Awesome / Royal Rumble

The Royal Rumble match itself

1988

• "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan becoming the first Royal Rumble winner is a crowning accomplishment in itself; there always has to be someone who's first, and Duggan can count this among his major career highlights. Also, in an era where wrestling matches in the WWF rarely went longer than 15 minutes, Bret Hart and Jake Roberts lasting more than 20, with Hart finally eliminated after 25 minutes and still looking like he could go a while longer. And, the fact this was the only one of the "Big Four" WWF events that paired Vince McMahon and Jesse Ventura on commentary is pretty cool.

1989

• For Big John Studd, this was his crowning achievement. Even though he came in fairly late, his thorough domination of Ted DiBiase before eliminating him (and dealing with Virgil in the aftermatch) and the standing ovation he received resulted in a genuine smile on his face ... and it was the last big moment in his career.

1990

• Hulk Hogan and The Ultimate Warrior find themselves the only two men in the ring. The entire damn arena are standing on their feet going wild as the two biggest stars of the time argue, shove each other and knock each other down with a double clothesline. Still epic to watch today. It was this fan reaction that convinced Vince McMahon to book the two of them in a match at WrestleMania VI.

1992

• Long before Ric Flair's retirement, his biggest WWE CMoA came at Royal Rumble 1992, when he entered the Rumble match at number three and outlasted everyone to win the vacant WWF Championship (this is the first time a winner came from one of the single-digit spots). Keep in mind, this was a Rumble match that boasted one of the WWF's most star-studded Rumble rosters (including Hulk Hogan, Randy "Macho Man" Savage Jake "The Snake" Roberts, Ted DiBiase, Sgt. Slaughter and Roddy Piper).
  • When Flair entered the 1992 Rumble at #3, Gorilla Monsoon took great delight in repeatedly (and annoyingly!) telling Bobby Heenan that no one had ever before entered from slots 1-5 and lasted until the final entrant (let alone won). Heenan delightedly crowed when Flair won.
    Bobby Heenan [many times during the match]: THIS IS NOT FAIR TO FLAIR!
  • This was also Bobby Heenan's hallmark performance as a commentator.
  • His post-match interview was an appropriate exclamation point.

1994

• One of the most dominating performances in Royal Rumble history took place at 1994's edition. Diesel came in at number 7, and completely cleaned house, dumping out all four of the current competitors, which included Scott Steiner, Kwang, a freshly turned Owen Hart, and Bart Gunn. From there, he would wait for participants to come out, and would eliminate the next three in very short order, which were Bob Backlund, Billy Gunn, and Virgil. It finally took a superstar the caliber of Randy Savage just to stop Diesel from eliminating each guy one at a time. Diesel came into this match as a heel sidekick to Shawn Michaels, and by the time he was finally eliminated (by four guys no less), the crowd was giving him a standing ovation and chanting his name. This was one of the first runs of this type in Rumble history, and most "dominating performances" in more recent Rumbles use this as a template (see Kane in 2001 or CM Punk in 2010). It was also one of the moments that led to The Kliq 's backstage takeover, eventually leading to the nWo, D-Generation X, the Fingerpoke Of Doom and Triple H's push from hell.
  • To this day anyone who has this type of performance at the Rumble (clearing the ring and/or eliminating several wrestlers) is referred to as being given "the Diesel Push".

1995

• Shawn Michaels won the 1995 Rumble from the #1 spot (although to be fair, because that Rumble only had one-minute-apart entrances; it went a little over half an hour), but what really makes this Moment of Awesome can be summed up in nine words—"Only ONE of Shawn Michaels' feet hit the floor."
• Special shout-outs to Hulk Hogan, Shawn Michaels, and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, who won the Rumble two consecutive years.

1997

• Take a look at the 1997 Rumble's final 8 participants: Rocky Maivia, Terry Funk, Mankind, Vader, The Undertaker, "Diesel", Bret Hart, and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. Many years and two major gimmick changes to the final 8 later^note Rocky Maivia into The Rock, and "Diesel" into Kane, these eight men are all or will be WWE Hall of Famers one day, with 6 of them (all but Terry and Vader) being the men that would help build and define WWE's Attitude Era.

2000

• Bradshaw hitting Mr. Ass with a Clothesline From Hell that made him do several rotations in the air in the 2000 Rumble.

2001

• Kane set a new standard for dominance in the titular match. Kane would eliminate 11 participants total, a record that stood until 2014, and in the process would...
  • Scare celebrity entrant Drew Carey into eliminating himself, which is not included in his body count.
  • Survive a weapons brawl with most of the Hardcore division.
  • In a Crowning Moment of Funny, the Honky Tonk Man would make a surprise entrance after Kane cleared the ring of the Hardcore guys. He would sing his entrance music, and Kane showed how much he enjoyed the performance by tuning his guitar over Honky's head and eliminating him. Kane would then shake his head, driving the point home.
  • Eliminate Tazz in 10 seconds.
  • Find himself on the brink of elimination by about seven guys, only for The Undertaker to enter next and re-unite the Brothers of Destruction. This of course, cleared the ring yet again of everyone except Kane and Undertaker.
    • Scotty 2 Hotty would be the next entrant. He did not last very long.
  • Make it to the Runner Up position, surviving the likes of The Rock, Undertaker, and Big Show. It took "Stone Cold" Steve Austin with magic number 27 and a steel chair to finally get the Big Red Monster out.

2002

• Maven eliminated The Undertaker in the 2002 Rumble — and ended up paying for it immediately.
  • He tried it again the next year and failed.

