Royal Rumble

Royal Rumble
Royal Rumble logo used in 2015
Information
Created by	Pat Patterson
Promotion(s)	WWE
Brand(s)	Raw (2003–2011, 2017–present) SmackDown (2003–2011, 2017–present) ECW (2007–2010) 205 Live (2019)
First event	1988
Signature match types	Royal Rumble match

The Royal Rumble is a yearly professional wrestling pay-per-view and livestreaming event made by WWE, usually in January.^[1] The show's main event is a Battle Royal-type match,^[2] named the Royal Rumble match. The pay-per-view is part of WWE's "Big Four", along with WrestleMania, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series.^[3] The Royal Rumble is also one of WWE's more popular pay-per-views.^[4] Since 1993, the winner of the Rumble match has received a title match at that year's WrestleMania.^[5]

History

Match

"Stone Cold" Steve Austin, who holds the current record for most Royal Rumble match wins with three.^[6]

The idea behind the Royal Rumble match is credited to Pat Patterson.^[7] Before the match begins, the contestants draw spots in the Rumble.^[1] The match consists of thirty competitors, beginning with the two who chose entry numbers one and two in the ring.^[1] At regular timed intervals, usually ninety seconds, one of the remaining 28 wrestlers enters the ring.^[1] Participants must eliminate all other opponents, and the winner of the matcht is the last wrestler remaining after all others have been eliminated.^[1][4]

Similar to a Battle Royal, a wrestler is eliminated when thrown over the top rope, with both feet touching the floor.^[1][2][8] A referee, who is seated at ringside, must see an elimination in order for it to be valid.^[9] A wrestler who is eliminated without a referee noticing may sometimes sneak back into the match. For example, Stone Cold Steve Austin was eliminated during the 1997 event, but he re-entered without the referees' seeing and eventually won the match.^[9] A wrestler who leaves the ring without going over the top rope is not eliminated from the match. During the 1999 Rumble match, both Vince McMahon and Steve Austin left the ring, only to return later in the match.^[10] In the 1994 match, the last two wrestlers, Bret Hart and Lex Luger were named co-winners when it was decided that both of their feet touched the floor at the same time.^[11] A similar situation occurred in the 2005 match, however the match was restarted after Batista and John Cena eliminated each other at the same time. Batista eliminated Cena afterwards to win the match.^[12]

The reward for the 1992 Royal Rumble was the WWF Championship.^[13] This title, now named the WWE Championship, was also the reward for the 2016 Royal Rumble.^[14] The tradition of granting a WWF/E Championship match at WrestleMania started in 1993.^[5] Beginning in 2004, the winner had their choice of a World Heavyweight Championship or WWE Championship match at WrestleMania.^[5] Because of the revival of the ECW Championship as a brand championship in mid-2006, the 2007 Rumble added this championship as a choice to the winning wrestler.^[15] From 2001 to 2007 the Royal Rumble match winner has gone on to win a World Championship title at WrestleMania.^[6] After winning the 2008 match, John Cena became the first to use his championship opportunity at an event other than WrestleMania.^[16] He also became the first man since 2000 to win the Royal Rumble match but fail to win the title in his championship opportunity as a result.

Since 2018 there also is a women's Royal Rumble match, where the winner can challenge for the WWE Women's Championship or the Women's World Championship at that year's WrestleMania. The first one was won by Asuka.^[17]

Pay-per-view

The Royal Rumble is a pay-per-view consisting of the Royal Rumble match, championship matches, and various other matches. The first Royal Rumble took place on January 24, 1988 and was broadcast live on the USA Network.^[18] The following year, the event became a pay-per-view.^[19] It is part of WWE's "classic five" pay-per-views, along with WrestleMania, Survivor Series, SummerSlam, and King of the Ring.^[20]

The Royal Rumble match is usually at the top of the card.^[21] However, it is not always the case, as the 2006 event had the match in the middle of the pay-per-view.^[21]

