WWE Royal Rumble: Ranking All 30 Match Winners
Who goes down as the greatest WWE Royal Rumble match winner ever?
The WWE Royal Rumble match is always one of the most anticipated parts of the year. It occurs in January, about 10 weeks before the upcoming WrestleMania event. The winner of this goes on to the Show of Shows to wrestle a World title match. This used to be a guaranteed main event spot in past years, until the brand split got announced in the summer of 2016.
Some of the greatest WWE stars of all time have won the Royal Rumble match, including Stone Cold Steve Austin, Ric Flair, John Cena, and the Rock. Some of their victories were historic, while others had unappealing fallout booking decisions.
Through 29 Royal Rumble matches, there have been 30 winners. Who ranks first? How about last? Which Superstars appear on here multiple times?
Credit: WWE.com
30. Roman Reigns – 2015
Roman Reigns winning the Royal Rumble in 2015 is still fresh in fan’s minds and likely will be for the next handful of years.
There isn’t a big issue here with Reigns being the overall winner because WWE was booking a young star into a main event role, something fans had looked for the company to do throughout the John Cena era. The problem is with everything else.
The road seemed clear for Reigns to win coming into the match. However, the booking of it may have been the worst of them all. He entered in the middle of the bout, which had already seen the Philadelphia crowd implode over Daniel Bryan being eliminated early. Then the Big Dog proceeded to get booed throughout for any little thing he did, until we got to the final four.
In one of the most anticlimactic moments in Royal Rumble history, Reigns stood in the ring with Big Show and Kane, two stars well past their prime, for the chance at headlining WrestleMania 31. He ended up tossing both men over the top rope, spearing Rusev, dumping him, and then celebrating as the audience gave potentially the most negative reaction you will hear anything on WWE programming receive.
Worst of all, WWE found a way to get the Rock booed when he made the save as Show and Kane beat down Reigns. Rusev got more cheers than these two, which should say something about how the fans felt.
It was one of the most poorly booked and bizarre Royal Rumble matches you will ever see. The only thing that slightly holds him up is the WrestleMania 31 match he had with Brock Lesnar.
Photo Courtesy of WWE.com
29. Batista – 2014
When Batista’s WWE return first got hyped up in 2014, there had been some anticipation to see him back. He was never beloved by the WWE fans, but had his fair share of moments over the years, including his run following breaking up from Evolution in 2005.
The Animal would make his first in-ring appearance for WWE in his second stint at the 2014 Royal Rumble match. He entered at No. 28, and for the nearly 15 minutes he was in there, looked absolutely gassed. The majority of this saw him get booed for doing pretty much nothing until the final moments, when he had a stare down with Roman Reigns. Of all bizarre things to happen, there would be a positive chant for Reigns (this came before his singles run outside the Shield).
After a brief back and forth, Batista would look like he needed to drink a gallon of water as he eliminated Reigns over the top rope and claimed the Royal Rumble victory. Like the 2015 match, this seemed like the incredibly predictable move to make, another one that the fans did not want.
From then on, the “Guardians of the Galaxy” star got booed out of every venue, receiving “Boo-tista” chants and having a poor match with Alberto Del Rio at Elimination Chamber 2014. WWE ended up biting the bullet when they turned Batista heel for WrestleMania 30, something that should have happened the night he returned.
To bring back a Superstar in his mid-40’s and plan for him to headline WrestleMania 30 with Randy Orton was a terrible idea. WWE salvaged the situation by getting fan-favorite Daniel Bryan into the main event and eventually win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. If not, we would have seen a headliner that compared to WrestleMania 32.
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28. Vince McMahon – 1999
Vince McMahon and Stone Cold Steve Austin’s feud helped WWE defeat WCW in the ratings war of the late 1990’s, propelling them into the spot as the top wrestling company in the world. These two had classic battles on the microphone and even fought each other in the ring.
However, there was a blip on the radar amidst this landmark program: the 1999 Royal Rumble match. This would see Austin and McMahon enter at No. 1 and 2, respectively, and proceed to last the entire time.
