Royal Rumble (1992)

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Royal Rumble
Knickerbocker Arena
Attendance17,000
Tagline(s)Every Man for Himself!
Pay-per-view chronology
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Royal Rumble chronology
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The 1992 Royal Rumble was the fifth annual

Knickerbocker Arena in Albany, New York. It centered on the Royal Rumble match, a modified battle royal
in which participants enter at timed intervals instead of all beginning in the ring at the same time.

Six matches were contested at the event, including one

Bushwhacker Butch), and Roddy Piper took on current WWF Intercontinental Heavyweight Champion The Mountie
with the title on the line.

Production

Background

Knickerbocker Arena in Albany, New York
.

The

Knickerbocker Arena in Albany, New York.[2][3]

The Royal Rumble match generally features 30 wrestlers. Prior to 1992, there was no prize for winning the match. However, as the

WWF World Heavyweight Championship had been vacated, the vacant title became the prize of the 1992 Royal Rumble match. It was the first of only two times in which the promotion's world championship was the prize of the Royal Rumble match—the second occurred at the 2016 event.[2][3]

Storylines

Prior to the event, it was announced the winner of the Royal Rumble would win the vacant WWF World Heavyweight Championship, which had been stripped from Hulk Hogan after two controversial title switches between Hogan and the Undertaker, first at

the Tuesday in Texas pay-per-view event. Hogan and The Undertaker were among the 30 entrants in the event. WWF president Jack Tunney gave Hogan and Undertaker an advantage in the random draw to determine the order in which wrestlers would enter the ring, promising them numbers between 20 and 30.[4]

Event

Other on-screen personnel:
Role: Name:
Commentator Gorilla Monsoon
Bobby Heenan
Interviewers Gene Okerlund
Sean Mooney
Lord Alfred Hayes
Ring announcer Howard Finkel
Referee John Binella
Danny Davis
Earl Hebner
Joey Marella

The event comprised five matches, including the Royal Rumble match. The Royal Rumble match helped begin Justice's slow-building turn into a

Jake the Snake Roberts and Flair. Justice eliminated Savage and then Hogan, leaving himself and Flair in the ring. During the initial live pay-per-view broadcast, Justice's elimination of Hogan was loudly cheered by the audience in attendance even though, as per storyline plans, Sid "sneaked up from behind" to throw Hogan out. As such, the original reaction was edited out of future television replays of the event, with play-by-play announcer Gorilla Monsoon
adding new comments condemning Sid for his actions (Monsoon had originally said Justice's elimination of Hogan was fair). Hogan, who was still at ringside after being eliminated, grabbed Sid's arm and distracted him long enough for Flair to eliminate him to win the match and become the new WWF World Heavyweight Champion. After the match, Sid and Hogan got into an argument in the ring and had to be separated by security.

In his book, To Be The Man, Ric Flair mentions not knowing he was going to be winning the Royal Rumble (WWF Title) until arriving at the arena the day of the event, and also felt he was brought in at number three in order to showcase his skills and endurance to the WWF audience, who may not have watched his work in Jim Crockett Promotions and World Championship Wrestling. Bobby Heenan mentioned in his autobiography, Bobby The Brain, that it was his initial suggestion that Flair enter the Rumble at number one for dramatic purposes, and that Vince McMahon changed it to number three and claimed it as his own idea.

Reception

The Rumble match is often considered the greatest Rumble in history.[5][6][7] In particular, the commentary by Heenan was particularly praised, with some calling it "one of the greatest color commentary performances in pay-per-view history".[8]

Aftermath

The confrontation between Hogan and Justice was played out over a series of future WWF television programs. On the Superstars program aired January 25, 1992, WWF President

Saturday Night's Main Event XXX, Justice abandoned Hogan during a tag-team match against Flair and The Undertaker
, completing his heel turn and leading to a match at WrestleMania VIII.

Flair, meanwhile, began feuding with Savage over the WWF World Heavyweight Championship. According to the storyline, Flair claimed that he had a previous relationship with Savage's wife, Miss Elizabeth, going as far as presenting pictures of Elizabeth in which Flair had himself superimposed. This culminated in a title match at WrestleMania VIII; Savage won the match and his second (and final) WWF World Heavyweight Championship.[9][10][11]

This was the first Royal Rumble in which stakes were involved for the winner—the stipulation in which the winner would face the WWF/WWE World Heavyweight Champion at WrestleMania first took place at the

following year's event. It would be 24 years before the Royal Rumble was again for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.[12]

Results

No.ResultsStipulationsTimes
dark match

Royal Rumble entrances and eliminations

A new entrant came out approximately every 2 minutes.