2004

• Chris Benoit's performance was undoubtedly awesome, at least at the time, lasting 61 minutes, 30 seconds and surpassing Bob Backlund's 61 minute streak from 1993. WWE couldn't have booked him to look like a bigger badass if they'd tried; he eliminated all of the largest entrants in the match, including Big Show at the end.
• In Goldberg's first (and until 2017, only) Royal Rumble appearance, he came in at #30. He quickly proceeded to destroy everyone in the ring at the time — including Nunzio, who was on the receiving end of a Spear so powerful it nearly snapped him in two. Goldberg's in-ring dominance was short-lived, unfortunately, thanks to Brock Lesnar.

2005

• Referees from both SmackDown and Raw were on-hand to officiate that night, and the final two contestants - Batista and John Cena, eliminated each other at the same time, a feat not seen since the '94 Rumble. While it's now known as a botch^note Batista isn't supposed to fall over from the top rope, let alone accidentally causing him and Cena to fall at the same time, at the time it worked perfectly because the conflicting referees sided with their brand's wrestler, and everyone in the audience believed it was All Part of the Show, even when Vince McMahon came storming down the ramp to yell at everyone. The wrestlers then capitalized on the improvisation made by the referees, throwing each other out of the ring in turn while declaring himself the winner before McMahon ordered that they restart.
  • And props to McMahon himself for no-selling TWO torn quads that left him unable to stand in the ring.

2006

• Rey Mysterio winning the 2006 Rumble from the #2 slot (which is equally impressive as from #1, since both #1 and #2 start the match at the same time) has to count; he lasted one hour, two minutes, and twelve seconds — the longest Royal Rumble performance to date and surpassing Chris Benoit's two years earlier by 42 seconds— and even eliminated both Triple H (Number 1) and Randy Orton (Number 30) at the end! Especially impressive given that a small guy who specializes in high-flying moves is at an inherent disadvantage in this type of match. Most of his normal offense is not only worthless in a Royal Rumble, it's actively detrimental if he tries to use it.
  • Rey's entrance was almost a foreshadowing of the awesomeness to come. At number 2, the doors open and here we see Rey on a red convertible with an Eddie Guerrero shirt. That's how you make a Royal Rumble entrance.

2007

• The Undertaker winning the 2007 Rumble counts — both because he deserved it and he was the first #30 draw to ever win it.
  • The Undertaker's Big Damn Heroes entrance in the same Rumble. The Great Khali comes in at number 28 and eliminates Hardcore Holly, Chris Benoit, The Miz, Rob Van Dam, CM Punk, Carlito, and Chavo Guerrero within just a couple minutes. With Randy Orton, MVP, Edge, and Shawn Michaels laid out, the situation looked hopeless. Then the lights went out, a gong sounded, the crowd went absolutely nuts, and Undertaker proceeds to singlehandedly eliminate Khali!
    • Just to top everything off, the last two competitors were The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels, and the resulting battle could easily be considered a separate match by itself. They would proceed to open the following year's Rumble match.

2008

• John Cena's legitimately shocking return in the 2008 Rumble (at #30, even) is here for the sheer fact that absolutely nobody saw it coming. To explain, Cena was out due to surgery just before his big match against Randy Orton at No Mercy. He was said to be out for at least six months (he showed up in a sling for the Tribute to the Troops) and pretty much made everyone believe he would be out past WrestleMania. Then he comes out, and he's completely healed. Cue everyone in Madison Square Garden completely losing their shit.
• That year's Rumble also had 65-year-old Jimmy Snuka enter, followed by fellow legend Roddy Piper. All the other Superstars stopped wrestling for over 30 seconds to watch them re-ignite their twenty-year-old feud.
  • Bonus funny moment. Watch CM Punk watch the two fight and you'll see a giant smile and him laughing like a smark.

2009

• In 1989, Hulk Hogan eliminated The Warlord — who, in the process of being eliminated as soon as he stepped in the ring, set the record for the shortest appearance in a single Rumble (two whole seconds). That record stood until 2009 — when Santino Marella clocked in at just a few ticks over one second before getting eliminated by Kane.

2010

• Beth Phoenix makes history as the second woman ever in the Rumble. Even better is how she eliminates seven-foot tall The Great Khali...by giving him a kiss and pulling him over the ropes to cheers and laughter.
• R-Truth rushing his way as the Number 25 entry and quickly disposing both Big Show AND Mark Henry over the top rope in rapid succession.
• As number 29 comes up, the audience is ready and then hears "You think you know me...." The place erupts as Edge makes a surprise return from injury and ends up winning the Rumble. He even eliminated former tag team partner Chris Jericho along the way.

2011

• John Morrison is kicked off of the ring apron; it appears all of his hopes are lost. The Prince of Parkour, however, had other ideas — and in a move compared to Spider-Man, Morrison grabbed onto the ringside barricade and used it to get himself back to the ring steps so he could re-enter the ring. Morrison's acrobatic trickery didn't get him the Rumble victory, but that display of athletic ability damn near stole the whole show.
• "CAN YOU DIG IT, SUCKA?!" Booker T makes his WWE return after a 5 year absence, and shows he hasn't lost a step by nailing opposition with a Scissors Kick, a Book End, and even does a Spin-a-roonie! Sadly, he would be eliminated by Mason Ryan after only spending just over a minute in the ring.
• Santino Marella made it to the final two by having stayed out of the ring (legally) until Alberto Del Rio had eliminated what he thought was the last competitor. Although Santino lasted longer than one second this time around, his extended break period did nothing to help him win — but his surprise runner-up finish was a great Brick Joke for everyone who hadn't been paying attention and thought Santino had been eliminated.

