WWE Vintage Collection Report: 4th January 2009
By Shaun Best-Rajah.com Reporter
Hosted by: Mean Gene Okerlund
Happy New Year everyone. Today’s show is all about my favourite PPV, the Royal Rumble. To be specific, the inaugural Royal Rumble, held on 24th January 1988 at Copps Coliseum in Hamilton, Ontario. To whet the appetite, a video loaded with Rumble stats airs before the show starts. It’s very similar to the one that ran before last year’s Rumble. Apparently, Rey Mysterio holds the record for the longest stint at 62mins 12 secs from 2006. (That timing seems a bit dubious to me). Meanwhile, the Warlord has the dubious honour for the least time spent in a Rumble, clocking just two seconds in 1989. As we all know, the Rumble was the brainchild of Hall of Famer Pat Patterson. However, in 1988, only twenty men participated. From 1989 onwards the thirty man format we know and love came into play. Right now, the 1988 Rumble is replayed in full, with alleged two minute delays between participants. (This altered throughout the match depending on how things were panning out). The commentators are Vince McMahon and Jesse Ventura. Let’s get ready to Rumble!!!!
Bret Hart and Tito Santana are already in the ring as Howard Finkel announces them. Strike Force were the reigning Tag Team champions, having won the belts from the Hart Foundation, so this was the continuation of an established feud. Ventura makes note of this fact early on. Both tear into the other with punches. Bret uses an inverted atomic drop and elbow from the second rope to get the advantage. Santana fires back with his patented flying forearm as #3 “The Natural” Butch Reed enters. Reed, sporting Shelton Benjamin type hair assists Bret with a double team. Things get worse for Santana when #4 is Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart. Santana is predictably triple teamed.
As the Harts and Reed try to get Santana out, McMahon says they’ll fare better if just one person tries. Consumed with Santana, the heels pay no attention as #5 Jake “The Snake” Roberts slithers in. Jake immediately dumps Reed out before whipping the Harts into one another. Anvil clotheslines Jake to stop a DDT on Bret. Bret drills Santana with a piledriver. #6 is “King” Harley Race, who methodically drops a series of elbows onto Jake. “Jumping” Jim Brunzell of the Killer Bees comes in at #7 to even up the playing fields. Jake tries to take a piece of the Anvil’s goatee, which leaves the Anvil wincing and not amused. #8 is Sam Houston (Jake’s real life brother) wearing a red bandit’s hankie around his neck. The Harts group together to toss Santana out.
As Jake sends Bret into the ringpost, #9 “Dangerous” Danny Davis makes his way out. After Jake uses Race as a punching springboard in the ropes, he turns his attention to Davis. The crowd are itching for a DDT and chant for it several times, but Davis thwarts Jake’s every attempt. McMahon asks if Ventura’s entering, but Ventura says no as he’s wearing his nice clothes. #10 is Boris Zhukov of the Bolsheviks. When Zhukov engages with Race, Ventura plays up the heel-on-heel action, resulting in McMahon trumpeting the infamous ‘every man for himself’ line. Bret resorts to some double team tactics to wear down Brunzell and Houston, before giving Houston a backbreaker.
#11 sees “The Rock” Don Muraco enter. Unbeknownst to Muraco, Nikolai Volkoff, who has jumped the gun on his own entry, runs in right behind him. While being detained at ringside by officials, Volkoff is powerless to stop Brunzell and Jake from eliminating his partner Zhukov.
