10 Best World Title Matches In WWE Royal Rumble History
2. The 1992 Royal Rumble Match
No, we haven't made a mistake: this was just a very special Rumble match.
In December of 1991, the WWF Championship was vacated following a series of controversial title changes between Hulk Hogan and The Undertaker. To settle things once and for all, WWF's fictional President, Jack Tunney, decreed that, for the first time ever, the winner of the Royal Rumble match would also become the new WWF Champion.
At this point, the Rumble wasn't used to determine one half of a WrestleMania world championship match, so this was the first time that the Rumble had ever had stakes - and they couldn't get much higher than this. Excitement was very much in the air.
This Rumble match is widely regarded as the best ever, sporting an incredible roster including the likes of Hogan, 'Taker, Ric Flair, Randy Savage, Sid Justice, Roddy Piper, Jake Roberts, Shawn Michaels and many more top stars of the early '90s, all looking to make their mark on WWF's history.
The ending of the match was also extremely well executed. Justice eliminated Hogan to leave just himself and Flair in the ring. Hogan, angered by elimination and because he was Hogan, then grabbed Sid's arm from the outside, allowing Flair to sneak up behind Justice and eliminate him, capturing the WWF Championship for the first time in his career.
A perfectly-structured match with a great ending and a brilliant choice for the new champion, the '92 edition still stands as an exemplar Rumble format over 25 years on.