bh_tafe3 The WWE did a great job with building this PPV, the main story going in was the former super patriot Sgt Slaughter had turned his back on America aligning himself with Iraqis General Adnan and Col Mustafa and would be taking on WWE Champion Ultimate Warrior for the WWE Championship. Slaughter was a hated man at this point in history. The Warrior himself though had earned the ire of the Macho King Randy Savage, who believed that Warrior was denying him, unfairly, of a title shot.The night began with a fast paced and exciting tag match between The Rockers: Shawn Micheals and Marty Janetty and the Oriet Express. This was one of the standout matches from a great era for tag team wrestling, won by the Rockers with Janetty pinning Tanaka.Next up the Macho King Randy Savage talks to Sean Mooney. He is upset that he has not been given a title shot by the Ultimate Warrior.Big Boss Man was involved in a a rivalry with the Family Heenan and tonight faced the Barbarian and picked up an easy victory.Next up the Ultimate Warrior does a confusing interview and is begged by Queen Sherri to give the Macho King a Title shot if he defeats Sgt Slaughhter in the next match. Warrior refuses. It's a decision he'd regret after the match started as Savage broke his King sceptre on Warrior's head, knocking him out and allowing Slaughter to pick up the pin and win the WWE Championship. Savage and Sherri made a bee-line for the arena exit to escape the Warrior's wrath. The crowd was stunned.Their moods didn't improve as the Mountie destroyed Koko B Ware in a charmless match to follow that up and Slaughter, flanked by Adnan and Mustafa, then told Mean Gene how much he hates America in a backstage interview.Some fans then wished the soldiers in Iraq good luck and god-speed before Ted DiBiase told us all that Virgil was his slave and would do anything for money. And by the way, he was going to beat Dusty Rhodes and his son Dustin later tonight.And he wasn't telling any lies, even after dismissing Virgil he was able to single handedly win the tag match, getting Dustin in the Million Dollar Dream. He then called Virgil back to the ring to put the Million Dollar belt around his waist. But Virgil refused, knocking DiBiase out with a belt shot. The crowd, bummed out by all the evil triumphing good, went ballistic as Virgil, emancipated walked triumphantly to the back. That was probably the greatest moment in ROyal Rumble history so far.So now comes the Main Event, the Royal Rumble and it was "The Real American" Hulk Hogan who emerged victorious, eliminating seven people, including Earthquake to win the match for a second straight year. Greg Valentine earned some props for going more than 45 minutes, but Rick Martel did even better, lasting just 8 minutes shy of an hour.And so the big questions now were just what was going to happen when the Ultimate Warrior got his hands on Savage? And who was going to restore American pride to the WWE after their Championship had been won by an Iraqi sympathiser?

