The Royal Rumble match is the most anticipated match of the year in WWE, but which are the best of the best?
It’s that time of year again and we’re just days away from the 30th annual WWE Royal Rumble. Wow, even just writing that is a little strange. It’s pretty hard to believe that it’s been nearly three decades since the first Royal Rumble took place all the way back in 1988 but it’s still going strong and has become one of the most important and one of the most must-see events on the WWE calendar.
The Royal Rumble certainly didn’t start out to be what it has become today but with some fine tuning over the years and some unforgettable moments and matches, the start of the road to WrestleMania has turned into one of my favorite events. While there’s been a few Rumble matches that have been a bit predictable as far as the winner is concerned, more often than not we’re treated to some quality entertainment with some surprises thrown in along the way. And no, not every Royal Rumble match has been good and we’ll certainly get into some of those here pretty quick.
So you may be asking exactly what criteria I used when putting these rankings together. Well, what makes for an entertaining Royal Rumble for me is a series of things. It could just be the winner and how it affected WrestleMania. It could be a great moment or moments that happened within the match. It could be the finish. It could be the crowd. It could be some of the surprises, which in turn could have led to a few of the things I just mentioned. It could be anything. And I’m sure your list would probably be different than the one I’ve put together here but hat’s the beauty of this, isn’t it? Everyone has their own opinions on these matters and we’d certainly love to hear yours, so be sure to tell me at the end what you think I got right and what you think I got wrong.
So let’s get into this. Here is every single Royal Rumble match ranked from worst to first. Enjoy.
29. Royal Rumble 1988 – Hacksaw Jim Duggan
Well, I had to start somewhere and unfortunately for Hacksaw Jim Duggan, the list starts with the inaugural Royal Rumble event that took place in 1988.
Well, let me back that up for a minute. What a lot of people don’t know is that the first Royal Rumble actually took place in 1987 at a show in St. Louis. However, seeing as how the experimental event drew less than 2,000 people and was never shown, WWE does not acknowledge its existence. And just in case you’re wondering, One Man Gang claimed victory in that first one by last eliminating Junkyard Dog. So there’s your bit of trivia for the day.
But back to 1988.
Obviously, we’re all happy that WWE decided to keep with the concept but they didn’t quite have the faith in it to make it a pay-per-view event just yet, so the first one was shown on the USA Network and only featured 20 wrestlers. It’s not that the lineup was terrible as it featured a few future Hall of Famers but it just wasn’t that great and only went for a little over half an hour. While I really wanted to place it higher on this list, simply being the pioneer event just wasn’t enough for me to do that. If you go back and watch the 1988 Royal Rumble, you’ll see why it’s starting off this list. Sorry, Hacksaw.
28. Royal Rumble 2012 – Sheamus
When the highlight of the night, outside of Kofi Kingston’s amazing hand-walking anyway, is Kharma being the big surprise entrant, there’s trouble afoot. For one, it was hard to get invested in this Royal Rumble because it really didn’t matter who won. We already knew that John Cena and The Rock were set to headline WrestleMania XXVIII and that any winner here was going to be placed in a filler title match but what we ended up getting was even worse than that, am I right?
The Royal Rumble match itself wasn’t spectacular. The Miz had a decent showing, going over 45 minutes from the number one spot and Cody Rhodes looked good here as well, but when the biggest surprises, which have come to be one of the most fun parts of the Royal Rumble, are the aforementioned Kharma and the beginning of the Michael Cole/Jerry Lawler saga, this was never going to be good. And the Mick Foley/Santino standoff was just dreadful. I know some of you probably think it was funny but I just wasn’t into it.
In the end, it was Sheamus picking up the win, and the finish between he and Chris Jericho was pretty solid, but this was a pretty lackluster Royal Rumble. But hey, at least it lasted longer than 18 seconds, which was all the time that Sheamus and Daniel Bryan ended up getting at WrestleMania … in the curtain-jerker no less. So much for a Rumble win getting you in the main event on the grandest stage of them all.
27. Royal Rumble 2011 – Alberto Del Rio
Speaking of Royal Rumble winners who went to curtain-jerk WrestleMania, I present to you the 2011 Royal Rumble winner, Alberto Del Rio.
2011 was the biggest Royal Rumble in history with a record 40 entrants but bigger doesn’t always mean better. For one, 40 guys is just way too many and everything felt rushed and a little forced that night in Boston. Booker T and Kevin Nash were nice surprises but neither was in the match very long, which was actually okay. CM Punk had a nice showing that night from the number one spot, lasting more than 35 minutes before being eliminated by John Cena, which I’m sure he just loved. I’d say that the spot of the night went to John Morrison, who wowed the live crowd and everyone watching at home after being knocked from the apron to the guardrail but avoided elimination by hanging onto the barricade, moved his way down the line and jumped back to the ring steps. Awesome stuff there.
I will say that it was a bit of a surprise for Alberto Del Rio to get the win, which is always a good thing. I think a lot of people were expecting a different outcome but a surprise winner always makes the night a little better and this match certainly needed a little help. And having Santino in there with him in the final twosome was fun as well. You actually believed for a split second that he might actually pull off the upset of the century and the look on his face as he sold that feeling was priceless. Outside of these things, though, there weren’t a lot of highlights in this one.
26. Royal Rumble 1993 – Yokozuna
The 1993 Royal Rumble match may not even deserve to be higher than the previous two but seeing as how this was the first time that the winner would receive a shot at the title deserves a little something extra.
Outside of the stipulation, however, there wasn’t a ton of excitement going on here. I will say that Bob Backlund going over an hour was impressive. His time of 1:01:10 still stands as the third-longest performance in Royal Rumble history and that has to count for something. But outside of that, only two guys went more than 20 minutes — and they were Ted Dibiase and Jerry Saggs. Yeah, it was that kind of night. Oh yeah, it was also the debut of Giant Gonzalez, who wasn’t even an official entry in the match but showed up anyway with Harvey Wippleman and eliminated The Undertaker, which obviously resulted in that dreadful match at WrestleMania IX.
