Royal Rumble

Royal Rumble

The current Royal Rumble logo, first used in 2015

The 2017 Royal Rumble logo
Information
Created by Pat Patterson
Promotion(s) WWE
Brand(s) Raw & SmackDown (2003–2011, 2017–present)
ECW (2007–2010)
First event Royal Rumble (1988)
Signature match types Royal Rumble match

The Royal Rumble is a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event, produced every January by professional wrestling promotion WWE.[1] The event is named after the Royal Rumble match, a Battle royal match whose participants enter at timed intervals.[2]

With the exception of the initial Royal Rumble event in 1988, which was shown as a television special on USA Network, the Royal Rumble has been shown on pay-per-view (first in 1989) and is one of WWE's "Big Four", along with WrestleMania, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series.[3] The Royal Rumble is considered one of WWE's most popular pay-per-view events.[4]

History

Event

The Royal Rumble is a pay-per-view consisting of the Royal Rumble match, title matches, and various other matches. The first Royal Rumble took place on January 24, 1988, and was broadcast live on the USA Network.[5] The following year, the event started to be broadcast on pay-per-view[6] and thus became one of WWE's "big four" pay-per-views, along with WrestleMania, Survivor Series, and SummerSlam.[7]

The Royal Rumble match is usually located at the top of the card, though there have been exceptions such as the 1988, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2006, and 2013 events.[8] Due to the Rumble match taking up a large amount of time (most Rumble matches last roughly one hour), the Rumble event tends to have a smaller card than most other pay-per-view events, which routinely have six to eight matches per card. The 2008 Royal Rumble was the first WWE pay-per-view to be available in high-definition.[9]

Match

The Royal Rumble is based on the classic Battle Royal match, in which a number of wrestlers (usually 30) aim at eliminating their competitors by tossing them over the top rope, with both feet touching the floor.[1][2][10] The winner of the event is the last wrestler remaining after all others have been eliminated.[1][4] According to Hornswoggle, who worked for WWE from 2006 until 2016 and participated in two Rumbles, participants may learn their eliminations by knowing the two wrestlers who are eliminated before them and which wrestlers are entering the Royal Rumble in between their elimination.[11]

The Royal Rumble differs from the classical Battle Royal as the contestants do not enter the ring at the same time but instead are assigned entry numbers, usually via a lottery, although desirable spots are occasionally assigned by other means, the most common being winning a match. This lottery is usually staged right before the event begins.[1] The match begins with the two wrestlers who have drawn entry numbers one and two, with the remaining wrestlers entering the ring at regular timed intervals, either 90 seconds or two minutes, according to their entry number.[1] This format is credited to Pat Patterson.[12] To date, only four men who have been one of the starting wrestlers have won the Royal Rumble: Shawn Michaels, Vince McMahon, Chris Benoit and Rey Mysterio. The most common number to win is number 27.

Royal Rumble match in 2010

The Royal Rumble match commonly involves 30 wrestlers and usually lasts an hour, with the longest match, at the 2011 event, lasting over one hour and nine minutes of a three-hour pay-per-view.[13] However, the first match, contested in 1988, involved only 20 men,[14] and lasted 33 minutes of the two-hour broadcast.[13] The 2011 Royal Rumble had a 40-man field,[15] out of whom Alberto Del Rio was victorious.

Steve Austin holds the current record for most Royal Rumble match wins, with three.[13]

The match has no stipulations or rules other than that elimination must occur by a participant being placed over the top rope and both feet touching the floor. A wrestler who only touches the floor with one foot is not eliminated from the match, a rule which greatly affected the 1995 match, allowing Shawn Michaels to re-enter the ring and win the match.[16] Subsequently, a wrestler who exits the ring without going over the top rope is not eliminated from the contest. For example, during the 1999 match, both Vince McMahon and Steve Austin left the ring, only to return later in the match.[17] In the 1994 match, the last two participants, Bret Hart and Lex Luger, were declared co-winners when it was decided that both of their feet touched the floor at exactly the same time.[18] A similar situation occurred in the 2005 match. However, the match was instead restarted after Batista and John Cena eliminated each other at the same time; Batista eliminated Cena afterwards to win the match.[19] Though various referees are charged with observing the match, some eliminations have gone unnoticed to allow the eliminated participants to sneak back into the ring to continue. Steve Austin was able to win in this way during the 1997 match after re-entering following an unacknowledged elimination and eventually tossed Bret Hart, who was the last legal wrestler in the ring, over the top.[20]

