It probably isn't fair to judge the very first Royal Rumble against the 27 that would follow, as it was very much akin to a toddler taking tentative steps into a foreboding ocean. Only 20 men made up the field as well, and even then it wasn't exactly heavy on star quality. Bret Hart was the very first man to enter a Royal Rumble and put in the most impressive performance by a landslide. It was a time in wrestling history where enhanced big men were the be all and end all, none of whom were noted for a particularly exciting in-ring style, meaning what we got was 33 minutes of slow, boring action. The only points of interest were in seeing who will enter next, before returning to the boredom. 'Hacksaw' Jim Duggan would be the first winner, ousting Dino Bravo and finally One Man Gang to take home the W.
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.
