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Whoops! I realize I hosed up on my math for one of the entries, so I have to backtrack a little bit. 54: Lex Luger with 126 points The Royal Rumble just goes to show how short Luger’s run in WWF really was. In 1993, he was given a debut segment where he was called “Narcissus.” A year later, the Rumble was practically dedicated to his win, even if he and Bret Hart ended up co-winners. During that one, he went 22 minutes and took out 6 different opponents. A year after that and Luger had lost his luster, but was still the on-paper best chance for a face winner in the Rumble. In the infamous one-minute-interval Rumble of 1995, he went 19 minutes, eliminated 4 opponents, and capped out at fourth place. That was the beginning of the end of his WWF tenure as he started up a tag team with the British Bulldog that went nowhere and he was sneaking off to WCW Nitro by the end of the summer. 53: Mark Henry with 127 points 52: Big E with 129 points 51: Mick Foley with 130 points 49 (tie): Diesel and Goldust with 131 points Big Daddy Cool made four appearances. The latter two are worthless surprise appearances where the only thing he did was throw out Jack Swagger. It’s his two early appearances that make him such a big deal in the Rumble. In 1994, he became the first Rumble juggernaut to just eliminate every entrant one after another, ending with seven eliminations, 18 minutes, and even a group attempt to get him out of the ring. In 1996, fresh off losing the championship, he’d appear late in the match, but once again go 18 minutes while eliminating five opponents, and making it second place. Goldust has been in 13 Rumbles. That alone should explain his placement here. Though he’s only had four eliminations in all that time, at least they’re big names like Triple H, Vader, Mankind, and Cody Rhodes. Naturally, his most successful match was 1998 because if he’s going to be at its best, it’ll be during the Attitude Era. 46 (tie) Bob Holly, Shinsuke Nakamura, and Viscera with 135 points Bob Holly is one of the most throwaway Rumble guys you can find. The only elimination he’s ever done without it being a group effort is against Daniel Puder (and even that can be argued). Regardless, he’s been in seven Rumbles and outside of 2005, he’s constantly lasted in the double digits. His career best is 40 minutes in 1996. Shinsuke Nakamura had a great first Rumble, not only winning it and getting three eliminations, but for entering early enough that his in-ring time was 45 minutes. In the years that followed, he’d never reach those heights by a longshot, but he’d go for 22 minutes and 18 minutes in different Rumbles. He also lasted a whole twenty seconds in the Brock-dominated Rumble, but we all have our bad days. Whether he was a rapper, a sex-crazed cult member, or a boob elemental, Viscera has been a Royal Rumble regular, showing up nine times. His stamina has never been all that great, what with his record being 12 minutes back in 1996. He still gets by due to being the victim of group team-up eliminations. His surprise appearance in 1999 is his finest moment here as he stole the spot away from Headbanger Mosh, eliminated five men, and then got eliminated by the Ministry of Darkness, who weren’t even in the match! Now that I think of it, that was also the first instance of somebody bullying their way into the match. 45: Nia Jax with 136 points Speaking of bullying their way into matches, we have Nia Jax, who appeared in both 2019 Rumbles when WWE was very briefly dipping their toes on the idea of intergender wrestling. Nia could be in the ring for as short as 3 minutes and as long as 18, but no matter what, she was always an elimination machine. Through her time in four Rumbles, she’s eliminated one man and eleven women. 44: Rob Van Dam with 137 points RVD’s ranking is mostly due to longevity. He did really well in 2006, getting four eliminations, going 24 minutes, and making fourth place, but that’s the only Rumble he’s made an impact in. Outside of a fairly quick elimination in 2002 where he foolishly did the 5 Star Frog Splash, making it easy for Booker T to just fling him to the floor, he’s had no trouble sticking around. Being consistent over six Rumble matches has helped him with his high score. 43: Crush with 139 points This one was surprising. Crush kicks rear end at Royal Rumble. His first appearance was 1991, where Demolition Crush lasted for 19 minutes. In 1994, when in the midst of his Randy Savage feud (around the time he got a clean pin over Bret Hart, which is still crazy), he went 25 minutes, did three eliminations, and had to be eliminated by a group effort of Bam Bam, Bret Hart, Lex Luger, and Bob Holly. A year later, he showed up at #30, eliminated five opponents, and even made third place! His last showing was 1997 and while he didn’t last for too long, he still gets points for being booked as #1. 42: Shayna Baszler with 141 points For two Rumbles, Baszler was an absolute monster. She showed up in 2020 at #30, took out EIGHT opponents, and made second place. All within 4 and a half minutes! A year later, she came close to placing, but still went 42 minutes and took out 6 opponents. She probably won’t be tearing through the roster like this in future Rumbles, but goddamn, what a start. 41: John Morrison with 146 points Morrison is another wrestler who wins out via being in a lot of Rumbles and being the kind of guy you send out there for a long stretch of time. He has very few eliminations in his eight appearances and he only lasted nine seconds during the Brock Rumble, but he’s otherwise been a solid hand. To give you a better idea, his combined time in the ring is just five minutes short of being two hours long. Four hours if you watch it in slow motion.
