Welcome to “A Taste of the New Generation”. A review article that looks back at the tumultuous and infamously bad new generation era of the wwf from 1993-1996. And this week, it’s time to rumble. It’s one of the biggest matches in the WWF, the Royal Rumble. Aired live from the ARCO Arena from Sacramento California. With an interesting card including a WWF title match with current champion Bret Hart facing hot challenger Razor Ramon. Also former Rockers turned bitter rivals Marty Jannetty and Shawn Michaels battle for the prestigious Intercontinental Championship. And of course the 30-man over the top rope royal rumble to determine who will go to Wrestlemania IX to challenge the WWF champion in the main event. So, let’s get rumbling.
We’re welcomed into the ARCO arena with our commentators for the night, Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby “The Brain” Heenan. Heenan runs down the big matches of the card, while Bobby reminds Gorilla about the debut of Narcissus, much to the chagrin of Gorilla.
Our opening contest is Beau and Blake, the Beverly Brothers taking on Rick and Scott, the Steiner Brothers. Gorilla says that the Steiners are receiving a standing ovation, but that’s far from the case. Match starts extremely slow with Scott in control early, while the Beverlys mostly complain about the Steiners cheating. Rick gets tagged in to a pretty strong pop, but his momentum is taken away quickly by Blake Beverly. A nice powerslam by Blake, but Rick gets a big slam off a leapfrog by Blake. Scott gets tagged in, and hits a big belly to belly on Blake. But Beau stops an attempted underhook.
Gorilla and Heenan talk about the Narcissist’s debut, as Gorilla is concerned about the royal rumble match being spoiled. Quick tags from the Beverlys who continue to work down Scott Steiner. Blake Beverly chokes out Scott with the tag rope, and Beau lands a nice double underhook. Steiner gets locked in the Boston crab, but that is quickly broken. Scott finally gets a suplex counter on Blake, but is still unable to get the hot tag to Rick. More offense, but Scott gets an underhook powerbomb almost out of nowhere, and finally gets the tag to Rick, who just starts launching the Beverly brothers. He hit a big supled, dropping Beau on his head. Rick gets in clotheslines to both Beverlys, and tags in Scott, who punches one Beverly in the corner. Big counter of a doomsday device by Scott. Match ends with Scott getting in a Frankensteiner, dropping one of the Beverlys right on his head, for the three.
While the match started rather slow, it picked up by the end big time. Both Rick and Scott put on a great performance, and the Beverly Brothers did solid work in this match as well. For an opening match at the Rumble, it does a good job in warming up the crowd for the show.
Up next is the match that was a year in the making. Former rockers turned bitter rivals Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty square off for the WWF Intercontinental Championship. And we get a video package detailing the long history between the two. From their time together as the Rockers, to the infamous edition of “The Barber Shop”, where Shawn would superkick Marty, and throw him through the barber shop window. Janetty would vanish from the WWF for a while until the October 31st edition of Superstars where as Shawn was posing in a mirror held by Sensational Sherri, he would get a vision of his past as Marty would jump the guardrail and attack Shawn.
Trying to give Shawn a taste of his own medicine, Marty would try to hit him with the mirror. However, the dastardly intercontinental champ would pull Sherri in front of the mirror, causing her to be smashed over the head with it. Therein leads to this match, as not only does Shawn have to defend his gold, but we’re left wondering where Sherri’s loyalties lie after Shawn’s act of cowardice, as she returns to the WWF tonight.
Before the match begins, Sherri would go to ringside on her own, leaving it open to debate just who she’s on the side of. And with that we get the long awaited encounter between the rockers for the IC Strap. Shawn invites Sherri into the ring, but she declines, showing a bit of disdain over the cocky champion. Bell rings as Shawn pushes Marty around, and gets a right hand. Shawn runs around, but eventually gets caught by Marty. Marty sends Shawn over the rope for the first time in this match, only to do it again moments later. A decent dive out of the ring by Marty keeping Shawn down, and it’s followed by a right off the top rope. However, a second attempt gets caught by Shawn.