Although the vast majority of eliminations are caused by active participants, eliminations caused by other means have occurred, and have been ruled legitimate, including self-eliminations (such as Andre the Giant jumping out of the ring after seeing a snake in 1989, Kane eliminating himself in 1999, and Drew Carey eliminating himself in 2001; however, Randy Savage's jump over the top rope in 1992 was not ruled as self-elimination), elimination from previously-eliminated participants (such as The Undertaker eliminating Maven in 2002, Kurt Angle eliminating Shawn Michaels in 2005, Kane eliminating CM Punk in 2014, and The Wyatt Family eliminating Brock Lesnar in 2016), and elimination from non-participants (such as Brock Lesnar eliminating Goldberg in 2004, Shane McMahon eliminating Shawn Michaels in 2006, and The Miz eliminating John Cena in 2011). Furthermore, if an injured wrestler is taken away by medical staff, he can return to the match as long as the match is still ongoing (such as Steve Austin in 1999 or Roman Reigns in 2016), but if the match ends without the injured wrestler returning, he is deemed eliminated (such as Scotty 2 Hotty in 2005 or Curtis Axel in 2015).

Prize

Since 1993, the winner of the Royal Rumble match is traditionally awarded a title match for WWE's top championship at WrestleMania – presently, there are two top championships, the WWE Championship on SmackDown and the WWE Universal Championship on Raw.[21]

With the brand extension introduced in mid-2002, the 30 entrants from 2003 to 2006 consisted of 15 wrestlers from both the Raw and SmackDown brands. At first, the winner of the match received a shot at their brand's top champion.[22] Starting in 2004, the Rumble winner had the option of challenging any brand's champion. For instance, Chris Benoit switched brands after winning the 2004 Royal Rumble and won the World Heavyweight Championship.[21] From 2007 to 2010, participants from the ECW brand competed along with the Raw and SmackDown brands, with the ECW World Championship added as an option for the winner to challenge for, although no winners ever did.[23] During ECW's participation, the entries for each brand were not evenly divided.[24] The ECW Championship was deactivated in 2010, and the World Heavyweight Championship was unified into the WWE Championship in 2013, leaving the latter as the only title to challenge for until the brand extension returned in July 2016. The winner of the Royal Rumble match now receives a title opportunity for either SmackDown's WWE Championship or Raw's WWE Universal Championship.

WWE's top championship has been booked as on the line during the Royal Rumble match on two occasions. In 1992, the vacant WWF World Heavyweight Championship was contested in the 1992 Royal Rumble match, eventually won by Ric Flair,[25] while in 2016, Roman Reigns was scheduled to defend his WWE World Heavyweight Championship as a participant of that year's Royal Rumble match and was entrant number one. This marked the first time that a reigning champion had to defend his title in the match, which was ultimately won by Triple H, who eliminated Reigns before lastly eliminating Dean Ambrose to win. Reigns would go on to earn a match against Triple H at WrestleMania 32 and won back the title.

From 2001 to 2007, the Royal Rumble match winner had gone on to win a World Championship title at WrestleMania.[13] After winning the 2008 match, John Cena became the first winner to use his championship opportunity at an event (No Way Out 2008) other than WrestleMania.[26] He also became the first since The Rock in 2000 to win the Royal Rumble match but fail to win the title in his championship opportunity.