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Jan 17, 2022 22:25
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You've reminded me of the horrible, soul-destroying infection of HOPE I had after Shinsuke Nakamura and Asuka won their Royal Rumbles 
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Jan 18, 2022 03:59
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40: Natalya with 155 points As of this writing, there have been four women’s Royal Rumbles and Natalya hits the sweet spot. She’s important enough in the women’s division, but not enough to be locked up in title matches during the PPVs. That means that she gets to shine while being in all four Rumbles. To give you an idea, her worst year is 2020, where she was in there for 15 minutes and didn’t eliminate anyone. Granted, in 2021, she was only there for 2 minutes, but she also hit the #30 spot, eliminated Lana, and came in fourth. 2019 was her strongest year, coming out at #2 and going 56 minutes while getting two eliminations. Great work across the board for her, allowing her to outrank most of her contemporaries. 38 (tie) Drew McIntyre and Ted Dibiase with 156 points Drew’s career in WWE has been all over the place. He started off as a can’t-miss prospect and has had such highs as cleanly beating Brock Lesnar and such lows as cleanly losing to El Torito. That shows in his five-Rumble record where he has a couple lousy years, but some that are especially good. 2020 was easily his high point as he eliminated six men, fought it out for 34 minutes, and won the drat thing. Better late than never. With this list, I give 10-point bonuses for #1, #2, and final spot placements because I feel that there’s some importance to those spots. While you may get a Bull Buchanon or Samu in there, those spots tend to go to people who are supposed to matter. Said spots told the story of Ted Dibiase’s early days in the Rumble as he bought his way to #30 in 1989 and was not only banned from doing so the following year, but he was given the #1 spot. He still made the best of it and held the record at the time with 45 minutes. He came out to #1 once again in 1992, but was quickly defeated and overshadowed by Ric Flair. Other than that snafu, Dibiase was always a survivor in these matches and often got his licks in. 1989 was almost his year, too, as he ended up in second place. 37: Rick Martel with 159 points Rick Martel is an interesting case. He already had a fine start in 1989, where he made fourth place. It’s just that in 1991, he went for 52 minutes, which was the Royal Rumble longevity record until Ric Flair’s big win. Even though Martel never really accomplished much as a midcard heel, this was his wheelhouse. His 52 minutes solidified him as THE Royal Rumble guy. He was like Shelton Benjamin in Money in the Bank in that he was the recurring expert, but he was never destined to really win. He ended up having seven appearances with all the later ones making you think, “Wow, he was still in the company by then?” 36: Miz with 160 points Normally, I could just tell you that Miz had thirteen Rumble appearances (holy poo poo) and that would be that. Funny thing is, so many of those appearances are blink-and-you’ll-miss-it attempts. Five of those appearances are under 90 seconds and three are 30 seconds and less. In fact, get this, of all those appearances, his only victims have been Alex Riley and R-Truth at the very beginning of the 2012 Rumble. He has never placed either. At most, he gets a couple #1 spots and has a handful of Rumbles where he sticks around long enough for it to count when you tape them all together. 35: Dean Ambrose with 161 points Dean Ambrose was built to last, man. Five appearances and they’re all solid. His shortest run is 13 and a half minutes. Between a combined two hours of ringtime mixed with enough eliminations, as well as coming in second place in 2016? Yeah, Ambrose was a force to reckon with. 34: Mr. Perfect with 167 points It’s a drat shame Mr. Perfect never won the Royal Rumble. He showed up in 1990 as #30 (the perfect number) and made runner-up. He had some consistent stamina that kept him kicking in these matches throughout the years. His shortest time was 9 minutes in 1993 and that’s only because, after eliminating three guys, it took three men to eliminate him – including an already-eliminated Jerry Lawler! He reappeared in 2002 and shattered expectations by getting third place and even outlasting Steve Austin himself! 33: Rusev with 172 points Despite WWE never knowing what they had with the current Miro, Rusev’s only bad Rumble showing was in 2016, when Roman eliminated him in 90 seconds to start the match. He’s otherwise been a pretty powerful threat in these situations, both in terms of longevity and eliminations. Even if he looked like a goober in the finale, 2015 was his best showing as he went 35 minutes, eliminated six opponents, and found himself in second place. 32: Rikishi with 182 points From Samoan savage to a guy making a difference to a sumo with a giant rear end, Fatu has been a regular enough to make ten Rumble appearances. He’s mostly remembered for his Diesel-like ownership of the match back in 2000, where he eliminated seven opponents and everyone had to gang up on him to get him out. Oddly enough, the only time he placed was in 1994, where he was in fourth. He’s never had an outright bad year (except maybe 3 minutes in 1996) and although he didn’t do too many eliminations outside of 2000, he at least has wins over the likes of Steve Austin and the Undertaker. 31: Bray Wyatt with 183 points As Husky Harris, Wyatt got to be part of the Nexus’ domination of the 2011 Rumble, so that helped him on points in that respect. Under the Bray Wyatt gimmick, WWE never had any intentions to have him win, but they were smart enough to know not to blatantly job him out. Wyatt was always a gigantic threat in these matches and had a combined 109 minutes. As screwy as the 2015 Rumble was, Wyatt still tore it up by going 47 minutes and eliminating 7 dudes. In 2017, he made third place, which was a moot point for him, as he won the WWE Championship a month later anyway.