Austin and McMahon being the final two left isn’t the bad part about this, though. They were the focus of the match for the entire hour it lasted, making just about everything else that went on with the other 28 competitors irrelevant. This included the action spilling out of the ring with the Rattlesnake having to overcome the Chairman’s attacks, before eventually going to the ring to finish things off.
In the end, it wouldn’t be Austin, but Mr. McMahon winning the Royal Rumble match. Someone who’s not even supposed to be wrestling. Better yet, McMahon decided to pass up his title shot at WrestleMania, leaving Austin as the new No. 1 contender at WrestleMania in 1999. It made the Man You Have No Chance in Hell Against’s win and the entire Royal Rumble match irrelevant. If anything, we should be talking about Austin having four over-the-top-rope bout wins.
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27. John Cena – 2013
Roman Reigns and Batista winning in 2015 and 2014, respectively, were obvious decisions. Before these two, though, John Cena’s Royal Rumble victory in 2013 looked to be the most predictable one of them all.
At WrestleMania 28, the Rock defeated Cena in what had been thought to be a “once in a lifetime” match. This would not turn out to be the case by the time the 2013 Royal Rumble pay-per-view concluded.
First, the Leader of the Cenation won the Royal Rumble match. Then the Rock defeated CM Punk to win the WWE Championship, setting up what fans had suspected would happen even one year prior. This took the drama and steam out of the 2013 Royal Rumble match, even it was going to set up another big-name bout for the main event of WrestleMania. When that happens with the Rumble, as evidenced by 2014 and 2015, it can make the match boring and lose its appeal.
However, based on the other members of the final four of that match—Sheamus, Dolph Ziggler, and Ryback—Cena stood out from the pack, even if those three received a push during the spring of 2013. One of those three could have won and received a World Heavyweight Championship opportunity, however, and then went down the path of Cena vs. Rock for the WWE Championship.
25 and 26. Lex Luger/Bret Hart – 1994
Only one time in WWE history has there been co-winners of the Royal Rumble match. It’s probably for good reason too since this kind of finish is about anti-climatic as it can get. This would be the case in 1994 when both Lex Luger and Bret Hart won the Royal Rumble.
Luger had been in the middle of his push as the next Hulk Hogan. He would be dressed up as this Patriotic good guy who was all about the red, white and blue and main evented just about everything. However, Luger never connected with the fans on the level that not just Hogan, but other “top guys” did.
On the other hand, there was the more popular Hart, who did not don the American colors since he’s Canadian. He went over with the fans for his in-ring prowess and catchphrases like, “The best there is, the best there was, and the best there will ever be.” This also included leading a version of the Hart Foundation in the early 1990’s.
To make it clear that WWE got it wrong with the 1994 Royal Rumble, they had then WWE Champion Yokozuna fight two matches at WrestleMania—one against Luger and the other vs. Hart. The Total Package would get disqualified in his match, while the Hit Man headlined and won the title, making up for the WrestleMania IX controversy. Luger left WWE over one year later for WCW, while Hart was a mainstay until 1997.
If there had been just one winner, it should have been Hart. But WWE’s choice to give both men the Royal Rumble win clouded the 1994 match and created an unnecessary situation.
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24. Alberto Del Rio – 2011
Alberto Del Rio signed with WWE in the summer of 2010 and seemed like the company’s next big international star. They plucked the former Dos Caras out of the Mexican wrestling scene, strapped a rocket to his back, and gave him a significant push into 2011.
However, an issue with both of Del Rio’s WWE stints was his inability to connect with the fans. He had trouble doing this upon arrival with the company, but into 2011 and for the next few years, WWE pushed him as one of the top names.
One of the brightest, if not the brightest spot of Del Rio’s first stint came with a Royal Rumble win in 2011. It was all about making him a big star with the largest Royal Rumble match field ever (40) and eventually a top heel. This decision would flop hard, though.
