In my debut blog I chronicled my entry into the exciting and mystifying world of professional wrestling fandom which came in 1989. That seemed as perfect of a year as any to become permanently hooked.
Following my Uncle gifting me with my first VHS (WWF World Tour) I couldn't get enough of watching tapes, my 4 year old eyes bugging out at every entrance and maneuver.
Then came along the Royal Rumble. We didn't regularly order PPVs until Wrestlemania 6 so getting the latest tape was Christmas and my birthday rolled into the greatest day of my life every single time.
I hadn't been aware one had been previously held in 1988 on the USA network so this concept instantly captured me as a diehard fan and like millions across the globe my anticipation level surges when we enter into January. Royal Rumble fever is spread and we're all too happy to catch it!
Join me in a walk down memory lane as I recount my favorite Royal Rumble memories spanning the years 1988-1992. As a young child, those first five years were as golden as it got.
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1988
I was fortunate enough to have rented the VHS of the inaugural event, blissfully unaware of the politics that went into producing this show. As it turned out, the WWF aired this for free on USA to counter the NWA's PPV Bunkhouse Stampede which was airing simultaneously.
Without that knowledge or knowing the results beforehand I settled in and enjoyed the ride.
It so happened this was also my introduction to the now common contract signing.
Andre The Giant and Hulk Hogan hadn't met inside a ring since Wrestlemania III and were now destined to do battle on February 4 live on NBC.
Flanked by Ted Dibiase and Virgil, Andre was quite menacing and I was a tad worried for The Hulkster even as he never flinched or backed down.
Aside from some verbal sparring between the WWF Champion and The Million Dollar Man, things seemed to be going along smoothly until Andre grabbed Hogan and bounced his head off the table and then it right onto his ribs.
I sat stunned as I hadn't seen Hogan manhandled like that in the time I had been regularly watching. My young mind was concerned about a match that had already taken place which in present time to me meant they told a pretty strong story.
Of course we all know the infamous Twin Hebner conspiracy resulted in Andre winning the title and holding onto it for a grand total of two minutes before a failed attempt to give it to Dibiase.
The segment still holds up to this day in my eyes. Each man effectively conveyed their thoughts and emotions ; I have no doubt those who watched it live made darn sure they didn't miss the match when it rolled around.
The Rumble match itself was an eye opening experience for me as well. Not only were there only 20 participants but an unlikely winner to me.
Though a few favorites such as Hillbilly Jim, Tito Santana, Junkyard Dog, and Jake Roberts were participants, I fully expected #18 The Ultimate Warrior to emerge victorious. He was the second wrestler who I immediately fell in love with and figured he dominated the Rumble as he had dominated everyone in 89.
Imagine my shock and dismay when he was promptly eliminated by Dino Bravo and The One Man Gang (who looked suspiciously like the Akeem I detested),
If Warrior was gone, who could possibly emerge victorious? Could anyone stop the Gang?
As it turned out, "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan could! As if he were avenging the Warrior for my sake, he ducked an incoming Gang and sent him to the floor. He was immediately added to my list of favorites complete with a thumbs up and a "HOOOOOO!"
1988 was a pretty fun event. Little did I know it would only get better.
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1989
For a second year, the Rumble wasn't kind to the Warrior. That Super Posedown bored me as a youngster and it didn't help that the dastardly Bobby Heenan and "Ravishing" Rick Rude ambushed him with a workout bar. Though I will say his destruction of the hapless suits left to try and help him was great fun.
Once again though the now expanded Royal Rumble was the cherry on top of the event. So much fascinating intrique and storytelling throughout the one hour bout.
Right off the bat I was amazed when the WWF Tag Team Champions Demolition stood across the ring from each other having drawn #1 and #2 respectively.
How could they instantly begin to do battle? It seemed impossible but yet they did just that for two minutes plus until another entrant made his way out. What a surreal sight to see Smash cranking on Ax's neck just as he did to everyone of their previous opponents. Would that be the end of them as a team?
Thankfully it wouldn't. The second Andre The Giant came out as #3, they turned their focus on him and never had any lingering issues stemming from their brief tussle. It was just a lesson for me that in the Rumble it really was every man for himself.
One of the more exciting moments also came at the expense of Andre. While he survived the Demolition onslaught and easily eliminated rival Jake Roberts, "The Snake" wasn't going to simply ride off into the sunset.
He returned with Damien in two causing a terrified Andre to do the unthinkable and eliminate himself. Their rivalry would rage on until Wrestlemania V.
As more and more wrestlers made their entrance I anxiously awaited the arrival of Hulk Hogan. There wasn't a soul that would be able to send him over the top rope; victory would be his!
He didn't disappoint either. With a then record nine eliminations, Hogan sent the likes of The Brain Busters, Ko Ko B. Ware, Bushwhacker Luke, and The Warlord (who stepped into the ring and was clotheslined out two seconds later) back to the dressing room in defeat.
