One MIND-BLOWING Secret From Every WWE Royal Rumble

1990 - Busting A Myth

False narratives prevail for countless reasons.

Memories are faulty generally, compounding the fact that people tend to believe what they’d like to believe. Certain things feel like they must be true, or very feasibly could be true, so we tend to run away with something when the dots are there to connect.

A combination of all of this has informed the enduring idea that Curt ‘Mr. Perfect’ Hennig was slated to win the 1990 Royal Rumble match.

Mr. Perfect was a beloved character, admired in particular by the wrestling fan who gravitated towards the technical artform beyond the fad. To this day, he regularly tops polls and lists asking “Who should have been WWE Champion, but never got the chance?”

Hulk Hogan, conversely, was the contrarian’s enemy. He was over-pushed (despite earning every bit of it as a result of his immense box office muscle). He was on top too long (despite doing the big job just as his powers were fading, and the fact that the business model in place at the time meant he wasn’t overexposed through 52 weeks of live primetime episodic TV). He was one of wrestling’s most ruthless and influential politicians, thinking nothing of ruining entire companies if it meant his ego was satisfied. What’s one wrestler’s career?

While this last part is true, he didn’t snatch Perfect’s win away from him on the day of the show. As brilliant and as entertaining as Perfect was, he was not a draw. His match against Hogan at Madison Square Garden on January 15, 1990 drew 11,5000: the worst crowd at that building ever for a Hogan title defence.

This was just days away from Rumble ‘90, too: if there was a plan to have Perfect win, and there’s no evidence of that, Hulk Hogan wouldn’t have been the one to scrap it.