Bret Hart, Jim Duggan & Jim Neidhart vs. Dino Bravo, Jacques Rougeau & Raymond Rougeau

[7.0] "Surprised to see the match rated lower than I saw it. It was a fun opener that had Bret as the obvious best worker in this ensemble. I think they did a great job building the suspense to the hot tag while the heels were in the lead. Unfortunately I still cannot stand Jim Duggan and this whole patriotic background of the match, but it was fun and the crowd was into it. Did not feel too long either."

[6.0] "One of the better Jim Duggan outings I've seen as he does bring some good energy to the match even if it is somewhat hilarious watching the crowd support the Hart Foundation with U.S.A. chants. It's mostly just solid tag team wrestling where there's long heat spots when they cut off the ring, which os especially effective when they pin Bret in the first fall and the rules state that he has to be the legal man for the second fall. I don't know of it completely justified the length personally as I think it would have probably been better just as a normal match, but the Harts make a comeback win in the end, and there's a fun ending where Hacksaw also cheats by hitting Bravo with the 2x4."

[4.0] "Nothing incredible, but a decent opener that got the evening off to a good start. It lacked a bit of stakes, though, and the length wasn't always justified. Lots of atomic drops and a slight lack of variety. In-ring quality: 1.75/5. Stakes: 0.25/2. Justification: 0.5/1. Placement on the card: 0.5/1. Suspense: 1/1. Bonus/penalty: none. Total: 4/10. Match watched on Netflix (FR)."

[6.0] "Not a bad opener, It had good moments and spots, good psychology of Jim Duggan playing the Patriotic and the Harts just doing their job apart, not a bad opener, 6/10 [***1/2]"

[4.0] "Can't lie, I'm typing this like 10 hours after watching the match and I genuinely can't remember anything other than Hacksaw being patriotic and his team winning. I also remember me just asking the question what's the deal with 2 out of 3 falls matches in the WWF during the 88 & 89 rumble PPV's."

[7.0] "The opener of the 1989 Royal Rumble was very enjoyable. Sure the match was long but then again its a 2 out of 3 falls match so it makes sense. I think The Hart Foundation and The Rougeaus did a great job here wrestling wise and Jim Duggan got a loud pop whenever he got tagged in so he did his part as well to get the fans excited. Even though the match was long it didnt got slow. A very good way to open the show."

[6.0] "The Harts and the Rougeaus were both great tag teams and you saw the chemistry early on and the crowd was super into the match. Agreed with Ventura that cheering Bret on by chanting USA is kind of ironic since everyone except Duggan was a Canadian. Liked the faces trying to use the numbers when one team is cheating, and the ref is scolding one of them. Faces using a foreign object to win was an odd choice but overall, an enjoyable matchup."

[5.0] "Enjoyable opener but like the last Royal Rumble, the two out of three falls is the detriment and this goes on slightly too long. Would have much rather seen just the Hart Foundation vs The Rougeau's as the pacing would have been much better. Crowd were hot on this one!"

[4.0] "very boring match with just a few entertaining moments of the match. Bret hart being in this match helps because he cant possibly have a dog shit match. The crowds are so stupid at this point chanting USA for bret when he is from canada lol. Doesnt make sense why duggan and the harts or supposed to be representing usa when they all arent american. The finish is very confusing to me like why did duggan cheat and hit them with a two by four? Weird spot where duggan is sling shotting the harts into the ring and they both go for a pin when we all know neither of them is legal just was so weird. Not a match id watch again its so long for no reason theres no reason why this needs to be 18 minutes long. 2.50 stars"

[3.0] "I mean the crowd was going but man Duggan and Bravo was just unnecessary during most of this match. They kind of slowed it down especially Bravo. Couldve been a decent match between the Harts and the Rougeaus. Even the 2/3 falls aspect could not save the match"

[5.0] "The inclusion of Duggan and Bravo is baffling. Bravo is generally the weakest aspect of any match he is in, and Duggan didn't provide anything towards the in-ring work, but at least the crowd was hot for him. I can't help but feel this match would have been better without those two though. Not a terrible opener."

[7.0] "Gorilla notes that this has intercontinental rules, therefore 2/3 falls which was interesting to say the least. I loved this match as a kid. I would always watch it on the DVD (or video, I cant remember) and admired the work aspect. And it still holds up as a fun match. The match starts with the powerhouses, Dino and Neidhart. They exchange shoulder tackles but Neidhart gets the better with a lariat. Duggan is the arse kicker of his team. Hes an idiot in WWF but hes still got a massive elbow that I wouldnt like to be on the receiving end of. But the high spot of the first fall is a triple team battering ram where the heels are stuck in the corner getting squashed by Neidhart. But the match turns in the heels favour following a tumble to the floor by Bret, who gets hurt and pinned some time after. The second fall is the heels working on Bret, whos selling is wonderful. He takes some wonderful bumps and makes any simple offence look damaging. I particularly loved his selling after taking a gut buster. The Rougeaus are wonderful little shits. So smarmy and heateable. And in a good way too. Great midcard heels. Bravo is decent in his role. Not terrible as hes known to be but of course, he has limited offence in the more meaningful moments of the bout. The match hits a second peak as Neidhart makes a tag but the ref has to escort him back out after failing to see the tag, making Bret eventually making a tag more meaningful. And The Summit erupts, as Jesse says. And Duggan batters the heels and eventually gets the pin, although after a dodgy moment where Bret and Neidhart attempt to pin when they arent legal so the ref doesnt count. Kayfabe is strong in Joey Marella. The third fall attempted the same process but with Duggan as the FIP, which isnt nearly as effective but there isnt as big an attempt to build to a hot tag this time. Instead Bret comes in and whips Bravos arse. The finish comes when Duggan cheats (no question about it), hitting Bravo with the 2x4, allowing Bret to get the pin and the bout. I love that sometimes. Its all execution. Regardless of babyface dynamics, if the faces win, you want them to win. ***1/2"

