WWF Royal Rumble 1992
Venue: Albany, New YorkDate: 19/1/92
Attendance: 17,000
Commentators: Gorilla Monsoon & Bobby Heenan
After two controversial title changes at Survivor Series and This Tuesday In Texas the WWF Heavyweight Title was declared vacant by Jack Tunney and would be awarded to the winner of the Royal Rumble match. The idea being that a match of this magnitude would surely draw well on pay-per-view after buy rates had slumped in 1991. The two men at the centre of the title controversy, Hulk Hogan and the Undertaker were guaranteed a number between 20 and 30 in the Rumble.
To kick off the show the New Foundation defeated the Orient Express in a good tag team contest. After a false start under the guise of the Blue Blazer, Owen Hart teamed with Jim Neidhart hoping to emulate the success his brother Bret had paired with "The Anvil". Unfortunately Neidhart would be fired shortly after the Royal Rumble and Owen found himself back at square one for a while. He certainly shone in this contest though.
An explanation is probably required before I cover the next match-up. Bret Hart was the Intercontinental Champion and was feuding with The Mountie but Hart believing his contract was expiring began negotiating with WCW (sound familiar?). Hart had already been told he would be dropping the title to Mountie on 17/01/91 and whether or not this played a part in his decision to explore his options are open to debate. Unbeknownst to Hart at the time was that his contract had already rolled over meaning he wouldn't be able to sign elsewhere until later in the year effectively ending any negotiations. Hart's title loss was blamed on his decision to wrestle despite suffering from a high fever but even still the defeat came as a big surprise to fans at the time. Roddy Piper, who had come to Hart's aid during a post match beating was installed as the number one contender for the Royal Rumble in just two days time. As it was Piper ploughed through the Quebecer in a short passable match made better by the hot crowd to win his only WWF singles title. Piper then shocked Mountie with his own cattle prod, complete with comedy buzzer sound effects. An all babyface Intercontinental Title clash was then set between Piper and Hart for Wrestlemania as Hart's push continued ensuring "The Hitman" would remain in the WWF.
The Bushwackers beat the Beverly Brothers in a rubbish match that went on too long. Luke and Butch were accompanied by Jamison (a geeky character who first appeared on The Bobby Heenan Show) who was being bullied by Beau and Blake's manager The Genius. It was all very embarrassing.
Back to serious business as the Legion of Doom defended the tag team title against the Natural Disasters in an okay match but with a cheap count out finish in favour of the challengers. Hawk and Animal would soon lose the belts to Money Inc (Ted Dibiase & Irwin R Schyster) as Hawk would be suspended for failing a drugs test. They would return with Paul Ellering as their manager at Wrestlemania.
Ric Flair became WWF Heavyweight Champion with a stellar performance in an exceptional Royal Rumble match. Flair entered the match at number three and survived for over an hour, taking a pounding from everyone and surviving by the skin of his teeth. It was classic Ric Flair. Just about every big name (and future big name) available was in the match such as Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Roddy Piper, Jake Roberts, Undertaker, Sid Justice and Shawn Michaels making the match even more monumental. In the big moments from the match; Ted Dibiase was surprisingly eliminated first by Davey Boy Smith before Flair even entered; Piper and Flair had a great showdown which had the Albany crowd on their feet; Randy Savage and Jake Roberts collided with a crazed Savage still looking for revenge. Savage eliminated "The Snake" before accidently eliminating himself by leaping over the top rope to continue the brawl. The officials had to let him back in the match as Savage was not due to depart just yet while Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan tried their best to cover for the error on commentary; the crowd roared as Hulk Hogan made his way down and then ousted The Undertaker before setting his sights on Ric Flair. With the match down to three men, Hogan had Flair in trouble on the verge of elimination until Sid (supposedly Hogan's friend) dumped the Hulkster from behind. Hogan took exception to this and pulled Sid out (with Flair's help) handing the championship to the "Nature Boy". As Flair's celebration began, Hogan and Sid had a stand off in the ring with the majority of the vocal crowd not supporting the Hulkster. Hogan was reportedly unhappy backstage feeling he had been set up to be booed but he should have realised he would look bad the way the end of the match was laid out for him. Backstage Flair cut a great promo after being awarded the title by Jack Tunney. After months of claiming to already be the "Real World's Champion" and carrying the NWA/WCW title, Flair drew a line under the whole angle as he proclaimed that the WWF title was the only title in the world that makes you number one. You could argue that Flair would never have another night in his career that would surpass this.
