Battle Royal 1991

Battle Royal was a United Kingdom-only professional wrestling pay-per-view event held by the World Wrestling Federation on October 3, 1991, it took place at the Royal Albert Hall in London, England.

Event[]

The first match features the Nasty Boys taking on the Rockers in tag team action. The Rockers begin by clearing the ring of the Nasties while Jimmy Hart gets on his megaphone and starts jawing with the crowd. Solid match from two teams that are familiar with each other from the AWA, but I thought the Nasty Boys teasing a walk-out was unnecessary. There was a great moment when the Rockers started cheating by not tagging in and out while the referee was distracted, so the referee asked the crowd if they had tagged out. It was odd seeing the Rockers wrestle like heels for a good portion of the match before the Nasties started to take over. The Nasty Boys defeat the Rockers after Knobbs smacks Jannetty with Hart's megaphone.

Gene Okerlund is in the back with Ric Flair who cuts a promo on Tito Santana and going into the Battle Royal with Roddy Piper. Ric Flair is the man—WOOOO!

In the next match, Tito Santana matches up with “Real World’s Champion” Ric Flair. Obviously, the title was not on the line. Before the match, they cut to the announce position to show Bobby Heenan standing out of his seat saluting Flair. Heenan with a great line about Piper: “You know they say the first time Piper saw the belt he spit on it, the second time he saw it he kissed it.” The Brain is in CLASSIC heel mode during the match while he gushes on and on about Flair being the greatest champion ever. Santana looked into the match and brought a lot of heat, but Flair just looked sluggish. The match is much slower paced than I thought it would be and they rely on a lot of strikes. Both men trade off working on a body part until Flair reverses a roll-up and grabs a handful of tights for the win. The match was okay, but the commentary made it seem more exciting.

In the back, Okerlund is with the Big Boss Man who cuts a promo on the Earthquake and winning the Battle Royal later in the night. This was the genius of the WWF at the time: the interview is probably a minute long; however, the Big Boss Man is such a large personality he doesn't have to say much to get his point across.

Seconds later Okerlund is in front of the crowd to conduct a live interview with Jimmy Hart and his monster Earthquake. Okerlund inquires about Earthquake's match with Boss Man only for Earthquake to state that he and Jimmy Hart took a plane to get to London. Whatever.

Earthquake and Jimmy Hart make their way directly to the ring for the match against the Big Boss Man. A typical big hoss match that probably went on longer than it needed to. Jimmy Hart had his working boots on tonight as Boss Man breaks mid match to chases him around the ring and rip his jacket off. The highlight of the match was Boss Man maintaining a headlock on Earthquake by grabbing a handful of Earthquake's beard. The commentary was the saving grace here as Heenan and Gorilla debated over which Natural Disaster was heavier and Gorilla had a conniption when Earthquake incorrectly applied a bear hug. Earthquake ends up winning the match with help from the Mountie.

Once again we got to the back with Gene Okerlund. He showcases the trophy and lays out the rules for the main event battle royal and then conducts an interview with “the Texas Tornado” Kerry Von Erich, who has a match with The Mountie coming up shortly.

The Mountie then comes out with Jimmy Hart and cuts a promo on Kerry Von Erich and the Battle Royal. Not much of an interview, though Okerlund takes a little time to scorn Jimmy Hart for the finish of the last match. Once in the ring, the Mountie demands to hear his music; unfortunately for him, the Texas Tornado's music starts up instead.

In the next match, the Mountie squares off with “the Texas Tornado” Kerry Von Erich. Heenan claims that the Mountie has been invited to speak at Scotland Yard while Gorilla brings up his loss in the Jailhouse match at SummerSlam. There are quite a few “Jail Bird” chants during the match, which isn't a very good contest. The Mountie applies a sleeper hold mid-match before the Tornado reverses it into his own sleeper. After posting himself, the Tornado gets punched to the outside where the Mountie can throw him into the ring steps. Kerry continues to be his own worst enemy when he misses a discus punch and nails the ring post. Tornado briefly comes back from these set-backs only for the Mountie to get the pin with his feet on the ropes. After the match, Tornado continues to beat on Mountie as the heels try to escape. This match was just slow and had next to no heat.

With freaky-weird mood lighting straight out of a haunted barn ride, Paul Bearer and the Undertaker get a little promo time to talk about the Battle Royal. Bearer talks about the main event while ‘Taker gets to talk about Jim Duggan and making a WWF mass burial when the night is done. Well, I know all the kids would just love that!

