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I stopped watching WWE a few years ago, but I’ll admittedly always peek at the Royal Rumble. I watched the product for nearly 30 years and the Rumble has always been the coolest poo poo to me. Surprises, chaos, underdog victories, tragic cheating, cool match-ups out of nowhere, etc. There’s so much to love about it and to this day it’s really hard to have an outright BAD Royal Rumble. Before the site I write for stopped covering wrestling stuff, I used to write Royal Rumble articles every year. Ranking the Rumbles, ranking the winners, discussing the history of women in the Rumble, talking about the one-timers club, explaining the Rumble knockoffs that other promotions have done. I’ve always had a lot to say about the match type. Now I’m going to go even further. I’m going to rank every Royal Rumble participant from worst to best. All 400+. I’m only going to be counting the Rumble matches that are attached to Rumble events. All the Royal Rumble shows up to 2021, including Greatest Royal Rumble. So no SmackDown Rumble from 2004, none of the house show Rumbles from 1994, or that one with Hornswoggle and other little people. The entrants are counted as cumulative through their careers, so all of, say, Smash’s appearances would be added together, including his time as Repo Man. So how do I figure out where everyone stands? I’ve put together a point system. Here’s how things break down: Every minute in the match equals 1 point. Seems self-explanatory. I’m going with what Wikipedia has, so it looks like the timer begins when somebody enters the ring. All totals are rounded to the nearest number. Eliminations are worth 5 points. You have to still be active in the match for the points to count. For instance, Booker T once got eliminated by Kane, so he reentered the ring and eliminated Kane. That wouldn’t count towards his points. Wrestlers earn 5 points, even if there is a single assist in the elimination. If an elimination features three or more wrestlers, then they each get 2 points instead. There are no points for eliminating yourself. Winning a Royal Rumble nets you 30 bonus points. 15 for second place, 10 for third place, and 5 for fourth. Similarly, 10 bonus points are awarded for showing up as #1, #2 or the last entry. Becky Lynch excluded since she was technically #28 when she won. Being eliminated by three or more wrestlers at the same time gets you 10 points. Losing due to an unfair elimination gets you 15 points. This means being thrown out or chased out by someone who is either already eliminated or not part of the match to begin with. If tomfoolery happens, but the wrestler is thrown out by a competitor (and just that competitor), then it doesn’t count and there are no extra points. Like the time Brock Lesnar attacked Goldberg with an F5. Sure, he interfered, but Goldberg was actually thrown out by Kurt Angle. Brute forcing your way into the match also gets you 10 points. That means you weren’t initially part of the Royal Rumble, but you bullied your way into somebody’s spot and officials just let it slide. An example is Mick Foley beating the crap out of Test backstage and being told to get his rear end into the ring. Now for negative points. A wrestler loses 20 points for either hiding under the ring for an extensive amount of time or leaving the ringside area for a while, only to return later on. A wrestler loses 10 points if they never truly enter the match and they aren’t replaced. I’m going to post the full list eventually, but I want to focus on the top 101 Royal Rumble Entrants. 101 because there’s a tie for #100. But first, for the hell of it, here’s the bottom of the barrel. The wrestlers with the least amount of points. - First you have Bastion Booger, Skull, and Spikey Dudley at -10. Bastion Booger only entered Royal Rumble 1994, where he no-showed due to food poisoning. This was to add tension by making it seem, at the time, like Bret Hart was too injured to compete. Similarly, Skull was attacked backstage before the 98 Rumble with others mistakenly thinking he was Stone Cold and was too hurt to compete. Again, Skull’s inability to enter was made to seem like Stone Cold had possibly been brutalized. Skull had actually wrestled in another Rumble as one of the Blu brothers, but only lasted a few seconds, so it didn’t affect his score. As for Spike Dudley, back in 2004, the Undertaker’s music played for Spike’s entrance and was enough of a distraction for Kane to get eliminated. A confused and scared Spike walked out, only to get chokeslammed onto the stage and deemed unfit to compete. - Scotty 2 Hotty at -6 points. After Muhammad Hassan got eliminated from the 2005 Rumble, he got his heat back by beating up following entrant Scotty 2 Hotty and putting him in the Camel Clutch. As Scotty lasted a few minutes combined in other Rumbles, he’s still in the negatives, but he’s not the absolute worst. - Adam Rose, Enzo Amore, Epico, Fake Razor, Gillberg, James Ellsworth, Jamie Noble, Mike Kanellis, No Way Jose, Sandman, Squat Teamer #2, Sylvan, Tazz, Timothy Well, and Tom Brandi have 0 points. All of them lasted less than 30 seconds. Really rough for Tazz, whose easy elimination was a year after making his big WWF debut. - Boogeyman, Cibernetico, Dash Wilder, Ernest Miller, Hiroki Sumi, Jimmy Del Ray, Otis, Psicosis, Rico, Simon Dean, Squat Teamer #1, Tyler Reks, Viktor, and Zelina Vega have 1 point. For the most part it’s because they lasted somewhere between 30 seconds and a minute and 29 seconds. Zelina Vega lasted far longer than that, but had 20 points deducted for trying to hide out under the ring for her Rumble. Next up, the top 101 list begins.