The Royal Rumble winner may also choose to put his championship opportunity on the line in a match. This was first done in 1996, when Shawn Michaels risked his WrestleMania XII title shot in a match against Owen Hart at In Your House 6. The second time was in 1999, when Stone Cold Steve Austin offered to forfeit his title opportunity to the Big Boss Man, who won third place in the Rumble (Austin was actually the runner-up in that rumble, but the winner, Vince McMahon himself, had voluntarily given up his title opportunity) if McMahon could beat him in a cage match at St. Valentine's Day Massacre: In Your House, which Austin would go on to win. The third time was in 2002, when Kurt Angle convinced Triple H to put his WrestleMania X8 championship spot on the line at No Way Out, a match which Angle won. However, Triple H would later defeat Angle and regain his WrestleMania championship spot. The fourth time was in 2006, when Randy Orton goaded Rey Mysterio into putting his main event spot at WrestleMania 22 on the line at No Way Out, a match which Orton won. Mysterio was eventually reinserted into the main event at WrestleMania, making it a triple threat match, and went on to win the World Heavyweight Championship. On the February 25, 2013, edition of Raw, John Cena successfully defended his WrestleMania 29 WWE Championship opportunity in a match against CM Punk. On February 22, 2015, at Fastlane, Roman Reigns defended his WrestleMania 31 WWE World Heavyweight Championship opportunity against Daniel Bryan.

In 2000, The Rock was declared the victor, as the storyline intended. However, it was later revealed that his feet had actually touched before those of The Big Show. A singles match was held at No Way Out, the event following the Royal Rumble, to determine who received the Wrestlemania title shot against the reigning champion Triple H. Big Show won with the help of Shane McMahon. Rock then defeated Big Show in a rematch in March on Raw with the help of Vince McMahon, which earned him a title shot and converted the match at WrestleMania into a triple-threat that was later made a four-way match when Linda McMahon inserted the recently retired Mick Foley into the match.

Non-PPV Royal Rumble matches

WWE has booked several Royal Rumble matches outside of the annual Royal Rumble event:

WWE has also booked two Royal Rumble matches which were never televised, both in 1994. The first, a 30-man Royal Rumble on January 17, was won by Owen Hart, last eliminating Fatu. The second, an 18-man Royal Rumble match, took place on May 9 in Osaka, Japan, and was won by The Undertaker, who last eliminated Bam Bam Bigelow.