In the end, it was Yokozuna picking up the win and a shot at Bret Hart’s title and I think we all remember how that turned out. What you may not remember is that Randy Savage was the last man eliminated, and while I think we all would have loved a Savage/Hart title match at ‘Mania, the Macho Man’s consolation prize was being an announcer at the biggest show of the year. Okay then.
25. Royal Rumble 1999 – Mr. McMahon
There was no way to get away from the Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Vince McMahon feud –which is arguably the most popular rivalry in the history of WWE– when the 1999 Royal Rumble rolled around so creative just went with it. But instead of a real Royal Rumble, we were essentially just fed an hour-long episode of Austin vs. McMahon, which in theory is fine but it’s unfortunate when one of the biggest events of the year has to suffer for it.
Starting at number one and number two, Austin and McMahon brawled in the ring and out of the ring and in the bathroom and everywhere else inside the Arrowhead Pond. And if we got nothing else out of this, the event’s theme song, “No Chance in Hell”, has stuck around for a little while.
McMahon would do everything in his power to make sure Austin didn’t win his third straight Royal Rumble, and while there were a couple of entertaining moments in this match, the real standout here was the fact that Chyna made history by becoming the first woman to ever enter the Royal Rumble match. Upon her entry at number 30, she targeted Mark Henry and actually eliminated the world’s strongest man from the match but would ultimately last just 35 seconds before being taken out by Austin. Oh yeah, Gillberg was there too.
The final two in the match were always going to be Vince and Austin, and we all knew it. Following some distraction from The Rock, who put on one of the most vicious matches in Royal Rumble history earlier in the night with Mick Foley, McMahon threw Austin over the top rope and got the victory. Austin would still get his title shot by defeating McMahon at St. Valentine’s Day Massacre in a cage match.
24. Royal Rumble 1989 – Big John Studd
The 1989 Royal Rumble was the first to air on pay-per-view, and while the win for Big John Studd was a nice thing to see, creative figured out that they could use this type of match to further and/or create storylines and they certainly did so here with the saga between Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage.
But before any of that, I have to mention how cool it was to see the first two entrants in this match go at it. The Royal Rumble, and really any battle royal for that matter, has always been billed as “every man for himself” but we never really saw much of that until the ’89 Rumble. It’s always fun to see who the first two men in the ring are going to be, and after Demolition’s Ax came out first, it was quite a shock to see his partner Smash come out next. I was a big Demolition guy back then and to see them go toe-to-toe for a couple of minutes was pretty sweet. Sorry, had to get that in there.
This Rumble also furthered the storyline between Andre the Giant and Jake “The Snake” Roberts. After being eliminated by Andre, Roberts came back later in the match with his python, Damian, and threw it into the ring, which completely freaked out Andre, who eliminated himself just to get away from it. Pretty funny stuff there.
But this match was always about The Mega Powers. There had been some tension between Hogan and Savage for a little while, both at SummerSlam and Survivor Series, and things got heated here after Hogan accidentally dumped Savage out of the ring while also eliminating Bad News Brown. Macho Man immediately jumped back into the ring and confronted Hogan about it before Miss Elizabeth calmed them down. The breakup would come just a few weeks later. The match itself was nothing spectacular but the storytelling here was pretty solid.
23. Royal Rumble 1991 – Hulk Hogan
While there was no official stipulation that the winner of the 1991 Royal Rumble would receive a title match at WrestleMania VII, that’s exactly what happened on this night as Hulk Hogan won his second consecutive Royal Rumble.
As the event continued to grow in popularity, and because it was still the Hulk Hogan era, there really wasn’t another way to go with this one, was there? However, there were still some decent moments here outside of The Hulkster. Rick Martel put in a solid performance, lasting more than 52 minutes and eliminating four guys and in a very odd showing, Greg “The Hammer” Valentine lasted more than 44 minutes but didn’t really do all that much. Very strange. The 1991 Royal Rumble might also be remembered for one of the most memorable eliminations in history that saw Bushwhacker Luke march to the ring, get taken out by Earthquake in four seconds, and march right back out. Hilarious.
But this was always going to turn out one way. In the end, Hogan was left in the ring with Earthquake, whom he had actually had a decent rivalry with for months, and Brian Knobbs, one of the members of The Nasty Boys who you might also know now as one of Hulk Hogan’s good buddies. And of course, The Hulkster was able to overcome the odds and take out the two heels for his second Royal Rumble win in as many years. Pretty predictable but still somewhat entertaining.
22. Royal Rumble 2013 – John Cena
Speaking of iconic babyfaces picking up his second Royal Rumble win, that brings us to John Cena in 2013. I don’t think there’s anyone in the world that watched this match without knowing who was going to win, and the same can be said for the WWE Championship match that came after the Royal Rumble match itself.
You see, this was the beginning of the road to WrestleMania 29, where everyone knew that the rematch between John Cena and The Rock would be taking place. But how do we get there and make the match even bigger? Well, throw the title in there. But how do we do that? Well, we need The Rock to take the title off of CM Punk (bad move) and we need John Cena to win the Royal Rumble. Pretty easy night to predict.
As for the Royal Rumble match itself, there were some entertaining moments, one of which came right at the start with the surprise return of Chris Jericho at number two, who put on a great performance, lasting more than 47 minutes before being eliminated by Dolph Ziggler, who went nearly 50 minutes from the number one spot. This Rumble also teased the possible start of something between Goldust and Cody Rhodes, which never materialized into the WrestleMania match that we all wanted but was still entertaining for a few minutes nonetheless. Kofi Kingston had another fun time, using a chair like a pogo stick to avoid elimination, which I’ve always thought was one of his better ones. The Team Hell No tension continued here as Daniel Bryan eliminated Kane and even Ryback looked decent that night, throwing out five guys and making it to the final pair with Cena. Predictable finish. Decent match.
