Ranking every WWE Royal Rumble match in history

13. Royal Rumble 1990 – Hulk Hogan

As per usual, there were 30 men in the 1990 Royal Rumble but that night in Orlando was only about two, Hulk Hogan and The Ultimate Warrior.

But before I get into that whole thing, this match really is an amazing who’s who of the Golden Era. Ted Dibiase and Koko B. Ware were the first two out and just look at the 28 names that follow them: Marty Jannetty, Jake Roberts, Randy Savage, Roddy Piper, The Warlord, Bret Hart, Bad News Brown, Dusty Rhodes, Andre the Giant, Red Rooster, Ax, Haku, Smash, Akeem, Jimmy Snuka, Dino Bravo, Earthquake, Jim Neidhart, Ultimate Warrior, Rick Martel, Tito Santana, Honky Tonk Man, Hulk Hogan, Shawn Michaels, The Barbarian, Rick Rude, Hercules and Mr. Perfect. That’s my freaking childhood right there, man. But as I said, even with all of those amazing superstars in the ring, this night was about two men and the Royal Rumble was the perfect time for two of the biggest stars in history to clash for the very first time.

It’s no secret that at the turn of the decade, WWE was more or less looking for the next Hulk Hogan. He was champ for years but it was time for a passing of the torch and Vince seemed to have found that guy in The Ultimate Warrior. He had been around for a little while at this point and was really getting over with the crowd and selling tons of merchandise. With no other big challengers at the time, he seemed to be the perfect guy to match up with Hogan. But it was extremely rare to see a face vs. face clash but with the Royal Rumble having the “every man for himself” thing going for it, this was the perfect opportunity to try it out and it worked. And it worked well.

After a dizzying scene which saw both Hogan and Warrior throw multiple competitors from the ring, they suddenly became the only two men left in the ring and it was an awesome sight to see. These two had hardly ever come across one another and when they finally realized what was happening, they just went for it in classic Golden Era fashion. There were shoulderblocks that saw neither man budge and a criss-cross and a double clothesline and everything. It was quick but it set the stage for what was to come at WrestleMania VI. And I guess WWE figured that they’d had a couple of these Royal Rumble matches already and Hogan hadn’t won one yet so they’d better take care of that as well. Classic night.