10 Reasons WWE Royal Rumble 1992 Is Still The Best

The Royal Rumble match has gone from being something of an experiment for WWE on television in the late eighties to a PLE that marks the build to WrestleMania going into top gear.

It's where eliminations can lead to full scale matches at 'The Showcase of the Immortals' and where WWE often try to gauge crowd reaction to particular wrestlers clashing before putting them in a full storyline going forward. These days there's as much talk in the build up concerning surprise entrants as well as the eventual winner. Some editions of the Royal Rumble have seen returning greats walk through the curtain as well as non-wrestlers who fancy a crack at it. Even Drew Carey made an attempt in 2001. 

Over the years the Rumble match has seen tied winners in 1994, Steve Austin and Vince McMahon attempting to ruin each other's lives in 1999, Triple H marking his return from injury by winning in 2002 and Vince tearing both quads at the conclusion of the 2005 edition before barking orders from a sitting position.

Despite all this the WWE have never quite topped the 1992 Royal Rumble match for match drama, individual performances and excellent commentary. It all started with the reason why this edition was unique to begin with. 

The first few versions of the Royal Rumble match were nothing more than an exhibition with no real impact on any storylines going forward. The match would eventually boil down to the last two participants, one would thrown the other out and usually Hulk Hogan stood tall at the end as 'Real American' blared out through the arena. So far so usual.

Due to matches between Hulk Hogan and The Undertaker proving inconclusive at the end of 1991 the WWF Title had been declared vacant. On screen authority figure Jack Tunney had ruled that the winner of the Royal Rumble would be crowned champion on the night. It wasn't to be a case of going on to main event WrestleMania but rather being handed the gold right there and then. 

This meant that every single wrestler in the thirty strong field had a chance of bagging the big one and this level of unpredictability adds volumes to the Rumble match itself. WWE would try something similar when Roman Reigns defended his title against 29 challengers at the 2016 Royal Rumble but here it was an entirely blank slate. There was the distinct possibility that The Warlord or Barbarian could walk out with the belt. Unlikely though that sounds it was still quite possible in kayfabe.