10 Fascinating WWE Royal Rumble 1989 Facts
1. Pre-WWE Network, It's The Least Bought Royal Rumble Ever
Despite the monumental cable rating that the 1988 edition on USA Network drew, the gimmick didn't exactly set the pay-per-view world on fire on the first try. In fact, looking at the surrounding pay-per-views, it may be fair to call the '89 Rumble a flop.
The event was good for only 165,000 buys. Less than three months later, WrestleMania 5 did 767,000 buys, a massive number that no WWE pay-per-view would equal for a full decade. The Rumble's buyrate was five times less than 'Mania, and also did roughly half as many buys as Survivor Series 1988 (310,000 buys) seven weeks earlier.
Even in the mid-nineties, when buyrates across the WWE board plummeted, they still managed to do 200,000-plus for each Rumble. It's 1989 that's the curious anomaly here.