7 Things You Should Know About WWE Royal Rumble 1991

2. There Was An Obvious Lack Of Star Power

The final three guys in the match were Hogan, Earthquake and Brian Knobbs. With all due respect to Earthquake and Knobbs, we're not talking about all time great performers. Earthquake was mildly hot at the time thanks to a long feud with Hogan, but who really thought he was going to win? Nobody. Knobbs lasting that long was an odd choice. They should have put a bigger name in there towards the end. There were only 29 men actually in the match. When it was time for #18 to come out, nobody showed up. The announcers later figured out that it was supposed to be Randy Savage, but he was unable to make it because he took off due to being scared of The Ultimate Warrior wanting to get revenge. Rick Martel lasted the longest in the match at 52:17, which was the longest time ever at that point. However, Martel wasn't a huge star and had less impact than Ted Dibiase one year earlier. There was a memorable elimination when Bushwhacker Luke did the infamous Bushwhacker arm walk into the ring, then got tossed over the top for the elimination in only four seconds. He ended up doing the walk on the way out of the ring too. It was hilarious. What's interesting about the lack of star power is that one year later at Royal Rumble 1992 they had a much stronger lineup. Give WWE credit for recognizing that it was a problem during this show because they improved a lot.