hart and Peggy Sue) vs Brutus Beefcake for the WWF Intercontinental Championship

Honky Tonk Man was a great character and he pulled it off so well. Beefcake had Honky Tonk in the sleeper hold, so Jimmy Hart knocked out the referee with his megaphone. Beefcake cut Hart's hair. The refs confirm Beefcake won by disqualification, which means Honky Tonk retains his title. That is what, the 4th or 5th non-finish tonight?

Andre the Giant choking Uecker was awesome.

The British Bulldogs (Davey Boy Smith and Dynamite Kid) and Koko B. Ware vs The Islanders (Haku and Tama) and Bobby Heenan

Heenan came out with some awesome ring attire. Haku and Tama are a pretty good team. The Brain tags in and pounds on B. Ware. Tama and Haku drop Heenan on B. Ware, giving them the win. The two legit tag teams carried this, but by this point, I'm drained and you can tell the fans are too.

Semi-final Tournament Match - One Man Gang (with Slick) vs Randy Savage (with Miss Elizabeth)

One Man Gang should not be in a WWF Championship Semi-Final Tournament match. One Man Gang attacks Savage with Slick's cane right in front of the referee (!!!!!!!) and gets disqualified.

Strike Force (Rick Martel and Tito Santana) (c) vs Demolition (Ax and Smash) (with Mr. Fuji) for the WWF Tag Tam Championship

Strike Force have really good chemistry. They should have put this match in the middle of the card to keep the audience/viewers feeling up. Martel locked the Boston Crab in on Smash. Ref is distracted by Fuji, and Ax nails Martel with the cane. Demolition win the titles! Good match.

Ted DiBiase (with Andre the Giant) vs Randy Savage (with Miss Elizabeth)

Andre trips Savage up twice early on. Andre's facial expressions while the referee yells at him is priceless. Savage tells Elizabeth to go backstage. She brings out THE HULKSTER. Andre interfered again, which led to Hogan coming over to get a shot in on Andre. Savage went for the elbow but DiBiase moved out of the way. DiBiase locks in the Million Dollar Dream, but Hogan came in while Andre distracted the ref for some reason and hit DiBiase with the chair. Savage went back up top and this time connected with the elbow to win his first WWF Championship! Savage putting Elizabeth on his shoulder as she held the WWF Championship is a great moment. Alright match, DiBiase and Savage did what they could.

Conclusion: There were 16 matches. 6 of them were a count-out, DQ, or draw finish. 8 of them were 5 minutes or less. You cannot have an entire pay-per-view dedicated to a tournament this large. It doesn't work. The matches end up being short, meaning you can't get emotionally involved in anything, and the PPV feels like a drag. I mean, I didn't even think this was too bad until right around the 11th match, and then it became like a slow and painful death. The best matches on this show aren't even that good, at least not good enough to make up for some of the really poor matches. Nothing on this show felt important or that it wouldn't belong on an ordinary SNME show from back then. The only memorable moment from this show was Savage winning the WWF Championship, and luckily for them that is a pretty huge moment. Other than that, this is a terrible PPV. Score: 1.2

Next Up... SummerSlam 1988

[Str8Shooter]

@Messiah

What exactly is your scoring method for these shows, or did I miss it somewhere? The Survivor Series 87 rundown you said mostly positive things about all the matches and were pleasantly surprised and then the final score was a 2.1! I was like WTF

[Messiah]

This is where I go back and re-evaluate some of my scores.

Just so everyone can get a better idea of how I'm scoring it. Basically it is a 0-10 in 4 different categories - significance, memorability, presentation (which, like I said in OP, includes stuff such as segments, commentary, look, etc), and match quality. It is kind of flawed to treat all 4 categories like they are equal, but in the grand scheme of things once more PPVs are up, the small things make the difference. That is the main reason I do it.

Now obviously if I feel a score is a too low or too high, I'll adjust it myself because it will still ultimately come down to how entertained I was. So this brings me to WM IV and Wrestling Classic. Two similar PPVs due to the tournament style they went for, except one featured the Savage title win and the other did not. I thought long and hard about adjusting the scores, but I feel comfortable with Classic over WMIV. IMO, WrestleMania 4 was way more of a drag to sit-through, and the match quality wasn't all that different except WMIV had a couple of lengthier matches. Classic also had far superior commentary that night and was treated like a really important show despite not actually meaning much whereas WM IV came across as another show with no heated story behind any of the matches sans Andre/Hogan, which ended in a double DQ. I just found Classic to be a lot more entertaining, but both are pretty bad. Then again, Classic's last match ended in a count-out. Eek.

What exactly is your scoring method for these shows, or did I miss it somewhere? The Survivor Series 87 rundown you said mostly positive things about all the matches and were pleasantly surprised and then the final score was a 2.1! I was like WTF

Just saw this after I said what I said above. Yeah, I should have probably clarified it in the OP.