The first Rumble match featured only twenty men,^[22] and it was called the Rumble Royale.^[18] It lasted about 33 minutes of the 2-hour broadcast.^[6] Today, Rumble matches are much longer, with the longest match happening at the Greatest Royal Rumble (the only edition to have 50 men enter the match), lasting one hour and 17 minutes of a five-hour event.^[23]

With the brand extension introduced in mid-2002, the 30 entrants from 2003 to 2006 had 15 wrestlers from both the RAW and SmackDown! brands. At first, the winner of the match received a shot at his brand's championship.^[24] Starting in 2004, the Rumble winner had the option of challenging either brand's champion.^[5] For instance, Chris Benoit switched brands in 2004 and won the World Heavyweight Championship.^[5] The 2007 Royal Rumble marked the first year participants from the ECW brand competed along with the RAW and SmackDown! brands.^[25] The winner of the Royal Rumble now had the option to challenge for the ECW Championship as well.^[15]

The 2008 Royal Rumble was the first WWE pay-per-view to be aired in HD.^[26]

Dates and venues

Event	Date	City	Venue	Winner	Entry
Royal Rumble (1988)	January 24, 1988	Hamilton, Ontario, Canada	Copps Coliseum	Jim Duggan	13
Royal Rumble (1989)	January 15, 1989	Houston, Texas	The Summit	Big John Studd	27
Royal Rumble (1990)	January 21, 1990	Orlando, Florida	Orlando Arena	Hulk Hogan	25
Royal Rumble (1991)	January 19, 1991	Miami, Florida	Miami Arena		24
Royal Rumble (1992)	January 19, 1992	Albany, New York	Knickerbocker Arena	Ric Flair	3
Royal Rumble (1993)	January 24, 1993	Sacramento, California	ARCO Arena	Yokozuna	27
Royal Rumble (1994)	January 22, 1994	Providence, Rhode Island	Providence Civic Center	Bret Hart Lex Luger[a]	27 23
Royal Rumble (1995)	January 22, 1995	Tampa, Florida	USF Sun Dome	Shawn Michaels	1
Royal Rumble (1996)	January 21, 1996	Fresno, California	Selland Arena		18
Royal Rumble (1997)	January 19, 1997	San Antonio, Texas	Alamodome	Steve Austin	5
Royal Rumble (1998)	January 18, 1998	San Jose, California	San Jose Arena		24
Royal Rumble (1999)	January 24, 1999	Anaheim, California	Arrowhead Pond	Vince McMahon	2
Royal Rumble (2000)	January 23, 2000	New York, New York	Madison Square Garden	The Rock	24
Royal Rumble (2001)	January 21, 2001	New Orleans, Louisiana	New Orleans Arena	Steve Austin	27
Royal Rumble (2002)	January 20, 2002	Atlanta, Georgia	Philips Arena	Triple H	22
Royal Rumble (2003)	January 19, 2003	Boston, Massachusetts	Fleet Center	Brock Lesnar	29
Royal Rumble (2004)	January 25, 2004	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	Wachovia Center	Chris Benoit	1
Royal Rumble (2005)	January 30, 2005	Fresno, California	Save Mart Center	Batista	28
Royal Rumble (2006)	January 29, 2006	Miami, Florida	AmericanAirlines Arena	Rey Mysterio	2
Royal Rumble (2007)	January 28, 2007	San Antonio, Texas	AT&T Center	The Undertaker	30
Royal Rumble (2008)	January 27, 2008	New York, New York	Madison Square Garden	John Cena	30
Royal Rumble (2009)	January 25, 2009	Detroit, Michigan	Joe Louis Arena	Randy Orton	8
Royal Rumble (2010)	January 31, 2010	Atlanta, Georgia	Philips Arena	Edge	29
Royal Rumble (2011)	January 30, 2011	Boston, Massachusetts	TD Garden	Alberto Del Rio	38[b]
Royal Rumble (2012)	January 29, 2012	St. Louis, Missouri	Scottrade Center	Sheamus	22
Royal Rumble (2013)	January 27, 2013	Phoenix, Arizona	US Airways Center	John Cena	19
Royal Rumble (2014)	January 26, 2014	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	Consol Energy Center	Batista	28
Royal Rumble (2015)	January 25, 2015	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	Wells Fargo Center	Roman Reigns	19
Royal Rumble (2016)	January 24, 2016	Orlando, Florida	Amway Center	Triple H	30
Royal Rumble (2017)	January 29, 2017	San Antonio, Texas	Alamodome	Randy Orton	23
Royal Rumble (2018)	January 28, 2018	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	Wells Fargo Center	Shinsuke Nakamura Asuka	14 25
Greatest Royal Rumble	April 27, 2018	Jeddah, Saudi Arabia	King Abdullah International Stadium	Braun Strowman	41[c]
Royal Rumble (2019)	January 27, 2019	Phoenix, Arizona	Chase Field	Becky Lynch Seth Rollins	28 10
Royal Rumble (2020)	January 26, 2020	Houston, Texas	Minute Maid Park	Charlotte Flair Drew McIntyre	17 16
Royal Rumble (2021)	January 31, 2021	St. Petersburg, Florida	WWE ThunderDome at Tropicana Field	Bianca Belair Edge	3 1
Royal Rumble (2022)	January 29, 2022	St. Louis, Missouri	The Dome at America's Center	Ronda Rousey Brock Lesnar	28 30
Royal Rumble (2023)	January 28, 2023	San Antonio, Texas	Alamodome	Rhea Ripley Cody Rhodes	1 30
Royal Rumble (2024)	January 27, 2024	St. Petersburg, Florida	Tropicana Field	Bayley Cody Rhodes	3 15
Royal Rumble (2025)	February 1, 2025	Indianapolis, Indiana	Lucas Oil Stadium

