WWE Royal Rumble 1992 results, retro live blog: With a tear in his eye

It's undoubtedly going to be a slow Saturday night, so instead of sitting around and twiddling our thumbs how about we make use of that certain over-the-top service so many of us pay $9.99 a month for and go retro with a live blog?

In the spirit of the month, our first retro live blog will cover Royal Rumble 1992, which took place on Sun., Jan. 19, 1992, at the Knickerbocker Arena in Albany, New York, and featured Ric Flair winning the WWF championship in the main event of what is widely considered the greatest Royal Rumble match in history.

We'll treat this live blog like we would any show airing live. It will kick off at 8 p.m. ET tonight, so if you want to follow along and chat with your fellow fans and friends here on the site, make sure you click "play" on the WWE Network at 8 p.m. ET and come back here for all the fun.

Coverage will roll below.

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ROYAL RUMBLE 1992 LIVE BLOG

We're live (not really) on the WWE Network!

The show opens with Vince McMahon running down all the wrestlers who will be in the Royal Rumble match. Flair was referred to as "alleged real world heavyweight champion." That's not fair to Flair!

Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan are on the call tonight.

Here we go!

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Orient Express vs. New Foundation

Owen Hart and Jim Neidhart are dressed like villains from Aladdin. Heenan tells us it looks like they haven't changed out of their pajama pants.

They spend a lot of time early with Owen working over Kato before tagging in Neidhart to do the same. Finally, Kato finds the corner to tag in Tanaka. After "The Brain" reminds us of his extensive mixed martial arts background, Tanaka runs into Neidhart's shoulder blocks and takes hard flat back bumps.

Owen tags in with a splash and gets a two count to maintain the babyface control. Really, the heels look wildly overmatched, eventually resorting to cheating in an attempt to get a leg up. It fails, as Neidhart sets up Owen for another tag and near fall.

Hart gets a two count on a suplex and Kato bails out to regroup. Once he gets back in, they run interference so Mr. Fuji can get a cheap shot in on Owen with his cane.

Finally, that's enough to put the heels in control.

They beat on Owen to get the heat on, snuffing out multiple comeback attempts like a sweet flying crucifix that earns a near fall. Neidhart is repeatedly attempting to climb in the ring and the referee is constantly forced to hold him back. Meanwhile, there have already been multiple points in this match where both members of a team have been in the ring at once and the referee didn't say a word.

Owen got himself out of a bad spot with a big boot from the corner, sliding over to make a tag to Neidhart. The ref is out of position and fails to witness said tag, so it doesn't count. Meanwhile, Mr. Fuji sets up his cane in the corner and Hart is sent crashing into it while Neidhart is kicked out of the ring.

The uneven enforcement of the rules in this match is making it hilarious. The heels are doing what they want and the referee doesn't seem to mind at all but when Neidhart attempts to get in to save his partner/answer a sneak attack, the ref loses his mind.

Hart, meanwhile, is just taking all the offense the Orient Express can muster. Finally, he gets to the corner and tags in Neidhart, sling-shotting him into the ring before going out. "The Anvil" cleans house, then grabs Owen for a few big tag spots, ending with throwing Hart from the top rope down onto Tanaka to get the pin and the victory.

New Foundation def. Orient Express

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They cut to Lord Alfred Hayes showing us footage from a house show where The Mountie defeated Bret Hart to win the Intercontinental championship. The story was Hart was competing against the orders of his doctor, as he had a high fever.

The Mountie won the title but continued beating on "The Hitman." Roddy Piper showed up to make the save and when The Mountie acted like he was bailing to the back, he swerved Hot Rod and attacked him from behind.

Sean Mooney was backstage for an interview with Mountie, who questioned Piper's credentials and promised to win because "The Mountie always gets his man."

Gene Okerlund was next to interview Piper. "Well, you know, what we're dealing with here is one of the original Village People." Piper attacks Mountie's points, saying he has no integrity, he's here to fight, and he thinks The Mountie has been dreaming.

"I think it's been wet, too."

All right.

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The Mountie vs. Roddy Piper

They take forever to get going, with Jimmy Hart running interference until Piper attacks with his dress. The crowd is hot for Piper, who attacks with a vengeance while Mountie runs away. Heenan calls attention to the fact that Mountie didn't do anything and was just standing around.

Piper uses a bulldog to get a near fall but Mountie's foot was on the ropes. Hot Rod plays with him, standing him up and slowly poking him in the eyes.

