WWE Vintage Collection Report: 19th April 2009
By Shaun Best-Rajah.com Reporter
Hosted by: Mean Gene Okerlund

This week, we travel back to October 3rd 1991 to the Royal Albert Hall in London, England for a stop on the UK Rampage Tour. I can remember watching this PPV back in the day. As well as three matches – including Ric Flair’s UK debut, there’s a 20 Man Battle Royal to look forward to at the end. The commentators are the dream team pairing of Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan. Let’s get to it. We begin with………………

The Rockers vs The Nasty Boys w/Jimmy Hart
These two teams were feuding at this point. The last couple of minutes air. Shawn Michaels is getting worked over, sustaining a Sags bearhug and Knobbs camel clutch. Michaels avoids a Nasty charge in the corner to enable the hot tag. Jannetty takes on both Nastys with punches, dropkicks and a couple of noggin knockers. All four men are now in. Michaels press slams Jannetty on top of Sags, then goes after Jimmy Hart, who conveniently throws his megaphone into the ring. Knobbs takes advantage to whack Jannetty, allowing Sags to pick up the pin, while Hart distracts Michaels. Here Are Your Winners: THE NASTY BOYS. Post match, Heenan resolves that the megaphone just flew through the air and hit Jannetty.

Mean Gene is backstage with Ric Flair and an unpixelated World Heavyweight Title. Okerlund calls Flair a ‘newcomer’ and ‘veteran’ of the ring. Flair says Tito Santana will find out that he is the greatest wrestler alive. Flair then tells Roddy Piper he can run, but can’t hide. Flair is here to make sure Piper knows Flair’s the man now and forever. Woooooo!

Ric Flair vs Tito Santana
A battle between two Hall of Famers. Santana sends Flair outside with a shoulder tackle. Heenan puts Santana over as a ‘somebody’ while presiding over a Flair win. Flair works the arm, using a wristlock, armwringer and a hint of the hair. Flair backs off when Santana makes it back to his feet. Santana cuts off more arm work with punches. Flair takes an irish whip, backbodydrop out of the corner and two dropkicks. The fight spills outside where both men throw the other into the guardrail. We skip ahead to Flair giving Santana a back suplex. Flair slaps on the figure four, pulling at the ropes for extra leverage, as Heenan puts on a posh British voice to say ‘ring the bloody bell.’ Flair denies using the ropes to cheat. Heenan says it’s a cameraman on the floor hitting them. Santana briefly turns the hold over, before both men get up favouring their legs. Santana uppercuts Flair over the top rope, then slams him on the floor. Flair pulls Santana back outside for a short chop/punch exchange. Flair goes to the eyes, before Santana manages to throw him off the top rope. Santana misses an elbow drop, but rebounds from an irish whip with a clothesline. Santana nails his patented flying forearm – or flying jalapena according to Heenan, but Flair gets a foot on the rope. Santana hooks a waistlock, as Flair runs to the corner. Santana attempts a rollup, but, as Monsoon advises him to sit back, Flair reverses, grabbing the tights with both hands for the 1-2-3. Despite Santana’s protests the result stands. A really good old school match. Flair needed the win, but Santana was made to look credible in defeat. Here is Your Winner: RIC FLAIR. Within a month, Santana was repackaged with the El Matador gimmick. Santana was clearly the Val Venis of the early 90s. A multi-talented hand who put everyone else over, after having his time in the sun during the 80s. Santana was wastefully jobbed out of the WWF in early 1993.

Mean Gene is backstage again, this time with Power & Glory, ahead of their Tag Title match with champions Legion of Doom. Future Four Horseman member Paul Roma tells LOD they can’t run or hide. The massively bulked up Hercules adds they have come halfway around the world to do battle and the Royal Albert Hall will be LOD’s downfall. Roma had passable promo skills, but Herc was horrible.

In Legion of Doom’s rebuttal, Animal calls Power & Glory ‘geeks’ before informing them LOD has beaten the best that the WWF has to offer. According to Animal, LOD will be champions for a long, long time. Hawk says the swelling of the brain and internal bleeding are the things that LOD’s dreams are made of. (What’s he been smoking?). Hawk renames Power & Glory as ‘Sour & Gory,’ saying their mother won’t accept their looks after LOD are done with them in London.

