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The last time, we took a little detour to jump from the number one entrant to final entrants. Now we're back looking at the next set of ten men who managed to accomplish greatness from the number one position in the Royal Rumble, if not excellence.
Royal Rumble matches are like anything else in the WWE. Invented by Pat Patterson, the innovative concept relies on a number of spots and particular 29 eliminations that will lead the winner to Wrestlemania.
As in a normal wrestling match, beyond the important pre-determined spots everything else is choreographed by the referees, management backstage and most importantly the wrestlers in the ring.
They have to be able to be intuitive enough to move the pace of the rumble along and keep each other in check to get to the desired end result. More often than not, that is why the veterans in the Rumble are spaced out between entries and also given the lofty position of the Iron Man (superstar who lasts longest) to make sure things run smoothly.
The best Rumbles feature ironmen who share the responsibility of anchor but never win. The best ironmen are those who last from the grand number one position to somewhere close to the end, giving us a riveting contest and persona to engage with as the match moves along.
For these ten men, victory was never the motive it was to anchor the match as best as possible in their limited time; whether to energize the first act or to carry forward the whole thing through till the end.
#20 Trying it with Flair
In 1992, with a tear in his eye, Ric Flair managed to win the Royal Rumble and with it the WWE Championship. A year later and after falling out of favour, Flair found himself at the first spot of a stacked Rumble.
Unfortunately for him, that number one spot bore a curse as he got promptly eliminated at the hands of Mr Perfect. This was the first time the Royal Rumble would get the opportunity to challenge for the WWE Championship at Wrestlemania. Unfortunately, Flair couldn't capture that chance and had to make due to the fact, that his days at the 'E were numbered.
Anyhow Flair tried and luckily, years later he'd get the chance to shine at many a Rumble. This just wasn't his night.
Eliminated by Mr Perfect.
#19 One Year Later...
A year later, Ric Flair would have already left the WWE prior to the Royal Rumble. The new number one entrant in the match was rising tag team star, Scott Steiner. He'd make short work of then rival Samu who drawn Number 2 before coming face to face with his own brother Rick.
The two brothers wanted nothing to do with the other, especially when it pertained to facing off in the ring. Yet WWE being who they are as a company thought it would be delightful to pit a successful tag team against each other hinting towards a dissolution. If you already didn't know, Vince McMahon loves nothing more than breaking up tag teams.
Yet the two continued until another superstar could enter the bout, and they'd double team him. That didn't last long, as Rick Steiner was promptly eliminated by Owen Hart while Scott became a victim of Diesel's ruthless rampage through the Rumble field.
All in all, a mildly entertaining if uneventful night for the future 'Big Pompa Pump'.
Eliminated by Diesel
#18 Stinking up The Joint!
In 2000, at the height of his popularity, Rikishi had a decent showing in the Royal Rumble, including eliminating his former partners of Too Cool. An ill-advised heel turn later and in 2002 Rikishi was pretty much cannon fodder, winding down his career.
Hence, one was quite aware that his presence at number one was a mere trick to warm up the crowd before the big stars infiltrated the match. Rikishi managed the one elimination of the Big Boss Man, before being easily tossed out by a vicious Undertaker.
Nothing more than a way to let Undertaker rampage through the field, until he was forced to put over Maven in a shocking elimination. This would be Rikishi's last Rumble appearance and show that the stink face inventor, was pretty much done.
Nothing terrible, but nothing great either. A typical middling entry, in a lengthy list of survivors.
Eliminated by The Undertaker
#17 The First Man Ever!
Bret Hart will always remain in the history books of the Royal Rumble. Not only is Bret the only co-winner alongside Lex Luger of the Royal Rumble, but he is the first man ever to step into the ring for the iconic match.
Though it was never clear if Hart was truly pegged as the main event talent by the WWE or found his way to the top through sheer hard work and discipline. The first ever Royal Rumble indicates, that WWE did see immense potential in the then tag team wrestler.
He not only lasted the longest amount of time, a whopping 25 plus minutes but he also pretty much anchored the whole contest leading it to succession.
If it weren't for the intuitive wrestling mind of Bret matched with the genius of Pat Patterson, we might never have seen another Royal Rumble ever after 1988. Hart would eventually see himself eliminated by Don Muraco, not before taking out Tito Santana. Regardless Bret left an impact that has lasted to this day.
Eliminated by Don Muraco
#16 Lucha Workhorse
2009 was an interesting year for Rey Mysterio, in many ways his best year in WWE (even better than his breakout in 2004 or championship run in 2006) and in between the year he was also suspended due to a failed drug test.
Still, Mysterio would make a bankable workhorse wrestler through the year, winning the Intercontinental Championship at Wrestlemania 25 (after having missed out on the event two years in a row). He would then move onto a slew of great feuds and matches against Chris Jericho, John Morrison, and Dolph Ziggler. After which Rey would find himself in an intense rivalry against former best friend Batista, leading up to championship opportunities.
Before all that was the Royal Rumble, opening the match alongside the man that would take his Intercontinental title later in the year; John Morrison. While Mysterio didn't manage to make multiple eliminations as expected with the duration he lasted. He maintained a calm and composure leading quite a bit of the Rumble, before the outpour of veterans and bigger superstars.
Rey a former winner from the second position, anchored the match while playing the tough wily veteran that was hard to catch, let alone eliminate. Eliminate though he would be at the meaty hands of Big Show. Before that, he would complete the unthinkable feat of taking out Mark Henry.
