WWE Royal Rumble 2012: A Look Back to the 1989 Royal Rumble Match 23 Years Ago

On this day 23 years ago, the Royal Rumble made its first appearance as a WWE pay-per-view event along with the first occasion the match was contested with 30 men as it is today.

The 1989 Royal Rumble had arguably one of the best lineups in the 24-year history of the event as eight future WWE Hall of Famers, including Andre the Giant, Hulk Hogan, Shawn Michaels and Ted DiBiase, among others, appeared in the match.

In addition to having an all-star lineup of WWE superstars, the 1989 Royal Rumble set many records that stood for several years after the event.

The most notable record set in 1989 was the 10 eliminations by Hulk Hogan that remained until Stone Cold Steve Austin matched it in 1997, and Kane eventually broke the record with 11 in his dominant performance in the 2001 Royal Rumble.

While Hogan’s performance goes down as one of the best in Rumble history, the Warlord’s record of the shortest time in the match of two seconds is definitely not something that will earn him an induction into the WWE Hall of Fame.

Santino Marella just recently broke the Warlord’s record as the former Intercontinental Champion was sent over the top rope by Kane in the 2009 Royal Rumble after being in the match for just 1.9 seconds.

Poor Santino.

With that, Bleachers, where would you rank the 1989 Royal Rumble against the other 23 events in the WWE’s marquee event of January?

Chris Humphrey is a WWE featured columnist for BleacherReport.com. In his time before joining the WWE section, he has wrote for multiple sections on B/R like college basketball, the UFC, the NBA, the NFL and college football in a short period of time with the site. You can become a fan of him on Facebook and follow him on Twitter @_CBH_.