5 Best No. 17 Entries in the Royal Rumble

A big part of the Royal Rumble is made up of time, with competitors often having to last an hour in the ring as each year's Royal Rumble match gets longer and longer. While early Royal Rumbles could finish within a 30-minute time frame, these days the Royal Rumble generally lasts over an hour. Despite only having 20 competitors, Jim Duggan's win in 1988 wasn't the shortest time in the Royal Rumble for a winner. Nor does it belong to one of the competitors who won it from the number 30 spot. The shortest ring time for the winner belongs to Edge who came in at entry 29 and won the Royal Rumble within 7 minutes and 37 seconds.

On the other end of the scale, Rey Mysterio had to battle for 1 hour, 2 minutes and 12 seconds in order to win the 2006 Royal Rumble. Mysterio holds the record for the longest participation in the Royal Rumble. He beat the record set by Chris Benoit 2 years earlier when he won the 2004 Royal Rumble with a time of 1 hour, 1 minute and 31 seconds. They are 2 wrestlers of only 6 that have managed to pass the hour mark in the Royal Rumble. The others are Ric Flair, Chris Jericho, Triple H, and Bob Backlund. While six wrestlers have crossed the hour barrier, only Rey, Benoit and Flair have crossed the hour mark and won the Royal Rumble.

You can see the other entries in this series below:

Part 1 is here; Part 6 is here; Part 11 is here; Part 16 is here

Part 2 is here; Part 7 is here; Part 12 is here

Part 3 is here; Part 8 is here; Part 13 is here

Part 4 is here; Part 9 is here; Part 14 is here

Part 5 is here; Part 10 is here; Part 15 is here

#5 Owen Hart (1996) - Eliminated 21st - 2 Eliminations

Owen Hart trying to eliminate a superstar in the 1996 Royal Rumble

Owen Hart was a great wrestler of his time, his career would have been more prominent had he not have been overshadowed by his brother Bret's excellent in-ring career. In the 1996 Royal Rumble, Owen Hart came in as the 17th entrant to the Royal Rumble and lasted 20 minutes and 43 seconds, coming in one entry before the eventual winner Shawn Michaels.

Owen would eliminate Hakushi on his way into the final 10 before being eliminated by Shawn Michaels and Diesel. The rest of Owen Hart's 1996 was inconsequential, spending the first half as a part of Camp Cornette, but in the second half, he worked as a tag team with the British Bulldog to win the WWF Tag Team Champion.

Unfortunately, Harts promising career would be cut short after falling to his death at the WWF's Over the Edge Pay-Per-View a few years later.

#4 The Artist Formerly Known As Goldust (1998) - Eliminated 23rd - 2 Eliminations

The Artist Formerly Known as Goldust battling against Mankind at the 1998 Royal Rumble

One of the weirdest wrestlers to step foot in the WWF/WWE, Goldust, went through a variety of different forms of the unusual gimmick. Goldust, the son of the legend Dusty Rhodes, is an underrated wrestler that has usually been used as a bizarre comedic role for the majority of his career with the WWF.

Goldust has had a long career with the WWF, which hasn't been so fruitful in terms of title has put him in the second in the record for most Royal Rumbles participated in, behind Kane. Over the 13 Royal Rumbles that Goldust has participated in, he has never topped his performance at the 1988 Royal Rumble.

Coming in at the 17th entry, Goldust was in the midst of his run as the Artist Formerly Known as Goldust. He managed to eliminate Mankind and Vader before being eliminated by Chainz finishing 7th.

#3 Braun Strowman (2016) - Eliminated 20th - 5 Eliminations

Braun Strowman takes down Sami Zayn in the 2016 Royal Rumble with a stiff clothesline

Since debuting with the Wyatt family back in 2015, Braun Strowman has not had a bad Royal Rumble. Over the two Royal Rumbles that Strowman has competed in, he has eliminated a total of 13 competitors, 5 in 2016 and 7 in 2017. Strowman missed the 2018 Royal Rumble due to his involvement in the Universal title match against Brock Lesnar and Kane.

During the 2016 Royal Rumble, Strowman came in as the 17th entrant and lasted 18 minutes and 1 second, eliminating Kane, Big Show, Mark Henry, and Sami Zayn before he was eliminated by Brock Lesnar. Strowman would come back with his fellow Wyatt family members to take revenge and eliminate Brock Lesnar.

Braun Strowman would win the Greatest Royal Rumble in Saudi Arabia, eliminating 13 people on his way to victory.

#2 Dino Bravo (1988) - Eliminated 18th - 2 Eliminations

After making it into the final three with 'Hacksaw' Jim Duggan and the One Man Gang, Dino Bravo would have felt like he was in with a good chance at winning the inaugural Royal Rumble in 1988. Bravo and the One Man Gang were working together to pick off the various entrants of the Rumble and were eying off Duggan as their last victim.

Earlier in the night, Bravo had been featured in a segment earlier in the night which saw him bench press 715 pounds, a record at the time. However, when it came to the Royal Rumble, Bravo entered as the 17th entrant and eliminated The Ultimate Warrior and Don Muraco with the assistance of the One Man Gang. The two looked to set up Jim Duggan for elimination before Duggan was able to dodge out of the way making One Man Gang's clothesline, that was intended for Duggan, hit Bravo and sent him over the ropes.

This left the One Man Gang to fend for himself against Duggan in the last two of the first ever Royal Rumble.

#1 Sheamus (2014) - Eliminated 28th - 1 Elimination

Sheamus made his return from injury at the 2014 Royal Rumble

After a stellar 2011-2012 for Sheamus, his 2013 was unfortunately blighted by injuries. During the Money in the Bank ladder match, Sheamus suffered from a hematoma forcing him to miss time. After returning from the injury he would lose to the World Heavyweight Champion, Alberto Del Rio, in a non-title match. Sheamus would then suffer a torn labrum in August and would be forced to sit on the sideline for 4-6 months.

In the 2014 Royal Rumble, Sheamus made a surprise return from injury. His return was greeted by a large cheer from the fans. Sheamus would last just under half an hour at 28 minutes and 22 seconds and eliminated Big E Langston. Sheamus would make it to the final three with Roman Reigns and Batista, before being eliminated by Roman Reigns.