7 Things You Should Know About WWE Royal Rumble 1991

4. Ultimate Warrior's Match With Sgt. Slaughter Was Memorable

This was the first time that the WWE Title was defended at a Royal Rumble, which has become a common thing in the last two decades. It strengthens the undercard when there's a WWE Title match on the show, so it was a smart move by WWE to do it here. Warrior walked in as the WWE Champion with Slaughter as an evil heel that had turned on America by supporting Iraq. Warrior started to wear gear that said "USA" on it just to make him an even more likable face to the fans. There was all kinds of interference in the match. Warrior because he had to fight off Slaughter's buddy General Adnan plus Savage & Sherri, so even though he lost he wasn't that hurt by it. http://youtu.be/s7vG7kyokfM For the finish, Warrior press slammed Sherri over his head and tossed her onto Savage at ringside. Slaughter draped Warrior's neck along the middle rope, so the ref pulled him away. While he did that, Savage grabbed a scepter from ringside (he was the "Macho King" back then) and nailed Warrior in the head with it. The ref didn't see it, so Slaughter covered Warrior for the win. When I watched this match as a ten year old, I thought there was no way that Slaughter was going to leave as the WWE Champion. Looking back on it now, it was simply done as a way to move the title onto Hogan while Warrior could move on to that huge match with Savage. Doing Hogan/Warrior II at WrestleMania 7 would have done huge business, but WWE probably wanted Hogan against a heel like Slaughter.