WWE Royal Rumble Winner’s Circle: Something Called a Hulk Hogan (1990, 1991)
__________________________________________________________________________
With the 2011 Royal Rumble approaching, we found it appropriate to pay homage to those who managed to go over in the 30 man over the top rope classic without their feet hitting the floor.
Hulk Hogan’s furious tidal wave of super stardom of the 80′s and 90′s in the WWF saw him capture two Royal Rumble victories. Hogan was the first WWF Superstar to win back to back Royal Rumbles, but that would have meant so much more these days as you should already know by now.
Perhaps Hogan’s pair of Rumble wins hurt the event, as the Royal Rumble match itself carried zero meaning and was reduced to nothing more than a notch on the belt of the biggest thing going in wrestling during the early 90′s. Hell, Hogan was the WWF Champion during his first Royal Rumble win, so when that “Real American” music cranked up in Florida’s Amway Arena, anybody with an affinity for suspense was probably better off getting a head start on traffic.
Hogan’s 1990 win was, in many ways, an atonement from his dominating performance the year before. That Royal Rumble saw perennial mid carder Big John Studd claim a victory despite Hogan literally doing the heavy lifting (dude eliminated nine superstars by himself) by seeking and destroying anything that moved.
We pause for the obligatory cynical remark about Hulk Hogan- Who wants to bet that Hogan wasn’t supposed to have as many eliminations as he did in ’89? Could it have been possible that the Real American went into business for himself knowing he wasn’t going to win the Royal Rumble that year? But I digress.
Hogan’s 1990 performance was tamer than it was the year before as he entered late (25th) and only eliminated four superstars by himself. The same could be said about his win in 1991 (give or take an elimination)
Hogan’s contribution to a group elimination of the white hot Ultimate Warrior, who really should have won the Royal Rumble that year, in1990 set the stage for a Wrestlemania VI clash between the two 90′s icons. The main event that night in the SkyDome of Toronto, Canada saw Hogan drop the WWF Championship to what had become the new hottest thing in wrestling. Luckily for Hogan, Warrior was a headcase and would gradually fizzle out over time because of issues occurring out of the ring.
Hogan’s Royal Rumble wins, while they came during a time when the Royal Rumble was nothing more than an unnecessary and time consuming brawl between a handful of grown men, should still be revered in hindsight. To this day, only three WWF/E Superstars have won multiple Royal Rumble matches and all three are in the WWE Hall of Fame under the “Okay, now we’re taking it seriously” wing.
Related Stories
Tags: 1990, 1991, Amway Arena, Big John Studd, Canada, Florida, Hulk Hogan, Orlando, Royal Rumble, Skydome, Toronto, Ultimate Warrior, Wrestling, WWE, WWF