Each PPV can receive a 0-10 in 4 different categories - significance, match quality, presentation, and how memorable it is. Then you just do the math after that. I do this for a lot of reasons. It helps out a show like WrestleMania III, which was a great show but probably hasn't aged well. It does a reasonably good job helping me look in the perspective of a fan back then like, for example, with the Savage/Steamboat match. It is to prevent a lot of the same scores. Considering we're talking 300+ PPVs here, that would be a huge problem if I were giving a lot of the same 5/10 scores to PPVs. Most importantly, it is to truly separate the great PPVs from the average ones from the below average ones to the poor ones.

I made mention of it in the OP, to have a low score doesn't necessarily mean the PPV was bad. 2.1 is kind of low for '87 Survivor Series because I did enjoy it and I contemplated raising it, but I left it as is because I didn't think it was that big of a deal because I wouldn't raise it much higher than that. The lack of anything significant or memorable on the show hurts it. Andre/Hogan didn't even really clash, which hurt what was otherwise an OK main event. The three top teams at the time in the 20-man tag team match were eliminated kind of randomly. It probably would have had a better score in match quality if the opening match didn't end with a count-out. That really pissed me off. Plus, it came across really repetitive.

Anyway, I would say if a PPV has a score below 2, then you can assume it is truly terrible based off that. You have to do really bad in all 4 categories to get below a 2. Getting a 2.9-2 is bad too. I think '87 Survivor Series will end up being an outlier though, because it was really, really hurt from it feeling like such a throwaway show. '99 No Mercy for example was a bad show, but it had 2 enjoyable matches with a story behind it where the finish mattered, which in turn got you emotionally involved.

I hope that explains it.

[Messiah]

Also to add, '87 Survivor Series was really barebones. I enjoyed what happened on the show, but that being all that happened was a problem. You had that huge gap between the tag team match and the main event. All the promos were the same - over the top and cartoonish with Heenan, Hart, or Slick talking. No titles on the line. No particularly good story behind any of the matches. It was what a good episode of Raw would be, except if Raw aired on PPV under a different name.

So sort of like Fastlane.

[Hanley!]

Yeah, Messiah if you're watching the old 80s pay per views, you'll have to get used to a lot of bullshit finishes. Nobody wanted to take a loss in the 80s. When the likes of Hacksaw Jim Duggan won't lose clean to anybody, you know you're in trouble.

[flock u]

I might be the only one who's favorite WrestleManias are 4 and 8 from the early years. I love IV so much, even the hoss matches are fun.

Those are my favs as well I still have a copy of the original VHS release of 4 where the two cases fold out into a popup of Hulk Hogan :)

And I was in attendance for 8

[Messiah]

Once Savage became a main eventer and Steamboat left, the WWF midcard division in the 80s turned into shit it seems. I'm looking at the card for '88 Survivor Series before I watch it and man, its brutal. Nearly all of the best wrestlers are in the tag team division. This meant the main event had to include the likes of The Red Rooster, One Man Gang, Big Boss Man, Hillbilly Jim, Hercules, and freakin' Koko B. Ware.

[Daz]

Once Savage became a main eventer and Steamboat left, the WWF midcard division in the 80s turned into shit it seems. I'm looking at the card for '88 Survivor Series before I watch it and man, its brutal. Nearly all of the best wrestlers are in the tag team division. This meant the main event had to include the likes of The Red Rooster, One Man Gang, Big Boss Man, Hillbilly Jim, Hercules, and freakin' Koko B. Ware.

Love me some Hercules Hernandez.

[The Legend]

This is great and a brave undertaking by you Messiah. Are you going to take it all the way up through until you've caught up with current times? In other words re-watch everything in 20-13, 20-14 and 2015 until you get to where they are in current day however long that takes?

[Str8Shooter]

This is great and a brave undertaking by you Messiah. Are you going to take it all the way up through until you've caught up with current times? In other words re-watch everything in 20-13, 20-14 and 2015 until you get to where they are in current day however long that takes?

He'll be 40 by the time he gets that far.

[Messiah]

This is great and a brave undertaking by you Messiah. Are you going to take it all the way up through until you've caught up with current times? In other words re-watch everything in 20-13, 20-14 and 2015 until you get to where they are in current day however long that takes?

I'm not sure if I will stop, but I expected I would slow down tremendously after I finish 2007, however long that may take. Aside from 2009, I'm familiar with the PPVs from 2008 onward. This thread was really less about ranking the PPVs and more about finding personal enjoyment out of all of the stuff I have never seen before. Even for as bad as some of these shows have been, it's still been pretty cool to watch them (to an extent). So a lot of that enjoyment would kind of lessen once I get to a product I'm really familiar with because it is still kind of recent in my head. Probably wouldn't be a big deal if the PPV was good, but if its bad, eh.

I thought about maybe, once getting to that point, just jumping around and watching the PPVs that are worth reviewing to see where they would end up ranking. So that would be PPVs like '11 MITB, '12 Extreme Rules, '13 SummerSlam, WrestleMania 24, WrestleMania 30, etc. I'm expecting it won't take me too long to get to '97. '95 is the first year with more than 5 PPVs, and it wasn't until after Canadian Stampede (I think?) that the WWE went to 3 hour PPVs. I'm trying to gut it out now so I can have 5 PPVs saved up always, allowing me to be able to put up 1 or 2 PPVs everyday.

