Royal Rumble Match (WWF, 1-15-1989)

WWF Royal Rumble, Houston, TX

A request! The first Royal Rumble match to air on PPV, as it became the last of the WWF’s original Big Four PPV shows following the debuts of WrestleMania (1985), Survivor Series (1987), and SummerSlam (1988). The first Rumble does pre-date the first SummerSlam, but aired on USA Network to take a further shit on Crockett’s Bunkhouse Stampede PPV.

It’s also the first 30-man Rumble, as the inaugural ’88 edition featured 20 men, and was won by Hacksaw Jim Duggan, featuring entirely midcard (however popular or whatever) wrestlers.

(Requests open and tips always appreciated!)

Jake Roberts, Rocky Maivia, The Stalker & Marc Mero vs Hunter Hearst Helmsley, Goldust, Jerry Lawler & Crush (WWF, 11-17-1996)

WWF Survivor Series, New York, NY

A request! This is Rocky Maivia’s WWF debut, much-hyped at Madison Square Garden in a Survivor Series match.

Before the match, Sunny joins the commentary team. Jim Ross’ general disinterest in her is quite well replicated by my own at this point in time.

(Requests open and tips always appreciated!)

Royal Rumble (WWF, 1-19-1992)

WWF Royal Rumble, Albany, NY

Request via Ko-fi. There’s a chance I’ve watched this match more than any other match in history. When people say, “What wrestling match would you show friends who don’t like wrestling to get them into wrestling,” my answer is, obviously, “I would not show them wrestling. They have lived however long having made the correct choice to not let this ridiculous shit into their veins.” But sometimes people will suggest a long, epic match, one that we dorks largely agree is great, and people will say, “Ugh! Look at me, pay attention to me, I am extremely smart and I would not show them that match. All wrestling matches should be 18 seconds long and not have anything good, because when you think about it, that is good!” But this is a 62-minute match I might show someone if I were forced to try to get them to like wrestling, because in this one hour, you see 30 various personalities and one of the all-time great performances.

Jake Roberts vs Rick Rude (WWF, 3-27-1988)

WWF WrestleMania IV, Atlantic City, NJ

Request via Ko-fi. The final of the six first round WWF title tournament matches at Mania IV. This is also the match that separates the strong from the weak when it comes to re-watching this show.

Jake Roberts & Jim Duggan vs Andre the Giant & Rick Rude (WWF, 5-31-1988)

WWF, Fresno, CA

What a tag team encounter this figures to be. Two of my favorites, but Ricky Rude and Jake Snake could both be guilty of lazing through matches, and if there’s ever a time to laze through something, it’s a tag that also involves WWF Duggan and ’88 Andre.

Jake Roberts vs Rick Rude (WWF, 10-29-1988)

WWF Saturday Night’s Main Event, Baltimore, MD

This was a big feud for both in ’88. They’d met at WrestleMania IV in an excruciatingly bad 15-minute draw in the opening round of the WWF title tournament, but took off from there when they involved Jake’s wife, Cheryl, and had Ricky Rude get tights with her head airbrushed on his hog. This was taped 10/25 for SNME.

Jake Roberts vs Ted DiBiase (WWF, 12-14-1989)

WWF, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

More from WWF’s Hottest Matches! We saw Jake in against Akeem, but he’s the Profile on this tape which means you get TWO matches, back-to-back! Here he’s against DiBiase, a guy with whom he had a smooth chemistry. Previously I’ve done matches with these two from April ’89 at MSG, and their big WrestleMania VI blowoff (of sorts) which may have been the last time they wrestled, actually.

Jake Roberts vs Akeem (WWF, 6-6-1990)

WWF, Binghamton, NY

TV taping in Binghamton, this one taken from WWF’s Hottest Matches again. Jake is full babyface in ’90 and Akeem is not.

Ricky Steamboat vs Jake Roberts (WWF, 8-9-1986)

WWF on NESN, Boston, MA

This is the return match from their June 27 match at the Boston Garden, which stemmed from the incident in early May on Saturday Night’s Main Event in Providence, where Roberts knocked Steamboat out with a DDT on the floor. The June match in Boston settled nothing, as Roberts won via countout but Steamboat bloodied Jake and sent him running after the match. So here we are.

Ricky Steamboat vs Jake Roberts (WWF, 6-27-1986)

WWF on NESN, Boston, MA

Someone asked for Steamboat-Roberts from Boston Garden in ’86. There are two Steamboat-Roberts matches from Boston Garden in ’86. I’m 98% sure they meant the other one, but I’m not doing much so I’ll just watch them both.