This Day in Wrestling History (January 21)

30 years ago today in Hartford, Connecticut, the US Express (Mike Rotundo & Barry Windham) defeated Adrian Adonis and Dick Murdoch to win the WWF Tag Team Championship.

25 years ago today, WWF presented Royal Rumble (WWE Network link) from the Orlando Arena in Orlando, Florida. About 16,000 were in attendance, with 260,000 homes watching on PPV.

• The Bushwhackers (Butch & Luke) defeated The Fabulous Rougeaus (Jacques & Raymond Rougeau).
• Brutus Beefcake and The Genius fought to a double countout.
• Ronnie Garvin defeated Greg Valentine by submission in a submission match.
• Jim Duggan defeated The Big Bossman by disqualification.
• Hulk Hogan last eliminated Mr. Perfect to win the Royal Rumble match.

1990 Royal Rumble Results

Draw	Entrant	Order	Eliminated by	Time	Eliminations
1	Ted DiBiase	18	Ultimate Warrior	44:47	4
2	Koko B. Ware	1	DiBiase	01:36	0
3	Marty Jannetty	2	DiBiase	01:35	0
4	Jake Roberts	3	Savage	10:03	0
5	Randy Savage	4	Rhodes	10:10	1
6	Roddy Piper	7	Brown	12:20	1
7	The Warlord	5	Andre	08:16	0
8	Bret Hart	9	Rhodes	16:16	0
9	Bad News Brown	6	Piper	06:04	1
10	Dusty Rhodes	12	Earthquake	18:18	2
11	André the Giant	10	Ax and Smash	10:16	2
12	The Red Rooster	8	Andre	01:58	0
13	Ax	13	Earthquake	12:50	1
14	Haku	20	Hogan	22:31	2
15	Smash	16	Haku	15:01	2
16	Akeem	11	Snuka	02:31	0
17	Jimmy Snuka	19	Hogan	17:03	2
18	Dino Bravo	15	Ultimate Warrior	06:13	1
19	Earthquake	14	Snuka, Bravo, Smash, Haku, DiBiase and Neidhart	02:31	2
20	Jim Neidhart	17	DiBiase, Warrior, and Martel	08:42	1
21	The Ultimate Warrior	25	Hogan, Barbarian and Rude	14:29	6
22	Rick Martel	24	Warrior	08:14	2
23	Tito Santana	21	Warrior and Martel	05:09	0
24	The Honky Tonk Man	22	Hogan	04:01	0
25	Hulk Hogan	-	Winner	12:49	5
26	Shawn Michaels	23	Warrior	00:12	0
27	The Barbarian	26	Hercules	05:47	1
28	Rick Rude	28	Perfect	06:29	2
29	Hercules	27	Rude	03:02	1
30	Mr. Perfect	29	Hogan	03:32	1

Notes:

• Ted DiBiase set the new mark for longetivity for the Rumble at 44:27.
• Shawn Michaels was the only man to last less than a minute in the match.
• It was brief and lasted all of about a minute, but the Hulk Hogan-Ultimate Warrior battle during the Royal Rumble match provided all the setup needed for their eventual match at Wrestlemania VI.

23 years ago today, WCW presented Clash of the Champions (WWE Network link) from the Kansas Expocentre in Topeka, Kansas. The show is noted for the WCW debut of Jesse "The Body" Ventura.

• In a dark match, The WCW Patriots (Firebreaker Chip & Todd Champion) defeated Bob Cook & Sgt. Buddy Lee Parker.
• The Steiner Brothers (Rick Steiner & Scott Steiner) defeated Big Van Vader & Mr. Hughes.
• Flyin' Brian & Marcus Alexander Bagwell defeated Terrance Taylor & Tracy Smothers.
• Johnny B. Badd defeated Richard Morton.
• PN News defeated Diamond Dallas Page.
• Cactus Jack defeated Van Hammer in a falls count anywhere match.
• The Fabulous Freebirds (Jimmy Garvin & Michael Hayes) defeated Big Josh & Brad Armstrong.
• Vinnie Vegas defeated Thomas Rich.
• Barry Windham, Dustin Rhodes & Ron Simmons defeated The Dangerous Alliance (Arn Anderson, Beautiful Bobby & Larry Zbyszko).
• Ricky Steamboat & Sting defeated Rick Rude & Steve Austin.

