WWE - Royal Rumble 1991 & 1992 [DVD]

Royal Rumble 1991 was the last time Hulk Hogan won the event and saw one of the last great matches the Ultimate Warrior had in the WWF (as it was then).

Royal Rumble 1992 is just brilliant due to the genius of Bobby The Brain Heenan and his funny commentary and the excellent Ric Flair winning not only the Rumble at his first attempt but also taking the WWF Title.

The match line ups are as follows on this double DVD running at 319 minutes:

Royal Rumble 1991

Wrestlers taking part in the Royal Rumble: Bret "Hitman" Hart, Dino Bravo, Greg "The Hammer" Valentine, Paul Roma, Texas Tornado, "The Model" Rick Martel, Saba Simba, Bushwhacker Butch, Jake "The Snake" Roberts, Hercules, Tito Santana, The Undertaker, "Superfly" Jimmy Snuka, British Bulldog, Smash, Hawk, Shane Douglas, Animal, Crush, "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan, Earthquake, Mr. Perfect, Hulk Hogan, Haku, Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart, Bushwhacker Luke, Brian Knobbs, Warlord & Tugboat

Sgt. Slaughter v The Ultimate Warrior for the WWF Title

Dusty & Dustin Rhodes v Ted DiBiase & Virgil

The Barbarian v Big Bossman

The Rockers v The Orient Express

Royal Rumble 1992

Wrestlers taking part in the Royal Rumble: British Bulldog, "Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase, Ric Flair, Jerry Sags, Haku, Shawn Michaels, "El Matador" Tito Santana, The Barbarian, The Texas Tornado, Repo Man, Greg "The Hammer" Valentine, Nikolai Volkoff, Big Bossman, Hercules, "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, Jake "The Snake" Roberts, "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan, Irwin R. Schyster, "Superfly" Jimmy Snuka, The Undertaker, "Macho Man" Randy Savage, The Berzerker, Virgil, Colonel Mustafa, "The Model" Rick Martel, Hulk Hogan, Skinner, Sgt. Slaughter, Sid Justice & The Warlord

The Legion of Doom v The Natural Disasters

The Beverly Brothers v The Bushwhackers

The Mountie v Roddy piper for the WWF Intercontinental Title

The New Foundation v The Orient Express

The first match is The Rockers v. The New Orient Express. This is the PPV debut of Paul Diamond as the masked Kato, and the match is pretty good, probably about 4/5 stars. The next match is The Mountie v. The Brooklyn Brawler, in a short one-star match with The Mountie dominating. Third match is Big Bossman v. The Barbarian, in a decent 7-minute match.

The next match up is the WWF Title match between The Ultimate Warrior and Sgt. Slaughter, and the crowd are really into this one, with Slaughter getting an amazingly hostile reaction. The match itself wasn't much good, but the result was fairly shocking for that time.

The fifth match was Dusty and Dustin Rhodes v. Ted Dibiase & Virgil, and this was Dustin's PPV debut, and since both Rhodes' were leaving for WCW, this match's result was fairly obvious. With respect though, they still put on a good three-star match.

The rumble itself was the last match, with a whole host of the biggest names involved, with possibly the most famous one winning it. Overall, the Rumble 1991 is a decent show, with an overall rating of three stars.

-----

Royal Rumble 1992 is live from Albany, New York, and the hosts are Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan. The opening match is The New Foundation v. The Orient Express, and is a fairly decent opener. Worth watching, and it's always nice to watch Bret and Owen.

The second match was the Intercontinental title match between The Mountie v. Rowdy Roddy Piper, and the match was poor, about 1 star, but the result was a moment of history, so its a moment a WWF fan must see. The third match was The Beverly Brothers v. The Bushwhackers, in a time filler match that isn't worth mentioning. Fourth match was the WWF tag team title match between the Legion of Doom v. The Natural Disasters in another decent match but nothing special.

The 1992 rumble match itself is still the best Rumble match in history so buy this product just for this match. The winner gets the WWF title, so everyone wants to win it, and the winner is completely unpredictable, which makes it great fun. This show, mainly thanks to the Rumble match, gets 4 stars.

This product gets 3 stars overall, with Rumble 92 definitely the better show. Good 2-disc DVD, and an excellent addition to a collection.

The 1992 Royal Rumble to this day is still considered to be the greatest ever - and is worth buying for the rumble match alone. Every top superstar was involved (Hogan/Ric Flair/Sid Justice/The Undertaker etc) and it's just as good almost 13 years on. On the downside - the matches on the undercard are all sluggish affairs, The New Foundation vs The Orient Express is far too long - The Beverley Brothers vs The Bushwackers highlight two teams that never made an impact - and The Legion of Doom vs The Natural Disasters for the Tag-Titles is one too many tag matches on one undercard. The Intercontinental Title match between The Mountie and Roddy Piper is good fun - but forgettable.

Buy this DVD for the 1992 actual Royal Rumble match alone and you'll be happy - just don't expect much from the rest of what's on offer.