21. Royal Rumble 2015 – Roman Reigns
I might get crucified by a few people for putting the 2015 Royal Rumble ahead of some of these others, but I’m going to stick with my decision.
First of all, stop whining about Daniel Bryan not winning this. Should he have lasted a little longer than 10 minutes? Yeah, maybe. But you’re not going to get your way all of the time. They didn’t want to use the same storyline that they had used the year before and that’s that. Get over it. I actually thought the timing of the whole thing was perfect. He was thrown out early and that gave the crowd time to adjust and realize that he wasn’t going to get it done. At least that was the intention anyway. Instead of enjoying the rest of the match, which ended up being a decent Royal Rumble but certainly not the best in the world, the crowd hijacked the show and it ended up being a miserable viewing experience. And it’s got nothing to do with the fact that Roman Reigns won, it’s the fact that whomever won, anybody not named Daniel Bryan was going to get booed out of the building. Even The Rock couldn’t save the situation and that’s saying something.
I did think that the final four could have been better as I think Ziggler and Ambrose would have been better choices than Big Show and Kane but the 2015 Royal Rumble is what it is and there’s nothing anyone can do about it now. And it led to what I feel was a great main event at WrestleMania 31 between Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar, who put on an incredibly physical match before we got to the surprise finish. Deal with it, kids. It’s in the past. Move on.
20. Royal Rumble 1994 – Bret Hart/Lex Luger
The 1994 Royal Rumble takes a lot of heat from a lot of people, and while there wasn’t a ton of action throughout the match, the ending is what puts this one in the top 20.
Before we get to the ending, however, we have to talk about the performance of Kevin Nash that night. Obviously using the Diesel name at the time, Nash stood out in this Rumble by eliminating seven consecutive wrestlers before he was tossed out by a group of guys after almost 18 minutes in the match. It was a dominating performance that really helped Nash get over with people and could be looked at as the real start of his career. There was also some good action between Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty near the end, with HBK ultimately eliminating his former partner from The Rockers.
But the 1994 Royal Rumble will always be known for the first and only tie in the event’s storied history as Bret Hart and Lex Luger eliminated each other simultaneously. Both men thought that they were the real winner and instead of restarting the match, which I think would probably happen today, both were awarded a title shot at WrestleMania X, which ultimately resulted in Hart winning the title after Luger had failed to do so earlier in the night. And while neither of those matches were anything to write home about, the outcome of the 1994 Royal Rumble also gave us the Owen Hart vs. Bret Hart match at ‘Mania and I think we’re all thankful for that.
19. Royal Rumble 1996 – Shawn Michaels
The 1996 Royal Rumble was a little strange as it’s stuck in between the Golden Era and the Attitude Era, which certainly made for some interesting entries, but this one is still somewhat entertaining. Maybe it makes the top 20 for being the first year that everyone got their own entrance music, which is actually something that has helped the Royal Rumble over the years. I don’t think I’m alone in waiting to see whose music is coming next.
Unfortunately, however, some of the music we did get was for some people we either didn’t know or didn’t want to see. All the credit in the world to Barry Horowitz for keeping his career alive as long as he did, but putting him in a Royal Rumble match probably wasn’t the best choice in the world. And remember The Squat Team? Oh, you don’t either? Okay, I thought it was just me.
No, this night was really about getting one man over and that man was Shawn Michaels. While his buddy, Hunter Hearst Helmsley, did put in more than 48 minutes, this was always going to be HBK’s night heading into WrestleMania XII. A showdown with Bret Hart was inevitable and Michaels threw out eight guys on his way to victory that night in Fresno, and that included eliminating his former bodyguard, Diesel. It certainly wasn’t the strongest field in Royal Rumble history, and it was the first Royal Rumble match not to close out the pay-per-view, but it did what it was supposed to do, even if the guy that won had already won one. More on that a little later.
18. Royal Rumble 2009 – Randy Orton
The 2009 Royal Rumble match is in that strange position where it wasn’t great and it wasn’t bad. It’s just sort of there and that’s unfortunate for winner Randy Orton, especially given the fact that the two guys that helped him along the way aren’t even with the company anymore.
Seriously, there were a lot of really good performances in this one. The Undertaker went more than half an hour. Rey Mysterio went another 49 minutes and change from the number one spot. Triple H went almost 50 minutes as well and would be right there at the end. CM Punk had a good showing and a fun moment with William Regal. But the legacy of the 2009 Royal Rumble will be … well, Legacy. If you don’t remember, Legacy was a group of second-and-third generation wrestlers, Orton, Cody Rhodes and Ted Dibiase, Jr., that had a nice run. Rhodes and Dibiase were constantly helping Orton in his matches and the Rumble was no different as all three men worked together when they were in there with one another, which was just about the entire second half of the match, and it worked well. And we got some action with Cody and Goldust in there as well.
The ending was a little predictable with the three members of Legacy in the ring with Triple H but it was still pretty solid. Trips was able to get the upper hand and threw out Dibiase and then Rhodes, only to be eliminated right after by Orton. Triple H would go on to win the WWE title in the Elimination Chamber and he and Orton would battle again at the 25th Anniversary of WrestleMania.
17. Royal Rumble 2014 – Batista
If you thought 2009 was a little predictable, is there anyone that didn’t know that a returning Batista would win the 2014 Royal Rumble? With that being said, however, the match itself really wasn’t that bad but may always be remembered for the guy that wasn’t even in it. And yes (ha, get it), we’re back to Daniel Bryan. More on that in a second though.