It took a combination of an innocent miscommunication and more chicanary from Ted Dibiase to put an abrupt halt to his momentum.
While The Hulkster emptied the ring, his Mega Powers partner and WWF Champion Randy Savage was holding his own as well against a dogged persuit from Bad News Brown.
They became tangled in the ropes and Hogan came over to successfully eliminate Brown. Unfortunately at the same time Savage was eliminated as well.
Not surprisingly The Macho Man wasn't thrilled about that and tensions were at an all time high. I was relieved when Miss Elizabeth ran down to ensure cooler heads would prevail. Little did I know that the fracture caused this night would lead to the implosion of The Mega Powers.
Dibiase's money came into play as he sold his number to one of Slick's Twin Towers. Without Savage, Hogan fell prey to The Big Bossman and Akeem and was shockingly eliminated.
Dibiase had purchased #30 and seemed a lock to win. And he might have if Big John Studd had been all about the money.
Unfortunately for Dibiase, he wasn't. The pair were the final two at the end and Studd traded in padding his bank account for a Royal Rumble victory. Good prevailed over Evil once again and I cheered!
It wasn't a Hulk Hogan post-win posing routine but I accepted it.
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1990
There were plenty of standout moments in the 1990 Royal Rumble match.
Ted Dibiase discovered his money did him no good when he drew #1. He would last a little over 44 minutes which at the time was a record.
Dusty Rhodes and "The Macho King" Randy Savage kicked off a heated feud both on The Brother Love Show and in the Rumble where Rhodes eliminated The King.
Heavy favorites like Andre The Giant and Earthquake found themselves mobbed and eliminated to the delight and surprise of fans.
But for me, the biggest memory I will forever carry with me is when Hulk Hogan and The Ultimate Warrior came face to face.
Warrior entered at #21 and Hogan at #25. Between the two of them they eliminated Jimmy Snuka, Haku, The Honkytonk Man, Rick Martel, and Shawn Michaels to wind up eye to eye.
The two men who drew me into wrestling stood ready to see who was truly the biggest force in the WWF. WWF Champion vs Intercontinental Champion and me feeling ever so conflicted as to who to root for.
Their one and only exchange in the match was brief but electrifying. Each threw a clothesline that failed to take the other down. It ended in a stalemate when they clotheslined one another to the mat.
With both men down The Barbarian entered next and went to town dropping elbows on them. The ring would fill back up and Hogan, not unlike his 89 mishap with Savage, wound up inadvertently eliminating Warrior as he went after Barbarian and Rick Rude.
The Hulkster went on to win the match last eliminating Mr. Perfect. I was overjoyed while my mind was still blown away at the reality of him and Warrior colliding.
The seeds were planted for The Ultimate Challenge and Wrestlemania 6.
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1991
An unlikely tag team opener wound up stealing the show and has remained one of my personal favorite WWF/WWE matches of all time.
Even at age 7 I thought the original incarnation of The Orient Express was better than the version that entered into battle with The Rockers. All I knew was Sato was gone and Kato didn't seem to be that great of a replacement partner for Tanaka. Mr. Fuji though was always bad ass.
I had long been a fan of The Rockers and expected they would dispatch of The Express pretty easily as if it were a match from Superstars of Wrestling or Wrestling Challenge.
19 minutes later I knew I had seen something worth remembering.
It was an exciting blend of Shawn and Marty's aerial assaults and the crafty tactics of The Express. The Rockers dominated the early goings utilizing moves that were very uncommon for not only tag teams in that era but in the WWF in general.
It became a nail biter once The Express used Fuji's trademark cane to turn the momentum around in their favor. Jannetty was relentlessly worked over and I on the edge of our couch begging for him to make the tag. The arena and I from home exploded when he did.
The Rockers wound up scoring the win and it felt like they were destined to finally become WWF Tag Team Champions. Alas, Shawn and one infamous Barber Shop window had other plans. At least we'll always have the Rumble.
After defeating Hulk Hogan at Wrestlemania 6 (and making me cry because I had never seen Hogan pinned before), The Ultimate Warrior was unstoppable in my book. I wasn't the least bit concerned about Sgt. Slaughter, whose prime I unfortunately missed, taking the title from him.
My young mind knew little about the conflict in Iraq around that time, just that Slaughter was hated and was the challenger. Anyone who opposed Warrior was my enemy as well.
Back then I thought the match was quite epic and even now I still think the story they told with Savage involved was pretty good and made up for the holes in the action.
The Macho King hit a literal home run when he cracked Warrior in the skull allowing Sarge to pick up the win and the title. As I watched feeling angry, Roddy Piper and Gorilla Monsoon did a great job voicing those feelings and saying things I dare not in front of my parents!