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Jan 11, 2022 02:23
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you've always been a loving madman with your wrestling/ fighting game ending /comicbook lists and I appreciate them all so goddamn much. cannot wait for this.
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Jan 11, 2022 02:29
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How many minutes are you going to count for that time Curtis Axel was never "officially" eliminated from the rumble for, (if I remember rightly), a good couple of weeks afterwards?
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Jan 11, 2022 02:38
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How many points did Road Dogg get spending half of a Royal Rumble clinging to the bottom rope?
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Jan 11, 2022 02:39
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BrigadierSensible posted:How many minutes are you going to count for that time Curtis Axel was never "officially" eliminated from the rumble for, (if I remember rightly), a good couple of weeks afterwards? He was replaced by Erick Rowan, so Axel is stricken from the 2015 Royal Rumble roster. Kevino07 posted:How many points did Road Dogg get spending half of a Royal Rumble clinging to the bottom rope? He didn't even last 20 minutes, so it wasn't much of a strategy.
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Jan 11, 2022 02:42
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Are you going to count Mick Foley, Cactus Jack, and Dude Love as separate entrants in that rumble where he came in as all 3? Similar question for Cody Rhodes/Stardust, Issac Yankem/Kane or Hulk Hogan/Mr America etc. situations? (Although I don't think Mr. America or Dr. Yankem was ever in a Royal Rumble)
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Jan 11, 2022 02:47
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This is going to be amazing, but I'd also like to spoil it because the #1 is clearly going to be Big Show. How could anyone eliminate him? He's too big.
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Jan 11, 2022 02:51
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BrigadierSensible posted:Are you going to count Mick Foley, Cactus Jack, and Dude Love as separate entrants in that rumble where he came in as all 3? Multiple gimmicks are merged together. Mr. America wasn't in the Royal Rumble, but both Isaac Yankem and Fake Diesel were.
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Jan 11, 2022 02:54
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I like that Fake Razor was in a Royal Rumble but Scott Hall never was
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Jan 11, 2022 03:15
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paul london
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Jan 11, 2022 03:56
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My money's on Kane.
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Jan 11, 2022 04:15
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Oh, man. I've always loved your Rumble articles. Really looking forward to seeing how this one shakes out. It really does feel like Kane should be #1 just on sheer volume, and I know he's been unfairly eliminated many times. Does getting chased off by sanitarium guards count as being eliminated by someone not in the match, or as eliminating himself?
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Jan 11, 2022 04:44
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It's a pity percentages don't count for points. Otherwise I'd be barracking for Maven. 1 rumble appearance, 1 elimination, 1 popcorn machine getting bashed into. a 100% record that is the envy of many.
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Jan 11, 2022 09:08
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Oh man this is an insane idea, can't wait to see it play out!
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Jan 11, 2022 09:31
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Roman's going to be #1 i don't think he's finished any lower than fourth ever.
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Jan 11, 2022 09:43
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Lid posted:Roman's going to be #1 i don't think he's finished any lower than fourth ever. Yeah but didnt he have multiple royal rumbles were he left and came back? Like Roman basically sleeping through a rumble happened more then once I think.
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Jan 11, 2022 10:00
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Jericho Triple H Kane and Michael’s are up there in terms of total appearances. Dolph as well. Kofi should get a bonus category for being the best part of every rumble he’s in.
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Jan 11, 2022 10:38
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Mohawk Potato posted:Yeah but didnt he have multiple royal rumbles were he left and came back? Like Roman basically sleeping through a rumble happened more then once I think. I'm pretty sure there was the one where he had to defend his title in that he started at #1 that HHH won by coming out as #30 (Dario did it better with Matanza). I seem to recall the League of Nations dragging him out of the ring under the bottom rope and putting him through the announce table to write him off for half an hour or so. I'm pretty sure he wasn't knocked out of the ring in the MAKE WAY NEW STARS bit in 2015 because he was lying in the corner when Kane and Big Show inexplicably and conveniently turned on each other. Also, I'm also backing Kane to be in the top spot. I'm not sure what the top 20 will be like but I get the feeling there will be a point towards the end where there are some large point gaps between positions.
