The 2010 Royal Rumble Deadlist....

A somewhat annual event here at Big Stupid Tommyland...the WWE's Royal Rumble is tomorrow night. It's the 23nd annual...every year ('cept '88, mind you) 30 men enter the ring, vying for the illustrious label Royal Rumble Winner. Since 1993, the winner's automatically gone on to Wrestlemania as a Main Eventer...

It's the springboard for Wrestling's biggest and most eventful corridor...it's not a coincidence, I don't think, that it coincides with the end of the NFL season and operates during the lull between football and baseball.

The Royal Rumble is my favorite event. Yeah, what I watch is grown men pretending to fight in predetermined events generally designed to appeal to the lowest common denominator. I think what I like about the Royal Rumble is that it doesn't always follow the Lowest Common Denominator outcome...what happens is as close as wrestling can get to random and it's not easy to determine prior to the outcome. I think it's the closest that professional wrestling comes to being an actual sporting event....

This year? It's a little different. The Rumble's being held in Atlanta, a couple of hours from Casa de Big Stupid Tommy. I, and my brother-in-law and my co-worker Jeff are heading down tomorrow afternoon to take a seat in the Phillips Arena, to catch us some Wrasslin' Action. I'll take plenty of pictures for your asses.
I do this particular list every year. I'd be lying if it didn't hold a certain morbid fascination. I guess it all comes from the same place where we slow down at a traffic accident, or my own fascination with a barn near my parents' house, that is slowly falling in upon itself. I, like most, have a fascination with the bizarre. Looking at the number of odd images I have on my computer, I'd say my fascination is maybe a bit higher than the average joe's, but I don't think it's to an unhealthy degree.

Or the part of the Oscar or Emmy ceremony, where we look back at all the stars and workers who have passed on in the previous year....

Anyway.

Tonight's show will be the 23d over-the-top-rope match, and in keeping with that, we look at how many of the previous years' rumble entrants are no longer with us...

1988: (2/20) Dino Bravo and the Junkyard Dog are dead

1989: (6/30) Big John Studd, Andre the Giant, Big Boss Man, Hercules Hernandez, Bad News Brown, Mr. Perfect

1990: (7/30) Andre the Giant, Dino Bravo, Mr. Perfect Curt Hennig, Hercules Hernandez, Bad News Brown, Earthquake, Rick Rude

1991: (8/30) Dino Bravo, Hawk (of the Road Warriors), Mr. Perfect Curt Hennig, Davey Boy Smith, Hercules Hernandez, Kerry von Erich, Crush and Earthquake (thanks for the heads up, Flash...

1992: (4/30) Big Boss Man, Hercules Hernandez, Davey Boy Smith, Kerry von Erich

1993: (3/30) Owen Hart, Mr. Perfect Curt Hennig, Yokozuna

1994: (3/30) Owen Hart, Crush, Bam Bam Bigelow

1995: (4/30) Davey Boy Smith, Owen Hart, Crush, Dick Murdoch

1996: (3/30) Owen Hart, Yokozuna, Davey Boy Smith

1997: (3/30) Owen Hart, Davey Boy Smith, Crush

1998: (1/30) Owen Hart

1999: (4/30) Owen Hart, Big Boss Man, Golga, Test

2000: (4/30) Big Boss Man, Test, Davey Boy Smith, Crash Holly

2001: (2/30) Test, Crash Holly

2002: (3/30) Test, Big Boss Man, Mr. Perfect Curt Hennig

2003: (3/30) Test, Jamal/Umaga, Eddie Guerrero

2004: (1/30) Chris Benoit

2005: (2/30) Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit

2006: (1/30) Chris Benoit

2007; (1/30) Chris Benoit

2008: (1/30) Umaga

2009: None (But the day ain't over, yet).

Edit: I omitted Earthquake out of the 1991...just an oversight. He's not a 400 lb. messiah, back from the dead or anything.