Even when veterans such as Chris Jericho and Undertaker made their presence felt, it was Mysterio who gave the initial push which turned the 2009 edition into an exciting affair highlighting a slew of future talent the company had in their hands.
His opening salvo with John Morrison was the perfect example to encapsulate Rey's contribution.
Eliminated by The Big Show
#15 You look out for one of your own!
At the 1996 Royal Rumble, Triple H would make his inauspicious Rumble debut under the moniker of Hunter Hearst Helmsley. By then Helmsley had already gained favour among the notorious Kliq of superstars, that ruled backstage.
As such despite his low position on the card and poor feud against Duke Droese (whom he would lose to for the Number 30 spot, early in the night), Hunter was on the upswing. The first signs of which was his rivetting showing at the Royal Rumble.
He managed a strong 48 minutes in the match, the longest of the night while eliminating Takao Omari (even I don't know who that is) before being sent packing by Diesel. Note that it was Diesel, a bonafide superstar, and Kliq friend of Hunter who eliminated him, no one else.
The Kliq looked after their own, as such it was obvious they weren't going to let the future WWE CEO to just end up with a useless Rumble loss to a nobody. The future would be bright for young Hunter, though a subsequent squash against Ultimate Warrior at Wrestlemania and the infamous Curtain Call incident derailed thing for a while, Hunter went on to win two Royal Rumble matches.
Eliminated by Diesel
#14 Poetry in motion
A few years into his second run in the WWE, Jeff Hardy managed to scale the ladder to finally become the main event talent. The year he managed that feat, would be the year he and Matt Hardy would have a falling out and an intense sibling rivalry.
It seems the seeds for both, had been planted long ago by a company who as we mentioned loved to have tag team partners square off. At the Rumble, Jeff and Matt came face to face but not for long enough.
The duo worked the field in fluid motion, each managing an elimination count of three with the support of the other. Of course, the final elimination between them was that of Jeff's at the hands of Matt Hardy.
Whatever the case, in his short stay Jeff managed a burst of energy that saw him prove he is a future prospect worth watching out for. If it weren't for Matt's silly intervention, maybe the boys could have gone further in the race.
Maybe that's why they were never able to climb the ladders and win the gold at WrestleMania that year.
Eliminated by Matt Hardy
#13 A run worth a million dollars?
The recurring theme of this part has been all about those veteran personas who have anchored the Royal Rumble through their skills. Ted Dibiase pretty much did that for his run in the WWE, during the early boom period.
As an elder statesman but still, fit to go, Dibiase so well in tune with his character would carry the lethargic 1990 Royal Rumble to its eventual conclusion. He'd play the grand heel foil for much of the part, eventually eliminated by a rising star; The Ultimate Warrior.
He'd gain two eliminations, one alongside a bunch of competitors to toss out the gigantic Earthquake and the other being an easy to throw Koko B Ware. However, it was his play as the big bad that made his stay in the match another notch in the gold-plated belt of the Million Dollar Man.
Eliminated by The Ultimate Warrior
#12 An awesome redemption
A year removed from his disastrous Wrestlemania main event, the Miz despite being a featured performer was slowly slipping down the card. It seemed like (and sadly still does) that Miz would never be afforded another big push, relegated to mid-card purgatory.
Yet what WWE had managed with Miz's rise, is that they had found themselves slowly cultivating a reliable veteran talent that could partake in the smooth transfer between the not so old guard and the new slew of superstars set to come in.
At the 2012 Royal Rumble, Miz got the opportunity alongside a game, Cody Rhodes, to carry the Royal Rumble match towards its riveting conclusion. This isn't what many would have foreseen for the former MTV star turned into WWE champion, but he did his part well.
Though Cody had the distinction of getting as many as five eliminations, Miz managed two eliminations but also survived just a bit longer with his wily instincts. He also got plenty of stories through the rumble; from his initial elimination of former partners Alex Riley and R-Truth to his own elimination at the hands of former partner The Big Show.
This would be the slow burn towards the Miz becoming the most must see superstar in WWE.
Eliminated by The Big Show
#11 The year of The Bulldog
In 1992 it may have seemed that WWE was ill-prepared for the future, hence the debacle that was the dark ages and the subsequent New Generation forcing the company to look beyond hulked up (read: steroid users) behemoths to lead the company.
Yet, to be honest, the WWE was actually trying and in 1992 there was a clear sign for a change of guard. Like his New Generation compatriots, the British Bulldog was primed to rule the future of the company. Unlike his New Generation compatriots, the British Bulldog could neither keep clean nor sober long enough for his push to materialize into anything concrete.
1992 really seemed like the Bulldog's year. WWE looked to Bret Hart to be elevated up the card. They transferred his Intercontinental Championship to British Bulldog at Summerslam in 1992, in the Bulldog's home country of England.
All of this was foreshadowed at the Rumble, wherein the number one position the Bulldog gave a grand showing by eliminating three superstars in quick succession before being dumped by eventual winner Ric Flair.
It was a sign that Bulldog was the future for WWE if only he'd held up his end of the bargain.
Eliminated by Ric Flair
Up Next: The finalists that just about made it, the men who entered last and left an impact but just couldn't hang on a second longer
Royal Rumble 2018: Ranking all Final Rumble Entrants (Part 2)
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