2012

• After being sent over, struggling to hold on, and going out head first, Kofi Kingston avoids elimination by walking on the floor and back to the ring steps. Backwards. ON HIS HANDS.
• Kharma returns, making her only the third woman to enter the Rumble, slamming Dolph Ziggler with an Implant Buster, throwing Hunico out after catching him in mid-air.
• "HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan, the winner of the first Royal Rumble, returns for the Royal Rumble's silver anniversary.
• OH, YOU DIDN'T KNOW?: Road Dogg returns to WWE. Made even better with everyone screaming "YOU STILL GOT IT!" in rhythm.
• Sheamus and Chris Jericho as the final two tore down the house. Everyone expected Jericho to go over as the Royal Rumble winner to set up a WrestleMania feud with CM Punk, but in the end, it was Sheamus who prevailed, no doubt surprising many fans, fella.
• Cody Rhodes entering at number 4, forming a makeshift team with number 1 entrant The Miz and lasting all the way until number 30, Big Show, enters and eliminates both. To top off a great performance for someone who some people consider to be just a midcard guy, he gets the most eliminations of the match with 6. The list of people he eliminated is as follows: Mick Foley, Santino Marella, Jerry Lawler, The Great Khali and Booker T with help from Dolph Ziggler and, last but not least, "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan.

2013

• In a rare, legitimate surprise entrance, Chris Jericho reappeared in the number two slot and lasted well over 40 minutes until the final entrant had hit the ring before finally being eliminated. The fans were absolutely ecstatic (possibly moreso than for anything else that evening).
• Kofi Kingston continues his string of amazing Rumble feats by using JBL's announcer chair to bunny hop himself back to the ring apron after ending up on the announce table, after discovering that jumping would be impossible. Sadly this would be a "Shaggy Dog" Story as he is immediately met with a kick to the face by Cody Rhodes upon climbing to the ring apron and is legitimately eliminated before he can even climb back in.
• Goldust making his return.
• For the first time, an NXT Rookie, Bo Dallas, who won the eight-man tournament Royal Rumble Fest, enters the ring at number 16. Amazingly, not only does he survive for nearly 20 minutes in the ring, but he even eliminates Wade Barrett, NXT season 1 winner and the current Intercontinental champion at that time. He may have lasted longer if it wasn't for Wade Barrett, as he was so upset that he returns to eliminate him. The next day at Raw, he and Wade Barrett have a match and again Bo Dallas gets an upset victory.

2014

Despite being Overshadowed by Controversy due to the infamous exclusion of Daniel Bryan from the Royal Rumble, the actual match itself had some pretty impressive moments.

• Kofi Kingston gets his third consecutive miracle elimination dodge, this time with an assist from Alexander Rusev. He managed to land onto Rusev's back and make it onto the barricade, then jump back to the ring despite the bad position, much to the announcer's disbelief.
  • Not only that, but he managed to dodge another elimination by hanging on the bottom rope by just the tip of his toes... Literally.
• Kane's 13-year-record finally falls as Roman Reigns eliminates 12 men, including three wrestlers at the same time (two of them being Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose, his own teammates), to set a new record for most eliminations in a single Rumble. Then he managed to make it to the final two against Batista, he lost, but still doesn't make it any less awesome.
• Since Kane is essentially The Dreaded in the Rumble, his entrance is usually very foreboding... until he was on the end of a curb-stomping by CM Punk (in what turned out to be his final WWE appearance for around a decade.) with little offense to his name and no eliminations! Kane did get revenge, however, by coming back out later and eliminating CM Punk anyway.
• El Torito enters the Rumble, and even scores an elimination on Fandango.
• This year's surprise entrant? None other than Kevin Nash.

2015

• Bubba Ray Dudley, the Boogeyman and Diamond Dallas Page return.
  • Bubba Ray entered at 3, and managed to subject The Miz to a Whassup and a 3D - with R-Truth instead of usual partner D-Von (who wasn't even at the event).
• He may not last long but The Boogeyman vs. Bray Wyatt is awesome.
• Despite the crowd hating chant due to an expected result and fast fan favorite elimination, The Rock returns to save Roman Reigns from being eliminated and beaten up by the eliminated Big Show and Kane.

2016:

• At long last, AJ Styles makes his WWE debut at number 3, and lasts a good half hour in the match. Commentary spent all night putting him over, and even Roman Reigns treated him like a major threat.
• Sami Zayn makes a surprise entrance to eliminate his arch nemesis Kevin Owens.
• Brock Lesnar takes Luke Harper, Erick Rowan and Braun Strowman to Suplex City.
• When all of The Authority's attempts to take care of WWE Champion Roman Reigns appeared to have failed, Triple H himself entered the Rumble for the first time since 2010 to take care of Reigns personally- which he promptly did, eliminating Reigns (and causing him to lose his WWE Championship, which was on the line) to a monster face pop. He would go on to win the match, earning his second Rumble victory and winning the Championship.
• While he didn't win the match, Dean Ambrose went toe to toe with Triple H before eventually being the last man eliminated. Even then, he looked super strong on the way out, seeing as he had just been through a Last Man Standing match earlier in the night and yet still made it to the final two.

2017

• Tye Dillinger making his main roster debut. Guess which spot he went in at. Go ahead, guess.
• Baron Corbin eliminating Braun Strowman.
• Luke Harper fell victim to a Sister Abigail by Bray Wyatt's hands on the go-home SmackDown after losing to Randy Orton. Harper, deciding he's had enough, immediately hits Bray with a discus clothesline as soon as he gets into the ring! And then sets him up for Sister Abigail later. Unfortunately for Harper, Randy Orton then intervened and stopped him from hitting it.
• Goldberg once again proves he has Brock Lesnar's number by eliminating him with two spears shortly after entering the match. And then The Undertaker eliminating Goldberg shortly afterwards.