Draw Entrant Order Eliminated by Times[14][15] Eliminations
1 The British Bulldog 7 Ric Flair 23:33 3
2 Ted DiBiase 1 The British Bulldog 01:18 0
3 Ric Flair - Winner 01:00:02^ 5
4 Jerry Sags 2 The British Bulldog 01:06 0
5
Haku
 3 01:51 0
6 Shawn Michaels 10 Tito Santana 15:46 1
7 Tito Santana 9 Shawn Michaels 13:55 1
8 The Barbarian 11 Hercules 12:55 0
9 The Texas Tornado 8 Ric Flair 09:20 0
10 Repo Man 6 Big Boss Man 06:23 2
11 Greg Valentine 5 Repo Man 04:12 0
12 Nikolai Volkoff 4 01:03 0
13
Big Boss Man
 13 Ric Flair 03:38 2
14 Hercules 12 Big Boss Man 00:56 1
15 Roddy Piper 26 Sid Justice 34:06 1
16 Jake Roberts 15 Randy Savage 10:55 0
17 Jim Duggan 19 Virgil 20:45 1
18 Irwin R. Schyster 23 Roddy Piper 27:01 0
19 Jimmy Snuka 14 The Undertaker 02:27 0
20 The Undertaker 17 Hulk Hogan 13:51 1
21^ Randy Savage 27 Ric Flair and Sid Justice 22:26 2
22 The Berzerker 18 Hulk Hogan 09:00 0
23 Virgil 20 Jim Duggan 07:29 1
24 Col. Mustafa 16 Randy Savage 02:36 0
25 Rick Martel 25 Sid Justice 12:39 1
26 Hulk Hogan 28 11:29 4
27 Skinner 21 Rick Martel 02:13 0
28 Sgt. Slaughter 22 Sid Justice 04:37 0
29 Sid Justice 29 Ric Flair 05:55 6
30 The Warlord 24 Hulk Hogan and Sid Justice 01:43 0

^ Randy Savage eliminated himself shortly after eliminating Jake Roberts by jumping to Roberts over the top rope. However, he returned to the ring and resumed his participation.[16]


^ Ric Flair broke the longevity record for lasting 1:00:02. This record would stand for one year before it would be broken by Bob Backlund (Lasting 1:01:10) in Royal Rumble (1993). Ric Flair also became the first person in history to last more than one hour.

References

  1. ^ Ian Hamilton. Wrestling's Sinking Ship: What Happens to an Industry Without Competition (p. 160)
  2. ^ a b "Specialty Matches: Royal Rumble". WWE. Archived from the original on July 14, 2005. Retrieved December 3, 2007.
  3. ^ a b Waldman, Jon (February 2, 2005). "Statistical survival – breaking down the Royal Rumble". SLAM! Wrestling. Archived from the original on October 19, 2015. Retrieved December 9, 2007.
  4. ^ "Wrestling Challenge". WWF Wrestling Challenge. Springfield, Massachusetts. December 8, 1992. Syndicated.
  5. ^ TOI Sports Desk (January 15, 2024). "5 Greatest Royal Rumble matches of all time". Times of India. Retrieved January 31, 2024.
  6. ^ Bob Colling (January 12, 2023). "Why the 1992 WWE Royal Rumble Match is Still The Best". Tilt Magazine. Retrieved January 31, 2024.
  7. ^ Justin LaBar (December 27, 2013). "Breaking Down Why Royal Rumble 1992 Was Pinnacle of Storied Event". Bleacher Report. Retrieved January 31, 2024.
  8. ^ Chris Trew (January 25, 2018). "Reliving Bobby Heenan's Best Moments From The 1992 Royal Rumble". Uproxx. Retrieved January 31, 2024.
  9. World Wrestling Entertainment
    . Retrieved May 3, 2008.
  10. World Wrestling Entertainment
    . April 5, 1992. Retrieved August 5, 2010.
  11. World Wrestling Entertainment
    . Retrieved May 3, 2008.
  12. ^ Tedesco, Mike (January 5, 2016). "WWE Raw Results – 1/4/16 (Reigns vs. Sheamus)". WrestleView. Archived from the original on January 6, 2016. Retrieved January 4, 2016.
  13. ^ "Royal Rumble 1992". Pro Wrestling History. Retrieved January 22, 2012.
  14. ^ "Royal Rumble 1992: Royal Rumble Entrance & Elimination Information". Pro Wrestling History. Retrieved January 22, 2012.
  15. ^ "Ric Flair (spot No. 3) wins the Royal Rumble Match to become WWE Champion". WWE. Retrieved January 31, 2014.
  16. ^ Aitken, Robert (January 22, 2012). "WWE Royal Rumble 2012: Most Controversial Eliminations in Royal Rumble History". Bleacher Report. Retrieved May 18, 2018.

External links

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