Royal Rumble

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This article is about the professional wrestling event, for the Xiaolin Showdown episode see Royal Rumble (Xiaolin Showdown).

Image:Royal Rumble Logo.jpg

The Royal Rumble is an annual professional wrestling pay-per-view event, produced every January by World Wrestling Entertainment. The main event in this pay-per-view is also titled the Royal Rumble, and is held only in this event. Some fans of the WWE call it one of the 'Big Four', as it was one of the original four annual WWE pay per views, and one of the four that bring together both the Raw and Smackdown! brands onto the same card, something that hasn't been true of the remaining pay per views of the year since 2003.

The Rumble is comprised of 30 men; beginning with two men in the ring, and at regular timed intervals (usually, but not always, every two minutes), one of the remaining 28 wrestlers enters the ring. A wrestler is eliminated when leaving the ring over the top rope, and then having both feet touch the floor. An egress between the second and third rope or under the bottom rope is not a valid elimination. The winner of the event is the last wrestler remaining after all others have been eliminated.

An elimination can also occur when a wrestler is thrown off the top rope by a non-competing opponent, or by one who had already been eliminated, or when the participant deliberately jumps outside the ring, for instance to hit someone who is ringside. Other wrestlers can be de facto eliminated due to interference preventing the wrestler from entering the ring, or due to a prolonged absence from the ring (although the latter is often a booking error).

Although the order of entry is supposed to be random, it is common to have storylines where wrestlers compete for the right to enter last, or ask for a low number in order to prove their stamina by outlasting all others. A wrestler may also be assigned a high or low number by a figure of authority as a reward or a punishment. In reality, the order of entrance and elimination is carefully planned by the booker in order to put on an entertaining match, with many booked by Pat Patterson. For example, once a wrestler has quickly eliminated several other wrestlers, the next wrestler to approach the ring will often be an enemy of theirs. Also, current tag-teams usually face off in the Rumble, due to the Every Man for Himself factor. A rule also states that anyone who participates in a World Championship match that night, whether it be defending the title or challenging, may not participate in the Royal Rumble. There were few people who broke the rule, one being Kurt Angle who lost his WWE Championship match to John "Bradshaw" Layfield and stole Nunzio's number to get into the Rumble.

Since the 1991 event, every winner (other than in 1992, 1997, 1999) has gone on to challenge the WWE Champion or the World Heavyweight Champion at WrestleMania, but this was not made an official stipulation of the match until 1993. This stems from 1992, when the Royal Rumble decided who would win the then-vacant WWF Championship (Ric Flair won the match). This championship match is often the last event on the WrestleMania card according to principles in the WWE that states "Royal Rumble winner gets first class ticket to WrestleMania", which means that the Royal Rumble winner gets to be in the 'first class' top spot in the main event at WrestleMania. The Royal Rumble winner usually gets booked to win at WrestleMania and carry on the burden of a world champion, rising to the top level of the business. Therefore, the Royal Rumble winner is someone who is deserving, which is why the WWE fans were outraged when WWE's own promoter and non-wrestler Mr. McMahon won it. An example of popular 'deserving winners' include Chris Benoit, Rey Mysterio and Stone Cold Steve Austin. As WWE also has a February pay-per-view event, the winner may have this privilege put on the line on that pay-per-view card. In 1996 Shawn Michaels retained his by defeating Owen Hart. In 1997 Stone Cold Steve Austin had been eliminated by Bret Hart but officials missed it due to an altercation between Terry Funk and Mick Foley. Seeing this, Austin came back in the ring and eliminated The Undertaker, Vader, and Bret Hart to win the Rumble. At the February Final Four pay-per-view, all four men were to face against each other in a match to determine a new challenger, but a week prior then-WWF Champion Shawn Michaels vacated the title, and the match instead declared a new champion, which was Hart. Undertaker was named the new challenger the day after due to his performance at Final Four and his being the match's runner-up. In 1999, Mr. McMahon, that year's Rumble winner, stated he would give up his title shot as he is not a regular competitor, leading to then-WWF Commissioner Shawn Michaels declaring that the WWF rulebook states the Rumble runner-up would get the shot in his absence, who was Stone Cold Steve Austin. As McMahon and Austin were feuding at the time, Michaels set a match for the February's St. Valentine's Day Massacre pay-per-view between the two with the shot on the line, with Austin victorious. In 2000 The Rock won but it was shown afterwards that he had actually been eliminated by The Big Show, leading to a singles match at the February No Way Out pay-per-view for the title shot, which Big Show won. Rock and later Mick Foley were added to the championship match. A similar situation occurred in 2006 when Rey Mysterio put his shot on the line at No Way Out against Randy Orton, who won the match. Mysterio would be added later on as well.

