Since we’re just hours away from this year’s Royal Rumble, a “premium live event” that has two world title matches and two Rumbles scheduled, I wanted to write this edition of the VHS memoirs about the 1992 pay-per-view, which featured arguably the best Rumble match in history. Despite the horrendous interface of the Peacock app that had minimal improvements since the WWE Network was integrated into it almost a year ago, I found the 1992 Royal Rumble, and wanted to take a look at the entire event since most rightfully remember the main event more than the complete show.
The broadcast opened with the classic Vince McMahon introduction of the competitors for the Royal Rumble, and say what you want about him these days with the golden egg and the selfies, but in his heyday, nobody hyped an event like the emperor of sports entertainment. The opening match was The Orient Express vs. The New Foundation, Owen Hart and Jim Neidhart. When this bout was introduced, I was wondering why I had no recollection of “The Anvil” and Owen as a team at this period of time, but instead knew they formed a duo during Owen’s 1994 heel run. Upon further review, it turns out that the reason I can’t recall this team is because their stint was very brief, working together only three months before Neidhart left the company after a failed drug test. However, now it makes sense all these years later as to why “The Anvil’s” Hasbro figure had High Energy gear instead of his traditional attire. Speaking of High Energy, that would also explain how Koko B. Ware and Owen became a team because the New Foundation gimmick was completely transferred to High Energy with the only difference being that Koko took Neidhart’s place. The outfits and the persona were entirely the same.
As far the actual match, it went twenty minutes, something that was rare for WWF programming at the time, even for pay-per-view. The match had a few flat points, but overall, it was very entertaining with a lot of fast-paced action with maneuvers that weren’t often seen in the company. Paul Diamond, who appeared under a mask as Kato, did fine, but Pat Tanaka really showed why he was an underrated talent during most of his career. The exchanges with Owen and the bumps that Tanaka took were the highlights of this bout. Something to mention about the bumps from this match, the WWF rings were notoriously stiff up until around the year 2000, and you can definitely see that there was almost no given upon impact during some of the bumps that Tanaka took in this contest. The New Foundation got the win in a solid match.
Next up was The Mountie, who won the Intercontinental title at a house show just two days prior, vs. “Rowdy” Roddy Piper for the championship. In reality, the switch was done to use The Mountie as a very, very brief transitional champion to set up the classic Bret Hart vs. Roddy Piper bout a few months later at WM 8, but the on-screen drama of how the angle was constructed to still make Bret look strong in defeat was pro wrestling storytelling 101 in this segment. Supposedly, Bret had 104 degree temperature and competed against doctor’s orders because he was a fighting champion so even in defeat the classic baby face didn’t want to let the fans down. It also gave a reason for Bret to challenge Piper because the former champion didn’t lose the belt at 100% so if Piper wanted to prove he was the IC titleholder, he could compete against “The Hitman” when he was at full strength in the ring. The Mountie vs. Roddy Piper bout itself wasn’t anything spectacular from an in-ring perspective and only went about five minutes so there’s no much to discuss, but quite frankly, the quality of the match didn’t matter in this situation. More than anything, this segment showed how over Piper was, and the fans went crazy when he won the IC title so mission accomplished. As incredible as the in-ring stuff of the modern era is, it should be noted that being over is more effective than just high spots.
The Beverly Brothers beat The Bushwhackers in about 15 minutes, but this match went about ten minutes too long. In many ways, this bout did the opposite of the previous contest. The Bushwhackers, who originally made their name the previous two decades as a brawling team, used a comedy gimmick, which made sense at this point in their careers. That being said, the team was over with the crowd and got a great reaction for their entrance. Unfortunately, that was the peak of this segment and the in-ring stuff was rather bland. This should’ve been much shorter to maximize the baby face reaction, but keep the show from dragging at this point in the broadcast. Thankfully, the banter between the legendary duo of Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan made this segment watchable. The Beverly Brothers got the win in a rather flat match.
The Natural Disasters won via count out against The Legion of Doom, who retained the tag team titles because the belts only change hands via pin fall or submission. I’m guessing this finish was booked to keep both team strong, and along with that, there wasn’t much selling in this contest either. Instead of a “clash of the titans” type of bout, this is another tag contest that falls flat because there’s not a lot of action and more of just stand off spots. These are two accomplished teams, but there just wasn’t anything too spectacular in this contest.
The Rumble match itself is remembered for all the stacked names that were involved in the match because the WWF title was on the line so more main event talent were involved than usual, and for the commentary that enhanced the presentation. As far as why the match was as entertaining as it was, it’s easy to see how the one-long bout went fast because there was an all-star team of talent booked for it. Flair, Piper, Savage, Hogan, etc. all in the same match. Heenan was absolutely tremendous throughout this match, as he was almost hysterical when Flair was the third entrant, claiming it was unfair. “The Brain” desperately cheers for the villain throughout the contest, as Monsoon reprimands him throughout the broadcast. As we known, Hulk assist with the elimination of Sid to set up their match at WM 8, and Flair wins the Rumble to claim the championship.
Overall, the under card was a mixed bag because outside of the opening tag match, there wasn’t anything in-ring that particularly stood out, but then again, this era of the WWF wasn’t necessarily known for its work rate matches. That was one of the unintended consequences of such a stacked main event match, the under card lacked depth, both for star power and match quality, but the Rumble match is still stellar. Flair’s post-match promo is just as memorable as the match itself and it’s another example of why being over is more important than just the moves of a match.
What do you think? Comment below with your thoughts, opinions, feedback and anything else that was raised.
Until next week
-Jim LaMotta
E mail [email protected] | You can follow me on Twitter @jimlamotta