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Jan 19, 2022 05:51
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30: Ric Flair with 188 points The Nature Boy’s five appearances are split into the two parts of his career. When he was a spry enough part of the WWF roster, he had his memorable 1992 showing where he started out at #3, went for an hour (almost exactly!), and won the whole thing with 5 eliminations to his name. A year later, though in the process of being written out of the company, he still did 19 minutes and got to dump out Papa Shango. He returned years later and while ready and willing, he wasn’t physically viable when it came to running the gauntlet. Those three Rumbles from his older days had a combined 9 minutes and usually got by via the novelty of him being #1 or #30. 29: Bianca Belair with 190 points The 2020 Rumble was all about getting the fans to understand that she was going to be a big deal. Entering at #2, she went 33 minutes and eliminated a crazy eight opponents. It was a huge build-up for the newcomer and they uncharacteristically kept that momentum going a year later. Belair started at #3 and outlasted everyone else. 57 minutes and four eliminations later, Bianca Belair was on her way to WrestleMania. Two amazing performances on top of each other. 28: Kofi Kingston with 195 points I don’t hand out any extra points for cool saves from elimination, but in order for Kofi to do such a thing, he has to be in the ring for a respectable length of time. Kofi has been in 13 Royal Rumbles and unlike the Miz, he doesn’t have any extremely brief entries in his history. He also doesn’t have any incredibly long stretches either. It all ranges between 3 minutes and 22 minutes. Put 13 of those together, throw in a few eliminations, and you’ve got a stew going. 27: Bret Hart with 211 points Here is the man who drew #1 in the first official Rumble. Bret has been in five of these and while it took Vince a while to understand what he had with the Hitman, he at least saw him as a good hand who would be good to keep in these matches for a good chunk of time. He understandably lasted the longest in that 88 Rumble. In fact, his shortest Rumble run was 15 minutes, which is impressive. Bret turned a corner in 1994, where he limped out at #27 and became co-winner with four eliminations to his name. His last Rumble was 1997, where he was screwed over by Steve Austin due to some iffy officiating. Then again, with the way this list’s point system works, being in second place and being unfairly eliminated ends up equaling winning the whole match, so it works itself out. 25 (tie): Charlotte Flair and Daniel Bryan with 216 points Charlotte tops the women’s division with her combined Royal Rumble performances. She’s been in three of them and they have all been absolutely huge for her. In her first go, she went 50 minutes, eliminated five opponents, and got second place. A year later, she finally won the thing at 27 minutes with four eliminations. Last year was her “worst” performance because she only got third place and one elimination while competing for 34 minutes. Daniel Bryan’s Rumble life was underwhelming, but not awful. He’d get some eliminations and he’d stick around to the point that he was never blatantly jobbed, but they never wanted him to make anything of himself here. He never placed and he never got any really long performances. Then his temporary retirement happened. When Bryan came back, they gave him the Greatest Royal Rumble as something of a make good. Yes, Bryan didn’t win it, but he did break the longevity record by coming out at #1, fighting it out for 76 minutes, and making third place. He had three eliminations that barely amounted to anything, but still. An hour and 16 minutes for one match! Pretty drat good! 24: The Rock with 220 points As Rocky Maivia, the Great One had a mediocre 13-minute showing in 1997. A year made a huge difference and in 1998 he went 52 minutes, took out three opponents, and made it all the way to second place. It was Austin’s Rumble to win after all. Rock was a star after that and while he didn’t show up in too many Rumbles, they were both all about building to him main-eventing WrestleMania. 2000 was the Rock’s one big win (I mean, we know the Big Show really won it, BUT STILL), even if it wasn’t the most dominant of showings (15 minutes and four eliminations). A year later, he placed in third with 39 minutes and three eliminations. A good collection, though it goes to show how short his run as a major player really was. 23: Brock Lesnar with 224 points Brock has a crazy history with the Rumble. In his initial WWE run, he was just in the 2003 Rumble. He had already competed in a match earlier in the night, so they put him at #29 and had him win the Rumble in 9 minutes (four eliminations). He didn’t compete again until deep into his modern Secret Final Boss return period. There, he would show up briefly, but be explosive during it. He’d rack up the eliminations while only appearing for a few minutes. One year it took Goldberg to eliminate him while another year the Wyatt Family had to work together after Brock had already thrown them out. 2020 was the Rumble centered around Brock, as he insisted on being #1. In 26 minutes, he laid waste to 13 challengers, tying for the one-match record. Eventually, he was put away by Drew McIntyre to set up their WrestleMania feud. 22: British Bulldog with 233 points Davey Boy was the poster boy for who could win the Rumble in the early years. He was on the same level as the likes of Hacksaw and Big John Studd, plus was always on the cusp of breaking into the main event. Not counting his later jeans-wearing era, he always seemed like he could easily win one of these. He fought through 6 Rumbles from 1991 to 2000 with some good performances in there. He placed fourth a couple times. He even started at #2 in 1995 and made it to second place, albeit in a year with one-minute intervals, so he was only there for 39 minutes. He was competent at clearing the ring when necessary, getting a career total of 13 eliminations. 21: Seth Rollins with 246 points With 5 appearances, Rollins has competed for just a little over two hours. His shortest time was 4 minutes and that was only because he was #30 in the 2020 Rumble. He still got rid of Kevin Owens, Aleister Black, and Samoa Joe in that time. Rollins’ main claim to fame is the 2019 Rumble, where he went 43 minutes and won the whole thing. Ah, the days before the Fiend storyline killed his credibility. Still, Rollins has mostly been a protected part of the modern WWE roster and from his beginnings as part of the Shield to his years hovering around the main event, he’s been treated as one of the more capable wrestlers to enter the Royal Rumble.