The Mountie takes control and works over Piper. Roddy makes a comeback with a sunset flip and near fall. The work in this match is atrocious. Piper hits an atomic drop and Mountie jumps out of the ring after landing just so he can climb back in. When he does, he rushes over to hit Piper, who was being distracted by Hart, but Piper ducks.

Then, he put a sleeper hold on and choked Mountie out to win the Intercontinental title.

Roddy Piper def. The Mountie

Post-match, Piper tazed Mountie before a big celebration while Heenan tells us this is Piper's first title in the World Wrestling Federation.

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Lord Hayes is backstage outside of Hulk Hogan's dressing room. He walks in to talk to Hogan, who says he's lucky to be friends with The Hulkster because here soon -- "after a teeny while" -- he won't have any friends.

That's because he'll be competing in the Royal Rumble and it won't be a cup of tea, even though Hayes knows a lot about tea. He should leave now, because Hogan is getting ready to have no friends.

Wel, that was an interview.

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They cut to Okerlund doing an interview with The Bushwackers. They promised a surprise tonight while Jamison said he just wanted to get his hands on The Genius.

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The Bushwackers vs. The Beverly Brothers

During The Bushwackers entrance, they were literally stopping and licking kids on their way to the ring. Then, once in the ring, they were licking each other while their opponents stood there looking like they would rather be anywhere else.

Finally, Luke and Butch charged and the brothers cleared out. The Bushwackers attempted to get a chant going but couldn't even come close. Monsoon wondered if the bell had been rung at this point and Heenan reveals it had.

This is awful. We're like six minutes in and there have been a couple punches and not much else. Jamison is being shown wiping his nose ringside.

The Bushwackers just keep playing to the crowd and literally no one cares at all. More punches, but this time the babyfaces take control and clear the ring out to work the gimmick. The crowd at least responds this time.

The Beverly's regain control quick fast in a hurry while Heenan and Monsoon amuse themselves on commentary. This match is terrible and no one cares about it.

Finally, late in the match, The Genius walks around the ring and hits Jamison in the face with an open hand slap. "He hitted me," Jamison remarks. "Is it bleeding?"

One of the Beverly Brothers is convinced he's got a pinfall on a double axe handle off the middle rope but it's broken up, continuing this painfully bad match. The heels work some interference using the referee and actually get a pinfall on a second double axe handle before it can be broken up.

The Beverly Brothers def. The Bushwackers

After, The Genius was brought into the ring so Jamison could climb in and do some damage. He winds up for a big punch but instead throws a lame kick low and that's that.

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The Legion of Doom were interviewed by Okerlund. Animal says they will never be closet champions and they'll take out the Natural Disasters tonight. Hawk gets his time to speak and starts with a question for the ages.

"You know what makes us sick other than everything?"

The answer is Typhoon and Earthquake.

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Legion of Doom vs. Natural Disasters

This match is for the WWF tag team championship titles.

Hawk takes control early on after teasing a big confrontation with Earthquake. They set up for it too, with a staredown in the ring that was broken when Earthquake, I shit you not, went for a dropkick. Hawk just calmly stepped out of the way.

Then Animal tagged in and had himself a staredown with Earthquake, who broke it by throwing a punch. This time, though, the two were even with a double clothesline. Animal attempted a body slam, however, and Earthquake proved too large to turn over.

Typhoon tagged in and hit a quick splash in the corner. No matter, Animal regained control fairly quickly and tagged Hawk back in to square up with Typhoon. Hawk got a little big for his britches and found himself taking repeated backbreakers.

Earthquake back in to work over Hawk. He tosses him into the corner and the Natural Disasters trade quick tags, working bear hugs and targeting the back. Earthquake started working fat man offense, simply walking on Hawk before flexing on Animal.

Meanwhile, Heenan was trying to recruit someone to find Mr. Perfect backstage. His offer? $3!

Hawk finally made a comeback to tag in Animal, who shoulder blocked Earthquake. Typhoon came in, Hawk followed, and the action broke down to the outside. Typhoon was the legal man at this point, so he slipped back in the ring at the last minute and Legion of Doom was counted out.

Despite the loss, the LOD keep the tag team titles.

Legion of Doom def. Natural Disasters

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Sean Mooney was backstage to interview Natural Disasters, who were screaming about being the tag team champions. They beat Legion of Doom fair and square and they should be the titleholders.

Jimmy Hart said they're fed up and they're going to call up some lawyers because they're tired of this.

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Okerlund interviewed Piper, who was overly excited about having won the Intercontinental championship. He said he would go on to win the WWF championship with a Rumble victory.