This Rumble also served as the coming out party for Roman Reigns (this is when the crowd was popping huge for a heel Reigns), who broke Kane’s 13-year-old record by throwing out 12 competitors on his way to the final two before being eliminated by Batista, who made his return to the ring after a four-year absence from WWE. It’s not quite the return that he envisioned, was it? Much like Roman Reigns the following year, The Animal was booed mercilessly following his victory and much like the following year, it boiled down to Daniel Bryan not being involved in the finish. Actually, it boiled down to Bryan not even being involved in the match at all. Bryan had been beaten earlier that night in a singles match with Bray Wyatt and it was expected for him to enter the Rumble at some point. But it was not to be and the live crowd in Pittsburgh certainly showed its disapproval when the number 30 entrant, who everyone thought was going to be Bryan, turned out to be Rey Mysterio, who himself was booed like crazy upon his arrival, which is hardly ever a thing.
The final six competitors that night were Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns, Sheamus, CM Punk and Batista, which is a pretty nice group, and it didn’t matter who won that night. It wasn’t Daniel Bryan and that’s all the crowd wanted to see. In hindsight, while it may not have been the best choice to completely leave him out, it ended up working out even better for Bryan in my opinion as it only got him over even more and we all know what ended up happening anyway. He got himself into not one but two high-profile matches at WrestleMania XXX and walked out as the undisputed champion. So everyone still got what they wanted eventually anyway. Well, except maybe for Batista, who was likely going to win the title before the “Yes Movement” took over WWE.
And CM Punk, I suppose, who made his last WWE appearance that night.
16. Royal Rumble 1995 – Shawn Michaels
On one hand, I want to put the 1995 Royal Rumble higher on this list and on the other hand, I want to put it near the bottom of this list. So I decided to put it close to the middle and just be satisfied with that. Allow me to explain.
What I really enjoyed about this Rumble match is that they decided to try something new. Nobody had ever won from either the number one or the number two position. The closest we’d gotten to that was Ric Flair’s 1992 win from number three. So what they decided to do in 1995 was to take the number one entry, Shawn Michaels, and the number two entry, The British Bulldog, and have them last the entire match, and I was completely down for that. This was really the first time we also saw the “both feet must hit the floor” thing come into play and the image of Michaels dangling from the top rope is one of the more iconic images in HBK’s Hall of Fame career.
The biggest problem with this match is the fact that they cut down the time between entrants from two minutes to one minute and that made everything look very rushed. Perhaps they were afraid that HBK and Bulldog couldn’t last that whole time but there had already been a couple of guys that had gone an hour and I’m pretty sure that Shawn and Davey Boy would have been just fine doing that. Instead, we got a rushed affair that didn’t even go 39 minutes and that really hurt the overall feel to the event. But it will always go down as the first time that the guy who drew number one won the whole thing and that has to count for something.
15. Royal Rumble 2005 – Batista
While there were some entertaining moments and eliminations in the middle of this match, the 2005 Royal Rumble will always be remembered for its blistering (literally) start and wild finish.
To start things off, the two heroes of the previous year’s WrestleMania XX, Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero, were the first two entrants so we were guaranteed a solid opening. They were soon joined by Tough Enough winner Daniel Puder, who came out and cut a promo saying he would win the Rumble and then proceeded to be broken in something fierce. Benoit and Guerrero took turns chopping on him in the corner (and these were vicious) before running a suplex train on him. And just when you thought things couldn’t get worse for the rookie, Hardcore Holly, who’s not known to be easy on youngsters, hit the ring to get his licks in and certainly made the most of his time in there with Puder. Just go back and watch how devastating this three-man beatdown is. Epic stuff.
But the night belong to two of WWE’s rising stars, John Cena and Batista. Cena entered at number 25, Batista at 28 and between the two of them they eliminated a total of seven competitors in a short amount of time before battling it out one-on-one to decide who would go on to WrestleMania. However, as it had happened in 1994 with Bret Hart and Lex Luger, they eliminated each other simultaneously.
But if that weren’t interesting enough, things got even stranger as the referees argued over a winner. Vince McMahon power-walked his way down to the ring to restart the match but as he got in, he actually tore both quads in the process. Batista wound up getting the win following the restart but both men would actually go on to WrestleMania 21 and win world titles. Crazy night.
14. Royal Rumble 2006 – Rey Mysterio
I’m sure there are a lot of people out there who would put the 2006 Royal Rumble a little higher on the all-time list given the record-setting performance of Rey Mysterio, who entered at number two and lasted 1:02:12, which still stands as the longest performance in Royal Rumble history. And while this match served as a well-deserved tribute to the late Eddie Guerrero, who had passed away about two months prior, I was still more impressed by the performance of Triple H, who himself went over an hour from the number one position and did a lot more in this match than Rey did.
I really don’t want this to sound like I’m bashing Mysterio but if you go back and watch this match, you’ll see him take a lot of breaks in this match. And I’m not saying that if you’re going to be out there for an hour that you don’t deserve a break at some point but he took A LOT of breaks. But the emotional element here is what puts it in this spot on the list. It’s not often that a guy like Rey Mysterio is going to win a match like the Royal Rumble and the underdog thing has always played well with him. He’s almost always going to be the smallest guy in a match and that does have to factor in here.
With all of that being said, this was a good Royal Rumble match. There were a few quiet moments in the middle but that happens just about every year. It usually was Triple H that livened things up at these times and his performance usually gets lost when talking about this one. He was part of the final three along with Mysterio and Randy Orton and despite everything I said, it was a cool moment to see Rey eliminate two of the biggest stars in WWE history to pick up the victory. And the emotion that poured out at the end really was something special.
13. Royal Rumble 1990 – Hulk Hogan
As per usual, there were 30 men in the 1990 Royal Rumble but that night in Orlando was only about two, Hulk Hogan and The Ultimate Warrior.