2018

• Heath Slater, of all people, got one awesome moment during the Rumble match. After the already-eliminated Baron Corbin batters him when Slater entered at number 5, he proceeds to get battered by pretty much everyone on his way to the ring. Then Sheamus enters the ring at number 11 and he decided to finally make Slater enter the ring. Almost immediately after Slater enters the ring, he unexpectedly eliminated Sheamus mere seconds after Sheamus enters the Rumble. This led to one of the biggest pops of Slater's entire career as the crowd went wild, complete with a "YES!" chant.
• Once again Kofi Kingston makes another miracle elimination dodge. After Jinder Mahal eliminated both Xavier Woods and Big E, he manages to eliminate Kofi as well. However, Xavier saves Kofi by making Kofi land his right foot on his body while Big E takes out a plate of pancakes to put his foot on it. However it seems that Jinder was blocking Kofi from getting back in. So what did they do? Xavier and Big E uses their hands to catapult Kofi back into the ring; leapfrogging over Jinder Mahal before Kofi eliminates Jinder Mahal. Jinder is left with a "WTF?" look on his face after Kofi landed back to the ring, realizing that Kofi had just leapfrogged over him. To add, just look at Finn Balor's expression the moment Kofi did a 'Ta da' pose when he's back in the ring.
• This was the year for NXT stars to shine, with NXT Champion Andrade "Cien" Almas and Adam Cole entering the Rumble and having a great performance. Not only that, two of NXT's greatest alumni from the past would go on to win both Rumbles. Both Ember Moon (in the women's Rumble, more on that below) and Cole were still selling their injuries from the previous night's Takeover, too.
• The standoff during the final 6, with Balor, Nakamura and Roman Reigns facing John Cena, Randy Orton and Rey Mysterio, representing the future vs the past.
• The final 4 remaining in each corner as well, with Nakamura and Balor representing the fan favourites that everybody wants to succeed, vs Reigns and Cena representing the company picks. It also marks the symbolism of Vince's boys (represented by Reigns and Cena) vs Triple H's boys (represented by Nakamura and Balor).
• Shinsuke Nakamura, despite entering at a scary number of 14 (Rumble history has shown that any entry between 9-17 have usually been reserved for fodder entries), would go on to outlast everyone from the likes of Finn Balor (who lasted nearly an hour before being eliminated by John Cena) and finally eliminating BOTH John Cena and Roman Reigns to win the Rumble, on his first try no less.
  • After his win, while he celebrates in the ring, the entire audience is singing the tune to his entrance music, clearly happy with his victory.
  • When Nakamura was asked who he was going to face at WrestleMania, it was really no question (the entire audience was chanting it, telling Nakamura what they wanted to see): We're getting AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania; a rematch of their amazing 2016 semi-main event battle at Wrestle Kingdom 10.
• At number 27, Rey Mysterio makes his return to the WWE and receives a standing ovation (a contrast to his last Rumble 4 years ago). Among the notable things Mysterio did include eliminating Adam Cole and reaching the final five.
• This was also the year of the very first Women's Rumble Match. And the lineup was an excellent showing of women from over fifteen years of the WWE, from legends like Trish Stratus, Lita, Beth Phoenix and Jacqueline, to surprising faces like Torrie Wilson, Michelle McCool, Kelly Kelly and Molly Holly. But in the end, it was Asuka who lived up to her undefeated streak and won the very first Women's Rumble. Much like Duggan being the first male Rumble winner, Asuka's winning the first women's Rumble will always be a unique mark in her career.
  • Naomi looks to be being set up as the female version of Kofi Kingston, having been thrown on top of other competitors outside the ring, climbing on and walking along the barricades to the announce table, and wheelbarrowing herself back to the ring with the help of a chair.
  • Right after Naomi was eliminated, Corey Graves claimed that no one could stop the one that did the deed, Nia Jax. The next entrant? The Glamazon herself, Beth Phoenix. Just having those two face off was enough for the Philly crowd to start a "THIS IS AWESOME!" chant. This also makes Beth the first wrestler to enter both the women's and men's Royal Rumble.
  • Becky Lynch lasts half the match, entering at Number 2, and getting to eliminate Lita!
  • While there was not a Lita/Trish face off, there was a Mickie/Trish face off, much to the delight of the crowd, which ended with Trish eliminating Mickie from the match.
  • Torrie Wilson's arrival is especially notable. Few would have expected her to return, as she has only made a couple of one-off appearances since her 2008 departure. And in her career she constantly tried to improve her wrestling— only to get put back in the Ms. Fanservice role. Here she showed she wouldn't be a dainty little damsel and took it straight to Sasha Banks, even eliminating Dana Brooke from the match. The crowd also erupted with cheers— showing that she was remembered just as fondly as the Trish and Lita level stars.
  • Molly Holly is Genre Savvy enough to leave the ring through the middle rope when going up top (knowing that if she was attacked and knocked off the apron, it wouldn't count as an elimination) - and she lands her trademark Molly-go-Round to Sasha.
  • Ember Moon representing NXT and lasting incredibly long, in spite of an injured arm. She even pulls off her Eclipse finisher. She's only eliminated when Asuka wrenches that injured arm off the rope.
  • Sasha Banks lasts for 51 minutes and actually pulls a Batman Gambit on Asuka, when they're left alone with the Bella Twins. She's about to suggest an alliance to take the twins out, but then she socks Asuka and bandies the Bellas together.
  • The Bellas seemingly go along with the above, but turn on Sasha and eliminate her as she's too busy trash talking Asuka.
  • The match has a nail-biting finish. Asuka and Nikki Bella have both gone over the ropes onto the ring apron, and they're both beaten and exhausted. Either one could make wrestling history, as the crowd roars its approval. Nikki tries to climb back into the ring, which turns out to be a fatal mistake. Asuka kicks Nikki in the legs, making her lose her balance and fall off the apron. Asuka looks like she's in a world of pain as the bell rings and the announcer declares her the winner, but she doesn't care. She knows that not only does she have a Wrestlemania title shot, she's also just achieved something that nobody else ever will.
• Right before Asuka is about to choose who she'll face at WrestleMania, either Charlotte Flair for the SmackDown's Women's Championship or Alexa Bliss for the Raw Women's Championship, out comes Ronda Rousey, who declares her intentions to be at Mania as well.
  • A small one. On commentary Stephanie McMahon gave a Shout-Out to Chyna - something she did not have to do - but it was very classy nonetheless.