WWF Tag Team Titles
Legion of Doom vs Power & Glory
LOD demolished Power & Glory in a blink-and-you’ll miss it match a few months prior at WrestleMania VII. Hawk beats Roma in a test of strength, then dropkicks him off the ropes. Hawk chases Roma around ringside, before countering a backbodydrop with a neckbreaker. Hawk delivers a snapmare and fistdrop. Both men tag out. Hercules fails to budge Animal with shoulder tackle attempts. The two exchange clotheslines. Hawk attempts to work over Herc’s massive frame, but Herc gives him an inverted atomic drop. Hawk dazes Herc with ten head rams into the corner. Herc is blown up so he tags out. Hawk no-sells a Roma piledriver, instead press slamming him onto Hercules. Animal goes to clothesline Herc out of the ring, but Herc is too far from the ropes and ends up crashing into them before rolling out. Hawk slams Roma, who ducks a top rope dive to get the advantage for his team. Animal checks on his partner, before Hawk is dropped across the guardrail, driven into the apron, then hotshot across the top rope when back inside. Herc irish whips Hawk front first, but Hawk instinctively catches Herc with a backelbow. Both men tag out. Animal hits Roma with a flying shoulder tackle, irish whip and corner clothesline. A standing dropkick sends Herc out to the apron. Animal powerbombs Roma. Herc breaks up the cover. Hawk takes the fight to Herc on the outside. Roma slams Animal, then goes up top looking for a cross body. Animal counters, in mid-move, knocking the stuffing out of Roma with a powerslam for the 1-2-3. LOD retain in a bad match. Hawk’s selling was poor. I’d have thought the piledriver would have had more effect than a missed dive from the top rope. Here Are Your Winners: LEGION OF DOOM. Within months, both Roma and Herc were released, and endured dubious WCW stints: Herc as the masked Super Invader and Roma as an unpopular Horseman.

20 Man Over The Top Rope Battle Royal
Time for the Main Event. A lovely trophy is on hand for the winner. UK’s own Lord Alfred Hayes has joined the commentary team. The field was made up of everyone who had competed in earlier matches – Ric Flair, Roddy Piper, British Bulldog, Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Earthquake, Typhoon, Undertaker, Nasty Boy Sags, Nasty Boy Knobbs, Shawn Michaels, Marty Jannetty, Tito Santana, Paul Roma, Hercules, Hawk, Animal, Big Boss Man, Mountie, Texas Tornado & Barbarian. We pick things up a few minutes in. Hercules literally jumps out to grab a chair, but is prevented from using it by a referee. Ring announcer Mel Phillips announces the eliminations as they happen. Hayes absurdly called Hercules as a strong favourite. Knobbs sends Tornado out, just before Piper pushes Knobbs off the apron using two fingers. Typhoon lifts Jannetty out, while Santana gets rid of Barbarian. Earthquake grabs Santana by the hair to toss him out. Mountie and Flair slip outside for well-timed breathers. Sags eliminates Hawk, but immediately follows him out courtesy of Hacksaw and Animal. Hawk gives Sags a standing dropkick on the floor. Mountie throws Michaels over, who skins the cat back in, only to be sent back over and out by a Mountie punch. Michaels pitches a fit on his way to the back. An interval skips out two eliminations (Earthquake eliminates Hacksaw as he plays to the crowd. Hacksaw re-enters, smashing Earthquake with the 2×4, enabling Animal to kick him out). Piper eliminates Flair, then crotches Undertaker on the top rope. Bulldog ousts Roma. Animal staggers Undertaker with a clothesline, then charges, but the Deadman throws him out. Piper eliminates Undertaker, who then pulls Piper out and the referees on the floor have to separate the two. The final four are Boss Man, Mountie, Bulldog and Typhoon. Boss Man chases Mountie around ringside, spikes him in the ropes and decks Jimmy Hart. Mountie pulls down the top rope to send the charging Boss Man sailing out. Mountie lets Typhoon wear Bulldog down. Bulldog pulls Mountie into the way to absorb Typhoon’s avalanche splash in the corner. Mountie gives Typhoon a slap to maintain his focus. Bulldog eats a double clothesline, then ducks a charge, resulting in Typhoon clotheslining Mountie out. Bulldog gets censored as he cusses out loud to get fired up. After dropkicking Typhoon down, Bulldog gets splashed in the corner, then clotheslined. Sensing victory, Typhoon charges and Bulldog uses all his strength to send him out. Bulldog wins to send the hometown crowd away happy. Here is Your Winner: BRITISH BULLDOG. The Natural Disasters give Bulldog a post match beatdown until, a barely mobile Andre The Giant limps out, fighting them both off with a crutch. It was very sad to see Andre so frail and out of shape. He had just come off knee surgery but clearly loved to be in front of a crowd. Andre and Bulldog give each other props before Bulldog checks himself for any loose teeth. A nostalgic ending to a fun show. Bobby Heenan was in classic form on commentary.

Okerlund puts over WWE live events before signing off to end the show.

Best Match: Ric Flair vs Tito Santana

Other results from the event: Earthquake pinned Big Boss Man: Mountie pinned Texas Tornado. Undertaker defeated Hacksaw Jim Duggan by DQ. British Bulldog pinned Barbarian.

See you next week. Shaun.

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