Top 10 Royal Rumble Matches (In My Opinion)

 

So January is always a very fun time in the wrestling world especially when you're a WWE fan.  January means the Royal Rumble, the first step on the "Road to Wrestlemania",  The Royal Rumble has always been a favorite of mine.  I look forward to the surprises, I look forward to seeing the dream match-ups even if it's just for a couple minutes.  You also look forward to the reaction these things are gonna get.  The 2021 edition is three weeks away, and unfortunately the one thing we won't have is that crowd reaction this year with the Thunderdome.  It at least won't be genuine this year.  So I'm gonna discuss my top 10 Royal Rumble Matches in my opinion.  Now these aren't my top 10 favorites, but the best ones in my opinion so lets get the list going.

10. 1998

So people will say there's nothing special about this rumble match.  I beg to differ.  This match was the catalyst to the beginning of the Austin Era.  This match means more to the history of WWE as a whole especially the next three years of WWE as far as Austin is concerned.  The match also has layers to it.  

The first layer of the match is Cactus Jack and Chainsaw Charlie beating the crap out of each other even though they are tag partners.  Most of the middle is Jim Ross being baffled by the fact that the Nation of Domination is fighting with each other.  As well as the surprise and delight (to me) of Mick Foley appearing as all three of his alter egos throughout the match, something like that hasn't happened since and will probably never happen again to the same reaction.

Then the final third of the match was Steve Austin coming in and destroying anything that moved and starting the the run of his life to his first championship at this year's WrestleMania.  It's a fun rumble match with a predictable ending but that isn't always bad especially when it's the true beginning of the biggest star being born.

9. 2005

This is Royal Rumble was absolutely the signs of a new people taking the reigns for years to come.  This rumble match starts off with two best friends just going at it and having a great performance as they always did when they were in the ring together.  Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit (that will be the last time you hear his name).  Then at number three, we get Daniel Puder, that year's Tough Enough winner, he is followed by Hardcore Holly.  Daniel Puder is then taught a lesson be three of the biggest locker room "teachers" who is given a abundance of chops and then is eliminated quickly, and wouldn't you know that's the last time we'd see Daniel Puder.

Midway through the match we see Muhammad Hassan come out and as soon as he entered the ring he is targeted by every man in the ring.  His character at the time was very unfavorable by anyone and everyone and garnered more heat than SGT. Slaughter declaring his allegiance to the nation of Iran in 1991.  Hassan get's beaten down and crowd surfed tossed out of the ring for his elimination.  Two entrants later, as Scotty 2 Hotty is making his entrance he is attacked from behind by Hassan who didn't take too kindly to his way of elimination, and Scotty never enters the match.

Later in the match we get the seeds planted for one of the best matches in Wrestlemania history, when Shawn Michaels eliminates Kurt Angle.  Angle is incensed after his elimination and returns to the ring and eliminates Michaels himself, and attacks him further.     

The big story of the match comes towards the end, when the two guys pegged as the future enter the match.  John Cena at 25, and Batista at 28.  These two for the most part eliminate the most people Batista twice as many as Cena.  The final four sees all future world champions, Batista, John Cena, Edge, and Rey Mysterio.  Edge and Mysterio fight each other for a little while before Edge eliminates Rey.  Then Batista would eliminate Edge, leaving Batista and Cena go at it for a good five minutes.  

Batista goes for a Batista Bomb, but Cena turns it into a hurricanrana over the top and both men go over the top, and unlike in 1994 when it was planned this way, supposedly this wasn't planned.  It was too close to call.  While referee's are arguing about who the winner is, Vince McMahon comes out clearly angry about this development, slides into the ring and somehow in the process of entering the ring, Vince tears both of his quads.  So now you have referees, Cena, Batista, and an injured Vince McMahon who is sitting in the ring.  Vince orders for the match to be restarted and there must be a winner.  Batista would win after it's restarted after a spinebuster and tossing Cena out.  This is a very entertaining Royal Rumble, starting from beginning to end and seeing the stars of the next decade beginning there runs in a big way, it's something to watch and a very good Royal Rumble.