Greatest Royal Rumble (2018)

• The mere fact that WWE put on a 50-Man Royal Rumble, the biggest yet. In Saudi Arabia, no less.
• Daniel Bryan set a record at the Greatest Royal Rumble by entering at #1 and surviving for one hour and sixteen minutes, breaking Rey Mysterio's record by a good fourteen minutes. He even made it to the final three before being eliminated by Big Cass.
• Another record fell as Braun Strowman, entering at #41, would eliminate thirteen men en route to winning the Greatest Royal Rumble, breaking the record set by Roman Reigns in 2014.

2019

• Kacy Catanzaro of American Ninja Warrior fame makes her Royal Rumble debut and makes a name for herself with a save that would make Kofi Kingston proud. To wit, she's knocked out of the ring, but leans on the barricade with her hands on the floor. Much like Kofi, she walks backwards on her hands, but ups the ante by hooking her legs to the ring post, pulling herself up, then climbing the turnbuckle. Despite her relative inexperience, this quickly gave her a reason to be noticed.
• The above moment is followed by Rhea Ripley eliminating Kacy by catching Catanzaro, who tried to jump on Ripley, and spinning her around before throwing her over the top rope and to the ground.
• Despite enduring a grueling brawl with Asuka, The Man still decides to participate in the Royal Rumble after some cunning on her part,^note After #28 entrant Lana couldn't enter the ring due to a ankle injury (likely caused by a bump she took during Rusev's earlier match, not helped by wearing high heels as Rusev's valet), Becky took her place. Bonus points for, unlike every other wrestler who took the place of another one in a Rumble, actually pleading her case to a ringside official (Fit Finlay), who allowed her to enter. and manages to win the whole thing, even after getting her leg injured by Nia Jax.
• Over in the Men's Royal Rumble, NXT's superstars once again make a name for themselves as Johnny Gargano, Pete Dunne and Aleister Black make their debut. Gargano and Black even manage to eliminate Jinder Mahal and Dean Ambrose — both former WWE Champions — respectively, while impressing the Phoenix crowd with their skills.
  • Dunne manages to snap one of Black's fingers during the match. Black snaps it right back into place.
• Despite Curt Hawkins' treatment as a joke character, he manages to eliminate Titus O'Neil after Titus pulls him out from under the ring. Even though he hasn't won any matches, he still manages to at least eliminate someone.
• Kofi Kingston manages two miracle elimination dodges! In the first, he was almost eliminated by Dean Ambrose after Dean sends him over the top rope; luckily his right foot touches his left foot and he quickly puts back both feet on the top of the mat, which the referee doesn't count as an elimination, much to Dean's dismay. Kofi then rolls around the ring and back to the ring steps, saving him. His second save has him land on Xavier Woods (who hadn't yet entered the match), who carries him backwards piggyback to the apron!
• Mustafa Ali, in his first Royal Rumble match, makes a very impressive statement by not only eliminating Samoa Joe (who attacked him in the weeks prior to the Rumble), but also newly crowned United States Champion and previous Rumble winner Shinsuke Nakamura!
• R-Truth is about to enter at #30, only to be attacked by Nia Jax who then takes his place. She manages to eliminate Mustafa Ali, much to the chagrin of fans and tries to continue her streak only to eat a superkick, 619 AND RKO much to the delight of the crowd. Props too to WWE for having the balls to have their superstars (including lifetime Babyface Rey Mysterio) avert Wouldn't Hit a Girl and treat her like any other competitor in the Royal Rumble. This also makes Nia Jax the second woman after Beth Phoenix to have participated in both a men's and women's Royal Rumble, and so far the only wrestler in WWE to compete in two separate Royal Rumbles on the same night.
• Andrade "Cien" Almas shows why he's the future of Smackdown Live and perhaps Lucha itself as "El Idolo" survived until the final four, even getting back at the man who eliminated him in last year's Rumble by eliminating Randy Orton.
• In the end, it comes down to Seth Rollins and Braun Strowman, with The Architect managing to survive Strowman's strength to take the fight to the apron. After a back and forth affair with both men teetering over the floor, Seth curb-stomps Braun to the apron to eliminate him, winning the whole thing despite coming in at #10.

2020

• Bianca Belair turning in a star-making performance, coming in at number 2 and eliminating eight compeitors to last 33 minutes, and establishing a record for most eliminations in a Women's Royal Rumble match (tied by Shayna Baszler later in the same match).
  • Speaking of Shayna Baszler, and this can not be streesed enough. As impressive as Bianca Belair gaining the record of 8 eliminations was, it took her a half hour plus change to do it. Shayna Baszler on the other hand tied that record in LESS THAN THREE MINUTES! One can't help but think that, if Baszler entered earlier instead of number 30, she might've eliminated even more competitors.
  • This Rumble should be considered an Awesome moment for NXT as well, since one could say that NXT dominated the Women's Rumble match; Belair and Baszler alone eliminated just over half of the other competitors, and that's not counting the eliminations that the other NXT superstars did.
• Making her return after a long absence, Naomi is tossed out but lands on the ring barrier. Pulling herself to the commentary tables, Naomi comes up with the innovative idea of taking the top of one table and turning it into a ramp to walk to the ring steps!
• Beth Phoenix returning to the ring and putting on a performance is even more impressive given she suffers a blow to the head and bled so much, her blonde hair was streaked with crimson.
• In the Men's Rumble, Brock Lesnar comes in at number one and proceeds to run wild, trashing and easily tossing out guys. John Morrison, Kofi Kingston, Rey Mysterio, a returning MVP and others, all tossed, some in just seconds. The man looks to be utterly unstoppable... and then Ricochet hits him with a low blow, allowing Drew McIntyre to kick Brock over the top rope and eliminate him!
  • It was brief but Kofi, Rey and Big E decided to team up against Lesnar for very personal reasons — for Kofi and Big E, it was due to Lesnar taking the championship from Kofi, for Rey it was Lesnar going after his son — and Big E even carrying Lesnar on his shoulders before unleashing the Big Ending.
  • At one point, Lesnar found himself alongside Keith Lee and Braun Strowman, yet he still eliminated both (a combined 600+ lbs) by hurling them over the top rope.
  • By the time Lesnar was eliminated, he'd tied Braun Strowman's elimination record of 13, which in Lesnar's case is special since A) Strowman's record comes from the Greatest Royal Rumble, which had 50 participants, and B) unlike Strowman, Lesnar's eliminations were done consecutively. Ricochet and McIntyre were potentially the next victims in the sequence had it continued.
  • One moment after McIntyre eliminates Lesnar deserves mention. After being eliminated, Lesnar stared in disbelief and rage at McIntyre, as if ready to attack him, and anyone who followed Lesnar knows that he is more than capable of attacking any wrestler who was shown to be able to endure against him (even those who Lesnar defeated anyway, like Finn Bálor at the 2019 Rumble the year before). However, McIntyre's response was to simply stare defiantly back at Lesnar for several seconds (only briefly taking a moment off him to eliminate The Miz). After seemingly thinking better of it, Lesnar just leaves.
• As the clock ticks down to number 21, the crowd is excited... then goes absolutely insane as EDGE returns after nine years in retirement. And the very first thing he does upon re-entering the ring: Spear Dolph Ziggler AND Karl Anderson in rapid succession. He also gets a brief stare-down with AJ Styles before Spearing him.
• Randy Orton enters, and he and Edge have a long slow stare-down...then Rated-RKO reunites to eliminate Gallows and Anderson and hit a double-RKO on McIntyre.
• From a villainous perspective, Seth Rollins bringing AOP and Buddy Murphy to the ring with him as he entered at number 30, showing a degree of Genre Savvy that most faction leaders don't when they take part in the match. Samoa Joe, Kevin Owens, and Aleister Black brawling with the three and taking them out of the ring to force Rollins to handle the rest of the Rumble on his own continues their own bout of Genre Savvy in dealing with Seth's faction, and then Rollins imploring for Roman Reigns' help when Edge, Drew, and Randy Orton all circle in on him, only for Reigns to stand in the corner and do nothing about it - rather than forget his Shield ties to Rollins and join in on the beating - is a great example of maintaining continuity without breaking current alignments.
• After Edge intercepts Orton's attempt to betray him and instead eliminates the Viper from the Rumble, the final three are Edge, Drew, and Reigns. Roman eliminates Edge only to eat a Claymore from McIntyre who then tosses him over the top rope for a victory almost no one saw coming.
• As an addendum to much of the above: in late 2018, Edge did a tour of the United Kingdom and Ireland with the Inside the Ropes wrestling panel on YouTube. A video posted on November 19 has Edge answer with Drew McIntyre when he's asked who he thinks should be the main event of WrestleMania. 14 months later, Edge returns to action after almost nine years retired in the same Royal Rumble match that sees Drew eliminate WWE World Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar; both men last into the top three alongside Roman Reigns, and Roman throws Edge over the top only for Drew to take him out last to win the whole thing; and in less than 24 hours McIntyre promptly chooses to fight Lesnar for his title at WrestleMania, all but guaranteeing the main event spot.

2021

• This Rumble gave us two winners who, more or less, began near the very beginning and managed to win it all through sheer strength and tenacity.
• Naomi is knocked out of the ring but only lands on her back, feet up so is said to still be in it. When Bianca Belair is pushed out, barely hanging on by her feet, Naomi grabs Bianca's ponytail to pull herself back up on the apron! They then spend a few moments pounding on each other until Naomi points out they're both barely hanging onto the ropes by their feet so work together to get back into the ring!
• Coming in at #3, Bianca Belair tops her performance the previous year, lasting the rest of the match and coming down to her and Rhea Ripley putting on a fantastic "Final Two" performance before Belair eliminates Ripley to win it.
  • Points have to be given to them agreeing to get back in the ring after eliminating Charlotte Flair as they were both on the apron.
• Edge, coming back from injury back in 2020, enters the Royal Rumble at #1, starting it with his bitter rival Randy Orton. Lasting the entire match, start to finish, he manages to win his 2nd Royal Rumble.
• Also during the match, Christian makes his real in-ring return to the squared circle and embraces his life long friend Edge, finally showing the two can share the ring again.
• Damian Priest makes his Royal Rumble debut in impressive fashion, managing to eliminate Elias, The Miz, John Morrison, and KANE (who still holds the record for most total eliminations at the Royal Rumble and increased that number that night as well).

2022

• Mickie James entering the Royal Rumble match as an Impact wrestler, with her Impact theme "Hardcore Country" and with her Impact Knockouts Championship, a sight no one thought to have been possible.
• Celebrity competitors rarely make much impact in the Rumble... but Bad Bunny isn't just any celebrity competitor. Not only did he, in only his second WWE in-ring appearance (the first being his winning effort alongside Damian Priest in a tag team match against The Miz and John Morrison at WrestleMania the prior year), manage to eliminate both Sheamus and Dolph Ziggler (the latter with an assist from Rey Mysterio), but he also broke out a Canadian destroyer, a sunset-flip piledriver noted to be very difficult to pull off.