Video box set

On March 13, 2007, WWE released a full DVD box-set called Royal Rumble: The Complete Anthology, which showcases every Royal Rumble event in its entirety.^[27]

Footnotes

1. Both Hart and Luger landed on the floor at the same time which ended the match. Two referees argued about who had landed first. WWF President Jack Tunney then came to the ring and named both men co-winners. This was the only time so far a Royal Rumble match had two winners.
2. This Royal Rumble match had 40 competitors instead of the usual 30.
3. This Royal Rumble match had 50 competitors instead of the usual 30.

References

1. "Specialty Matches: Royal Rumble". WWE. Archived from the original on 2009-06-02. Retrieved 2007-12-03.
2. Jon Waldman (2005-02-02). "Statistical survival - breaking down the Royal Rumble". SLAM! Wrestling. Archived from the original on 2005-03-10. Retrieved 2007-12-09.
3. Ian Hamilton. Wrestling's Sinking Ship: What Happens to an Industry Without Competition (p.160)
4. Dale Plummer and Nick Tylwalk (2006-01-30). "Mysterio claims Rumble; Cena reigns again". SLAM! Wrestling. Archived from the original on 2015-04-19. Retrieved 2007-12-09.
5. Eric Cohen (2007-04-25). "The Fate of the Royal Rumble Winner". About.com. Archived from the original on 2012-02-07. Retrieved 2007-12-09.
6. "Royal Rumble: Facts & Figures". WWE. Retrieved 2007-12-30.
7. "Hall of Fame: Pat Patterson". WWE. Retrieved 2007-12-03.
8. "Specialty Matches: Battle Royal". WWE. Archived from the original on 2008-03-29. Retrieved 2007-12-03.
9. "Royal Rumble 1997: Main Event". WWE. Retrieved 2007-12-03. Stone Cold was actually eliminated during the match, but the referees failed to detect it, so he sneaked back in.
10. "Royal Rumble 1999: Main Event". WWE. Retrieved 2007-12-30.
11. "Royal Rumble 1994: Main Event". WWE. Retrieved 2007-12-05.
12. "Royal Rumble 1995: Main Event". WWE. Retrieved 2007-12-05.
13. "Royal Rumble 1992: Main Event". WWE. Retrieved 2007-12-05.
14. Tedesco, Mike (January 5, 2016). "WWE Raw Results – 1/4/16 (Reigns vs. Sheamus)". WrestleView. Archived from the original on January 6, 2016. Retrieved January 4, 2016.
15. Brett Hoffman (2007-02-05). "Tickets punched for WrestleMania". WWE. Retrieved 2007-12-05.
16. "Randy Orton vs. John Cena (WWE Championship match): A battle for redemption with 'Mania implications". WWE. 2008-01-28. Retrieved 2008-01-28.
17. WWE.com Staff (December 18, 2017). "The first-ever 30-Woman Over-The-Top Royal Rumble Match". WWE.com. Retrieved December 1, 2021.
18. Ric Flair. Ric Flair: To Be the Man (p.161)
19. "Royal Rumble results". ProWrestlingHistory.com. Retrieved 2007-12-05.