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Jan 20, 2022 00:45
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i hope paul london gets a big write-up
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Jan 20, 2022 00:57
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20: Cody Rhodes with 252 points Cody Rhodes has never won a Royal Rumble. He’s never come out at #1, #2, or #30. The farthest he’s ever gotten is third place in the form of one of Randy Orton’s pawns. So why is Cody Rhodes the 20th best Royal Rumble competitor? Why does he outrank Brock Lesnar, Kevin Nash, and the entire women’s division? Because over 8 Royal Rumbles, from his generic days of no kneepads to Stardust running it course, Cody Rhodes has spent three hours and eight minutes wrestling in the Royal Rumble. If you were to watch a reel of all of Cody’s Rumble runs, it would be longer than if you watched Avengers: Endgame. 19: Hulk Hogan with 254 points Hulk Hogan is the opposite of Cody. His longevity isn’t all that special, lasting in-between 11 and a half minutes and 21 minutes in his mere four appearances. It’s just that whether he wins or loses, he has to be the focus. That’s why he’s won two consecutive Rumbles and got third place the following year. In the one year where he didn’t come close to winning, he still eliminated his partner, the WWF Champion, and left the ring with 10 eliminations under his belt. He has 26 eliminations total due to all the running wild he does. 18: Sheamus with 258 points Sheamus’ star has fallen in recent years. This is a guy who got eliminated by Heath Slater in two seconds. But for a long, long time, WWE insisted that we wanted Sheamus. Even though he made his Rumble debut in 2011, it was during his King Sheamus phase, so he wasn’t getting much out of it other than 21 minutes of ringtime and heat for eliminating Hornswoggle. A year later, he had the rocket strapped onto him, going 22 minutes with three eliminations as he won the drat thing. After that, Sheamus was a top Rumble mainstay. In 2013 and 2014, he got third place. In 2016, he was in fourth place. Not to mention the many eliminations he built up over those years. Sheamus wasn’t going to win again, but WWE wanted him to come off as one of the last major challenges for anyone who was going to win. 17: Batista with 259 points Batista was only in five Rumbles and although he only had one lengthy performance (28 minutes in 2008), WWE never, ever wanted to make Batista look bad. Unlike Sheamus, there was never a moment when Batista had lost his luster in their eyes. From beginning to end, he was always going to be a dominant star. Batista was so consistently pushed that he at the very least placed in every one of his matches. Fourth place in 2003, a win in 2005, third place in 2008, third place in 2010, and another win in 2014. 16: Chris Benoit with 266 points You know what’s genuinely surprising to me? Chris Benoit only competed in four of these. Huh. In fact, despite being in the company since 2000, the 2004 Rumble was his first foray. That’s where he garnered most of his points, going 62 minutes, starting at #1, eliminating six men, and winning the whole thing. Then a year later, he started at the beginning once again, this time getting a respectable 47 minutes. He kept lasting bit less by the year, going 31 minutes in 2006 and 18 minutes in 2007. He threw out 13 people, which is impressive for somebody who is currently suffering in the pits of Hell. 15: CM Punk with 287 points Six appearances for CM Punk and they’re all pretty huge. The least amount of time he’s spent in a Royal Rumble is 10 minutes in 2010 and that’s the Rumble where he took over the match with his multiple sermons and eliminated five opponents. Then he took over the Rumble a year later AGAIN by being the leader of the Nexus. Even when Punk was starting out and the company hadn’t warmed up to him just yet, he was still going 22-27 minutes per match and always got at least one elimination. His last match with the company got him a ton of points here, with 49 minutes, 3 eliminations, the #1 spot, an unfair elimination, and reaching fourth place. I can’t believe he turned down the follow-up, a WrestleMania “main event” against Triple H. 14: Dolph Ziggler with 288 points The Zigzag Man made his first appearance in 2009, where he tried shaking Kane’s hand and ended up being out of the ring in 21 seconds. Luckily for him, that was only the first of 14 Rumble attempts. As you can guess, those many Rumble showings add up. He still hasn’t had as much time in the ring as Cody Rhodes’ 8 Rumbles, but he’s succeeded in pulling off many eliminations and is constantly being chosen for either #1 or #30. Plus he’s made fourth place and third place once each. 13: Big Show with 305 points Big Show is a total crapshoot. He’s been in there 12 times and he can either be bulldozer or a big name making a cameo. He has a few appearances that lasted less than 2 minutes, but those usually come with a couple eliminations. He has a career total of 29 eliminations. His only longish stretch of time was 2004 (23 minutes), where they treated him like an absolute killer in the way he destroyed all the finalists outside of Benoit. He finishes with two second place spots, a third place spot, and a couple #30 entries. Kind of eye-opening that he didn’t make the top 10, honestly. 12: Braun Strowman with 309 points Braun was in six Rumbles and the only bust was the Brock-centric one. Otherwise, he was always depicted as an absolute beast. The Greatest Royal Rumble was tailor-made for him and Daniel Bryan as Bryan got the longevity record and Braun got to not only win it, but break the one-match elimination record by throwing out 13 opponents (Brock would later tie that). In addition to that meaningless win, has a total of 34 eliminations and made second place in 2019. 11: Rey Mysterio with 391 points Over the course of 12 Rumbles, Rey Mysterio has hung around for over FOUR HOURS. 2006 was his big year, with him entering at #2, going 62 minutes, eliminating 6 guys, and winning it. He may not have been capable of ever getting that kind of momentum again (Eddie can only die so many times), but Vince always knew he could count on him to run out there, do some neat moves, get some fun elimination pops, and last for a very long time. Why, he's so popular that you could probably throw him in the #30 spot when the crowd is expecting another babyface and not face any repercussions whatsoever.
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Jan 22, 2022 08:40
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oh baby.
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Jan 22, 2022 08:40
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Paul London lasted 3 minutes and did a fancy flip. He never got to be in a Royal Rumble ever again.
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Jan 22, 2022 08:42
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Jan 22, 2022 08:50
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Love the write-ups. I like to watch the royal rumble. You've done a lot of work with this—in both background and foreground—and I'm elated that you've decided to share it here with us on the wrestling forum where we live. Every time the thread has been updated, it's like big bucks are falling out of the sky.
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Jan 22, 2022 08:58
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Enjoying the write-ups, never would've figured Cody to rank so highly.
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Jan 22, 2022 09:01
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I bet my last dollar on Big Show topping the points in this thread because he's too big to be thrown out, how could I have lost that bet?  Great work, Gavok, looking forward to the Top 10!
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Jan 22, 2022 10:26
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Kane's got to be the highest-ranked non-winner, right?
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Jan 22, 2022 10:31
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One of my favorite CM Punk moments in a Rumble was '08 when they had Snuka and Piper enter right after each other and face off in the ring. Punk and Morrison stop fighting in the corner, and Punk just marks out for like a full minute before remembering he's supposed to be fighting Morrison. Watch Punk in the background here. Starts around 29:00 until a little over a minute later when Morrison kicks him. He's just got this little kid  look on his face the whole time.
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Jan 22, 2022 17:51
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I'm pretty sure I can name eight of the people in the top ten, but I've no idea who the other two could be since a lot of big names are already out.
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Jan 22, 2022 21:25
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I was kind of surprised Hogan isn't higher, but Rumbles only started happening toward the end of his WWE run, so he only got to rampage 2 and a half of them
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Jan 22, 2022 23:16
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edogawa rando posted:Kane's got to be the highest-ranked non-winner, right? I’d say it’s either him or Austin for the number one spot.
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Jan 23, 2022 00:02
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#1 Roman reign
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Jan 23, 2022 00:05
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I'll post the full list later. But for now, here's the top 10. 10: Roman Reigns with 411 points Roman Reigns just plain stains every Royal Rumble he’s in. WWE really wanted to make him a big deal and that meant giving him excessive focus. There are six Rumbles with Roman in them and the worst he’s done in terms of getting to the end is 2016, the Rumble where he was #1 and entered despite being champion. He got third place on that one (as well as 20 points deducted for hanging out backstage for much of the match), which is, again, RELATIVELY BAD FOR HIM. See, Roman won the 2015 Rumble, but his other four Rumbles had him make it to second place. He lost to Batista in 2014, Randy Orton in 2017, Shinsuke Nakamura in 2018, and Drew McIntyre in 2020. At this point it feels like teasing. 9: John Cena with 419 points John Cena’s first two Rumbles don’t really count for much, since his push hadn’t kicked in yet. 2005 was his breakout year, but also Batista’s, so Cena was left with second place. He skipped a few years, then did his big 2008 showing where he made a surprise appearance at #30 and won (though with only 8 minutes of ring time because he was still injured). With a few more showings since then, he got second place in 2010, was wrongfully eliminated in 2011, won again in 2013, and made third place in 2018. During all of this, they kept his in-ring time at a respectable amount, but never anything especially long. 2011 was his longest one with 34 minutes. 8: Edge with 420 points Edge has been in 8 Rumbles, which does feel like a small number considering how long he’s been around. His cumulative Rumble time is three and a half hours, so yeah, he’s seen some poo poo. He tends to have lengthy performances and the only time he didn’t was when he showed up at the 2010 Royal Rumble at #29 to win in under 8 minutes (like Cena in 2008, he wasn’t in the best physical shape). He’s also made at least one elimination per match, which adds up. A healthy series of performances, it’s 2021 that really shoots him up the stratosphere. Starting at #1, he won the match with three eliminations at 58 and a half minutes. It’s like they just wanted him to prove that he had the stamina to pull it off. 7: Steve Austin with 445 points It’s the one guy who won three Royal Rumbles and they had to screw him out of winning the 1999 one just so he wasn’t being too overly pushed. Austin has been in six of these and 1996 is his only relative dud, partially due to him slipping and accidentally getting eliminated after 11 minutes. Otherwise, he’s been a vicious, nigh-unstoppable bastard from 1997 to 2002 (where he got fourth place). 36 victims ate poo poo over the years when faced with the Rattlesnake and the only thing holding him back was how short his time on the top was and how quickly his career burned out. 6: Chris Jericho with 454 points With 11 attempts, Chris Jericho has never won a Royal Rumble. He came close in 2012. He made fourth place in 2004. He has 19 career eliminations, which really isn’t all that much. So why is Jericho so high up this list? Because Chris Jericho has the record for longest collective time in the Rumble match. By a lot! Chris Jericho is only 27 seconds away from being in the Royal Rumble for five hours. Holy poo poo, dude. 5: Undertaker with 481 points It’s the Undertaker. He’s been around for forever and WWE was never going to treat him like anything other than a star. Having appeared in 11 Rumbles from 1991 to 2017, it’s more interesting to see what it took to remove him from the matches. 1991: Both Legion of Doom members. 1992: Hulk Hogan. 1993: Unfairly eliminated by random Giant Gonzalez. 1997: Unfairly eliminated by Steve Austin. 2001: Rikishi, back when they were pretending Rikishi could work as a top heel. 2002: Maven, in what was treated as an absolute upset. 2003: Brock Lesnar with Undertaker ending at second place. 2007: Winning at #30. 2008: Shawn Michaels. 2009: Unfairly eliminated by Big Show. 2017: Roman Reigns The one thing holding Undertaker back was that at times, the Rumble seemed beneath him. Regardless, throwing out 41 opponents over so many years will get you up that ladder. Plus all those unfair eliminations add up. 4: Triple H with 531 points Across 9 Rumbles, there are four hours of footage of Triple H being in the ring. Somehow I was expecting even more. Hunter has three crazy long performances, from his first appearance in 1996 (48 minutes), him getting #1 in 2006 (an hour), and his early draw in 2009 (50 minutes). He’s also eliminated several dozen wrestlers and usually tends to rank pretty high. He hit third place in 2006, ended up in second place twice, and has two Rumble wins. It’s a bit of a novelty to see him lose midway into the Rumble like in 1997 and 2010. 3: Kane with 552 points Counting his Yankem and Fake Diesel gimmicks, Kane has been in 20 Royal Rumble matches. Not only is that the most, but Ziggler is a distant second with 14. He also has the elimination record with 46! He made second place in 2001, fourth place in 2000, fourth place in 2015, and has a couple wrongful eliminations. He’s the highest-ranking wrestler to never win the Royal Rumble, but what really keeps him from the top is how quick a lot of his appearances are. He usually runs in, gets one or two eliminations, then gets sent on his way. He has an average of 10 minutes a match and his lengthy 54-minute run in 2001 did all the heavy lifting on that. 2: Randy Orton with 554 points 13 appearances for the Legend Killer and even when he isn’t winning, he’s still usually showing up to just drop a million RKOs in every direction. His only short runs are two 6-minute attempts that are only so short because he enters so late. Otherwise, Orton is the right mix of everything you need to make an impact in the Rumble. A combined time of 4 hours and 32 minutes (averaging 21 minutes per Rumble). A combined 27 eliminations. Two