With the brand extension in mid-2002, the 30 entrants consist of 15 wrestlers from the RAW brand and 15 from the SmackDown! brand. This is, therefore, one of the few pay-per-view events (and certain combined non-televised shows held around WrestleMania time) with inter-brand competition on a regular basis. The official declaration for the first post-brand extension event in 2003, the Rumble winner faced their brand's champion at WrestleMania, but starting in 2004, due to a supposed "loophole" in the Rumble's stipulations, the Rumble winner has the option of challenging either brand's champion. Chris Benoit switched brands in 2004 and won the World Heavyweight Championship. Batista remained with RAW in 2005, though Triple H initially lobbied heavily for him to jump to SmackDown! so he wouldn't have to face him. To date, there is no relative entry order between participants from different brands, and there has been no storyline to date that has brands facing each other for the right to name the first or last entry.

The first Royal Rumble took place on January 24, 1988 in Hamilton, Ontario. Hacksaw Jim Duggan won, and the first pay-per-view Rumble occurred a year later.

Contents

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Royal Rumble winners

Royal Rumble winners
Year: Winner and Entry #
19881 "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan 13
1989 Big John Studd 27
1990 Hulk Hogan 25
1991 Hulk Hogan 24
19922 Ric Flair 3
1993 Yokozuna 27

19943

Bret Hart 27
Lex Luger 23
19954 Shawn Michaels 1
1996 Shawn Michaels 18
19975 Steve Austin 5
1998 Steve Austin 24
1999 Vince McMahon 2
20006 The Rock 24
2001 Steve Austin 27
2002 Triple H 22
2003 Brock Lesnar 29
2004 Chris Benoit 1
20057 Batista 28
20068 Rey Mysterio 2

1: The first Royal Rumble featured only 20 men; the stipulation was changed to 30 the following year.

2: Ric Flair becomes the new WWF Heavyweight Champion

3: Both Bret Hart and Lex Luger were declared winners when it was decided that they both touched the floor at the exact same time.

4: Shawn Michaels became the first man in Royal Rumble history to win as the number one entrant.

5: Steve Austin was eliminated, but no referee saw the elimination and made the call, so he slipped back in and eliminated everyone to become the Royal Rumble winner.

6: The Big Show, who was the last man eliminated, claimed he won the 2000 Royal Rumble, as both of the Rock's feet hit the floor first. He later showed video footage proving his statement right, and was awarded a match with The Rock with the WrestleMania title shot on the line (Big Show won the match, but The Rock was also granted a title shot after winning a stipulation match) The Rock is still, however, listed as the official winner of the 2000 Royal Rumble.

7: Batista and John Cena were eliminated at the same time similar to the 1994 event. WWE chairman Vince McMahon rushed to the ring and restarted the Royal Rumble with Batista and Cena as the only participants, with Batista eventually being the victor.

8As a result of his 2006 performance, Rey Mysterio currently holds the record for the longest time in the Royal Rumble.

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Results

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1988

This event was held on January 24, 1988 at Copps Coliseum in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

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1989

Image:Logo-rr89-95.jpg This event was held on January 15, 1989 at The Summit in Houston, Texas.

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1990

This event was held on January 21, 1990 at Orlando Arena in Orlando, Florida.

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1991

This event was held on January 20, 1991 at Miami Arena in Miami, Florida.

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1992

This event was held on January 19, 1992 at Knickerbocker Arena in Albany, New York.

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1993

This event was held on January 24, 1993 at ARCO Arena in Sacramento, California.

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1994

This event was held on January 22, 1994 at the Providence Civic Center in Providence, Rhode Island.

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1995

This event was held on January 22, 1995 at the USF Sun Dome in Tampa, Florida.

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1996

Image:Logo-rr9699.jpg This event was held on January 21, 1996 at Selland Arena in Fresno, California.

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1997

This event was held on January 19, 1997 at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.

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1998

This event was held on January 18, 1998 at the San Jose Arena in San Jose, California.

NOTE: In the Royal Rumble match itself, the Three Faces of Foley (Mankind, Dude Love and Cactus Jack) each made an individual appearance in the match.

