[4.0] "Hacksaw Jim Duggan & The Hart Foundation v Dino Bravo & The Fabolous Rougeaus - 2 out of 3 falls - 4/10 Rockin Robin (c) v Judy Martin - Women's Title Match - 2/10 (Worst Match) King Haku v Harley Race - Singles Match - 3/10 30 Man Royal Rumble - 7/10 (Best Match)"

[5.0] "My rating for Royal Rumble 1989 it's a 5, a PPV that was fine but still there's nothing I can say was the best outside the Rumble itself, the opener was fine, the women's match was a meh, then a match to fill the card and the Rumble that was well done being the first one of 30, also that weird segment full of muscles and I'm more than sure that Steroids, and a rumble that was fine, so I think a 5/10 it's okay for what it was considering the time we're in"

[5.0] "Following the success of the 1988 Royal Rumble television special, this was the first official pay-per-view of what has pretty much become WWE's second biggest show of the year (for my money, it's more anticipated than Summerslam most of the time). The undercard on this show is nothing to write home about, even if Haku vs. Harley (*1/4) has some admirers amongst the space. I wasn't too keen on it. The 2/3 Falls six-man tag was decent enough, for a Hacksaw match (**1/2). The main event is the Royal Rumble match itself, which doesn't exactly raise the stakes from 1988 but at least adds a stiff dose of star power and expands the field from 20 to 30 men. It's not an all-timer, and peaks well before the finish, but this Rumble does showcase the depth of talent at this time and has a lot of fun moments: Demolition facing off, Damian's entrance forcing Andre's elimination and Hogan "mistakenly" eliminating Savage (***). It's a middling show overall, but there are some highlights here."

[4.0] "While the Rumble itself is a slight improvement over the previous year's, the rest of the card is much weaker. Match 1: 5/10 Match 2: 3/10 Match 3: 4/10 Match 4: 5/10 Overall Total: 4.25/5"

[4.0] "Not terrible but not very good either. The rumble was better than most people give it credit for, the opener was alright, but man the women's match was dogshit and Haku/Harley was a nothing burger. Very generic undercard hurts the show but atleast it had a good rumble."

[6.0] "Royal Rumble 1989 overall was a good Pay Per View. The match of the night is definitely the Royal Rumble match. They made a great choice by upgrading the Rumble to 30 men and i was fine with Big John Studd winning it. Also it had many big names which made it more fun. I feel like theres a kinda hidden gem in this PPV and its the opener. I really enjoyed the tag team match. The worst match of the night is Race vs Haku which was a really slow and boring match."

[5.0] "Overall the show was fine. Opener was pretty good although the inclusion of Duggan and Bravo was probably unnecessary. Women's match was terrible tbh. Haku vs Race was another fine match. Rumble was fine first thirty-man rumble and it had a ton of star power although Studd winning and not having a match at Mania seems very wrong."

[5.0] "The Rumble match itself was an improvement on the first edition, though the event still feels flat. Opening six man tag would have been better as a straight tag team match but is solid in watching. The women's match is a disaster and Haku vs Race isnt much better. What is it with Royal Rumbles in the 80's having massive segments for body building and lifting? At least this one between Rude and Warrior built something as aposed to Dino Bravo the previous year."

"Honestly a really fun rumble. Tag match was good between Hart foundation + Duggan vs Dino Bravo and the Rougeaus. Haku vs Harley Race was good. Rumble match was a bit slow but fun drama. Decent card and an improvement on 1. Some of the classic work here is just nice to see. Rick Rude and Warrior stuff was hot for the crowd too."

[4.0] "A very meh show overall. The opener and the rumble were decent with the middle two matches being extremely average to poor. Not a Royal Rumble to remember. 4.5/10"

[4.0] "Another late 80's PPV card with a mediocre undercard mixing with a strong main event that was ultimately just held back a little by poor formatting. There's just four matches here, and while they at least avoided squashes and nonsense bookings in the undercard, the only match truly worth watching more than once is the main event rumble match. I'll always defend a rumble match, and also enjoyed this one, but this makes two years in a row of what I personally would consider to be terrible winner choices. The booking would have been one thing if Rumble had debuted back when WrestleMania I did, but I really don't think Studd had the fan reaction or status anymore to win this thing in 1989, and he wouldn't be around too much longer after this. Obviously, the Rumble wasn't offering any type of true stakes yet either (92's title vacancy or the near-future standard of promising #1 contendership for WrestleMania), so while the match still has a long, fun, epic and spectacle feel, it ultimately just feels a little hollow as the post-match celebration dies down on these early Royal Rumble PPVs. There's only so much you can do in the undercard with an event time limit and an hour long rumble match, but honestly, I would not have made the opening match a "2 out of 3 falls" 6-man tag match. Give us two quick, but decently worked, matches in its place, built around grudges or a lesser belt or something. I also really would have preferred an actual match in the place of that ridiculous, overlong posedown segment, which is pretty torturous to get through every time I revisit this show. Those changes likely would have yielded more of a 5 or 6 out of 10 result for me for this show."