8. 2002

There was one big story coming into this rumble match.  The in ring return of Triple H, who had tore his quad eight months prior to this night and he declared he would win and main event WrestleMania.  There was also a couple of surprises in this match that shocked a lot of people, one of them being the number 2 entry, Goldust, vignettes had aired in prior weeks for his return and this was his second return to WWE since we last saw him in 1999.  

About a third way through the match was when things started to pick up in this match when Undertaker would make his entrance.  He would tie Steve Austin on this night with the most eliminations with seven in the match.  

Undertaker would dominate and eliminate both Hardy Boyz who tried to come back in and attack the Undertaker with the help of Lita.  During this distraction of the Hardys returning, Maven, the prior year's Tough Enough winner, took advantage of an opportunity presented to him by this distraction and dropkicked Undertaker over the top rope and out.  Undertaker didn't like this very much and took it upon himself to re-enter the ring eliminate Maven and "make him famous" by attacking him down the ramp and to the backstage area, even into the concessions where he smashed Maven's head through a popcorn machine.

Two-thirds of the way through is when Stone Cold Steve Austin would enter at number 19.  This would be Austin's last Royal Rumble appearance of his career.  He clears house early on in his entrance, and at one point he is left all alone, until Triple H makes his entrance at number 22.  These two would go back and forth at each other for a few minutes that is until the next entrant enters the ring, The Hurricane.  Hurricane being the "superhero" that he claims to be, goes at both Austin and Triple H, and tries to double chokeslam them.  It doesn't go his way however as they eliminate him pretty easily, it's a funny moment that has been remembered by many, as Hurricane was always known for funny moments like this.

Two entrants later, we get our second return of the night and probably the most surprising, "Mr. Perfect" Curt Hennig.  This would be Hennig's first appearance in a WWE ring since 1996.  He looked like he never lost a step, and it even got him a job back with the company because of his performance.

Hennig who comes out at 25 would be followed by Kurt Angle, Big Show, Kane, Rob Van Dam and Kane.  The final four would come down to Austin, Triple H, Hennig and Angle.  Kurt Angle would eliminate Austin while he was trying to eliminate Hennig.  This pissed off Austin who would pull Hennig under the rope to the outside and he would attack him, Angle would chase off Austin for the time being.  After Angle and Hennig went back in the ring, Austin would return with a chair and give all three remaining entrants shots to the head with the chair.  

After recouping and fighting each other for a while Mr. Perfect hits a Perfect-plex on Angle but would then be eliminated by Triple H, leaving just Angle and Triple H.  After going back and forth for a little while, Angle would flip Triple H over the top rope thinking he won the match but Triple H held on.  Triple H would take advantage of Angle celebrating to hit a facebuster followed by a clothesline out to secure his victory and his first ever Royal Rumble win.  This is a good Royal Rumble match and a very enjoyable watch as well.

7. 2007

The main thing coming into this match was the first time that it included the ECW brand, and the ECW Championship was made eligible to challenge by the winner of the Royal Rumble.  We get Ric Flair and Finlay starting the match, and three entrants later we get Edge, who would be the Iron man of this match, lasting forty-four minutes and going to the final four of the match.  Also Shawn Michaels had dedicated this match to his fallen partner Triple H who once again hurt his knee a few months prior.

Following Edge, we get Tommy Dreamer and Sabu, both bringing the hardcore aspect to this match as Dreamer would bring a bunch of weapons with him, and Sabu would set up at table on the floor at the entrance of the ring facing the ramp.  One third into the match at number 10, Kane makes his entrance, and he eliminates Dreamer and Sabu.  He eliminates Sabu by chokeslamming him off the apron into the table that Sabu set up.  CM Punk would make his first ever Rumble appearances as well and last nearly a half hour.  The ECW star that would last the least amount of time in his only Royal Rumble appearance ever, was The Sandman, who make his usual entrance through the crowd drinking beer and bringing a Singapore cane with him and using it to hit some entrants already in the ring before he was eliminated 13 seconds later by King Booker.

Randy Orton enters at number 16, and also lasts nearly a half hour, lasting to the final four as well.  Viscera would enter at number 19, and after lasting six minutes, would be eliminated by eight people.  Shawn Michaels enters at 23 and he'd also last to the end of the match.  Five entrants later, The Great Khali enters and clears house eliminating the most people in the match by eliminating seven people.  A funny moment that isn't supposed to happen but if you listen carefully you can hear Shawn Michaels who is down in the ring, telling Khali to pose and look at the hard cam, which is pretty funny.  

