Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan provide commentary for today’s episode, taped in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Hacksaw Jim Duggan’s squash from Prime Time Wrestling begins the telecast.
Lord Alfred Hayes’ Special Report provides words from WWF Champion the Ultimate Warrior for The Royal Rumble. The Warrior promises that he is ready for combat against Sergeant Slaughter.
The Warlord’s squash from Prime Time Wrestling is shown.
Shane Douglas (1-0) pins Black Bart with a flying body press at 3:12:
Bart was a sixteen-year veteran who got his name from Dusty Rhodes. While in Florida he was an NWA United States tag team champion with Ron Bass and in World Class he was heavyweight champion, awarded the belt in a phantom title change over Chris Adams. After working for New Japan and Memphis he was signed by the WWF and debuted in February 1990 but was only used as an opening worker on house shows and as an enhancement talent on television. In 1990 he made more television appearances than any other enhancement talent in the company.
Douglas does an insert promo about how he relishes his role as an underdog going into the Royal Rumble. Douglas catches Bart with a few flying headscissors, prompting Monsoon to recollect that the best headscissors he ever saw was from Red Bastien, hardly a timely reference for the WWF’s younger audience. Bart catches Douglas with a backbreaker but his offensive ends after a blind charge and he loses after a slam and flying body press.
The Big Bossman (2-0) defeats Bob Bradley after the Bossman Slam at 1:44:
As the Bossman destroys Bradley in the corner, the Barbarian and Heenan do an insert promo where the Barbarian vows to never let the Bossman touch Heenan at The Royal Rumble. After winning with the usual, the Bossman puts the ball and chain on Bradley and dumps the ball on his chest.
Gene Okerlund interviews Sergeant Slaughter and General Adnan. Slaughter tells the Ultimate Warrior, who he called “the Ultimate Puke,” that he is going to take his title like Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein took Kuwait. This long promo repeated Slaughter’s main talking points over the last month
Tugboat (1-0) pins Spike Jones after a splash at 1:40:
According to cagematch.net, Jones started working in Arizona in 1969. He did enhancement work for the AWA in the mid-1980s and did jobs for the WWF from 1989-1992.
Heenan argues on commentary that Hulk Hogan is ducking Tugboat, which is unconscionable because Tugboat organized the campaign to get Hogan back into the ring for SummerSlam. In the split screen, Tugboat says he will do his best against Hogan because he knows Hogan will try his best too. Jones tries to attack Tugboat before the bell, but Tugboat does not sell his moves, looking annoyed as he puts his sailor cap on the ring post. When Tugboat does focus on the match, he aggressively annihilates Jones, dropping a quick elbow drop and using his belly as a weapon to win his second match of the year.
Okerlund does The Royal Rumble Report. In Rumble promos, Hulk Hogan bills the match as a way to find out who the top guy in the WWF is, Jake Roberts says he looks forward to the Royal Rumble as a way to get even with Rick Martel, Smash says that he looks forward to the destruction that the Rumble might bring, Hawk talks about how it gives him a rush to imagine fighting Animal at the end, Intercontinental Champion Mr. Perfect vows to become a perfect winner, Randy Savage and Sensational Sherri says there is just one more week before he wins it all, and WWF Tag Team Champions the Hart Foundation argue that they are ready. There is also a replay of an old Dusty & Dustin Rhodes promo about the power of their blood.
Earthquake’s squash from Prime Time Wrestling is shown.
Tune in next week to see Jimmy Snuka, Rick Martel, the British Bulldog, the Undertaker, and the Texas Tornado in action!
The Last Word: The Royal Rumble build continued on this show, half of which featured replays of matches from earlier in the week. Even though there was not a lot to see, it was nice that the WWF was giving motivations to as many Royal Rumble participants as possible, casting Shane Douglas as the big underdog in the match and Tugboat as someone who wanted to prove himself against Hulk Hogan.
The WWF spent the first part of the week doing new television tapings for Superstars and Wrestling Challenge that would air after The Royal Rumble. Here was a summary of their house show action later in the week, courtesy of thehistoryofwwe.com:
Long Island, New York – The Nassau Coliseum – January 11, 1991: Dustin Rhodes beat Buddy Rose…Koko B. Ware pinned Sonny Blaze (substituting for Haku)…Roddy Piper & the Texas Tornado defeated Mr. Perfect & Virgil (substituting for Ted DiBiase) when the Tornado pinned Perfect. After the match, Perfect and Virgil argued and Virgil eventually nailed Perfect…Rick Martel beat Jake Roberts via disqualification…Dino Bravo defeated Saba Simba…Tugboat beat the Barbarian via disqualification…Earthquake pinned Jim Powers (substituting for Jimmy Snuka)…WWF Tag Team Champions the Hart Foundation beat Power & Glory.