[Circled Square]

Messiah stop it with those long posts

with yo bad self

I once did something similar. I watched like every Royal Rumble match ever over a couple of weeks.

[Messiah]

'88 SummerSlam

So it looks like Ventura won't be doing commentary tonight because he is refereeing tonight. In his place? 'Superstar' Billy Graham and within the first minute, I can already tell this will be brutal to listen through. "The man I call, the man, the bionic bicep." Sigh.

The British Bulldogs (Davey Boy Smith and Dynamite Kid) vs The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers (Jacques Rougeau and Raymond Rougeau)

I like the red, white, and blue ropes for SummerSlam. The set-up for the show is well done. The Bulldogs' tights are cool. The list of performers who have impressed me every time I've seen them so far on these PPVs wouldn't be long, but The Bulldogs would definitely be on it. I just really enjoy their style. I've always been a fan of teams who had a more technical based style. Leads to a lot of creative double teams. The Rougeau Brothers are controlling the match right now, focusing on Davey's leg. Graham is grating on my ears. Hot tag to Dynamite! Davey Boy hits a powerslam on Raymond and goes for the cover but Jacques comes in to break it up. Back suplex to Dynamite, who gives one hell of a sell. Abdominal stretch in on the Kid. Davey Boy runs in to break it up, but Jacques comes in and locks in the abdominal stretch back in on Dynamite. Atomic drop into a running splash by the Rougeau Brothers. Dynamite fights back and almost gets the hot tag to Davey Boy but Raymond stops him. Dynamite has a small package which would have been a 3 but the referee was distracted by Davey Boy who was trying to enter the ring. Rougeau Brothers are doing a good job drawing the ire of the fans. Hot tag to Davey but the referee didn't see it! Dynamite continuing to get punished but continues to kick out. Finally tags in to Davey. Davey gorilla presses Jacques. All four men in the ring. Dynamite lands an assisted headbutt to Jacques, but the time limit expired so it was a draw!

Usually I would complain and be pissed off about the non-finish, but this was the first time I liked it because it actually fit in with the match. This was a very good, long opener. The Bulldogs looked good as per usual but the Rougeau Brothers REALLY impressed me here and the crowd was hot.

They show Beefcake getting pummeled by someone named Bass, so he won't be able to compete later vs The Honky Tonk Man for the Intercontinental Championship. The #1 contender for the title is unknown.

Ken Patera vs Bad News Brown

Bad News Brown looks like a baaaaaaaaaaaaad man. Graham is killing me, man. BNB won with some kick that Monsoon called the Ghetto Blaster. It wasn't that bad of a match, and they were smart to place it after that tag team match.

Watching this Savage and Hogan promo, you would think Hogan was the WWF Champion and not Savage. I know what this all would eventually lead to, but it is still a damn shame that Savage had to share the spotlight with Hogan. Savage was flat-out just better than Hogan, and it really wasn't/isn't close.

Rick Rude (with Bobby Heenan) vs Junkyard Dog

Rick Rude's theme is fucking awesome. Lmao @ all the shots of the women who were prepared to take a picture. LMAO @ Junkyard Dog on the airbrushed tights. JYD should probably be retired by this point. Rude goes to the top rope and pulls down his tights to reveal Jake's wife (or girlfriend, I don't know) on another pair of airbrushed tights. The Snake runs in and attacks Rude, so Rude wins by DQ. Whatever.

That list I was talking about earlier, The Honky Tonk Man would be on it too. He's nothing special in the ring, but he played a fantastic heel. Okerlund is about to announce who Honky Tonk is going to face but Honky Tonk doesn't want to know because he says it doesn't matter who it is.

The Powers of Paint (The Barbarian and The Warlord) (with The Baron) vs The Bolsheviks (Boris Zhukov and Nikolai Volkoff) (with Slick)

Powers of Paint look like a poor mans Road Warriors. This is a slow, plodding match because none of these guys move that well or are any good in the ring. Well, that is assuming this match is any indication in regards to The Powers of Paint. Barbarian lands a headbutt after Warlord's powerslam and they win.

The Brother Love Show! I was kind of excited until it was revealed he's interviewing Hacksaw Jim Duggan. The segment sucks and doesn't lead anywhere.

The Honky Tonk Man (c) (with Jimmy Hart) vs The Ultimate Warrior for the WWF Intercontinental Championship

THE GREATEST INTERCONTINENTAL CHAMPION OF ALL-TIME. Huge pop when it is revealed his opponent is going to be The Ultimate Warrior. Warrior does a lot of crazy shit and hits his splash on Honky Tonk Man to win the Intercontinental Championship! It wasn't even a minute, but it was a cool moment considering all Honky Tonk had did to retain the title up to that point. Fans despised him.

Don Muraco vs Dino Bravo (with Frenchy Martin)

This feud is still happening?! Muraco would definitely be on the list of worst performers so far. Heenan is thankfully on commentary for this match. Bravo won with a side slam. I don't know if it was as bad as their WrestleMania match, but its close. Painfully bad.

Ted DiBiase gave Jesse Ventura money, which puts a cloud over the main event and on whether Ventura will be impartial.

