I’ve always loved the Royal Rumble match, peeps. Often it’s my most anticipated WWE pay per view of the year other than maybe WrestleMania. This love of Rumble matches goes so deep that I decided to power through each Rumble match back to back for your reading pleasure. It was tough at times, but here we are with THE list of Royal Rumble matches.
1. 1998
This was when I was falling in love with pro wrestling so it’ll always be #1 in my heart. This may be the best Rumble match solely for Terry Funk’s performance as ‘Chainsaw Charlie.’ He’s suplexed through a couple of chairs, eats a piledriver from 8-ball and is eliminated by Mankind after eliminating Cactus Jack earlier in the match. Dude Love would enter later in the night. We also get Jim Ross calling Cornette “a stain on the underwear of life.” That’s A+ stuff. Once we settle in it’s Austin vs. Everybody y’all! I still remember how hype I got seeing everyone waiting for Austin only for him to sneak in through the crowd.
#1-Cactus Jack
#30-Vader
Most eliminations: Austin with seven
Longest Time: The Rock went nearly 52 minutes
Winner: Stone Cold Steve Austin (#24)
Final Four: Austin, Rock, Faarooq and Dude Love
Other highlights: Owen Hart eliminating Jeff Jarrett mid strut, The Rock hilariously eliminating Faarooq, Vader fucking Honky Tonk Man up.
2. 2001
The Rumble match that Stone Cold wins while absolutely gushing. Also, the time Drew Carey showed up only to quickly eliminate himself rather than dealing with Kane. Not a dumb move by any means. We had a couple of fun moments like Big Show returning from injury to fuck shit up for a minute. He was eliminated by the Rock’s spit slap which cracked me up on a rewatch. There is also an appearance from Rollin’ Taker which I am always here for. As mentioned, Austin is attacked by Triple H and bleeds all over the damn place before squaring off with Rock in one of the most badass Rumble moments ever.
#1- Jeff Hardy
#30- Rikishi
Most eliminations: Kane with 11
Longest Time: Kane going nearly 54 minutes
Winner: ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin (#27)
Final Four: Austin, Kane, Rock and Billy Gunn
Other highlights: Kane fucks up Honky Tonk Man with his own guitar, mo fucking Haku showing up, Billy Gunn being in the final four.
3. 1992
Ric ‘Fuckin’ Flair. That’s what this Rumble match comes down to. Yeah, Hulk Hogan screwed Sid Justice but Ric Flair did what was necessary to be in that spot. Flair doing whatever is necessary as usual peeps. Talent wise, this is a cool year as we have young ‘legends’ like Shawn and Taker mixing it up with guys like Flair and Hogan.
#1- The British Bulldog
#30- The Warlord
Most Eliminations: Sid Justice with 6
Longest Time: Ric Flair goes just over an hour
Winner: Ric Flair (#3)
Final Four: Flair, Sid Justice, Hogan and Randy Savage
Other highlights: Haku with a piledriver on Bulldog, Super young Shawn Michaels going at it with Flair, Jake Roberts/ Roddy/ Flair having some fun exchange, Savage eliminating himself to get at Jake only to re-enter.
4. 1997
That time Stone Cold screwed Bret! Austin dominates the match only to be eliminated late. The refs miss it thanks to Terry Funk and Mankind scrapping at ringside which allows Austin to sneak back in and eliminate The Hitman. I can’t tell you how much I loved this story. Between Austin’s reaction to Hart entering the Rumble to how we finished I was hooked.
#1- Crush
#30- Undertaker
Most Eliminations: Austin with 10
Longest time: Austin at over 45 minutes
Winner: ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin (#5)
Final five: Austin, Brett, Undertaker, ‘Fake’ Diesel and Vader
Other highlights: Mil Mascaras eliminating himself from the top rope, ‘Fake’ Diesel going almost eighteen minutes whereas ‘Fake’ Razor goes about seventeen seconds.
5. 2008
Big Match John returning at #30 is one of my favorite Rumble moments ever. Thankfully, this match features a lot of really fun moments to go along with the huge return. The Taker/HBK start, leading to Shawn sneakily trying to eliminate Taker a few times was great. Snuka/Roddy entering back to back with everyone in the ring pausing to watch the two go at it is another standout moment for me. Batista/Cena/HHH was a perfect final three for this year eventually leading us to Cena plopping Hunter over the top with an F.U.
#1- The Undertaker
#30- John Cena
Most Eliminations: HHH with 6
Longest Time: Batista at almost 38 minutes
Winner: Cena (#30)
Final Four: Cena, HHH, Batista, Kane
Other highlights: Michael Buffer getting us going, Tommy Dreamer getting a chant from the MSG faithful, Taker eating Snuka headbutts.
