wrestlingchick

Just a stop along the road to WrestleMania. There's history with the Hogan/Perfect rivalry, but this is all about progressing the feud between Hogan and Warrior following their epic encounter a few days beforehand at the Rumble. Right from the outset, Jesse plays up the potential for things to break down between the two. The match itself is really nothing special, just a standard TV main event tag. Its mostly a showcase for the top two babyfaces in the company prior to their pending clash in April. Perfect was his usual awesome self bouncing around, and actually got a nearfall on Hogan with the Perfectplex, but it was not to be. Hogan and Warrior managed to stay on the same page throughout, with Hogan putting Genius away with the legdrop for the victory. The post-match is the real story here though, as Perfect and Genius look to attack after the bell. In the mist of the babyface comeback, Warrior inadvertently clotheslines Hogan, leading to a shoving match between the two. A hot crowd and perfectly fine storyline progression here. Grade: **1/4

A fun, well booked Royal Rumble for the most part. Of course, the big spot is the Warrior/Hogan face off, which had the crowd going wild and immediately putting the seal on the planned main event for WrestleMania. Hogan probably didn't need the win, already being WWF Champion at the time. A win for Perfect at the end would have been huge for him, but he was moving down the card once his title feud with Hogan was finished up so I guess it didn't make sense for him to win in the long run (what with him already getting involved with Beefcake earlier in the night). The no-sell on the Perfectplex was a bit much though. I'd argue that a Warrior win would have been a better decision here to really drive the point home that he was coming for the champion, but I guess Hogan needed to win the Rumble after getting eliminated last year. Either way, the confrontation during the match served its purpose in getting people talking for the ultimate challenge to come. I loved DiBiase's performance through the match as he was in there for about 45 minutes and at numerous times throughout managed to avoid elimination. It felt like a big deal when he was finally thrown out. The early part of the match was loaded with stars as well which only added to the hot crowd. We got some solid build for Piper/Brown and Savage/Dusty heading into Mania as well. All in all, a decent Rumble match. Grade: ***1/2

A much better match than I was expecting here. Ronnie Garvin is one of the guys from this era that I just never have been able to enjoy, but this was a stiff war that I really enjoyed. I liked the added touch of the shin guard being used as a means to counter the figure four, a manoeuvre applied by both men. Obviously the submission stipulation took a bit to get used to for the guys working the match as they both went for pinfalls early on, however Jesse was able to cover for them on commentary. It made sense for Garvin to get the win here after being forced to "retire" by Valentine months prior, but did he stick around at all after this? I guess they didn't have a huge amount planned for Valentine for the next few months either, so its not like a loss really hurts him here. Grade: ***

Figured after lurking without posting I'd jump in on this by watching along with the content available on WWE Network. So this match is my starting point: This match is basically an extension of the Hogan/Perfect feud over the WWF title that was going on around this time, with Hogan's buddy the Barber taking on Perfect's manager, the Genius, who had actually picked up a count out victory over Hogan on the most recent edition of Saturday Night's Main Event thanks to Perfect's involvement. Perfect gets involved here as well, which results in the match being thrown out as a double DQ. Genius loses some hair courtesy of the Barber, but the heels have the last laugh, leaving Beefcake laid out. Really just a way of transitioning Perfect to Beefcake for Mania season. The match itself was nothing special. Grade: 1/2*

Hey everyone! Thought after lurking around this board for a while I'd finally create an account. So, a bit about me. I'm 24 years old, from Sydney, Australia, and believe it or not, a girl. I'm sure I'm not the only one on here, but people always seem to find it strange on these websites when they hear that! Haha. Anyway, huge wrestling fan (obviously!). Been watching since 1999 and don't ever see myself losing interest. WWE is my home promotion as it were, but have really enjoyed exploring stuff that I've missed out on. Discovered this board through the Place to Be Podcast. I'll admit I'm slightly intimidated by my lack of knowledge compared to what seems to be the norm on this site, so I'll probably lurk more than post, but I'm really looking for the site to serve as a bit of a guide as I venture through the mass of stuff on the Network!