As you may know, SLTD Wrestling is known for our ‘Did You Know’ daily facts across all of our social networks. Well, this is the same but all in one place, and all Royal Rumble related.
This is part one (of two) and we give you at least one interesting fact for every Royal Rumble match in history, we bet you don’t know them all.
1988. Although credited with the year the Rumble was born, it wasn’t actually the first Royal Rumble match, WWE had a house show dry-run (presumably to see the crowds reaction to the concept) with 13 superstars involved. This rumble was to determin who would face Hulk Hogan for the WWF Championship.
Amazingly during the interval, they announced that Hulk Hogan would defend his championship against One Man Gang, inadvertently ruining the result of the Rumble. Obviously, the crowd were not happy.
1988.It’s no secret that the Royal Rumble match’s credit is given to Pat Patterson, but did you know that the Pattison’s original idea came from a match he actually won in San Francisco in 1981. Even more amazingly the ‘San Fransisco Battle Royal’ was held in January 24, 1981. This is exactly (to the day) seven years before the first Royal Rumble.
1988. Although Vince McMahon wasn’t 100% sold on the idea of the Royal Rumble, he had to be impressed when he saw the TV ratings the day after. The Royal Rumble did an 8.2 rating which is some huge numbers back in the ’80s. Although this number was dwarfed just 12 days later when the Hulk Hogan vs An
1989. It wouldn’t be long before the man of the ’80s, Hulk Hogan would stand out in the Rumble match without even winning it. In 1989 Hogan became the first man to hit double numbers and eliminate 10 people.
1989. Talking about Hulk Hogan he is in an exclusive Royal Rumble club only he is a member of, He is the only WWE Champion to win the Rumble Match. Back before the prize was to headline Wrestlemania the WWE champion was just another number. Three champions have entered the match but only Hogan has won the match as champion, although this could change in 2020.
1990. It was all about the Rumble! In 1990 there was no championship or special matches on the card except the Royal Rumble itself. In
1991. Sgt. Slaughter’s WWF Championship win over Ultimate Warrior was more
1992. Its not shocking to think that a lot of (what would be) future Hall of Famers have competed in the Royal Rumble of the years, but in 1992 over half of the entrants would become future Hall of famers, 16 to be exact. That’s not counting the likes of The Undertaker or British Bulldog who I would think are worthy of the ring.
1992. We all know Shawn Michaels was the first man to go the distance, entering number one and winning the whole match, but he wasn’t the first man to be considered. According to Bobby Heenan, he was pushing for Ric Flair to do it in 1992, and let’s be fair no one could argue that Flair could legit
1993. At the end of 1992 Flair would give his notice to WWE, WWE built the story of a ‘loser leaves’ match with Mr Perfect. As Raw back then was pre-taped the match actually happened a week before the Royal Rumble PPV, so Flair had technically already left WWE when he entered the Royal Rumble
1994. Remember when Owen Hart won the Royal Rumble? (sort of). The week before the actual 1994 Rumble, WWE held a show in MSG headlined by an unofficial Rumble match. Owen Hart would win this match but was not counted among the official winners as it wasn’t televised.
1995. We all know Shawn Michaels went from ‘coast-to-coast’ in the Rumble this year, but it was Pat Patterson who pushed for The British Bulldog to come in second and go all the way too. The thinking was that one of them would make history, and therefore adding instant excitement to the Rumble ending.
1996. The Rumble nearly went to the Extreme in 1996, with the addition of ECW legend Sabu. With the fairly thin WWE roster in the early 90’s it’s not a shock that WWE would look outside the company for talent. Sabu was hot off a return to ECW and was all for it, but Heyman would pe
1997. If The USA Network had their way the February 3rd episode of Raw would have been dubbed ‘Royal Rumble Raw’ showing the whole Rumble match for free. This came from the 1988 TV special killing in the rating. The PPV providers would eventually put a stop to this and it wouldn’t go ahead, instead showing matches from their Skydome house show.
1998. It seems no one is safe when it comes to the Royal Rumble, In 1998 referee Jack Doan was hospitalised after standing under Phineas Godwin when he was eliminated. The 300+ pound giant would cause Doan to be taken to hospital with a concusion.
1999. When Sunday Night Heat was first introduced it was great, especially on PPV Sunday’s as WWE would run angle and teasers to get last-minute buys. The Heat before Royal Rumble 1999 turned out to be something special getting a 4.77 rating. Thats more than that weeks WCW Nitro with 4.40 rating.
2000. Does anyone remember The British Bulldog’s 1999-2000 run in WWE? Wrestling in jeans and leading The Mean Street Posse. It was really not a great end to his career. Its often for gotten that the Rumble 2000, was Bulldog’s last WWE PPV in the United States, lasting a (somewhat) impressive 15 minutes.
2001. Haku was a busy man in January of 2001. Although he hadn’t been in WWE for nine years, the scariest Tongan ever actually worked the WCW PPV Sin a week earlier where he won the WCW Hardcore Championship. Even more amazingly he wasn’t even under WCW contract.
2002. The Rumble is known for the ‘every man for himself’ aspect, but in 2002 this was the opposite for The Hardy Boyz. In late 2001 Team Extreme was falling apart, and the brothers even had a match at Vengence. It was clear their fans were not feeling the separation. So WWE had them enter the 2002 Rumble next to each other, hug and never speak of their problems again.
2003. Everyone has to start somewhere, and in 2003 four future Royal Rumble winners would make their first Rumble appearance. You could be forgiven for thinking it was the ‘OVW Four’, but no, although you would be close. Three of them would make their debut here and all there would go on to win a future Rumble (some sooner than others, Lesnar) the last man would be one Ray Mysterio who debuted in WWE the July before.
Did you know them all? Make sure you check back for more #SLTDDidYouKnow: Royal Rumble Special ’04 – ’19.
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