They cut to Mooney and he ran into Shawn Michaels. They ran footage of The Barber Shop just one week before that saw Michaels send his former tag team partner in The Rockers, Marty Jannetty, through a window. That heinous act knocked Jannetty out of the Rumble.

Michaels said he just saved Marty from a beating from 29 other guys.

Hayes then interviewed Ric Flair. He revealed he drew number three in the Rumble and while that may seem unlucky he doesn't care about being in there for close to an hour. He'll walk out as WWF champion and that's the bottom line.

They ran through promos with most of the wrestlers in the match.

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ROYAL RUMBLE

It's time for the big one.

Entrant 1: British Bulldog

Entrant 2: Ted DiBiase

With how early it is, the Million Dollar Man got after it, attacking Bulldog fast and furious. He tried to toss Bulldog over the top but got cocky thinking he pulled it off and celebrated only for Bulldog to climb back in and toss him over.

Eliminated: Ted DiBiase

Entrant 3: Ric Flair

Flair got in and strutted around but Bulldog took control, pressing him over his head before slamming him down.

Entrant 4: Jerry Sags

Once Sags got in, he and Flair tag teamed Bulldog. That lasted for about a minute and appeared to be working well until Bulldog managed to throw Sags over the top and dropkick him off the apron after an initial save.

Eliminated: Jerry Sags

Entrant 5: Haku

Flair and Haku appeared to be teaming up on Bulldog but Haku quickly showed that he was only out for himself when he attacked Flair, much to The Nature Boy's surprise. He bailed out of the ring from under the ropes and let Haku work on Bulldog before finding an opening and taking advantage with a sneak attack from behind.

Just before the next entrant, as the countdown was running, Bulldog tossed Haku over the top.

Eliminated: Haku

Entrant 6: Shawn Michaels

Some audible boos for Michaels, who came in and put Flair down with relative ease. That includes a superkick that wasn't used as a finish. He went to work on Bulldog too but found himself getting press slammed as well. He avoided elimination a couple times, including getting racked on the top rope.

Entrant 7: Tito Santana

Tito came in and went after Flair, as everyone before him, and Heenan lost his mind on commentary when Flair looked like he was in trouble of getting eliminated. Michaels took Santana out of it, though, and Flair went back to squaring up with Bulldog.

Low blow!

Entrant 8: Barbarian

The big man came in slow and the action in the ring slowed down with him. Michaels climbed up on the second rope at one point and just stood there while everyone was occupied elsewhere.

Entrant 9: Texas Tornado

Big pop for Von Erich, who went after Flair with a series of punches, ending with a roundhouse and a Flair Flop for the ages. Michaels got the same treatment, punctuating the roundhouse punch with a 180 bump. Tornado's momentum was halted only by an inverted atomic drop from Flair.

Monsoon tells us Bulldog has been in for 16 minutes at this point.

Entrant 10: Repo Man

Because he's Repo Man, he snuck into the ring but did next to nothing when he got there. Only three eliminations so far. Flair is shown working chops on Tornado but failing to get him over the top on a toss out attempt.

Entrant 11: Greg Valentine

Valentine ran in just to hit a corner to get chopped by Flair. He's fresh, though, so The Hammer turned it around and went to work on Flair's chest something fierce. Bulldog helped out, prolonging the punishment.

Eight guys in the ring at this point, so the cameras are jumping all around.

Entrant 12: Nikolai Volkoff

Monsoon was pushing hard that Davey Boy had been in for over 20 minutes at this point. Heenan was only focused on how long that meant Flair had been in. Around 16 minutes was the answer. Just after all this talk, Valentine put Flair in his own Figure Four leglock.

Then, just above them, Volkoff was tossed.

Eliminated: Nikolai Volkoff

Entrant 13: Big Boss Man

A damn good pop for Boss Man, who came in and put hands on damn near everyone in the ring. He was running so wild, you almost missed Repo Man chucking Valentine over the top.

Eliminated: Greg Valentine

I didn't get a good look, but someone tossed Repo Man not long after.

Eliminated: Repo Man

Heenan was desperately searching for Flair and, when he found him, desperately wondering why Flair was caught up in the corner. Bulldog was working on him with punches. Then, out of nowhere, Flair moved over to the middle of the ropes and dumped Bulldog out.

Eliminated: British Bulldog

Just as quick, he did the same to Tornado.

Eliminated: Texas Tornado

Santana and Michaels were tied up together on the other side of the ring and suddenly they were both tumbling over the top.

Eliminated: Tito Santana

Eliminated: Shawn Michaels

Entrant 14: Hercules

They built to a spot with Flair and Barbarian squaring off. Barbarian almost tossed Flair but Hercules came up behind and dumped Barbarian.