Boston, Massachusetts – The Boston Garden – January 12, 1991 (matinee): Dustin Rhodes (substituting for Sam Houston) pinned Buddy Rose…Haku beat Koko B. Ware…Jake Roberts defeated Rick Martel via disqualification…The Barbarian pinned Saba Simba…The Texas Tornado defeated Intercontinental Champion Mr. Perfect via disqualification in a match where Roddy Piper was guest referee…WWF Tag Team Champions the Hart Foundation beat Power & Glory when Bret Hart pinned Paul Roma…Hulk Hogan & Tugboat beat Earthquake & Dino Bravo when Hogan pinned Bravo.
Tempe, Arizona – ASU Activity Center – January 12, 1991: Shane Douglas pinned Black Bart…The Big Bossman beat Bobby Heenan…Demolition defeated the Bushwhackers…WWF Champion the Ultimate Warrior beat Randy Savage via count out…Sergeant Slaughter beat Hacksaw Jim Duggan…The Legion of Doom defeated the Orient Express & Mr. Fuji in a handicap match when Animal pinned Kato.
Indianapolis, Indiana – Market Square Arena – January 13, 1991: The Texas Tornado beat Virgil…Jake Roberts defeated Rick Martel via disqualification…The Barbarian beat Tito Santana (substituting for Jimmy Snuka)…Tugboat pinned Dino Bravo with a splash…Roddy Piper beat Intercontinental Champion Mr. Perfect via count out…Koko B. Ware pinned Buddy Rose (substituting for Haku) with a missile dropkick…WWF Tag Team Champions the Hart Foundation beat Power & Glory when Bret Hart pinned Paul Roma…Hulk Hogan defeated Earthquake in a stretcher match.
Backstage News*: The plan for WrestleMania VII appears to have shifted to Sergeant Slaughter defending the WWF Championship against Hulk Hogan. The WWF wanted Hogan to do a big visit with U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia to lay the foundation for the feud but the USO would not approve of it. Slaughter’s character has also been condemned by the Iraqi Embassy, which is worried that it might spur violence against Iraqis in the United States. Iraq’s foreign ministry is also incensed by the use of Saddam Hussein’s name on WWF programming. And the WWF apparently never thought that the tensions in the Middle East would lead to a U.S. military operation, so they are concerned about blowback for the angle if the war becomes a quagmire like Vietnam.
*WrestleMania tickets are already selling poorly as the WWF needs to sell 100,000 of them but less than 30,000 seats have been sold. This is setting off a small panic in Stamford, which could explain why Konnan got a tryout recently because the WWF thinks an ethnic star could help them sell better in Los Angeles.
*The WWF’s show at the Nassau Coliseum ran opposite of WCW’s house show at the Meadowlands on the same night and drew about 9,000 fans versus WCW’s show drawing 5,000 fans. WCW’s show featured Ric Flair beating Sting to regain the WCW Championship. What makes it worse for WCW is that the WWF’s B-team outdrew them, but the WWF was also defending a home market so it is not surprising that they outdrew WCW.
*In Japan, SWS continues to draw poorly and the WWF sending them talent is not turning the tide.
*Jake Roberts is campaigning to turn heel after wrapping up his feud with Rick Martel, noticing that the company lacks good heels and it could elevate his position on the card.
*The WWF is close to taking legal action against Herb Abrams’ UWF promotion because the Honky Tonk Man and Rick Rude showed up at a television taping in New York, although neither of them worked matches. Honky Tonk Man is arguing that he can use his gimmick anywhere because he was Honky Tonk Wayne before signing with the WWF.
*In talent relations news, Ricky Steamboat has signed a two-year deal. Genichiro Tenryu will be coming in for a match at WrestleMania. At the recent television tapings, the WWF gave a tryout to an inexperienced Native American worker named Chris Chavis. Chavis wrestled as War Eagle for one match and then under a mask as Lord Humongous for another. WWF executives are said to have been impressed and look to sign him.
*Backstage news is provided courtesy of Dave Meltzer’s Wrestling Observer for January 21.
Up Next: Prime Time Wrestling for January 14!