What do you want from a Royal Rumble match? What are the essential elements for this gimmick to be successful? Preferably, you want the finish to tell a story within a bigger story. The Royal Rumble is, after all, a means to a very large end: WrestleMania. You also want the other top talents that do not win the Rumble to go out in style. They are top guys for a reason, so their failure to win arguably the second most important match of the year (outside of the WM main-event) should be made to seem important. Then, there is the role of the Ironman, usually going to a relevant headliner tasked with giving the match a solid foundation. Then, there are the spotlight eliminations of the wrestlers that you can almost guarantee are not going to win the match, but who are largely responsible for providing the action unassociated with the ten minutes or so given to the climax and to the eliminations of the headliners. If you can add a hot crowd and a decent amount of hype for the match during the lead-in shows on TV, then you have a Rumble with just about everything. 1990 benefits from having one of the intangible qualities that, outside of the above, help shape the perception of a Royal Rumble match: a moment that lives through the ages. Hulk Hogan vs. Ultimate Warrior has stood the test of time for a reason - their WrestleMania VI clash of the titans was the original babyface match on the grand scale that we have come to expect. Yet, it was their Rumble moment that basically took care of the hype. Warrior and Hogan; Hogan and Warrior. Two iconic heroes staring a hole through each other with the people standing in awe. Sure, the finish was just fine. Hogan last eliminated Mr. Perfect, undefeated at the time in singles competition and with as high a profile as he would ever have. Sure, performances like that from the Million Dollar Man helped define the Ironman role for the gimmick. Indeed, there were spotlight eliminations that are as enjoyable today as they were then. The crowd was involved, too. It was that one moment in combination with all of the above, though, that separates Rumble '90 from the majority of its peers.
"The Doc" Chad Matthews has written wrestling columns for over a decade. A physician by trade, Matthews began writing about wrestling as a hobby, but it became a passion. After 30 years as a wrestling fan, "The Doc" gives an unmatched analytical perspective on pro wrestling in the modern era. He is a long-time columnist for Lordsofpain.net and hosts a weekly podcast on the LOP Radio Network called "The Doc Says." His first book - The WrestleMania Era: The Book of Sports Entertainment - ranks the Top 90 wrestlers from 1983 to present day, was originally published in December 2013, and is now in its third edition.
Matthews lives in North Carolina with his wife, two kids, and two dogs.
