10 shocking moments from WWF (WWE) 1992

#5 Sid humiliates Hogan (Part 1)

Out so early?

1992 is ultimately remembered for two things, the Summerslam main event between The British Bulldog and Bret Hart, and the 30-man Royal Rumble match for the vacant WWF Championship. There will be some who disagree, but generally speaking, the 1992 Royal Rumble is seen as the best of all time.

It wasn’t just the fact that the title was on the line, rather than a shot at the title at Mania, it was the sheer amount of talent involved. Not only did we get WWE’s best including Hogan, Savage, Mr Perfect and The Undertaker, you also saw the stars that would go on to gain a similar amount of popularity in the future such as Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart.

Of course, Ric Flair would go on to win the match and earn his first ever reign as the WWF Champion – something that should have led to a Mania 8 showdown with Hogan later that year, but we’ll get to that. Flair was able to cement his position as one of the biggest names in the wrestling business, especially considering he had made himself a star without the help of the McMahon family. A similar scenario in the modern era would have been if AJ Styles had won the 2015 Royal Rumble in his very first match.

One of the more shocking moments of this classic came when Hulk Hogan, still very much the poster boy for WWF, was eliminated by the relatively new Psyco Sid. Fans were probably expecting Hogan to go down to the last two men, which would have given the company an excuse to have the Hulkster and Flair stare each other down. Instead, Hogan was unceremoniously dumped out early.

What was truly shocking about this, however, was the reaction of the fans. 1992 was very much the beginning of the end for Hulkamania. Having the same man headline all the major shows for so many years must have been getting tiresome, and the fans decided they were going to show that here. It’s highly unlikely that the WWF expected such a positive reaction to the Hogan elimination. They would later choose to edit out the cheers on the subsequent home videos and DVDs.

Despite this cover up, management must have known that Hogan’s time was coming to an end. The creative team were probably thanking their lucky stars that they chose Flair to win the belt; otherwise, we might have had a 2015 Royal Rumble scenario on our hands.