Del Rio received a World Heavyweight Championship opportunity at WrestleMania 27, losing to Edge in just over 11 minutes. He would receive future title shots, but this would have been the opportunity to pull the trigger on a win. This saw him drop down the totem poll with WWE, despite receiving pay-per-view main event spots, and World title reigns.
There were other candidates to win the Royal Rumble, like Randy Orton or Wade Barrett. The latter would have been an interesting choice to make into a star, as he still had some momentum from his Nexus days. Orton has been a top name for years and if he had won, wouldn’t have been argued with too much.
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23. Jim Duggan – 1988
Jim Duggan won the first-ever Royal Rumble match in 1988. No one knew how significant that match would become over the coming years, especially with there being no WWE Championship match stipulation for WrestleMania yet. There were also just 20 Superstars in the inaugural bout.
When looking back on the match, though, there were better options to win this, like Bret Hart, who went on to dominate the 1990’s in WWE. He could have used this to officially push him into the main event scene as one of the top guys in the company. While Duggan had a significant role during this time, he never rose to an elite stature following the 1988 Royal Rumble win.
One Man Gang, the Ultimate Warrior, and Jake “The Snake” Roberts could have been options as well for the first Rumble. It’s not to say Duggan was a poor choice, but someone else could have been used to get the boost by winning.
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22. Sheamus – 2012
Everything pointed to Chris Jericho winning the Royal Rumble match in 2012, but WWE decided to pull a quick one and have him lose as one of the final two in the bout. Instead, they gave the win to Sheamus in a surprising move. It sounds similar to his Money in the Bank 2015 win when he claimed the briefcase over favorite Roman Reigns.
The other similarity is how quickly the Celtic Warrior won the World title with his guaranteed title shot. He defeated Reigns in 34 seconds at Survivor Series 2015, but that was after the Big Dog wrestled a title match against Dean Ambrose. However, at WrestleMania 28, Sheamus won in 18 seconds by defeating Daniel Bryan for the World Heavyweight Championship.
The positive about this reign would be that it lasted over 200 days. The only gripe is Jericho still went on to challenge for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 28, so why not have him win the Royal Rumble as the more appealing name? Sheamus’ momentum with the fans had dissipated since his 2009 debut, and Y2J always remained a top name. Given all that he did in his WWE career, 2012 could have been the year that he added one of the biggest achievements to his resume.
Instead, the Royal Rumble win got used for one of the shortest WrestleMania matches ever.
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21. Hulk Hogan – 1991
The late 1980’s and into the 90’s would be all about Hulk Hogan in WWE. He started the latter decade with a Royal Rumble win and entered the 1991 match with as much momentum, if not more.
Hogan entered at No. 24 and took out seven competitors, by far the most of anyone in the match; this included Demolition and Greg Valentine. It would eventually result in Hogan standing off against Earthquake and Brian Knobbs, which almost feels like Roman Reigns having to go up against an over-the-hill Big Show and Kane. There’s just no chance either one are going to win. This would be the case with Hogan eliminating Earthquake and Knobbs to claim victory.
Hogan would move on to the main event of WrestleMania 7, challenging Sgt. Slaughter for the WWE Championship. In a 20-minute matchup, the title would change hands and see Hogan stand tall in yet another WrestleMania.
Having HulkaMania run wild in the 1991 Royal Rumble wasn’t a bad thing, but it wasn’t great either. The same page got used for him through the Rumble and into WrestleMania, conquering the anti-American heel and becoming the champion. It doesn’t really stand out when looking back on past Royal Rumble matches, so this heads toward the back of the list.
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20. Big John Studd – 1989
The Royal Rumble’s first winner will always be remembered for “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan’s win in 1988. After that, it would be Big John Studd, whose victory may be one of the most forgettable ones.
Studd’s win in 1989 came before the Royal-Rumble-win-leads-to-a-WrestleMania-main-event-spot era. So, this made the big man’s victory just one to give him momentum heading into WrestleMania season.
Studd mostly stayed quiet after entering the Royal Rumble at No. 27. He fought off some of the remaining Superstars, but waited it out until the final moments. After a brief struggle, Studd threw out both Ted DiBiase and Akeem from the ring to win.