[4.0] "A product of the time that hasn't really aged well. A disappointing rumble combined with sub-par action throughout the card (including a horrific woman's match) made this a slug to watch in one sitting. The best segment for me was the body pose between Rude and Warrior, which goes to show how much I thought of this show. The few good moments (body pose, Mega-Powers build, strong characters and gimmicks) can't make up for how boring this show is, which is the ultimate sin for me."

[5.0] "Solid rumble, with some great storytelling moments, but a weak undercard dragged this down. Womens match was awful, the other two werent anything memorable, and tbh as much as I enjoyed parts of the rumble the finish was underwhelming."

[5.0] "The 1989 Royal Rumble was a solid event. I just think that, because of how much talent was being used for the Rumble, the undercard was underwhelming. While I appreciate the Rude and Warrior pose down to advance their feud for Wrestlemania, I don't see why those two couldn't have worked double duty and been in the Rumble too to give it some more star power. Maybe make Rude come in early and have Warrior come down and eliminate him, then have Warrior come out as a late draw, look like he might win, and then Rude comes back out, beats him down more, and gets him eliminated too. The women's title match was a waste of time, and the tag match should have been better but was alright. The Rumble itself was very good, but I think the underwhelming card before it, and the fact that the Rumble itself had a very poor last 5-10 minutes leaves this event feeling a little bit empty. A good event to throw on every once and a while for sure, but far from a classic."

[4.0] "The first PPV version of the Royal Rumble but somehow a step down from the televised event. The opening six man tag is held together by the Harts and Rougeaus but its neither teams best performance and it goes for too long. Bravo and Duggan don't really add anything either (4/10) Robin vs Martin is the weakest match on the card it drags even at only 6 minutes since its all very basic and uninteresting (3/10) Haku vs Harley Race has a few moments that look pretty good, but Race wasn't great at this point in time so once again this match drags in points but its not aweful (4/10) The Rumble itself is a slight improvement over the first years with a strong start between Ax and Smash some good story progression with the Mega Powers, and a few great wrestlers like Perfect or HBK holding it together in between, but even with all that it doesn't have enough to fill an entire hour and you can really feel it draggin at certain points, specially from Savages elimination up until the end (5/10) Also didn't care at all for the Rude/Warrior segment that took a ton of time. The Backstage promos were pretty decent though"

[5.0] "This was a fine show. This show really peaks early with a surprisingly good six-man tag match. The Royal Rumble becomes a 30-man match this year and is officially a PPV, so this show is very historic for those two reasons. Andre was great on this show again; as I'll discuss once I review the Rumble match. I really don't like Akeem. Overall this was a fine show but not one to go out of your way to watch."

[4.0] "They did better with the Royal Rumble match than last year, but the other matches dragged it down a bit. The opener was okay and I didn't even mind Duggan being there, but the next two took most of my energy for the rest of the night, especially Race vs Haku. The Rumble Match was good until Savage and Hogan got eliminated, then it took most of the excitement out of that with the winner who didn't look as impressive as he did a few years back."

[3.0] "Maybe 80s wrestling isn't for me, but i don't see what was so compelling to fans of this period. That posedown really kills my mood because it goes 20 freaking minutes! A show main evented by a pointless Rumble won by a pointless winner. I... just don't get it."

[5.0] "This is a pretty lenient rating based almost solely on the Royal Rumble match itself being one of WWE's most consistently enjoyable matches. The opener is decent but nothing special, the women's match is bad, and Haku-Race is watchable but far from a standout. The pose off was really bad as well - long, boring, and stupid, with the only real entertainment value being Warrior jumping around like a goof. If you just watch the main event and skip the rest you're definitely not missing out on much."

