Royal Rumble match

The Royal Rumble match is a professional wrestling match based on the classic Battle Royal match, in which a number of wrestlers (traditionally 30) aim at eliminating their competitors by tossing them over the top rope, with both feet touching the floor.[1][2][3] The match is typically the main event of WWE's January pay-per-view known as the Royal Rumble. 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 three Rumbles, participants may learn their eliminations by knowing the two wrestlers who are eliminated before them and which wrestlers are entering the Royal Rumble before and after their elimination.[5] According to CM Punk, who worked for WWE from 2005 until 2014, wrestlers are given a list of entry numbers and eliminations and are supposed to build the match from there.[6]

Concept

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.[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.[7] To date, only four men who have been one of the starting wrestlers have won the Royal Rumble: Shawn Michaels in 1995, Vince McMahon in 1999, Chris Benoit in 2004, and Rey Mysterio in 2006 while only three men who have been the final entrant won the Royal Rumble: The Undertaker in 2007, John Cena in 2008 and Triple H in 2016. The most common number to win is number 27.

Royal Rumble match in 2010

The Royal Rumble match traditionally involves 30 wrestlers and usually lasts an hour. The Greatest Royal Rumble - the only one to have a 50-man field[8] was the longest, lasting one hour and 17 minutes of a five-hour pay-per-view, while the first televised Rumble match in 1988 involved only 20 men[9] and lasted 33 minutes of the two-hour broadcast.[10] The 1998 Royal Rumble nominally had the traditional 30-man field, but only 28 individual wrestlers competed; Mick Foley entered the Royal Rumble match three different times—first as Cactus Jack, then as Mankind, and finally as Dude Love.[11] The 2018 Royal Rumble was the first to include a women's Royal Rumble match,[12] contested under the same rules as the men's match, including having 30 participants.[13][14]

Steve Austin holds the current record for most Royal Rumble match wins, with three.[10]

According to the rules, participants are match eliminated if moved over the top rope and both feet touch the floor. Hence, 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.[15] Also, 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. Kofi Kingston, who although has not won a match, has found various ways to keep at least one of his feet from touching the floor.[16] In the 1994 match, the last two participants, Bret Hart and Lex Luger, were declared co-winners when officials were unable to determine whose feet touched the floor first.[17] In a similar situation in 2005, when Batista and John Cena eliminated each other at the same time (an actual accident), the match was restarted.[18] 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 re-enter the ring in this way and win the 1997 match.[19]

Although the vast majority of eliminations are caused by active participants, eliminations caused by other means have been ruled legitimate, including self-eliminations (such as Andre the Giant after seeing a snake in 1989 or Kane in 1999; however, Randy Savage's jump over the top rope in 1992 was not ruled as self-elimination), elimination by 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), or non-participants (such as Shane McMahon eliminating Shawn Michaels in 2006 and The Miz eliminating John Cena in 2011). Furthermore, an injured wrestler can return to the ring as long as the match is still ongoing (such as Steve Austin in 1999 or Roman Reigns in 2016), but not if the match has already ended (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 Universal Championship on Raw and the WWE Championship on SmackDown.[20] Similarly, the winner of the women's Royal Rumble match (first contested in 2018) is awarded a match at WrestleMania for either of WWE's top two women's championships, the Raw Women's Championship or the SmackDown Women's Championship.[12]

With the brand extension introduced in mid-2002, the 30 male 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.[21] 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 at WrestleMania XX.[20] 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.[22] During ECW's participation, the entries for each brand were not evenly divided.[23] 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 July 2016, when the brand extension returned. With the new brand extension, the winner of the 2017 event earned a match for their brand's top championship, Raw's Universal Championship or SmackDown's WWE Championship, but beginning in 2018, the winner has a choice. Conversely, beginning with the 2018 event, women receive a title opportunity of their choice for a women's championship: the Raw or SmackDown Women's Championship. Due to free agents, Hall of Famers, and wrestlers from the NXT brand also participating, there has not been an even division of wrestlers (in either the men's or women's Rumbles) between Raw and SmackDown since the second brand extension went into effect.

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,[24] 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.[10] 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.[25] 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.

