Ever wondered what would have happened if the Royal Rumble was booked differently? Well our writers have had a try at Rebooking the Royal Rumble. Join us all this week as we pick a different Royal Rumble each day and try and work out what would have happened if things had taken a different direction.
These days it seems like every wrestling fan is a frustrated booker. We all think we can do better than the people in charge; sometimes we might even be right. For a little bit of fun, we here at The Wrestling Mania have put our booking caps on and “re-booked” some Rumble results. I’ve tried to keep within parameters of what COULD have happened, rather than any flights of fancy, and present a credible alternative universe. That said, there is a little bit of creative licence used where required. Just because I’ve re-booked a result, it doesn’t necessarily mean I disagree with the original outcome. It’s just fascinating to look back and think “what if…”.
1993 – Randy Savage wins
It’s January 1993. Vince McMahon is sat in his Stamford, Connecticut office wondering where his stars have gone. Hulk Hogan left him after WrestleMania VIII to lie low and hope the steroids allegations that threatened to not only sully the Hulkster’s reputation but destroy the whole company would die down. The fact that The Ultimate Warrior, a man Vince had brought back with great reluctance to cover for the loss of Hogan, had been sent on his merry way less than six months after this wasn’t helping things either.
As he looked down the list of names booked for the Royal Rumble, he wondered just who could step up to the plate and win the honour of headlining WrestleMania IX opposite new champion Bret “The Hitman” Hart. Bret had been a steady choice to replace Ric Flair and although he was a great draw to current fans he certainly wasn’t the man to entice a whole new generation of fans to worship at Vince’s Sports Entertainment altar.
Vince had hoped to persuade Hogan to comeback. He’d toyed with the idea of recent signing Yokozuna defeating Hart at the Rumble for the title and having Hogan make a triumphant return in the Rumble match and winning to book his place at ‘Mania. Indeed that’s why the WWF planned that the winner of the Rumble would get the title shot at the big show. The problem was, Hogan wanted too much money and didn’t want to work a full schedule. Although Vince was desperate for star power, perhaps the time was finally right to consign Hogan to the past. He just wasn’t worth the hassle anymore.
As he went over the Rumble entrants again, he wasn’t convinced that many had it in them to headline WrestleMania; Ric Flair was itching to return to WCW, Mr. Perfect was back but had failed at the top level before and he had other plans for The Undertaker. It was too soon for Lex Luger to make an impact too. The “evil foreigner” thing was a tried and tested formula though, and maybe Yokozuna challenging Bret Hart might just be the thing to entice the fans.
One name on the list though kept coming back to his mind. Macho Man Randy Savage. In Vince’s mind, Savage was past the peak of his career. He was looking to use him more as a commentator on the new Monday Night Raw show and if he was ready to put Hogan in the past, Vince reasoned, what use did he have for Savage? And yet Randy kept pestering him that he wanted more action, that he didn’t want to be put out to pasture. And surely Hart/Savage would be an attraction. It was then that he made his choice. Bret versus the evil foreigner could wait. If Savage wanted one last night in the main event, he could have it.
At the Rumble event Bret successfully defended the title against Razor Ramon in a decent match. He was pleased with a good night’s work and sat down to watch the Rumble. He’d been told that it would be him and Savage at ‘Mania but knew that Vince was a man who often changed his mind. Indeed his own title win had been a spur of the moment decision and as the Rumble match itself came down to Savage and Yokozuna, the champion was still just a little bit reluctant to believe he would get his dream match at Mania. He was somewhat shocked when Savage went for a pinfall and thought that the elimination was coming when ‘Zuna pushed his opponent upwards and over the top rope, but Savage hung on and was able to rally to knock the Sumo star over the top rope and book his place at ‘Mania. The show ended with Bret Hart returning to the ring to shake hands.
The match was one that ignited the passions of the WWF fan base. Though initially there seemed to be more fans on the side of the challenger, Bret was as popular as his opponent by the time ‘Mania came around, not least after events like saving Savage from a 2-on-1 beat down by Money Inc on an episode of Raw. Hogan attempted to cut a deal with the promotion to return at Mania to team up with Brutus Beefcake to take on Money Inc. but Vince was so impressed with the reactions to the Savage/Hart confrontations that he cut all ties with Hogan, leaving Bret’s brother Owen Hart to team up with Koko B. Ware for an unsuccessful shot at the tag team champions at Mania.
Privately Savage let it be known that he was hoping for a match with Bret that would surpass even his famous match with Ricky Steamboat from ‘Mania III and if Bret was a little put-out by Savage’s insistence on plotting out the match move for move, hold for hold, he knew what would transpire would be good. To this day there are many fans who cannot separate those two matches in terms of the greatest bout of the early Mania’s. Most shockingly, Savage did the job clean, losing via tap-out to the Sharpshooter, clearly cementing Hart’s position as the new face of the WWF. The show ended with the two shaking hands as the fans roared their approval.
Post-Mania, Hart was entered into a feud with Yokozuna. A fireball from a rogue photographer at King of The Ring cost Hart the championship, but he regained it at Summerslam that year. On that same show, “The Narcissist” Lex Luger defeated Randy Savage in a match and it was clear that the WWF were building towards Lex Luger and Bret Hart at WrestleMania X…but that’s another story.
– By Matthew Roberts | @IWFICON
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