Battle royal

Bare Knuckles, an oil painting by George A. Hayes

The label of "battle royal" has been applied to several events. In the 1700s in the United Kingdom, some bare-knuckle boxing conducted according to Jack Broughton's rules included matches between 8 people. Referred to as "Broughton's Battle Royals", these events were notable enough to be referenced and spoofed in political cartoons of the era.[2] While the practice eventually fell out of favor in the United Kingdom, it continued to be practiced in the American colonies of England. Lower-class whites who lived in the backwoods practiced the "free-for-all" as well as "rough-and-tumble". This practice also spread to American slaves, who would hold mass fights as a form of sporting entertainment. (Frederick Douglass wrote that such sporting distractions, as well as alcohol, were "among the most effective in the hands of the slaveholder in keeping down the spirit of insurrection.") While a few masters sanctioned slave boxers (as shown in the 2012 film Django Unchained),[3] this practice appears to have been rare in general, as slaveholders did not wish to damage their "property"; the majority of these events were run by the slaves themselves for their own amusement.

After the Civil War, the battle royal entered a popular phase, but one also considered shameful and disreputable in retrospect. In it, promoters for boxing events would arrange for brutal free-for-alls with few rules that were generally between all black boxers. The audience for these spectacles were almost always white people, unlike the pre-War entertainment done within the enslaved community.[4] A battle royal was a frequent "opener" event for boxing and wrestling shows during the 1870–1910 period. They originated and were most popular in the American South but eventually spread to the North as well. However, the events fell out of favor, especially in the North; in New York, the State Athletic Commission banned the battle royal in 1911. They continued in the South from 1910s – 1950s, but with less popularity. The 1952 novel Invisible Man is a well-known cultural depiction of the brutality of such events, and helped change attitudes sufficiently such that by the 1960s, battle royals had been banned even in the American South.[4] Despite all of this, the battle royal was a way for a would-be boxer to get noticed; successful battle royal champions gained enough prestige to be able to work their way up to proper normal boxing matches. Jack Johnson is mentioned in relation to this in Ken Burn’s documentary about him. Joe Gans and Beau Jack are two famous examples of successful boxers who started in battle royals.[4]

WWE wrestlers competing in a battle royal in 2009.

In professional wrestling, the battle royal is a match involving anywhere between four and 60 wrestlers that takes place entirely inside the ring — a wrestler is eliminated when a wrestler scores a pinfall or knocks out his or her opponent(s) (but rarely submissions). Some promotions allow over the top rope eliminations or enforce them exclusively, notably normal battles royal in the WWE and also in their annual Royal Rumble. Battles royal are often used to determine the top contender for a championship or filling vacant championships.

World Championship Wrestling was known for having the largest battle royal in wrestling, held annually at their WCW World War 3 pay-per-view events. The three-ring, sixty-wrestler events consisted of all sixty wrestlers parading out to the ring (usually without formal introductions to save time) and beginning to fight at the bell. Once the number of wrestlers in each ring had dwindled down to a number suitable for a single ring, the wrestlers would all move to the designated "Ring #1" out of the three and would fight to a winner. The winners of the four World War 3 battles royal were Randy Savage, The Giant, Scott Hall, and Kevin Nash.

World Championship Wrestling also held an event called Battlebowl in which 20 men started in one ring and would have to throw others into a second ring. From that ring you would be thrown to the floor for elimination. The last man in ring one would rest until one man was left in ring two. Those two men would then battle until one man was left and would be declared the winner. In 1991 Sting won the match after it coming down to him and Lex Luger. Every year thereafter Battle Bowl took place with only one ring and a normal battle royal.

Numerous variations of the battle royal also exist, including:

• World Wrestling Entertainment's Royal Rumble: an over-the-top rope elimination match which starts with two competitors and adds a new competitor every two minutes, usually up to a total of thirty entrants, with the final remaining competitor being the winner
• Total Nonstop Action Wrestling's Gauntlet for the Gold: an over-the-top rope elimination match in which the final two competitors face off in a one-fall singles match
• Tag Team Battle Royal: a standard battle royal in which teams of two, three, or four combatants compete for group victory. Variations have been used in both WCW and TNA.