With the thirtieth Royal Rumble taking place tomorrow night at 7:00 pm EST on the WWE Network, and with said Rumble shaping up to be one of the most unpredictable wrestling events in years, it’s interesting to look at exactly how it has evolved over the years. I’ll also include some of my armchair booking predictions for this year’s match.

From about 1988 to 1990, the Rumble itself wasn’t a huge deal. In fact, it wasn’t even the main event in 1988. And even though 1991 saw the introduction of the Wrestlemania main event promise to the winner and 1992 had the title itself on the line, things didn’t start getting really interesting until 1995. Prior to this, the Rumble was successful, but it was treated as more of a Survivor Series and less as a SummerSlam, in terms of buy rates, 1995 marked the beginning of a decade (not counting 1998, because the Austin-McMahon stuff was turned up to eleven during that summer) where the Royal Rumble was second only to Wrestlemania as far as pay-per-view buys are concerned.

Aside from that weird time Vince McMahon won (thank you, Vince Russo), the winner’s from that time frame were clearly “the guy” – you know, the guy that runs the show, the guy that Raw revolves around, the guy that’s the face of the company. Just look at the names: Shawn Michaels (x2), Stone Cold Steve Austin (x3), Vince McMahon (dammit Russo), Triple H, Brock Lesnar, Chris Benoit (mostly transitional to try to prop up Randy Orton as the next “the guy”), and Batista (even though John Cena wound up being “the guy”, it is painfully obvious that Batista was the first choice if you watched Raw that year. Also, I’ll try to limit my use of “the guy” and parenthetical asides for the remainder of the article. Don’t say I never gave you anything.). Those are all recognizable names, even to non-wrestling fans.

The next year saw the ascension of John Cena to his indisputable position as the face of the WWE. Wrestlemania was going to revolve around him despite the Rumble. Winners for the next several years wound up being performers who didn’t really need it. Shawn Michaels’ wins catapulted him into the main event scene. Austin’s did the same and were an inevitable part of the era-defining storyline. The wins in the back half of the 00’s were important, but they were given to wrestlers like Randy Orton, John Cena, or the Undertaker, all of which were already established main event talents. Alberto Del Rio and Sheamus wins with unimportant or uninteresting Wrestlemania payoffs further pushed what should be an unpredictable and exciting event into a sense of complacency.

This year feels different.

One of the most prevalent topics on /r/squaredcircle and other online wrestling forums is just how unpredictable the Royal Rumble is this year. I’m not alone in the sentiment that I genuinely have no idea who is going to win. With talent at an all-time high and with storylines rapidly improving (especially on SmackDown Live), this Royal Rumble will likely be something special. Here are some of my predictions for a few of the confirmed participants:

Goldberg & Brock Lesnar – It’s clear that Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar is the end game for a Wrestlemania match. It’s likely that one of them will clear the ring when the other enters the ring. Neither of them will win.

Big E, Kofi Kingston, & Xavier Woods – As much as I’d love for Kofi to get a win, he won’t. Nobody from the New Day will. Kofi will do what Kofi always does and make one of the most memorable moments of the night, but ultimately none of them will win. My theory on Kofi doing his thing: Kofi somehow winds up on the barricade having never touched the ground. Big E literally throws him back into the ring, maybe carrying him around outside for a while.

Chris Jericho – The US Champion might actually win it. He deserved to a few years ago, and he’s certainly one of the most well-received components of Raw. His hinting at a Universal Championship shot makes this a possible win.

Braun Strowman – This is another possible win. He’s likely going to be the dominating monster that takes multiple participants to topple. He’s going to share this distinction with Baron Corbin. I see those two taking on the roles of Big Show and Kane. Expect the commentary team to talk about how they’re the odds-on favorites to win.

Baron Corbin – See above. He’s going to do a lot of damage, but he won’t win. He’s going to be eliminated by Kalisto.

The Undertaker – This is a possible win. In all honesty, this would be the closest to a predictable win that I can see in this Rumble. There’s no doubt that he has given more to the business and the WWE in particular than anybody, but he really doesn’t need this win. If Goldberg and Brock don’t eliminate one another, Taker needs to eliminate them both. However he is eliminated will likely define his match at Wrestlemania.

The Miz – He won’t win but he’s going to be the best at working the crowd. This is because there is currently nobody better at working the crowd. Every Miz feud since this summer has been must-watch television. While he shouldn’t win, he definitely needs to have some sort of impact. It won’t hurt if he does some yes chants or comes out to Daniel Bryan’s music. Please let that happen.

Dolph Ziggler – This past summer I would have sworn this was Ziggler’s year to win the Rumble. He is an astounding in-ring performer. With his recent heel turn, I don’t know if the win is there for him. Heel’s have won in the past, such as with Austin’s first win, but Ziggler hasn’t been tearing the roster apart the way Stone Cold did leading up to his win.

Cesaro & Sheamus – This is where this fantastic team falls apart. Neither will win. One will eliminate the other and this will lead to a Wrestlemania match.

Bray Wyatt, Randy Orton, Luke Harper – Okay, I’ve been playing too safe. Here goes something wild: Orton and Harper team up and eliminate Bray Wyatt. Bray’s been looking strong the past few PPV’s, so it’ll be interesting to see how they maintain that (or if they maintain that) with the Harper/Orton rivalry that has been brewing.

Sami Zayn – This isn’t Sami Zayn’s year. I want it. You want it. If he hadn’t lost the last man standing match with Strowman I’d think it’d be him. Even though he won’t win, he will Heluva Kick Braun out of the match and regain some steam though. Lord knows Sami needs it.