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Jan 11, 2022 12:29
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Benne posted:I like that Fake Razor was in a Royal Rumble but Scott Hall never was Even though there were three Royal Rumbles in 1994, Razor wasn't in any of them. Torrent posted:Oh, man. I've always loved your Rumble articles. Really looking forward to seeing how this one shakes out. It really does feel like Kane should be #1 just on sheer volume, and I know he's been unfairly eliminated many times. Does getting chased off by sanitarium guards count as being eliminated by someone not in the match, or as eliminating himself? I'm counting that as an unfair elimination. BrigadierSensible posted:It's a pity percentages don't count for points. Maven actually had a second Rumble appearance. He showed up the year after, dropkicked the Undertaker from behind again, celebrated like crazy, realized the Undertaker never left his feet, and understood he was hosed.
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Jan 11, 2022 13:14
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Dolph Ziggler had a lot of Rumbles where he did absolutely nothing of note but still hung around for 30+ minutes. He's a sneaky top 10 contender.
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Jan 11, 2022 21:48
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Oh I can't wait to see this play out. And yeah Kane's gotta be waaayy up there.
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Jan 11, 2022 22:53
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Maven is still in the Royal Rumble to this day.
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Jan 11, 2022 23:26
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maven was eliminated by undertaker during that beatdown from that rumble and its a common misconception that he wasnt
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Jan 11, 2022 23:48
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Cavauro posted:paul london 
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Jan 11, 2022 23:55
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Lot of ties early on in this list, but it peters out over time. 100 (tie): Andre the Giant and Bradshaw with 65 points Considering how broken down Andre was by the 1989 and 1990 Rumbles, having a combined 25 minutes is somewhat impressive. He made the most of that time with a handful of eliminations to show off his dominance. While it took both of Demolition to stop him in 1990, he was protected in 89 by having an eliminated Jake Roberts throw Damien into the ring. Andre chose to eliminate himself in fear, which I’m counting as a bullshit elimination. As for Bradshaw, he’s an interesting case of a wrestler coasting on one good Rumble appearance. In 1998, he lasted about 36 minutes and helped take out Kurrgan. That was his only elimination in Rumble history. Other than a run of about 18 minutes in 2001, Bradshaw usually showed up and got dropped within seconds. Faarooq had the same issue, but his could at least be blamed on a lack of stamina due to age. 99: Sid Justice with 66 points Sid only appeared in one Royal Rumble, for six minutes, but good God did he make it count. He showed up in the 92 Rumble at #29 and laid waste to the ring with eliminations against Roddy Piper, Randy Savage, Rick Martel, Sgt. Slaughter, Warlord, and Hulk Hogan. With Hulk Hogan being a gigantic baby about his elimination and pulling Sid out of the ring, Sid gets points for both coming in second place and for an unfair elimination. The good news was that this was Hogan’s last Rumble appearance. 96 (tie): Bobby Lashley, Hercules, and Tatanka with 68 points During Bobby Lashley’s original run, he only showed up in one Rumble, where he dominated Kane and Big Show, eliminated Sylvan, then got dumped by an annoyed Kane and Big Show. It was his later appearances that got him in the top 100, where he’d rarely last very long (his record is 14:38 in the Greatest Royal Rumble), but he’d usually get his share of eliminations. Hercules was a regular of the first few years of the Royal Rumble and was treated pretty respectfully as a midcarder as he tended to usually get an elimination to his name per appearance. While he ended up in fourth place in the 90 Rumble, his best run was a year later, where he lasted about 38 minutes. He only lasted less than a minute in 92 and that was pretty much it for him as he had his farewell “gently caress this poo poo” MSG match with Sid Justice shortly after. Tatanka is the epitome of the kind of guy who lasts long enough in a Royal Rumble without actually doing anything (though he does have a scant few eliminations to his name). He’s someone WWE built for years as a future top star, only to never pull the trigger in any meaningful way. In four Rumble appearances (including his nostalgia run), he spent about 56 combined minutes brawling. 95: Andrade with 71 points Andrade only had two appearances, but had strong showings. Granted, he only eliminated two wrestlers in his career (Kofi Kingston in 2018 and Randy Orton in 2019), but he did last long enough to get fourth place in the latter bout. Both times, he lasted nearly a half hour. Solid performances. 