History Wrestling / RoyalRumble

** Wrestling/{{Sheamus}} is a particularly glaring one, as he was kind floating in midcard hell when he won. Even more shocking is that he eliminated Wrestling/ChrisJericho to win, seeing as Jericho was a returning superstar who was undoubtedly here for ''WrestleMania'', and amid rumors that he was here to work a program with Wrestling/CMPunk, who was WWE Champion at the time.

* ThereCanOnlyBeOne: Averted in 1994, but played straight since.

* InvincibleHero: Not that there's never been a heel winner of course, but it's kind of suspicious how the person who wins the Royal Rumble is always a main eventer in the middle of getting a big push. It's pretty rare for an actual underdog to win, and a lower card wrestler ''never'' wins, despite the fact that logically you'd think almost everyone would have a pretty equal chance of winning. This becomes pretty {{egregious}} when, for instance, a wrestler wins multiple years in a row.

* 2013 - Wrestling/JohnCena

** Subverted in 2000 when, after weeks of arguing his case, TheBigShow proved that Wrestling/TheRock, the official victor of the match, did not deserve the win, as at the end he was thrown over the top rope and though he held on and came back in to win, his feet still touched the mat and he would have been eliminated if a ref saw it, the loophole being that such decisions can't be reversed so long after a bout. This resulted in a match at ''No Way Out'' over who got to challenge TripleH at ''Wrestlemania'', and Wrestling/TheRock lost. DoubleSubverted when VinceMcMahon teamed up with Rocky to make it a Triple Threat Match[[note]] later Fatal Four Way with MickFoley joining[[/note]] so Rock main evented anyway.

** Also, the rules only say you're eliminated if you go over the top rope and both feet touch the floor, no matter how it happens. In the 2013 Royal Rumble, Wrestling/WadeBarrett was eliminated by NXT Rookie Bo Dallas, and, in revenge, grabbed Bo Dallas and pulled him over the top rope and to the floor, eliminating Dallas as well.

* 2000 - [[Wrestling/DwayneJohnson The Rock]][[note]] WrestlingTheBigShow actually eliminated him to technically win the match, but no ref saw it, so Rock came back and eliminated him. Big Show in compensation got a match with the Rock for his main event prize, and Show won.[[/note]]

The first Royal Rumble, held in 1988 had only twenty participants. From 1989 to 2010, the match featured thirty paricipants. In 2011, the match roster was expanded to forty (and they used the extra space to include every member of [[Wrestling/TheNexus the Nexus and the Corre]]). The 2012 Rumble went back to thirty participants.

The first Royal Rumble, held in 1988 had only twenty participants. From 1989 to 2010, the match featured thirty paricipants. In 2011, the match roster was expanded to forty (and they used the extra space to include every member of TheNexus and TheCorre). The 2012 Rumble went back to thirty participants.

* 1990 and 1991 - HulkHogan

* 1994 - Lex Luger and BretHart (having eliminated each other at the exact same time)
* 1995 and 1996 - ShawnMichaels
* 1997, 1998 and 2001 - StoneColdSteveAustin[[note]] In the 1997 event, Austin was actually eliminated, but no referee saw it as they had their hands full with brawls of other eliminated wrestlers. He used this as an advantage and re-entered the ring.[[/note]]

* 2010 - {{Edge}}

** Subverted in 2012. {{Sheamus}}'s push had stalled out and he was sort of floating between beating down midcarders. Perhaps even more shocking was the fact that he eliminated [[spoiler:ChrisJericho]], who was returning after a long absence, amid rumors that he had come back for Wrestlemania.

* 1989 - Big John Studd

** In the 2001 Royal Rumble, the Oh Crap moment came from the one who enters the ring. In that case, Scotty 2 Hotty was waited by TheUndertaker and Wrestler/{{Kane}}!

* 1992 - RicFlair (won the vacated WWF Championship)

* 1999 - VinceMcMahon
* 2000 - [[DwayneJohnson The Rock]][[note]] TheBigShow actually eliminated him to technically win the match, but no ref saw it, so Rock came back and eliminated him. Big Show in compensation got a match with the Rock for his main event prize, and Show won.[[/note]]
* 2002 - TripleH
* 2003 - BrockLesnar
* 2004 - ChrisBenoit
* 2005 - {{Batista}}[[hottip:*: Batista and eventual-runner-up JohnCena were simultaneously eliminated similar to the 1994 event. VinceMcMahon rushed to the ring and ordered the match to be restarted, hence Batista winning.]]
* 2006 - [[ReyMysterioJr Rey Mysterio]]
* 2007 - TheUndertaker
* 2008 and 2013 - JohnCena
* 2009 - RandyOrton