Eliminated: Barbarian

This led to Boss Man taking advantage and sending out Hercules.

Eliminated: Hercules

With just Flair and Boss Man in the ring, Flair was shifty and moved out of the way just enough to allow Boss Man to damn near eliminate himself.

Eliminated: Boss Man

Flair went with a perfect Flair Flop to punctuate all this madness.

Entrant 15: Roddy Piper

Flair was devastated upon seeing Piper running in to get after him. Sure enough, Hot Rod ran wild like a hot tag house afire, with Flair ducking under the ropes to get away from it. Piper sent him back in and went to the middle rope to fire away punches. Flair got him off with an inverted atomic drop but Piper no sold it and poked Flair in the eyes.

Airplane spin!

Flair, dizzy, walked right into a sleeper hold.

Entrant 16: Jake Roberts

The Snake came in and sat in the corner, acting as though he wanted no part of Piper putting Flair to sleep. He was just taking a second so Piper could turn his back to him, at which point he attacked.

When Flair got up, he tried to celebrate with Roberts but Jake clotheslined him. Monsoon gave us the stat that Flair was over 30 minutes at this point. He locked the Figure Four on The Snake but Hot Rod delivered a series of kicks to both men.

Then, all three were standing and punching and chopping each other all around.

Entrant 17: Hacksaw Jim Duggan

Duggan came down with his 2X4 over his head, dropping it just before he climbed in the ring but keeping his arm above his head. Awesome. He went after Flair, because of course he would, while Piper and Roberts exchanged punches.

Duggan moved over to Roberts, then Piper got involved. Flair came over to mix it up and Piper eye poked him again.

Roberts hit an inverted atomic drop on Duggan and suddenly everyone was down in the ring. Flair and Piper got back up to exchange chops to keep the match moving just before another countdown.

Entrant 18: I.R.S.

IRS ran into Duggan and took a bunch of punches before he finally broke free and delivered a few of his own. The ring was up to five guys again and they were alternating working each other at various stages. Have we checked in on Flair's timing lately?

36 minutes!

Entrant 19: Jimmy Snuka

Heenan called Snuka out for wasting time and energy by jogging to the ring. Monsoon rightly called out Heenan for saying he's wasting time while jogging and The Brain admitted he's completely lost his mind worrying about Flair. The fact that one of the commentators has a dog in this race has done wonders for the commentary, surprisingly enough, though it's Heenan and he's one of the best ever.

Piper and Flair were still battling it out in the corner, with Flair again taking chop after chop to the chest. They transitioned off and Roberts was tasked with trying to send The Nature Boy out.

He didn't.

Entrant 20: Undertaker

"Break out the body bags, this bag's for you," Heenan screams. Undertaker's first order of business was to punch Snuka with enough force that it sent him flying over the top.

Eliminated: Jimmy Snuka

Undertaker turned his attention to Flair and Heenan thought for sure it was all over. Duggan, for some reason, decided to attack 'Taker's back, stealing his attention away. Then, Duggan and Flair attempted to double team him.

Entrant 21: Macho Man Randy Savage

The Macho Man hauled ass to the ring looking for Roberts, who had slid out of the ring to hide from Savage. He only climbed back in when Undertaker had hurt Savage enough to slow him down. Still, once Savage got his hands on Roberts he went insane, tossing Roberts over the top and following right after to continue fighting him.

Eliminated: Jake Roberts

Undertaker went through the ropes to get after Savage at this point, for some reason, and Heenan told us Savage was still in the match because although he went over the top rope and two feet touched the floor, he did it himself, therefore he wasn't technically eliminated. Monsoon checked the rules and said you have to be propelled by someone over the top.

I wonder if they'll change that silliness later, hmmmm?!!

Entrant 22: The Berzerker

"His specialty is throwing people over the top," Monsoon says as Berzerker comes to the ring. He promptly failed to do anything resembling that and the action in the ring came to a near standstill.

Entrant 23: Virgil

Virgil wasted no time finding I.R.S. but he was quickly overwhelmed by literally anyone else in the ring. Undertaker, in particular, was choking him even while Flair had his fingers in The Phenom's eyes. That at least led to Undertaker letting Virgil go in favor of attempting to dump Flair over the top.

He could not.

Duggan came over to provide relief, himself attempting to put Undertaker out but failing.