92 (tie): Cesaro, Eddie Guerrero, and Roddy Piper with 72 points In a just world, Cesaro would have won a Royal Rumble by now. Instead, he gets on this list due to pure dedication. With a whopping seven appearances, he has roughly 47 minutes to his name. A shame, since he’s surely capable of doing an iron man run. As it is, his longest showing is 17 minutes in 2014. In terms of eliminations, his best showing was when he and tag partner Sheamus worked together to take out all three members of the New Day back in 2017. Even though Eddie Guerrero won the 2004 SmackDown Royal Rumble, that unfortunately doesn’t count for this list. Regardless, he did okay for himself. Sure, in 2003 he lasted 16 and a half minutes without a single elimination to his name, but in 2005 he started at #1, took our four opponents, and lasted 28 minutes. “Rowdy” Roddy Piper made his Rumble debut in 1990 where after 12 minutes, he eliminated Bad News Brown. Unfortunately, an angry Brown grabbed Piper and unfairly tossed him out, springboarding an infamously racist WrestleMania feud. Two years later, Piper won the Intercontinental Championship on the undercard and became the first to not only double-dip on a Royal Rumble show, but fight for the chance to win both the IC and WWF Championships in one night. While he took care of IRS and lasted 34 minutes, he stopped just short of placing. Sixteen years later, he’d make a nostalgic appearance for the sake of brawling with Superfly Snuka, which gained him AN ENTIRE POINT.
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Jan 12, 2022 05:04
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90 (tie): Lacey Evans and Test with 74 We get to our first woman in the top 100 and despite the women’s Royal Rumble being a new thing, it’s very good to the select few who are important to the roster, but aren’t tied up in PPV title matches. They tend to do well based on being deemed superior to the jobbers, NXT guests, and filler from yesteryear, which allows them to stand out. Look no further than Lacey Evans, who only appeared in two Rumbles, but lasted 49 minutes combined. Her showing in 2019 was her first main roster appearance and you can tell that they had plans for her at the time, what with having her enter at #1 and being played off as Player 2 Charlotte Flair. Test is another guy who gained enough points via showing up enough times. He’s been in five Rumbles and garnered a few eliminations (his biggest being throwing out Jericho in 2003), but all together, he’s spent over an hour in the ring through his time on the roster. Interesting thing I noticed is that Test’s old partner Albert has been in even more Rumbles, but never did anything. A combined 46 minutes without ever throwing anyone out of the ring, even in a combined effort. He was the epitome of a filler spot. 89: Smash/Repo Man with 75 points Demolition Smash entered at #2 in 1989, memorably taking on his partner Demolition Ax. Demolition still had some gas left for the next couple years to the point that they eliminated freaking Andre of all people, but by the time the Smash gimmick had run its course, he was repackaged as Repo Man. Repo Man did better than you’d think, somehow earning two eliminations in the big 1992 Royal Rumble. 88: Wade Barrett with 77 points Wade Barrett, like Test, is a guy who showed up four times and didn’t exactly set the world on fire, but his success accumulated into something decent. His best showing was the 40-man 2011 Rumble, where he went 21 minutes, eliminated Diesel and Mysterio, then made it to fourth place. Granted, that’s not as impressive sounding when Santino was in second, but still. He’d take out Mysterio again two years later, but that’s overshadowed by Barrett getting eliminated by Bo Dallas of all people. 87: Vader with 78 points Vader has a combined 23 minutes in his three Royal Rumbles, but he was treated as a pretty big deal throughout. His 1996 debut had him run roughshod on the roster, eliminating four guys (nobody impressive) and then going on such a rampage after losing that they had to fudge the rules and reinstate those who were thrown out after his elimination. The following year, karma bit Vader in the rear end for that as he, Undertaker, and Bret Hart were unfairly eliminated by winner Steve Austin. In his final appearance, Vader appeared at #30 and saved us from the Honky Tonk Man’s buffoonery, only to lose in about two minutes. 86: Christian with 80 points During most of his WWE career, Christian was merely a supporting character to Edge, which was very apparent in last year’s show. Yes, Christian got fourth place, but he couldn’t eliminate anyone without having help and the whole thing was about Edge getting the big iron man win. Other than that, there’s nothing too special about Christian’s Rumble career other than that he made a good amount of appearances. Then again, even though he was Austin’s whipping boy, he did rather well in 2002, going 12 minutes (his record until last year) and eliminating DDP, Godfather, and Albert. 83 (tie): Alexa Bliss, Great Khali, and Luke Harper with 81 points Alexa Bliss is mostly remembered for her last appearance, where the rest of the women were smart enough to attack her before she could Henshin-A-Go-Go-Baby into her Fiend form. Otherwise, she’s been pretty good at this whole Rumble thing. For instance, in 2020, she drew #1 and lasted 27 minutes. During that time, she eliminated Kairi Sane, Mia Yim, Chelsea Green, and...Nikki Cross? Oh, Alexa. How could you? The Great Khali has an impressive NINE Rumble appearances, but then again, his longest run was just over 7 minutes in 2012. His usual Rumble showing has him step in, chop a few people, get one or two eliminations, then get sent on his way. 2007 was certainly his year as he eliminated seven opponents in under four minutes. His shortest Rumble tenure is 24 seconds back in 2014, but he still gets extra points for needing the entire Shield to eliminate him. Not counting 2015, Luke Harper had some strong showings. 