BobbyUK Here are the matches...The Rockers vs The Orient Express: This was probably the best match these two tag teams ever had and certainly the best match of the night. Almost perfect choreography featuring some nice touches (examples being the 'accidental' bumps Kato and Tanaka take when they collide into each other and the excellent Shawn Michaels spot where he drops into the belt the Express attempt to double-clothesline him with and makes them clash into each other). The match ends in excellent fashion when Jannetty rolls up Tanaka after failing a slingshot/chop combination tag team move. An inspired start. 9/10 The Bigbossman v Barbarian: This was building up to Wrestlemania 7 as Bossman systematically defeated The Heenan Family and Barbarian was his next and biggest challenge. The match was watchable but quite slow (probably because Bossman was ensnared in the bear-hug for too long and given too much time to do the clichéd heroic comeback). Not bad in itself but probably better watched in fast-forward. 5/10 Ultimate Warrior v Sgt Slaughter for the WWF world title: You can forget about wrestling in this one as it is fuelled by controversial events. Warrior gets first blood by assaulting Slaughter after breaking the Iraqi flag and ripping it up. I find it odd that Ultimate Warrior is used in this patriotic way as his character hails from Parts Unknown, presumably from another planet. Warrior then starts choking Slaughter with the flag, forcing it in his mouth. Slaughter bumps for Warrior until 'Machoking' Randy Savage's manager Sherri comes to the ring (Warrior refused Savage a title shot if he kept the title). Warrior chases Sherri down the aisle only to get ambushed by Savage on the way to the back, dropping a spotlight stand on him. The fans urge Warrior on as he makes a desperate crawl back towards the ring. Slaughter takes control and puts Warrior in the camel clutch. Warrior gets out of it and starts to make a comeback, gorilla pressing an invading Sherri onto a returning Savage outside the ring with a lot of force. Savage gets the last laugh by smashing his sceptre in Warrior's face allowing Slaughter to get the pin. The fans were hot for this all the way through and the antics by Savage had an intensity about them. This wasn't much of a wrestling match (scores 3) but great story-telling throughout, a genuinely surprising ending, a set up match for Wrestlemania and commentators Gorilla Monsoon and 'Rowdy' Roddy Piper sell the action like Slaughter committed murder (scores 8). 5/10 Koko B Ware vs The Mountie: For a squash match against Koko this was given far too much time and it looked like both men didn't really know what to do with the time they were given. Mountie stalls quite a bit and throws Ware to the outside twice. Ware does a lot of arm flapping but completes a half-decent dropkick from the top rope and a bodycross. However, Mountie bests him with what looks like The Bossman Slam. In the Colloseum Video version this match was removed. Luckily in this case you truly haven't missed anything. 3/10Dusty and Dustin Rhodes v 'Million Dollar Man' Ted Dibiase and Virgil: Dusty Rhodes's feud with Dibiase started at Summerslam 1990. Pacing here was quite choppy to start as Dibiase was stalling the match, showing his dominance over Virgil and often scolding him if he messed up. During the match, Dustin got injured and Dusty got rolled up by Dibiase, distracted by concern for his son. This would spell the end of Dusty's often ridiculed run with the WWF and both father and son would later go to WCW. After the match, 'manservant' Virgil after 3 years of waiting on Dibiase hand on foot finally rebels and wallops Dibiase with The Million Dollar Belt becoming a face. The crowd went absolutely crazy! I'll give it 4/10 for the match and 8/10 for the aftermath so I'll make it 5/10). Royal Rumble 1991: The theme of the night was endurance and a celebration of the mid-carder. Paul Roma from 'Power and Glory' and The Undertaker almost lasted 15 minutes. Hulk Hogan, Mr Perfect, 'Crush' and 'Smash' of Demoliton and Earthquake lasted over 15 minutes, Bret Hart of Hart Foundation, Shane Douglas and Texas Tornado lasted over 20 minutes (remember Tornado did this on one foot!). Tito Santana and Hercules lasted over 30 minutes but the old-timers were Greg Valentine who entered at number 3 lasting almost 45 minutes beating Ted Dibiase's record the year before and then Rick 'The Model' Martel (wrestler of the night without a doubt) at number 6 bettered Valentine again by lasting over 50 minutes. Some Rumble highlights include Greg Valentine starting his face turn by turning on Dino Bravo, Jake Roberts chasing Rick Martel around the ring, Legion of Doom eliminating an impressive Undertaker and the start of a character turn by Tugboat who almost eliminates Hulk Hogan. Bushwhacker 'Butch' lasts a laughable 4 seconds entering the ring from one end and leaving the other. Interestingly, these wrestlers looked like they were at war, desperately doing anything they could to survive and a sharp contrast to the almost feather-like quality wrestlers have today who seem to springboard over the top rope to get eliminated far too easily.Hulk Hogan was the obvious choice to win the contest after dedicating it to the armed forces in the Persian Gulf and I'm happy with a bit of predictability now and then. Hogan eliminated 6 people before finally hoofing Earthquake over from behind to win making his second Royal Rumble win in succession. It makes you wonder how much better this rumble would have been if 'Machoking' Randy Savage showed up at number 18! Royal Rumble 1991 is often overlooked but it does have some real history to it, a wonderful opener, a crazy WWF title match and a feel-good Rumble.

wwfhistoryguy *SPOILERS*I gave this one the first 10 I've given for any WWF show. All matches were just great. Keep in mind, the obligatory Koko B. Ware putting over debuting heel (in this case, the Mountie) match is not on the video. I'm sure it was nothing special, besides one of Koko's great dropkicks.The Rockers-Orient Express opener was just great, lasting nearly 20 minutes. The action never lets up, and there are several very inventive spots. The end is quite original. Amazingly, this was the Rockers' first pay-per-view win ever, from their debut at the '88 Survivor Series.The Warrior-Slaughter match was at its best at the outset, when the Warrior beat the stuffing out of him and tortured him with the Iraqi flag. Did you know that Slaughter had to wait until 3am to leave the arena?I think I remember Virgil's turn the most. This feud would not have been as good had it not been for Piper's involvement.The battle royal was the best ever. That includes Ric Flair's performance the year after. This one didn't depend on just one performance, because it had several, including two Iron Men, Greg Valentine and Rick Martel. Valentine had one elimination, while Martel collected several over the course of the match. Earthquake is an overlooked participant, and the British Bulldog got an immediate push, eliminating Haku, Martel, and I-C champ Mr. Perfect. He would spend the next 19 months in mediocrity. I guess the bookers forgot that Jim Duggan had won a Rumble before and made him mail it in.Royal Rumbles always tended to lose steam about the 30- or 40-minute mark, but this one never let up on the action. There were still oodles of men in the ring when Tugboat, number 30, came in. That and a great undercard make this the best Rumble in history.

jimjam20-2 here it is....this was the first pay per view that I ever saw...its not the best card or anything..its not even the best Rumble ever...but there are certalny some historical stuff here.....it has a very good Rockers vs Orient Express match, fast paced and very well done....Boss Man vs Barbarian is a pretty good power match in its own right...the infamous Sgt. Slaughter world title win (he was supporting Iraq at the time and it was during the Gulf War..and I admit I was pullin for him back then...prolly the only sixth grader in american goin for the Iraqi sympatheizer) it had Virgils' classic face turn...where he hits Ted Dibiasie with his own Million Dollar Belt...it was great...and the Rumble itself...pretty entertaining brawl over all...and it had an Iron Man like performance from one of my all time favorites....Rick Martel who lasts damn near an hour...in the end that bald son of a b*tch Hulk Hogan won yet again...over all it was a decent card...and for me...its a true classic....I dont watch wrestling anymore....the early 90s was when I was truly a fan...it might be popular now....but I miss the old days..well, thats all I have to say right now....today made 10 years since I saw it the first time....i'll never forget this event thanks for reading