2023

• Brock Lesnar enters and as usual wrecks shop, but before he could continue to torment everyone, including Bobby Lashley, The All Mighty gets his revenge and throws Lesnar out of the ring like he's nothing!
• Gunther gives an all-time great Rumble performance as he enters at #1, absolutely wrecks havoc, gets to have a stand-off with Lesnar, and survives until the final-two, breaking Rey Mysterio's 17-year long record of being in a 30 man Rumble Match at 71 minutes.
• Logan Paul makes his surprise return at the Rumble, and shows why he deserves to be there as he fights off several superstars who gang up on him, does an amazing springboard crossbody collision spot with Ricochet, and even eliminates Seth Rollins!
• Just as The Judgment Day take out everyone in the match and look poised to dominate, #24 enters and "You think you know me." blares through the Alamodome as Edge gives us another amazing surprise return where after being put on the shelf by his former lackeys, he gets his revenge by eliminating Finn Balor and Damian Priest.
• Making good on his word, Cody Rhodes returns at the Rumble and gives a gutsy performance worthy of the Rhodes family name, managing 5 eliminations (including Braun Strowman and Gunther) on his way to winning the whole thing.
• After entering from #1, Rhea Ripley goes the distance, surviving Liv Morgan and Asuka in Kana mode to become the first woman to win from #1.
  • Liv herself showed out too; starting at #2 right along Rhea Ripley, she manages to become the runner-up. And props to both ladies as well since compared to every other instance of the #1 and #2 being the final two (HBK/Bulldog in '95 were only in the match for around 35 minutes due to the shortened length between entrants, Austin/Vince in '99 spent most of the match fighting each other/their allies outside the ring, Edge/Orton in 2021 saw Randy attacked prior to the match and entering later on) they went the full match from beginning to end for over an hour.
• Early in the show, they point out Michelle McCool, along with Kaia and Kolt Calaway, standing in the front row at ringside. As #25 is announced, the commentators are confused as her music hits, and she casually removes her jacket and jumps on the barrier, ready to show her kids how their mother clears house.
• What's Kofi's elimination save this time? Landing on a chair and tumbling down so that only one foot hits.

2024

• After several months of training in the Performance Center, Jade Cargill makes her first appearance in a WWE ring and quickly makes a strong impression. She's able to lift Nia Jax onto her shoulders with relative ease, eliminating her all by herself shortly after. She ultimately finishes third in the Rumble, an overall impressive debut outing on the main roster.
• At one point, Jade and Bianca Belair give stereo gorilla presses to Becky Lynch and Liv Morgan respectively and then face off with the entire crowd going wild. The other ladies break it up before they fight but the mere sight of the pair just looking at each other is stunning.
• Just like in 2022, the Impact Wrestling Knockouts Champion makes an appearance at the Rumble (but unlike Mickie this time it was a big surprise) as Jordynne Grace comes in and immediately shows why she's their top woman, taking out everyone with ease before reigniting her rivalry with the recently returned Naomi.
  • Relatively minor but the commentary team openly acknowledging Naomi's time as Knockouts Champion and her rivalry with Grace is a pretty sweet moment too.
  • Belair eliminates Grace by hitting an amazing KOD on the outside of the ring apron. That it took a brutal finisher to dump Grace out only shows how powerful her run was.
• Bayley winning the Women's Rumble as the third entrant, beating Rhea Ripley's record for the longest time spent in a single Women's Rumble match by lasting 1 hour, 3 minutes, and 3 seconds (Ripley won the previous year's Rumble spending 1 hour, 1 minute, and 8 seconds in the match as the first entrant). The win also made Bayley the second women to win the Rumble, Money in the Bank, and the Grand Slam, second only to inaugural Women's Rumble winner Asuka.
• Cody Rhodes goes the distance and becomes only the fourth in history to win back to back Rumble matches, and doesn't even hesitate long enough for Michael Cole to finish the question to immediately challenge Roman Reigns to a rematch.

Other matches on the card

1991

• The opener was a particularly inspired, and very energetic, match between the Rockers and the Orient Express.^note The second version, that is— after Akio Sato left, he was replaced by Kato, aka American wrestler Paul Diamond under a mask. This match been cited as an all-time favorite by some critics, and it's almost certainly one of, if not the, best opening matches of any Royal Rumble event.
• From the same show— After years of abuse, Virgil finally stands up to Ted DiBiase. After the duo win a match, DiBiase gets on the mic to berate Virgil (who he'd just beaten on for a mistake) and demands he wrap the Million Dollar Belt around DiBiase's waist. Virgil gets the belt but drops it at his boss' feet. DiBiase snaps about Virgil's family and the man kneels to get the belt. DiBiase gloats and laughs at the crowd...at which point, Virgil leaps up and smashes the belt into DiBiase's jaw, knocking him out cold and sending the crowd into a frenzy.

1994

• The Undertaker, after being given basically the WWF version of a Rasputinian Death at the hands of Yokozuna and several other heel wrestlers (Undertaker not letting up against about ten other men until his urn was opened) and being locked in a casket, appeared on the titantron and made a chilling speech, proclaiming he would not rest in peace. He then "floated" up to the rafters, crossing over into the afterlife presumably. This seems to be very YMMV, though, as it has been inducted into WrestleCrap.

2000

• Cactus Jack vs Triple H in Madison Square Garden, aka the match that made Triple H, and proved that he deserved to be Champion. Fans weren't very enthusiastic going in as Hunter had, to paraphrase Edge, "married his way" to the title, and Jack was all hype since while he was an extremely brutal performer in ECW, his WWF career under that persona was much more tame, and you can hear them chant "boring" at the 5-10 minute mark (which Jerry Lawler pretended was "Foley"). Then came the barbed-wire two-by-four. Then both men kept going after each getting hit by it. Then came the blood. Then came the thumbtacks. Then came the Pedigree onto the thumbtacks. And the rest is history....
  • You can see this on the DVD extras; after the match, Triple H is taken backstage onto a stretcher and is all bloody and messed up. And one of the first things he does is ask someone to find his parents, who are in the audience, and let them know he's okay.
• Kurt Angle was in full-on Smug Snake mode and was yet to have been defeated in singles competition. He comes out at the opening of the PPV and delivers some backhanded comments about Patrick Ewing and the Knicks (it was Madison Square Garden and Angle's gimmick at the time was to obliviously insult the fans via their hometown sports stars). Then, his mystery opponent for the night appears: Tazz^note who, being from Brooklyn, doubled as A Hero to His Hometown for the fans at the Garden. Debuting at the Rumble, Tazz proceeds to squash Angle with a number of suplexes and the Tazzmission, ending Angle's undefeated streak and delighting the New York crowd to no end.
• The Dudleys vs the Hardys capped off their typical CMOA match with Jeff performing a Swanton Bomb from the balcony through Buh Buh and a table.

