Royal Rumble (1992)

Royal Rumble (1992)

Promotional poster
Tagline(s) "Every Man for Himself!"
Information
Promotion World Wrestling Federation
Date January 19, 1992
Attendance 17,000
Venue Knickerbocker Arena
City Albany, New York
Pay-per-view chronology

This Tuesday in Texas Royal Rumble (1992) WrestleMania VIII
Royal Rumble chronology

Royal Rumble (1991) Royal Rumble (1992) Royal Rumble (1993)

The 1992 Royal Rumble was the fifth annual Royal Rumble professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). It took place on January 19, 1992, at the Knickerbocker Arena in Albany, New York.

The main event, as in past Royal Rumble events, was the event's namesake match. The 1992 Royal Rumble match was historic because for the first time in the history of the WWF, the last man standing in the match would win the WWF World Heavyweight Championship, which had been vacated in December 1991. The match was won by Ric Flair, who eliminated Sid Justice with the help of Hulk Hogan from the outside to win the match and the WWF World Heavyweight Championship. Featured matches on the undercard were The Natural Disasters (Earthquake and Typhoon) versus The Legion of Doom (Hawk and Animal) for the WWF Tag Team Championship, The Beverly Brothers (Blake and Beau) versus The Bushwhackers (Luke and Butch) and Roddy Piper versus The Mountie for the WWF Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship.

Background

The pay-per-view featured the annual Royal Rumble match, which has been featured at every Royal Rumble event since its inception. It features 30 wrestlers, and the match ends when one wrestler remains in the ring, after all 29 other wrestlers have been eliminated via being tossed over the top ring rope and having both feet touch the floor.[1]

Prior to the event, it was announced the winner of the Royal Rumble would win the vacant WWF World Heavyweight Title, 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 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.[2]

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 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 as well as the Coliseum home video release 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 #3 in order to showcase his skills and endurance. Meanwhile, Bobby Heenan mentioned in his autobiography, Bobby The Brain, that it was his initial suggestion that Flair enter the Rumble at #1 for dramatic purposes, and that Vince McMahon changed it to #3 and claimed it as his own idea.

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 edition of Saturday Night's Main Event, 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 WWF World Heavyweight Championship.[3][4][5]

The Royal Rumble match was once again for the now WWE World Heavyweight Championship, and the first match in which the champion defended his title in the Rumble match, which was won by Triple H in 2016.

Results

No. Results Stipulations Times[6]
1D Chris Walker defeated The Brooklyn Brawler by disqualification Singles match N/A
2 The New Foundation (Owen Hart and Jim Neidhart) defeated The Orient Express (Pat Tanaka and Kato) (with Mr. Fuji) Tag team match 17:18
3 Roddy Piper defeated The Mountie (c) (with Jimmy Hart) Singles match for the WWF Intercontinental Championship 05:22
4 The Beverly Brothers (Blake Beverly and Beau Beverly) (with The Genius) defeated The Bushwhackers (Luke Williams and Butch Miller) (with Jamison) Tag team match 14:56
5 The Natural Disasters (Earthquake and Typhoon) (with Jimmy Hart) defeated The Legion of Doom (Hawk and Animal) (c) by countout Tag team match for the WWF Tag Team Championship 09:24
6 Ric Flair won by last eliminating Sid Justice 30-man Royal Rumble match for the vacant WWF Championship 1:02:02
  • (c) – refers to the champion(s) heading into the match
  • D – indicates the match was a dark match

Royal Rumble entrances and eliminations

A new entrant came out approximately every 2 minutes.

Draw[7][8] Entrant[7][8] Order[7][8] Eliminated by[7][8] Time[7] 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 1:00:02 5
4 Jerry Sags 2 The British Bulldog 01:06 0
5 Haku 3 01:51 0
6 Shawn Michaels 9 Tito Santana 15:46 1
7 Tito Santana 10 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 & 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 Hulk Hogan & Ric Flair 05:55 6
30 The Warlord 24 Hulk Hogan & Sid Justice 01:43 0

References

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