WWF Royal Rumble 1992

[Boner Kawanger 0]

Is there any way to get the "live" version of the 92 Rumble or does every single released version come with the CHV extras?

I think Flair's promo at the end is a CHV Exclusive so fuck the live version.

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

The Anthology / 24/7 version is the live broadcast with added Coliseum extras, is it not? That's generally how these things work.

[Enigma 0]

Is there any way to get the "live" version of the 92 Rumble or does every single released version come with the CHV extras?

I think Flair's promo at the end is a CHV Exclusive so fuck the live version.

Flair's promo was definitely on the live version of the PPV. I still have the PPV recording on tape. They did the promo after Hogan and Sid had their squabble in the ring. Mean Gene closed the show.

[Darth Pipes 0]

Yeah, I remember seeing the Flair interview after the Rumble match. It was definitely live.

 

Heenan had some other good Virgil jokes...

 

Heenan: Don't forget, at one time Virgil held that Million Dollar Championship. Of course he stole it but he still had it."

Monsoon: He did not!

 

A few weeks after the Rumble, Side broke Virgil's nose (kayfabe) and Virgil was wearing a nose guard at WM. During his eight-man tag...

 

Heenan: The first thing I'd do is I'd rip that ugly mask off of that ugly face and I'd break that ugly face one more ugly time!

Monsoon: What a sadistic person you are, Brain!

 

Another reason RR 92 is historic because it was the first PPV that Shawn Michales was a singles wrestler. The Jannetty angle was earlier in the month and this was, when you think about it, the official start of the Shawn Michaels era.

 

I don't know if it was on the Royal Rumble or WM PPV but there's a brief segment where HBK is on the WWF Hotline and he's telling the person on it that he got tired of (Jannetty) and decided to toss him out the window. Funny.

[Black Lushus 0]

Didn't Gene Okerlund go off on someone for smoking during that interview?

[Enigma 0]

Didn't Gene Okerlund go off on someone for smoking during that interview?

Yeah. He looked pretty pissed. He even shot a glance back at them when Flair started talking again.

[bob_barron 0]

We're not the type of guys to say we told you so but we...

 

TOLD YOU SO!

[Enigma 0]

This was the first time I've watched the post-Rumble deal with Hogan and Sid in a long, long time. On the first Flair DVD, they immediately cut it off as soon as Flair leaves the ring.

 

As a 7-year-old I didn't really absorb it, but wow, did that crowd ever turn on Hogan for what he did. And it's not like they booed him all the time. He got the usual Hogan pop when he came out. It is surreal to watch Hogan do his manic ear-cup thing during the pull-apart and get booed loudly back then. It was even crazier watching Sid acknowledge the boos and do arm motions along with the "Just-ice" chants that started. The deer-in-headlights look on Hogan's face when he realizes the crowd is totally against him is priceless.

 

I just don't understand how Vince could have thought the crowd wouldn't turn on Hogan for what he did. Sid had been getting a monster face push while Hogan spent a month whining about Jack Tunney taking the title away from him. So he already was made to look like a prima donna. So Sid throws Hogan out, which the crowd LOVED. Right there they should have called an audible and let Flair just dump Sid out on his own so Hogan wouldn't look worse. Because not even the markiest of marks could understand why Hogan was being such a baby about it. Sid just did what he was supposed to do. It's every man for himself, right? To make matters worse, not only did Hogan pull a typical heel move and refuse to leave ringside after being eliminated, you have been given the vision of Hogan working together with Flair to eliminate the biggest pushed face in the company so Flair could win the WWF Title. Just all around terrible booking at the end and it made Hogan look really, really bad, which required the previously-spoken of TV edits that were even more insulting to people that watched the live show.

[Darth Pipes 0]

Even Hogan knew that the crowd had turned against him. He played it that way too. This was the first real backlash against Hogan though it would take Vince until next year to realize that.