At number 30, The Undertaker enters, and he immediately makes it his mission to eliminate The Great Khali as retribution for the history between the two, and he does so single handedly.  The final four is Edge, Randy Orton, Shawn Michaels and Undertaker.  Shawn Michaels was out of the ring recuperating and Edge and Orton try to team up on Undertaker.  When Shawn re-enters the ring he eliminates Edge and Orton, leaving just himself and Undertaker.  

From here we get almost a mini singles match between the two, as the trade strikes, and signature moves.  At one point after fighting each other for a good seven minutes.  Undertaker hits a chokeslam, which Michaels retaliates with a Sweet Chin Music.  Then Shawn goes for another one, and Undertaker ducks and flips Shawn up and over.  Last eliminating him and securing the Undertaker his first and only Royal Rumble victory.  He became the first ever competitor to win the rumble match at the number 30 entrant in the twenty year history of the rumble match at the time, despite commentary always stating number 30 has the best odds of winning.  This is a fun rumble match, that is worth the watch just for the closing moments of the match really to make up for the lackluster beginning and middle.

6. 2020

I absolutely hated the story coming into this match.  Brock Lesnar just decided that he would enter the rumble match as the WWE Champion because there was "no real challengers to face him one on one so he wanted to defeat all of them".  I hated that, there was so many people that could have been built up in a month to face Lesnar but regardless.  

Brock Lesnar as WWE Champion enters number 1, and would eliminate the first thirteen people on his own and he'd eliminate some people who honestly didn't deserve it but regardless, Elias, Erick Rowan, Robert Roode, John Morrison, Rey Mysterio, (really?), Big E (really?), Kofi Kingston (really?), Cesaro (really?), Shelton Benjamin who wanted to help Lesnar because they are friends from college but Lesnar didn't care, Shinsuke Nakamura (really?), a returning MVP so wasted return, Keith Lee with the help of Bruan Strowman (still unbelievable) and Braun Strowman which was with the help .  Now before the next couple of things happens I would say this is the start of one of the worst rumbles ever, but the thing that happens next turned it around and all of that actually meant something.

Out next would be Ricochet who had previous altercation with Lesnar the passed Monday on Raw.  So while Lesnar is going after Ricochet, Drew McIntyre then enters and takes Lesnar's attention away which leads to Ricochet getting a measure of revenge and hitting a low blow from behind on Lesnar and McIntyre following that up with a Claymore kick to eliminate Lesnar.  This was huge for Drew McIntyre not only because he eliminated the champion, but he eliminated Brock Lesnar, who at the time was only beaten a select few even to that point.  So this was huge for Drew and made all of what Lesnar did mean more for Drew as a whole.

From there The Miz, AJ Styles, Dolph Ziggler, and Karl Anderson enter, and we get the biggest surprise of the entire night and probably in years, Edge makes his in ring return for the first time in nine years.  This was a goosebumps inducing moment...and the camera missed the first spear he delivers as he's returning.  Edge hits multiple spears and is on fire as he returns.  Then we get tMatt Riddle appearing in his first rumble.  As well as Roman Reigns entering as well.

Later on Seth Rollins (who brings the Authors of Pain with him) enters at number 30, and at the time Rollins was in a big feud with Kevin Owens and Samoa Joe, and AOP helped him eliminate Owens, and Seth would eliminate Samoa Joe as well.  We then get an small Rated RKO reunion as they along with Roman and Drew all deliver a finisher to Seth, punctuated by a Claymore kick by Drew McIntyre.  The final four comes down to Edge, Randy Orton, Roman Regins, and Drew McIntyre, Orton goes for an RKO on Edge but Edge reverses it and eliminates Orton.  Then Edge would eliminated by Reigns, leading to Drew hitting another Claymore kick this time to Roman Reigns to secure his victory and his coronation as a main event player, it's certainly worth the watch again.