2016 had him last for 24 minutes and take out fellow future AEW guys Stardust, Neville, and Mark Henry (albeit with help from the other Wyatts). Added together, he spent about 54 minutes in the ring and had his healthy share of eliminations. 81 (tie): Sasha Banks and Vince McMahon with 82 points Other than tying, these two bosses share something on common: they both rank this high despite only being in one Rumble each. Sasha was the first entrant in the first women’s Rumble, then never entered again. She went the distance, lasting 55 minutes, placing in fourth, and getting a couple of eliminations. In the years that followed she was either too busy with title matches or just injured. Vince McMahon was only in one Rumble, memorable for “going the distance” and winning at #2. Of course, 20 points are deducted considering how little he actually spent in the ring. Still, his slimy victory wasn’t entirely unearned as Steve Austin hosed him up in the final minutes. This is also a rare instance where the winner of the Royal Rumble only eliminated one person.
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Jan 13, 2022 04:28
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80: Ted Dibiase Jr. with 83 points The younger Ted has a few appearances and did okay, but got most of his points from 2009. That’s the Royal Rumble where Legacy dominated, so not only did Dibiase get some eliminations and last for 45 minutes, but he actually made fourth place since it ended with Legacy vs. Triple H as the final four. Ah, Dibiase Jr. I believed in you once upon a time. 79: Bayley with 86 points Bayley entered at #29 in the first women’s Rumble and didn’t even place, so that was a bust. A year later, she got another late entry, but at least placed in fourth, lasted long enough, and got three eliminations. Then in 2021, she entered at #1 and went 29 minutes before losing to Bianca Belair. Nothing special, but a respectable collection of showings. 76 (tie): Carlito, Ryback, and Sami Zayn with 87 points The 2006 Rumble is remembered for Mysterio and Triple H each lasting over an hour, but buried in there was Carlito going over 38 minutes and getting two eliminations during that time. Hell, he almost made the final four! He’s made five other Rumble appearances where he did nothing of note other than buy enough time to get him this far on the list. Ryback is another guy who had one really good year and then a lot of coasting. In 2013, he showed up at #30, eliminated five opponents (Sheamus, Sandow, Orton, Miz, and Sin Cara), and got second place. He’s been in three other matches, but by then his star had faded and he only killed time before making his trip to the floor. Sami Zayn has been in four Rumbles and the only elimination to his name is Kevin Owens. He did last for 47 minutes back in 2017 as an extra body, which helped out. Another thing that helped boost him up the ranks is brute forcing his way into the 2018 Rumble by beating the crap out of Tye Dillinger backstage and walking out in his spot. Not that it did him any good, considering he was out on his rear end in 7 minutes. 75: Shelton Benjamin with 89 points If anyone had grinded his way into a high score, it’s Shelton Benjamin. Very few eliminations. A personal best at 22 minutes back in 2007. Four entries where he didn’t even last a minute! But in the end, Shelton Benjamin took part in ELEVEN different Royal Rumbles and collecting pennies adds up. 73 (tie): Akeem and Finn Balor with 93 points The One Man Gang was the first force of nature in the Royal Rumble. Ignoring that he won the first, unaired Rumble in history that’s lost to time, he got a late entry in the first official Rumble and took out six opponents. He made second place, but returned a year later to retain his mantle as a nigh-unstoppable hoss. As Akeem, he helped eliminate Hulk Hogan and later took out Rick Martel. He fought against Big John Studd as a mercenary paid by Ted Dibiase, but due to a screw-up, Studd knocked him out of the ring and Akeem left the ring at third place. A year after that, he had one foot out the door, so he was gone in two and a half minutes. Shockingly, Finn Balor has only been in one Royal Rumble, back in 2018. He entered at #2, took out four opponents, made it to fourth place, and called it quits after 58 minutes. He's the highest ranked one-and-done entry on the list. 71 (tie): Booker T and Jim Duggan with 94 points Booker T has no endurance. Eight Rumble appearances and the longest he lasts is under 11 minutes. He’s never even placed. It just so happens that he’s able to get enough eliminations whenever he’s in the ring, like a slightly more normal version of Khali. Like, one Royal Rumble had him run out at #30, eliminate RVD, do a Spineroonie, and get eliminated in half a minute. It’s almost surprising that he won one of those WrestleMania pre-show battle royals. Jim Duggan was the winner of the initial Royal Rumble, taking out three opponents after 15 minutes. It didn’t really do much for his career. Sure, he was always very well-protected in singles matches, but he never came close to reaching those heights in the Rumble ever again. Outside of that match, the only elimination he got was Virgil back in 1992 and that barely counts. It’s Virgil. Come on, man.
