Royal Rumble

For the games based on this event, see WWF Royal Rumble and WWF Royal Rumble (2000 video game).

Royal Rumble

The current Royal Rumble logo, first used in 2015

The Royal Rumble Logo since 2016
Information
Created by Pat Patterson
Promotion(s) WWE
Brand(s) Raw
SmackDown
First event Royal Rumble (1988)
Signature match types Royal Rumble match

The Royal Rumble is a professional wrestling pay-per-view 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, championship 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]

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.[11] 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 thirty wrestlers and last about an hour, with the longest match, at the 2002 event, lasting over one hour and nine minutes of an approximately three-hour pay-per-view.[12] However, the first match, contested in 1988, involved only twenty men,[13] and lasted 33 minutes of the two-hour broadcast.[12] The 2011 Royal Rumble had a 40-man field,[14] out of whom Alberto Del Rio was victorious.

Although most 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 jumping 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 and Kane eliminating CM Punk in 2014,The Wyatt Family eliminating Brock Lesnar in 2016) and elimination from non-participants (such as 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), but if the match ends without the injured wrestler returning, he is deemed eliminated (such as Scotty 2 Hotty in 2005).

Royal Rumble matches are generally stipulated to involve no disqualifications. The only exception involved Finlay entering the match before his turn to save Hornswoggle in 2008.

Prize

Since 1993, the winner of the Royal Rumble match is traditionally awarded a title match for WWE's top championship at WrestleMania – as of July 2016, there are two top championships, the WWE World Championship on SmackDown and the WWE Universal Championship on Raw.[15]

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.[16] 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.[15] 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.[17] During ECW's participation, the entries for each brand were not evenly divided.[18] The brand extension returned in July 2016, and the winner of the Royal Rumble match will now receive a title opportunity for either SmackDown's WWE World 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,[19] 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.

From 2001 to 2007, the Royal Rumble match winner had gone on to win a World Championship title at WrestleMania.[12] 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.[20] 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. Main Event
1 Royal Rumble (1988) January 24, 1988 Hamilton, Ontario Copps Coliseum Duggan, JimJim Duggan 13 [21][22] 20-man Royal Rumble match
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 [23][24] 30-man Royal Rumble match
3 Royal Rumble (1990) January 21, 1990 Orlando, Florida Orlando Arena Hogan, HulkHulk Hogan 25 [25][26] 30-man Royal Rumble match
4 Royal Rumble (1991) January 19, 1991 Miami, Florida Miami Arena 24 [27][28] 30-man Royal Rumble match
5 Royal Rumble (1992) January 19, 1992 Albany, New York Knickerbocker Arena Flair, RicRic Flair 3 [29][30] 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 [31][32] 30-man Royal Rumble match
7 Royal Rumble (1994) January 23, 1994 Providence, Rhode Island Providence Civic Center Bret Hart
Lex Luger		 27
23		 [33][34] 30-man Royal Rumble match
8 Royal Rumble (1995) January 22, 1995 Tampa, Florida USF Sun Dome Michaels, ShawnShawn Michaels 1 [35][36] 30-man Royal Rumble match
9 Royal Rumble (1996) January 21, 1996 Fresno, California Selland Arena 18 [37][38] 30-man Royal Rumble match
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 [39][40] 30-man Royal Rumble match
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 [41][42][43] 30-man Royal Rumble match
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 [44][45][46] 30-man Royal Rumble match
13 Royal Rumble (2000) January 23, 2000 New York City, New York Madison Square Garden Rock, TheThe Rock 24 [47][48][49] 30-man Royal Rumble match
14 Royal Rumble (2001) January 21, 2001 New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans Arena Stone Cold Steve Austin 27 [50][51][52] 30-man Royal Rumble match
15 Royal Rumble (2002) January 20, 2002 Atlanta, Georgia Philips Arena Triple H 22 [53][54][55] 30-man Royal Rumble match
16 Royal Rumble (2003) January 19, 2003 Boston, Massachusetts FleetCenter Lesnar, BrockBrock Lesnar 29 [56][57] 30-man Royal Rumble match
17 Royal Rumble (2004) January 25, 2004 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Wachovia Center Chris Benoit 1 [58][59][60] 30-man Royal Rumble match
18 Royal Rumble (2005) January 30, 2005 Fresno, California Save Mart Center Batista 28 [61][62][63] 30-man Royal Rumble match
19 Royal Rumble (2006) January 29, 2006 Miami, Florida American Airlines Arena Mysterio, ReyRey Mysterio 2 [64][65][66] 30-man Royal Rumble match
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 [67][68][69] 30-man Royal Rumble match
21 Royal Rumble (2008) January 27, 2008 New York City, New York Madison Square Garden Cena, JohnJohn Cena 30 [70][71][72] 30-man Royal Rumble match
22 Royal Rumble (2009) January 25, 2009 Detroit, Michigan Joe Louis Arena Orton, RandyRandy Orton 8 [73][74] 30-man Royal Rumble match
23 Royal Rumble (2010) January 31, 2010 Atlanta, Georgia Philips Arena Edge 29 [75][76] 30-man Royal Rumble match
24 Royal Rumble (2011) January 30, 2011 Boston, Massachusetts TD Garden Del Rio, AlbertoAlberto Del Rio 38 [Note 2] [77] 40-man Royal Rumble match
25 Royal Rumble (2012) January 29, 2012 St. Louis, Missouri Scottrade Center Sheamus 22 [78][79][80] 30-man Royal Rumble match
26 Royal Rumble (2013) January 27, 2013 Phoenix, Arizona US Airways Center Cena, JohnJohn Cena 19 [81][82][83] 30-man Royal Rumble match
CM Punk (c) vs. The Rock for the WWE Championship
27 Royal Rumble (2014) January 26, 2014 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Consol Energy Center Batista 28 [84][85] 30-man Royal Rumble match
Randy Orton (c) vs. John Cena for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship
28 Royal Rumble (2015) January 25, 2015 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Wells Fargo Center Reigns, RomanRoman Reigns 19 [86] 30-man Royal Rumble match
Brock Lesnar (c) vs. John Cena vs. Seth Rollins for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship (triple threat match)
29 Royal Rumble (2016) January 24, 2016 Orlando, Florida Amway Center Triple H 30 [87][88] 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 TBD TBD [89] TBD