 

Hogan has almost always acted like a total crybaby whenever he was eliminated from a battle royal. At RR 89, Bossman and Akeem both managed to throw him out, shortly after Hogan eliminated his friend Savage (though that might have been on accident. Him and Savage argued about it). He stayed at ringside until he pulled Bossman over the top ropes. He did something similar in a 1984 battle royal and of course, he had to be restrained from going after Andre after he was eliminated by the Giant during the SNME battle royal. At least Hogan had the excuse that he was feuding with Andre leading up to Wrestlemania. Although in the post-match conference, Hogan takes a shot at Andre, saying a real man doesn't eliminate another one from behind. Uh, Hulk...it's every man for himself. People can get eliminated in seconds in a battle royal and in many different ways. Deal with it.

 

Hogan was yelling at Justice that they were supposed to be friends. Justice yelled at him rightly that it's every man for himself...especially when it's for the title. I can't remember how the 89 Rumble went but it's probably more hyporcracy for Hogan.

 

Funny too how McMahon always put over Hogan as a role model yet when Hogan got eliminated from a battle royal, he acted like the biggest sore loser in the world.

[MillenniumMan831 0]

Ventura gave Hogan the riot act for his post-elimination behavior at RR89.

[Diamonddust 0]

Ventura gave Hogan the riot act for his post-elimination behavior at RR89.

 

It's hilarious to go back and listen to some of the rants Ventura had against Hogan on commentary over the years. I remember him really laying into everyone when Savage came out first at Wrestlemania V.

[KingPK 0]

Ventura gave Hogan the riot act for his post-elimination behavior at RR89.

 

It's always fun to go back and listen to Ventura complain about Hogan's obvious heel tactics with Vince trying to rationalize them (or pretending that he didn't see anything).

[Black Lushus 0]

I love the little consistencies like Flair awaiting Kerry Von Erich's arrival and eventual mini-showdown.

[cabbageboy 0]

Yeah and there's also some tantalizing Valentine/Flair bits in that Rumble. At some points in that Rumble you just look in the ring and see nearly everyone had been a world champion at some point. Just staggering.

 

Enigma, do you think then that they should have had Hogan toss Sid and then Sid get pissed and cost Hogan?

[MillenniumMan831 0]

That would have been better but I think Sid was so beloved at that time that the fans would still prefer Sid over Hogan.

[Darth Pipes 0]

I still wonder what the original plan with that was. Given the way the WWF reacted to it, they clearly didn't want Sid (who was very popular with the fans around this time) to get the cheers, thus altering the RR footage. At the same time though, Sid totally acknowledged that the fans were cheering him and so did Hogan. At the end, Sid keeps pointing to the Hogan sign that says "Hulk Who?"

[Diamonddust 0]

I still wonder what the original plan with that was. Given the way the WWF reacted to it, they clearly didn't want Sid (who was very popular with the fans around this time) to get the cheers, thus altering the RR footage. At the same time though, Sid totally acknowledged that the fans were cheering him and so did Hogan. At the end, Sid keeps pointing to the Hogan sign that says "Hulk Who?"

 

I honestly think they thought the fans would boo Sid for what he did to Hogan. The thing being though was that Sid was the next big thing, and Hogan was turning into yesterday's news at that point. People wanted to see Sid on top and cheer for him... not become cannon fodder for Hogan.

[Bigelow34 0]

I still wonder what the original plan with that was. Given the way the WWF reacted to it, they clearly didn't want Sid (who was very popular with the fans around this time) to get the cheers, thus altering the RR footage. At the same time though, Sid totally acknowledged that the fans were cheering him and so did Hogan. At the end, Sid keeps pointing to the Hogan sign that says "Hulk Who?"

 

I honestly think they thought the fans would boo Sid for what he did to Hogan. The thing being though was that Sid was the next big thing, and Hogan was turning into yesterday's news at that point. People wanted to see Sid on top and cheer for him... not become cannon fodder for Hogan.

 

I don't get why they didn't have Sid get dumped and then he be the one who pulled Hogan out to give Flair the win. They had to have the Sid/Hogan match set already for them to even do that ending and there was no way Hogan was going heel, so wouldn't it have made sense to have Sid screw him, then apologize and then snap on SNME.