Back to serious business as the Legion of Doom defended the tag team title against the Natural Disasters in an okay match but with a cheap count out finish in favour of the challengers. Hawk and Animal would soon lose the belts to Money Inc (Ted Dibiase & Irwin R Schyster) as Hawk would be suspended for failing a drugs test. They would return with Paul Ellering as their manager at Wrestlemania.
Ric Flair became WWF Heavyweight Champion with a stellar performance in an exceptional Royal Rumble match. Flair entered the match at number three and survived for over an hour, taking a pounding from everyone and surviving by the skin of his teeth. It was classic Ric Flair. Just about every big name (and future big name) available was in the match such as Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Roddy Piper, Jake Roberts, Undertaker, Sid Justice and Shawn Michaels making the match even more monumental. In the big moments from the match; Ted Dibiase was surprisingly eliminated first by Davey Boy Smith before Flair even entered; Piper and Flair had a great showdown which had the Albany crowd on their feet; Randy Savage and Jake Roberts collided with a crazed Savage still looking for revenge. Savage eliminated "The Snake" before accidently eliminating himself by leaping over the top rope to continue the brawl. The officials had to let him back in the match as Savage was not due to depart just yet while Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan tried their best to cover for the error on commentary; the crowd roared as Hulk Hogan made his way down and then ousted The Undertaker before setting his sights on Ric Flair. With the match down to three men, Hogan had Flair in trouble on the verge of elimination until Sid (supposedly Hogan's friend) dumped the Hulkster from behind. Hogan took exception to this and pulled Sid out (with Flair's help) handing the championship to the "Nature Boy". As Flair's celebration began, Hogan and Sid had a stand off in the ring with the majority of the vocal crowd not supporting the Hulkster. Hogan was reportedly unhappy backstage feeling he had been set up to be booed but he should have realised he would look bad the way the end of the match was laid out for him. Backstage Flair cut a great promo after being awarded the title by Jack Tunney. After months of claiming to already be the "Real World's Champion" and carrying the NWA/WCW title, Flair drew a line under the whole angle as he proclaimed that the WWF title was the only title in the world that makes you number one. You could argue that Flair would never have another night in his career that would surpass this.
Overall a good show with an outstanding Royal Rumble match tempered by an average undercard. At the age of 43 Ric Flair became the WWF's oldest world champion (this record would be broken by 54 year old Vince McMahon in 1999) and this would be one his last truly great performances. It should also be said that Bobby Heenan was fantastic on commentary in his support of Flair. The original plan was for Hogan to challenge Flair in the main event of Wrestlemania VIII but the match was scratched for two reasons; Vince McMahon was not satisfied enough with the numbers drawn on the house show circuit headlined by Hogan versus Flair matches to push it as his biggest match of the year; and secondly because Hogan was about to move out of the spotlight due to increasing pressure surrounding the steroid scandal. Hogan would stay away from the WWF for ten months hoping the fires would die down in his absence. Royal Rumble pulled in 260,000 buys which considering the magnitude of the main event must've been a huge disappointment. This was a whopping 180,000 less than the 1991 event.
Results
1. New Foundation def Orient Express by pinfall (17:18) ***1/4
2. Rowdy Roddy Piper def The Mountie (c) by referee stoppage to win the Intercontinental Title (5:22) *1/2
3. Beverly Brothers def Bushwackers by pinfall (14:56) 1/4
4. Natural Disasters def Legion of Doom (c) by count out. LOD retained the World Tag Team Title (9:24) *1/2
5. Ric Flair won the Royal Rumble match to become WWF Heavyweight Champion (62:02) ****1/2
Rating
11/25 = 44.00%
Star Rating Guide
***** Excellent/World Class
**** Very Good
*** Good
** OK/Acceptable
* Poor
DUD Abysmal
SQ Squash (Less than 1 min)
