 The inaugural match featured 20 wrestlers and the televised event was named after the match.The 1989 Royal Rumble was the second event in the Royal Rumble chronology, establishing it as an annual January event.It was the first Royal Rumble to be broadcast on pay-per-view, becoming one of the promotion's original four pay-per-views, along with WrestleMania, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series, later dubbed the "Big Four".