[Darth Pipes 0]

Yeah, Sid doesn't really come across as the bad guy when you think about it. A few weeks later, they did a big press conference to determine the number one contender for Flair's title at Wrestlemania. Hogan got the nod and Sid was pissed. Rightly so, since he was was the runner-up at the Royal Rumble and lost his chance to win the title because of Hogan being a crybaby and basically cheating. He apologized, they teamed up, then he abandoned Hogan. Hogan deserved it.

[cabbageboy 0]

I've always been baffled by that scenario since it was literally right when I started watching again and felt like I was thrown in the middle of a bunch of stuff. I recall that Hogan was announced as #1 contender for no real reason, then suddenly Macho was the guy. For no real reason. I guess Hogan bowed out since Sid turned on him and he wanted a piece of Sid?

 

Truth be told for that era I think Sid was the better choice to be a psycho heel since he's fun in that role. Hogan as a heel in 1992 would have been....odd.

[Enigma 0]

I've always been baffled by that scenario since it was literally right when I started watching again and felt like I was thrown in the middle of a bunch of stuff. I recall that Hogan was announced as #1 contender for no real reason, then suddenly Macho was the guy. For no real reason. I guess Hogan bowed out since Sid turned on him and he wanted a piece of Sid?

 

Truth be told for that era I think Sid was the better choice to be a psycho heel since he's fun in that role. Hogan as a heel in 1992 would have been....odd.

Yeah, Hogan gave up his title shot for a match with Sid after Sid walked out on him at Saturday Night's Main Event in the tag match against Ric Flair and Undertaker. Since Tunney claimed Savage was the #3 contender (Justice was #2), Savage was given the title match.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

I've always been baffled by that scenario since it was literally right when I started watching again and felt like I was thrown in the middle of a bunch of stuff. I recall that Hogan was announced as #1 contender for no real reason, then suddenly Macho was the guy. For no real reason. I guess Hogan bowed out since Sid turned on him and he wanted a piece of Sid?

 

Truth be told for that era I think Sid was the better choice to be a psycho heel since he's fun in that role. Hogan as a heel in 1992 would have been....odd.

Yeah, Hogan gave up his title shot for a match with Sid after Sid walked out on him at Saturday Night's Main Event in the tag match against Ric Flair and Undertaker. Since Tunney claimed Savage was the #2 contender (despite Piper being the IC champ), Savage was given the title match.

Has anyone (Meltzer?) definitely cleared up what the hell was going on with the booking here? I've heard everything from Sid being promised the main event when he signed to McMahon getting cold feet at the last minute because the Flair-Hogan program wasn't drawing that well on the house show circuit.

 

The booking of the Rumble didn't really seem to establish the possibility of a Flair-Savage match. Was that plan in place when this match happened?

[bob_barron 0]

Meltzer said the plan was always Sid-Hogan, and never was going to be Flair-Hogan.

 

From a Meltz post at WrestlingClassics-

 

On the "planned" Flair-Hogan main event for WrestleMania VIII:

 

QUOTE

The plan was always Hogan-Sid, dating back a year.

 

Business was very different then. House shows were advertised big. You didn't do 2-3 matches in every market on a house show and then the PPV.

 

I knew Hogan-Sid as the main event maybe 10 months out. When they did the TV announcement of Hogan-Flair, it was just an angle as Flair already knew he was facing Savage by then.

 

What people don't realize is that Hogan-Flair started off doing good business, but it had petered out by December, months before Mania. Vince was going to build to Hogan legdropping Flair at the house shows early 1992, but after a terrible house in Florida, Vince felt it had run its course. He changed all the shows to Hogan & Piper vs. Flair & Sid, and it was Hogan-Sid drawing the money. The only Hogan-Flair Mania hint was in September of 91, when they started their house show run, and Flair wanted to do 30:00 matches and Hogan wanted 15:00, he told Flair they needed to save the 30:00 match for Mania. But when crowds for the program dropped, and second time in our market they only did 5400 at the Cow Palace, and our market had it first, there was no Mania in their future. In hindsight people think it would have been a big deal, but it had already run its course months before Mania and WWE promoted the program ass backwards and Flair wasn't considered special by WWF fans.