Royal Rumble winner's championship opportunity

Championship Wins Losses
WWF/WWE Championship – WWF/WWE World (Heavyweight) Championship 8 7
World Heavyweight Championship 5 2
Total 13 9
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 VI. Michaels went on to defeat Bret Hart for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship.
5 Stone Cold Steve Austin WrestleMania 13 1997 On the Raw the night after the Royal Rumble, WWF President Gorilla Monsoon declared that Austin would not be receiving the WWF World Heavyweight title shot due to his having re-entered the match after being tossed out of the ring (which the referees did not see). The WrestleMania championship match saw The Undertaker defeat Sycho Sid for the title.
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 brands 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 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, John Cena successfully defended his WWE 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 Roman 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 Triple H Royal Rumble 2016 In 2016, instead of the winner of the Royal Rumble match receiving a title opportunity at WrestleMania, the match itself was for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship where reigning champion Roman Reigns defended the title and was entrant number one. Reigns was eliminated by Triple H, who then last eliminated Dean Ambrose to win the Royal Rumble and the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Triple H successfully defended his championship against Dean Ambrose at Roadblock, but lost the title to Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 32; Reigns earned the title opportunity by winning a triple threat match also involving Ambrose and Brock Lesnar at Fastlane.

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
3 Shawn Michaels 1995, 1996
4 Triple H 2002, 2016
5 Batista 2005, 2014
6 John Cena 2008, 2013

Longest time spent in a single Royal Rumble

Top 20 individual longest times in a single Royal Rumble match. As of the 2016 Royal Rumble.

No Wrestler Time Year
1 Rey Mysterio 1:02:12 2006[90]
2 Chris Benoit 1:01:31 2004[90]
3 Bob Backlund 1:01:10 1993[90]
4 Triple H 1:00:16 2006
5 Ric Flair 1:00:02 1992[90]
6 Roman Reigns 59:50 2016
7 Mr. McMahon 56:38 1999
8 Stone Cold Steve Austin 56:38 1999
9 Kane 53:46 2001
10 Rick Martel 52:17 1991[90]
11 The Rock 51:32 1998
12 Chris Jericho 50:50 2016
13 Triple H 49:58 2009
14 Dolph Ziggler 49:47 2013
15 Rey Mysterio 49:24 2009
16 CM Punk 49:11 2014
17 Seth Rollins 48:31 2014
18 Randy Orton 48:27 2009
19 Triple H 48:04 1996
20 Chris Jericho 47:53 2013

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 2016 Royal Rumble.