Dates, venues, and winners

List of Royal Rumble dates, venues, and winners
Event Date City Venue Winner Entry No. Ref. Final match
1 Royal Rumble (1988) January 24, 1988 Hamilton, Ontario Copps Coliseum Duggan, JimJim Duggan 13 [27][28] The Islanders (Haku and Tama) vs. The Young Stallions (Paul Roma and Jim Powers) in a two out of three falls match
2 Royal Rumble (1989) January 15, 1989 Houston, Texas The Summit Studd, Big JohnBig John Studd 27 [29][30] 30-man Royal Rumble match
3 Royal Rumble (1990) January 21, 1990 Orlando, Florida Orlando Arena Hogan, HulkHulk Hogan 25 [31][32] 30-man Royal Rumble match
4 Royal Rumble (1991) January 19, 1991 Miami, Florida Miami Arena 24 [33][34] 30-man Royal Rumble match
5 Royal Rumble (1992) January 19, 1992 Albany, New York Knickerbocker Arena Flair, RicRic Flair 3 [35][36] 30-man Royal Rumble match for the vacant WWF World Heavyweight Championship
6 Royal Rumble (1993) January 24, 1993 Sacramento, California ARCO Arena Yokozuna 27 [37][38] 30-man Royal Rumble match
7 Royal Rumble (1994) January 23, 1994 Providence, Rhode Island Providence Civic Center Bret Hart
Lex Luger		 27
23		 [39][40] 30-man Royal Rumble match
8 Royal Rumble (1995) January 22, 1995 Tampa, Florida USF Sun Dome Michaels, ShawnShawn Michaels 1 [41][42] 30-man Royal Rumble match
9 Royal Rumble (1996) January 21, 1996 Fresno, California Selland Arena 18 [43][44] Bret Hart (c) vs. The Undertaker for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship
10 Royal Rumble (1997) January 19, 1997 San Antonio, Texas Alamodome Stone Cold Steve Austin 5 [45][46] Sycho Sid (c) vs. Shawn Michaels for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship
11 Royal Rumble (1998) January 18, 1998 San Jose, California San Jose Arena 24 [47][48][49] Shawn Michaels (c) vs. The Undertaker in a Casket match for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship
12 Royal Rumble (1999) January 24, 1999 Anaheim, California Arrowhead Pond Mr. McMahon 2 [50][51][52] 30-man Royal Rumble match
13 Royal Rumble (2000) January 23, 2000 New York City, New York Madison Square Garden Rock, TheThe Rock 24 [53][54][55] 30-man Royal Rumble match
14 Royal Rumble (2001) January 21, 2001 New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans Arena Stone Cold Steve Austin 27 [56][57][58] 30-man Royal Rumble match
15 Royal Rumble (2002) January 20, 2002 Atlanta, Georgia Philips Arena Triple H 22 [59][60][61] 30-man Royal Rumble match
16 Royal Rumble (2003) January 19, 2003 Boston, Massachusetts FleetCenter Lesnar, BrockBrock Lesnar 29 [62][63] 30-man Royal Rumble match
17 Royal Rumble (2004) January 25, 2004 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Wachovia Center Chris Benoit 1 [64][65][66] 30-man Royal Rumble match
18 Royal Rumble (2005) January 30, 2005 Fresno, California Save Mart Center Batista 28 [67][68][69] 30-man Royal Rumble match
19 Royal Rumble (2006) January 29, 2006 Miami, Florida American Airlines Arena Mysterio, ReyRey Mysterio 2 [70][71][72] Kurt Angle (c) vs. Mark Henry for the World Heavyweight Championship
20 Royal Rumble (2007) January 28, 2007 San Antonio, Texas AT&T Center Undertaker, TheThe Undertaker 30 [73][74][75] 30-man Royal Rumble match
21 Royal Rumble (2008) January 27, 2008 New York City, New York Madison Square Garden Cena, JohnJohn Cena 30 [76][77][78] 30-man Royal Rumble match
22 Royal Rumble (2009) January 25, 2009 Detroit, Michigan Joe Louis Arena Orton, RandyRandy Orton 8 [79][80] 30-man Royal Rumble match
23 Royal Rumble (2010) January 31, 2010 Atlanta, Georgia Philips Arena Edge 29 [81][82] 30-man Royal Rumble match
24 Royal Rumble (2011) January 30, 2011 Boston, Massachusetts TD Garden Del Rio, AlbertoAlberto Del Rio 38 [83] 40-man Royal Rumble match
25 Royal Rumble (2012) January 29, 2012 St. Louis, Missouri Scottrade Center Sheamus 22 [84][85][86] 30-man Royal Rumble match
26 Royal Rumble (2013) January 27, 2013 Phoenix, Arizona US Airways Center Cena, JohnJohn Cena 19 [87][88][89] CM Punk (c) vs. The Rock for the WWE Championship
27 Royal Rumble (2014) January 26, 2014 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Consol Energy Center Batista 28 [90][91] 30-man Royal Rumble match
28 Royal Rumble (2015) January 25, 2015 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Wells Fargo Center Reigns, RomanRoman Reigns 19 [92] 30-man Royal Rumble match
29 Royal Rumble (2016) January 24, 2016 Orlando, Florida Amway Center Triple H 30 [93][94] 30-man Royal Rumble match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship; reigning champion Roman Reigns defended the title in the match
30 Royal Rumble (2017) January 29, 2017 San Antonio, Texas Alamodome Randy Orton 23 [95] 30-man Royal Rumble match
31 Royal Rumble (2018) January 28, 2018 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Wells Fargo Center TBD TBD [96] TBD

