One MIND-BLOWING Secret From Every WWE Royal Rumble
1989 - The Iconic Opening Sequence Was Kept Secret
The 1987 Royal Rumble match was said to be so awful that Vince McMahon nearly trashed the concept forever. The 1988 Royal Rumble was a smash hit, but in retrospect, the novelty of the gimmick carried the action. The speed with which McMahon and Patterson realised the layered storytelling potential of the Rumble was still astonishing.
In 1989, famously, Ax and Smash, teammates in Demolition, drew #1 and #2 respectively. This was and remains an incredible sight. For context, Vince McMahon had not even promoted a major babyface versus babyface match on pay-per-view; that would follow a year later, when Hulk Hogan and the Ultimate Warrior faced off at WrestleMania 6. Watching these badass heroes and teammates was a eureka moment on top of a shocking double innovation. The WWF had innovated the hot start, creating a pathway for some of the most exciting opening pairings in Rumble history. Weirdly, it took a while longer for Vince to recreate and tweak the magic - but when he did, a string of mark-out moments unfurled. Even Bret Hart professed to feeling like a giddy fan in his autobiography when watching Ric Flair and Bob Backlund get things going in 1993.
Chris Jericho Vs. Shawn Michaels, and how it didn’t happen, was a sensational twist on the concept in 2003 - an awesome means of building anticipation ahead of their WrestleMania 19 match. In a way, the 1989 masterstroke was almost too good an idea, in that certain nothing-happening wrestlers were resented for having the temerity to come out at #2.
As revealed in a 2023 interview with ‘Wrestling Then And Now’, Ax and Smash had no idea that this was going to happen - and naturally, they had no idea what to do. So they just whaled on each other and sent the crowd into a frenzy.