This year was my favorite Royal Rumble of all time. At least, it contained my favorite Royal Rumble Match of all time. It also had my favorite set of commentary from Bobby "The Brain" Heenan and my favorite Rowdy Roddy Piper promo of all time. Due to controversial endings to two Hulk Hogan/Undertaker WWF Title matches, the Title was declared vacant and would be decided in the 1992 Royal Rumble match. The winner would win the WWF Championship! Due to that stipulation, it made the Rumble that much more special, as well as the amount of stars and former Champions in this match.
New Foundation vs. Orient Express
Intercontinental Title - The Mountie vs. Rowdy Roddy Piper
As I stated earlier, this match contained my favorite Piper promo of all time. This was a big night for Roddy, as he was a last minute replacement for Bret "Hit Man" Hart, who lost the Intercontinental Title to the Mountie days earlier. Bret was ill when he lost the Title, and was ill enough to where he couldn't compete in his rematch. Piper's interview with Mean Gene Okerland regarding the Mountie's comments for this match was one of the funniest things I'd ever seen. I used to be able to recite it line for line! Piper now had the chance to win two Championships, as he was also in the Rumble match. Piper ended the match with a sleeper hold on the Mountie and secured his first Championship in the WWF.
Beverly Brothers vs. Bushwhackers
Tag Team Titles - Legion of Doom vs. Natural Disasters
This was the third tag team match on the card. It shows the depth of the Tag Team division just before the dawning of the New Generation. This match was entertaining with four big brutes beating the crap out of each other. The match was good until the ending. The Natural Disasters won the match by count out. Rules stated that Titles could only change hands due to a pin fall or submission, so the Legion of Doom remained Champions. Not only was the result weak, it painted the Natural Disasters dumb, as they starting celebrating with the Championships in their hands. Less than a month later, Ted DiBiase and IRS would form Money Inc. and dethrone the Legion of Doom.
WWF Championship Royal Rumble Match
The amount of talent in this Rumble match is stunning! There were five former WWF World Heavyweight Champions in Hulk Hogan, the Undertaker, "Macho Man" Randy Savage, Sgt. Slaughter, and the Iron Shiek (as Colonel Mustafa). Also in the match were former NWA World Heavyweight Champions Ric Flair and "Texas Tornado" Kerry Von Erich, as well as former AWA World Heavyweight Champion Rick Martel. Also in this match were future World Champions in Sid Justice and Shawn Michaels, fresh off the Rockers breakup. There were so many other legendary performers in this match including Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka, British Bulldog, "Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase, Jake "The Snake" Roberts, Nikolai Volkoff, and of course brand new Intercontinental Champion Rowdy Roddy Piper. Most people placed Hogan, Undertaker, Savage, Sid, or Flair as possible winners and new Champions.
The British Bulldog and Ted DiBiase started the Rumble match as numbers one and two. To the shock of ally Bobby "The Brain" Heenan, Ric Flair was the third man in. As he was walking down the aisle, the Bulldog eliminated DiBiase and now Flair was in for a beating. Heenan was beside himself, saying it wasn't "fair to Flair." Gorilla Monsoon, on the other hand, was loving every minute of it. Flair managed to stay in there, despite being manhandled throughout the match against powerhouses like Bulldog and the Barbarian. By the time the 20th man entered, Flair was still in there. Heenan was losing his mind at this point, always worried Flair would be eliminated. #21 was the Macho Man, who went right after bitter rival Jake Roberts. Savage was not far off from having been bitten by a cobra, courtesy of Roberts, and the two men went at it.
I spoke about this in several blogs but the last three men left were Hulk Hogan, Sid Justice, and Ric Flair, who at this point was in there just under an hour. Flair was no stranger to one hour matches, though. In the Royal Rumble, it's every man for himself. Sid eliminated Hogan to the shock of the crowd, who oddly enough cheered the moment. Hogan was visibly upset and when he calmed down, he feigned shaking Sid's hand. Hogan then tried to pull Sid out of the ring. From behind came Flair, who dumped Sid over and won the Royal Rumble to become the new WWF Champion. As Flair was celebrating, Hogan and Sid had to be restrained from one another. Although Hogan was clearly jealous and fans were actually booing what he did, they ended up painting Sid as the villain in the weeks after the event. In fact, they even edited the commentary after the fact.
The show ended with an interview of the new Champion Ric Flair, along with his Executive Consultant Mr. Perfect and friend Bobby Heenan. An emotional Flair then said something I'll never forget; "...with a tear in my eye, this is the greatest moment in my life." Following that, Perfect stated that they weren't the kind of guys to say we told you so...but "we told you so!" Flair went the distance and became the new Champion in an incredible and quite deserving victory. Unfortunately, we never did get to see a Flair/Hogan WrestleMania main event, but this was by far my favorite Royal Rumble of all time.
I spoke about this in several blogs but the last three men left were Hulk Hogan, Sid Justice, and Ric Flair, who at this point was in there just under an hour. Flair was no stranger to one hour matches, though. In the Royal Rumble, it's every man for himself. Sid eliminated Hogan to the shock of the crowd, who oddly enough cheered the moment. Hogan was visibly upset and when he calmed down, he feigned shaking Sid's hand. Hogan then tried to pull Sid out of the ring. From behind came Flair, who dumped Sid over and won the Royal Rumble to become the new WWF Champion. As Flair was celebrating, Hogan and Sid had to be restrained from one another. Although Hogan was clearly jealous and fans were actually booing what he did, they ended up painting Sid as the villain in the weeks after the event. In fact, they even edited the commentary after the fact.
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