WWE Rewind: Royal Rumble 1989

The logo of Royal Rumble 1989

The second Royal Rumble match in history was held in 1989, at the first ever Royal Rumble pay-per-view. The event took place at The Summit in Houston Texas, on January 15, 1989. Here are some important facts regarding this match:

• This was the first ever Royal Rumble match to feature 30 participants. This became a tradition of sorts in the following years until 2011, which involved 40 wrestlers.
• ‘Mr. Perfect’ Curt Hennig lasted the longest in the match for 27 minutes and 58 seconds.
• Hulk Hogan earned the distinction of eliminating the most number of men in the match. He eliminated 10 wrestlers during the course of this match, a record which lasted till 2001 when Kane went beserk, eliminating 13 participants.
• Warlord was eliminated in 2 seconds by Hulk Hogan in this match, which was a record until recently when Santino Marella was eliminated in 1.9 seconds by Kane in 2009.
• Big John Studd won the match, thereby becoming the second Royal Rumble winner after Jim Duggan
• Big John Studd entered the match at #27, which has surprisingly produced the most number of winners, in history till date (4).
• This Royal Rumble match is remembered for being the event which initiated the breakup of ‘The Mega Powers’ – Randy Savage and Hulk Hogan.

Here’s the full Royal Rumble 1989 match:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=ju4JSRFghQQ

You can watch the first Royal Rumble match in 1988 by clicking here.