This would be a crowning moment for Studd’s career, one that doesn’t get mentioned often when the Royal Rumble history gets mentioned. It could be due to it not meaning anything toward WrestleMania, so it faded away once Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair started winning these matches.
19. Hulk Hogan – 1990
The first of Hulk Hogan’s Royal Rumble wins would come in 1990, the third year of this match. This would come in a stacked field of WWE Superstars, including Shawn Michaels entering and being disposed of in 12 seconds. Now, he’s one of the greatest stars in the company’s history.
This Royal Rumble would be all about Hogan and the Ultimate Warrior. When the former entered, these two cleared out everyone that had been in the ring, which led to their famous staredown in the middle of the ring. Two of the biggest faces in WWE went face-to-face and battled for the right to win this match. It ended up teasing what would come in the main event of WrestleMania, but Warrior would be eliminated before the final pairing of Hogan and Mr. Perfect.
This setup Hogan vs. Warrior in a title for title match in the WrestleMania main event. In a somewhat surprising twist, Warrior defeated HulkaMania and won both titles to close out the show. It was a rare loss at the Show of Shows for Hogan, as he rarely put anyone over until his second stint with WWE in the early 2000’s.
The win for Hogan came in a fun match, but didn’t have the fulfilled outcome in the end. It doesn’t make him a bad winner by any means, but not a great one, so he lands in the middle of the pack.
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18. Randy Orton – 2009
In 2009, Randy Orton was in the midst of one of his hottest runs with WWE. He ran the Legacy faction with Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase underneath him. Neither of his proteges got off the ground much during this faction’s go-around, but Orton turned a corner as a heel and had plenty of momentum heading into the Royal Rumble match.
After eliminating Triple H, who had just dumped DiBiase and Rhodes over the ropes, Orton tossed his former mentor out of the ring to become the winner. It earned him a WWE Championship opportunity at WrestleMania, which also came against the Game.
Things did not go well for the Viper after his Royal Rumble win, though. He got his title match, but lost during one of the hottest parts of his career to someone nearing the end of his run. WWE would then put the title on Orton just one PPV later at Backlash in a six-man tag team match. If they were going to have the belt change hands just one big show later, why not pull off the title switch at the more important of the two shows?
A strange call hurt Orton’s Royal Rumble win and drops him further on the list than he probably should be.
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17. Edge – 2010
Edge had ruptured his Achilles in 2009 and was thought to have to be sidelined for nearly one year. However, he created one of the most shocking moments in Royal Rumble history by entering the match late and driving through all the remaining competitors. This led to him winning to receive a World title shot at WrestleMania.
This moment was full of emotion for Edge and his fans in 2010. He had still been one of the most popular Superstars on the roster, and received an incredible pop for his return. Few can match the reaction that the WWE Universe gave him, so this made his win feel even grander.
Unfortunately, when looking back on the aftermath, the Rated R Superstar didn’t come out successful. He would lose a World Heavyweight Championship match to Chris Jericho, being the second of four consecutive Royal Rumble winners to lose their title bout at WrestleMania. Three of them were for the World Heavyweight Championship as well, a belt that WWE had deemed below the WWE Title once the brand split ended.
So, Edge’s win made for one helluva moment in 2010. But didn’t follow up with much afterward.
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16. The Rock – 2000
The Rock did plenty in his WWE career to go down as one of the greatest Superstars of all-time. However, he would get passed over for Stone Cold Steve Austin in the main event of WrestleMania 15 and 17 by taking the pinfall in both.
Well, in 2000, the People’s Champ seemed to be on his way there by winning his one and only Royal Rumble match. This moved him into the McMahon family saga of a main event at WrestleMania 2000, pitting him against Triple H, Big Show, and Mick Foley for the WWE Championship.
Calling this decision to have the Rock win isn’t a bad one due to all he did for WWE in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s. This one just wasn’t memorable, though, potentially due to the 2000 Royal Rumble being one that gets lost in the shuffle and from Rocky losing at WrestleMania. He did get his ‘Mania main event win in 2012, which was well past his time as a full-time performer.