Demolition (Ax and Smash) (c) (with Mr. Fuji and Jimmy Hart) vs The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart) for the WWF Tag Team Championship

Aww man, Heenan left. Neidhart gets tired of Jimmy's yapping and runs him off. Demolition looking good. Graham tries to predict moves in advance and does a miserable job at it. Bret finally tags in Neidhart but the referee didn't catch it. After he boots one half of Demolition, he tags in Neidhart and the ref sees it this time. Neidhart takes out both Ax and Smash. Bret slingshots Neidhart out of the ring and onto Smash I think in a really cool tag team maneuver. Powerslam by Neidhart but Smash kicks out. Neidhart nails Fuji but Jimmy Hart comes back out to give Ax the megaphone and he smashes Bret with it, allowing Smash to get the three count. Good tag team match with a solid finish. It is becoming clear to me the tag team division was the strength of the WWF in the late 80s. The matches are usually the best of the night, or at the very least in the conversation.

Honky Tonk Man gives a pissed off promo, saying the WWF screwed him and that the Intercontinental Championship still belongs to him. Never fails to impress.

Big Boss Man (with Slick) vs Koko B. Ware

I'm a HUGE Big Boss Man fan admittedly, but only the version of him that wore the all-black cop uniform and came out to the theme he had throughout the Attitude Era. That theme was so bad ass. Boss Man had one hell of a beer belly here. This was just an extended squash match meant to put Boss Man over, nothing more.

You can tell from this promo that Ultimate Warrior was just a crazier version of Hulk Hogan. I don't know why but I've always liked his promos even though they never made a lick of sense.

Hercules vs Jake Roberts

This match is nothing but chin locks and headlocks to begin with. I don't know if this was something with Jake or what, but this is the exact thing that ruined his Rude match at WrestleMania. Hercules still has the fucking chin lock in. Jake escaped, but Hercules puts it back in not too long after but Roberts hits a chinbuster to get out of it this time. The Snake signals for the DDT, but Hercules counters it with a back body drop. Roberts misses the knee lift. Hercules goes for a slam but Jake reverses it into a DDT for the win. This match will bore you out of your mind. Jake bringing the snake out is always cool, though.

The Mega Bucks (Ted DiBiase and Andre the Giant) (with Bobby Heenan and Virgil) vs The Mega Powers (Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage) (with Miss Elizabeth)

Jesse Ventura is the special guest referee for this match. Mega Powers + Elizabeth wearing matching colors. Ventura laying down the law. Hogan tries to talk to Ventura and Ventura tells him to get his hands off of him. Ventura changing the tag ropes. Savage and Andre start it off, but Andre quickly tags in DiBiase. DiBiase wants Hogan, so the Macho Man obliges and tags in The Hulkster. "Bombs away" as Monsoon would say, Savage lands a double ax handle smash on DiBiase. Quick tags from Hulk and Savage as they control DiBiase. Hogan tries to get a quick shot in on Andre but he headbutts him down with ease. Hogan the babyface in peril right now. Loud "Hogan" chants start. Fist drops by DiBiase, Hogan kicks out. Hogan hulks up out of DiBiase's choke hold. Both go for a clothesline at the same time that knocks both out. Hot tag to Savage. DiBiase slows down Savage's momentum with a clothesline. Andre with shoulder thrusts into Savage in the corner. Andre can barely move at this point in his career, so they don't ask him to do much in any of his matches. DiBiase, a great worker, has been doing just about all of the work. DiBiase taunts on the top rope, which backfires when Savage moves out of the way and Savage tags in Hogan. Hogan knocks down Andre when he enters. Savage tries an elbow drop on Andre but Andre gets his boot up and nails Savage. Hogan didn't saw it and Andre attacks Hogan from behind.

Ref starts the count on Hogan as both he and Savage are on the outside. All the managers get on the apron and distract Ventura. Elizabeth influences Ventura by taking off her dress. Didn't really make much sense. Hogan and Savage clean house. Savage hits DiBiase with an elbow drop, Hogan lands the leg drop and Hogan pins DiBiase to win the match for his team. Hogan hugs Elizabeth after the match, which ticks off a visibly annoyed Savage. It was one of the first signs of what would become. That was a quality main event I thought, even if the ending was kind of... odd.

Conclusion: Meh. The tag team matches aside from PoP/Bolsheviks and Warrior's IC title win were really good to great, but everything else sucked. Especially that commentary, Graham is terrible. The show did give us some memorable moments, like the aforementioned Intercontinental Championship win by Warrior and Savage gave the first, albeit subtle, sign that he would eventually turn on Hogan. Totally forgettable show otherwise. Score: 2.3

Next Up... Survivor Series 1988

[Messiah]

'88 Survivor Series
Outside of the 20-man tag team match, this card looks horrendous. It is filled with jobbers and over-the-top characters nobody was supposed to take seriously. Like the '87 event, there are only 4 matches, all of which are Survivor Series style.

