Royal Rumble (1992) Explained

Royal Rumble
Tagline:Every Man for Himself!
Promotion:World Wrestling Federation
Date:January 19, 1992
Venue:Knickerbocker Arena
City:Albany, New York
Attendance:17,000
Lastevent:This Tuesday in Texas
Nextevent:WrestleMania VIII
Event:Royal Rumble
Lastevent2:1991
Nextevent2:1993

The 1992 Royal Rumble was the fifth annual Royal Rumble professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). It took place on January 19, 1992, at the 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 dark match. The main event was the 1992 Royal Rumble match. This Royal Rumble match was notable as for the first time, the winner would win the WWF Championship, which had been vacated in December 1991. Ric Flair would start at number 3, Sid Justice would enter at number 29 while The Undertaker and Hulk Hogan would enter at numbers 20 and 26 respectively. In other featured matches on the undercard, The Natural Disasters (Earthquake and Typhoon) had a WWF Tag Team Championship match against current champions The Legion of Doom (Hawk and Animal), The Beverly Brothers (Blake Beverly and Beau Beverly) took on in a tag team match The Bushwhackers (Bushwhacker Luke and Bushwhacker Butch), and Roddy Piper took on current WWF Intercontinental Heavyweight Champion The Mountie with the title on the line.

Production

Background

The Royal Rumble is an annual gimmick pay-per-view (PPV) produced every January by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) since 1988. It is one of the promotion's original four pay-per-views, along with WrestleMania, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series, which were dubbed the "Big Four".[1] It is named after the Royal Rumble match, a modified battle royal in which the participants enter at timed intervals instead of all beginning in the ring at the same time. The 1992 event was the fifth event in the Royal Rumble chronology and was scheduled to be held on January 19, 1992, at 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 1991 Survivor Series and later 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

Role:!
Name:
CommentatorGorilla Monsoon
Bobby Heenan
InterviewersGene Okerlund
Sean Mooney
Lord Alfred Hayes
Ring announcerHoward Finkel
RefereeJohn Bonello
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 villain. Justice – who was returning from a recent injury – entered at No. 29 and was among the final four wrestlers, along with Hogan, Randy Savage, although he jumped outside the ring to hit 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 Jack Tunney held a press conference, where he announced that Hogan would face Flair for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania VIII. Justice, who was also in attendance and began standing up as if Tunney were about to proclaim him the top contender, was outraged and termed the announcement "the most bogus act Jack Tunney has ever pulled off." Sid later apologized and Hogan accepted, but on the February 8 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

Royal Rumble entrances and eliminations

A new entrant came out approximately every 2 minutes.

DrawEntrantOrderEliminated bydata-sort-type="number"Times[13] [14] Eliminations
1The British BulldogRic Flair23:333
2Ted DiBiaseThe British Bulldog01:180
Ric Flair

Notes and References

  1. Ian Hamilton. Wrestling's Sinking Ship: What Happens to an Industry Without Competition (p. 160)
  2. Web site: Specialty Matches: Royal Rumble. WWE. December 3, 2007. https://web.archive.org/web/20050714073539/https://www.wwe.com/inside/specialtymatches/royalrumble. July 14, 2005.
  3. Web site: Waldman. Statistical survival – breaking down the Royal Rumble. Jon. SLAM! Wrestling. December 9, 2007. February 2, 2005. https://web.archive.org/web/20151019171213/https://slam.canoe.com/Slam/Wrestling/2005/02/01/917194.html. October 19, 2015.
  4. Wrestling Challenge. WWF Wrestling Challenge. Syndicated. December 8, 1992. Springfield, Massachusetts.
  5. Web site: 5 Greatest Royal Rumble matches of all time . TOI Sports Desk . Times of India . January 15, 2024 . January 31, 2024.
  6. Web site: Why the 1992 WWE Royal Rumble Match is Still The Best . Bob Colling . Tilt Magazine . January 12, 2023 . January 31, 2024.
  7. Web site: Breaking Down Why Royal Rumble 1992 Was Pinnacle of Storied Event . Justin LaBar . Bleacher Report . December 27, 2013 . January 31, 2024.
  8. Web site: Reliving Bobby Heenan’s Best Moments From The 1992 Royal Rumble . Chris Trew . Uproxx . January 25, 2018 . January 31, 2024.
  9. Web site: WrestleMania VIII official results. World Wrestling Entertainment. May 3, 2008.
  10. Web site: Randy "Macho Man" Savage vs. "Nature Boy" Ric Flair – WWE Championship. World Wrestling Entertainment. August 5, 2010. April 5, 1992.
  11. Web site: History of the WWE Championship: Randy Savage (2). World Wrestling Entertainment. May 3, 2008.
  12. Web site: Tedesco. Mike. WWE Raw Results – 1/4/16 (Reigns vs. Sheamus). WrestleView. January 5, 2016. January 4, 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160106112538/https://www.wrestleview.com/wwe-wrestling-results/wwe-raw-results/57324-wwe-raw-results-1-4-16-live-results-from-san-antonio/. January 6, 2016. live.
  13. Web site: Royal Rumble 1992: Royal Rumble Entrance & Elimination Information. January 22, 2012. Pro Wrestling History.
  14. Web site: Ric Flair (spot No. 3) wins the Royal Rumble Match to become WWE Champion. January 31, 2014. WWE.