But before I get into that whole thing, this match really is an amazing who’s who of the Golden Era. Ted Dibiase and Koko B. Ware were the first two out and just look at the 28 names that follow them: Marty Jannetty, Jake Roberts, Randy Savage, Roddy Piper, The Warlord, Bret Hart, Bad News Brown, Dusty Rhodes, Andre the Giant, Red Rooster, Ax, Haku, Smash, Akeem, Jimmy Snuka, Dino Bravo, Earthquake, Jim Neidhart, Ultimate Warrior, Rick Martel, Tito Santana, Honky Tonk Man, Hulk Hogan, Shawn Michaels, The Barbarian, Rick Rude, Hercules and Mr. Perfect. That’s my freaking childhood right there, man. But as I said, even with all of those amazing superstars in the ring, this night was about two men and the Royal Rumble was the perfect time for two of the biggest stars in history to clash for the very first time.
It’s no secret that at the turn of the decade, WWE was more or less looking for the next Hulk Hogan. He was champ for years but it was time for a passing of the torch and Vince seemed to have found that guy in The Ultimate Warrior. He had been around for a little while at this point and was really getting over with the crowd and selling tons of merchandise. With no other big challengers at the time, he seemed to be the perfect guy to match up with Hogan. But it was extremely rare to see a face vs. face clash but with the Royal Rumble having the “every man for himself” thing going for it, this was the perfect opportunity to try it out and it worked. And it worked well.
After a dizzying scene which saw both Hogan and Warrior throw multiple competitors from the ring, they suddenly became the only two men left in the ring and it was an awesome sight to see. These two had hardly ever come across one another and when they finally realized what was happening, they just went for it in classic Golden Era fashion. There were shoulderblocks that saw neither man budge and a criss-cross and a double clothesline and everything. It was quick but it set the stage for what was to come at WrestleMania VI. And I guess WWE figured that they’d had a couple of these Royal Rumble matches already and Hogan hadn’t won one yet so they’d better take care of that as well. Classic night.
12. Royal Rumble 2003 – Brock Lesnar
The great thing about the 2003 Royal Rumble is the fact that there always seemed to be a really big name in the ring at all times. While this Rumble perhaps lacked in the big spots or moments, it made up for that with some star power and just really never seemed dull.
Shawn Michaels was out first but he certainly wouldn’t have a repeat performance of what he accomplished in 1995 from that same spot as he was beaten to a pulp by Chris Jericho, who snuck in the ring at number two as Michaels was distracted by Christian, and smacked him in the face with a chair. And in just two and a half minutes, HBK was gone, kicking off the rivalry that would be one of the best in WWE history. He would come back later in the match and exact his revenge, leading to their epic encounter at WrestleMania XIX. And the first half stayed hot as some of the more agile guys on the roster made their way in and kept the crowd entertained. You had Mysterio and Edge (and them nearly really hurting Chris Nowinski) and Christian and the Hardys and the pace was electric.
And I can’t not mention the rap from John Cena before he entered the match. And those jeans. That’s all.
It slowed down a bit in the second half of the match as some of the bigger guys got in there but not much and it really didn’t take away from the feel of the match. As I said, there was always a really big name in there and the final four was huge with Batista, Kane, The Undertaker and Brock Lesnar battling it out. Lesnar had already become a huge star the previous summer but his status was elevated even further by picking up the win here, and he and Kurt Angle put on a phenomenal match at WrestleMania a couple of months later … well, minus that whole botched shooting star press and everything. And who exactly did Brock Lesnar eliminate last to win the 2003 Royal Rumble? The Undertaker.
11. Royal Rumble 2016 – Triple H
Okay, I’ll go ahead and admit that I wasn’t a huge fan of how this match finished up but just about everything else leading up to the finish left me satisfied.
The 2016 Royal Rumble was only the second time in history that the WWE title was up for grabs, and while the circumstances were a little different than in 1992, it still gave the match a different feel to it and it was pretty awesome. Or should I say…PHENOMENAL? This match is going to be remembered for a lot of different things but the biggest thing to happen that night was the WWE debut of AJ Styles, who stunned the crowd in Orlando with his entrance at number three. It had been rumored that the former TNA, ROH and NJPW star would be entering the Rumble but it had to be seen to be believed and it was everything that it should have been. He came in early so there was no big expectations that he would win the whole thing and then he went on to have a really great showing before being eliminated by Kevin Owens following his “Welcome to WWE” scream. Great stuff.
And more great stuff followed as the Owens and Sami Zayn feud made its way to the main stage as the two friends battled for a few minutes. But this night was all about Roman Reigns and the “One vs. All” thing, which I really was okay with until he spent half the match in the back after being taken out by The League of Nations. Luckily, the other superstars in the match were able to keep the match entertaining until he returned to watch Triple H enter the match at number 30, which was a bit predictable. Reigns was always going to be battling Triple H at WrestleMania and this was a way to get there. It wasn’t the greatest booking in the world but it wasn’t as bad as everyone made it out to be. Triple H’s yelling after he threw Reigns out was pretty awesome and the finish between he and Ambrose was solid as well. This one had a lot of different things going on but it worked.
10. Royal Rumble 1997 – Stone Cold Steve Austin
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. If the 1996 King of the Ring didn’t make a superstar out of Stone Cold Steve Austin, the 1997 Royal Rumble did.
Entering at number five, Austin was on fire that night in front of more than 60,000 people at the Alamodome in San Antonio, which just happens to be the site 20 years later. The Rattlesnake cleared the ring upon his arrival and played his role to perfection as he made quick work of Hall of Famers and world champions on his way to eliminating ten men, which tied a record at the time.
