Ranking every WWE Royal Rumble PPV in history

8. WWE Royal Rumble 1990

Match card & results

• The Bushwhackers def. The Fabulous Rougeaus
• Brutus Beefcake vs. The Genius ended in a double disqualification
• Ronnie Garvin def. Greg “The Hammer” Valentine
• Hacksaw Jim Duggan def. The Big Boss Man
• Hulk Hogan wins 30-Man Royal Rumble Match

Okay, perhaps I’m back on the nostalgia kick here but I love the 1990 Royal Rumble. It features just about every major star of The Golden Era and with some good matches on the undercard and a good Royal Rumble featuring a classic Rumble moment, I went ahead and put it in the number eight spot and even though I fully expect some argument on this one, I like it here.

The Bushwhackers and The Fabulous Rougeaus, both classic tag teams, got the night off to a good start and while Brutus Beefcake and The Genius brought the show down a bit, it still set something up for WrestleMania with Beefcake and Mr. Perfect. Ronnie Garvin, who never really fit in with WWE, had one of his best matches with the company in an underrated and physical battle with Greg “The Hammer” Valentine and Hacksaw Jim Duggan and The Big Boss Man put on a decent-enough match to finish up the undercard.

The Royal Rumble is certainly the highlight here and I actually do want to list all 30 competitors in the order they came out to show you the awesome lineup this match had. Starting at number one we got Ted Dibiase, Koko B. Ware, 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. Sorry but not sorry at all. That’s just awesome.

While there were plenty of fun moments in this match, the one most remembered will always be the first showdown between Hulk Hogan and The Ultimate Warrior. Fans had been waiting for a long time to see these two in the ring together and this was done perfectly. After each tossed a few guys out of the rig, they turned to find themselves in the ring with one another and it made for an epic moment. I still mark out like crazy every time I watch it. These were the two biggest stars in WWE at the time and they were both good guys and they just got after it. It all happened pretty quickly but it would set the stage for WrestleMania VI later that year and this was the beginning of Hogan’s attempt to pass the torch. The lineup, that moment and Hulk Hogan winning his first Royal Rumble makes this a top-10 event.