Volkoff is finally allowed in at #12 and goes after Houston. Poor Houston. Everyone seems to be going for him upon entering. Muraco clotheslines Race out. Race refuses to leave and gets into it with #13 who’s Hacksaw Jim Duggan. After chasing Race to the back, Hacksaw steps into battle to a rousing reception and assaults the Anvil with a flurry of punches. The ring is filling up and #14 Outlaw Ron Bass takes the playing field to ten. Volkoff presses Brunzell out, then Bass whips Muraco into the corner upside down. Muraco manages to stay in the hunt. #15 is B. Brian Blair, the other Killer Bee. Shame he wasn’t a few seconds earlier as he could have helped his partner Brunzell stay in. Ventura scolds Blair for going after Bret, saying he’s an easy target for being in there the longest. Blair finds himself geting double teamed by the Harts. Hilbilly Jim(sporting a wicked perm) enters at #16. Most of these entrants are running out before the clock reaches zero. The crowd aren’t counting down and there’s no buzzer either. Hilbilly dumps out the Anvil, then turns his attention to Davis. Bass nearly throws Blair out. #17 is Dino Bravo with manager Frenchy Martin in tow. Managers were allowed to stay ringside at this point in time. McMahon disputes Bravo’s recent bench pressing feat. Houston gets on the shoulders of Bass and starts to punch, but Bass dumps him out. Ten men are in the ring.
#18 is the Ultimate Warrior. Believe it or not, Warrior doesn’t get that big of a pop upon coming out and is rather subdued by Warrior standards. He wasn’t a bona fide superstar……..yet. Muraco throws Bret out to end his night at roughly thirty two minutes. Bret argues a little before leaving. Bret set the precedent for the ‘Marathon man’ in Rumble matches, which people like Greg Valentine, Rick Martel, Ric Flair, Shawn Michaels and Rey Mysterio extended in later years. #19 is One Man Gang. McMahon asks Ventura why Gang would go after Jake. Ventura says because he’s a snake. LOL. Warrior gets a sleeper on Gang. Despite favouring his eyes, Gang still manages to toss Blair out. Gang quickly follows this by pushing Jake out. The last man in at #20 is Junkyard Dog. Ten men are still in the ring and McMahon picks the Dog or the Gang to win. Ventura agrees as Hacksaw ducks a Volkoff swing and eliminates him. Elsewhere, Gang gets rid of Hilbilly Jim.
Hacksaw disposes of Davis with a three point stance clothesline, before Gang and Bravo combine to throw Warrior out. This gets no reaction from the crowd and Warrior doesn’t pitch a fit either. He simply pounds the mat then leaves. Six men are now left. After Gang rakes JYD’s eyes, Bass takes advantage to throw the Dog out. Muraco clotheslines Bass from behind, with Bass taking an unconvincing run and dive over the top rope to the floor. Four men are left: Hacksaw, Muraco, Bravo and the Gang. After a brief pairing off, Gang squashes Hacksaw in the corner with an avalanche splash. Muraco briefly holds his own against Gang and Bravo. Frenchy gets on the apron so Muraco dropkicks him off. This distraction allows Bravo to attack and hold Muraco. Gang charges forward and clotheslines Muraco out. After a double clothesline on Hacksaw, the heels try to repeat the move that eliminated Muraco, but Hacksaw moves and Gang clotheslines Bravo out. Hacksaw punches at Gang. Gang counters a backbodydrop and takes control, choking Hacksaw along the top rope. With Hacksaw softened up, Gang charges, but Hacksaw pulls the top rope down and Gang goes sailing out. Ventura can’t believe it. McMahon calls Hacksaw’s tactic smart. Ventura quips that with Hacksaw’s brainpower, he tripped, fell, and the Gang went out. I love Ventura’s rationales. The crowd pop for Hacksaw’s victory. Hoooooooooooooo! Here is Your Winner: HACKSAW JIM DUGGAN.
After putting over Hacksaw’s win, Okerlund talks about the evolution of the Rumble, and its prize of a WrestleMania title shot. Okerlund then wraps things up to end the show. Nothing is mentioned, but I assume the 1989 Rumble will be under the spotlight next week. I love the surprise element of this show as you never quite know what you’re going to get. Great show this week. This would be a perfect platform for new fans tuning in to WWE, to introduce them to the Rumble concept. Its history and rules were clearly showcased and it provided the perfect advert for this year’s Rumble in three weeks time. Food for thought. Don’t forget to vote on the Vintage Collection Awards which is up in the columns section of the site. See you next week. Shaun.
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