Royal Rumble winner's championship opportunity

Championship Wins Losses Total
WWE Championship 8 7 15
World Heavyweight Championship 5 2 7
Total 13 9 22
     – WrestleMania victory
     – WrestleMania loss
Winner Event Year Championship match
1 Yokozuna WrestleMania IX 1993 Yokozuna defeated Bret Hart for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship.
2 Lex Luger WrestleMania X 1994 Luger lost to Yokozuna by disqualification for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship.
2 Bret Hart WrestleMania X 1994 Hart defeated Yokozuna for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship.
3 Shawn Michaels WrestleMania XI 1995 Michaels lost to Diesel for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship.
4 Shawn Michaels WrestleMania XII 1996 Michaels successfully defended his title shot against Owen Hart at In Your House 6. Michaels went on to defeat Bret Hart for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship.
5 Stone Cold Steve Austin WrestleMania 13 1997 Due to Austin re-entering the Rumble match because the officials did not see when he was thrown out of the ring, WWF President Gorilla Monsoon ruled that he would not be receiving the WrestleMania 13 title shot. A match in February was signed to determine who would receive it, but champion Shawn Michaels' forfeiting the title changed those plans. The WrestleMania main event pitted The Undertaker against Sycho Sid.
6 Stone Cold Steve Austin WrestleMania XIV 1998 Austin defeated Shawn Michaels for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship.
7 Mr. McMahon WrestleMania XV 1999 The following night on Raw Is War, McMahon renounced his title opportunity to challenge then WWF Champion, The Rock, at WrestleMania. WWF Commissioner Shawn Michaels awarded the title opportunity to the runner-up, Stone Cold Steve Austin, who defeated McMahon in a steel cage match to retain his opportunity and would go on to WrestleMania to defeat The Rock for the WWF Championship.
8 The Rock WrestleMania 2000 2000 Video footage later showed Rock's feet hit the floor first before runner-up Big Show. After multiple attempts to name a rightful No. 1 contender failed, both The Rock and Big Show were added to the main event along with Mick Foley to challenge the champion Triple H. Triple H was able to successfully defend the WWF Championship in a four corner elimination match.
9 Stone Cold Steve Austin WrestleMania X-Seven 2001 Austin defeated The Rock in a no disqualification match for the WWF Championship.
10 Triple H WrestleMania X8 2002 Triple H lost his WrestleMania title shot to Kurt Angle at No Way Out. The following night on Raw, Triple H won his title shot back and would defeat Chris Jericho for the Undisputed WWF Championship.
11 Brock Lesnar WrestleMania XIX 2003 Lesnar defeated Kurt Angle for the WWE Championship.
12 Chris Benoit WrestleMania XX 2004 Benoit won the Rumble as a SmackDown! wrestler, but switched to the Raw brand to challenge Triple H for the World Heavyweight Championship. He defeated Triple H and Shawn Michaels in a triple threat match for the World Heavyweight Championship.
13 Batista WrestleMania 21 2005 Batista defeated Triple H for the World Heavyweight Championship.
14 Rey Mysterio WrestleMania 22 2006 Mysterio lost his WrestleMania title shot to Randy Orton at No Way Out. SmackDown! general manager Theodore Long later added Mysterio to the World Heavyweight Championship match at WrestleMania, making it a triple threat match. At WrestleMania 22, Mysterio defeated the champion Kurt Angle and Orton in a triple threat match to win the World Heavyweight Championship.
15 The Undertaker WrestleMania 23 2007 Undertaker defeated Batista for the World Heavyweight Championship.
16 John Cena No Way Out (2008)
WrestleMania XXIV		 2008 Instead of waiting until WrestleMania, Cena used his WWE Championship shot at No Way Out against Randy Orton. Orton remained champion due to being disqualified. A triple threat match for the WWE Championship was held at WrestleMania XXIV, also including Triple H. Orton successfully retained.
17 Randy Orton WrestleMania XXV 2009 Orton lost to Triple H for the WWE Championship.
18 Edge WrestleMania XXVI 2010 Edge lost to Chris Jericho for the World Heavyweight Championship.
19 Alberto Del Rio WrestleMania XXVII 2011 Del Rio lost to Edge for the World Heavyweight Championship.
20 Sheamus WrestleMania XXVIII 2012 Sheamus defeated Daniel Bryan for the World Heavyweight Championship.
21 John Cena WrestleMania 29 2013 On the February 25 episode of Raw, Cena successfully defended his title shot against CM Punk. Cena went on to defeat The Rock for the WWE Championship.
22 Batista WrestleMania XXX 2014 Daniel Bryan defeated Triple H in the opening match, with the winner being inserted into the WWE World Heavyweight Championship match. Bryan defeated the champion Randy Orton and Batista in a triple threat match.
23 Roman Reigns WrestleMania 31 2015 Reigns successfully defended his title shot at Fastlane against Daniel Bryan. Reigns went on to challenge Brock Lesnar for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 31. During the match at WrestleMania, Seth Rollins cashed in his Money in the Bank contract, converting the singles match between Reigns and Lesnar into a triple threat match. Rollins pinned Reigns to win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.
24 Randy Orton WrestleMania 33 2017 Orton stated his intent to challenge for SmackDown's WWE Championship. However, after his fellow Wyatt Family member Bray Wyatt won the championship at Elimination Chamber and retained it on the following SmackDown, Orton said he would not face Wyatt for the title at WrestleMania. On the February 28 episode of SmackDown, Orton reverted his decision and turned on Wyatt; the following week, he defeated AJ Styles, who had become the new number one contender for the title, to re-earn his title shot against Wyatt at WrestleMania. At the event, Orton defeated Wyatt to win the championship