It’s time for the next match as the Undertaker and Paul Bearer make their way to the ring with a Phantom of the Opera playing the organ! I got to say, that’s pretty sweet. Hacksaw Jim Duggan comes down next with the American Flag and 2x4 in tow. I’m a little surprised at the pop Duggan got from the British crowd. Anyway, the match starts fast with ‘Taker getting clotheslined to the outside. The Undertaker then takes a breather to get some inspiration from the urn; however, Duggan basically drags him back into the ring by his hair! After such a hot start, the match then devolves into the usual “kick, punch, choke, and choke some more” style that the Undertaker wrestled at the time. Don't get me wrong; I LOVE old school Undertaker, but his matches aren’t exactly Steamboat/Flair pieces of art. After a short comeback, Duggan goes to the outside to harass Paul Bearer and ‘Taker takes the advantage. Duggan is finally disqualified after using his 2x4 on the Undertaker. Definitely not a good match, per se, but short, nostalgic fun nonetheless.

In the back, Roddy Piper and Gene Okerlund jaw about Ric Flair and Bobby Heenan. Piper gets bleeped out as he cuts a wild promo on Flair! Piper is absolutely nuts, which is why he's awesome.

Next, Okerlund is with Jimmy Hart and Typhoon. Typhoon basically tells Okerlund to shut his trap so that Jimmy can gush about his troop of wrestlers having a huge advantage in the Battle Royal tonight. Once that's done, Power & Glory walk in for an interview. Hercules and Roma have a tag team titles shot against the Legion of Doom tonight. They get pissed off when Gene postulates what will happen if they don't get the belts tonight.

After a quick cut, Okerlund is back AGAIN with the Tag Team Champions, the Legion of Doom. There's lots of yelling and screaming from Animal while Hawk talks about a bunch of disgusting crap that constitutes his dreams. It's an odd interview to say the least.

As would be expected, the next match features Power & Glory challenging the Legion of Doom for their Tag Team Titles. The Warriors had just won the belts at SummerSlam in a good match against the Nasty Boys. These two teams faced off earlier in the year at WrestleMania VII, it was a squash match with the Road Warriors picking up an easy victory. I'm going to make a confession here: I'm a HUGE Power & Glory fan and I really, really dislike the Legion of Doom. That being said, the LOD brought their A-game to London as they displayed more prowess and athleticism than would be normally expected. Early on, Hawk no-sells a piledriver and then gorilla presses Roma into Hercules! Hawk then does a good sell job after missing a flying clothesline and getting worked over outside the ring. It's not a very long match though as Animal counters Roma's top rope leap with a power slam for the pin. This was a rock solid match that went at a frantic pace from start to finish. The Warriors really showed off some moves they didn't normally utilize and their opponents didn't look like complete buffoons this time.

In the back, Okerlund is with the British Bulldog talking some more about the Battle Royal. The Bulldog is feeling especially confident tonight since he is in his hometown.

In the ring, Lord Alfred Hayes makes the ring introductions for the next match. The Barbarian comes out first followed by the British Bulldog, who is over huge with the British crowd. That might sound obvious, but this crowd was just chanting “USA, USA” about twenty minutes ago. You can never be sure with those blokes across the pond. Big power match-up with Barbarian getting the advantage after a cheap shot only for Bulldog to come back with PURE FORCE. Bulldog spends quite a bit of time out wrestling the Barbarian, but he of the wooly boots counter with a stiff big boot that takes Dave Boy out of the ring. Outside, Barbarian starts swinging his opponent around into the furniture. Then we get a weird moment where Barbarian starts feeling up Davey's pectorals. Gross. Amazingly, the Barbarian counters the Bulldog's every move by kicking him in the gut or the face. Hey, if it isn't broke don't fix it, I guess. Bulldog ends up getting the win after dodging a Barbarian shoulder block and hitting his running power slam. Good match actually with a lot of high impact moves and minimal sloppiness.

Jeepers, Jimmy Hart is at it again with Gene Okerlund as the Nasty Boys cut a promo about the Battle Royal. Okay, EVERYBODY is talking about the Battle Royal. I really shouldn't have to explain it anymore.

