There aren’t many pay-per-views out there in the WWE with the amount of potential that Royal Rumble carries. If booked right, it has all the ingredients to be the biggest success story of the year and history has underlined this fact a plethora of times.The situation will be no different when the company hits Philadelphia this year for their 28th annual Royal Rumble. Vince McMahon and his apparent writers will be looking to taste some success after their horrible outing last.Before we update the Royal Rumble numbers in a matter of hours, here is a look at some of those great moments which morphed Rumble into one of the most decorated pay-per-views in the WWE’s arsenal.
#10 Roman Reigns does a dozen (2014)
Roman Reigns has managed to become a polarising figure in his short stay in the company but before he made the WWE Universe split, he rewrote an impressive record in the Royal Rumble match.
The record for most eliminations in a single match was set by Kane back in 2001 when the big red monster eliminated 11 superstars. It was thought to be a record impossible to be broken until Roman Reigns came along in 2014.
Reigns eliminated 12 superstars including his Shield partners in the match and announced his arrival big time. A youngster coming in and getting backed up by the company is always a good sight which is why Reigns makes it into the list.
#9 Clash of the titans (1989)
Royal Rumble is known for being the place where tag teams explode. The Rumble has seen the end of many legendary teams and the Mega Powers was one of them. The team of Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage was running rampage as a team but they soon started showing cracks because of Miss. Elisabeth.
The penultimate nail in the coffin came at the 1989 Rumble when Hogan accidently eliminated Savage. Savage came back into the ring and questioned what Hogan did but it was not going to end there.
Randy turned on Hogan just two weeks later, and WWE managed to set up a match between the biggest baby faces in the business just like that.
#8 Steve Austin takes the cheat route (1997)
A major fraction for Steve Austin’s success in WWE is because of the freshness he brought into the business. While all the baby faces were running around playing by the rule and pleasing babies, Austin built up an image as the anti-hero.
1997 was one of the crucial turning points for that build up process. Austin was eliminated from the Rumble by Bret Hart but since the referee didn’t see it, Austin reentered the ring and went on to win the match.
Austin never got his title shot but that Rumble match did prove to be the buildup for a historic encounter between Bart hart and Austin at WrestleMania XIII.
#7 CM Punk does some in ring commentary (2010)
Using CM Punk and Royal Rumble in the same sentence might bring a tsunami of regrets for the WWE booking team. If the company had given him his proper spot in the 2014 Royal Rumble, he would have still been there as an asset.
Before all this happened, Punk gave a stand out performance in the 2010 Royal Rumble. He entered into the match at the third spot and was cleaning house from the go. But there was something different about Punk’s run.
Punk was cutting promos in between his eliminations and it was a unique sight for the fans to see someone grab the microphone during the Rumble match. Punk’s rant was put to end by Triple H but it was a memorable moment after all.
#6 Kofi doing what he does best
A lot of things keep the fans waiting for the Royal Rumble this year and one of the most stand out questions among that would be ‘What will Kofi Kingston do this time around?’.
Over the past few years, Kofi have been stealing the limelight with his incredible acts of athleticisms and each one has been better than the other. It would be unfair to pick just one from the lot since every spot he pulled out deserves a place in the list.
From hand stand to announcer chair pogo stick, you will think that he has pulled out every rabbit under his hat but that belief will only be there till he does something magical this year as well.
#5 Meet Spiderman (2011)
John Morrison is someone who underachieved during his stay in the WWE. Despite having everything to make it big in the business, something went wrong big time for him which eventually derailed his WWE career.
Morrison is currently enjoying a great stay in Lucha Underground but he has a lot of memories when it comes to his WWE stay. One of them would be his insane parkour skills at the 2011 Royal Rumble.
He was knocked out straight into the barricade by William Regal during the match and Morrison somehow managed to hang on like Spiderman. He soon got back into the match before being eliminated later.
#4 Maven makes the worst mistake of his life (2002)
WWE will be bringing back their Tough Enough series this year and it would only be fitting to remember the first ever winner, Maven. He did achieve a lot of success during that time frame but Maven soon found it hard to fit into the wrestling business.
He left the company in a couple of years after winning the Tough Enough but before his departure, Maven did something unthinkable at the 2002 Royal Rumble.
Maven entered into the Rumble at 11th position and went on to eliminate The Undertaker. it was a big upset but Maven soon paid for his mistake when Taker came back to eliminate the rookie.
#3 John Cenas return (2008)
There will be a lot of Cena haters out there but it is hard for even them to ignore the dedication that Cenation leader puts out for the business. Cena was injured late into 2007 and was expected to be out of action all the way till WrestleMania.
It was supposed to be a big blow for the company but thanks to Cena’s hard work, he made a miraculous return to action at the 2008 Royal Rumble. That is nearly four months before his actual return date in case the gravity does not seep in.
He entered into the Rumble at the 30th spot in what proved to be one of the best returns in WWE history. It didn’t end there, Cena went on to win the whole thing and headlined WrestleMania.
#2 Ric Flair wins the Rumble and WWE Championship (1992)
The modern era fans will know Royal Rumble as the place where a superstar gets his chance to headline WrestleMania but back in 1992, the rules were changed a bit by WWE so that they could fill in the vacant WWE championship.
Meanwhile, Ric Flair had just arrived in the company and was looking to get his hands on the WWE gold right away. He entered into the Rumble match at the third position and the odds were stacked against him immediately.
However, Flair went all the way to win the match which had a lot of confrontations with Flair as the protagonist. Flair did get some help from Hogan in the end, but the title went to the Nature Boy anyways.
#1 The man who was erased from History (2004)
Okay, this might be a bit controversial to begin with but Chris Benoit winning the Royal Rumble in 2004 was arguably one of the best moments in the pay-per-view’s history. The match was filled with celebrated names and no one expected Benoit to come out on top.
He entered the match at the first position and went on to hang in their nearly an hour whiles names like Kurt Angle, Rob Van Dam, John Cena, and many more came in and went out.
In the end, Benoit was left in the ring with Big Show and the Rabid Wolverine did something spectacular when he tossed the 500 pounder out of the ring to win. It was the shift of landscape in the WWE as they started taking wrestling seriously rather than letting the flashiness rule everytime.
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