19 years ago today, WWF presented Royal Rumble (WWE Network link) from the Selland Arena in Fresno, California. About 9,600 were in attendance, with 260,000 homes watching on PPV. That's up from 225,000 homes for the 1995 edition.

• In a preshow Free for All match, Duke Droese defeated Hunter Hearst Helmsley.
• Ahmed Johnson defeated Jeff Jarrett by disqualification.
• The Smoking Gunns (Bart & Billy Gunn) defeated The Body Donnas (Skip & Zip)to retain the WWF Tag Team Championship.
• Goldust defeated Razor Ramon to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship.
• Shawn Michaels last eliminated Diesel to win the Royal Rumble match.
• The Undertaker defeated Bret Hart by disqualification in a WWF Championship match.

1996 Royal Rumble Results

Draw	Entrant	Order	Eliminated by	Time	Eliminations
1	Hunter Hearst Helmsley	19	Diesel	48:01	1
2	Henry O. Godwinn	2	Roberts	16:24	0
3	Bob Backlund	1	Yokozuna	12:22	0
4	Jerry Lawler	16	Michaels	36:02	0
5	Bob Holly	18	Ringmaster	39:35	0
6	King Mabel	3	Yokozuna	12:14	0
7	Jake Roberts	6	Vader	14:39	2
8	Dory Funk, Jr.	5	Vega	10:53	0
9	Yokozuna	11	Michaels	19:14	3
10	1-2-3 Kid	13	Michaels	15:40	0
11	Takao Ōmori	4	Helmsley and Roberts	02:48	0
12	Savio Vega	10	Vader	12:28	1
13	Vader	12	Michaels	11:04	4
14	Doug Gilbert	7	Vader	02:59	0
15	Squat Team #1	8	Vader	01:11	0
16	Squat Team #2	9	Yokozuna	00:24	0
17	Owen Hart	21	Michaels and Diesel	20:43	2
18	Shawn Michaels	-	Winner	26:09	8
19	Hakushi	14	Hart	01:55	0
20	Tatanka	17	Diesel	04:09	1
21	Aldo Montoya	15	Tatanka	01:52	0
22	Diesel	29	Michaels	17:51	5
23	Kama	28	Diesel	15:57	1
24	The Ringmaster	23	Fatu	10:57	1
25	Barry Horowitz	20	Hart	04:15	0
26	Fatu	24	Yankem	07:07	1
27	Isaac Yankem, DDS	25	Michaels	07:05	1
28	Marty Jannetty	22	British Bulldog	02:35	0
29	The British Bulldog	27	Michaels	03:39	1
30	Duke Droese	26	Kama and Diesel	01:10	0

Notes:

• This is the first Royal Rumble to feature entrance music for all of the entrants instead of just the first two.
• Triple H's 48 minute run was the longest while recording a single elimination until Mr. McMahon broke it in 1999, lasting 56 minutes with just one elimination.
• Shawn Michaels became the second back-to-back Rumble winner, joining Hulk Hogan in 1990 and 1991.

18 years ago today, WCW presented Clash of the Champions from Wisconsin Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

• Dean Malenko defeated Ultimo Dragon to win the WCW Cruiserweight Championship.
• Scotty Riggs defeated Mike Enos.
• Chavo Guerrero Jr., Chris Jericho & Super Calo defeated Konnan, La Parka & Mr. JL.
• Harlem Heat (Booker T & Stevie Ray) defeated Joe Gomez & The Renegade.
• Masahiro Chono defeated Alex Wright.
• Eddie Guerrero defeated Scott Norton to retain the WCW United States Championship.
• Chris Benoit defeated The Taskmaster in a falls count anywhere match.
• The Steiner Brothers (Rick Steiner & Scott Steiner) defeated The Amazing French Canadians (Carl Ouellet & Jacques Rougeau).
• Lex Luger defeated Scott Hall by disqualification.

