The 1991 Rumble had a different feel than the 1990 edition. While 1990 had a fairly boring card but a very intriguing Rumble, the 1991 version was the exact opposite, with an uneventful Rumble but a stacked card highlighted by The Ultimate Warrior losing the WWE World Title to Sgt. Slaughter (playing the role of an Iraqi sympathizer during Operation Desert Storm) in a big surprise that left fans stunned.
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But the Rumble itself, while not a bad match, simply lacked any real excitement, and the only match of real significance was between Hulk Hogan and “Earthquake” John Tenta, concluding their nine-month feud by being the last two participants before Hogan eliminated Earthquake to win. But by that time, the feud between Hogan and Earthquake had lost its luster, with Hogan defeating Earthquake at the previous two PPVs (a countout victory at Summerslam 1990 and Hogan’s team beating Earthquake’s team at Survivor Series 1990).
But to be fair to Hogan and Earthquake, the original plan wasn’t for these two to close out the Rumble. Instead, the plan was for André the Giant to win the event as a sort of final tribute to one of WWE’s living legends.
On November 30, 1990, at a house show in Miami, WWE announced that Andre would return to in-ring action as a participant in the 1991 Rumble, which was scheduled to take place in Miami two months later. The plan, according to WWE CEO Bruce Pritchard, was to have Andre go as low as #30 to limit his in-ring involvement, but also see him face several of the top stars of the era before winning the Rumble. Unfortunately, shortly after being mentioned on television as one of the Rumble participants, Andre had to withdraw due to a leg injury.
So let’s play a little revisionist history here and theorize what would have happened if Andre had been healthy enough to compete in the Rumble.
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First, let’s look at who could have been in the ring when Andre dropped to No. 30. When the Rumble announced Tugboat as the event’s 30th and final wrestler, in the ring at that time were Hogan, Earthquake, “Mr. Perfect” Curt Henning, “British Bulldog” Davey Boy Smith, “Model” Rick Martel (who lasted a record 53 minutes and 14 minutes in the Rumble). seconds), Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart, Haku, Brian Knobbs of “The Nasty Boys” and Shane Douglas.
Since in this scenario Andre comes in at #30 and not Tugboat, let’s assume that Tugboat was eliminated earlier in the event. Let’s also assume that since Andre got a big babyface reaction in his last television appearance at Wrestlemania 6 on April 1, 1990, Andre would have gotten a big babyface reaction from the crowd here as well.
I understand? Well, here we go.
When Andre enters the ring (over the top rope, like he always does), he is immediately attacked by Haku, which makes sense given that they were former tag team champions before falling out at WM6 when Andre left the Heenan family. Haku lands a few blows to Andre’s head and quickly goes for his patented Crescent Kick, but Andre catches Haku’s leg, hits him with a couple of punches, and then throws his former partner over the top rope.
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After that elimination, Andre quickly goes to a corner of the ring where Perfect and Douglas fight each other. Andre grabs both of their heads, punches them, and eliminates both fighters.
Meanwhile, Martel eliminates Neidhart, just as it originally happened, while the Bulldog throws Knobbs over the top rope, and Hogan and Earthquake continue brawling in another corner. Martel and the Bulldog then turn on each other, with Martel gaining the upper hand before being eliminated by a dropkick from Bulldog as he attempted to climb the top rope (again, just as it originally happened).
So now here are the final four:
Hogan, Earthquake, Bulldog and Andre.
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Bulldog, emboldened by the elimination of Knobbs and Martel, quickly jumps on Andre with several forearms to the back. But Andre soon uses his massive size to grab Bulldog’s arms, headbutt him, and throw him over the top rope like a ragdoll.
Meanwhile, Hogan and Earthquake continue fighting in another neighborhood, and Earthquake begins to gain the upper hand. But Andre walks around the corner towards Earthquake, who has his back to Andre and therefore doesn’t see the “Eighth Wonder of the World” coming. Andre grabs Earthquake by the head, headbutts him twice, chokes him for a few seconds, and gets Earthquake to climb up on his own.
And now you have two left:
Hogan… and André.
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The two legends find themselves in the same ring for the first time since Summerslam 1988, with an explosion from the crowd clearly showing that fans know they are witnessing wrestling history once again.
Hogan and Andre stare at each other intensely, but not with the same intensity as their match at WM3, mainly due to both wrestlers being babyfaces at this point. The stare down quickly stops as the two legends and former friends begin pummeling each other, blow for blow until Hogan appeared to gain the upper hand with three straight unanswered right hands. With Andre staggering, Hogan signals to the crowd that he’s going to hit the Giant, which he hasn’t done (at least on TV) since WM 4 in 1988. Hogan approaches, attempts a slam, but in a scene reminiscent of their match at WM 3, Hogan can’t lift Andre and instead, Andre falls right on top of him, apparently injuring Hogan’s ribs.
The ending would come quickly, surprising fans a bit (but remember, Andre isn’t in the best shape here). Andre picks up Hogan, delivers two punches, a headbutt, and then picks up Hogan with ease, walks to the ropes, and tosses him over the top.
Game. Place. Phosphorus. Andre.
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Two things to discuss here:
First, would Andre’s presence have shaken up the 1991 Rumble?
The answer: yes.
Andre’s appearance, particularly given the fact that he came in at No. 30, did what it set out to do: put the spotlight on a living legend, have him make an immediate impact, briefly reignite an iconic feud by going toe-to-toe with Hogan, and give fans a bit of a twist by making Andre the winner. While all of this would have been enough to rank the 1991 Rumble as one of the event’s best, it would have created a “Rumble moment,” so to speak. And that’s all you could have asked for.
And second, would Andre’s appearance and win change any bookings for WM 7 later in March?
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The answer: No.
Given his health, it’s highly unlikely that Andre’s Rumble victory would have given him much of a boost heading into Wrestlemania. Andre’s Rumble victory was meant to be something of a swan song for the wrestling legend. While he may have made the occasional appearance later in the year, I don’t see any change in bookings for WM 7 despite Andre’s win.
What do you think? Am I right? Mistaken? Somewhere in between? What are your thoughts, wrestling fans?