Sadly Over-hyped

Instant Favorite.

Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

In reviewing the four previous Royal Rumble installments before this one, one of my chief complaints on every single one of them was the event was used more as a vehicle for Wrestlemania than as a stand-alone event. Well, this changed with Royal Rumble 1992, where the WWF World Championship Belt was at stake for the winner of the big Rumble.Unfortunately, what with the decreased popularity of Hulk Hogan (one can only be on top for so long) and the utter failure of the Ultimate Warrior character to carry that torch, there really were no interesting plot angles to keep things fun and interesting. The WWF still didn't quite know what to do with Randy "Macho Man" Savage, the Hulk-Sid Justice feud was never all it was hyped to be, and Ric Flair as a major participant in the WWF cannon...you have to be kidding me. It just goes to show how desperate the company was at that time to procure top-tier athletes and entertainers.Thus, although the stakes for this Royal Rumble were higher than they had ever been before, the entire event fizzled due to lack of interesting characters or impressive athletes. The preliminary matches are almost unwatchable, the Rumble features genuine excitement only for about every fifth or sixth participant, and even the broadcast booth isn't as strong as it once was, this time populated by Gorilla Monsoon (always very good) and Bobby "The Brain" Heenan (a terrible "negative man" compared to Jesse Ventura).Unless you are a huge WWF fan and are watching all the events in order, this is one you could easily skip, as it will leave you unsatisfied and feel like a huge waste of time.

Royal Rumble (1992) will forever be known as Ric Flair's one man show. A 42 year old Ric Flair put on a one hour plus performance in the W.W.F.'s main event of the Royal Rumble, the battle royale itself. The winner of the match won the W.W.F. undisputed World Heavyweight Championship title. He proved to everyone that he was the man and at his age he cold still perform at a high level. Many older stars (and newer ones) participated in the match. A couple of his old N.W.A. stablemates "Rowdy" Roddy Piper and Greg "The Hammer" Valentine. It was like a who's who of wrestling. It was one hell of a main event. The promos before and after the match were priceless as well.Highly recommended.The main event of the Royal Rumble (1992) is availible uncut on the Ultimate Ric Flair DVD set.

*SPOILERS* In all respects, this one was very good but not quite as good as the year before.The opening tag team match between the New Foundation and Orient Express was exciting, but doesn't quite measure up to the Rockers and Orient Express. This was the only time the New Foundation faced the Express; the Express and the Rockers had the thing down to an art by the time of their Royal Rumble match.As far as comparing the title changes from '91 and '92, I think everyone was more satisfied with Rowdy Roddy Piper dominating the Mountie than with the Slaughter-Warrior match. Piper was truly inspiring here, standing up for Bret Hart and becoming the first wrestler to perform in both the undercard and main event of a Royal Rumble. The end of the match is great, as he throws away his wild man persona and smiles broadly about his first WWF title win. In my opinion, he was the true star of this Rumble.The two other tag team matches were diverting.Now, the Rumble had only a few great performances, and for this reason, I don't put it in as high regards as the one from the year before, which had about fifteen. Still, it was one of the great ones. The set-up was perfect, letting the second-tier wrestlers (Davey Boy Smith, Shawn Michaels, Tito Santana, Big Bossman, Kerry von Erich) have their moments; then giving the stage over to the top level (Piper, Savage, Undertaker, Sid Justice, Hulk Hogan, Skinner). This was Ric Flair's WWF highlight, and it's good that they made it unique to his great WCW moments. In WCW, he had great singles matches; here, he had a great match with 28 other men.Perhaps I'm too old school. This was, after all, part of a much different era from the year before. So it's definitely worth it to buy the video if you can find it.

*possible spoilers*This is, without a doubt, the greatest Royal Rumble match there ever was, or ever will be, for several reasons...First, you have Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan doing the commentating, which is extremely silly at times (Heenan almost has a heart attack during the rumble match, hoping that Ric Flair is not eliminated), and of course, Flair's hour-long performance leading to his incredible victory (thanks to Mr. Hogan). Just incredible to watch, over and over again. And while the undercard features non-spectacular, but exciting matches, the rumble match steals the whole show. It is a definite must-see.The stipulations of the rumble match were simple...whomever ended up winning the 30-man free-for-all would automatically become undisputed WWF Champion, and Ric Flair drew #3...and he had some TOUGH competition ahead. There were many familiar faces in the match, Hogan, Santana, Valentine, Snuka, Michaels, Piper, Duggan, Roberts, etc. But while the veteran Royal Rumblers continued their glory in the ring, there were also a couple of impressive debuts in the 30-man contest...such as Irwin R. Schyster, a solo Shawn Michaels, and oh yes, Ric Flair. Talk about a debut...Flair draws #3, Heenan goes nuts, and we're only about 2:30 into the whole match. The commentary from then on up is hilarious, ya gotta hear it. And while Flair comes to the ring, Ted Dibiase is leaving the arena after being eliminated, and he ended up the only competitor that Flair was never in the ring with. A little later, a solo Shawn Michaels enters at #6, and he would impress and entertain. He was one of the true stars the first half of the match, faking eliminations and doing his own version of the "flair flop." Flair must do at least a handful of his own during the fight, it's really silly. Irwin R. Schyster was also impressive in his rumble debut. He entered around the halfway point of the match and ended up hanging in there and taking punches from everyone until the end, despite never eliminating anyone. Pretty impressive.Even more impressive though, was the man who eliminated IRS (by his tie), near the end of the rumble: Roddy Piper. Piper had already wrestled a match earlier on the show, against the Intercontinental Champion, the Mountie. It really wasn't that much of a match, but the crowd was deafening, they just loved it, especially when Piper pinned the Mountie for the 1-2-3 and the IC belt. The crowd just went crazy. Piper, in the rumble match, was in contention to win for a good 35 minutes, it was truly a great performance, but it was all for naught, as he was thrown out by Sid Justice near the end.And speaking of the end...Wooooooo! It was down to Savage, Hogan, Justice, and Flair, pretty good final four. Pretty DAMN good. Savage was thrown out quickly, and Justice managed to toss out Hogan, but Hulk never left the ringside, and he grabbed on to Sid's arm, and Ric comes up from behind and (with Hogan's help), eliminates Sid to conclude the greatest royal rumble match in the history and future of wrestling. I'd give it a 10/10. Bravo! With Flair's victory, he was dubbed "the 60-minute man," for his 60+ minute (actually 59:15) performance. It really is something to watch, I love it.So, wrasslin' fans who have never seen this pay-per-view before, I strongly suggest you do so IMMEDIATELY. I guarantee you'll love it to death. Thank you WWF for such a great show! Wooooooo!