No Wrestler Time
1 Triple H 3:59:37[91]
2 Chris Jericho 3:55:59
3 Shawn Michaels 3:42:30[91]
4 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 2016 Royal Rumble.

No Wrestler Time Year
1 Santino Marella 0:00:01 2009[90]
2 The Warlord 0:00:02 1989[90]
3 Mo 0:00:03 1995[90]
4 Owen Hart 0:00:03 1995[90]
5 Bushwhacker Luke 0:00:04 1991
6 Jerry Lawler 0:00:04 1997
7 Titus O'Neil 0:00:04 2015
8 The Godfather 0:00:05 2013[90]
9 Gillberg 0:00:07 1999
10 The Miz 0:00:07 2007
11 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:

  1. In 1991, "Macho King" Randy Savage was drawn 18th, but no-showed.
  2. In 1994, Bastion Booger was drawn 25th, but no-showed.
  3. In 1998, Skull was drawn 22nd, but no-showed.
  4. In 2004, Spike Dudley was drawn 13th, but was kept from competing by Kane
  5. In 2004, Test was originally entrant #21, but he was found unconscious and replaced by Mick Foley.
  6. In 2005, Scotty 2 Hotty was drawn 15th, but was kept from competing by Muhammad Hassan.
  7. In 2008, Finlay was drawn 27th, but was disqualified after helping Hornswoggle.
  8. In 2015, Curtis Axel was drawn 6th, but was kept from competing by Erick Rowan. Following the event, Axel began referring to himself as "the true winner of the Royal Rumble", as he never had been eliminated, and demanded a shot at WWE World Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 31.[92][93][94]

Most eliminations in a single Royal Rumble

Top wrestlers with most eliminations in a single match. Only wrestlers with at least six eliminations are shown. As of the 2016 Royal Rumble.

No Wrestler No. of eliminations Year
1 Roman Reigns 12 2014
2 Kane 11 2001[90][95]
3 Stone Cold Steve Austin 10 1997[90][96]
4 Hulk Hogan 9 1989[90][97]
5 Shawn Michaels 8 1995, 1996
6 Stone Cold Steve Austin 8 1999
7 Hulk Hogan 7 1991
8 Yokozuna 7 1993
9 Diesel 7 1994
10 Stone Cold Steve Austin 7 1998, 2002
11 Rikishi 7 2000
12 The Undertaker 7 2002
13 The Great Khali 7 2007
14 CM Punk 7 2011
15 John Cena 7 2011
16 One Man Gang 6 1988
17 Hulk Hogan 6 1990
18 The Ultimate Warrior 6 1990
19 Sid Justice 6 1992
20 Lex Luger 6 1994
21 Chris Jericho 6 2003
22 Chris Benoit 6 2004
23 Rey Mysterio 6 2006
24 Triple H 6 2008, 2009
25 Big Show 6 2009
26 Shawn Michaels 6 2010
27 Cody Rhodes 6 2012
28 Bray Wyatt 6 2015
29 Roman Reigns 6 2015
30 Rusev 6 2015

Total eliminations in cumulative Royal Rumbles

Top wrestlers with the most eliminations. Only wrestlers with at least 20 eliminations are shown. As of the 2016 Royal Rumble.[98]

No Wrestler No. of eliminations Rumbles entered
1 Isaac Yankem/Kane 44 19[90][99][100]
2 Shawn Michaels 39 12[101][102]
3 Stone Cold Steve Austin 36 6[90]
4 The Undertaker 35 10
5 Triple H 33 9
6 Big Show 31 11
7 Hulk Hogan 27 4
8 Roman Reigns 23 3
9 John Cena 22 7

Most Rumble appearances

Only wrestlers with at least 9 appearances are shown. As of the 2016 Royal Rumble.

