Pat Patterson Says Vince McMahon Wasn’t Keen on Royal Rumble Originally

– Pat Patterson recently spoke with WWE.com about the Royal Rumble’s origins. Patterson told the site that Vince McMahon wasn’t originally excited about the idea, noting, “I used to talk to Vince about the Royal Rumble idea, even though I didn’t call it by that name, and Vince couldn’t visualize that. He’d say, ‘Oh my god, it’s too long. My god, all 20 guys, that’s going to take forever.'”

Patterson said he pitched it to NBC executive Dick Ebersol, recalling, “I described what the concept would be and Dick Ebersol went crazy,” he said. “He loved it. He said, ‘That would be so great for live television. Every two minutes another wrestler comes running in and you don’t know who it is until you hear the buzzer!’ So Vince went, ‘You’re on your own. You’re going to have to do it yourself. You’re going to have to produce it.’ Holy crap. It sounded good in my head, but to put it together was another story.”