During the WWE Greatest Royal Rumble the winner received a trophy and the WWE Greatest Royal Rumble Championship.[26]

Dates, venues, and winners

List of Royal Rumble dates, venues, and winners
Event Date City Venue Winner Entry No. Ref.
1 Royal Rumble (1988) January 24, 1988 Hamilton, Ontario Copps Coliseum Jim Duggan 13 [27][28]
2 Royal Rumble (1989) January 15, 1989 Houston, Texas The Summit Big John Studd 27 [29][30]
3 Royal Rumble (1990) January 21, 1990 Orlando, Florida Orlando Arena Hulk Hogan 25 [31][32]
4 Royal Rumble (1991) January 19, 1991 Miami, Florida Miami Arena 24 [33][34]
5 Royal Rumble (1992) January 19, 1992 Albany, New York Knickerbocker Arena Ric Flair 3 [35][36]
6 Royal Rumble (1993) January 24, 1993 Sacramento, California ARCO Arena Yokozuna 27 [37][38]
7 Royal Rumble (1994) January 23, 1994 Providence, Rhode Island Providence Civic Center Bret Hart
Lex Luger		 27
23		 [39][40]
8 Royal Rumble (1995) January 22, 1995 Tampa, Florida USF Sun Dome Shawn Michaels 1 [41][42]
9 Royal Rumble (1996) January 21, 1996 Fresno, California Selland Arena 18 [43][44]
10 Royal Rumble (1997) January 19, 1997 San Antonio, Texas Alamodome Stone Cold Steve Austin 5 [45][46]
11 Royal Rumble (1998) January 18, 1998 San Jose, California San Jose Arena 24 [47][48][49]
12 Royal Rumble (1999) January 24, 1999 Anaheim, California Arrowhead Pond Mr. McMahon 2 [50][51][52]
13 Royal Rumble (2000) January 23, 2000 New York City, New York Madison Square Garden The Rock 24 [53][54][55]
14 Royal Rumble (2001) January 21, 2001 New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans Arena Stone Cold Steve Austin 27 [56][57][58]
15 Royal Rumble (2002) January 20, 2002 Atlanta, Georgia Philips Arena Triple H 22 [59][60][61]
16 Royal Rumble (2003) January 19, 2003 Boston, Massachusetts FleetCenter Brock Lesnar 29 [62][63]
17 Royal Rumble (2004) January 25, 2004 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Wachovia Center Chris Benoit 1 [64][65][66]
18 Royal Rumble (2005) January 30, 2005 Fresno, California Save Mart Center Batista 28 [67][68][69]
19 Royal Rumble (2006) January 29, 2006 Miami, Florida American Airlines Arena Rey Mysterio 2 [70][71][72]
20 Royal Rumble (2007) January 28, 2007 San Antonio, Texas AT&T Center The Undertaker 30 [73][74][75]
21 Royal Rumble (2008) January 27, 2008 New York City, New York Madison Square Garden John Cena 30 [76][77][78]
22 Royal Rumble (2009) January 25, 2009 Detroit, Michigan Joe Louis Arena Randy Orton 8 [79][80]
23 Royal Rumble (2010) January 31, 2010 Atlanta, Georgia Philips Arena Edge 29 [81][82]
24 Royal Rumble (2011) January 30, 2011 Boston, Massachusetts TD Garden Alberto Del Rio 38 [83]
25 Royal Rumble (2012) January 29, 2012 St. Louis, Missouri Scottrade Center Sheamus 22 [84][85][86]
26 Royal Rumble (2013) January 27, 2013 Phoenix, Arizona US Airways Center John Cena 19 [87][88][89]
27 Royal Rumble (2014) January 26, 2014 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Consol Energy Center Batista 28 [90][91]
28 Royal Rumble (2015) January 25, 2015 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Wells Fargo Center Roman Reigns 19 [92]
29 Royal Rumble (2016) January 24, 2016 Orlando, Florida Amway Center Triple H 30 [93][94]
30 Royal Rumble (2017) January 29, 2017 San Antonio, Texas Alamodome Randy Orton 23 [95]
31 Royal Rumble (2018) January 28, 2018 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Wells Fargo Center Shinsuke Nakamura 14 [96][97]
32 Asuka 25 [98][99]
33 Greatest Royal Rumble April 27, 2018 Jeddah, Saudi Arabia King Abdullah International Stadium Braun Strowman 41 [100][101]
34 Royal Rumble (2019) January 27, 2019 Phoenix, Arizona Chase Field TBD Men TBD [102]
35 TBD Women TBD [102]