[3.0] "Awful show for match quality. Some of the earlier WWF PPVs are just such a rough watch. This show doesn't really have anything redeeming on it, even the Rumble match is bad."

[5.0] "Things were starting to look more like the fully-formed Royal Rumble concept by its second year; we have a full 30-man field in the Rumble, which is now firmly parked in the main event spot, and the show was promoted to an actual PPV instead of a TV special. There's still nothing on the line for the winner, though, which somewhat lessens the appeal. If they weren't giving the winner a title shot, why not at least pretend there's a special cash prize? That would certainly make sense, especially with a character like Ted DiBiase making it to the final two in the match. The undercard is a little on the weak side too - the six-man opener was decent enough, but Robin vs. Martin was short enough to come off as filler, and while I always like Haku, his match with Race was dampened by Race's abilities being noticeably diminished as he neared the end of his active career (this would be his last WWF match); Heenan was great (as always) in playing both sides throughout it though. The Rude-Warrior posing segment dragged enough that it felt like killing time, but at least was more productive in the end than the interminable Dino Bravo weightlifting segment the previous year. The Rumble concept was not quite there yet but was at least on its way."

[3.0] "Bad show. Nothing memorable here. The Rumbles with nothing on the line mean very little. This was a prime example of it."

[5.0] "Eh. The opening tag was good but then everything in between that and the Rumble was just filler. The Rumble started well enough but died off in the late third portion of the match after Hogan's early leave. Also, interesting bit of trivia. Outlaw Ron Bass shows up at this event bald, and as noted by Gorilla Monsoon "courtesy of Brutus The Barber Beefcake". That match happened at SNME in real world time, but that show wouldn't air on TV for another week on tape delay, so that must have confused fans at the time. The WWF and it's goofy pre taping."

[5.0] "An average event overall. The undercard was a mixed bag, although I enjoyed the six-man tag opener, as well as the weird albeit entertaining 'Super Posedown' segment. We cap off the night with a decent Rumble, which was historic for being the first Rumble to feature thirty men. It's an easy-to-watch show for the most part, with only a runtime of about 2.5 hours on the Network, which is hardly long at all."

[6.0] "Solid PPV. Sure, there were some dead spots in the Rumble match and the Women's title match was very heatless and really fucking boring, but there was always something going on otherwise. As far as the matches go, the opener was my personal favorite. The angle between Warrior and Rude was very WWF-ish if you know what I mean, but it started their long feud which was actually pretty damn good. Enjoyable event."

[5.0] "Our opening match is Dino Bravo & The Rougeau Bros. vs. Jim Duggan & The Hart Foundation. Okay, a little xenophobia in wrestling is one thing, but when you? re picking fights with a French Canadian you have to revaluate your tolerance just a bit. The Rougeaus are so good at the cocky-yet-cowardly heel bit I? m surprised the WWF didn? t use them as heels sooner. This one was a lot of fun. Duggan and Bravo were kept out of it for the most part, leaving Bret and the Rougeaus to carry the match. ***1/4. Next up we get Rockin? Robin vs. Judy Martin. Before the match, Sensational Sherri challenges the winner to a title match. This incarnation of the WWF Women? s Title was practically useless at this point and, outside of that Sherri match which went off on an episode of PrimeTime, it was never seen again until Vince shook the moths out of it and brought it back as part of the Jacqueline and Sable feud in 1998. They looked? competent. **. We would then get a "Super Posedown" between Rick Rude and The Ultimate Warrior. Rude won the ? Jesse the Body Award? for abdominal excellence or something, and so he felt confident enough to challenge another roided-up freak to see who had the better body. Jesse scores it for Rude (and I? d have to agree) but the fans vote for Warrior, and that? s what counts. Rude gets pissed and chokes out the Warrior with his workout bar. The best part of the whole contests was Heenan sucking up to the ? humanoids, ? which he never does. We would then get Haku vs. Harley Race. Harley had a hand in training Haku, so this is just part of an effort to put him over as a singles star. Both guys were heels at this point, but when Race was injured Heenan decided to give Haku the meaningless ? King? s? crown. Race is coming back to reclaim it. The match is okay, but really not fit for the time and place. These are two legitimate tough guys with solid wrestling skills in an era when pretty boys and gym rats were the in thing. Race? s career was already over, and he probably shouldn? t have been in there, but he wanted to put Haku over. Haku, on the other hand, was a vastly underappreciated worker during his early singles run. It wasn? t until after he lost the crown to Jim Duggan that he started a significant downturn. Not for WWF tastes, but I really liked it. **1/2. And finally it was time for the Royal Rumble Match. My personal favorite Rumble match before it got any stakes, probably because the winner wasn? t any of the usual suspects and the alliances and turns made sense without being predictable. After this, the Rumble would be used as a political tool or to elevate someone for WrestleMania, but it lost its spontaneity. ***1/2. One of my favorite Rumble PPVs, probably because it was my first one and because Hogan hadn't taken over again yet. After he took the title back, the WWF descended into the more cartoonish version that people usually think of when they think of WWF wrestling. Thumbs in the middle for Royal Rumble 1989."