NOTE: Counting all 3 of Mick Foley's "faces," there were 29 entries in this Royal Rumble match. No one showed up as the #22 entry, and it was later revealed that the missing entry was Skull, who had been previously attacked by Los Boricuas because they thought he was Stone Cold Steve Austin.

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1999

This event was held on January 24, 1999 at the Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim, California.

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2000

Image:Logo-rr00.jpg This event was held on January 23, 2000 at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York.

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2001

Image:Logo-rr01.jpg This event was held on January 21, 2001 at the New Orleans Arena in New Orleans, Louisiana.

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2002

Image:Logo-rr0204.jpg This event was held on January 20, 2002 at Philips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia. The theme song for this event was "Cocky" by Kid Rock.

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2003 - 2007

Image:Logo-rr05b.jpg For details of these pay-per-view events see:

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Royal Rumble Records (1988-2006)

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Facts and trivia

Royal Rumble Match

  • The 1988 Royal Rumble is the only Rumble to take place outside the United States.
  • The Royal Rumble match was reportedly created by Pat Patterson, who was inspired by the annual Cow Palace battle royal.
  • The first Royal Rumble in 1988 aired on the USA Network. The 1988 Rumble was unusual for two reasons: It featured only twenty competitors rather than what would become the standard thirty, and any egress over the top rope constituted an elimination (regardless of whether that wrestler's feet touched the floor). As such, it is also the shortest Rumble, lasting only 33 minutes.
  • The first two wrestlers to ever compete in a Royal Rumble were Bret Hart and Tito Santana, who in the inaugural 1988 match drew #1 and #2 respectively. The first wrestler ever eliminated in a Royal Rumble was "The Natural" Butch Reed.
  • While the #1 and #2 draw would appear to be the worst possible number of entry, both the first entrant and the second entrant have each twice won the Royal Rumble. Shawn Michaels won in 1995 with #1, as did Chris Benoit in 2004. Likewise, Vince McMahon won in 1999 with #2, as did Rey Mysterio in 2006. However, Vince McMahon remained outside the ring for most of the match. Ric Flair is the only one so far to win with #3.
  • Despite being the best draw possible, no wrestler has ever won the Royal Rumble from the #30 position. The closest was Brock Lesnar in 2003, who entered at number 29.
  • The Undertaker has only won twice at the Royal Rumble; in 1995 against IRS and ten years later in 2005; against Heindenreich; in a casket match. (he had previously lost two casket matches at the Royal Rumble in 1994 and 1998.) Both him and his "brother" Kane have never won a Royal Rumble match.
  • The 1992 Rumble marks the only time the WWF Championship was on the line in the match. It was won by Ric Flair.
  • Superstars have won at 27 (four times: 1989, 1993, 1994 co-winner, 2001), 24 (three times: 1991, 1998, 2000), #1 (twice: 1995, 2004), 2 (twice: 1999, 2006), 3 (1992), 5 (1997), 13 (1988), 18 (1996), 22 (2002), 23 (1994 co-winner), 25 (1990), 28 (2005), and 29 (2003).
  • There has yet to be a superstar who won the Royal Rumble after entering at #4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 26, 30.
  • Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels and Triple H are the only superstars to have entered the Royal Rumble Match as #1 on two or more occasions. Bret Hart in 1988 and 1991, Triple H in 1996 and 2006 and Shawn Michaels in 1995 and 2003.
  • Despite being the worst possible numbers to draw, the participants that entered at #1 and #2 have been the final two in the ring on two seperate occasions (Shawn Michaels and Davey Boy Smith in 1995, and Stone Cold Steve Austin and Vince McMahon in 1999).
  • Chyna was the first and only woman in WWE history to have entered the Royal Rumble match, entering both the 1999 and 2000 matches.
  • There are only three Superstars who have each won the Royal Rumble back-to-back: Hulk Hogan, Shawn Michaels, and Stone Cold Steve Austin.
  • The 2000 and 2004 Royal Rumble matches featured no superstar who won the Royal Rumble match in previous years.
  • Viscera (then known as Mabel) in 1999, Maven in 2002, Spike Dudley in 2004, Scotty 2 Hotty in 2005 and Chavo Guerrero in 2006 were never technically eliminated from the Rumble. Mabel was taken from the ring by the Ministry of Darkness through the ropes (not over) and never came back (although WWE has officially acknowleged the elimination); Maven was assaulted and taken into into the crowd by The Undertaker after eliminating him with a surprise dropkick; Spike was attacked by Kane before he could get to the ring and Scotty 2 Hotty was attacked by Muhammad Hassan. Chavo climbed threw the ropes not over an got on the top turnbuckle to perform the Frog Splash when Triple H pushed him to the outside. Though none of the five men were technically eliminated, they never came back, so they were considered eliminated anyway.
  • "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan, Big John Studd, Ric Flair, Yokozuna, Lex Luger, Vince McMahon, Brock Lesnar, and Chris Benoit all won the Royal Rumble match on their first try (1988, 1989, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1999, 2003 and 2004, respectively).
  • The 1998, 2001 and 2003 Rumbles are the only Rumbles featuring legal weapon use.
  • Hulk Hogan was the only reigning WWF Heavyweight Champion to win the Royal Rumble match.
  • Jerry "The King" Lawler is the only superstar to enter the Royal Rumble match while already doing commentary for that very same Rumble match.
  • Tito Santana is the only wrestler to compete at the first six Royal Rumble events. At each one, he competed in the Royal Rumble itself, and not in any other matches.
  • TV comedian Drew Carey was among the thirty Royal Rumble participants in 2001. Drew eliminated himself later in the match after getting a near chokeslam by Kane.
  • The record for the elimination requiring the largest number of "eliminators" was set in 1994 when Mabel was eliminated by 7 other superstars. Following him are Earthquake in 1990, Rikishi in 2000, and Muhammad Hassan in 2005, who were eliminated by 6 superstars at the same time. Tied in third place are Crush in 1994, Diesel also in 1994, and Kurrgan in 1998, all eliminated by 4 superstars.
  • Bret Hart was the first Canadian wrestler to win the Royal Rumble back in 1994. Ten years later Chris Benoit became the second Canadian to win the Royal Rumble.
  • As of 2006, 225 men and one woman have competed in the Royal Rumble match.
  • So far, the only superstars to have been the two remaining men in ring with a huge distance according to the no. of entry are Kane (#5) and Stone Cold Steve Austin (#27) in 2001; Chris Benoit(#1) and the Big Show (#24) in 2004 and Rey Mysterio(#2) and Randy Orton (#30) in 2006.