wins, two second placings, two third placings, and two fourth placings. There’s only one man capable of outranking him as the best Royal Rumble competitor ever. 1: Shawn Michaels with 566 points When Shawn Michaels made his Rumble debut in 1989, he did a respectable 14 and a half minutes where he and his partner Marty Jannetty eliminated “Outlaw” Ron Bass. In the year that followed, Michaels went out like a total punk, eliminated by the Ultimate Warrior in mere seconds so that Warrior and Hogan could have a showdown in an empty ring and begin the hype for WrestleMania VI. In 1992, Michaels went 16 minutes and had the power of a brand new, meaningful heel turn on his back. Granted, it wasn’t his time just yet. In 1994, he was a major part of the midcard and went 29 minutes while being part of four eliminations. In a match memorable for its double winners, Michaels was the forgotten third place. The match was also memorable for Michaels’ bodyguard rising up the ranks and potentially overshadowing Michaels in the long run. 1995 and 1996 were when it all came together for Michaels. While 95 was a shorter Rumble by design, he still won it at #1 and took out 8 opponents himself. His WrestleMania title match against Diesel amounted to nothing, but 96 was the second attempt. Another 8 opponents bit the dust as Michaels not only won, but did so by lastly defeating his former bodyguard. This time, he won the title at WrestleMania and became a main event fixture. From there, Michaels was always in the title picture until his back injury put him on the shelf for several years. It would be years until his next Rumble match. In 2003, he insisted on the #1 spot, but got ambushed and brutalized by Chris Jericho to the point that he was gone in 2 minutes. In 2005, Michaels went 5 minutes before a psychotic Kurt Angle snapped from being kicked out of the ring and threw Michaels out. He was unfairly eliminated again in 2006 when Vince and Shane McMahon screwed him over out of pettiness. Now that I think of it, that's three Rumble appearances in a row where Michaels is hosed over for the sake of a non-title WrestleMania match. 2007 had Michaels not only get second place, but lose after an incredibly long and exciting battle with the Undertaker. In a roundabout way, it was the beginning of the end for his career. The two would start off the 2008 Rumble and would each survive for about 33 minutes. Michaels was too busy being in JBL’s corner in the 2009 undercard to compete, but in the end, his role in JBL vs. Cena led to Michaels facing Undertaker at WrestleMania 25. Then in 2010, Michaels entered his final Rumble for the sake of winning and getting a rematch against the Undertaker. He couldn’t seal the deal and ended up in fourth place. Of course, he’d get that rematch anyway, but it would be the one that ended his career. Asterisk. Two Rumble wins, 41 eliminations, 3 hours 48 minutes in the ring, and a handful of opening spots and bullshit losses that protected him. Not only was he Mr. WrestleMania, but he also ended up being Mr. Royal Rumble.
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Jan 23, 2022 04:44
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Genuinely shocked, I was utterly convinced Austin was going to be #1. Michaels getting the spot makes sense, but  that Randy Orton was #2, it's another example of how much his sustained high level push somehow hasn't translated to anything really memorable or standout in his career outside of the early days where Mick Foley did everything in his power to put him over and that brief period where people went nuts over the doves pose. I legitimately do not remember him winning a single Royal Rumble, or even really any of his actual appearances in them.
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Jan 23, 2022 05:07
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Jerusalem posted:Genuinely shocked, I was utterly convinced Austin was going to be #1. Michaels getting the spot makes sense, but My recollection is that Rhodes and Dibiase Jr kept running interference for him, so the final 4 ended up being BIG MEGAFACE HHH (RIP) vs The Legacy, and then this happens: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05A2KPJ0QOY and then Randy Orton's won the Rumble, and he has to wander around the ring pointing at the sign, trying to make the fireworks go off but it won't because he's not standing in the correct place and it's like "mate, how loving contrived is this?" And then BIG MEGAFACE HHH (RIP) and Orton stunk out the place in the main event of WM25, going on after Taker/HBK. edogawa rando fucked around with this message at 07:13 on Jan 23, 2022 |
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Jan 23, 2022 07:11
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Oh gently caress that's right, they had a Raw Main Event for the main event of Wrestlemania
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Jan 23, 2022 07:13
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its funny because orton's two rumble wins are about him being protected/relying on his stable he's in to win. Bray sacrificing himself to Roman and Orton taking advantage of it
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Jan 23, 2022 07:27
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Jerusalem posted:Oh gently caress that's right, they had a Raw Main Event for the main event of Wrestlemania Was that the one where it should've been No DQ because it was a massive grudge feud, but instead they added EXTRA DQ stips?
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Jan 23, 2022 08:38
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Sure was. They tossed on a stip that Triple H would lose his title on a DQ, so the big grudge death match ends up being just kind of a wrestling match instead. That ended on HHH winning off a ref bump and sledgehammer
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Jan 23, 2022 10:18
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I could have sworn Reigns had already appeared in the list and completely forgot about Undertaker. Also, I'm shocked at the positions of Austin and Kane and even more shocked that Orton was at 2. HBK I expected to be top three but not first. This was definitely a fun read like all your lists are. Thanks Gavok for doing this.
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Jan 23, 2022 14:37
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KungFu Grip posted:its funny because orton's two rumble wins are about him being protected/relying on his stable he's in to win. Bray sacrificing himself to Roman and Orton taking advantage of it Plus one of the reasons why Orton's Rumble wins are kind of forgettable is the backwards way they're set up. Orton is in the Rumble with Triple H and later Wyatt. Orton wins the Rumble, getting a title shot at WrestleMania. Triple H and Wyatt then have to win the titles before Orton so the WrestleMania match makes sense.