20. Brian Shields. Main Event: WWE in the Raging 80s (p.166)
21. Dale Plummer and Nick Tylwalk (2007-01-29). "Old guard dominates Rumble". SLAM! Wrestling. Archived from the original on 2012-07-24. Retrieved 2007-12-09.
22. "Royal Rumble 1988: Main Event". WWE. Retrieved 2007-12-03.
23. "Powell's WWE Greatest Royal Rumble live review: 50-man Royal Rumble match, Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns in a cage match for the WWE Universal Championship, AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura for the WWE Championship, John Cena vs. Triple H, Undertaker vs. Rusev in a casket match - Pro Wrestling Dot Net". 27 April 2018.
24. John Powell (2004-01-26). "Benoit wins the 'Rumble'". SLAM! Wrestling. Archived from the original on 2015-04-19. Retrieved 2007-12-23.
25. Louie Dee (2007-01-28). "A Phenom-enal Rumble". WWE. Retrieved 2007-12-05.
26. Clayton, Cory. "How do I get WWE HD on my HDTV?". WWE. Retrieved 2008-01-20.
27. "Royal Rumble: The Complete Anthology Box Set". WWE. Archived from the original on 2007-01-17. Retrieved 2007-01-18.

General

• "Royal Rumble results". ProWrestlingHistory.com. Retrieved 2007-12-05.
• Eric Cohen. "Royal Rumble History". About.com. Archived from the original on 2008-12-08. Retrieved 2007-12-09.

Specific

• Ian Hamilton (2006). Wrestling's Sinking Ship: What Happens to an Industry Without Competition. Lulu.com. ISBN 1411612108.
• Ric Flair (2004). Ric Flair: To Be the Man. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0743456912.
• Brian Shields (2006). Main Event: WWE in the Raging 80s. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 1416532579.

Further reading

• Harley Race and Gerry Tritz (2004). King of the Ring: The Harley Race Story. Sports Publishing. ISBN 1582618186.
• Ross Davies (2002). Kevin Nash. The Rosen Publishing Group. ISBN 0823934926.
• Dave Meltzer (2004). Tributes II: Remembering More of the World's Greatest Professional Wrestlers. Sports Publishing LLC. ISBN 1582618178.
• Brian Fritz and Christopher Murray (2006). Between the Ropes: Wrestling's Greatest Triumphs and Failures. ECW Press. ISBN 1550227262.
• Steve Austin and Jim Ross (2003). The Stone Cold Truth. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0743477200.
• Scott Keith (2004). Wrestling's One Ring Circus: The Death of the World Wrestling Federation. Citadel Press. ISBN 080652619X.

Other websites

• Official Royal Rumble Website
• WWE.com: Royal Rumble match description Archived 2009-06-02 at the Wayback Machine
• WWE.com: Royal Rumble Facts & Figures
• Royal Rumble History at About.com Archived 2008-12-08 at the Wayback Machine