Battle Royal at the Royal Albert Hall

On this week's bonus episode join Gus as he reviews Battle Royal at the Royal Albert Hall from 1991.

On this episode is the UK homecoming of the British Bulldog, a tremendous Roddy Piper promo, an excellent match between the Rockers and the Nasty Boys and find out what was the highlight of a match between the Mountie and the Texas Tornado

Watch along on the WWE Network 

https://watch.wwe.com/program/Battle-Royal-at-The-Royal-Albert-Hall-95174

To get in touch with Gus email him at retroreviews@hotmail.com

Twitter http://www.twitter.com/retrowrestling4

Transcript

Hello everyone, I’m Gus Edwards and welcome to the Retro Wrestling Reviews podcast.  On today’s episode we will be looking at a show from the UK in 1991 – Battle Royal at the Royal Albert Hall.  Back in the day this was a UK exclusive show, I believe it was the first night of a European Tour.  As far as I’m aware this was never shown outside of the UK, but was released on video afterwards.  Its probably a show that a lot of people haven’t seen before, so hopefully you will enjoy it.  Before we start I want to once again thank everyone who has been listening to the show and for those who have been sending in questions and requests for shows to be reviewed in the future.  If you want to request a show then email at retroreviews@hotmail.com.  If you are new to the podcast, as well as these individual episodes we are also reviewing Mid Atlantic Wrestling from 1981 and that show comes out every Sunday, so please subscribe to the at your favourite podcast directory so you get an alert when a new show is released.  Lets get on with the review.

Battle Royal at the Royal Albert Hall 3 October 1991

I loved this show as a kid, I was a new fan at this point, I had only been watching for a couple of months, so everything was fresh for me.  Looking back on the show, there are a few good matches, some really bad and some decent but more importantly a red hot crowd the entire night.  

We open the show with the commentators Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby the Brain Heenan for a quick introduction and then they send it to the ring for The Rockers v The Nasty Boys.  This is a perfect opening tag team match, both teams play to the crowd to get them warmed up, the babyfaces get a ton of shine, heels get some heat and then they go to the comeback and finish.  Crowd go wild for the Rockers for they come out.  Rockers clean house to begin with and Marty puts on Sags’ jacket which looks 5 sizes too big for him.  He then blows his nose on the coat.  Sags and Michaels start off with some fast work that finishes with a superkick to each Nasty Boy and then a clothesline off the top by Jannetty and the Nasties bail.  Back in and Knobbs and Marty face off and Marty gets the advantage and the Nasties bail again after a couple of face slams.  Marty takes down Sags with an arm drag and then puts him into an arm bar.  Jimmy Hart distracts the referee so the Rockers make a switch without tagging, which they do a couple of times to the crowd’s delight.  Nasties get the heat when Shawn takes a great bump over the top when Knobbs pulled down the top rope.  Nasties slow the pace down while working over the back of Michaels, but the crowd are sticking with it, they get really rabid getting behind the Rockers here.  Michaels finally gets the tag and the crowd go nuts as Marty makes his comeback.  Perfect comeback too with the Nasties running into each other, so the crowd is loving it.  Ref counts to three, but Sags has kicked out.  Marty covers him again, but Knobbs gets Jimmy Hart’s megaphone and hits Jannetty with it for the win.  Excellent match, exactly what you want from an opening match, the crowd was into everything.

Backstage and Ric Flair is with Mean Gene, Flair is calling out Roddy Piper for the battle royal later tonight.  

Back to the ring and its Ric Flair v Tito Santana.  Santana gets a huge pop, this crowd is just hungry for action and Flair follows out to big boos.  This must be one of Flair’s first matches in the WWF and Santana is a great opponent for him.  Flair starts off working over Santana’s arm and adds in a bit of hair pulling just to get some heat.  Santana comes back with a backdrop and two dropkicks before Flair goes outside.  Flair tries a couple of times to get a pin with his feet on the ropes which gets good heat and gives him the opportunity of jaw with the fans at ringside.  Flair is great at working the fans here.  Santana is really good at selling which helps this match.  Flair hits a back suplex then goes straight for the figure 4.  Flair of course uses the ropes for an advantage.  Flair goes up top but of course gets thrown off by Santana for a two count.  Santana gets another two count off of a clothesline coming out of the corner before hitting Flair with the flying forearm but Flair gets the foot on the rope at 2.  Santana rolls up Flair but Flair reverses it and grabs a handful of trunks and gets the pin.  Another really good match, we are at two for two so far on this show.

