| Royal Rumble (1992) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | ||||
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| Royal Rumble chronology | ||||
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Royal Rumble (1992) 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 was the 1992 Royal Rumble match where for the first and only time, the WWF Championship was on the line. The match was won by Ric Flair, who last eliminated Sid Justice to win the match and the WWF 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 Championship.
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Royal Rumble featured professional wrestling matches involving different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds, plots, and storylines that were played out on Superstars, Wrestling Challenge and Prime Time Wrestling — the World Wrestling Federation's (WWF) television programs. Wrestlers portrayed a villain or a hero as they followed a series of events that built tension, and culminated into a wrestling match or series of matches.[1]
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.[2]
Prior to the event, it was announced the winner of the Royal Rumble would win the vacant WWF Title, which had been stripped from Hulk Hogan after two controversial title switches between Hulk 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.[3]
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 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 #3 for dramatic purposes, and that Vince McMahon claimed it as his own idea.
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 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 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 Championship.[4][5][6]
| # | Results | Stipulations | Times |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dark | Chris Walker defeated The Brooklyn Brawler by disqualification | Singles match | Unknown |
| 1 | The New Foundation (Owen Hart and Jim Neidhart) defeated The Orient Express (Tanaka and Kato) (with Mr. Fuji) | Tag team match | 17:18 |
| 2 | Roddy Piper defeated The Mountie (c) (with Jimmy Hart) | Singles match for the WWF Intercontinental Championship | 05:22 |
| 3 | The Beverly Brothers (Blake and Beau) (with The Genius) defeated The Bushwhackers (Luke and Butch) (with Jamison) | Tag team match | 14:56 |
| 4 | The Natural Disasters (Earthquake and Typhoon) (with Jimmy Hart) defeated Legion of Doom (Hawk and Animal) (c) by countout | Tag team match for the WWF Tag Team Championship | 09:24 |
| 5 | Ric Flair won by last eliminating Sid Justice | Royal Rumble match for the vacant WWF Championship | 1:02:02 |
A new entrant came out approximately every 2 minutes.
| Draw | Entrant | Order | Eliminated by | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The British Bulldog | 7 | Flair | 23:33 |
| 2 | Ted DiBiase | 1 | British Bulldog | 01:18 |
| 3 | Ric Flair | - | Winner | 59:26 |
| 4 | Jerry Sags | 2 | British Bulldog | 01:06 |
| 5 | Haku | 3 | British Bulldog | 01:51 |
| 6 | Shawn Michaels | 10 | Santana | 15:46 |
| 7 | Tito Santana | 9 | Michaels | 13:55 |
| 8 | The Barbarian | 11 | Hercules | 12:55 |
| 9 | The Texas Tornado | 8 | Flair | 09:20 |
| 10 | Repo Man | 6 | Big Boss Man | 06:23 |
| 11 | Greg Valentine | 5 | Repo Man | 04:12 |
| 12 | Nikolai Volkoff | 4 | Repo Man | 01:03 |
| 13 | The Big Boss Man | 13 | Flair | 03:38 |
| 14 | Hercules | 12 | Big Boss Man | 00:56 |
| 15 | Roddy Piper | 26 | Justice | 34:06 |
| 16 | Jake Roberts | 15 | Savage | 10:55 |
| 17 | Jim Duggan | 19 | Virgil | 20:45 |
| 18 | Irwin R. Schyster | 23 | Piper | 27:01 |
| 19 | Jimmy Snuka | 14 | Undertaker | 02:27 |
| 20 | The Undertaker | 17 | Hogan | 13:51 |
| 21 | Randy Savage | 27 | Justice and Flair | 22:26 |
| 22 | The Berzerker | 18 | Hogan | 09:00 |
| 23 | Virgil | 20 | Duggan | 07:29 |
| 24 | Col. Mustafa | 16 | Savage | 02:36 |
| 25 | Rick Martel | 25 | Justice | 12:39 |
| 26 | Hulk Hogan | 28 | Justice | 11:29 |
| 27 | Skinner | 21 | Martel | 02:13 |
| 28 | Sgt. Slaughter | 22 | Justice | 04:37 |
| 29 | Sid Justice | 29 | Flair and Hogan | 05:55 |
| 30 | The Warlord | 24 | Hogan and Justice | 01:43 |
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