The match had a very good pace throughout and was also the first Royal Rumble match for a youngster named Rocky Maivia, who had a nice showing in his debut with those bright colors. It was also thankfully the last time we would ever see the fake Razor Ramon and fake Diesel, whom you might not remember was actually Kane. Or maybe you do. It still doesn’t make it right, does it? But this night belonged to Stone Cold, who renewed his rivalry with his Survivor Series opponent Bret Hart in the middle of this match. The two had a great back and forth and Hart actually ended up throwing Austin over the top rope and out of the match. But with the referees dealing with Mick Foley and Terry Funk on the other side of the ring, they didn’t see it and Austin just slid right back in and picked up three quick eliminations, including Bret Hart, to win the first of his three Royal Rumble matches.
You can read more on this historic and controversial victory in my Royal Rumble Look Back: Stone Cold Steve Austin’s controversial 1997 win.
9. Royal Rumble 2002 – Triple H
The 2002 Royal Rumble: the story of Maven. Oh wait, that wasn’t what we were supposed to remember? My bad. But still, Maven eliminated The Undertaker that year. No, seriously. I mean, the rookie took a beating for doing so but it was certainly an interesting story nonetheless.
In all seriousness, the 2002 Royal Rumble was always going to be about the return of Triple H, who had missed eight months following that gruesome quad injury. Following his epic return on RAW a few weeks earlier, I don’t think there was ever a question that he would win the Rumble but getting to that point was a lot of fun. While it was hard to live up to the match that took place a year earlier, the ’02 edition certainly did its best, and while not everything was great, the ending was perfect … in more ways than one.
Yes, that was a joke to the amazing return of Mr. Perfect, who entered the match at number 25, had a great showing and found himself in the final four with Triple H, Kurt Angle and Stone Cold Steve Austin. It was a bit of a surprise that Austin went out first but Angle took care of the three-time winner and Triple H took care of Hennig, paving the way for an epic finish between two of the best of their generation. I don’t care what the situation was but I always loved whenever Triple H and Kurt Angle were in the ring together and this was no exception. The two went back and forth and Angle thought he had eliminated his rival and began to celebrate. But Triple H had hung on to the ropes and hit the Olympic gold medalist with a knee smash and then executed one of the most perfect clotheslines I’ve ever seen to pick up the win.
8. Royal Rumble 2000 – The Rock
There may have been a couple of better Royal Rumble matches in the Attitude Era, and we’re certainly getting close to those, but I had a lot of fun with the 2000 edition. The lineup wasn’t as stacked as maybe it could have been, as there were some injuries and all, but there were a lot of bit players from the era involved here, one of which was Hall of Famer Rikishi, who owned the beginning of this match by eliminating the first seven entrants by himself after entering the match in the five spot.
Notably absent from this Rumble was Stone Cold Steve Austin, who was out with an injury, and without the two-time winner in the match, the path was finally clear for The Rock to take his place at the top of the company. But it wasn’t without a little controversy.
After an entertaining buildup that saw Chyna enter once again and eliminate Chris Jericho, and a very entertaining spot with Road Dogg clinging to the bottom rope before being eliminated by Billy Gunn of all people, we got down to business with The Rock and Big Show, who were the last two men in the ring. Oh wait, hang on. I almost forgot about Kaientai. You remember Funaki and Taka, don’t you? What you may not remember is that they weren’t even in this match and yet they were both still eliminated a number of times after they just kept trying to insert themselves. And it was really funny until Big Boss Man and Gangrel tossed Taka out and he broke his face on the floor, which I guess in hindsight is still pretty funny after you found out he was okay. There was a lot of comedy in this match but that’s what time we were living in. Okay, now down to business.
The Rock and Big Show were a great twosome to finish this match off and what a finish it was. Following a vicious chokeslam, Show went to toss Rock out of the ring but his momentum took him along as well. Rock hung onto the top rope and the giant went tumbling to the floor below. The Rock wins … or does he? It didn’t get a ton of play immediately following the match but replays would later show that Rock’s feet actually hit the floor first and that Big Show should have been the winner. That parlayed into a feud leading into WrestleMania 2000 which would eventually see both men in a Fatal 4-Way match for the title anyway. Still a good time here though with a very hot Madison Square Garden crowd.
7. Royal Rumble 2008 – John Cena
Speaking of a hot Madison Square Garden crowd, New York City was on fire for the 2008 Royal Rumble, which became the host to one of the most shocking returns in WWE history.
You know you’re in for a good night when The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels, who put on a brilliant show as the final two men in the ring the previous year, kick off a Royal Rumble match and NYC got quite a treat in the winter of 2008, even if Hornswoggle has still never been technically eliminated from the match. I really don’t want to go into a whole big thing on that so I’m just going to get it out of the way. He was in the match, helped eliminate The Miz, hid under the ring and when he was about to get smashed by Mark Henry and Big Daddy V, Finlay hit the ring before he was supposed to and got himself disqualified. Hornswoggle took off with him and they just said he was out of the match. I’m calling for Hornswoggle vs. Curtis Axel at some point, everyone.
But outside of that nonsense, this really was a fantastic Royal Rumble match and the two surprise entrants in the middle of the match made for one hell of a nostalgic moment. The crowd roared when Jimmy Snuka entered the match at number 18 but when number 19 turned out to be his longtime rival, Roddy Piper, I thought the roof was going to come off of MSG. The whole thing was about three minutes long but it was worth it. Great moment there.
Mick Foley was the third surprise entrant and it was nice to see him mix it up again with Triple H for a little bit, even though The Game would be the one to toss him out. And I’m sure being in the Rumble at The Garden was a very special thing for Mick. But things are always a little more special in that place, aren’t they?
When things got down to it, it really looked as if Triple H was in the driver’s seat to take his second Royal Rumble coming in at number 29. But John Cena shocked the world by returning from a pectoral injury way earlier than expected and walked out with the title shot. It’s hard to pull of a surprise like that in the internet age but this one was done to perfection.
