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WWE Royal Rumble: History, Rules, Winners List, Most Eliminations and Other Stats

Ahead of 34th edition of WWE Royal Rumble, we take a look at the history, rules previous winners and much more of the pay-per-view.

WWE Royal Rumble: Explainer, previous winners, most eliminations and more (Images: WWE)

Bengaluru, January 30: The Road to WrestleMania kicks off every year with the WWE Royal Rumble, an event in which a Superstar gets an opportunity to main event the show of shows - WrestleMania - if he/she wins their respective rumble matches.

The highlight of the pay-per-view, which has been hosted 35 times by the WWE so far, is the Rumble match it self as it's quite unique and makes a Superstar's dream come true with a guaranteed title opportunity at WrestleMania, which is considered as the biggest event.

Now, we take a look at the history, rules, previous winners and all the other facts of the WWE Royal Rumble pay-per-view:

History of Royal Rumble

History of Royal Rumble

The Royal Rumble is an annual gimmick based PPV, hosted every January by WWE since 1988. It is one of the promotion's original four pay-per-views, along with WrestleMania, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series, dubbed the "Big Four".

The event is named after the Royal Rumble match, a modified battle royal in which the participants enter at timed intervals instead of all beginning in the ring at the same time. Both the men's and women's matches generally feature 30 wrestlers. However, the inaugural edition of the event featured only 20 men, while the 2011 edition featured 40 men.

Traditionally, the winner of the match earns a world championship match at that year's WrestleMania. But this was introduced from the 1993 Rumble. Before that - from 1988 to 1992, the Rumble match used to decide the winner of the prime title of the promotion.

In 2018, WWE introduced an all-women's Rumble match as part of the Women's revolution led by Stephanie McMahon. And that tradition is set to continue even this year. The 2021 Royal Rumble will be the 34th event in the Royal Rumble chronology and feature wrestlers from the Raw and SmackDown brands.

Rules of Royal Rumble

Rules of Royal Rumble

Number of wrestlers (traditionally 30) aim at eliminating their competitors by tossing them over the top rope, with both feet touching the floor. Although the vast majority of eliminations are caused by active participants, eliminations caused by other means have been ruled legitimate, including self-eliminations.

In the Royal Rumble, 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.

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. The winner of the event is the last wrestler remaining after all others have been eliminated.

Unique facts

Unique facts

As it stands, only four men who have been one of the starting wrestlers have won the Royal Rumble, namely Shawn Michaels in 1995, Vince McMahon in 1999, Chris Benoit in 2004, and Rey Mysterio in 2006.

Meanwhile, only three men who have been the final entrant have won the Royal Rumble, namely The Undertaker in 2007, John Cena in 2008, and Triple H in 2016. The most common number to win is number 27, and sixteen eventual winners entered at number 25 or later.

The 1998 Royal Rumble nominally had the traditional 30-man field, but only 28 individual wrestlers competed as Mick Foley entered the Royal Rumble match three different times, first as his Cactus Jack gimmick, then as his Mankind gimmick, and finally as his Dude Love gimmick.

Royal Rumble Winners List (Men)

Royal Rumble Winners List (Men)

1988: Jim Duggan - entry no. 13

1989: Big John Studd - entry no. 27

1990: Hulk Hogan - entry no. 25

1991: Hulk Hogan - entry no. 24

1992: Ric Flair - entry no. 3

1993: Yokozuna - entry no. 27

1994: Bret Hart and Lex Luger - entry no. 23 and 27

1995: Shawn Michaels - entry no. 1

1996: Shawn Michael - entry no. 18

1997: Stone Cold Steve Austin - entry no. 5

1998: Stone Cold Steve Austin - entry no. 24

1999: Vince McMahon - entry no. 2

2000: The Rock - entry no. 24

2001: Stone Cold Steve Austin - entry no. 27

2002: Triple H - entry no. 22

2003: Brock Lesnar - entry no. 29

2004: Chris Benoit - entry no. 1

2005: Batista - entry no. 28

2006: Rey Mysterio - entry no. 2

2007: The Undertaker - entry no. 30

2008: John Cena - entry no. 30

2009: Randy Orton - entry no. 8

2010: Edge - entry no. 29

2011: Alberto Del Rio - entry no. 38

2012: Sheamus - entry no. 22

2013: John Cena - entry no. 19

2014: Batista - entry no. 28

2015: Roman Reigns - entry no. 19

2016: Triple H - entry no. 30

2017: Randy Orton - entry no. 23

2018: Shinsuke Nakamura - entry no. 14

2019: Seth Rollins - entry no. 10

2020: Drew McIntyre - entry no. 16

2021: Edge - entry no. 1

2022: Brock Lesnar - entry no. 30

2023: Cody Rhodes - entry no. 30

Most Royal Rumble wins by entry number (Men)

30: 2007, 2008, 2016, 2022, 2023

27: 1989, 1993, 1994, 2001

1: 1995, 2004, 2021

24: 1991, 1998, 2000

19: 2013, 2015

28: 2005, 2014

23: 1994, 2017

22: 2002, 2012

2: 1999, 2006

29: 2003, 2010

Royal Rumble Winners List (Women)

Royal Rumble Winners List (Women)

2018: Asuka - entry no. 25

2019: Becky Lynch - entry no. 28

2020: Charlotte Flair - entry no. 17

2021: Bianca Belair - entry no. 3

2022: Ronda Rousey - entry no. 28

2023: Rhea Ripley - entry no. 1

Most Royal Rumble wins by entry number (Women)

28: 2019, 2022

1: 2023

3: 2021

17: 2020

25: 2018

Most Royal Rumble Wins

Most Royal Rumble Wins

Stone Cold Steve Austin: 3 in 1997, 1998 and 2001

Brock Lesnar: 2 in 2003, 2022

Edge: 2 in 2010, 2021

Hulk Hogan: 2 in 1990 and 1991

Shawn Michaels: 2 in 1995, 1996

Triple H: 2 in 2002 and 2016

Batista: 2 in 2005 and 2014

John Cena: 2 in 2008 and 2013

Randy Orton: 2 in 2009 and 2017

Women to enter men’s rumble

Women to enter men’s rumble

Chyna: 1999 and 2000

Beth Phoenix: 2010

Kharma: 2012

Nia Jax: 2019

Most Eliminations in Royal Rumble

Most Eliminations in Royal Rumble

Kane: 46 eliminations in 20 rumble appearances

The Undertaker: 44 eliminations in 11 rumble appearances

Shawn Michaels: 41 eliminations in 12 rumble appearances

Stone Cold Steve Austin: 36 eliminations in 6 rumble appearances

Braun Strowman: 34 eliminations (most in Greatest Royal Rumble) in 7 rumble appearances

Triple H: 33 eliminations in 9 rumble appearances

Big Show: 32 eliminations in 12 rumble appearances

Roman Reigns: 32 eliminations in 6 rumble appearances

Hulk Hogan: 27 eliminations in 4 rumble appearances

Randy Orton: 27 eliminations in 13 rumble appearances

John Cena: 25 eliminations in 8 rumble appearances

Brock Lesnar: 27 elimination in 5 rumble appearances

Edge: 26 eliminations in 9 rumble appearances

Top Five Most Eliminatons in a single Royal Rumble match

Top Five Most Eliminatons in a single Royal Rumble match

Brock Lesnar: 13 eliminations in 2020

Roman Reigns: 12 eliminations in 2014

Kane: 11 eliminations in 2001

Hulk Hogan: 10 eliminations in 1989

Stone Cold Steve Austin: 10 eliminations in 1997

Story first published: Sunday, January 29, 2023, 11:01 [IST]
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