Big Bossman is interviewed backstage by Mean Gene about his match with Earthquake and then Quake is interviewed in the arena on the way to the ring.  Not much to either interview apart from Earthquake telling a really rubbish joke.  

Big Bossman v Earthquake.  Another big pop for the Bossman, they babyfaces are over huge tonight.  This match is a lot slower than the first two matches, not very surprising to be fair.  I spoke on one of the early Mid Atlantic reviews that I did about how there were some great punchers in that territory and the Bossman is right up there with them.  Story of the match is Bossman is too quick for Earthquake and Quaker is too powerful for Bossman.  Bossman works a headlock, including pulling on the beard when Earthquake tries to push him off.  Earthquake catches Bossman coming off the top rope and turns it into a powerslam.  Impressive by Quake.  Not the most action of the night so far, but the crowd are staying into it.  The match is also telling a pretty simple story too which helps the match.  After what seems an hour of heat, Bossman hits an enziguri to Earthquake and knocks him out.  Both guys are down but Bossman gets up at 8 and covers quake who kicks out.  Bossman gets out the way of a charge and Earthquake runs into Jimmy Hart which brings out the Mountie.  The ref is distracted by Earthquake being in the ropes, so Mountie trips Bossman up and Quake drops an elbow for the 3 count.  Bossman chases Mountie to the back after the match.

Backstage with Mean Gene and the Texas Tornado who gives a very Kerry Von Erich type promo.  

Texas Tornado v The Mountie.  Mountie does a pre match interview with Mean Gene on the way to the ring, again not much to it.  The Mountie’s music doesn’t come back on after the interview and he interrupts Mel Philips ring announcement to say that he wants to hear his music (GET A CLIP).  Of course it doesn’t play.  Honestly, that is the highlight of this match.  The show falls completely off a cliff here.  While I love the Mountie gimmick, in ring he isn’t that good unless he is in there with someone motivated, which Tornado isn’t.  I’d love to talk about the highlights of this match, but there isn’t any.  Mountie pins Tornado in the corner with his feet up on the top rope.  

We then go to Paul Bearer and the Undertaker in the funeral parlour.  Again not much to this.

Hacksaw Jim Duggan v The Undertaker.  Another match with not much to it.  This is still the slow moving, no selling Undertaker and Jim Duggan isn’t the Duggan we will be talking about in a few weeks when we start reviewing Mid South Wrestling.  Undertaker comes out to his theme music being played by an organist in the building which is a cool touch.  I was only young at the point when this show happened, and the Undertaker used to creep me out.  I blame Bobby Heenan though, during one match there is a close up of Taker choking Duggan in the corner and he rolls his eyes back in his head.  Heenan says ‘Imagine seeing that looking in your bedroom window at 3 in the morning’.  Heck of a though for a 12 year old!  Duggan comes out to a decent pop and actually manages to get the UK crowd to chant ‘USA!’.  The show started off so well with the first two matches, but these past two matches have really brought it down.  The crowd are still pretty hot though.  Match ends in a DQ after Duggan hits Taker with the 2x4.

We then go backstage for an interview with Mean Gene and Rowdy Roddy Piper.  This is one of my favourite Piper promos ever, just 100% pure craziness and I’m going to play it for you now.

More interviews now with Typhoon, Legion of Doom, Power & Glory.  Power & Glory interview is hilarious as Paul Roma points to his shirt that says “Glory” and tells everyone that the shirt says “Winner”.  

Legion of Doom v Power & Glory for the tag team titles.  Unsurprisingly there is a giant pop for the Road Warriors.  Nothing wrong with this, just a basic house show match.  Roma and Hawk start off then its Hercules and Animal.  Power & Glory get the heat the usual way in an LOD match, Hawk misses a clothesline off the top which somehow sends him out the ring.  There isn’t much of a heat segment before Animal gets the hot tag and cleans house.  Animal catches Roma coming off the top rope and turns it into a powerslam for the win.  First babyface win of the night.  

Back to Mean Gene and he is with the British Bulldog, back in the UK, promises to beat the Barbarian and then win the battle royal.