[4.0] "It's not a good match but at least the crowd are into it. They pop almost everything until the lengthy heat on Bret Hart in fall two eventually sends them to sleep. They happily ate up all of the double teams and Duggan's antics. Bret and Jacques were the stand-outs on their particular teams. Bret for his offence, Jacques for his bumping."

[6.0] "A fun opener to get the crowd loud and excited for the show and it did it's job perfectly. Would the match have been better in-ring if it was the Harts vs the Rougeaus? Yes, absolutely, but with the addition of Duggan & Bravo, it brings the crowd to their feet so you have to take that into account for this. No grips from me for this match, enjoyable opener."

[5.0] "Agreed with everyone saying this shouldve just been a Hart Foundation v Rougeau Brothers tag team match, because the match really livened up whenever they were involved. Bravo is awful as always, Hacksaw did some great crowd work but nothing particularly interesting in ring. Also thought the Bret beat down at the end went on way too long, and the finish didnt scan psychologically. But the first half was solid, and Bret made this worth watching."

[5.0] "Three things kept this match from being any better. First, this was a 2 out of 3 falls match, which, 95% of the time goes to 3 falls, so in my opinion, there's no point in doing them. So there's a lot of anti-climax and waste of potential there. Second, the second fall was standard tag team nonsense. The Bret beatdown went on far too long, of course you had to have the ref miss the first tag into the hot babyface tag. Played out and boring. Finally, the babyface team having to cheat to win left a bad taste in my mouth. Besides these things, the match was pretty good. Mostly due to Bret being a master at everything and the brothers having excellent tag team instinct. I'd have given this a higher score if it wasn't so typical and had a better finish. This is one that I think others could get more out of if they don't get as bothered by the same things as me. The potential was there. The execution just was lacking on this go around."

[6.0] "I actually thought this surprisingly was a good, and pretty fun match. Saying that, I do think this could've been even better were it just the Rougeau's vs Hart Foundation but Dino and Hacksaw were both fine here in their roles. Duggan is really the only one I'd get rid of in this match, but he wasn't too bad here."

[6.0] "It was okay and even though I could do without Duggan's presence in this match he wasn't as much of a chore as I would expect him to be. The Rougeaus are phenomenal and they make every match at least entertaining so when they were in the ring with The Hart Foundation they really made you wish that it was a normal 2v2 tag match."

[6.0] "I thought this was fun overall, but the 2/3 Falls stipulation probably worked as a detriment as the match was a bit longer than it needed to be. The heat on Bret in the middle was fairly dull. I didn't really have a problem with Dino or Duggan, personally. They are limited but they weren't given a huge amount to do, and Duggan makes for an energetic hot tag."

[6.0] "Solid opener to get the crowd going. You have Bret Hart in the match with the Rougeaus so it usually means good stuff."

[6.0] "Good opener that benefited from being mostly (smartly) left in the hands of the more technically sound Hart Foundation and Rougeaus, while Jim Duggan was limited to being the hot tag guy. I will say they missed the peak by a few minutes, but I will also admit that I liked this match way more than I thought I would. [***]"

[6.0] "A satisfactory opener. Pretty enjoyable for the most part, albeit went too long. Say what you want about Duggan here, but his hot tag got absolutely over like crazy. The match kind of missed the mark by around the end of second fall, but with that said, it was still good enough to open the show. [***1/4]"

[6.0] "Sure the match went a little long and the faces winning by heelish tactics doesn't make a tonne of sense, but in my opinion the match achieved it's job in being an opener. The fans were mad for Hacksaw as usual and I love the work of the Rougeaus. I'd personally have left Hacksaw and Dino out and just had a straight tag match but it was fine."

[4.0] "It deserves to be said, first, that there's something bleakly humorous about watching Jim Duggan lead a U-S-A chant while partnered with the very Canadian Hart Foundation. I don't know if that's a plus or a minus, to be honest. But honestly, not a great match otherwise. Something with Bret Hart and the Rougeaus should be better than this, but Dino Bravo is big and slow, Jim Duggan is in full clubbing goofball mode with his days of feuding with Ted DiBiase long behind him, and there's just nothing to really like here. Throw in a finish where the babyface cheats with a foreign object to get the win and you get a pretty dumb match all told."

[4.0] "This wasn't a total failure, due in part to the Hart Foundation and Rougeaus, but Bravo and Duggan dragged this down a lot. Had they just gone with a Hart Foundation/Roueaus Brothers match it would have been a lot better. Overall it was not much more than average."

[3.0] "A very long but not very good match. Neither the Hart Foundation or the Rougueas are particularly interesting in this match, and I can't stand Jim Duggan. Case in point, he just blatantly cheats so the "faces" win the match. Babyfaces are as dirty as heels in this era."