14 years ago today, WWF presented Royal Rumble from the New Orleans Arena in New Orleans, Louisiana. 16,056 were in attendance, with 625,000 homes watching on PPV. That's up from 590,000 homes for the 2000 event.

• In a preshow Sunday Night Heat match, Lo Down (D'Lo Brown and Chaz) defeated Kaientai (Taka Michinoku and Funaki) to qualify for the Royal Rumble match-or so they thought. As the members of Lo Down could not decide which member would go in the match, the spot went to comedian Drew Carey.
• The Dudley Boyz (Buh Buh Ray & D-Von Dudley) defeated Edge & Christian to the WWF Tag Team Championship.
• Chris Jericho defeated Chris Benoit in a ladder match to win the WWF Intercontinental Championship.
• Ivory defeated Chyna to retain the WWF Women's Championship. Chyna suffered a (kayfabed) neck injury in the match and would not return until just before Wrestlemania X-Seven.
• Kurt Angle defeated Triple H to retain the WWF Championship.
• Steve Austin last eliminated Kane to win the Royal Rumble match.

2001 Royal Rumble Results

Draw	Entrant	Order	Eliminated by	Time	Eliminations
1	Jeff Hardy	4	Matt Hardy	06:36	3
2	Bull Buchanan	1	Matt Hardy & Jeff Hardy	02:08	0
3	Matt Hardy	3	Jeff Hardy	04:45	3
4	Faarooq	2	Matt Hardy & Jeff Hardy	00:58	0
5	Drew Carey	5	Himself	02:54	0
6	Kane	29	Austin	53:46	11
7	Raven	9	Kane	08:51	0
8	Al Snow	8	Kane	07:08	0
9	Perry Saturn	10	Kane	05:02	0
10	Steve Blackman	7	Kane	03:08	0
11	Grand Master Sexay	6	Kane	01:03	0
12	The Honky Tonk Man	11	Kane	01:16	0
13	The Rock	28	Kane	38:42	3
14	The Goodfather	12	Rock	00:14	0
15	Tazz	13	Kane	00:10	0
16	Bradshaw	18	Undertaker	17:40	0
17	Albert	20	Kane	15:53	0
18	Hardcore Holly	21	Undertaker	14:04	0
19	K-Kwik	16	Big Show	07:53	0
20	Val Venis	22	Undertaker	10:22	0
21	William Regal	14	Test	02:01	0
22	Test	15	Big Show	02:08	1
23	Big Show	17	Rock	01:23	2
24	Crash Holly	19	Kane	02:31	0
25	The Undertaker	25	Rikishi	10:45	4
26	Scotty 2 Hotty	23	Undertaker & Kane	00:46	0
27	Steve Austin	-	Winner	09:43	3
28	Billy Gunn	27	Austin	07:22	0
29	Haku	24	Austin	02:51	0
30	Rikishi	26	Rock	02:35	1

Notes:

• Rikishi won his #30 spot by winning a fatal four-way match in the weeks leading up to the PPV.
• Steve Austin's win made him the first (and to this day) only three-time Royal Rumble winner.
• Kane's 11 eliminations stood as the single Royal Rumble record until Roman Reigns eliminated 12 in 2014.

8 years ago today in Tokyo, Japan, Naoshi Sano wins the Dramatic Dream Team Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship from The Crazy SKB...in an auction. Moments later, Sempai wins a battle royal to win the title. The Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship is similar to the WWF Hardcore Championship's latter days when the title must be defended at any time, day or night, as long as there is a referee present. Champions have included a baseball bat, a ladder, a sex doll, a poster, and the title belt itself. Since the championship was born in June 2000, it has changed hands over 1000 times.

7 years ago today, WWE enters broadcasts RAW for the first time in high-definition. The transition included a universal set used for all their shows (and a few years later, most of their PPVs). In the first match of the HD era, Shawn Michaels defeated Mr. Kennedy.

2 years ago today, WWE announces that long-time world champion Bob Backlund would be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.