Five-on-Five Survivor Series Elimination Match - The Ultimate Warrior, Brutus Beefcake, Sam Houston, The Blue Blazer and Jim Brunzell vs The Honky Tonk Man, Ron Bass, Danny Davis, Greg Valentine and Bad News Brown (with Jimmy Hart)

The Blue Blazer aka Owen Hart makes his WWF PPV debut. Danny Davis eliminated within a minute thanks to Beefcake's sleeper hold. BNB eliminates Brunzell with the Ghetto Blaster. Houston is in now, Brown hits a huge boot to the face on him. Dammit man, Ventura and Monsoon back on that, "he needs to tag out." I love those two together, but the amount of times they say that is obnoxious as hell, especially in a night with just tag team wrestling.

Valentine accidentally nailed Bad News, which leads to them fighting but Honky Tonk Man settles things down. However, BNB decides to leave and is counted out. Glad we got that out of the way. Houston is eliminated with a power slam from Bass. Warrior is in the match for the first time and destroys everybody. Owen Hart is tagged in, Warrior gorilla presses him onto Bass but Bass kicked out at 2. Honky Tonk Man is tagged in. Owen catches him off guard so he tags in Valentine. Owen looks great. Hart is knocked off the top rope by Honky Tonk on the outside, and Valentine forces him to tap out with the Figure Four Lock.

All 3 wrestlers on Team Honky Tonk jump Beefcake. Beefcake counters Shake, Rattle, and Roll but Honky Tonk Man gets a quick tag to Bass. Honky Tonk is back in. Sleeper Hold onto the greatest Intercontinental Champion of All Time, but Honky sends both of them outside. It ends in a double count-out after a super fast count from the referee. Warrior is left against Valentine and Bass. Warrior eliminates Bass with a Double Ax Handle. Warrior hits a Double Ax Handle on Valentine and eliminates him too. A Double Ax Handle. This match, it happened. All I can really say about it. It felt a lot longer than the 17 minutes it apparently was.

Demolition (Ax and Smash), The Brain Busters (Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard), The Bolsheviks (Nikolai Volkoff and Boris Zhukov), The Fabulous Rougeaus Brothers (Raymond Rougeau and Jacques Rougeau) and The Conquistadors (Uno and Dos) (with Mr. Fuji, Bobby Heenan, Slick and Jimmy Hart) vs The Powers of Pain (The Warlord and The Barbarian), The Rockers (Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty), The British Bulldogs (Davey Boy Smith and Dynamite Kid), The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart) and The Young Stallions (Jim Powers and Paul Roma)

Demolition, The Brain Busters, The Rougeaus Brothers, The Rockers, The British Bulldogs, and The Hart Foundation in one match. Still, this is just too many people in one match. I love the concept, I really do, but even just 3 teams on both sides would be a lot better. This already feels a lot more organized than the '87 version of this match. Everyone getting involved early on, quick pace. Going off the crowd reactions, Bret Hart was the most over man in this match, either him or the team of Demolition. HItman catches Jacques with a small package and eliminates the Rougeau Brothers. Was hoping to see them last a long time! Sweet crossbody from Roma. The Conquistadors!

Arn Anderson with the sweetest looking Spinebuster you will see on Shawn Michaels. Warlord or Barbarian, I can't tell the difference, could barely get one of the Conquistadors up for the gorilla press. It looks better when he does it on Blanchard. Bolshevikes rolls through on Powers' crossbody and gets him for the 3, eliminating The Young Stallions. Funny moment when Blanchard is tagged in and immediately tags out because a member of the Powers of Pain team was in. Jannetty comes in and Sunset Flips Boris to eliminate him and Nikolai. Davey Boy took a nasty fall on the back of his head. Pace has slowed down. Hart hits Blanchard with a German Suplex and bridges for the pinfall attempt, but Blanchard got his shoulder up while Bret's were still down so The Hart Foundation is eliminated! Cool spot I wasn't expecting.

The Rockers and Brain Busters brawl in the ring so both referees come in to try and sort it out. Anderson tries to Suplex Jannetty but Michaels catches him and they superkick him. The referees decide to disqualify both teams, but they continue to brawl outside of the ring all the way back to the locker room area. Bulldogs and Powers of Pain vs Demolition and Conquistadors now. I can tell what they are doing with PoP, but they just aren't good. Dynamite gets hit with a clothesline from Smash, eliminating The Bulldogs. Demolition's manager Mr. Fuji pulls the rope when Smash runs at them, sending him out of the ring which led to him getting counted out. Ax knocks out Fuji. PoP comes out to the ring and helps him up. Barbarian hits a headbutt and The Powers of Pain win and celebrate with Fuji. It was a damn good match, but again finishes in 80s WWF killed matches. Also, the order of elimination in these matches tend to be pretty odd and random. The Conquistadors as the last team remaining for their team was deflating because it was obvious who was winning then. Still, it is definitely a match worth watching.

Bad News Brown demands a WWF Championship opportunity. Mr. Fuji is interviewed and says he made Demolition and now he has PoP and they will destroy Demolition.