5. 2019 (Women's)

There have been three Women's Royal Rumbles to date and this is hands down the best one.  We all knew, somehow, someway Becky Lynch was going to make her way in the match and win, and unlike in 2015 when the fans wanted nothing but Daniel Bryan winning and didn't get it, this time WWE did the right thing and gave the crowd what they wanted and the fact it wasn't the main event is what bothered me about it the most.  As well as the fact that for some reason Becky tapped out earlier in the night in a Women's Championship match, which was absolutely the wrong thing to do.

The match started off with Lacey Evans and Natalya, this was Lacey Evans first ever in ring performance on the main roster, because for the last few months at this point she had been making entrances and then going back up the ramp and she lasted nearly a half hour which was a good way for her to show what she could do in the ring, which ended up not being great all things considered.  Natalya however, would last for nearly an hour.

Liv Morgan would enter at number 4 and would last eight seconds, thanks to Natalya.  Charlotte Flair would enter her first Royal Rumble match, at number 13, and would least fifty minutes, and eliminate the most competitors with five eliminations.  Unlike the first Women's Royal Rumble they year prior that had more legends as surprises, this year would have 6 entrants from NXT which is the way it should be, I get that they wanted the likes of Lita, Trish, Molly Holly, Michelle McCool, Torrie Wilson, etc. in the first Rumble, but the fact there were zero legends in this one and this many NXT people got a shot made me very happy.  Xia Li entered at 11, Kairi Sane entered 14, Candice LeRae entered at 17, Kacy Catanzaro entered at 19, Io Shirai entered at 23, and Rhea Ripley entered at 24.  A highlight of the match was Kacy Catanzaro of American Ninja Warrior fame, showed off her unreal athleticism, Kacy would be dropkicked off the apron by Dana Brooke, but when she landed on the floor her feet never touched, so she took that opportunity to flip into a handstand from the floor and walk on her hands to the ring post and wrap her legs around it to flip back up and into the ring.

At number 28, Lana is supposed to be the entrant, but she hurt her ankle earlier in the night, and can barely walk.  Agents and referees are telling Lana she can't compete but she's insisting.  Then Becky Lynch comes out, to a huge pop, as I mentioned, everyone expected this but, unlike most years when the rumble is predictable this one everyone wanted.  She convinces agent Finlay to let her enter as Lana is unable to compete.  Finlay allows it and Becky is in the rumble.  The crowd erupts, and Becky has a faceoff with Nia Jax who punched her in the face the previous November and broke Becky's nose, which arguably helped Becky get to the level that she needed to get to this point.  Becky eliminates her single handedly and then Nia attacks her and hurts her knee.  So it's down to Becky and Charlotte (surprise, surprise) and Becky and her fight back and forth and just when you think Becky can't get it done because of the injury, she fights Charlotte off and clothesline's her off the apron, to secure her victory to huge ovation.  If you haven't watched this match since it aired, its worth a re-watch just for how Becky got it done, in the way we'd hope Daniel Bryan would in 2015 and sadly didn't.

4. 2001

Coming into this event, Stone Cold Steve Austin had a huge chip on his shoulder.  He had returned from his neck surgery after the storyline of him getting run over at the prior year's Survivor Series, and he was on a warpath to take out everyone involved.  He took on Rikishi at No Mercy in October of 2000, who had recently admitted to being the one who ran Austin over, to help his cousin, The Rock, get to the next level.  The next month Triple H would reveal that he was the mastermind behind the whole thing, and at Survivor Series of 2000 Austin picked up a car holding Triple H and flipped it over with a forklift.  So coming into this rumble it was all about Austin and getting back to the top of the mountain again.

This match as a whole is one of the best rumble matches ever.  It starts off with Jeff Hardy and Bull Buchanan as entrants one and two respectively, and when Jeff's brother Matt is the next entrant, they team up to eliminate him and then they would go at each other as the spirit of competition and the chance to be world champion was what this was about.  Out next was Farooq would wouldn't last even a minute, thanks to The Hardy Boyz teaming up to eliminate him.  Out next would be, comedian Drew Carey who was there to promote a show he was doing, and Vince McMahon put him in the rumble.  The Hardy Boyz completely ignore him and actually eliminate each other, resulting in Drew Carey being alone in the ring, that is until Kane comes out as the next entrant.  Drew Carey doesn't know what to do so he tries to give Kane money, but Kane is not interested and Kane grabs Carey by the throat and was gonna chokeslam him before the next entrant, Raven comes out and attacks Kane with a kendo stick.  Drew Carey eliminates himself and gets out of there.

