One WWE Match You MUST Watch From Every Year 1984-2024

35. 1989 - The Royal Rumble Match

Hulk Hogan Royal Rumble 1989
WWE.com

The Royal Rumble's first jump on to pay-per-view brought with it a slightly unvarnished and unfinished version of the stipulation, but as a snapshot of the era - and the era's biggest stories - there was no quicker way of capturing WWE's roster approaching another commercial peak.

Big John Studd didn't feel like much of a star as the winner, but he was in the minority compared to just about everybody else that featured in the titular main event. Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage foreshadowed their impending explosion, The Twin Towers were at least allowed a shred of dominance over 'The Hulkster' as a result, Demolition fought each other and Ted Dibiase literally proved his worth by buying the best spot.

Fun and functional, this was quintessential 1980s WWE before the bloom started to come off the rose. 

 
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Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett