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Stone Cold Steve Austin participated in 6 Royal Rumble matches and won 3 of them, a record which hasn’t been broken till date. In only 6 Rumble appearances, Austin recorded 36 eliminations and is tied at second in the list of all-time royal rumble eliminations with Kane who has participated in 10 more matches, and is just two eliminations behind Shawn Michaels who has participated in 12 Rumbles. He has lasted in the Royal Rumble match for over 2 hours and 45 minutes, an average of nearly 28 minutes Rumble time.
In his first Royal Rumble match (1996), Austin entered under the name of “The Ringmaster,” lasting for nearly 11 minutes and eliminating Bob (Hardcore) Holly. The 1997 Royal Rumble marked the beginning of the Stone Cold Era in the WWE, as he eliminated Bret Hart to win his first ever Royal Rumble in only his second appearance.
He also equalled Hulk Hogan’s 1989 record of 10 eliminations. His performance was one of the most entertaining and memorable Royal Rumble performances of all time as he threw every Superstar coming in his way out of the ring and then looked at his wrist as if it were a watch, until Bret Hart entered the match.
Bret Hart eliminated Austin already but because the officials were busy with the eliminated Mankind, Austin returned to the ring and eventually eliminated Hart. This Rumble emerged as one of the best in WWE’s history and is still remembered for Stone Cold’s performance.
Stone Cold also won the Rumble in 1998, becoming only the third Superstar to win two successive Royal Rumbles, after Hulk Hogan (’90 and ’91) and Shawn Michaels (’95 and ’96). He eliminated 7 other Superstars, last eliminating The Rock to win his second Rumble in a total of 3 appearances.
This win led him to his WrestleMania XIV WWF Championship win over Shawn Michaels with Mike Tyson as the special referee. “The Texas Rattlesnake” came close to winning the Royal Rumble three times in a row in 1999, where he was eliminated last by the winner Vince McMahon, with help from The Rock.
Austin didn’t participate in the 2000 Royal Rumble match but won it for the record third time in 2001 by last eliminating Kane. In this Rumble he didn’t get to eliminate many Superstars (only 3) as he entered at #27. In his final Royal Rumble match in 2002, Austin reached the final four before being eliminated by Kurt Angle. Triple H won this Rumble.
John Cena Royal Rumble 2013
No one has been able to break Austin’s 13-year old record of 3 Rumble wins; in fact nobody has even equalled it. Behind him are Hulk Hogan, Shawn Michaels and John Cena (’08 and ’13) with two wins each and out of them we only have Cena as part of the active roster who can tie or break Stone Cold’s record. But, what are the odds?
To win the 2014 Royal Rumble, Cena will have to come out of his WWE World Heavyweight Championship scene with Randy Orton and participate in the 30-man battle royal and then he will have to make sure that all of the 29 other men have been eliminated and he is the last man standing in order to equal Austin’s record.
And, if he fails then he’ll have to wait until Royal Rumble 2015 to try winning the Rumble and then again he’ll have to stay out of the WWE World Heavyweight Championship match scene, as in recent years we have seen that the Championship match is scheduled after the battle royal.
Other active Superstars who are former Rumble winners and can challenge Austin’s record are: Rey Mysterio, Randy Orton, Alberto Del Rio, Sheamus and maybe Batista. But, the task isn’t easy at all with the amount of new talent coming in the WWE every year, this year we have got The Shield and The Wyatt Family, and it’s tough for these former winners to actually repeat their feat.
As for now, we can only wish that the 2014 Royal Rumble match comes up with some great moments and the winner is one who has the talent and capability to headline WrestleMania XXX. CM Punk, Daniel Bryan maybe?