From this point forward this rumble match was all Kane.  This turns into a hardcore rumble thanks to Raven, Al Snow, and Steve Blackman.  The ring fills up from there after Raven with the next 4 entrants, Al Snow, Perry Saturn, Steve Blackman, and Grand Master Sexay.  Kane would eliminate all five of these guys on his own.  Then at number 12, we get the return of The Honky Tonk Man who brought a guitar and proceeds to sing his theme song and this leads to Kane taking the guitar and hitting him over the head with it and eliminating Honky Tonk Man.  The Rock would be out next and he'd last for nearly forty minutes and reach the final four of the match.  

From this point forward the likes of Big Show would enter at 23, who had been out of action for a few months to that point, Undertaker at 25 who would last ten plus minutes and eliminate four entrants.  Then Stone Cold enters at number 27, the luckiest number in the history of the Royal Rumble.  He would be attacked by Triple H during his entrance because earlier in the night Austin cost Triple H the WWE Championship, and Triple H beat up Austin to the point of bleeding before he even entered the ring.  The final three entrants to that point would be Billy Gunn at 28, the returning Haku at 29 who hadn't been seen in a WWE ring in nine years, and Rikishi at number 30 who had earned that spot.  

Steve Austin would finally enter the ring after Rikishi entered, and would eliminate Haku.  Rikishi would eliminate Undertaker after superkicking him off the apron.  Then as Rikishi was attempting a Banzai Drop on The Rock, he would receive a low blow from The Rock and be pushed over the top rope by The Rock.  This leads to the final four, Kane, The Rock, Steve Austin, and Billy Gunn.  They would all go at each other and after Gunn executed a Famouser on Austin, Stone Cold would recover quickly and eliminate Gunn.  Now down to Kane, The Rock, and Austin.  Kane gets thrown outside through the middle rope and Austin and Rock are going back and forth at each other, when Kane re-enters he eliminates The Rock after trying to eliminate both men.  

Kane would then go back outside and grab a chair and swing it at Austin, but he'd duck and hit a stunner on Kane.  Then Austin grabs the chair and swings it at Kane's face three times then clotheslines Kane out to win the rumble.  This was Kane's greatest performance in the rumble ever finishing with 11 eliminations which would be a record for most eliminations in a single rumble match for thirteen years.  As for Austin this would be his third and final Royal Rumble win and it would lead to a main event match at the best WrestleMania, WrestleMania X-7 against The Rock who would win the championship one month later.  This is one of my favorite Royal Rumbles and it's a really fun one at that.

3. 2008

This rumble match is a lot of fun.  Nobody expected what would happen at the end, and it's all around just a hell of a rumble.  John Cena returned to the biggest ovation of his entire career because nobody expected him back, from a torn pectoral muscle and was expected out for at least eight months, but he came back after two months which is mind blowing.  So that's why it was such a huge surprise to everyone. 

The match starts off with the final two entrants of the previous years rumble, The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels.  They would both last about a half hour.  At number three Santino came out and was eliminated by Undertaker, 25 seconds later.  The next entrant was The Great Khali, and he would only last a minute and be eliminated by Undertaker for the second straight year.  Two entrants later John Morrison would enter the ring and he would last nearly a half hour as well.  At number 8, Batista would enter, and he'd last to the final four after nearly lasting forty minutes and eliminating four entrants.  At number 9, Hornswoggle would enter his first rumble and he would actually help in eliminating The Miz, and then spend most of the time under the ring.  The likes of CM Punk, Cody Rhodes, and Umaga would also last almost thirty minutes.

Two thirds through the match, we get two straight surprise legends entrants, at 18, Jimmy Snuka, and at 19, "Rowdy" Roddy Piper.  They would fight each other for a little while.  The next entrant, Kane, would eliminate both legends and last to the final four, and eliminate three.  Mr. Kennedy comes out at number 23 and his lone elimination would be Shawn Michaels.  Big Daddy V and Mark Henry would enter after Kennedy, and at this point Hornswoggle would re-enter and he would strike one of them and they would, target him.  Before they could do anything, Finlay would come out attack them with a shillelagh, and they would claim that he jumped the gun and was due out at entry number 27 and he was disqualified for using the shillelagh which makes zero sense but that's how it happened and he would take Hornswoggle with him so he technically never got eliminated, which also made zero sense.