6. Royal Rumble 1998 – Stone Cold Steve Austin
If you think that the “YES Movement” crowd booed loudly when they didn’t get their way, can you imagine what the live crowd would have sounded like in San Jose had Stone Cold Steve Austin not won the 1998 Royal Rumble?
Yes, knowing who’s going to win sometimes takes the fun out of the Rumble but that wasn’t the case in ’98. Austin was becoming the hottest thing in the wrestling world at the time and there was absolutely no doubt that he was on his way to WrestleMania. But we had a lot of fun on the way to that victory, didn’t we? First of all, the first two men in the ring were Mick Foley and Terry Funk. Funk was doing the Chainsaw Charlie thing at the time and Mick was in his Cactus Jack gear…for the moment anyway. Funk would eliminate Foley after about ten minutes but that’s not the last we’d see of Mick. During that time, The Rock had entered the mix and this match did wonders for him. He’d become one of the top mid-card guys in the business and after just over a year in the company, he’d really made a name for himself and this night would do nothing but help his career.
So we go through some guys and we get to the number 16 entry … and it’s Mick Foley dressed as Mankind. Brilliant. And we all knew where things were going to go from there and we didn’t care back then. It was too much fun. He’d end up eliminating Funk before being tossed out by Goldust — I’m sorry, The Artist Formerly Known as Goldust, after about three minutes. And sure enough, we’d see him back later at number 28 in the Dude Love gear and I still grin every time I watch this one. Absolutely awesome booking. Probably cost a guy or two a spot but we’ll let that slide for the sheer enjoyment.
But this night belonged to Austin and he hit the ring on a mission at number 24, clearing the ring very similarly to what he’d done the year before. Yet, this was so much different. He was on the other side of things now and the crowd was just jacked for this whole thing, and the showdown with The Rock at the end was just icing on the cake.
5. Royal Rumble 2010 – Edge
Seeing as we’re now into the top five Royal Rumble matches in history, can we talk about the final five entrants in 2010? Batista, John Cena, Shawn Michaels, Chris Jericho and Edge. That’s a pretty stacked deck right there.
But it wasn’t just the surprise ending that made the 2010 Royal Rumble great. This one was great from the start, mainly due to the awesomeness of CM Punk, who entered at number three and quickly eliminated both Dolph Ziggler and Evan Bourne before getting on the microphone and delivering one of his amazing promos. Punk was really pushing the whole straight-edge thing at this point in time and he was extremely good here. It may not have been quite at the level as some of the stuff that he’d do a year later but it was still very solid and maybe a bit underrated actually. The Great Khali eventually cut him off but the big man was eliminated shortly thereafter by Beth Phoenix, who became the second woman to ever compete in the Royal Rumble match. Punk was eventually eliminated by Triple H, who put in yet another good Rumble appearance. HBK soon joined his DX running mate and the two would clear the ring before being joined by John Cena, which isn’t a bad threesome to have in the ring at all. And while this match had already been good, it got even better as the storytelling of Shawn Michaels became the highlight of the night.
The year before, Shawn had lost arguably the greatest match in WrestleMania history to The Undertaker and was desperate to get a rematch with his rival. With The Undertaker being champion at the time, Michaels knew that to get back to ‘Mania to face ‘Taker, winning the Royal Rumble was his ticket. He pulled out all the stops, even going as far as giving Sweet Chin Music to Triple H to eliminate his best friend. HBK went about 20 minutes before being eliminated by the number 30 entrant, Batista, and the look on his face was just priceless. You really felt he was in pain as he tried to reenter the match and even kicked referee Charles Robinson before finally exiting. Very well done as usual.
But the night would ultimately belong to Edge, who much like John Cena had done two years earlier returned early from an injury to shock the crowd and win the Royal Rumble. He wasn’t in the match very long so there’s not a ton to discuss but his surprise win was the cherry on top of a fantastic Royal Rumble.
4. Royal Rumble 2007 – The Undertaker
So I’m watching the 2007 Royal Rumble just the other day and before I get to the actual Rumble match itself, I just have to say that I’d forgotten how amazing the Last Man Standing Match between John Cena and Umaga for the WWE title was. Do yourself a favor and go back and watch that. Quite impressive. But that’s not why we’re here, is it?
I always found it a little strange that in all the years he had been in WWE, The Undertaker had never won a Royal Rumble match. He had certainly been in position to on numerous occasions but just hadn’t closed one out. That all changed in 2007 with arguably the best finish in Royal Rumble history. The first half of the match was a bit different, wasn’t it? The inclusion of all the old ECW guys gave it a different feel but it ended up working out. And you just knew that when Sabu pulled out that table from underneath the ring that he’d be the one to go through it, which is exactly what happened. And The Sandman didn’t last long, did he?
The second half of the match was very well done and the final four featured four of the all-time greats. You had Randy Orton and Edge, who were teaming together at the time as Rated RKO, and then you had Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker. Edge and Orton rid the ring of HBK and began to beat down ‘Taker until Shawn got back in the ring and eliminated both men, setting up a classic encounter. Since Michaels’ return to WWE in 2002, these two former rivals really hadn’t done anything together and the crowd knew they were in for something special when they figured out what was happening. And the 10-minute battle between the two legends was something special, which ended with The Undertaker finally getting his Royal Rumble win. These two would open the Rumble the following year.
3. Royal Rumble 2004 – Chris Benoit
While WWE certainly doesn’t want you to remember that Chris Benoit won the 2004 Royal Rumble (as evidenced by the fact that they have no official YouTube video for it), it’s impossible to forget how amazing this match was.
