The 1989 Royal Rumble was the first annual Royal Rumble professional wrestling event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). After the inaugural event aired as a television special, the 1989 event aired on pay-per-view (PPV), thus becoming one of the WWF's original four annual PPV events, along with WrestleMania, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series, which would become recognized as the "Big Four". It took place on January 15, 1989, at The Summit in Houston, Texas. It centered on the Royal Rumble match, a modified battle royal in which participants enter at timed intervals instead of all beginning in the ring at the same time.
Six matches were contested at the event, including two dark matches. The main event was the 1989 Royal Rumble match, which was won by Big John Studd, who last eliminated Ted DiBiase. Featured matches on the undercard were Jim Duggan and The Hart Foundation (Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart) defeating Dino Bravo and The Fabulous Rougeaus (Jacques and Raymond Rougeau) in a two-out-of-three falls match, Rockin' Robin defeating Judy Martin to retain the WWF Women's Championship, and King Haku defeating Harley Race to retain his King of the Ring crown and cape.
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