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Jan 13, 2022 15:18
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i'm most excited to see all the names who didnt place even in a dishonorable mentions category
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Jan 13, 2022 17:33
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Virgil really had two memorable moments in WWE, turning on Dibiase and that promo he did after losing to Yokozuna that sounded like he was trying to warn everyone Doomsday had landed in Metropolis
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Jan 13, 2022 17:44
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Man some of these names I haven't thought about in a long time. Remember when Legacy was a thing? No? Nobody else does either. Also reminds me that Bayley has been with the company for years now and deserves so much better 
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Jan 14, 2022 07:47
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Jerusalem posted:Remember when Legacy was a thing? No? Nobody else does either. Yeah, whatever happened to that Cody Rhodes guy?
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Jan 14, 2022 14:51
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Hoss Corncave posted:Yeah, whatever happened to that Cody Rhodes guy? Nothing nothing.
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Jan 14, 2022 14:52
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70: Greg Valentine with 96 points Back in the early Rumble days, Greg “The Hammer” Valentine was THE guy to look for when it came to long-term stamina. That was practically his gimmick in that the longer he’d fight, the harder he’d fight. Even when he was considered over-the-hill by WWF standards back in 1994, he still lasted 21 minutes. His best showing was 1991, where he was in there for 44 minutes and kicked Dino Bravo to the curb. 68 (tie): Bob Backlund and Owen Hart with 98 points Bob Backlund practically lucked out into having a fantastic Rumble year in 1993. Ric Flair was literally a day away from leaving the company and held the record for longest time in the Rumble. In the kind of vindictive move you’d expect from Vince, Bob Backlund was put in at #2 and lasted ONE MINUTE longer than Flair’s 92 win. Backlund eliminated Fatu and Rick Martel while going the distance, falling to Yokozuna and reaching third place. Other than a 12-minute go in 1996, Backlund has otherwise been treated as a novelty entrant who would be eliminated almost immediately. With seven Rumbles, Owen Hart never really did well with the clock. His longest run was 21 minutes in 1996 and his career total was only 48 minutes. He just happened to be very good at getting his licks in and throwing out the right amount of opponents. He also gets bonus points for 1998 due to Triple H and Chyna cheating him out of the match. It was probably better that Austin never got his hands on him anyway. 66 (tie): Jake Roberts and Matt Hardy with 99 points Once the Royal Rumble started being a thing, Jake Roberts competed in many of the opening decade’s contests. It helped that he never had any matches on the undercard. In 1989 and 1998, he only fought it out for a minute or so, but otherwise, he’s been able to hang with the others for a decent amount of time. Then again, 1988 would always be his highlight by getting two eliminations and going for his record of 22 minutes. The funny thing with Jake Roberts was that he never could hit the DDT during the Royal Rumble until 1996...when the camera man wasn’t looking! Matt Hardy’s been in eight Rumbles and of his four eliminations, two of them involved him falling out of the ring as well (Jeff Hardy and Bray Wyatt). His one year where he had Shannon Moore constantly sneaking around to push him back into the ring helped him a bunch with a 27-minute attempt. Otherwise, the guy just had some average Rumble appearances with only two that were notably short. His brother Jeff has a surprisingly terrible record in the Rumble. Of his six appearances, his longest entry had him in there for less than 8 minutes! Oof. 65: Big Boss Man with 100 points For someone who was never going to win, Big Boss Man was always the kind of guy who would be a force in a Royal Rumble. In his first appearance, he was treated as a monster alongside his partner Akeem as they eliminated Hulk Hogan. Since Hogan is a giant baby, he unfairly eliminated Boss Man in response. In the years that followed, Boss Man was the kind of midcard face who seemed to have his own corner of the roster (ie. early face Undertaker, Codyverse), so he was allowed to just kick rear end up to a point. Even when he was reintroduced years later as a corporate henchman, he was deemed wily enough to end Rikishi’s elimination streak in 2000 and even made it in third place back in 1999. By the way, D’Lo Brown was fourth place in 1999. That’s just weird. 