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

Female entrants

No Diva Rumbles entered
1 Chyna 2 (1999, 2000)[45][48]
2 Beth Phoenix 1 (2010)[76]
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 [103] 30-man battle royal
2 House show May 9, 1994 Osaka, Japan Castle Hall The Undertaker [103] 18-man Royal Rumble
3 Raw June 15, 1998 San Antonio, Texas Freeman Coliseum Kane and Mankind [103] 10-tag team Royal Rumble
4 Raw January 11, 1999 Houston, Texas Compaq Center Chyna [103] Corporate Rumble
5 SmackDown January 29, 2004 Washington, D.C. MCI Center Eddie Guerrero [104] 15-man SmackDown! Royal Rumble
6 Raw January 14, 2008 Mobile, Alabama Mobile Civic Center Hornswoggle [105] Mini Royal Rumble; all participants were midget wrestlers
7 Raw January 31, 2011 Providence, Rhode Island Dunkin' Donuts Center Jerry Lawler [106] 7-man Raw Royal 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.[107]

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. ↑ "Hall of Fame: Pat Patterson". WWE. Archived from the original on 2007-11-24. Retrieved 2007-12-03.
  12. 1 2 3 "Royal Rumble: Facts & Figures". WWE. Retrieved 2007-12-30.
  13. ↑ "Royal Rumble 1988: Main Event". WWE. Retrieved 2007-12-03.
  14. ↑ "Royal Rumble 2011". WWE. Retrieved 2014-01-01. For the first time ever, the Royal Rumble Match featured an unprecedented 40 Superstars...
  15. 1 2 Cohen, Eric (2007-04-25). "The Fate of the Royal Rumble Winner". About.com. Retrieved 2007-12-09.
  16. ↑ Powell, John (2004-01-26). "Benoit wins the 'Rumble'". SLAM! Wrestling. Retrieved 2007-12-23.
  17. ↑ Hoffman, Brett (2007-02-05). "Tickets punched for WrestleMania". WWE. Retrieved 2007-12-05.
  18. ↑ Louie Dee (2007-01-28). "A Phenom-enal Rumble". WWE. Retrieved 2007-12-05.
  19. ↑ "Royal Rumble 1992: Main Event". WWE. Retrieved 2007-12-05.
  20. ↑ "Randy Orton vs. John Cena (WWE Championship match): A battle for redemption with 'Mania implications". WWE. 2008-01-28. Archived from the original on 2008-02-01. Retrieved 2008-01-28.
  21. ↑ "Royal Rumble 1988 Results". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-07-08.
  22. ↑ "Royal Rumble 1988 Main Event Synopsis". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-07-08.
  23. ↑ "Royal Rumble 1989 Results". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-07-08.
  24. ↑ "Royal Rumble 1989 Main Event Synopsis". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-07-08.
  25. ↑ "Royal Rumble 1990 Results". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-07-08.
  26. ↑ "Royal Rumble 1990 Main Event Synopsis". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-07-08.
  27. ↑ "Royal Rumble 1991 Results". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-07-08.
  28. ↑ "Royal Rumble 1991 Main Event Synopsis". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-07-08.
  29. ↑ "Royal Rumble 1992 Results". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-07-08.
  30. ↑ "Royal Rumble 1992 Main Event Synopsis". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-07-08.
  31. ↑ "Royal Rumble 1993 Results". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-07-08.
  32. ↑ "Royal Rumble 1993 Main Event Synopsis". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-07-08.
  33. ↑ "Royal Rumble 1994 Results". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-07-08.
  34. ↑ "Royal Rumble 1994 Main Event Synopsis". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-07-08.
  35. ↑ "Royal Rumble 1995 Results". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-07-08.
  36. ↑ "Royal Rumble 1995 Main Event Synopsis". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-07-08.
  37. ↑ "Royal Rumble 1996 Results". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-07-08.
  38. ↑ "Royal Rumble 1996 Main Event Synopsis". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-07-08.
  39. ↑ "Royal Rumble 1997 Results". World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved 2009-07-08.
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  86. ↑ Royal Rumble (2015)#Results
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  89. ↑ "Royal Rumble returns to Alamodome for the first time in 20 years". WWE. Retrieved September 30, 2016.
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  97. ↑ "Royal Rumble 1989". WWE. Retrieved 2010-02-10.
  98. ↑ "5 Things". WWE. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
  99. ↑ "Royal Rumble 2011". www.mondaynightwarriors.com. Retrieved 2010-02-10.
  100. ↑ "The 30 Best Rumbers ever #1 Shawn Michaels". WWE. Retrieved June 9, 2015.
  101. ↑ Waldman, Jon (January 30, 2010). "The Royal Rumble stat pack". SLAM! Wrestling. Retrieved 2010-07-02.
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