Royal Rumble 1992

Royal Rumble 1992 was the fifth annual Royal Rumble professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). It took place on January 19, 1992 at the Knickerbocker Arena in Albany, New York.

The main event was the 1992 Royal Rumble match where for the first and only time, the WWF Championship was on the line. The match was won by Ric Flair, who last eliminated Sid Justice to win the match and the WWF Championship. Featured matches on the undercard were The Natural Disasters (Earthquake and Typhoon) versus The Legion of Doom (Hawk and Animal) for the WWF Tag Team Championship, The Beverly Brothers (Blake and Beau) versus The Bushwhackers (Luke and Butch) and Roddy Piper versus The Mountie for the WWF Intercontinental Championship.

Background
Royal Rumble featured professional wrestling matches involving different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds, plots, and storylines that were played out on Superstars, Wrestling Challenge and Prime Time Wrestling — the World Wrestling Federation's (WWF) television programs. Wrestlers portrayed a villain or a hero as they followed a series of events that built tension, and culminated into a wrestling match or series of matches.

The pay-per-view featured the annual Royal Rumble match, which has been featured at every Royal Rumble event since its inception. It features 30 wrestlers, and the match ends when one wrestler remains in the ring, after all 29 other wrestlers have been eliminated via being tossed over the top ring rope and having both feet touch the floor.

Prior to the event, it was announced the winner of the Royal Rumble would win the vacant WWF Title, which had been stripped from Hulk Hogan after two controversial title switches between Hulk and the Undertaker, first at the 1991 Survivor Series and later at the Tuesday in Texas pay-per-view event. Hogan and Undertaker were among the 30 entrants in the event.

The Royal Rumble match helped begin Justice's slow-building turn into a villain. Justice - who was returning from a recent injury - entered at No. 29 and was among the final four wrestlers, along with Hogan, Randy Savage and Flair. Justice eliminated Savage and then Hogan, leaving himself and Flair in the ring. During the initial live pay-per-view broadcast, Justice's elimination of Hogan was loudly cheered by the audience in attendance even though, as per storyline plans, Sid "sneaked up from behind" to throw Hogan out. As such, the original reaction was edited out of future television replays as well as the Coliseum home video release of the event, with play-by-play announcer Gorilla Monsoon adding new comments condemning Sid for his actions (Monsoon had originally said Justice's elimination of Hogan was fair). Hogan, who was still at ringside after being eliminated, grabbed Sid's arm and distracted him long enough for Flair to eliminate him to win the match and become the new WWF Champion. After the match, Sid and Hogan got into an argument in the ring and had to be separated by security.

Aftermath
The confrontation between Hogan and Justice was played out over a series of future WWF television programs. On the Superstars program aired January 25, 1992, WWF President Jack Tunney held a press conference, where he announced that Hogan would face Flair for the WWF Championship at WrestleMania VIII. Justice, who was also in attendance and began standing up as if Tunney were about to proclaim him the top contender, was outraged and termed the announcement "the most bogus act Jack Tunney has ever pulled off." Sid later apologized and Hogan accepted, but on the February 8 edition of Saturday Night's Main Event, Justice abandoned Hogan during a tag-team match against Flair and The Undertaker, completing his heel turn and leading to a match at WrestleMania VIII.

Flair, meanwhile, began feuding with Savage over the WWF Championship. According to the storyline, Flair claimed that he had a previous relationship with Savage's wife, Miss Elizabeth, going as far as presenting pictures of Elizabeth in which Flair had himself superimposed. This culminated in a title match at WrestleMania VIII; Savage won the match and his second WWF Championship.

Results

 * Numbers in parentheses indicate the length of the match.
 * (c) refers to the champion(s) heading into the match.
 * The New Foundation (Jim Neidhart & Owen Hart) defeated The Orient Express (Kato & Tanaka) (w/ Mr. Fuji) (17:18)
 * Roddy Piper defeated The Mountie (c) (w/ Jimmy Hart) (5:22) to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship
 * The Beverly Brothers (Beau Beverly & Blake Beverly) (w/ The Genius) defeated The Bushwhackers (Butch & Luke) (w/ Jamison) (14:56)
 * The Natural Disasters (Earthquake & Typhoon) defeated The Legion Of Doom (Animal & Hawk) (c) by countout for the WWF Tag Team Championship (9:24)
 * Ric Flair won the Royal Rumble (1:00:02)

Trivia

 * Ric Flair broke the record for longest lasting in a Royal Rumble, lasting 1:00:02. Until it was beaten by Bob Backlund a year later. His record is currently 6th place.
 * This was the first, time the WWF/E Championship (or any other championship) was contested in a Royal Rumble until the 2016 Royal Rumble where Roman Reigns put his title by orders of Mr McMahon. The championship was vacated in December 1991 after the controversial finish to the Hulk Hogan vs. The Undertaker match at the Tuesday in Texas PPV event.

DVD & Video Releases

 * This PPV was released as part of The Royal Rumble Anthology DVD Set.
 * Amazon.jpg Royal Rumble 1991 & 1992
 * Amazon.jpg Royal Rumble 1992 on VHS