The 1991 Royal Rumble was the fourth annual Royal Rumble

professional wrestling Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to Real life, real- ...

pay-per-view Pay-per-view (PPV) is a type of pay television or webcast service that enables a viewer to pay to watch individual events via private telecast. Events can be purchased through a multichannel television platform using their electronic program ...

(PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). It took place on Saturday January 19, 1991, at the Miami Arena in

Miami, Florida Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

. It centered on the Royal Rumble match, a modified

battle royal Battle royal (, also battle royale) traditionally refers to a fight involving many combatants, usually conducted under either boxing or wrestling rules, where the winner is the one who registers the most wins. In recent times, the term has been ...

in which participants enter at timed intervals instead of all beginning in the ring at the same time. Seven matches were contested at the event, including one dark match. The main event was the 1991 Royal Rumble match, which was won by

Hulk Hogan Terry Gene Bollea (; born August 11, 1953), better known by his ring name Hulk Hogan, is an American retired Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE as a brand ambassador. Known for his flamboyance and massive physiq ...

, who last eliminated

Earthquake An earthquakealso called a quake, tremor, or tembloris the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those so weak they ...

, making Hogan the first multi-time Royal Rumble winner. In other featured matches on the undercard, Sgt. Slaughter defeated

The Ultimate Warrior Warrior (born James Brian Hellwig; June 16, 1959 – April 8, 2014) was an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler, Bodybuilding, bodybuilder and Motivational speaker, motivational speaker. Best known by his ring name The Ultima ...

to win the WWF Championship, Ted DiBiase, and

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; 15 October 70 BC21 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Rome, ancient Roman poet of the Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Augustan period. He composed three of the most fa ...

defeated

Dusty Rhodes Virgil Riley Runnels Jr. (October 11, 1945 – June 11, 2015), better known as "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes, was an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler, booker, and trainer who worked for the National Wrestling Alliance ...

, and Dustin Rhodes, The Mountie defeated Koko B. Ware, and The Rockers ( Marty Jannetty and

Shawn Michaels Shawn Michaels (born Michael Shawn Hickenbottom on July 22, 1965) is an American retired professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he is the Senior Vice President of Talent Development, Creative, and oversees the creative aspects of th ...

) defeated The Orient Express ( Kato and Tanaka).

Production

Background

The Royal Rumble is an annual gimmick

(PPV), produced every January by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) since 1988. It is one of the promotion's original four pay-per-views, along with WrestleMania, SummerSlam, and

Survivor Series Survivor Series, branded as Survivor Series: WarGames since 2022, is a professional wrestling event produced annually since 1987 by WWE, the world's largest professional wrestling promotion. Held in November generally the week of Thanksgiving ( ...

, which were dubbed the "Big Four". It is named after the Royal Rumble match, a modified

in which the participants enter at timed intervals instead of all beginning in the ring at the same time. The match generally features 30 wrestlers. The 1991 event was the fourth event in the Royal Rumble chronology, and was scheduled to be held on January 19, 1991, at the Miami Arena in

Storylines

The card consisted of seven matches. The matches resulted from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portrayed heroes, villains, or less distinguishable characters to build tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches. Results were predetermined by WWF's writers, with storylines produced on their weekly television shows; '' Superstars'', '' Wrestling Challenge'', and '' Prime Time Wrestling''. The main feud heading into the Royal Rumble was between the WWF World Heavyweight Champion

, who had been champion since defeating

at WrestleMania VI on April 1, 1990, and Sgt. Slaughter, who had returned to the WWF in 1990 and became a villainous (heel) sympathizer of the Iraqi government. Their feud began building during a time when the United States was engaged in Operation Desert Shield (which became Operation Desert Storm on January 17, two days before the Royal Rumble). During the build-up to their match, Slaughter and his manager, General Adnan, cut several anti-American promos to build heat for the event; at one point, Slaughter unwrapped a present and revealed a pair of boots purportedly sent to him by Iraqi dictator

Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein (28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician and revolutionary who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 1979 until Saddam Hussein statue destruction, his overthrow in 2003 during the 2003 invasion of Ira ...

. In the meantime, "Macho King" Randy Savage challenged Warrior to a series of matches, which Warrior successfully answered.

Event

Main event matches

The tag team match pitting Ted DiBiase, and

against

, and Rhodes' son, Dustin Rhodes was most notable for Virgil's split from DiBiase. Tensions that had been building between the two in the previous weeks exploded when – after the match – Virgil struck DiBiase in the head with his Million Dollar Championship to turn into a

face The face is the front of the head that features the eyes, nose and mouth, and through which animals express many of their emotions. The face is crucial for human identity, and damage such as scarring or developmental deformities may affect th ...

