Who Were the Runners Up in the 1988-1996 Royal Rumble Matches?

#2 Royal Rumble Runner Ups 1991-93

Hulk Hogan last eliminated Earthquake to win the 1991 Royal Rumble

1991 - Earthquake

Hulk Hogan won his second 'Rumble in succession. Although in this instance it made sense. Hogan had been sidelined by Earthquake the previous year and contested a heated grudge match with him at Summerslam 1990.

Their feud still had enough in juice in it by the time 1991 rolled around and their final exchanges made for an exciting climax.

Hogan was headed to the main event of Wrestlemania once more and Earthquake had already had his headline run and would soon join up with Typhoon to form the Natural Disasters tag team. It would have made little sense for him to win the 1991 'Rumble encounter.

1992 - Sid Justice

The 1992 Royal Rumble is best remembered for Ric Flair's 60-minute performance wherein he entered number three and won the WWE Championship. Less memorable was who he beat to do so. That man was Sid Justice.

Justice was also being pushed as a major star as Vince McMahon saw him as the next Hulk Hogan. Justice eliminated Hogan and a vengeful Hogan yanked at Justice's arm, allowing Flair to dump him over the top rope.

Justice, despite the loss, would go on to headline Wrestlemania VIII opposite Hogan in a disaster of a match.

Justice would leave immediately following the event. Flair, for his part, made a great WWE Champion and contested an excellent match with Randy Savage on the 'Mania undercard.

This was the right result for everyone.

1993 - Macho Man Randy Savage

1993 was a dire year for WWE with a dearth of headline talent. To attempt to fill the void left by the departures of Hulk Hogan, Sid Justice and Ultimate Warrior, they booked the massive Yokozuna to win the Royal Rumble match-up to earn the title match with Bret Hart at Wrestlemania.

But what of the runner-up, Randy Savage? A Savage/Hart match could have been excellent and a huge improvement of the disastrous 'Zuna/Hart contest.

Savage was not seen by Vince McMahon as a viable in-ring talent though in 1993 and did not change his mind into 1994.

This led Savage to leave the company for WCW, wherein he continued his career and competed as a main eventer, once more until 1999.