Savage wound up missing his entrance in the Royal Rumble match on the run from Warrior. They would go on to have a Wrestlemania classic a few months later.
That was still ways away, we all needed a pick up!
Who else but Hulk Hogan would be there to raise our spirits?
The 1991 Royal Rumble match was notable to me for a few things.
Rick Martel and Greg Valentine showed immense stamina. In fact Martel would break the previous record of longest time in the match set by Dibiase the prior year. Clocking in at 53 minutes The Model nearly made into the final four. Why he chose to go to the top rope allowing The British Bulldog to send him onto the floor remains a mystery.
The Undertaker made his Royal Rumble debut led by Brother Love. I was fortunate enough to have been in the building when he debuted at Survivor Series 1990 and he caused plenty of nightmares. If anyone was a favorite that year, he likely was among them,
But in an elimination that would seem unfathomable knowing the heights he'd reach, The Legion Of Doom paired up to eliminate him just like that.
The final three wound up being Hogan facing off with Jimmy Hart's tandem of Brian Knobs and Earthquake. Hulkamania ran wild as ever and Hogan last eliminated Quake for a historic victory. He became the first of only a select few to have a pair of Rumble wins and even fewer to win in consecutive years.
Hogan's momentum carried into Wrestlemania 7 and he defeated Slaughter to begin his third title reign. America could breathe easy once more!
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1992
Two all time amazing legends provided the biggest memories for me at the 1992 Royal Rumble
By now through video I had become well aware of what "Rowdy" Roddy Piper had brought to the dance. He was brash, cocky, and a fireball of fun. Even heinous acts like smashing a coconut over Jimmy Snuka's head or targeting Hulk Hogan didn't deter me from being a fan.
Yet to that point he hadn't won a championship. Time would prove he never needed one to maintain popularity but it still struck me as peculiar.
So when The Mountie upset Bret Hart for the Intercontinental Championship just two days prior, Piper was named as his next challenger; I liked his chances.
Mountie may have had a catchy theme song and fun mannerisms but he took the title from Bret Hart who I was a big fan of. I hoped he wouldn't be any match for the Rowdy One.
The Mountie and Jimmy Hart tried every trick in the book but forgot Piper wrote that book. In a matter of minutes Roddy trapped the champion in the Sleeper and captured that elusive title at long last!
He would hold onto it for 77 glorious days before losing it to Bret at Wrestlemania 8 in an instant classic. He is terribly missed today having passed away in 2015.
In between Rumbles 91 and 92 I was introduced my first taste of wrestling outside the WWF. Through my Uncle Rod I watched World Championship Wrestling.
The first man to stand out was Ric Flair. His charisma was off the charts and I made sure to watch WC'W's programming when WWF wasn't on just for him.
When he left WCW for WWF it was a huge deal to me even without the knowledge of the circumstances that brought it about. I was just thrilled The Nature Boy had come to my favorite company and I was excited about the possibilities.
How could I root for such a bad guy? He was the one who cost Hogan the title at Survivor Series 91 against The Undertaker and whose interference at the This Tuesday In Texas rematch caused the title to be declared vacant and put up for grabs in the Rumble. Yet I wanted to see him win.
That Rumble, rightfully considered by a good majority to be the best one in company history, was STACKED. You had Hogan, Savage, Undertaker, Bulldog, Kerry Von Erich, The Big Bossman, Jake Roberts, Piper going for his second title of the night, and Sid Justice all vying for the title.
And then there was Ric Flair who drew #3 and seemingly no chance at being there at the end. In all the previous Rumbles, no wrestler who had drawn numbers 1-10 had made it to the home stretch.
Flair made a career out of proving doubters wrong. A 1975 plane crash failed to end his career before it got going so going the distance would not prove to be the obstacle to slow him down either.
Flair survived and held on by the skin of his teeth and cunning ability to pick his spots.
Never more did the latter serve him well than at the end. It came down to Natch, Sid, and Hogan. Sid took an opportunity to eliminate a stunned Hogan which drew the ire of the Hulkster.
Not going quietly Hogan grabbed onto Sid's arm from the floor and starting pulling on it.
Flair seized the moment and surprised Sid with the final elimination.
Just like that, after 1 hour and two seconds of in-ring time, Ric Flair became only the second man at the time to become the NWA and WWF World Champion. The other then? The original Nature Boy Buddy Rogers.
The backstage ceremony with Mean Gene Okerlund and WWF President Jack Tunney awarding Flair with his title is one of the all time great segments in history. Between Flair's impassioned speech about being the MAN and his cohorts Heenan and Mr. Perfect joining in the celebration, it was a moment forever etched in time.
On that night, everything was fair to Flair. WHOOOOOOOO!!!!!
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I hope you enjoyed this look back at classic moments and matches under the Royal Rumble banner.
Until next time, keep looking at wrestling on the Bright Side!!
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