* 2011 - AlbertoDelRio
* 2012 - {{Sheamus}}

* BigWHAT: JerryLawler got a couple in when the winner of Tough Enough season 1, Maven, eliminated TheUndertaker from behind.
* BrickJoke: In the 2011 Rumble, Wrestling/SantinoMarella, who at this point had averaged about 15 seconds in two Rumble matches, would get knocked out by Sheamus within 20 seconds of his appearance and would have the fortune to fall under the bottom rope. Later on, AlbertoDelRio would be celebrating his apparent victory only to turn around and get hit the with [[FinishingMove The Cobra]]! Unfortunately for Santino, he would take a few seconds too long to celebrate, and would instead go home as the runner up when Del Rio reversed his elimination attempt.

* DarkhorseVictory: Steve Austin's 1997 victory, in which he caught everyone by surprise and eliminated {{Vader}}, Undertaker and BretHart despite having gone over the top rope. [[EasilyDistractedReferee The refs didn't see him go over.]] Gorilla Monsoon rectified the situation by later organizing a four-way match between the four wrestlers for who got to challenge the WWF champion at Wrestlamania.

* Each wrestler draws a number that determines when they enter the Rumble; the competitors who draw the #1 and #2 slots start the match in the ring.

* JokeCharacter: One of the popular ways of structuring the Rumble is to have one or two of these to show up partway through. Examples include BobBacklund in 2000, Drew Carey and Honky Tonk Man in 2001, Ernest Miller in 2004 and Santino Marella in a couple of the more recent events. ''Tough Enough'' rookie Maven ended up becoming a LethalJokeCharacter in 2002 by eliminating TheUndertaker.

* DarkhorseVictory: Steve Austin's 1997 victory, in which he caught everyone by surprise and eliminated {{Vader}}, Undertaker and BretHart despite having gone over the top rope. [[EasilyDistractedReferee The refs didn't see him go over.]]

* 2013 - JohnCena

The '''RoyalRumble''' is Wrestling/{{WWE}}'s annual January pay-per-view event; it started as a television special for the USA Network in 1988 and [[LongRunner has been a PPV since 1989]].

The show is built around the RoyalRumble match, a special battle royal featuring competitors from WWE's full roster that usually serves as the show's main event (due to the match's length and its importance to the build towards ''[=WrestleMania=]''). Other matches are also put on, however, and world championships are usually defended. The rules of the Royal Rumble match are as follows:

Until 1992, there was no official "prize" for winning the Rumble match, although the feat itself was considered a big honor, and it was implied that there was a large cash prize for the taking. In 1992, the winner of the RoyalRumble - RicFlair - was given the vacated WWE Championship; the following year, the match became an important part of the "Road to WrestleMania" - 1993 was the first year the winner of the Rumble was granted a guaranteed shot at the WWE Championship at WrestleMania. Since 2005 - the year after ChrisBenoit exploited a loophole in the RoyalRumble winner's contract and jumped brands from ''[[WWESmackdown SmackDown!]]'' to ''[[WWERaw Raw]]'' to challenge for the World Heavyweight Championship - the Rumble winner has had the choice of using his guaranteed title shot to go after either the WWE Championship or the World Heavyweight Championship, regardless of brand affiliation.

The first RoyalRumble, held in 1988 had only twenty participants. From 1989 to 2010, the match featured thirty participants. In 2011, the match roster was expanded to forty (and they used the extra space to include every member of TheNexus and TheCorre). The 2012 Rumble went back to thirty participants.

* 1988 - [[UrExample Hacksaw Jim Duggan]]

* 1993 - Yokozuna

!!'''This event has examples of:'''

* 2008 - JohnCena

* TheBadGuyWins: Ric Flair in 1992, Yokozuna in 1993, Vince [=McMahon=] in 1999, Randy Orton in 2009, Alberto Del Rio in 2011. Austin's 1997 win is a possible example depending on how you viewed his character at the time.

** In the 2001 Royal Rumble, the Oh Crap moment came from the one who enters the ring. In that case, Scotty 2 Hotty waited by TheUndertaker and Wrestler/{{Kane}}!
* RingOldies[[=/=]]TheCameo: It's almost tradition now for one of the surprise participants in the Rumble to be a legend from a bygone era. Of course, they never actually ''win'' the event, but they almost always get a huge pop and often notch an elimination or two before going over the top rope themselves.