Finally, everybody gets individual introductions as they enter the ring for the main event battle royal. The participants are “the Texas Tornado” Kerry Von Erich, the Natural Disasters, Tito Santana, The Mountie, The Rockers, The Barbarian, The Big Boss Man, Power & Glory, “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan, The Nasty Boys, “Real World’s Champion” Ric Flair, the Legion of Doom, the British Bulldog, the Undertaker, and “Rowdy” Roddy Piper. The only guys who didn't pull double duty tonight are Typhoon and Piper, which is okay with me because Piper's reaction when he comes out here is probably the biggest of the night. He even gets a nice little bad ass moment where he sizes everybody up in the aisle and just stands there like he's in one of those Clint Eastwood westerns. As soon as Piper gets in the match begins and everybody goes at it. Piper and Flair get outside the ring and start brawling. Piper brings Flair back in with an extension cord! Hercules is eliminated after he leaps over the top rope to get a chair (boy he looked like a stooge there) and Kerry Von Erich goes out right after him. Awesome moment with Piper eliminating Knobbs with two fingers! Marty Jannetty is out next and the Barbarian goes out shortly after thanks to Tito Santana. That victory is short lived as Earthquake tosses Tito out next. Road Warrior Hawk and Jerry Sags go next and continue fighting on the floor. Shawn Michaels gets taken out by the Mountie after skinning the cat and looks pissed about it. “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan takes his leave next thanks to Earthquake, but Duggan goes right back in with his 2x4 and eliminates ‘Quake. Flair goes out next thanks to Roddy Piper! Piper then crotches the Undertaker on the ropes; getting the funniest reaction ever out of Paul Bearer. In quick succession, Road Warrior Animal and Paul Roma get tossed from the ring. The Undertaker takes his leave next thanks to Piper, but pulls a Duggan and goes back in to take Piper out of the match. Only four men remain: the British Bulldog, Typhoon, the Big Boss Man, and the Mountie. Boss Man takes another breather to sock Jimmy Hart in the face, but then gets thrown out by the Mountie shortly thereafter. The Mountie and Typhoon double team the British Bulldog for an extended period of time before Typhoon accidentally eliminates the Mountie before Bulldog takes him out. After the match, the Natural Disasters come back into the ring and proceed to beat down Davey Boy until Andre the Giant appears and DESTROYS the Disasters! Holy cow! This was a typical battle royal, but there was an extra level of excitement with so much top tier talent being in the ring at once. Bulldog’s win was a nice gesture and furthering the Piper/Flair feud made the match seem that much more relevant. Plus, how can you hate a Battle Royal?

Results[]

Numbers in parentheses indicate the length of the match.
(c) refers to the champion(s) heading into the match.

Dark Match: Steve Regal defeated Brian Maxine
The Nasty Boys (Brian Knobbs & Jerry Sags) (w/ Jimmy Hart) defeated The Rockers (Shawn Michaels & Marty Jannetty) (17:21)
Ric Flair defeated Tito Santana (16:14)
Earthquake (w/ Jimmy Hart) defeated Big Boss Man (15:47)
The Mountie (w/ Jimmy Hart) defeated The Texas Tornado (13:16)
The Undertaker (w/ Paul Bearer) defeated Jim Duggan by DQ (6:19)
The Legion of Doom (Hawk & Animal) (c) defeated Power & Glory (Paul Roma & Hercules) to retain the WWF Tag Team Championship (9:08)
The British Bulldog defeated The Barbarian (10:07)
The British Bulldog won the 20 man battle royal (14:39)

Battle Royal Eliminations[]

Elimination	Wrestler	Eliminated by	Time
1	Hercules	Hawk	2:26
2	The Texas Tornado	Brian Knobbs & The Barbarian	2:41
3	Brian Knobbs	Roddy Piper	3:24
4	Marty Jannetty	Typhoon	3:40
5	The Barbarian	Tito Santana	4:16
6	Tito Santana	Earthquake	4:40
7	Hawk	Jerry Sags	5:14
8	Jerry Sags	Animal & Jim Duggan	5:19
9	Shawn Michaels	The Mountie	5:50
10	Jim Duggan	Earthquake	6:39
11	Earthquake	Jim Duggan & Animal	7:11
12	Ric Flair	Roddy Piper	7:45
13	Paul Roma	The British Bulldog	8:57
14	Animal	The Undertaker	9:06
15	The Undertaker	Roddy Piper	9:33
16	Roddy Piper	The Undertaker	9:38
17	The Big Boss Man	The Mountie	11:26
18	The Mountie	Typhoon	13:38
19	Typhoon	The British Bulldog	14:39
20	The British Bulldog	Winner	N/A