[1991-12-21-WWF-Superstars] Update: Royal Rumble update

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

"You getting your hands on me is like safe sex -- it just doesn't happen. Abstain from the thought of getting the belt, and abstain from the thoughts of touching me." -- Jake Roberts to Randy Savage

[Kevin Ridge]

And they put Jake on first with that comment. Outside of Jake they must be starting at the bottom as far as the guys they picked to do the first promos hyping the Rumble.

[PeteF3]

There's Jake, and there's everybody else.

[soup23]

We get a rundown of Rumble participants including Jake and the Nasty Boys. Jakes comment on safe sex really took me aback. That is to creepy for Christmas season.

[flyonthewall2983]

Was Knobs supposed to be in it originally?

[PeteF3]

Knobbs was stabbed by some nutcase fan during a traffic incident, which caused him to miss the Rumble. Weird that the '91 Rumble had Knobbs but no Saggs (Knobbs was replacing the departed Honky Tonk Man), and '92 had Saggs but no Knobbs.

[flyonthewall2983]

Oh wow, didn't know about the traffic incident. I heard somewhere that Saggs replaced Marty Jannetty who was either kayfabe injured from the Barbershop incident or fired already. It would have been weird if both Nasty Boys were in the Rumble since they would have been the only tag team. Any idea on who replaced Knobbs?

[PeteF3]

I think the Nasties were pre-announced, despite being a tag team (then again the Rockers were still together when they were announced, too). The replacements for Knobbs and Jannetty were Haku and Nikolai Volkoff, neither of whom had been seen in a long while, though Haku was always under contract and mostly working in WAR.

[flyonthewall2983]

Even two tag teams being in would be a little weird considering by my count the previous Rumbles had at least 4 teams altogether (even the first one) in. But in '92 it is more compelling that nearly everyone in it is a singles guy, considering what's at stake.

[garretta]

The only really compelling promo in here is Jake, and leaving taste aside, how in the world do you follow him? Hacksaw, Tito, and the Nasties try their best, but the usual wrestling prattle pails in comparison to Jake's (darkly) inspired eloquence. He's having the run of his life here, and one can only wonder how big the aborted '86-87 heel run vs. Hogan would have been if he'd been this hot on the stick.

 

I didn't much like the idea of classifying Sid's presence as a "rumor". If everybody who's anybody is supposed to be in the thing, with some guys even working twice, the bigger shock would be if Sid wasn't involved. Gene, just do what you do every year and say you'll be back with more names next week. Being overly cute gets you nowhere.

 

Haku and Volkoff for Jannetty and Saggs? I'm not sure about Nikolai at his age, but Haku is definitely an upgrade, even though we all know he isn't getting the title (and surely knew it in real time, too).

 

Hopefully we hear from the three biggest names in the match (Flair, Hogan, and Taker) sooner rather than later. You'd think they'd have been the first three people heard from, but Kevin's probably on target about Vince wanting to give the midcarders their brief time in the sun first.

[dawho5]

Jake with some incredibly dark and twisted words. And Hacksaw follows with "tough guy!" Uh huh.