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15. Shawn Michaels – 1995
Shawn Michaels would continue to be on the upswing in WWE. He took on a bit of a different role, though, with Diesel (Kevin Nash) as his bodyguard. As always with friendships in WWE, they eventually come to an end, which would be the case with WrestleMania 11.
Before that, there would be the 1995 Royal Rumble match to set this up. It would see Michaels enter first, go the distance, and pull off the famous “skin the cat” rope spot, which saved him from elimination and made for one of the Rumble’s most dramatic moments. The only thing that somewhat dampers this is the one-minute intervals between entrants, which wasn’t one of WWE’s greatest ideas.
This put HBK into the main event against former bodyguard Diesel, who held the WWE Championship head into their match. The seven-footer was one of the main guys of WWE’s lackluster era of the mid-1990’s, and didn’t last long when he bolted for WCW.
The match would see Michaels bring in new bodyguard, Sycho Sid. Given they were the heels going after the much larger babyface, they didn’t stand a great chance. Diesel would get his WrestleMania win and walked out with the title still in hand. This led to a Michaels face turn, and the rest would be history.
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14. Triple H – 2016
Triple H walked into the 2016 Royal Rumble as the favorite, even though he had been gone from WWE TV for a number weeks via a Roman Reigns spear. He then won the WWE World Heavyweight Championship and carried it into WrestleMania 32.
It’s difficult to call Triple H a “bad” winner because of his future hall of fame status and pedigree (no pun intended) with WWE. He brings a presence with him that few others have on camera, and made that WWE World Heavyweight Championship seem important for his two-plus months as champion.
However, the Game was a predictable winner. The path seemed obvious for him to cost Reigns the title, only to have it trade hands via pinfall in the main event of the biggest show of the year. This happened with little drama or theatrics at the Show of Shows, and sent it out on a whimper rather than a high note.
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13. John Cena – 2008
When John Cena tore his pectoral muscle in October, his imminent future seemed to be in jeopardy. A WrestleMania appearance wouldn’t be guaranteed, which would have taken the young star out of the mix of potentially main eventing the biggest show of the year.
Well, to everyone’s disbelief, Cena made an epic return to the Royal Rumble in 2008 as the No. 30 entrant. It stunned the competitors in the ring, including Triple H. This led to them disposing the others out of the ring and having a staredown. After a brief fight, Cena eliminated the Game to cap off his return and claim a spot in a World title match at WrestleMania 24.
The aftermath of the Face That Runs the Place’s Royal Rumble win would see him join the WWE Championship match with Triple H against Randy Orton, the titleholder. In only a 14-minute match, Orton would win. This left Cena without a title win until the end of 2009.
So, would this be a failure of a Royal Rumble victory? Not quite. WWE cashed in on a surprising return and stirred up buzz from the match heading into WrestleMania season. The future result wouldn’t be the best, but the right decision was made here.
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12. Yokozuna – 1993
The early 1990’s could have been dominated by Yokozuna, who emerged as a top heel for WWE. He main evented WrestleMania in 1993 and 1994, having Hulk Hogan in his way for part of this time. To get there, though, he had to go through the 1993 Royal Rumble match.
Yokozuna entered at No. 27 and just destroyed everyone with his sumo wrestler size. He even took out Earthquake, a man who stood in similar stature. Bob Backlund and Randy “Macho Man” Savage would give fans some hope of a face winning, but they were disposed with ease over the ropes to give Yokozuna the victory.
This established Yokozuna for the WWE main event scene, as he went into WrestleMania 9 as the challenger to Bret Hart’s WWE Championship. In a notoriously short main event of just a shade under nine minutes, Mr. Fuji threw salt in the eyes of Hart, who would get pinned moments later to lose his title.
