9 WWE Royal Rumble Tropes That Have Been Perfected

3. Face-Off - The Ultimate Warrior & Hulk Hogan (1990)

Ultimate Warrior Hulk Hogan Royal Rumble 1990
WWE Network

The 1990 Royal Rumble is the best in the history of the match, and WWE has desperately been trying to recreate its most iconic moment in the near 28 years since. Every single Royal Rumble will involve two men meeting in the ring as bodies lay around them, stirring the crowd into a frenzy before exchanging blows.

This trope was established long before The Ultimate Warrior and Hulk Hogan did so in 1990, but that meeting of babyface superstars was its apex. Hogan had been dominant for years, but it was clear that Warrior was on the cusp of challenging him. The two were helped by the rarity of babyface vs. babyface encounters, let alone main event babyfaces. This was simply something that fans thought they would never see.

But see it they did, and the crowd in Orlando went suitably ape for the moment. It stands the test of time as one of the most iconic moments in WWE history, let alone that of the Royal Rumble. The criss-cross was a little bit silly, but that is irrelevant. WWE will try to recreate this again on Sunday night, as Roman Reigns and John Cena come face to face. It won’t work.

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Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.