Entrant 24: Col. Mustafa

By this time, most of the guys in the ring were tired and and struggling to maintain a steady pace of action. Still, Flair and Piper were chopping and engaging as best they could. Piper climbed up on the ropes to deliver punches to Flair and Undertaker attacked from behind.

Entrant 25: Rick Martel

Going into this match, Martel held the record for time spent in a single Rumble match at 53 minutes. Fittingly enough, Martel went after Flair, who had been in this match for 50 minutes.

Meanwhile on the other side of the ring the camera missed Col. Mustafa getting dumped.

Eliminated: Col. Mustafa

A "USA" chant broke out with Duggan egging on the crowd for no particular reason.

Entrant 26: Hulk Hogan

The roof blew off for this one. As soon as he got in the ring, The Hulkster went straight to Flair and Undertaker, who were engaged in a corner, and raked both their eyes. Then he started laying punches in on Flair. Undertaker came back in and Hogan went after him, clotheslining him over the top.

Eliminated: Undertaker

Berzerker went after Hogan and he too was tossed.

Eliminated: Berzerker

Suddenly, on the other side of the ring, Virgil was tossed with someone else, who wasn't immediately identified but later revealed to be Duggan.

Eliminated: Virgil

Eliminated: Hacksaw Jim Duggan

Entrant 27: Skinner

Skinner's entrance was more or less no sold in the ring as Flair was trying to avoid elimination with Hogan on his back. Skinner got him off and they worked each other over while Flair and Piper reignited their issue.

Entrant 28: Sgt. Slaughter

With Slaughter, eight guys were in the ring. That is until Martel and Piper spent Skinner out.

Eliminated: Skinner

Hogan and Piper traded punches until Piper raked the eyes. There must have been 50 eye rakes/pokes in this match. Monsoon announced at this point that Flair had broken the record for lasting the longest in a Rumble match, though this was only the fifth such match in history.

Somehow, Savage was still in and hanging around. He's been the invisible man for a lot of this.

Entrant 29: Sid Justice

A big pop from the crowd for Sid getting in. He went after I.R.S. and went to work. Despite how fresh he was, Sid couldn't score the elimination. I.R.S. responded by hooking Hogan's arms and allowing Flair to tee off on his midsection.

Sid then came over to work on Flair and the crowd responded well to it, at least at first. Still, Sid failed to effectively get Flair over the top. He did execute a nice kip up, however.

Entrant 30: Warlord

Heenan tried to put him over, saying "you may be looking at the new World Wrestling Federation champion." Meanwhile, Flair escaped under the ropes and dragged Hogan out with him. The Hulkster hit a suplex on the floor on the outside.

Over in the far corner, Sgt. Slaughter went flying over the top courtesy of Sid Justice.

Eliminated: Sgt. Slaughter

At this point, Flair had lasted for over an hour, according to Monsoon. "That's definitely not fair to Flair," Heenan says.

Piper dumped I.R.S. in the far corner.

Eliminated: I.R.S.

Hogan engaged Warlord and once again sent him out.

Eliminated: Warlord

Piper and Martel got into it on the ropes and Sid Justice saw an opening and threw them both out.

Eliminated: Roddy Piper

Eliminated: Rick Martel

Sid proceeded to pick up Savage and put him over the top. Flair came over and hit a knee that sent Savage out.

Eliminated: Randy Savage

Flair and Hogan went at each other. Sid saw another opening and tossed Hogan out of the ring.

Eliminated: Hulk Hogan

Hogan didn't take well to this, and complained on the outside. Sid didn't care one bit and told Hogan was much, so The Hulkster grabbed Sid's arm and held him there so Flair could send Justice out.

Eliminated: Sid Justice

Winner: Ric Flair

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After the match, Hogan rushed the ring to confront Flair, who bailed to the back as the new WWF champion. That left Hogan in the ring whining when Sid came up behind him and those two had a prolonged confrontation over what just happened.

Security and referees came down to the ring to prevent a brawl. As Sid was leaving he could be heard saying "come on, I'll kill ya!"

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They cut to the back and Jack Tunney presented Ric Flair with the gorgeous winged eagle WWF championship title. He proceeded to cut one of the most memorable promos in history saying, "With a tear in my eye, this is the greatest moment of my life."

Heenan was there with him, and he put over that Flair lasted for over an hour to win the title. Mr. Perfect added in that while they're not the guys who say "we told you so," they totally told us so.

Okerlund interrupted the interview to tell someone off camera to put their cigarette out.

Flair ended by saying it's time to pay homage to the new champion.

"I love it! Woooooooooo!"

They showed "highlights" of the event, which were just still shots of everything that transpired throughout the evening.

End.