Five-on-Five Survivor Series Elimination Match - Jim Duggan, Jake Roberts, Scott Casey, Ken Patera, and Tito Santana vs Andre the Giant, Rick Rude, Dino Bravo, Mr. Perfect, and Harley Race (with Bobby Heenan and Frenchy Martin)

Mr. Perfect's WWF PPV debut. Rick Rude's tights are wonderful. Rude really stuck out when you realize how everyone in the 80s rocked just about the same attire. According to Monsoon, the Royal Rumble (the first PPV of '89) starts at 4PM EST. Just found that really interesting considered the PPV time nowadays. Patera is the first eliminated at the hands of Rick Rude. I'm pretty detached from this match. Like I said in the beginning, a lot of meh names. Obviously I would probably be more into it if I was a viewer at the time but eh. Then again, this looks a bit better on paper than the main event does. A side suplex by Bravo eliminates Casey, putting Duggan's team down to 3.

Santana taking a beating from everyone before eliminating Race with a flying forearm. Andre then comes in and demolishes Santana. I respect everything Andre the Giant did in the wrestling business but man, he can barely move here. He sits down on Santana when the latter goes for a sunset flip to eliminate him. The Giant gets tangled up in the ropes, which seems really common in all of his matches. A spot I've always liked, haven't seen it in a long time in present-WWE. Jake signals for DDT but Rude comes in and breaks it up. Rude tagged in.

I can't stand Duggan. Maybe it is because of all those wrestling appearances he made in 2007 and beyond, but damn. He's so annoying. Anyway, Duggan uses his 2x4 to attack Bravo and gets disqualified. It's now Roberts vs Rude, Bravo, Perfect, and Andre. Roberts was so damn over here. Roberts tries to go for DDT on Bravo but Bravo counters out of it. Really enjoying the match right now. Rude taunting over Roberts is priceless. Rude goes to tag in Andre but Roberts stops him with a DDT. Rude is eliminated! Andre now comes in and he starts choking out Jake. Choked him out to the point where he's now disqualified! Holy, wasn't expecting that. Perfect rushes in for clean up duty and scores the pinfall over Jake! I liked that finish and nice to see Perfect get the pin in his first PPV even if Andre did all the work. Jake scares them all away from ringside while they were celebrating with is snake. Solid match.

Five-on-Five Survivor Series Elimination Match - The Mega Powers (Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage) (with Miss Elizabeth), Hercules, Koko B. Ware, and Hillbilly Jim vs The Twin Towers (Akeem and The Big Boss Man), Ted DiBiase, Haku, and The Red Rooster (with Slick, Bobby Heenan, and Virgil)

Hercules? Koko B. Ware? Hillbilly Jim? The Red Rooster? Akeem aka One Man Gang? I mean I love me some Big Boss Man, but not the 80s version and not in the main event. To a lesser extent, same applies to Haku, but Haku is a badass so I won't question him being in this match. Unsurprisingly, Hulk Hogan gets his own entrance separate from the entire team, a team that includes WWF Champion Randy Savage.

Haku had some cool looking strikes. Something is blurred out on Ware's tights and it is pretty distracting. Nice teamwork from Savage leads to Rooster getting eliminated. Jim and Akeem wrestling isn't the prettiest sight. Akeem eliminates Jim after a big splash. Good work by Slim on the outside. Boss Man eliminates B. Ware after a Blackhole Slam-like move. Virgil trips up Hercules, which allows DiBiase to scoop him up and eliminate him!

DiBiase is taunting Hercules, so Savage returns the favor and scoops him up to eliminate DiBiase. 3 v 2 now. Hogan getting pummeled. Oh how awesome it would have been if Haku made Hogan pass out to the nerve hold. Boss Man misses the ugliest looking top rope dive ever and Hogan tags in Savage. Savage cleans house until Slickster trips him up. Bear Hug on Savage and Slick is on the outside yanking Elizabeth, but Hogan comes for the save! Hogan KOs Slick, which leads to Boss Man and Akeem attacking him. They handcuffed Hogan to the bottom rope, but Boss Man got counted out through all of it. Crazy stuff. Boss Man attacks Hogan with the night stick before leaving. "He's beating a confession out of Hogan!" I love you Ventura.

Boss Man now comes into the ring and nails Savage with the night stick, Haku beating the hell out of Hogan on the outside, Akeem splashes on Savage and now Akeem is disqualified! Boss Man and Akeem finally leave, Hogan is still cuffed, and so it is pretty much down to Haku vs Savage. Happy that Haku is the last man standing for Team Towers. After DiBiase, the best in-ring performer on the team. Slick teasing Hogan about the cuff keys on the outside. Savage fends off Haku and Slick and Heenan get knocked down. Elizabeth gets the keys and uncuffs Hogan! Hogan splashes Savage but Macho Man gets the late kick out. Hogan is tagged in. Hogan going wild on Haku! Big Boot! Scoop Slam! Leg Drop! Hogan gets the win!!!

Hogan celebrating in the middle of the ring for all his fans. Hogan lifts Elizabeth high and Savage looks pissed, similar to the ending of SummerSlam. Love how the seeds were set for their WrestleMania showdown so early. Stuff like that is clearly missing from the product today. Long-term builds are just <3.