Benoit was out first after being forced into that position by SmackDown GM Paul Heyman (remember when that was a thing) and was joined by a young Randy Orton, who was the Intercontinental Champion at the time, and the two would set a nice pace from the start. This Rumble was full of huge names and more than half the guys in this match either had or would hold a world title at some point. Benoit and Orton would both put on a great show, and after more than half the field had entered, it was only the first two men in the ring that still remained, even surviving a dance from Ernest “The Cat” Miller. Pretty funny moment actually. From there, things got really exciting as the action got furious with some huge names like Kurt Angle, Mick Foley, Christian, Big Show, Chris Jericho, John Cena, Rob Van Dam and the number 30 entrant, Goldberg, getting into the mix. Foley actually wasn’t officially entered in the match but took out Test in the back and was put into the match by Stone Cold Steve Austin, who was doing his RAW Sheriff thing at the time. Mick wasn’t in long as he took Orton and himself out with a running clothesline and the battle on the outside between the two took this budding rivalry to the next level and put Orton on a great track.
The finish was fast and furious as Lesnar, who had defeated Hardcore Holly in a WWE title match earlier in the night, entered and delivered an F5 to Goldberg, with whom he had had words with in the back. Angle was then able to eliminate him, which would set up the dreadful Lesnar vs. Goldberg match at WrestleMania XX. It then turned into the Big Show … well, show as the giant went on a tear, fighting off the group elimination and then eliminated John Cena, RVD, Chris Jericho and Kurt Angle in a very entertaining stretch, leaving just he and Benoit in the ring. I remember watching this and thinking that there was no way they would give Benoit that kind of push, so imagine my surprise when Benoit flipped Show over the top rope for the win. It was quite a shocking moment and even more so when he went on to beat Shawn Michaels and Triple H at WrestleMania XX in one of the greatest Triple Threat matches in history. Benoit set a then-record of 1:01:35 in the match, which would be broken by Rey Mysterio just a couple of years later. And we won’t get into what happened with Benoit a few years after this match. It’s just unfortunate that this Rumble will never get the attention it deserves due to what happened with the winner.
2. Royal Rumble 2001 – Stone Cold Steve Austin
The 2001 Royal Rumble match was the Attitude Era at its best. We had action, we had comedy, we had weirdness. We just got it all that night.
Jeff and Matt Hardy battling it out after eliminating a few guys at the start was extremely entertaining, and while it was a little strange for Drew Carey to be out there watching the brothers eliminate each other, he took himself out of the match after trying to bribe Kane and nearly getting a chokeslam simply for being out there. Other than actually winning the match, which he almost did, this really was Kane’s night. Spending more than 53 minutes in the match, he eliminated a total of 11 men, a record at the time, including an old-school moment when he busted a guitar over the head of Honky Tonk Man before tossing him out, the last of six consecutive entrants to be thrown out by the Big Red Monster. But the man who would spend the second-most time in the match, The Rock, came out at number 13 and things really picked up from there.
Big Show, The Undertaker and Stone Cold Steve Austin would enter a little later on and there was a time that you thought anybody could win this match. Throwing in Triple H’s assault on Austin for costing him an earlier match with Kurt Angle only added to the drama. The Rock had also been assaulted on the outside by Big Show but both were able to recover and make it to the final three. It’s always a good time when you get Austin and The Rock in the ring together and they electrified once again. As the two fought it out near the ropes, Kane nearly threw both of them out, eliminating Rock while Stone Cold held on, setting the stage for the finish. After chokeslamming a bloodied Rattlesnake, Kane grabbed a chair and attempted to hit Austin but ended up getting a Stunner and three huge chair shots before being clotheslined over the top rope, thus giving Stone Cold his third Royal Rumble victory. Good times.
1. Royal Rumble 1992 – Ric Flair
As entertaining as the 2001 edition was, I don’t think there’s any question that even 25 years later, the 1992 Royal Rumble stands as the greatest in WWE history. And that’s not just because the commentary of Bobby “The Brain” Heenan that night may be the best call in the history of the business but it certainly didn’t hurt.
That night was full of stories but none was more important than the fact that ’92 Rumble was the first time ever that the title would be on the line after it was vacated late in 1991 following a series of matches between Hulk Hogan and The Undertaker that also saw Ric Flair get involved. Speaking of Ric Flair, this was his night as he turned in arguably the greatest performance in Royal Rumble history. Sure, there have been guys that have gone longer but I don’t know if anyone has done more in a Rumble match than Flair did that night. Entering at number three, Flair just did what Flair always does and that’s put on a show. But doing it as a cowardly heel takes some real talent and he played the part perfectly and took his opportunities when he had them. It was a brilliant performance.
Hulk Hogan, who had won the previous two years, was the obvious favorite here (and I’m not just talking kayfabe) and he did find himself in what still stands as one of the biggest final fours in history with Flair, Sid Justice and Randy Savage. And quickly on Savage, it’s really funny to listen to the announcers try to explain why he wasn’t out of the match when Macho Man accidentally eliminated himself from the match earlier in the night. But you’re not supposed to remember that.
In any event, this was a star-studded finale and Sid really got over here by eliminating Savage first and then taking out Hulk Hogan, much to the surprise of the live crowd, everyone at home and Hogan himself. Here was Ric Flair playing his role perfectly. As Hogan stayed at ringside, obviously upset with Sid for eliminating him and grabbing his arm, Flair just came up from behind and tossed him out to get the win and the title. It was a perfect ending to a perfect performance, perhaps bettered only by the backstage interview with Mean Gene Okerlund while Hogan and Sid argued in the ring, perhaps talking about why they should be the ones to close out WrestleMania VIII instead of Flair and Savage, which is still a travesty.
And there you have it, every single Royal Rumble match ranked from worst to first. So I asked you earlier and I’ll ask you again. What do you think I got right and what do you think I got wrong? Please feel free to discuss your favorite Royal Rumble matches and moments below and be sure to check in with FanSided all weekend long for all your NXT TakeOver: San Antonio and 2017 Royal Rumble coverage.
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