It would seem like a Yokozuna reign had been set up, right? Well, out came Hogan, who checked on the Hit Man. Fuji ended up challenging the Hulkster to face his client in a title match right there and then. Hogan would accept, but Fuji accidentally threw salt into Yokozuna’s eyes, causing the leg drop and successful pin in just 22 seconds. It put a damper on the WrestleMania season run for the 2012 Hall of Famer, but he regained the belt back just a few months later.
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11. Brock Lesnar – 2003
The moment Brock Lesnar debuted after WrestleMania 18, he got pushed to the moon. Within four months, he was main eventing SummerSlam for the WWE Undisputed Championship and defeated the Rock. Few Superstars have ever done this, much less within six months of debuting.
Well, coming into the 2003 Royal Rumble match, Lesnar was one of the favorites, if not the guy to win it all. He had the momentum of his rookie year going for him, plus a face turn after Paul Heyman defected away. This made the decision somewhat obvious to put Lesnar over the likes of Undertaker, Kane, Batista, and others.
The momentum carried the Next Big Thing into the WrestleMania 19 main event against Kurt Angle. This saw the infamous failed shooting star press, which could have broken Lesnar’s neck. However, he still beat Angle for the WWE Championship and had a reign that lasted through the spring.
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10. Triple H – 2002
Triple H missed almost one year of action due to his quad pretty much being torn off the bone, effectively ending the McMahon-Helmsley storyline on WWE TV. His career nearly ended too, but in early January 2002, the Game made his return as a babyface, something he had barely touched since his time in D-Generation X.
By the time the 2002 Royal Rumble came up, Triple H carried his red-hot momentum into the show and became a favorite to win. It only helped that he entered near the end of the match too, and ended up last eliminating Kurt Angle to advance to the WrestleMania 18 main event.
The Cerebral Assassin would go on to face Chris Jericho for the Undisputed Championship, having a good match and getting the win. This title reign seemed like it could last for a while; then came Hulk Hogan’s full-time return to WWE. So, they had the belt dropped just one month after WrestleMania.
If there had been a longer title reign out of Triple H, he could have climbed a few spots higher on the list. He cracks the top 10 for his big return after a career-threatening injury and winning the main event of WrestleMania 18.
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9. Stone Cold Steve Austin – 1998
Stone Cold Steve Austin won three Royal Rumble matches, all of which mark high among the all-time greatest winners of this classic bout. The first would come in 1997, and the last came in 2001. Sandwiched in between is his second win, which would go down in 1998.
Austin came off a historic 1997—he turned face after wrestling Bret Hart at WrestleMania 13 and worked toward a feud with Mr. McMahon, pulling the WWE Chairman off commentary in the process for good. This worked in the Beer-Drinking Superstar’s favor heading into 1998, which made him a favorite to win the Royal Rumble match for the second consecutive year.
However, this time around, Austin had to work through a career-threatening neck injury that he received via a piledriver. This saw his head get spiked directly into the mat, causing damage.
This wouldn’t stop the momentum of Stone Cold, however, as he cruised to the win. This slid him into the main event of WrestleMania for the first time, going head-to-head with Shawn Michaels for the WWE Championship. The title would change hands as HBK left the ring for a few years to recover from what had been thought to be a career-ending back injury.
Austin was the obvious winner here due to the path he had been on. That doesn’t make him a poor decision to win, though, as it vaulted a fan-favorite to the main event scene and continued WWE’s momentum in the late 1990’s.
8. Chris Benoit – 2004
Chris Benoit, despite being stricken from the WWE record books, had one of the greatest Royal Rumble performances ever. What he did pushed him into the main event scene, something he climbed through the ranks of WWE’s roster to do.
Benoit entered the 2004 Royal Rumble match at No. 1 and played the role of survivor throughout, dodging every big-name Superstar that came after him. He would end up surviving for over one hour to claim the victory and move on to headlining WrestleMania 20 at Madison Square Garden. This saw him defeat two of WWE’s all-time greatest stars, Triple H and Shawn Michaels, in the main event for the World Heavyweight Championship.