Conclusion: This probably surpassed my expectations coming in, but that isn't saying much. The opening match was a complete dud, but I somewhat enjoyed everything else. Even the main event, which was really just a way to continue the Hogan/Savage feud, had some decent moments. As many flaws as I found with the tag team Survivor Series elimination match... it was still really good and featured some of the greatest tag teams of all-time. Like the Survivor Series show before it, it suffers from being repetitive and lacking substance/significance. The finishes were better than the '87 version of this show though. Honestly, I didn't even go with the formula for this score because it deserves to be rated about the same as the 1987 show. '87 was more significant because it was the first of its kind but '88 featured better finishes and a superior version of the tag team match in my opinion. Score: 2.1

Next Up... Royal Rumble 1989

[EmperorWu]

By god the kid has heart.

[Messiah]

'89 Royal Rumble
This show will not feature the first Royal Rumble match but it will be the first Royal Rumble event to air on pay-per-view. I have never seen this Rumble match or several of the early ones, so I'm really interested in how it plays out. I don't care about the undercard, but a lot of big names (both at the time and today) will be involved in the Rumble match. Also, this marks the first year that the WWF will feature their Big 4 PPVs and also the last year of 80s WWF.

Cheesy 80s-style intro with Vince McMahon running down the names that will be competing in the Royal Rumble match.

Two out of Three Falls Match: The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart) and Jim Duggan vs The Fabulous Rougeaus (Jacques Rougeau and Raymond Rougeau) and Dino Bravo (with Frenchy Martin and Jimmy Hart)

I couldn't give a flying flip about Bravo, but the Rougeaus are awesome.
I couldn't give a flying flip about Duggan, but the Harts are awesome.

Crowd is pumped for this opener. I don't mind patriotic gimmicks, but Duggan was just obnoxious with it. Hitman getting worked on and Rougeaus get him with their awesome looking finisher to take the first fall. Hart has to start the second fall and Bravo comes in and gets a couple of nearfalls. Bear hug on Hart, loud USA chant starts in favor of Hart... which doesn't make sense, and Ventura points it out. Rougeaus take turns tagging out and locking the camel clutch on Hart before tagging in Bravo. Bravo tags out to Raymond I think and Boston Crab put on Hart.

Hitman gets a tag finally to Neidhart but Jacques distracted the referee and so it doesn't count. Great heel work. Jimmy screaming into is megaphone telling Bret to give up. "Ask him, ask him, ask him!"

Hart counters a monkey flip with an inverted atomic drop and tags in Duggan! Duggan goes bananas on everyone, vaults Neidhart and Hart onto one of the Rougeaus Brothers and pins him to score the second fall. Triple team on Duggan while Harts argue with the referee. Duggan gets beat down for a little until he gets the hot tag to Bret. Hitman goes to top rope but Raymond knocks him down, which leads to Anvil coming in and knocking him out. Duggan clobbers Bravo with 2 x 4, Bret gets the cover and they take the third fall! This was a solid opener. I love the Rougeaus Brothers and they were once again great here.

The Million Dollar Man and his Million Dollar Hand pick the Million Dollar Number, which Virgil opens to reveal as... well, apparently a bad number as DiBiase looks like he is about to cry. DiBiase goes to talk to Slick with the intentions of I guess buying a number off of one of his clients. Editing was terrible back then, so there is an awkward transition between that and Honky Tonk Man picking his number. Bushwhackers swap numbers. Bad News Brown looks happy with his number. Roberts picks his number with Damien and he says he hopes Andre is still in the ring when he gets there. Alright segment I guess considering the time period, DiBiase's was the best one though.

Rockin' Robin (c) vs Judy Martin for the WWF Women's Championship

Sensational Sherri says before the match begins that she will challenge whoever the winner is and that she is more of a woman than both of them. Sherri comes to the announce table and it doesn't go well. Robin hits a crossbody for the win. Terrible match.

Dr. Slick talks to Mooney and says he hasn't talked to DiBiase. Mooney calls him out on his lie and shows his two clients (Twin Towers) footage of where it appeared that DiBiase wanted to buy a number from him. Slick says it isn't anyone's business. Akeem keeps doing some weird dance.

Super Pose Down: Rick Rude (with Bobby Heenan) vs Ultimate Warrior

This is a real thing. People did love them some Ultimate Warrior, though. Lmao @ Warrior on the back of his tights. Anyway, it was boring until Rude attacked Warrior with a steel bar and choked him out with it. Ravishing Rude then posed over him before leaving. Warrior Hulk's up and attacks everyone in the ring that tried to help him and goes running after Rude.

Okerlund asks Elizabeth who she would root for between Hogan and Savage and she says she tries not to think about that.

Harley Race (with Bobby Heenan) vs King Haku (with Bobby Heenan)

This was Race's 2nd to last match in his career and his last match in WWE. King Haku is carried down to the ring on his throne. Race comes down to the ring and knocks Haku off the throne. Heenan manages both wrestlers, but Ventura is more on Haku's side. Race tries to headbutt Haku but it doesn't work out. Slow, old school brawl so far. Race doesn't move too well at his age. Piledriver onto Haku on the outside!

Heenan keeps switching between who he is cheering for. Super kick to Race knocks him out and gets the win for Haku. About what you would expect.