2003

• The 2003 Rumble saw Scott Steiner vs. Triple H for the World Heavyweight Championship, in one of the worst matches in the company's history. Immediately after that, Chris Benoit and Kurt Angle battled for the WWE Championship that, not only took the piss out of the previous debacle, but was a Match of the Year candidate. As unintentional as it was, it was a huge apology, with HHH/Steiner bordering on Let Us Never Speak of This Again territory.

2004

• Shawn Michaels and Triple H put on a classic Last Man Standing match. It's remembered for being not only a nail-biter of a match, but for its double-countout ending (neither man could answer the 10 count) (in Philadelphia, of all places). The infamously outspoken Philly fans gave both competitors a well deserved standing ovation as they were being carted off to the back. It would have stolen the show had Chris Benoit not put on such an amazing performance.

2013

• 2013 brings us The Rock and CM Punk for the WWE Championship. Marking over 10 years since The Rock has challenged for a WWE title and CM Punk enjoying the longest WWE Championship reign in the past 25 years (434 days), the stakes were high. The Rock swore that he would come to the event and take Punk's title with the added stipulation that any interference from rogue unit The Shield would cause Punk to be stripped of the championship. After an intense contest, the lights in the arena go black and The Rock is dragged outside and slammed through the announce table by an unseen Shield. Punk scores the pinfall from the interference but Vince McMahon declares that, despite being dark, The Shield interfered and he would strip Punk's championship. The Rock refuses to let the match end like this, demands a restart, and pins Punk with the People's Elbow to win the WWE Championship for the first time in a decade and ends Punk's historic reign as champion.

2014

• 2014 kicks off with a potential Match of the Year candidate with Daniel Bryan taking on Bray Wyatt.

2015

• 2015 gives us Brock Lesnar vs. John Cena vs. Seth Rollins. All candidates pulled their weight in the match and it shows. Highlights include Seth Rollins pulling off a Phoenix Splash on John Cena which hasn't been used since his ROH days.

2016

• The night kicked off with a brutal Last Man Standing match between Dean Ambrose and Kevin Owens for the Intercontinental Championsip. Both men threw everything they had at each other, with Ambrose eventually retaining after Owens went through two stacked tables. And then they not only entered the Rumble anyway despite the punishment they'd given each other, but still managed to do well, with Owens even eliminating the debuting AJ Styles, and Ambrose being the last man eliminated to finish second overall.
• Charlotte Flair vs Becky Lynch was another great match, with Becky throwing everything she had at the Divas Champion, and looking like she would come out on top. Shame that Charlotte's Daddy had to get involved. After Charlotte beats down Becky after the match, Sasha Banks shows up, and makes it absolutely clear that she's after the belt too.

2017

• Just like at SummerSlam 2016, match of the night in the 2017 event went to AJ Styles vs. John Cena. And it was arguably the best match of their entire feud, with the two seamlessly transitioning through submission holds on each other (including Cena busting out a figure-four leg lock), Cena using another Code Red, Styles trying to win like he did back in August but Cena scouting it, and capped it off with Cena hitting two consecutive Attitude Adjustments on Styles, transitioning smoothly between the two, to finally get the pinfall on AJ and secure his 16th WWE Championship victory, thus tying Ric Flair's record.

2019

• Balor versus The Beast for the Universal Championship. Despite giving up almost a hundred pounds and a good few inches to the champion, Finn showed everyone why he's the Extraordinary Man Who Does Extraordinary Things by taking Brock to the limit, much like Styles and Bryan before him. Right out the gate, Balor delivers a shotgun dropkick, pushing Lesnar into the corner. Despite being suplexed numerous times, Finn refused to quit and countered an F5 attempt into a DDT. Balor hit most of his big moves, including doing four over the top rope flipping sentons to Brock. A moment no one expected, Balor actually hit Lesnar with the Coup De Grace, only for Brock to narrowly kick out and apply the Kimura Lock to seal the win. To show how much this really pissed Lesnar off ^note  by making him actually believe he could lose to someone like Finn , Brock gave Finn a massive beat down, ending it with an F5, but Balor still got up afterwards, a testament to his endurance. Oh, and the cherry on the sundae? Finn did all this without using the Demon. The future looks bright for the leader of the Balor Club.

2021

• Drew McIntyre defeating Goldberg in a short match. While the match itself wasn't anything special, Goldberg had been known to squash anyone who wrestled with him, including not only two of the biggest heels in the company, Brock Lesnar and Bray Wyatt, but also two previous world champions (Universal Champions Wyatt and Kevin Owens). But Drew beat him anyway, cementing that he is one of the strongest faces in recent memory to hold the WWE Championship.

2023

• After a brutal match between Roman Reigns and Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn finally proves his friendship with KO is stronger than his ties to The Bloodline, refusing to participate in the post-match beatdown and betraying Roman knowing he was about to catch a beating. The pop that Sami got when he hit Roman with the chair in the back was monstrous.
  • Related to it is Jey Uso's refusal to join the post-match beatdown. After months of being the only member of the Bloodline to not trust Sami, it was clear that Sami's actions at Survivor Series WarGames a few months back had won Jey's heart to the point that he refuses to join the beatdown of Sami after Sami turned on Roman, giving the Bloodline a possible first signs of fracture after standing tall on the top of the promotion for more than a year.