 

I'm a friend of Flair and have never had any interest in paying to see Sid, but that is how it was then.

[Promoter 0]

Right after the RR wwf magazine blew the angle as they had Flair/Savage and Hogan/Sid as articles for Mania

[cabbageboy 0]

To be honest about it from a kayfabe perspective, what exactly would be the draw in a 1 on 1 Hogan vs. Flair match circa 1991-92? Flair was coming off years of being booked so weak as NWA champion (save for 1989 when he booked himself) that I can't imagine any fans seriously thinking he had a hope in hell of beating Hogan.

 

The irony is that when Hogan eventually went to WCW that exact scenario played out, with Flair having no hope in hell of beating Hogan.

[PILLS! PILLS! PILLS! 0]

I always knew that it would be Hogan vs. Sid, with or without the WWF Championship at stake, when you go back to the post-match celebration at Summer Slam '91 where Hogan called Sid back into the ring and ripped off his shirt and encouraged him to flex his muscles and...

 

...

 

fuck, wrestling is fucking gay....

[Promoter 0]

 

That does sound kind of suspect.

 

BTW, cabbageboy is right. Flair/Hogan should have happened between 1986-1989. It would have been a better draw and actually meant something. It happened just outside their prime. Speaking of kayfabe I think the wwf breaking it also hurt the champ vs. champ thing too.

[Diamonddust 0]

 

That does sound kind of suspect.

 

BTW, cabbageboy is right. Flair/Hogan should have happened between 1986-1989. It would have been a better draw and actually meant something. It happened just outside their prime. Speaking of kayfabe I think the wwf breaking it also hurt the champ vs. champ thing too.

 

I don't even know if it would have worked in that period either. Hogan was the superhero champion. Flair was the high living playboy, but even he was grounded in reality. He wasn't a cartoon character like Hogan was at that point. Look at Flair's main feud of that era with Dusty Rhodes. It's been said many times, but the reason it worked is because there was a definite realism the fans could accept. Rhodes was one of them - a hardworking blue collar man of the people. Flair was the flashy playboy that looked down up on the simpletons because he was better.

 

In a feud with Hogan, Flair would have been just another bad guy who would have fallen in the end.

 

[Promoter 0]

True in some ways what you are saying, but I think the Hulk Hogan of 1985-1987 was not really THAT cartoonish. The cartoon stuff started to creep in post Mania 3. The WWF Heavyweight Champion vs. The NWA World Heavyweight Champion in 1985 or 1986. If they went the Bobby Heenan Family/4 Horsemen route and the wwf actually acknowledged the competitor and the history of the two belts it could have worked. Remember back then the wrestling mags actually hyping Hogan vs. Flair as a dream match. Depending on where the event was held could have been the decider as well in terms of crowd reaction.

 

Dusty had the "American Dream" persona and Hogan had the "Real American" persona. The cartoon stuff didn't really get out of hand until around 1988 and 1989.

[Diamonddust 0]

True in some ways what you are saying, but I think the Hulk Hogan of 1985-1987 was not really THAT cartoonish. The cartoon stuff started to creep in post Mania 3. The WWF Heavyweight Champion vs. The NWA World Heavyweight Champion in 1985 or 1986. If they went the Bobby Heenan Family/4 Horsemen route and the wwf actually acknowledged the competitor and the history of the two belts it could have worked. Remember back then the wrestling mags actually hyping Hogan vs. Flair as a dream match. Depending on where the event was held could have been the decider as well in terms of crowd reaction.

 

Dusty had the "American Dream" persona and Hogan had the "Real American" persona. The cartoon stuff didn't really get out of hand until around 1988 and 1989.

 

Good point.