6. 2004
It’s always tough/weird talking about Chris Benoit but I have this match in the list. I remember being so sure Cena was going to win that night but wasn’t upset at all with the eventual winner. The Iron Man story told here is next level with a bunch of random, fun shit along the way. For one thing, Scott Steiner shows up with a ’69’ decal on his trunks. There’s an Ernest ‘The Cat’ Miller appearance that consists mainly of dancing. Goldberg does what he do until a Brock run in. Mick Foley and Randy Orton beat the shit out of each other after Mick eliminated the pair. All of this before a great back and forth between the final four.
#1- Chris Benoit
#30- Goldberg
Most Eliminations: Benoit with 6
Longest Time: Chris Benoit at nearly 1 hour, 2 mins
Winner: Benoit (#1)
Final Four: Benoit, Kurt Angle, Chris Jericho, Big Show
Other highlights: Tajiri, Angle/Benoit battling for suplex positioning, A (quick) Hurricane appearance.
7. 2018
Both the men’s and women’s Rumble matches had a great mix of young talent and legends. On the men’s side, it felt like Shinsuke Nakamura was gonna be the guy, but with the final four we ended up with, I still found myself second guessing just for a second. For the ladies, the standout additions included Molly Holly, Lita, and Trish Stratus. All three kicked major ass right there along the top stars of today. The possibility of Ronda Rousey maybe entering made it all the more exciting, leading us to the famous, albeit awkward, finish to the show.
Women’s:
#1- Sasha Banks
#30- Trish Stratus
Most Eliminations: Michelle McCool with 5
Longest Time: Sasha at nearly 55 minutes
Winner: Asuka (#25)
Final Four: Asuka, Nikki Bella, Brie Bella, Sasha Banks
Other highlights: Lita saults Sasha/Becky, Everyone teaming up on Nikki Bella, Trish Stratus y’all, Ember Moon is a G.
Men’s:
#1- Rusev
#30- Dolph Ziggler
Most Eliminations: Finn/Roman tied with 4
Longest Time: Finn Balor goes over 57 minutes
Winner: Shinsuke Nakamura (#14)
Final Four: Shinsuke, Finn, Roman, Cena
Other highlights: Sheamus being eliminated by Heath Slater, Kofi being saved from elimination by a pancake platter, Everyone in the ring attacking Cena, a Hurricane sighting, Roman eliminating Seth, New Gen vs. Old Gen stare down.
8. 2010
EDGE! Another solid Rumble highlighted by a top notch return. Edge hit the ring like a man possessed en route to winning the whole shebang with a Cena elimination. 2010 is also the year of CM Punk’s sermons in between eliminations which I was/am a huge fan of.
#1- Dolph Ziggler
#30- Batista
Most Eliminations: Shawn Michaels
Longest Time: John Cena just over 27 minutes
Winner: Edge (29)
Final Four: Edge, John Cena, Batista, Shawn Michaels
Other highlights: Beth eliminating Khali, Shawn eliminating HHH, So, so much young talent including Cody Rhodes, Drew McIntyre and Kofi Kingston.
9. 2002
The return of The Game! Another match that I have so many emotions tied up in thanks to that insane pop HHH got. Man, I was so excited to have that man back in the ring. There’s plenty of other fun stuff like The Hurricane going for a double chokeslam on Austin/HHH before being dumped. Another highlight was Stone Cold eliminating Christian and Chuck only to bring them back in the ring for stunners.
#1- Rikishi
#30- Booker T
Most Eliminations: Taker/Austin tied with 7
Longest Time: Austin going nearly 27 minutes
Winner: HHH
Final Four: HHH, Austin, Mr. Perfect, Kurt Angle)
Other highlights: Fucking Maven, The Godfather had hella hoes, Mr. Perfect and Kurt Angle exchanging.
10. 2016
I didn’t love the main story going into this Rumble match but this ended up being a lot of fun. We got AJ Styles making his debut, R-Truth getting his matches confused and bringing in a ladder, Big E catching Kofi and continuation of Sami/KO. Looking back this also featured a damn impressive list of talent.
#1 – Roman Reigns
#30 – HHH
Most Eliminations: Roman/Braun tied with 5
Longest Time: Roman goes just under an hour
Winner: HHH (#30)
Final Four: HHH, Dean, Roman, Sheamus
Other highlights: Braun Strowman bodyslams Mark Henry with ease, a Stardust appearance, KO eliminating AJ then throwing down with Sami.
John Mosley is the independent wrestling and TV aficionado of the SoBros Network. He graduated from ETSU with a degree in Radio, TV and Film along with a minor in Film Studies. Since graduating he’s done pretty much nothing but watch, film, edit or commentate for local wrestling promotions and is the current color commentator for Resolute Wrestling. #Preds #Titans #DefendOrVacateConor
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