64: Earthquake with 103 points Earthquake was entered in the 1990 Rumble where he was the first ever instance of multiple wrestlers teaming up on one big guy to get him out of the ring. A year later, he was laying waste to Animal, Tito Santana, British Bulldog, and – most importantly – a very fresh Bushwhacker Luke. His reign of destruction got him to second place, where Hogan finished off whatever heat their feud had left. In 93, he took out IRS and his own partner Typhoon, but that was only build up for him to take a dive for the new fatness Yokozuna. The next time he’d show up was 1999 with the Golga gimmick and...yeah. 15 seconds for that one. 63: Tito Santana with 104 points The second man to enter the Royal Rumble was simply a good hand and a good guy to have around for these. Tito appeared in six of these babies and only took out Honky Tonk Man and a freshly-heel Shawn Michaels, but he spent an awful lot of time in there. With no squash entries to his name, Tito had a combined hour and 24 minutes. A lot of it was spent punching the hell out of Rick Martel, as it should be. 62: Baron Corbin with 106 points This loving guy. Yeah, believe it or not, Corbin is really good at the whole Royal Rumble thing. Ignoring the fact that he spent a strong 33 minutes in the 2017 Rumble (complete with eliminating Braun Strowman), Corbin has six appearances and every single one of them comes with at least one elimination. After all, the guy exists for the sake of getting cheap heel heat. Who else is going to eliminate face Otis and Nakamura? He’s no force of nature, but he does have ten combined eliminations under his belt. 61: Naomi with 108 points Naomi owes a lot to 2021, where she entered at #2 and went 48 minutes. In the other matches, she was mostly there just to hang out in the ring and be an extra body as she only succeeded in eliminating one other wrestler. Said victim, Mandy Rose, returned the favor after the fact, giving Naomi an “unfair elimination” bonus.
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Jan 15, 2022 02:19
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Tito Santana getting his props, as he should  Gavok posted:The funny thing with Jake Roberts was that he never could hit the DDT during the Royal Rumble until 1996...when the camera man wasn’t looking! Opponents can't scout your move if it never gets filmed 
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Jan 15, 2022 02:36
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60: Becky Lynch with 111 points Becky was only in two Rumbles, but they were both pretty major. In the initial women’s Rumble, she was #2, got a few eliminations, and went out at 31 minutes. It’s her second showing that puts her over the top, as she not only convinced officials to let her take over for an injured Lana, but she ended up winning the whole thing. It helped that due to her injury from an earlier match against Asuka, she took her sweet time getting that win and stretched 13 minutes out of that victory. 59: Rhea Ripley with 112 points Same deal for Rhea, she was in two Rumbles and made her mark both times. In her first one, she was only there for eight minutes, but rid the ring of some dead weight. In the second one, she really kicked some rear end by lasting 39 minutes, making second place, and tossing out seven opponents! Not the elimination record for women Rumbles, but nothing to sneeze at. 58: Yokozuna with 114 points Yokozuna showed up at the Rumble twice. His first one made a huge impact as he showed up at #27, dominated the field, threw out seven opponents, and won the whole thing. While that was used to build him up, the following Royal Rumble had him on top, defending the WWF Championship on the undercard. A year later, he was taking a lengthy break to sell a major loss to the Undertaker and maybe regain some lost mystique. Then came 1996, where he was entering as a stablemate and rival to Vader. He stuck around for 19 minutes and chucked out three dudes, but once he was on the floor, it was apparent that he was going to be losing his feud to Vader and it was the beginning of the end for his WWF career. He would be gone by the end of the year. 57: Randy Savage with 118 points The Macho Man was a man of contrasts. He was both really, really bad at the Royal Rumble and really, really good. On one hand, he’s the guy who jumped over the top rope to attack Jake Roberts in 1992, but on the other hand, the officials chose not to count it so he could go on to get fourth place. On one hand, he’s the dumbass who tried to pin Yokozuna in the Royal Rumble. On the other hand, he did so while being the runner up and even lucked into being #30 for that match. On one hand, he’d no-show the 1991 match. On the other hand, he entered his first Rumble as champion and did as well as he should, considering they didn’t want him to make it to the end and use his loss to build up WrestleMania. Overall, the guy lasted a combined hour and was always treated as a star who COULD win. He did all right for himself. 