Note: There was no WrestleMania title opportunity for the winners of the 1992 and 2016 Royal Rumble matches. In 1992, Ric Flair won the Royal Rumble match, which was for the vacant WWF World Heavyweight Championship. In 2016, Triple H won the Royal Rumble match in which Roman Reigns defended the WWE World Heavyweight Championship in the match.

Royal Rumble records

Most Rumble victories

No Wrestler Royal Rumble wins Year
1 Stone Cold Steve Austin 3 1997, 1998, 2001
2 Hulk Hogan 2 1990, 1991
Shawn Michaels 1995, 1996
Triple H 2002, 2016
Batista 2005, 2014
John Cena 2008, 2013
Randy Orton 2009, 2017

Longest time spent in a single Royal Rumble

Top 20 individual longest times in a single Royal Rumble match. As of the 2017 Royal Rumble.

No Wrestler Time Year
1 Rey Mysterio 1:02:12 2006[97]
2 Chris Benoit 1:01:31 2004[97]
3 Bob Backlund 1:01:10 1993[97]
4 Triple H 1:00:16 2006
5 Chris Jericho 1:00:13 2017
6 Ric Flair 1:00:02 1992[97]
7 Roman Reigns 59:50 2016
8 Mr. McMahon 56:38 1999
Stone Cold Steve Austin 56:38 1999
10 Kane 53:46 2001
11 Rick Martel 52:17 1991[97]
12 The Rock 51:32 1998
13 Chris Jericho 50:50 2016
14 Triple H 49:58 2009
15 Dolph Ziggler 49:47 2013
16 Rey Mysterio 49:24 2009
17 CM Punk 49:11 2014
18 Seth Rollins 48:31 2014
19 Randy Orton 48:27 2009
20 Triple H 48:04 1996

Note: bold indicates the winner of that year's match

Longest cumulative time spent in Royal Rumbles

Only wrestlers who have spent more than 3 cumulative hours are shown. As of the 2017 Royal Rumble.

No Wrestler Time
1 Chris Jericho 4:56:00 [98]
2 Triple H 4:00:02
3 Shawn Michaels 3:42:30[98]
4 Isaac Yankem/Diesel/Kane 3:38:46
5 Rey Mysterio 3:20:01
6 Cody Rhodes/Stardust 3:08:30

Shortest time spent in a single Royal Rumble

Only wrestlers who spent 10 seconds or less in a single rumble are shown. As of the 2017 Royal Rumble.

No Wrestler Time Year
1 Santino Marella 0:00:01 2009[97]
2 The Warlord 0:00:02 1989[97]
3 Mo 0:00:03 1995[97]
Owen Hart 0:00:03 1995[97]
5 Bushwhacker Luke 0:00:04 1991
Jerry Lawler 0:00:04 1997
Titus O'Neil 0:00:04 2015
8 The Godfather 0:00:05 2013[97]
9 Gillberg 0:00:07 1999
The Miz 0:00:07 2007
Montel Vontavious Porter 0:00:07 2010
12 Tazz 0:00:10 2001

Non-eliminated wrestlers

Several times, wrestlers were drawn to compete in the match but did not actually compete. Their participation is counted as zero seconds, with the exception of #6 Hornswoggle:

  1. In 1991, "Macho King" Randy Savage was drawn 18th, but no-showed due to leaving the building after costing Ultimate Warrior the WWF Championship against Sgt. Slaughter.
  2. In 1994, Bastion Booger was drawn 25th, but no-showed due to suffering food poisoning before the match.
  3. In 1998, Skull was drawn 22nd, but no-showed due to being attacked by Los Boricuas after being mistaken as Stone Cold Steve Austin.
  4. In 2004, Spike Dudley was drawn 13th, but was attacked on the ramp by Kane
  5. In 2005, Scotty 2 Hotty was drawn 15th, but was attacked on the ramp by Muhammad Hassan.
  6. In 2008, Hornswoggle was drawn 9th and eliminated The Miz, however he wasn't brought into the ring until towards the end of the match by Mark Henry and was saved by Finlay and escorted to the back and never reentered the match.
  7. In 2008, Finlay was drawn 27th, but was disqualified after coming out before his number came up and using his shillelagh to help Hornswoggle.
  8. In 2015, Curtis Axel was drawn 6th, but was attacked on the ramp by Erick Rowan.