Male Royal Rumble winner's championship opportunity

Championship Wins Losses Total
WWE Championship 9 8 17
World Heavyweight Championship 5 2 7
Total 14 10 24
     – 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 As a member of the SmackDown brand, Lesnar earned a match for his brand's WWE Championship. At WrestleMania XIX, 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 As a member of the SmackDown brand, Orton earned a match for his brand'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 for the WWE Championship.
25 Shinsuke Nakamura WrestleMania 34 2018 Nakamura lost to AJ Styles for the WWE Championship.

Note: No WrestleMania title opportunity awarded in the 2016 Royal Rumble match as the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, held by Roman Reigns, itself was at stake. Triple H won the Royal Rumble match and lost his championship defense at WrestleMania to Reigns.

Female Royal Rumble winner's championship opportunity

Championship Wins Losses Total
WWE SmackDown Women's Championship 0 1 1
Total 0 1 1
Winner Event Year Championship match
1 Asuka WrestleMania 34 2018 Asuka lost to Charlotte Flair for the SmackDown Women's Championship.

Royal Rumble records

Males

Most Rumble victories

Wrestler Royal Rumble wins Year
Stone Cold Steve Austin31997, 1998, 2001
Hulk Hogan21990, 1991
Shawn Michaels1995, 1996
Triple H2002, 2016
Batista2005, 2014
John Cena2008, 2013
Randy Orton2009, 2017

Most times being a Rumble runner-up

Wrestler Times Year
Roman Reigns32014, 2017, 2018
Big Show22000, 2004
Shawn Michaels1994, 2007
Triple H2008, 2009
John Cena2005, 2010

Winners by entry number

No Wins Year
2741989, 1993, 1994, 2001
3032007, 2008, 2016
241991, 1998, 2000
1922013, 2015
282005, 2014
222002, 2012
292003, 2010
21999, 2006
11995, 2004
231994, 2017
411GRR 2018
142018
382011
82009
51997
181996
31992
251990
131988

Longest time spent in a single Royal Rumble

Top 20 individual longest times in a single Royal Rumble match. As of the 2018 Greatest Royal Rumble.

No Wrestler Time Year
1Daniel Bryan1:16:05GRR 2018
2Rey Mysterio1:02:122006[103]
3Chris Benoit1:01:312004[103]
4Bob Backlund1:01:101993[103]
5Triple H1:00:162006
6Chris Jericho1:00:132017
7Ric Flair1:00:021992[103]
8Roman Reigns59:502016
9Finn Bálor57:302018
10Mr. McMahon56:381999
Stone Cold Steve Austin56:381999
12Kane53:462001
13Rick Martel52:171991[103]
14The Rock51:321998
15Chris Jericho50:502016
16Triple H50:002009
17Dolph Ziggler49:472013
18Rey Mysterio49:242009
19CM Punk49:112014
20Seth Rollins48:31

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 2018 Greatest Royal Rumble.

Wrestler Time
Chris Jericho4:59:18[104]
Triple H4:00:02
Rey Mysterio3:49:50
Shawn Michaels3:42:30[104]
Isaac Yankem/"Diesel"/Kane3:38:46
Randy Orton3:12:38
Cody Rhodes/Stardust3:08:30

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 2018 Greatest Royal Rumble.