56: Kurt Angle with 122 points With Kurt Angle, it feels more like he should be way higher than he actually is. Yes, he’s had his moments. He was runner-up in 2002. He made third place in 2004. He powered his way into the 2005 Rumble (albeit, he lost within a minute). Other than that, he’s never done anything spectacular. He has six total eliminations and half of them came from being in the Greatest Royal Rumble. His longest run is 29 minutes. That Angle didn’t make the top 50 just feels off. 55: Elias with 124 points I had to double-check that this number was correct because...seriously? Elias? But yeah, it checks out thanks to the Greatest Royal Rumble. Elias did spectacularly there, going for 34 minutes and taking out Kofi Kingston, Xavier Woods, Kurt Angle, Konnor, and Bobby Lashley. While two of his attempts had him lose almost immediately, he did hang around for 26 minutes in 2018 and 15 minutes in 2019. Guy earned a ton of points under our noses. 54: Mark Henry with 127 points In his Rumble debut, all the way back in 1998, Mark Henry went for 19 minutes. That would be the only time his time would reach double digits. Lucky for him, he has been in the Rumble a total of ten times. The only one of those where he was immediately taken out was 2016 and he at least gets a bonus for having the Wyatt Family swarm him for elimination. Similarly, he was also overwhelmed and tossed out in 2011, that time by the Nexus. Not to mention, he gets his share of his own eliminations, like when he threw out what’s-his-name the sumo in Saudi Arabia. Mark Henry is the same kind of throwaway threat as Khali, but he’s able to stick around just a little bit longer and his career has a bigger span. 53: Big E with 129 points Big E has been in eight Royal Rumbles and for a while, there was nothing interesting about his appearances. With the exception of one guy in the Greatest Royal Rumble, Big E never eliminated anyone, but he’d usually stick around for 10-15 minutes. It wasn’t until 2021 that he had a really good year as he went 30 minutes, eliminated four men, and was unfairly removed from the match by non-competitor Omos. While his title run had been a bust, at least they built him up enough before getting that Money in the Bank win. 52: Mick Foley with 130 points Mick Foley almost counts as cheating just for his 1998 run where Cactus Jack, Mankind, and Dude Love all got to be in a single Rumble. With Cactus starting at #1 and Dude Love getting fourth place, the Three Faces of Foley went for 19 combined minutes with four eliminations. Just as well that he got all that out of his system as 1997 was the only other Rumble he got to be in during his heyday. His other three appearances were all after his initial retirement, but he certainly went to town in those. He forced his way into 2004 and eliminated Randy Orton. He popped up in 2008 for 11 minutes. Then in his novelty appearance in 2012, he took out three opponents. So yeah, an odd Rumble career, but a fruitful one. I'm ending this one here as #49 is a three-way tie.
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Jan 17, 2022 05:00
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Elias is absolutely going to end up being one of those weird trivia questions in 20 years where people are like,"Wait, he was around for HOW long? He got pushes!?! He was regularly featured!?! What!?!?"
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Jan 17, 2022 05:09
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Jerusalem posted:Elias is absolutely going to end up being one of those weird trivia questions in 20 years where people are like,"Wait, he was around for HOW long? He got pushes!?! He was regularly featured!?! What!?!?" He's the modern day D'Lo Brown.
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Jan 17, 2022 05:12
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Gavok posted:He's the modern day D'Lo Brown.
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Jan 17, 2022 05:19
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i bet paul london is in the top 10
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Jan 17, 2022 05:23
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Gavok posted:57: Randy Savage with 118 points these are related, i think, because i would bet you dollars to donuts that the reason they had Elias do so well in the Greatest Royal Rumble was because he looks just enough like Randy Savage that they thought they could make the Saudi audience think that's who was in the ring
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Jan 17, 2022 15:42
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