7 Things You Should Know About WWE Royal Rumble 1990

2. Mr. Perfect Was Originally Booked To Win

The original booking of this match was for Mr. Perfect, a top heel at the time, to get the win. With Hulk Hogan already pushed strongly as the WWE Champion, it would be a way to elevate Perfect. Since Perfect was one of the best all around performers that was still fresh in WWE, it made a lot of sense. Instead, Hogan got the win. This is one of those stories that has been told many times by people in wrestling. Hogan had a lot of power backstage, so he got the plans changed and instead of winning, Perfect finished second. It likely wasn't a case of Hogan having creative control over the situation, but Vince McMahon probably felt like he better do what Hogan wanted because of all the years Hogan was on top. The reason Perfect winning would have made more sense is because it would have given Hogan and Warrior an opponent to feud with later in the year. They needed heels to match up against, so a win for Perfect would have set him up nicely for that. If Perfect won it would have been the first time a heel won a Rumble match. Instead, Hogan got the win even though he was the WWE Champion and didn't really need to win it.