Potential NXT Callups – Nobody from NXT will win, but I think we’re going to get Tye Dillinger, Bobby Roode, and Samoa Joe. Let me rephrase that: I HOPE we get Tye Dillinger, Bobby Roode, and Samoa Joe. Those three would have an incredible impact on any roster and would make for unforgettable moments.

Dean Ambrose – If you asked me who would win in December, I would say Dean Ambrose without hesitation. Out of every member of the Shield, he managed to look the best at the end of 2016. He’s currently the Intercontinental Champion, which means a lot of people don’t think he’s going to win. I personally consider him my personal pick to win. I think he’s the right guy and it’s the right time. I’m not sure what repercussions this will have for the IC belt, but I feel like it’ll find it’s way to Corbin or Ziggler as Ambrose pursues a World Championship.

The most important thing about Survivor Series 1987 was what went on behind the scenes. And no, I don’t mean interesting backstage stories about performers. I’m talking business and finance. About six months after the third Wrestlemania, Survivor Series seems almost destined to be a big deal in terms of a wrestling event. Vince McMahon wasn’t the only person to think this, as rival organization NWA had the exact same day (November 26, 1987, Thanksgiving Day) picked for its biggest event of the year, Starrcade. That PPV name should sound familiar to casual 90’s wrestling fans.

Vince McMahon threatened cable companies by telling them that he wouldn’t allow them to broadcast Wrestlemania IV if they attempted to air Starrcade. Cable companies largely complied, as Wrestlemania had a more widespread, casual draw than any other wrestling promotion at the time. As a result of the low profits for Starrcade, NWA unified several territories and was bought by Ted Turner, forming the WCW. WCW would keep the Starrcade name and lineage, and for several years in the 90’s gave the WWE weekly panic attacks.

I’ll just say it. Survivor Series 1987 is responsible for the Monday Night Wars and the Attitude Era. Let’s do a match by match breakdown.

As far as judging by today’s standards is concerned, the PPV is very frontloaded. The first match five-on-five elimination tag match, which is in many ways the Survivor Series standard. The team of faces (good guys) included Randy Savage, Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat, and Jake “The Snake” Roberts. That’s really the holy trinity of 80’s wrestlers. Savage was untouchable on the microphone, Steamboat was an incredible in-ring performer, and Roberts understands in-ring storytelling in a truly uncanny way. The team of heels (bad guys) had a lot of mostly forgettable wrestlers to modern casual fans, but the Honkey Tonk Man is significant. He currently has the longest running Intercontinental Championship reign, a belt that he won off of Steamboat and held during this match. When he was outnumbered three to one by the end of the match, he just walked away and allowed himself to be counted out. He wasn’t the greatest in-ring performer of his time, and his style certainly hasn’t aged well, but he did have a knack for drawing some serious heel heat, with the end of this match being one of the best examples during his title reign.

Next was the women’s five-on-five elimination match. Women’s wrestling in the 80’s isn’t as drastically different from women’s wrestling in 2016 as men’s wrestling is. It wasn’t given the opportunity in the 90’s to evolve and gain the respect that it now commands today. This is largely the fault of WWE and their predisposition toward swimsuit models instead of skilled workers. Luckily, this has since become an antiquated notion, barring a few exceptions, and women’s wrestling today is the best that it has ever been. The Jumping Bomb Angels steal the show here, displaying tremendous in-ring skill. And the worst worker in the match is easily the Fabulous Moolah. The fact that Moolah is arguably the evilest wrestler not named Chris Benoit aside, Moolah was at her worst in this match, and she was never particularly good. If you have a stomach for the horrible ways people can treat one another, check out Moolah’s Wikipedia page, but don’t say that I sent you.

If you were watching Survivor Series 1987 and thought, “Gee, these five-on-five matches are great, but they aren’t quite confusing enough.” Good news for you, as the next match was a ten-on-ten elimination tag team match. All of the best spots in this match come from wrestlers connected in some way to the Hart family. Big surprise there. Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart were on one side of the match while Davey Boy Smith (most widely known as the British Bulldog) and the Dynamite Kid were on the opposing side. This match also saw the debut of Demolition, who will always hold the award for worst costumes on any wrestling team. The match is weak. I mean, it’s just a serious drag to try to get through. Do you need to vacuum your apartment, and also maybe run to the store to pick up some eggs, and then maybe cook the eggs but drop them on the floor, and then begrudgingly cook more eggs, eat those eggs, and do all of your dishes? If so, you’ll still have about ten minutes of this obnoxious mess of a half hour wrestling match to suffer through. It is the worst match on the card and one of the worst in Survivor Series history.

The final match wasn’t awful. It wasn’t as great as the first match was, but it’s also important to remember that novelty attractions were a bigger deal than talented wrestlers in the 1980’s. This is another five-on-five elimination tag match, with Hulk Hogan and Bam Bam Bigelow being some of the most notable members of the face team. Hogan wasn’t pinned, of course. Shenanigans led to him being counted out because the Hulkster doesn’t job, brother. The heel team’s biggest deals, no pun intended, were Andre the Giant, King Kong Bundy, and Rick Rude. Andre wound up being the final man standing in a surprisingly entertaining match. Part of what makes this match work is that the crowd is absolutely insane overseeing the sheer amount of star power in the ring at the time. After the match, Hogan hit Andre with his championship belt to be the last man standing in the ring because the 80’s.

Overall, Survivor Series 1987 is important more than its good, but it’s worth watching as an interesting look at what wrestling was in the 80’s, and especially to see what got over with the crowd before flippy lucha things.