What would have happened if Andre the Giant had won the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) 1991 Royal Rumble as originally planned? Would his presence give the Rumble that year the big boost it seemed to desperately need?
The 1991 Rumble had a different feel than the 1990 version. While the 1990 undercard was pretty bland but the Rumble was very entertaining, the 1991 version was the exact opposite, with a bland Rumble but a stacked undercard that ended with The Ultimate Warrior losing the WWE World Championship to Sgt. Slaughter (who played an Iraqi sympathizer in Operation Desert Storm ) surprised fans with a big upset.
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But the Rumble itself, while decent, lacked any real excitement, with the only matchup that really made sense being Hulk Hogan and “Earthquake” John Tanta ending their nine-month feud, becoming the last two participants before Hogan knocked Earthquake out of the ring. But by this time, the feud between Hogan and Earthquakes had lost its luster, with Hogan defeating Earthquakes in their first two pay-per-view matches (a countout victory at SummerSlam 1990, and Hogan defeating Earthquakes at Survivor Series 1990).
But to be fair, Hogan and Earthquake’s original plan wasn’t for these two to end the Rumble. Instead, the plan was for Andre the Giant to win the match as a final tribute to one of WWE’s living legends.
On November 30, 1990, during a live show in Miami, WWE announced that Andre would return to the ring as a participant in the 1991 Rumble, which was scheduled to take place in Miami two months later. According to WWE Executive Director Bruce Pritchard, the plan was to move Andre to No. 30 to limit his in-ring involvement, but also allow him to go head-to-head with several of the top stars of the time before winning the Rumble. Unfortunately, shortly after Andre was mentioned on television as one of the participants in the Rumble, he had to withdraw due to a leg injury.
So let’s play some revisionist history here and theorize what would have happened if Andre was healthy enough to play in the big game.
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First, let’s discuss who might be in the ring when Andre falls at No. 30. When the Rumble announced Tugboat as the 30th and final wrestler for the event, those in the ring were Hogan, Earthquake, “Mr. Perfect” Curt Henning, Davey “The British Bulldog” Boy Smith, Rick “The Model” Martel (who lasted a then-record 53 minutes and 14 seconds in the Rumble), Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart, Haku, Nasty Boy’s Brian Nobbs and Shawn Douglas.
Since Andre was ranked 30th in this case and not Tugboat, we assume Tugboat was eliminated earlier in the race. We also assume that — since Andre’s last TV appearance at WrestleMania VI on April 1, 1990, elicited a huge babyface reaction — that Andre would get a huge babyface reaction from the crowd here as well.
knew? Okay, let’s get started.
When Andre entered the ring (over the top rope, as usual), he was immediately attacked by Haku, which makes sense since they were tag team champions before they fell out at WM6 after Andre left the Heenan Family. Haku landed a few chops to Andre’s head and quickly followed up with his patented crescent kick, but Andre grabbed Haku’s legs and nailed Haku with a few punches before throwing his former partner off the top rope.
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After the elimination, Andre quickly made his way to a corner of the ring where Perfect and Douglas were fighting each other. Andre grabbed their heads, banged them together, and eliminated both wrestlers.
Meanwhile, Martel eliminates Neidhart, as originally happened, and Bulldog throws Nobbs over the top rope, while Hogan and Earthquake continue to fight in the other corner. Martel and Bulldog then turned to each other, with Martel gaining the upper hand, but was eliminated by Bulldog’s kick as he tried to climb to the top rope (again, just like what happened in the first place).
Now here are the final four items:
Hogan, Earthquake, Bulldog and Andre.
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Bulldog, emboldened by taking out Nobbs and Martel, quickly jumped on Andre from behind with some forearms. But Andre quickly used his massive size to grab Bulldog’s arm, headbutt him, and toss him like a rag doll over the top rope.
Meanwhile, Hogan and Earthquake continued to fight for another quarter, with Earthquake starting to gain the upper hand. But Andrei walked to the corner of the earthquake, and the earthquake’s back was turned to Andrei, so he did not see the arrival of the “eighth wonder of the world”. Andre grabbed Earthquake’s head and headbutted Earthquake for a few seconds before managing to roll Earthquake to the top of the mountain himself.
Now you only have two left:
Hogan…and Andre.
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The two legends competed together for the first time since SummerSlam 1988, and the cheers from the crowd made it clear that fans knew they were witnessing wrestling history once again.
Hogan and Andre stared at each other intensely, but not to the same extent as they did in the WM3 match, mainly because both wrestlers were babyfaced at this point. The downward stares soon ceased as the two legends and former friends began trading punches and kicks until Hogan seemed to gain the upper hand with three consecutive unanswered right hands. As Andre was reeling, Hogan signaled to the crowd that he was going to punch the Giant, something he hadn’t done since WM 4 in 1988 (at least on TV). Hogan stepped in, ready to slam, but in a scene reminiscent of their match at WM 3, Hogan was unable to lift Andre up, and instead, Andre fell on top of him, seemingly hurting Hogan’s ribs.
The finale is coming soon, surprising fans a bit (but remember, Andre isn’t in great shape here). Andre lifted Hogan up, punched him twice, headbutted Hogan, then easily picked Hogan up, walked to the ropes, and threw Hogan over the top.
game. put. match. Andre.
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There are two things to discuss here:
First, will Andre’s presence shake up the 1991 Rumble?
The answer is: yes.
Andre’s appearance, especially considering he was ranked No. 30, accomplished what it was intended to do: put the spotlight on a living legend, let him make an immediate impact, briefly reignite an iconic feud by going toe-to-toe with Hogan, and give fans a bit of a turnaround by making Andre the victor. While all of this would be enough to rank the 1991 Rumble Match as one of the best, it would also create a “Rumble Moment” if you will. That’s all you could ask for.
Secondly, will Andre’s appearance and victory change the bookings for WM 7 later in March?
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The answer is: no.
Considering Andre’s health, it’s unlikely that his victory at the Rumble will give him much of a boost heading into WrestleMania. Andre’s rumble victory meant the wrestling legend’s swansong. While he may make occasional appearances later in the year, I don’t see any change in WM 7 bookings despite Andre’s win.
What do you think? Am I right? Wrong? Somewhere in the middle? What are your thoughts, wrestling fans?