In the ring and Lord Alfred Hayes is the guest ring announcer for the next match – The Barbarian v the British Bulldog.  Not much heat for the Barbarian who comes out looking ridiculous with his antlers on.  Always thought he looked much better in his Powers of Pain gear.  For the UK listeners out there, I always thought Barbarian just looked like a jacked up Zak Dingle.  Biggest pop of the night is saved for the Bulldog.  Another match where there isn’t that much to it, just a basic big man match.  Crowd know that Davey is winning and don’t see the Barbarian as any threat.  Barbarian gets the heat with a big boot to the face.  Not much to the heat segment and Monsoon and Heenan just amuse themselves while its going on.  Bulldog makes his comeback, hits his delayed suplex and then the running powerslam for the win.  Crowd pop huge for Davey winning.

And now on to the battle royal for the royal samovar trophy.  20 men, which is the 18 guys who have already wrestled plus Typhoon and Roddy Piper.  So the entry list for the battle royal is – the Texas Tornado, the Natural Disasters, Tito Santana, The Mountie, The Rockers, the Barbarian, the Big Bossman, Power & Glory, Hacksaw Jim Duggan, the Nasty Boys, Ric Flair, the Legion of Doom, the British Bulldog, the Undertaker and Rowdy Roddy Piper who comes out last to a giant pop.  The crowd have been amazing all night long.  Battle Royals are usually pretty bad, but this one is decent.  The story to the early part of it is Piper getting his hands on Flair.  Those two brawl in and out of the ring, using the barricades and Piper choking Flair with a cable.  First out is Hercules who dives over the top rope to grab a chair for whatever reason.  The crowd are really into every near elimination.  Tornado is out next, eliminated by Brian Knobbs.  Knobbs gets put on the apron by Piper and ends up facing away from the ring.  Piper then pushes him off with two fingers to eliminate him.  Jannetty is eliminated by the Barbarian.  Santana then eliminates the Barbarian, who is then thrown out by Earthquake.  Saggs and Hawk are fighting at the ropes and Sags drops a shoulder and elimates Hawk but then Sags is thrown out by Animal and Duggan.  Shawn Michaels skins the cat to avoid being eliminated but as soon as he gets back in he is clotheslined out by the Mountie.  Animal press slams Flair for a giant pop, but not for an elimination.  Duggan is too busy posing for the fans and he gets eliminated by Earthquake.  Duggan comes back in with the 2x4 and knocks Quake over the top rope with it.  Quake is hanging on and just as we are getting too much of a view of his taint, Animal kicks him off for the elimination.  Piper then drops the shoulder and eliminates Flair to a big pop.  Davey Boy dips his shoulder which seems to be the way for eliminations in this battle royal and takes out Roma.  Animal charges Taker with a couple of clothleslines but Taker back drops him out.  So we are now down to 6.  Undertaker, the Mountie, Typhoon, Big Bossman, Roddy Piper and the British Bulldog.  They pair off with Piper going straight for the Undertaker.  Piper backdrops the Undertaker out before Taker pulls Piper out from the outside.  A little break happens here as Jimmy Hart gives instructions to his men, Typhoon and the Mountie.  Bossman is eliminated by charging the Mountie who pulls down the top rope.  Typhoon and the Mountie now go two on one with the Bulldog.  Mountie tells Typhoon to charge Bulldog, but Davey pulls the Mountie into the corner and its him who gets squashed.  Davey is trying to eliminate Typhoon but the Mountie takes out Davy from behind.  Back to a two on one advantage and the heels hit a double clothesline.  Mountie then holds Bulldog for Typhoon to hit him, but of course Davey moves, the Mountie gets hit and is eliminated.  We are now down to a final two.  Davey gets the advantage, but Typhoon reverses an irish whip and avalanches Davey in the corner.  Crowd goes quiet here, but then Typhoon charges Bulldog who backdrops him over the top for the win and one of the biggest pops you will hear.  Earthquake then runs in to ruin the celebration.  He goes for the Earthquake splash but Bulldog rolls to the outside.  Disasters are double teaming him on the outside before Andre the Giant on one crutch comes down for the save.  Davy then celebrates in the ring to finish off the show.

Overall that was a really fun show.  Best match was the opening tag with the Rockers and the Nasty Boys while the worst match was the Mountie and the Texas Tornado.  The battle royal was fun and the crowd went home happy with the Bulldog going over.  

Thanks again for listening, next week on the show we will be watching the Great American Bash 1990 which is headlined by Ric Flair and Sting for the World Title, Doom v the Rock n Roll Express, Lex Luger v a pre Undertaker Mean Mark Callous and much more.  Also on Sunday we will have another episode of Mid Atlantic Wrestling from 31 October 1981, so make sure to check that out.  Take care of yourselves and I will speak to you soon.