Most eliminations in a single Royal Rumble

Top wrestlers with most eliminations in a single match. Only wrestlers with at least seven eliminations are shown. As of the 2017 Royal Rumble.

No Wrestler No. of eliminations Year
1 Roman Reigns 12 2014[99]
2 Kane 11 2001[97][100]
3 Hulk Hogan 10 1989[97][101]
4 Stone Cold Steve Austin 10 1997[97][102]
5 Shawn Michaels 8 1995, 1996
Stone Cold Steve Austin 8 1999
7 Hulk Hogan 7 1991
Yokozuna 7 1993
Diesel 7 1994
Stone Cold Steve Austin 7 1998, 2002
Rikishi 7 2000
The Undertaker 7 2002
The Great Khali 7 2007
CM Punk 7 2011
John Cena 7 2011
Braun Strowman 7 2017

Total eliminations in cumulative Royal Rumbles

Top wrestlers with the most eliminations. Only wrestlers with at least 20 eliminations are shown. As of the 2017 Royal Rumble.[103]

No Wrestler No. of eliminations Rumbles entered
1 Isaac Yankem/Kane 44 19[97][104][105]
2 Shawn Michaels 39 12[106][107]
The Undertaker 39 11
4 The Ringmaster/Stone Cold Steve Austin 36 6[97]
5 Triple H 33 9
6 Big Show 31 12
7 Hulk Hogan 27 4
8 Roman Reigns 26 4
9 John Cena 22 7
10 Randy Orton 20 7

Most Rumble appearances

Only wrestlers with at least 9 appearances are shown. As of the 2017 Royal Rumble.

No Wrestler Rumbles entered First Rumble Most recent Rumble
1 Isaac Yankem/Diesel/Kane 19 1996 2016
2 Shawn Michaels 12 1989 2010
Big Show 2000 2017
4 Goldust 11 19972016
The Undertaker 1991 2017
6 The Sultan/Fatu/Rikishi 10 1993 2004
Mark Henry 1998 2017
The Miz 2007 2017
Chris Jericho 2000 2017
10 Mabel/Viscera/Big Daddy V 9 1994 2008
Triple H 1996 2016
K-Kwik/R-Truth 2001 2016
Kofi Kingston 2009 2017
Dolph Ziggler 2009 2017

Female entrants

No Diva Rumbles entered
1 Chyna 2 (1999, 2000)[51][54]
2 Beth Phoenix 1 (2010)[82]
3 Kharma 1 (2012)

Non-PPV Royal Rumble matches

List of Royal Rumble dates, venues, and winners
Event Date City Venue Winner Ref. Note
1 House show January 17, 1994 New York City Madison Square Garden Owen Hart [108] 30-man Royal Rumble
2 House show May 9, 1994 Osaka, Japan Castle Hall The Undertaker [108] 18-man Royal Rumble
3 Raw June 15, 1998 San Antonio, Texas Freeman Coliseum Kane and Mankind [108] 10-tag team Royal Rumble
4 Raw January 11, 1999 Houston, Texas Compaq Center Chyna [108] Corporate Rumble
5 SmackDown January 29, 2004 Washington, D.C. MCI Center Eddie Guerrero [109] 15-man SmackDown! Royal Rumble
6 Raw January 14, 2008 Mobile, Alabama Mobile Civic Center Hornswoggle [110] Mini Royal Rumble; all participants were midget wrestlers
7 Raw January 31, 2011 Providence, Rhode Island Dunkin' Donuts Center Jerry Lawler [111] 7-man Raw Rumble

Video box set

In March 2007, WWE released a complete DVD box set titled Royal Rumble: The Complete Anthology, which showcases every Royal Rumble event in its entirety, up to the 2007 Royal Rumble.[112]

