The Royal Rumble is one of the most eagerly anticipated annual events in wrestling. There are a number of reasons for that. It’s a match highlighted by unpredictability, with a field of thirty competitors setting up all kinds of possibilities for fresh face offs or revisiting old storylines. That’s not to mention a tradition of surprise returns or debuts and the inevitability of at least a handful of dramatic spots.
Add on WrestleMania implications and the match always matters in a way lots of other matches, even between major stars, don’t necessarily feel like they do throughout the year. Amidst the Rumble’s over-three-decade history, there’s a very short list of editions that stand out among the best of the best, and the consensus pick for the greatest iteration of all time came in 1992.
1992 Was The First Year When The Royal Rumble Had Stakes
For the last three decades, the Royal Rumble has had major, clearly defined stakes attached to it, usually with the promise of the winner getting a world title shot at WrestleMania. Fans tend to forget, though, that that wasn’t always the case.
The first four televised Royal Rumble matches, from the free TV special in 1988, to the first three PPVs from 1989 to 1991 were purely for bragging rights. Jim Duggan and Big John Studd, the first two winners, did not enjoy any appreciable reward for emerging victorious. From there, Hulk Hogan won back to back Rumbles in what felt less like a milestone for him than a way of cementing the importance of the Rumble itself by Hogan giving it extra credibility. 1992 was different, with the WWE Championship vacant and a star-studded field of competitors understandably throwing their hats in their ring to compete for the title.
WWE’s Star Power Was Beyond Compare In Early 1992
There are very few Royal Rumbles that can compete with the star power represented in the 1992 edition. Ric Flair, Hulk Hogan, Sid Justice, The Undertaker, and Randy Savage were all positioned as believable contenders to win the match. From there, figures like Roddy Piper, Ted Dibiase, and Jake Roberts, were iconic characters. Shawn Michaels and The British Bulldog were just a notch behind them, already showing considerable potential and gearing up to graduate to the main event picture in the years to follow.
The rest of the Rumble roster filled out with recognizable names from the Golden Era including The Big Boss Man, Jim Duggan, Tito Santana, Rick Martel, Haku, Jimmy Snuka, Nikolai Volkoff, Sgt. Slaughter, Greg Valentine, The Texas Tornado, The Barbarian, The Warlord, Hercules, The Berzerker, IRS, and Virgil. In terms of talent, it may well be the most nostalgia-satisfying match in WWE history.
The 1992 Royal Rumble Was A Showcase For Ric Flair
Like most Royal Rumble matches, the 1992 version told quite a few stories as it went. The longest, most important of all though surrounded Ric Flair. The Nature Boy had only debuted in WWE a few months earlier and hadn’t worked many competitive matches on television yet.
When Flair entered at number three, most fans suspected he’d have a good showing, but certainly not win. However, he became one of the earliest iron men of the Rumble, lasting a full hour and battling a who's who of WWE roster members, including many he hadn’t crossed paths with on TV before. The Rumble therefore became a way of thoroughly introducing Flair and proving his talents to the fans, besides putting the world title on him when he went the distance and emerged victorious in a virtuosic performance. The only individual who arguably rivaled Flair’s quality of performance was Bobby Heenan, who spent the hour dramatically advocating for The Nature Boy from teh broadcast table.
The 1992 Royal Rumble Featured An Electric Ending
Pat Patterson is widely credited as the mastermind behind the Royal Rumble concept. In his book, Accepted, he discussed conceptualizing the gimmick match as something like a battle royal in reverse with more participants added to the fray rather than just removed as the match went on. From there, Patterson was the architect who plotted orders of entry and elimination as well as key spots for years.
The 1992 Royal Rumble may have been Patterson’s masterpiece with a compelling hour-long story that culminated in one of the greatest finishes in Rumble history. The final five men were Roddy Piper, Randy Savage, Sid Justice, Hulk Hogan, and Ric Flair. After Piper and Savage were out of the mix, Justice surprised fellow top babyface Hogan by dumping him out of the ring from behind. The unthinkable followed as Hogan distracted Justice, then helped pull him out of the ring to all but hand Flair the shocking win.
The 1992 Royal Rumble is not only the greatest Royal Rumble of all time, but quite arguably a viable candidate to be considered the greatest match WWE ever staged. Between the star power, the stakes, the quality of Ric Flair’s performance, and the finish, it was a truly special hour-plus of action.