The Deceased Dozen Of The 1990 Royal Rumble

2. Roddy Piper (17 April 1954 – 31 July 2015)

Ultimate Warrior Rumble 90
WWE

Steaming in at #6 as the babyface yin to Randy Savage's yang, 'Rowdy' Roddy Piper immediately made his impact felt in levelling the playing field as 'The Macho King' and Ted Dibiase beat Jake 'The Snake' Roberts down in the early portion of the match.

Piper was a ball of energy, and a perfect fit for the match where his in-ring limitations could be hidden and replaced with several scintillating mini-brawls with the best WWE villains of the day.

A subtle highlight when watched in isolation, Piper remained fiercely loyal to his character at the time, generally looking for fights with any heels he'd stumble upon, stopping to briefly take swipes at Jake Roberts and Bret Hart after getting his eyes raked in a great Rumble spot.

Piper lasted twelve minutes in the match, but would meet his end after eliminating Bad News Brown.

The Harlem native didn't take kindly to the early exit, and ripped Piper from the ring to the floor, triggering a brawl to the back that would set up their controversial WrestleMania VI match.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 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. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, 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