 Two entrants later Triple H comes out at 29, and at the time he was the odds on favorite to win the whole thing.  Triple H would clean house and eliminate the most people with six eliminations.  Then at number 30, the biggest surprise ever in the history of the Rumble besides Edge probably, John Cena returns six months early from a torn pectoral muscle.  One of the biggest ovations in the history of wrestling.  John Cena comes in like a house of fire of course, and he gets three quick eliminations.  The final four is down to Batista, Kane, Triple H, and John Cena.  Batista and Triple H would team up to eliminate Kane.  Batista would then be eliminated by Triple H.  It's down to the final two entrants Triple H who came in at 29, and Cena who came in at 30.  They go at each other for a few minutes, then Triple H goes to attempt a Pedigree but Cena reverses it into an F-U over the top rope to secure his victory and wins his first rumble match, and becomes the second person in history to win at number 30.  I love this rumble match and is one of the best ever for the surprise alone and I still get goosebumps from the ovation of the Cena return and this was 13 years ago now, such a cool moment.

2. 2018 (Men's)

This was the first time in a long time that the Men's Royal Rumble wasn't super predictable.  We all went in to at as fans having not even an inkling of who was gonna win, which is the way it's supposed to be.  The match starts off with two huge fan favorites, Rusev and Finn Balor, Finn Balor would last until the final four and last the longest of anyone at almost an hour.  Out next was Rhyno, who was followed by Baron Corbin, who eliminates Rhyno pretty quickly.  Baron Corbin is a eliminated by Finn Balor after only a minute and Corbin is irate about it.  On his way up the ramp he would attack Heath Slater who was making his entrance as entrant number 5.  

This would become a theme of the first third of the match as the next entrant Elias gave Slater a shot on his way down to the ring, out next at 7 was NXT Champion Andrade, then at 8 was Bray Wyatt, who throws Slater back first into the apron, Big E is out next at 9 and puts some pancakes that Big E pulled out of his singlet in Slaters mouth.  Number 10 was meant to be Tye Dillinger for the second straight year but he was taken out by Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn who were mad about losing there WWE Championship opportunity earlier in the night, Sami Zayn takes Dillinger's spot.  Out next is Sheamus and at this point Slater finally gets in the ring and actually eliminates Sheamus after only two seconds.  Then in the process of celebrating he's eliminated by Bray Wyatt, after about 30 seconds.

At number 14, Shinsuke Nakamura is out and he would have the second longest in ring time at forty-four minutes, and eliminating three.  Kofi Kingston would be out at 16 and once again he would find a unique way not be eliminated Jinder Mahal throws him out but Xavier Woods who had been eliminated prior, saves him from elimination by landing on the floor under his left foot.  Then Big E also eliminated prior, puts that foot on a stack of pancakes.  Jinder tries to prevent Kofi from re-entering but Big E and Xavier launch Kofi up and over back in the ring over Jinder, and Kofi eliminates Jinder only to be immediately eliminated by Andrade from behind.

At number 20, John Cena enters, at the time John Cena was desperate to get a match at WrestleMania, that he entered the rumble and hoped that would be his ticket to mania.  Out next was a surprise entrant at 21, The Hurricane, who immediately went for Cena and attempted to chokeslam on Cena but that didn't go anywhere (as per usual with The Hurricane) as Cena eliminates him in under a minute.  At 23, we get the second and the last NXT representative, Adam Cole, was really cool to see him in the rumble, and he had been hurt from the night prior after a hardcore rules match with Aleister Black.  Our last big surprise entrant is at the luckiest entrant number 27, the returning Rey Mysterio, returning to WWE for the first time since 2015, to an ovation unlike his last rumble appearance which was in 2014 an he got booed for not being Daniel Bryan.

