The 1989 Royal Rumble was the second annual Royal Rumble professional wrestling event produced by the World Wrestling Federation. 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.

James Henry Neidhart was an American professional wrestler known for his appearances in the 1980s and 1990s in the World Wrestling Federation as Jim "the Anvil" Neidhart, where he was a two-time WWF Tag Team Champion with his real-life brother-in-law Bret Hart in the Hart Foundation. He also won titles in Stampede Wrestling, Championship Wrestling from Florida, Mid-South Wrestling, Memphis Championship Wrestling and the Mid-Eastern Wrestling Federation. He was part of the Hart wrestling family through marriage to his wife Ellie Hart, teaming with various members throughout his career, and appearing with his daughter Natalya Neidhart on the reality television show Total Divas.