Wrestler Time Year
Santino Marella0:00:012009[103]
The Warlord0:00:021989[103]
Sheamus2018
Mo0:00:031995[103]
Owen Hart
Mike KanellisGRR 2018
Bushwhacker Luke0:00:041991
Jerry Lawler1997
Titus O'Neil2015
The Godfather0:00:052013[103]
Gillberg0:00:071999
The Miz2007
Montel Vontavious Porter2010
Adam Rose0:00:082015
Tazz0:00:102001
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 for 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, who was drawn 27th, and escorted to the back and never re-entered the match. Finlay would later be disqualified after coming out before his number came up and using his shillelagh to help Hornswoggle.
  7. In 2015, Curtis Axel was drawn 6th, but was attacked on the ramp by Erick Rowan. Unlike other occasions, this was notable for actually being worked into a gimmick for Axel, where he began to imitate Hulk Hogan and wear shirts emblazoned with "AxelMania" and claim that he was never eliminated from the Royal Rumble, therefore he won it, deserving a spot in the main event of WrestleMania.
Wrestlers who had their number stolen or were replaced

Several times, wrestlers were drawn to compete and were instead either attacked backstage or pulled from the match at the last minute, and replaced by other wrestlers.

  1. In 1999, Mosh was drawn 11th, but was attacked by Mabel, who took Mosh's spot.
  2. In 2001, the team of Lo Down (Chaz and D'Lo Brown) defeated Kaientai (Funaki and Taka Michinoku) to earn one entrance spot in the Royal Rumble match, but that was later overturned by Vince McMahon who entered Drew Carey in their spot.
  3. In 2004, Test was drawn 21st, but was attacked by Mick Foley, who took Test's spot.
  4. In 2005, Nunzio was drawn 20th, but had his spot stolen by Kurt Angle before the match, Angle then challenged Nunzio to fight for the spot.
  5. In 2018, Tye Dillinger was drawn 10th, but was attacked by Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn, the latter of whom took Dillinger's spot.

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 2018 Greatest Royal Rumble.

Wrestler No. of eliminations Year
Braun Strowman13GRR 2018
Roman Reigns122014[105]
Kane112001[103][106]
Hulk Hogan101989[103][107]
Stone Cold Steve Austin1997[103][108]
Shawn Michaels81995, 1996
Stone Cold Steve Austin1999
Hulk Hogan71991
Yokozuna1993
Diesel1994
Stone Cold Steve Austin1998, 2002
Rikishi2000
The Undertaker2002
The Great Khali2007
CM Punk2011
John Cena
Braun Strowman2017
One Man Gang61988
Hulk Hogan1990
The Ultimate Warrior
Sid Justice1992
Lex Luger1994
Chris Jericho2003
Chris Benoit2004
Rey Mysterio2006
Triple H2006, 2008, 2009
Big Show2009
Shawn Michaels2010
Cody Rhodes2012
Bray Wyatt2015
Roman Reigns
Rusev

Total eliminations in cumulative Royal Rumbles

Top wrestlers with the most eliminations. Only wrestlers with at least 20 eliminations are shown. As of the 2018 Greatest Royal Rumble.[109]

Wrestler No. of eliminations Rumbles entered
Isaac Yankem/"Diesel"/Kane4419[103][110][111]
Shawn Michaels4012[112][113]
The Undertaker11
The Ringmaster/Stone Cold Steve Austin366[103]
Triple H339
Big Show3112
Roman Reigns305
Hulk Hogan274
Randy Orton2510
John Cena8
Braun Strowman3

Most Rumble appearances

Only wrestlers with at least 10 appearances are shown. As of the 2018 Greatest Royal Rumble.

Wrestler Rumbles entered First Rumble Most recent Rumble
Isaac Yankem/"Diesel"/Kane1919962016
Goldust131997GRR 2018
Shawn Michaels1219892010
Big Show20002017
The Miz1120072018
The Undertaker19912017
Chris Jericho2000GRR 2018
Kofi Kingston2009
Dolph Ziggler
The Sultan/Fatu/Rikishi1019932004

Female entrants in male Royal Rumbles

Wrestler Rumbles entered
Chyna2 (1999, 2000)[51][54]
Beth Phoenix^1 (2010)[82]
Kharma1 (2012)

^Only wrestler to appear in both the male and female Royal Rumbles.

Females

Longest time spent in a single Royal Rumble

As of 2018, there has been only one women's Royal Rumble; the top ten times are shown.

No Wrestler Time Year
1Sasha Banks54:462018
2Becky Lynch30:54
3Natalya25:34
4Asuka19:41
5Carmella18:45
6Nia Jax17:56
7Nikki Bella16:30
Sarah Logan
9Brie Bella11:58
10Ruby Riott11:32

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

Shortest time spent in a single Royal Rumble

As of 2018, there has been only one women's Royal Rumble; the top ten times are shown.

