Royal Rumble

I saw this event. It was live from the Knickerbocker Arena a.k.a. The Pepsi Arena In Albany, New York. It was great to see Ric Flair surviving the battle royal and elimenating both Hulk Hogan and Sid Justice at the end and becoming the WWF World Heavyweight champion. Also I liked seeing Rowdy Rowdy Piper taking the I.C. Championship belt away from The Mountie after he won it from Bret "The Hitman" Hart 2 days earlier. This was a great Pay-Per-View event.

This to me was the greatest Rumble ever. Not only was the Rumble match itself one of the longest and in my oppinion one of the most unpredictable as far as who would win e.g. Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Sid Justice, Randy Savage, Undertaker, but it was perhaps one of Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan's greatest commentary masterpieces. It was their commentary that even made matches such as the Bushwackers vs the Beverly Brothers which would normally be a sleeper matchup quite entertaining. Definitly worth at least one view for the hard core, long time, wrestling fans.

Overall, I thought that Royal Rumble 1992 was all right. The highlights include Ric Flair's herculean effort to win the World Title, and Rowdy Roddy Piper winning his only WWF title, defeating the Mountie for the Intercontinental belt. However, there were a lot of terrible gimmicks used (ie: "El Matador" Tito Santana, Skinner, The Barbarian, etc) which brought down my rating. I give it a 7 out of 10.

It was refreshing to see someone other than Hulk Hogan win.

In reviewing the four previous Royal Rumble installments before this one, one of my chief complaints on every single one of them was the event was used more as a vehicle for Wrestlemania than as a stand-alone event. Well, this changed with Royal Rumble 1992, where the WWF World Championship Belt was at stake for the winner of the big Rumble.

Unfortunately, what with the decreased popularity of Hulk Hogan (one can only be on top for so long) and the utter failure of the Ultimate Warrior character to carry that torch, there really were no interesting plot angles to keep things fun and interesting. The WWF still didn't quite know what to do with Randy "Macho Man" Savage, the Hulk-Sid Justice feud was never all it was hyped to be, and Ric Flair as a major participant in the WWF cannon...you have to be kidding me. It just goes to show how desperate the company was at that time to procure top-tier athletes and entertainers.

Thus, although the stakes for this Royal Rumble were higher than they had ever been before, the entire event fizzled due to lack of interesting characters or impressive athletes. The preliminary matches are almost unwatchable, the Rumble features genuine excitement only for about every fifth or sixth participant, and even the broadcast booth isn't as strong as it once was, this time populated by Gorilla Monsoon (always very good) and Bobby "The Brain" Heenan (a terrible "negative man" compared to Jesse Ventura).

Unless you are a huge WWF fan and are watching all the events in order, this is one you could easily skip, as it will leave you unsatisfied and feel like a huge waste of time.

What a Rumble none stop action some great stories and superstars competing in this one does not lose pace like most Rumble from the moment the first two hit the ring the action never stops. Forget the surrounding matches and turn off when the rumble is done. Bobby the brain outworks everyone in the ring on fire on the mic .