50 Things You Learn Binge-Watching Every WWE Royal Rumble
48. Big John Studd Was A Super Weird Winner
Andre The Giant, Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Ted DiBiase, Mr. Perfect. Hell, even one of Demolition could've been pushed as a surprise winner to cement the 'anything can happen' vibes of Royal Rumble. In 1989, for the WWF's first Rumble on pay-per-view, Vince chose none other than Big John Studd as the ideal candidate to take home the win and celebrate in front of a crowd wondering if this was his career reprieve.
The answer to that would be a resounding no.
Studd’s heyday had passed by the time he returned to win the '89’s Rumble. Again, this was the very first one on pay-per-view, so McMahon surely wanted to make a big splash. "Big" was the operative word. The gigantic Studd was handpicked as a dude who could realistically win this souped up 30-man effort. Oh yes, the field of entrants had been increased from 20 the previous year.
The WWF didn't have a WrestleMania incentive just yet. 1989's winner wasn't going to automatically punch his ticket to a main event berth on the biggest card of the year. So, in other words, Studd could win and the federation wouldn't have to follow up on it at all. Even so, his win comes across as a weird decision in retrospect. Big John was a legacy star from Vince's national expansion earlier in the decade, but he wasn’t particularly over compared to many other top liners on the roster and would be gone from the promotion by June due to a disagreement about money.