No Wrestler Time Year
1Vickie Guerrero00:572018
2Tamina01:34
3Jacqueline01:52
4Beth Phoenix02:22
5Lana02:54
6Dana Brooke02:59
7Torrie Wilson03:04
8Mandy Rose03:52
9Molly Holly04:04
10Kairi Sane04:49

Most eliminations in a single Royal Rumble

Only wrestlers with at least three eliminations are shown.

Wrestler No. of eliminations Year
Michelle McCool52018
Nia Jax4
Nikki Bella
Sasha Banks3
Asuka
Natalya
Trish Stratus

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

Other Royal Rumble matches

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

List of Royal Rumble dates, venues, and winners
Event Date City Venue Winner Ref. Note
1 House show October 4, 1987 St. Louis, MO St. Louis Arena One Man Gang [114][115] 12-man Royal Rumble
2 House show March 16, 1988 Hartford, CT Hartford Civic Center Rick Rude [116][117] 20-man Royal Rumble
3 House show January 17, 1994 New York City Madison Square Garden Owen Hart [118] 30-man Royal Rumble
4 House show May 9, 1994 Osaka, Japan Castle Hall The Undertaker [118] 18-man Royal Rumble
5 Raw June 15, 1998 San Antonio, Texas Freeman Coliseum Kane and Mankind [118] 10-tag team Royal Rumble
6 Raw January 11, 1999 Houston Compaq Center Chyna [118] 10-man Corporation vs. DX "Corporate Rumble", for the #30 spot in the 1999 Royal Rumble
7 SmackDown! January 29, 2004 Washington, D.C. MCI Center Eddie Guerrero [119] 15-man SmackDown! Royal Rumble to determine the #1 contender for the WWE Championship at No Way Out
8 Raw January 14, 2008 Mobile, Alabama Mobile Civic Center Hornswoggle [120] Mini Royal Rumble; 6-man, all participants were midget wrestlers, with the exception of The Great Khali.
9 Raw January 31, 2011 Providence, Rhode Island Dunkin' Donuts Center Jerry Lawler [121] 7-man Raw Rumble to determine the #1 contender for the WWE Championship at Elimination Chamber
10 Royal Rumble (2018) January 28, 2018 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Wells Fargo Center Ric Flair [122][123] KFC Colonel Rumble (9-man)[other 1]
  1. ↑ Some segments were filmed at the Laredo Energy Arena in Laredo, Texas after a SmackDown airing.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Specialty Matches: Royal Rumble". WWE. Retrieved 2007-12-03.
  2. ↑ Waldman, Jon (2005-02-02). "Statistical survival – breaking down the Royal Rumble". SLAM! Wrestling. Retrieved 2007-12-09.
  3. ↑ "Specialty Matches: Battle Royal". WWE. Retrieved 2007-12-03.
  4. ↑ Dale Plummer and Nick Tylwalk (2006-01-30). "Mysterio claims Rumble; Cena reigns again". SLAM! Wrestling. Retrieved 2007-12-09.
  5. ↑ YouShoot Swoggle (Hornswoggle). Kayfabe Commentaries. Archived from the original on 2016-09-14.
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  9. ↑ "Royal Rumble 1988: Main Event". WWE. Retrieved 2007-12-03.
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  11. ↑ McAvennie, Mike (January 20, 2007). "Foley's Hat-trick". WWE. Retrieved November 21, 2008.
  12. 1 2 Powell, Jason. "12/18 Powell's WWE Raw Live TV Review: Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman return, Cedric Alexander vs. Drew Gulak for a WWE Cruiserweight Title shot, the build to the Royal Rumble". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved December 18, 2017.
  13. ↑ "Kurt Angle announces official rules for women's Royal Rumble match". Cageside Seats. Retrieved January 2, 2018.
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  15. ↑ "Royal Rumble 1999: Main Event". WWE. Retrieved 2007-12-30.
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  20. 1 2 Cohen, Eric (2007-04-25). "The Fate of the Royal Rumble Winner". About.com. Retrieved 2007-12-09.
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  92. ↑ Royal Rumble (2015)#Results
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