Going into the first Royal Rumble broadcast on pay-per-view, there were very high expectations of the WWF. In 1989, Hulkamania was running wild and Vince McMahon was trying to build interest heading into Wrestlemania V where the Mega Powers would explode. So it made almost zero sense when Big John Studd captured the victory in the marquee matchup of the evening. The main storyline of the match revolved around Hogan's participation in the match and Ted DiBiase's number situation. You see, back then wrestlers used to draw their numbers during backstage segments, leading to some awesome character development based on their reactions. Ted DiBiase drew his number and immediately started to throw his money around to orchestrate a trade. Right before the Rumble, DiBiase was suddenly very, very happy if not slightly lighter in the wallet. As for the match itself, everything was building to Hogan making his entrance and, when he did, he cleaned out the ring, dumping guys left and right and sending the audience into a frenzy. That all went fine until the Twin Towers (Akeem and Big Bossman) started to double-team Hogan and eliminated him with zero fanfare. Think about the way Big Show and Kane eliminated Dolph Ziggler in 2015 and that's how Hogan was dumped. To say the crowd was not happy would be an understatement. However, there was still DiBiase who was revealed to have purchased the coveted #30 spot. He joined a lame final four consisting of himself, Studd, Rick Martel, and Akeem. You would expect DiBiase to grab the win to build some heel heat but nope, instead Studd dominated and tossed the heels, winning the Royal Rumble to the thrill of absolutely no one. Instead, you could have planted the seeds for Wrestlemania V by having Randy Savage win after dumping Hogan while he was distracted, showing a heel side that everyone knew Savage had already.