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Jan 23, 2022 18:18
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this was fantastic. Top notch work, Gavok 
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Jan 24, 2022 03:09
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What a ride, thank you. The product is cold but I’ll always be hyped for the Rumble and it’s cause of stuff like this.
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Jan 24, 2022 05:32
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TheRico posted:What a ride, thank you. The product is cold but I’ll always be hyped for the Rumble and it’s cause of stuff like this. Speaking of which, is there not going to be a Rumble Roulette thread this year? 
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Jan 24, 2022 08:38
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that would require people to actually like and watch wwe to care about the royal rumble
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Jan 24, 2022 09:09
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Used to be it was the time of the year we got a bunch of people from the rest of the forums popping in because the Rumble was traditionally fun, easy to understand, plus you got assigned a # to cheer for so you didn't need to worry about figuring out who was who. It was good times 
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Jan 24, 2022 11:41
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This is a lunatic's endeavor and I love you for doing it. Thank you.
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Jan 24, 2022 15:45
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Jerusalem posted:Used to be it was the time of the year we got a bunch of people from the rest of the forums popping in because the Rumble was traditionally fun, easy to understand, plus you got assigned a # to cheer for so you didn't need to worry about figuring out who was who. It was good times This post made me realize that the Rumble is literally just 5 days away and nobody has even bothered setting up a toxx thread or numbers pool
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Jan 25, 2022 02:20
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I asked like 2 weeks ago in the wwe thread an no one wanted to do it since no one watches or cares about wwe to do it Shame AEW doesn't have a cool rumble event or match to substitute for those threads
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Jan 25, 2022 03:45
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^^^Aew should just make the Diamond Ring battle royal a pay per view with the final 2 wrestling immediately to end the show. Straight up steal Survivor Series tooBenne posted:This post made me realize that the Rumble is literally just 5 days away and nobody has even bothered setting up a toxx thread or numbers pool The territory is dead Thanks for this thread Gavok. It's been a good read
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Jan 25, 2022 03:45
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Get rid of the dog poo poo casino battle royal rules everyone hates
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Jan 25, 2022 03:51
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And now, here's the full rankings. 405. Bastion Booger, Skull, Spikey Dudley: -10 404. Scotty 2 Hotty: -6 389. 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, Tom Brandi: 0 375. Boogeyman, Cibernetico, Dash Wilder, Ernest Miller, Hiroki Sumi, Jimmy Del Ray, Otis, Psicosis, Rico, Simon Dean, Squat Teamer #1, Tyler Reks, Viktor, Zelina Vega: 1 361. Aiden English, Bill DeMott, Boris Zhukov, Colonel Mustafa, Dan Matha, Drew Gulak, Elijah Burke, Hakushi, Jacqueline, Konnor, Latin Lover, Max Moon, Saba Simba, Tyler Breeze: 2 350. Blue Meanie, Bushwhacker Luke, Butch Reed, Doug Gilbert, Drew Carey, Jack Gallagher, Paul London, Ronnie Garvin, Sin Cara, Takao Omori, Tyson Kidd: 3 340. Barry Horowitz, Dakota Kai, Daniel Puder, Kenzo Suzuki, Nunzio, Rick Steiner, Steven Dunn, Tegan Nox, Tiger Ali Singh, Zack Ryder: 4 330. Brian Kendrick, Chelsea Green, Christopher Nowinski, Darren Young, Great Kabuki, Lance Storm, Sabu, Santana Garrett, Sgt. Slaughter, Skinner: 5 322. B. Brian Blair, Babatunde, Dan Severn, Flash Funk, Kharma, Tom Prichard, Tye Dillinger, Yoshi Tatsu: 6 314. Adam Cole, Doink, Dominik Mysterio, El Torito, Mia Yim, Primo, Ricardo Rodriguez, Victoria: 7 301. Chad Gable, Jillian Hall, Jimmy Uso, Kalisto, Kelly Kelly, Kevin Thorn, King Kong Bundy, Maria Kanellis, Mark Jindrak, Mercedes Martinez, Perry Saturn, Shane McMahon, Tajiri: 8 294. Bart Gunn, Curt Hawkins, Justin Gabriel, Keith Lee, Kenny Dykstra, Luther Reigns, Raven: 9 287. Chainz, Harley Race, Hurricane, Mantaur, Neville, Rosey, Tommy Dreamer: 10 276. Dory Funk Jr., Hillbilly Jim, Hunico, Kacy Catanzaro, Ken Shamrock, Luke Gallows, Muhammad Hassan, Pete