The final three entrants were Roman Reigns, Goldust, and Dolph Ziggler, who had claimed he quit a month prior only to come back.  Six people remain and we get a showdown of new generation versus old generation, on one side its Cena, Mysterio, and Orton, and on the other is Balor, Nakamura and Reigns.  Cena hits Balor with the AA, Rey hits Reigns with a 619, and Orton hits Nakamura with an RKO.  Orton then turns his attention to Cena attempting an RKO on Cena, then he receives an Superman punch from Roman, and is eliminated by Roman.  Mysterio then dropkicks both Cena and Reigns into the ropes and hits a double 619, but is immediately eliminated by Finn Balor.  The final four, is Balor, Nakamura, Cena and Roman.  Cena would eliminate Balor to a chorus of boos.  Nakamura would eliminate Cena.

It's down to Nakamura and Reigns.  The crowd is super behind Nakamura.  These two go back and forth for a few minutes the fans booing Roman and cheering Shinsuke.  Then he hits Roman with a running Kinshasa and tosses Roman out for the victory.  This is also one of my favorite rumble matches and it showcases some amazing talent and the right person won for sure.

1. 1992

At this point in time, Hulk Hogan was feuding with Undertaker.  Undertaker had won his first WWE Championship from Hogan at the 91' Survivor Series thanks to the help of Ric Flair.  Then at This is Tuesday in Texas, Hogan won it back with more shenanigans also thanks to Ric Flair.  So the championship was vacated and it was decided that this Royal Rumble would be for the championship.  This was the first time the Royal Rumble was for a prize.  This was billed as the most star studded Royal Rumble.  

The first two entrants are British Bulldog and Ted DiBiase.  Previously having a history of strong performances in the rumble matches, didn't last long at all being eliminated a minute in.  The story especially on commentary was Ric Flair was Bobby Heenan's pick and that was made very clear.  Flair entered at number three, and at the time nobody had ever won the rumble at an entrant before number 13.  Flair would be in for a little over an hour and have the second most eliminations in this match with five.  At number 6, Shawn Michaels enters and this was his first big appearance since turning on his partner Marty Jannety, and becoming the Heart Break Kid, this was the first time we got to see the over the top heel work of Shawn Michaels it stuck out and watching this match back I love it so much.  

The big names continue to enter the likes of Tito Santana, The Texas Tornado, Greg Valentine, Nikolai Volkoff, and Big Boss Man enter.  Roddie Piper entered at 15 and lasted over a half hour.  Followed by Jake Roberts at 16, and Jim Duggan at 17.  Jimmy Snuka would come out at 18 but would only last about two minutes thanks to the next entrant, The Undertaker.  Next would be Randy Savage, who beelined for Jake Roberts who they were still in a huge rivalry and he eliminates him, and the only gripe with the match to me happens.  Randy Savage eliminates himself in the heat of the moment by jumping over the top rope.  That wasn't supposed to happen and instead of changing it up they new Savage was involved in the later points of the match so on commentary they made an excuse that he wasn't eliminated by a person so he was allowed back in despite, years prior, in 1989, Andre the Giant eliminating himself because he was afraid of snakes.

At number 26, Hulk Hogan makes his entrance, and immediately goes for The Undertaker and eliminates him single handedly.  Sid Justice enters at 29, and at the time was on the rise in the company and seen as a top star, and was probably seen as a favorite to win by many.  Number 30 was The Warlord, who had never really had a lot of great Royal Rumble performances.  

The final four, is Ric Flair, Randy Savage (who should have been eliminated), Hulk Hogan, and Sid Justice.  Savage is first to go, thanks to Ric Flair, then he's all alone with Sid and Hogan.  He's trying to back them off, Hogan gets Flair alone in the corner and Sid surprises him with the elimination from behind.  Hogan (a babyface) doesn't like this and stays at ring side.  Hogan grabs Sid's arm from ringside and Flair sneaks up from behind and dumps Sid over.  This would be the second time Hogan was a sour loser in the rumble as a baby face, as he did something very similar in 1989 to Big Boss Man.  Bobby Heenan is ecstatic and Hogan and Sid argue at ringside.  Ric Flair delivers one of the best promos ever following the match.  This is such a fun match, and to me it's the best Royal Rumble ever.

So that's it, full disclosure this took me like two plus weeks to write and don't get me wrong I wanted to write it and it was my decision to write it this long and go in detail about all the matches and I hope people enjoy it and send it around and continue to support everything I'm doing.