. DiBiase had verbally abused Virgil throughout the match, and at one point, attacked him and threw him from the ring after he was being dominated by the Rhodes team. DiBiase went on to pin Dusty Rhodes with a roll-up.
The History of WWE – 1991. Accessed 08-23-2010. After the match, DiBiase demanded Virgil bring the Million Dollar Championship into the ring and strap it around his waist. Once he got in the ring, Virgil would drop the belt at DiBiase's feet, to which DiBiase ordered Virgil to pick it up. As DiBiase gloated and then turned back around, Virgil hit him in the face with the championship. Before the Warrior-Slaughter match at the Royal Rumble, Sherri Martel, Queen Sherri (Savage's valet) attempted to seduce Warrior into granting Savage a title shot. Warrior refused, enraging Savage. During the match itself, Warrior easily fought off a double-team attack by Adnan and Slaughter, running Adnan off before shredding the Iraqi flag and stuffing it into Slaughter's mouth. As Warrior was attempting to finish off Slaughter, Sherri interfered by grabbing Warrior's leg; Warrior chased Sherri down the aisle before he was attacked by Savage near the platform area. Savage struck Warrior with a spotlight as Slaughter regained his senses and distracted the referee. After several minutes of Slaughter holding the advantage, Warrior rallied and set up Slaughter for the gorilla press slam (Warrior's finishing move). However, Warrior grabbed Sherri (who had returned to ringside) and press slammed her onto Savage, who had also appeared at ringside. This gave Slaughter time to hit a knee strike to Warrior's back. Warrior fell into the ropes, where Savage shattered his royal scepter on Warrior's head while the referee was distracted. Slaughter then hit the unconscious Warrior with an elbow drop and pinned him to win the match and championship. After Warrior came to his senses, he ran backstage to find Savage. The Royal Rumble marked the continuation of an ongoing feud between

and

, whose roots dated to mid-1990 when Earthquake injured Hogan in a sneak attack during " The Brother Love Show". Hogan and Earthquake were the final two competitors in the Royal Rumble, and Hogan eliminated Earthquake to win the Royal Rumble. The pay-per-view broadcast also included pre-taped comments from fans outside the arena, wishing the United States troops a quick and safe return from the Middle East and an announcement that Hogan would tour military bases across the country to support the troops.

Reception

In the January 28, 1991 issue of his

Wrestling Observer Newsletter The ''Wrestling Observer Newsletter'' (''WON'') is a newsletter that covers professional wrestling and mixed martial arts. Founded in print in 1982 by Dave Meltzer, the ''Wrestling Observer'' website merged with Bryan Alvarez's ''Figure Four Wee ...

Dave Meltzer David Allen Meltzer (born October 24, 1959) is an American journalist, author, and historian who reports on professional wrestling and mixed martial arts. Since 1983, he has been the publisher and editor of the ''Wrestling Observer Newsletter' ...

referred to the match between The Rockers, and The Orient Express as the best WWF pay-per-view match since the WrestleMania III match between Ricky Steamboat, and

Randy Savage Randy Mario Poffo (November 15, 1952 – May 20, 2011), better known by his ring name "Macho Man" Randy Savage, was an American professional wrestler and professional baseball player, best known for his time in the World Wrestling Federation ( ...

. Meltzer also wrote that he considered it the best WWF pay-per-view to that point in time. A fan vote in the February 11, 1991 issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter had 268 out of 328 fans give the show a thumbs up. 41 gave a thumbs down, while 19 gave a thumbs in the middle. The Rockers vs. The Orient Express received the majority of votes for the show's best match, with 157. Koko B. Ware vs. The Mountie received the most votes for the worst match of the night with 98.

Aftermath

Following his WWF World Heavyweight Championship loss, Warrior focused on revenge against Savage, with their first encounter being a steel cage match on January 21 at

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as the Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh and Eighth Avenue (Manhattan), Eig ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, which Savage won (with help from Sensational Sherri); Warrior was enraged and – despite being restrained by several referees, and other wrestlers – attacked Sherri after the match by slamming her in the ring. Meanwhile, Warrior was unsuccessful in regaining the title, losing a series of steel cage matches to Slaughter, usually due to interference from Sensational Sherri. Warrior and Savage eventually agreed to a "career vs. career match" at WrestleMania VII, which Warrior won. (Slaughter, meanwhile, also defended his belt against "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan, with Duggan winning a majority of these matches by countout or disqualification.) Hogan, meanwhile, was named the number-one contender for Slaughter's WWF World Heavyweight Championship. During a promo that took place right after the Slaughter-Warrior match, Gene Okerlund "received word" that Slaughter was defacing the American flag; to which Hogan vowed that Slaughter's reign as World Heavyweight Champion would be short-lived. At WrestleMania VII, Hogan defeated Slaughter to become WWF World Heavyweight Champion for the third time. (Before WrestleMania VII, Hogan defeated Earthquake in a series of "stretcher matches" to finish their feud.) Though Hogan received a title shot against Sgt. Slaughter in WrestleMania, it would not be until 1993 that the Royal Rumble match winner automatically received a WWF World Title shot at the following WrestleMania. The Barbarian would begin teaming with Haku for tag team matches but were both mired in the midcard. Barbarian would leave WWF in mid-1992 and return to WCW. Dusty and Dustin Rhodes left the WWF after their match, both returning to WCW, Dusty retired from active wrestling and became a booker and commentator, and Dustin returned to wrestling as "The Natural" and began feuding with Larry Zbyszko and later Terry Taylor. Four years later, Dustin would return to the WWF as the androgynous wrestler "Goldust".

Results

Royal Rumble entrances and eliminations

A new entrant came out approximately every 2 minutes. *Hulk Hogan became the first man to win the Royal Rumble twice. *Rick Martel set a new longevity record with a time of 52:17. *Randy Savage no-showed the match and was officially eliminated when the buzzer sounded for the next entrant (Animal). *First time in royal rumble match history where at least one third of the field (10 Participants) all lasted for at least 20 minutes or more during the match

References

External links

* {{1991 WWF pay-per-view events

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

1991 in Florida 1990s in Miami Professional wrestling shows in Miami 1991 WWF pay-per-view events January 1991 in the United States