This permanently placed the Rabid Wolverine into WWE’s main event scene, which automatically made him a star. It helped that the fans were behind him too, something that started with his in-ring work and not looking like your typical WWE Superstar. Of course, things have changed since then, but Benoit had once been one of the most popular members of the roster.
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7. Rey Mysterio – 2006
The friendship between Rey Mysterio and Eddie Guerrero was well-known on WWE programming, and even more so following the latter man’s death in November 2005. This played into Royal Rumble season, with the storyline focused around Mysterio, and his quest to make Guerrero and family (Chavo and Vickie) proud.
To do this, Mysterio had to enter the 2006 Royal Rumble match at No. 2, a spot that few other Superstars had won this spectacle from (if you’re counting No. 1 since they enter at the same time). A majority of this would see Mysterio battle to survive and linger around the ring until the very end, when it looked like he had a realistic chance of winning. To do this, he had to go through Triple H, who followed him around until the final three.
When Mysterio won, he received a grand celebration for not only being the greatest Iron Man of all time (1:02:12), but winning in honor of Guerrero. Emotions were at an all time high, so WWE cashed in on them
At WrestleMania 22, Mysterio followed this up with a World Heavyweight Championship win over Randy Orton and 2017 WWE Hall of Famer, Kurt Angle. It would cap off the Luchador’s best run in WWE and send him into main event status.
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6. Batista – 2005
The Evolution stable would see both Randy Orton and Batista break out into successful singles stars. This left Triple H and Ric Flair in the dust, for the time being, with the stable. They eventually went back to having regular and successful singles careers, but the careers of the younger members of Evolution took off, especially Batista’s in 2005.
Batista would steadily rise as a fan-favorite (until his face turn went further) and the beginning of him becoming a good guy. He showed enough to go solo, including the in-ring ability and his character coming along within the group, so a breakout seemed on the horizon.
This all came together with the 2005 Royal Rumble match. The Animal joined the match at No. 28 and had a short but successful run. He would have a controversial finish with John Cena, as when they were the final two in the match, they both fell over the ropes and landed on the floor simultaneously. After a match restart, Batista eliminated Cena to become the winner.
From there, we would see Batista officially turn on Evolution by deciding to take the World Heavyweight Championship opportunity at WrestleMania, the belt held by Triple H. This infuriated the Game, so much that he and Batista fought on Raw, officially leading to the latter’s face turn. It culminated with the protege defeating the mentor in the WrestleMania headliner, creating a new main event star in the process for WWE.
5. Shawn Michaels – 1996
In 1996, Shawn Michaels looked to make up for his 1995 Royal Rumble win, which, as noted, did not go smoothly in the aftermath. So, WWE gave HBK a chance to redeem last year’s booking decisions.
Instead of entering at No. 1, Michaels came out at No. 18 and dominated the Superstars already in the ring. He mostly notably eliminated both Vader and Yokozuna, who behemoths of wrestlers, over the top rope. This eventually led to a final four with him, Diesel, British Bulldog, and Kana. It would be Michaels and Diesel for a brief second, as the future Kevin Nash took a superkick and fell over the ropes to give his former employer the win.
This time around, WWE made good of their 1995 blunder by sticking Michaels and Bret Hart in a 60-minute Iron Man match for the WWE Championship. This would main event, unlike the year prior when NFL legend Lawrence Taylor and Bam Bam Bigelow closed out the show.
The other stark difference would be the Showstopper getting his shining moment with a title win in the headlining match of WWE’s biggest show. He took Hart to sudden death, making the match cross the one hour mark and getting the only pinfall of the match.
It would be the WrestleMania moment that fans looked back on Michaels’ career for over a decade, until WrestleMania 25 and 26 came around, which changed the game.
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4. The Undertaker – 2007
The Undertaker has accomplished just about everything in his WWE career—the most famous streak in company history, World title wins, WrestleMania main events, Hell in a Cell matches, running factions, and having classic storylines with a handful of WWE legends. Heading into 2007, one thing he had never done was win the Royal Rumble match. It would be one of the last major accolades that the Dead Man could pull off during his full-time WWE run, which would put him into the WrestleMania main event.