With Shawn now in control, he rams Jannetty into the post shoulder-first, and continues working on the injured shoulder. They cut to a concerned Sherri, as Heenan is still convinced that she’s on Shawn’s side. Shawn continues work on the left shoulder for quite a while. Heenan suggests that he would piledrive Marty on the steps to break his head and shoulders. Wow, Brain is bloodthirsty tonight. Marty eventually starts to fight back, but Shawn keeps on the bad shoulder. Arm wringers by Shawn get met with offense, but again, it’s too little as Shawn continues focus on the bad shoulder.
Shawn dives off the 2nd rope only to meet a foot to the face. Shawn rushes into the corner only to get a taste of his medicine as he goes shoulder-first into the post. Marty wins over an exchange of blows, but gets tossed out by Shawn to the outside. Suplex attempt on the apron is countered by Marty, sending Shawn again over the top rope. Sherri goes over to Shawn, and we see where her loyalties are as she slaps him, much to the disgust of Bobby Heenan.
Nice back suplex by Marty from the apron to the outside for two. And for the fourth time in this match, Shawn gets thrown over the top rope. Marty gets a huge powerslam on Shawn, and goes to the top rope with Shawn over halfway across the ring. He lands on his feet when Shawn moves, and gets a DDT for a close two count. Marty nails Shawn with a superkick for another close two. Michaels tries to sunset flip, gets countered into an eventual slingshot and roll into another close two count . Ref gets bumped as Marty holds Shawn. Sherri comes in, and takes off one of her heels in an attempt to smack Shawn with it, only to end up hitting Marty accidentally.
Shawn corners Sherri, while berating her. Shawn lands the superkick for the three as Sherri runs to the back. Mean Gene tries to get a hold of the hysterical Sherri as Shawn gives chase in the back. He confronts Sherri, but is attacked by Marty, as the officials try to hold the two apart.
This match was easily the best of the night so far, but I will say it was a bit underwhelming in-ring. Mostly consisting of a bit too much focus on Marty’s shoulder, only for it to be ignored by the end of the match. However, when it picked up by the end, it was some great action, and plenty of close near-falls. What made the match great however was the drama, and the continuation of this feud, even though it seems like we’re going to focus less on Shawn and Marty from this point on, and more on the situation between Shawn and Sherri.
Up next is a match between Bam Bam Bigelow and the Big Boss Man. First off, I love the Boss Man’s theme. Absolutely screams cheesy early 90’s. Boss Man gets a pretty decent pop for his entrance. Bam Bam starts with early offense in the corner. Boss Man finally gets the advantage by finally knocking Bam Bam down with two clotheslines. Boss Man is favoring the wrapped right hand, but scores a bulldog. However, Bam Bam sends Boss Man over the top rope with his back smashing into the ring apron. Heenan makes an “Achy Breaky Back” joke, which is worth a cringe worthy chuckle.
Bam Bam continues to work on the lower back of the Boss Man. A waistlock is applied, trying to squeeze the lower back on Boss Man, but he can’t get them all the way around due to Boss Man’s girth. Despite an attempt by Boss Man to gain advantage, Bam Bam sends him throat first into the rope, which leads to a more successful waistlock. Suplex attempt by Bam Bam is countered by the Boss Man, but he doesn’t get all of it as he collapses. Cross body by Bam Bam is ducked by Boss Man, who gets a big back drop, which does his injured back no favors. A guillotine on the ropes and a loaded punch is all the advantage Boss Man gets as Bam Bam sends him down, and goes to the top rope to deliver his headbutt for the three.
This match was far better than I had worried. It was slower than Shawn vs Marty, but I liked it more because the focus was always on the lower back of Boss Man, and both guys worked the best they could for a big man match. A sad note coming out of this match is that this will be Boss Man’s final pay per view appearance. He’ll still be around for a couple more months though. As for Bam Bam, he’s going to be around for quite some time, with the biggest highlight of his career coming in 1995.
Stay tuned next week for Part 2 as we look at Bret vs Razor, the debut of the Narcissist, and the 1993 Royal Rumble