Royal Rumble Pay Per View

  • The 1991 Royal Rumble was the first to have a WWF Championship match on the card, featuring The Ultimate Warrior defending the title against Sgt. Slaughter.
  • The 2003 Royal Rumble was the first Royal Rumble to feature defenses of both the WWE Championship and World Heavyweight Championship on the same card.
  • The WWE Hardcore Championship was never defended at a Royal Rumble event. At the 1999 event, then-champion "Road Dogg" Jesse James wrestled The Big Boss Man, but the title was not on the line.
  • The WWE European Championship was defended only once at a Royal Rumble event (1999).
  • The 2002 Royal Rumble was the last Rumble to feature an Intercontinental Championship Match as the Intercontinental Championship was abandoned in October of that year and was not reintroduced until the following May. The Intercontinental Champions appeared at the 2004 (Randy Orton), 2005 (Shelton Benjamin) and 2006 (Ric Flair) Royal Rumbles but not with the title on the line, instead as participants in the Rumble Match.
  • The WWE United States Championship has not yet been defended at the Royal Rumble. The United States Champions appeared at the 2004(the Big Show; no. 27), 2005(John Cena; no. 25) and 2006(Booker T; no. 13) Royal Rumbles not to defend the title, but as participants in the Rumble match.
  • In the 2004 + 2005 Royal Rumbles, the WWE United States Champion was the last man eliminated (No. 27 The Big Show in 2004 and No. 25 John Cena in 2005).
  • During the casket match between Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker at the 1998 Royal Rumble, Michaels took a back body drop to the outside, smashing his lower back on the casket causing him to herniate two disks and crushing one completely, leading to his four year hiatus as an active wresttler from the company.
  • During his stay with the WWE, Razor Ramon has competed at the Royal Rumble only in championship matches consecutively from 1993-1996. He faced Bret Hart for the WWE Championship in 1993 and from 1994-1996 he competed in matches for the Intercontinental title or defending the title. "Razor Ramon" did compete in the 1997 Rumble, however by that point he was being portrayed by Rick Bogner, not Scott Hall, who originated the character.
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See also

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