Well, WWE did just that in 2007.
At the No. 30 spot, a position where no Superstar had won the Royal Rumble, Undertaker entered and destroyed a handful of competitors in the ring. This led to a loaded standoff between him, Edge, Randy Orton, and Shawn Michaels. HBK quickly took out Rated RKO and stood face-to-face with the Dead Man, with the latter eventually getting the win.
Undertaker would move on to WrestleMania 23, but did not main event. He faced Batista during the middle of the show for the World Heavyweight Championship and won. Michaels and John Cena closed the show for the WWE Title.
This win gave the Undertaker the latest and one of his greatest accolades. He won a title with this too, adding to his extended resume. Plus, being the first winner from the No. 30 spot showed that there is an advantage to coming out at the last spot, something WWE had never used in past booking of the match.
3. Stone Cold Steve Austin – 2001
The 2001 Royal Rumble match set up potentially one of the greatest WrestleMania main events of all-time. Before we get there, though, Steve Austin’s victory is worth noting.
Austin had been coming off nearly one year away from the ring due to complications with his neck injury. To write him off, Triple H and Rikishi teamed to run him over with a car in the parking lot. So, Stone Cold eyed revenge and battled Rikishi when he entered the match.
The highlight of this would be a huge tease of the WrestleMania 17 main event between Austin and the Rock. As two of the final three in the ring, they had a crowd-loving staredown as they met in the center of the squared circle and brawled. Kane them took out the People’s Champion, and SCSA finished things off with the final elimination to win. Little did anyone know that this would set up the match and the epic double-turn with Austin aligning with Vince McMahon.
Little did anyone know that this would set up the match and the epic double-turn with Austin aligning with Vince McMahon, which is why this makes the 2001 winner one of the best ever. While the Hellraiser didn’t do much in the Royal Rumble match, he did enough to win and earn a spot in maybe the greatest WrestleMania ever.
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2. Ric Flair – 1992
Flair entered the 1992 Royal Rumble match at the No. 3 overall spot. He wouldn’t be going for just a win or the not-yet guaranteed WrestleMania main event, but the vacant WWE Championship. It would be the first time this belt got put on the line in the Rumble until 2016, which saw Roman Reigns become the first person to ever defend it.
Upon entry, Flair went after anybody he could chop in the ring, including the Undertaker. This led to him getting mauled by almost anyone that approached him, but didn’t get eliminated throughout the process.
The win for the Limousine-riding Superstar would be somewhat fluky. Hulk Hogan and Sycho Sid both pretty much eliminated each other, with Flair sneaking up from behind to assist in this to become the last man standing and the new WWE Champion.
What wouldn’t make sense about this is the WrestleMania plans. WWE chose to not to put Flair into the main event, but had him in the middle of the show with Randy Savage. Hogan and Sid took over the headliner spot in one of the strangest decisions of the HulkaMania era. Flair even lost the title, putting an end to his short reign. He regained it months later, but had a forgettable WWE run before going to WCW.
WWE.com
1. Stone Cold Steve Austin – 1997
Stone Cold Steve Austin rose to WWE fame with his classic “Austin 3:16” promo during the 1996 King of the Ring event. This gave him all kinds of momentum with the fans and led to him becoming arguably the company’s greatest Superstar ever.
In the middle of the journey, Austin would compete at the 1997 Royal Rumble match. He entered No. 5 and was an instant favorite to win. He dominated for the 45 minutes he stood in the ring, showboating in the process by pointing to the “watch” on his wrist every time he eliminated someone.
What put over the Rattlesnake was setting the single match record for eliminations in a Royal Rumble. He eliminated 10 Superstars. Kane would break this four years later with 11, and Roman Reigns topped this mark in 2014 with 12.
This jumpstarted his push into WrestleMania season and turned him into the top babyface that the Attitude Era fans exploded for as the 1990’s closed. It continued with the double-turn with Bret Hart at WrestleMania 13, and pushed him into superstardom, making this one of the best Royal Rumble winners ever for the 1997 performance.
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