See also

References

General
Specific
  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Specialty Matches: Royal Rumble". WWE. Retrieved 2007-12-03.
  2. 1 2 Waldman, Jon (2005-02-02). "Statistical survival – breaking down the Royal Rumble". SLAM! Wrestling. Retrieved 2007-12-09.
  3. ↑ Ian Hamilton. Wrestling's Sinking Ship: What Happens to an Industry Without Competition (p. 160)
  4. 1 2 Dale Plummer and Nick Tylwalk (2006-01-30). "Mysterio claims Rumble; Cena reigns again". SLAM! Wrestling. Retrieved 2007-12-09.
  5. ↑ Ric Flair. Ric Flair: To Be the Man (p.161)
  6. ↑ "Royal Rumble results". ProWrestlingHistory.com. Retrieved 2007-12-05.
  7. ↑ Brian Shields. Main Event: WWE in the Raging 80s (p.166)
  8. ↑ Dale Plummer and Nick Tylwalk (2007-01-29). "Old guard dominates Rumble". SLAM! Wrestling. Retrieved 2007-12-09.
  9. ↑ Clayton, Cory. "How do I get WWE HD on my HDTV". WWE. Retrieved 2008-01-20.
  10. ↑ "Specialty Matches: Battle Royal". WWE. Retrieved 2007-12-03.
  11. ↑ YouShoot Swoggle (Hornswoggle). Kayfabe Commentaries.
  12. ↑ "Hall of Fame: Pat Patterson". WWE. Archived from the original on 2007-11-24. Retrieved 2007-12-03.
  13. 1 2 3 4 "Royal Rumble: Facts & Figures". WWE. Retrieved 2007-12-30.
  14. ↑ "Royal Rumble 1988: Main Event". WWE. Retrieved 2007-12-03.
  15. ↑ "Royal Rumble 2011". WWE. Retrieved 2014-01-01. For the first time ever, the Royal Rumble Match featured an unprecedented 40 Superstars...
  16. ↑ "Royal Rumble 1995: Main Event". WWE. Retrieved 2007-12-05.
  17. ↑ "Royal Rumble 1999: Main Event". WWE. Retrieved 2007-12-30.
  18. ↑ "Royal Rumble 1994: Main Event". WWE. Retrieved 2007-12-05.
  19. ↑ "Royal Rumble 2005: Main Event". WWE. Retrieved 2007-12-05.
  20. ↑ "Royal Rumble 1997: Main Event". WWE. Retrieved 2007-12-03. Stone Cold was actually eliminated during the match, but the referees failed to detect it, so he sneaked back in.
  21. 1 2 Cohen, Eric (2007-04-25). "The Fate of the Royal Rumble Winner". About.com. Retrieved 2007-12-09.
  22. ↑ Powell, John (2004-01-26). "Benoit wins the 'Rumble'". SLAM! Wrestling. Retrieved 2007-12-23.
  23. ↑ Hoffman, Brett (2007-02-05). "Tickets punched for WrestleMania". WWE. Retrieved 2007-12-05.
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  67. ↑ "Royal Rumble 2005 Results". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-07-08.
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  69. ↑ Plummer, Dale (1998-01-31). "Batista claims the Rumble". SLAM! Sports. Retrieved 2009-07-10.
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  91. ↑ "Royal Rumble 2014 results". Retrieved 10 November 2014.
  92. ↑ Royal Rumble (2015)#Results
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  95. ↑ "Royal Rumble returns to Alamodome for the first time in 20 years". WWE. Retrieved September 30, 2016.
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  101. ↑ "Royal Rumble 1989". WWE. Retrieved 2010-02-10.
  102. ↑ "Royal Rumble 1997". WWE. Retrieved 2010-02-10.
  103. ↑ "5 Things". WWE. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
  104. ↑ "Royal Rumble 2011". www.mondaynightwarriors.com. Retrieved 2010-02-10.
  105. ↑ "The 30 Best Rumbers ever #1 Shawn Michaels". WWE. Retrieved June 9, 2015.
  106. ↑ Waldman, Jon (January 30, 2010). "The Royal Rumble stat pack". SLAM! Wrestling. Retrieved 2010-07-02.
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  112. ↑ "Royal Rumble 2015". Royal Rumble. Retrieved 2015-01-18.

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