100 Greatest WWE Royal Rumble Moments Ever
21. Mr. Perfect Sends Ric Flair Packing (1993)
Having previously served as the Nature Boy’s “executive consultant” during Ric Flair’s WWF Title pursuits of the previous year, Mr. Perfect famously split away from Flair ahead of the 1992 Survivor Series.
By the time of the 1993 Royal Rumble, these former allies were now heated rivals, and that intensity was on full display when Perfect entered the Rumble at #10 and made an immediate beeline for Flair. As the ever-great Bobby Heenan so brilliantly put it, “Perfect doesn’t want to win the Royal Rumble, he wants to put Flair in the hospital”.
Ric Flair sold his ass off here, both in terms of bumping and in his body language, while Curt Hennig was such an amazing, explosive babyface in the right setting. And when Mr. Perfect finally eliminated Flair, the crowd reacted in a major way as Mr. P taunted the distraught Naitch from the ring.
Of course, the following night’s Raw saw Mr. Perfect defeat Ric Flair in a phenomenal Loser Leaves WWF bout that was Flair’s final televised match with the company for nine years.