Dunne, Roderick Strong, Vickie Guerrero, William Regal: 11 267. Carlos Colon, Damien Demento, Evan Bourne, Jey Uso, Junkyard Dog, Scott Dawson, Super Crazy, Tony Nese, Torrie Wilson: 12 262. Bull Buchanon, Diamond Dallas Page, Droz, Io Shirai, Tully Blanchard: 13 250. Alex Riley, Alicia Fox, Animal, Brodus Clay, Brutus Beefcake, Fandango, JTG, Jonathan Coachman, Karl Anderson, Paul Roma, Red Rooster, Trevor Murdoch: 14 244. Bubba Ray Dudley, Dick Murdoch, Mason Ryan, Ricochet, Sam Houston, Tucker Knight: 15 236. Aleister Black, Eugene, Ezekiel Jackson, Jeff Jarrett, Lita, Michael Cole, Pierroth, Xia Li: 16 226. Crash Holly, Hawk, Jim Brunzell, MVP, Matt Morgan, Mil Mascaras, Mosh, Rene Dupree, Shotzi Blackheart, Steve Blackman: 17 219. Chris Masters, Danny Davis, Jinder Mahal, Nikolai Volkoff, Samu, Typhoon, Vladimir Kozlov: 18 210. Berzerker, Candice LaRae, Damien Sandow, Dana Brooke, Duke Droese, Grand Master Sexay, Johnny Gargano, Molly Holly, Mr. Kennedy: 19 205. Adam Bomb, Aldo Montoya, Arn Anderson, Lana, Orlando Jordan: 20 203. Chyna, Snitsky: 21 202. Warlord: 22 196. Erick Rowan, Jerry Sags, Koko B. Ware, Mo, Rick Rude, Sarah Logan: 23 194. David Otunga, Marc Mero: 24 191. Apollo Crews, Marty Jannetty, Mojo Rawley: 25 188. Ahmed Johnson, Gangrel, Shane Douglas: 26 185. Hornswoggle, Mickie James, Sonya Deville: 27 179. Billie Kay, Bobby Roode, Chuck Palumbo, Dusty Rhodes, Thrasher, Trish Stratus: 28 175. Brie Bella, Chavo Guerrero, Honky Tonk Man, Tamina: 29 173. Toni Storm, Virgil: 30 169. Genichiro Tenryu, Kurrgan, Michelle McCool, Scott Steiner: 31 162. Bad News Brown, Heath Slater, Kairi Sane, Maven, Nikki Cross, Peyton Royce, Xavier Woods: 32 158. Curtis Axel, Mike Knox, Ron Bass, Titus O’Neil: 33 154. Bushwhacker Butch, Joey Mercury, Riddle, Texas Tornado: 34 153. Al Snow: 35 151. Damian Priest, Don Muraco: 36 148. Jimmy Snuka, Liv Morgan, Rhyno: 37 145. Brian Knobbs, Jerry Lawler, Savio Vega: 38 144. Phineas I. Godwinn: 39 142. Charlie Haas, Jack Swagger: 40 141. Ax: 42 136. Bo Dallas, Carmella, Irwin R. Schyster, Jim Neidhart, Val Venis: 43 135. Samoa Joe: 44 132. Albert, Bam Bam Bigelow, Goldberg: 46 129. Big Cass, Santino, Umaga: 47 126. 8-Ball, Dino Bravo, Haku: 48 125. Nikki Bella: 49 124. X-Pac: 50 121. Beth Phoenix, Godfather, Terry Funk: 51 120. Big John Studd: 52 118. Finlay, Kevin Owens: 53 116. Jeff Hardy, R-Truth: 56 114. AJ Styles, Mandy Rose: 57 111. Faarooq, Mustafa Ali, Ultimate Warrior: 58 107. Alberto Del Rio, Barbarian, Ember Moon, Road Dogg: 60 105. Asuka, Billy Gunn: 62 103. D’Lo Brown, Ruby Riott: 63 102. Henry O. Godwinn: 64 100. Andre the Giant, Bradshaw: 65 99. Sid Justice: 66 96. Bobby Lashley, Hercules, Tatanka: 68 95. Andrade: 71 92. Cesaro, Eddie Guerrero, Roddy Piper: 72 90. Lacey Evans, Test: 74 89. Repo Man: 75 88. Wade Barrett: 77 87. Vader: 78 86. Christian: 80 83. Alexa Bliss, Great Khali, Luke Harper: 81 81. Sasha Banks, Vince McMahon: 82 80. Ted Dibiase Jr.: 83 79. Bayley: 86 76. Carlito, Ryback, Sami Zayn: 87 75. Shelton Benjamin: 89 73. Akeem, Finn Balor: 93 71. Booker T, Jim Duggan: 94 70. Greg Valentine: 96 68. Bob Backlund, Owen Hart: 98 66. Jake Roberts, Matt Hardy: 99 65. Big Boss Man: 100 64. Earthquake: 103 63. Tito Santana: 104 62. Baron Corbin: 106 61. Naomi: 108 60. Becky Lynch: 111 59. Rhea Ripley: 112 58. Yokozuna: 114 57. Randy Savage 56. Kurt Angle: 122 55. Elias: 124 54. Mark Henry: 127 53. Big E: 129 52. Mick Foley: 130 49. Diesel, Goldust, Shayna Baszler: 131 46. Bob Holly, Shinsuke Nakamura, Viscera: 135 45. Nia Jax: 136 44. Rob Van Dam: 137 43. Crush: 139 42. John Morrison: 146 41. Lex Luger: 151 40. Natalya: 155 38. Drew McIntyre, Ted Dibiase: 156 37. Rick Martel: 159 36. Miz: 160 35. Dean Ambrose: 161 34. Mr. Perfect: 167 33. Rusev: 172 32. Rikishi: 182 31. Bray Wyatt: 183 30. Ric Flair: 188 29. Bianca Belair: 190 28. Kofi Kingston: 195 27. Bret Hart: 211 25. Charlotte Flair, Daniel Bryan: 216 24. Rock: 220 23. Brock Lesnar: 224 22. British Bulldog: 233 21. Seth Rollins: 246 20. Cody Rhodes: 252 19. Hulk Hogan: 254 18. Sheamus: 258 17. Batista: 259 16. Chris Benoit: 266 15. CM Punk: 287 14. Dolph Ziggler: 288 13. Big Show: 305 12. Braun Strowman: 309 11. Rey Mysterio: 391 10. Roman Reigns: 411 9. John Cena: 419 8. Edge: 420 7. Steve Austin: 445 6. Chris Jericho: 454 5. Undertaker: 481 4. Triple H: 531 3. Kane: 552 2. Randy Orton: 554 1. Shawn Michaels: 566
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Jan 26, 2022 02:02
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absolutely love that there is a 3 way tie for last
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Jan 26, 2022 02:47
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Orton with 100+ points over Austin is insane, insane I tells ya! Thanks again Gavok, incredible amount of work!
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Jan 26, 2022 03:02
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