WWE Royal Rumble 2017: Top 10 All-Time Rankings


The WWE Royal Rumble is one of the crown jewel events in all of sports entertainment each year, and next month, the 30th annual Royal Rumble event will take place at the Alamodome.

This unique event presented by the WWE each January began in 1988 when “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan won. Since then, six wrestlers have won the Royal Rumble multiple times, with Stone Cold Steve Austin holding the record with three wins in 1997, 1998, and 2001. Hulk Hogan, Shawn Michaels, Triple H, Batista, and John Cena have each won the Royal Rumble twice.

Austin, Hogan, and Michaels aren’t the only Hall of Famers to win the event; other Hall of Famers including “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair, Duggan, Big John Studd, Yokozuna, Bret Hart, and Edge are also winners of the Rumble during the previous 29 events.

After looking back at these WWE Royal Rumble matches, here are the top 10 of all time.

[Image by Ethan Miller/Getty Images]

1. Royal Rumble 1992: This was the first time the Royal Rumble had the winner become the heavyweight champion. Leave it to Ric Flair to come in as the third entrant and wrestle for over 60 minutes to be the last man standing and the champion. As the WWE website wrote, Flair eliminated Sid Justice to win the Rumble event.

2. Royal Rumble 1990: Hulk Hogan won this Royal Rumble by eliminating Mr. Perfect. The most memorable part of this match was when Hogan and the Ultimate Warrior faced off one on one in the ring, including having their famous stare down and double clothesline. This set up the famous WrestleMania VI match between Hogan and the Warrior.

3. Royal Rumble 2001: Steve Austin and The Rock were the final two participants in this match, with this being the final Rumble win for Stone Cold. Austin was bleeding by the end of the match, and he and The Rock had one of their greatest showdowns in their rivalry.

4. Royal Rumble 2007: Anytime when the Undertaker and Shawn Michaels battle as the final two wrestlers left in the Royal Rumble match, of course it will be remembered. The Undertaker won the match by being 30th entrant, the first time this had ever occurred.

5. Royal Rumble 1996: Shawn Michaels became just the second wrestler to win back-to-back Rumbles with his 1996 win. This win by HBK saw him super kick Diesel to win the match. With Michaels winning, wrestling changed course, setting up the main event for WrestleMania XII. Michaels won the Ironman Match against Bret Hart for the WWE championship.

[Image by Gaye Gerard/Getty Images]

6. Royal Rumble 1997: This is one of the more memorable Rumbles, as it added to the momentum of Steve Austin. He won the event after the officials missed seeing him thrown over the top rope by Bret Hart. Austin quickly returned to the ring, eliminating Vader, the Undertaker, and then Hart to win the match for the first of three times.

7. Royal Rumble 1994: The Royal Rumble featured the final two being Bret Hart and Lex Luger. The two battled in the ring against each other for a few moments when they both went over the top rope at the same time, making that a first in the history of the event. Both got a world title match at WrestleMania X, where Luger lost to Yokozuna, but Hart later defeated him in the main event.

8. Royal Rumble 2010: A surprise entrant in Edge was the winner of the Rumble, and it actually was that. Being the 29th entrant, the crowd lost their minds when he came in and eliminated Chris Jericho after missing nearly eight months of action. Edge won the match by last eliminating John Cena.

9. Royal Rumble 1989: Many might not remember this Rumble, but what stands out with this one is the first two entrants were Ax and Smash of Demolition, and they fought for two straight minutes until the third entrant entered. Later, Randy Savage was eliminated by his Mega Powers partner Hulk Hogan, all but signaling the end of their partnership. The match was won by Big John Studd.

10. Royal Rumble 2016: Like in 1992, the 2016 Royal Rumble saw the winner crowned the WWE champion, as Roman Reigns had to defend the title as the No. 1 participant. The eventual winner was Triple H at No. 30. Though Triple H wasn’t active much in the ring at this time, the WWE gave many fans what they wanted to see, and that was Reigns not keeping the title.

[Featured Image by Ray Amati/Getty Images]

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