From: srubio@garnet.berkeley.edu (Steven Rubio)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.pro-wrestling
Subject: Royal Rumble Attendee
Date: 25 Jan 1993 02:31:10 GMT
Organization: University of California, Berkeley
NNTP-Posting-Host: garnet.berkeley.edu

Some comments after attending the Royal Rumble today.  I don't like to
give *** ratings, but I'll pass on a few notes.

Match before the PPV started was Doink vs. Jim Powers.  Doink won.

Steiners drew ok heat.  First time I ever saw a frankensteiner in person,
and it was worth it.  Overall the match wasn't so hot, unless you compare
it to a typical house show, in which case it was *****.  I was already
glad I was in attendance, because even an average match like this is so
much better than the usual WWF house crap.

Michaels vs. Janetty was better than the first match, though again I don't
really think it will look like a classic on video.  I was just happy to
see two good matches in one live event.  I drew my first heat of the day
in this match, by rooting for Michaels all the way and making fun of all
the people yelling "Mar-ty Mar-ty!"

Bam Bam vs. Bubba: waste of time.

Hart vs. Ramone: waste of time.  HitMan got the biggest pop of the day up 
to that point, but for most of the match the crowd was real quiet.  I'm
looking forward to watching my video to see if they tried to up the crowd
noise here.  Very disappointing match, no better than average house show.

Luger gets introduced.  We cheered.  His name is not "Narcissus" but
"Narcissist," maybe as in *The* Narcissist.  At least he still gets to be
Luger.  Seemed like an ok introduction to a new plot line, but this was
overshadowed a bit later in the Rumble.

The Caesar & Cleo stuff was VERY stupid.

Then the Nature Boy came out, #1 for the Rumble.  This was the main reason
I went, and I began 20 minutes of non-stop Whoo-ing, which leaves me still
hoarse as I type.  I told everyone in our area that Flair was the greatest
rassler of all time, so they took great pleasure when he was later
eliminated by Perfect.  Backlund then came out to some cheers.  I'm not
going into the entire match, just notes of things that might not have
shown up on teevee.  Backlund got a LOT of heat.  I was astonished; I have
heard so much about how no one likes him (me most definitely included)
that I assumed for most of the Rumble that the "We want Bob!" chants were
from people like myself who wanted him out of the ring.  But it became
clear after an hour or so that people actually wanted him  to win.  I, for
one, was stunned, and I rooted against him the entire Rumble.

Perfect got more heat that anyone to that point; Undertaker topped
Perfect.  This was my first experience with the We Love Undertaker crowd
... I guess I never believed you guys, but the crowd loved him.

Then came El Gigante.  Out of nowhere; even those of us who anticipated
his entrance into the WWF weren't expecting him today.  His presence was
truly awesome, and he made a GIANT impression on the crowd, esp. those who
don't watch WCW.  Lotsa people around me were saying "Who *is* that guy?" 
I thought his appearance was the plotline highlight of the entire card, it
was that impressive.  Unfortunately, since he can't rassle to save his
life, we are now doomed to watch a zillion of his stinky matches, and so
there was a certain sadness as El Gigante left, knowing that this was most
certainly going to be the high point of his WWF career.

And, in fact, with Undertaker-Gigante set for a big feud, and Yokozuna set
for a title shot, it looks like lotsa boring rassling coming down the WWF
chute.  Three big do-nothings and Bret Hart ... what a waste.  At least
the Steiners are still around.

Overall rating: I was glad I went, and I can't compare it to other Rumbles
because the experience of being there was so different from watching on
teevee.  I wouldn't give it a great rating; in fact, after the first two
matches, it was below average, and the Rumble itself wasn't much except
for Perfect-Flair and Gigante-Undertaker.

Final notes: they have a 15-second clock so you can count down to the next
rassler, but they don't have a 2-minute clock.  Never thought of it
before, but of course that lets them play with the clock.

And what happened to the tag-title bout and Moon-Taylor?  All six of those
guys were in the Rumble, but it was weird having both matches cut out. 
Did they say anything on the PPV?

Steven