Some promos from a couple of Rumble participants, including Macho Man. DiBiase is talking to Okerlund and looks pretty happy, indicating that he worked out a deal with Slick. Okerlund also interviews Hogan, who says the Rumble will be the resurrection of Hulkamania and that he will walk out the winner. Hogan says he will feel sorry for Savage if he is left in the ring with Hogan and Hogan says Savage will find out why he's never been beaten and that he's still the champ. Man, Hogan was about as close to a heel as you can get with some his actions.

1989 Royal Rumble Match

Ax and Smash, the WWF Tag Team Champions, to start and they go at it. No entrance themes in the Royal Rumble, just a small box that tells you who is coming and it's Andre the Giant! Monsoon says no managers allowed at ringside. Demolition knocks down Andre! They start hammering down on the Giant. They try to eliminate Andre but it doesn't work out. Mr. Perfect is #4. Andre throws Smash out.

Perfect and Ax team up against Andre, but Ax turns on Perfect. Garvin is #5. All three now try to eliminate Andre, again doesn't work. #6 is... The Hammer, Valentine! Valentine goes after the Giant and now 4 on 1, but Andre destroys all of them. Andre eliminates Garvin. JAKE ROBERTS at 7. The Snake attacks Andre, but the Giant chokes him out. Andre just beating the hell out of Jake. Ron Bass comes out at 8 and Andre eliminates Jake.

Now The Giant goes after Valentine and chokes him out. Michaels is #9. Perfect eliminates Ax! Always cool to see stars before they really become the star that we remember (Michaels, Perfect). Michaels keeps himself in the Rumble by hanging onto the ropes. Perfect does the same thing. One of the Bushwhackers is at #10. ROBERTS IS BACK WITH DAMIEN! Andre looks scared as shit and he eliminates himself to get away, crowd went freakin' crazy. Jake takes the snake and goes after Andre with it.

The Honky Tonk Man at #11. Love that dude. Perfect and Michaels end up smacking heads. Valentine and Honky Tonk work together and try to eliminate Michaels but to no avail. Tito Santana at #12. Action-packed right now. Michaels has been in a lot of near-elimination situations. Bad News Brown is #13. Oh no, Honky Tonk Man eliminated! Michaels survives again, long enough for Jannetty to come in at #14. Bass eliminated via a Rockers dropkick. RANDY SAVAGE AT #15. Savage pounds away at Bad News. Savage's attire is so cool. Perfect giving Savage the business in the corner.

Arn Anderson is #16, Savage eliminates Valentine! I wouldn't eff with Anderson. Michaels eliminated by Anderson and Savage. Tully is out there at #17 and works together with his partner Anderson. Beautiful spinebuster by Anderson on Jannetty. Jannetty finally eliminated. Hulk Hogan at 18!!! Hulkster eliminates Perfect. Santana got eliminated but the announcers and I missed it. Bushwhacker #2 at #19. A Bushwhacker is eliminated by Bad News Brown. Koko B. Ware at #20. Hogan eliminates Ware. Hogan eliminates the second Bushwhacker. Hogan eliminates Anderson and Blanchard. Warlord comes in at #21 and Hogan eliminates him in about a second.

Bad News Brown and Savage on the ropes and Hogan eliminates both of them! Hogan last man standing! Savage is pissed and comes back in the ring and pushes Hogan. Elizabeth comes out to the ring to calm down Macho Man. Savage tries to shake Hogan's hand and Hogan reluctantly accepts. Honestly, how was Hogan not the bad guy? I get Savage as the jealous boyfriend but man, who wouldn't be pissed?

Boss Man is #22 and the Boss Man/Hogan showdown is on. Boss Man's partner, Akeem is #23. Hogan slams Akeem. Boss Man and Akeem are such an odd duo. I mean I know they are both big but two totally different personalities. Boss Man and Akeem eliminate Hogan, but Hogan makes sure to eliminate Boss Man! Brutus Beefcake is #24. Hogan and Boss Man brawling to the back. Red Rooster at #25. Barbarian at #26. Yeah, this Rumble is really beginning to fall off.

Big splash by Akeem on Rooster. Big John Studd at #27. Hercules at #28. Martel at #29. Finally, DiBiase at #30. Rooster eliminated by the Million Dollar Man. Barbarian eliminates Hercules and Beefcake. Martel eliminates Barbarian with a dropkick. Akeem catches Martel and throws him out of the ring. Studd eliminates Akeem and it's down to Studd and DiBiase! Million Dollar wants to offer Studd money, but Studd doesn't want it. Studd is throwing DiBiase all around the ring before eliminating him. Virgil comes in to attack Studd and Studd easily puts him away.

Conclusion: The Royal Rumble was fantastic up until Savage and Hogan were eliminated, and then it went downhill from there. No interest in the final four whatsoever (Martel, DiBiase, Studd, and Akeem). Still, there was a lot of action throughout, cool spots like Roberts coming back out, and storyline progression. The six-man tag team match was really good and Haku/Race was passable. Even Rude/Warrior ended on a good note. OK enough backstage promos and Monsoon and Ventura were even better than usual. The women's match and the last portion of the Rumble match really end up dragging this show down. Also suffers quite a bit from being pretty meaningless. Score: 2.4

Next Up... WrestleMania V

[Hanley!]

Are the scores out of 5 or 10?