[8.0] "The first full sized Rumble, and I'd say it's a good one. It definitely gets better as it goes, anyway. Didn't care much for the six man or the "pose down", women's match was decent, Haku vs. Race was fairly good, and the Rumble itself was great."

[7.0] "Good opener. Really enjoyed it even though it had a strangley heel finish and it dragged a bitime. Women's match was bad, okay finish, but Sherri was awful on promo and commentary by constantly fluffing her lines and being really annoying. I enjoyed the Warrior and Rude pose off even if it wasn't PPV quality. Two of the toughest men in the world battling in a match which I really enjoyed. There were some really stiff looking headbutts at one point and the story of the match was good. The main event, much like any Royal Rumble was very enjoyable. Loved the overarching DiBiase storyline throughout the show. Great story telling with the Mega Powers . Overall I thought it was a good show."

[8.0] "Enjoyable PPV with not very good undercard and awesome main event. Six men tag is very cool opener. Womens match is pretty bad but it has an interesting ending. I found Race vs Haku boring. Howewer maybe you will enjoy it if you like this type of classical wrestling. Royal rumble match is just great. First classical rumble with 30 men and first very good one."

[3.0] "The Rumble match itself is stacked full of big names and great wrestlers, yet they have Big John Studd win? File that under "questionable booking decisions. " The opening match wasn't bad but it went on a little long. The women's match was leaning towards bad. The "king vs. king" match of Haku vs. Race was pretty bad as well."

[5.0] "The non-Rumble matches are better than the Rumble itself. The 3 vs 3 is a great match, I really like how the Hart Foundation had a strong impact in that match. Women's match was boring, King Haku vs Harley Race a decent fight, better than expected. My issue is with the Royal Rumble match, once again it does not give a chance for Wrestlemania. It starts well with the Demolition mini-feud, and I like how Hogan and Savage had tension between them. The final part is hard to watch. Too long and boring for most minutes with all big men. Someone would enjoy the choice of the winner but to me it's weird to push someone who will not get over for that victory."

[0.0] "I'm the lone weirdo who hates this event. That's fine. Let's take a look at the card: You've got Jim Duggan and the Hart Foundation going over Dino Bravo and The Fabulous Rougeaus in a drag of a Best 2-out-of-3 Falls Match. Predictable match, fit for an non-televised event -- not a big-time PPV! Next you have Rockin' Robin beating Judy Martin in an uuugly far-cry from the matches that Sasha Banks and Bayley are putting on these days. Next you have King Haku beating Harley Race in a methodical bore. And lastly you have a seemingly-lasting-forever Royal Rumble that stars the likes of Akeem, Ax, Bad News Brown, Brutus Beefcake, Hercules, Luke, Ron Bass, Smash, The Barbarian and The Warlord... with Big John Studd winning! Ugh. Kill me. It's amazing that so much great talent was involved (Andre, Arn Anderson, Hulk Hogan, Jake the Snake, Mr. Perfect, Randy Savage, Shawn Michaels, Tito Santana, and Tully Blanchard), yet this event still sucked so, so bad. It just goes to show you that a horribly booked event can be less than the sum of its parts."

[7.0] "This is still my favorite Royal Rumble of all time. The 6 Man was an entertaining opening match. The women's match was fine. Haku vs. Harley Race was nothing to complain about. The Royal Rumble itself gets a 5-Star rating from me. This match managed to tell many stories all during one match. Demolition starting the match against each other & choosing to fight each other was a awesome begining. You had the downfall of Hulk Hogan & Randy Savage's friendship, The Twin Towers attempt to overpower Hogan, Hogan cheating to eliminate Big Bossman, Ted DiBiase attempting to buy the victory by buying #30, and Big John Studd's surprise victory. Overall a very good 7 of 10 from me."