5 Best No. 21 Entries in the Royal Rumble match

10... 9... 8... 7... 6... 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... Siren!

It's a feeling all wrestling fans know, the countdown towards the next Royal Rumble entrant. We have now entered the final 10 days towards the 2019 Royal Rumble. One of the biggest drawcards of the Rumble is the random nature of the match itself. While wrestlers will announce themselves as competitors, a few spots are left open every Royal Rumble for surprise legendary returns from years gone by or, more recently, from NXT superstars who are yet to appear on the main roster.

In the past few years, legendary appearances from wrestlers like Rey Mysterio and The Hurricane in the 2018 Royal Rumble, or Bubba Ray Dudley, The Boogeyman and Diamond Dallas Page turning up as surprise entrants for the 2015 Royal Rumble. While NXT Superstars, like Andrade 'Cien Almas, Adam Cole, Tye Dillinger, Sami Zayn, and Bo Dallas have made excellent impacts when featured in the Royal Rumble match despite being with NXT at the time.

The 2018 women's Royal Rumble also filled their field with great legends like Lita, Trish Stratus, Molly Holly, Jacqueline, Kelly Kelly, Michelle McCool, Torrie Wilson, Vickie Guerrero, Beth Phoenix, and Brie Bella making their in-ring returns since leaving the company. The first ever all-female Royal Rumble also contained two NXT call-ups in Ember Moon and Kairi Sane, with Sane's call up being late after Alicia Fox was injured.

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 17 is here

Part 3 is here; Part 8 is here; Part 13 is here; Part 18 is here

Part 4 is here; Part 9 is here; Part 14 is here; Part 19 is here

Part 5 is here; Part 10 is here; Part 15 is here; Part 20 is here

#5 Mark Henry (1998) - Eliminated 25th - 2 Eliminations

Mark Henry

Despite his size and strength, Mark Henry has been underwhelming in the Royal Rumble match. An annual target of the commentator's curse wondering how the big man will be eliminated. Henry achieved his best result in the 1998 Royal Rumble, by making it to the final five for the first time.

Mark Henry would last 19 minutes and 7 seconds and would eliminate Ahmed Johnson and Phineas I Godwinn before he was taken out by Nation of Domination co-faction member, Faarooq. Henry had joined the stable only a few weeks before the Royal Rumble event, turning on his former tag team partner, Ken Shamrock, in a tag team match against D'Lo Brown and the Rock.

In the month following the event, Henry and D'Lo Brown would back the Rock in overthrowing Faarooq as the leader of the stable.

#4 The Ultimate Warrior (1990) - Eliminated 25th - 6 Eliminations

The Ultimate Warrior in the mix of the 1990 Royal Rumble

Prior to the biggest match of the Ultimate Warrior's career at Wrestlemania VI against Hulk Hogan for the WWF Championship, the Warrior participated in the 1990 Royal Rumble match. It was at the event that it was announced that Warrior would face Hogan in a match to unify the Warrior's Intercontinental title and Hogan's WWF title.

During the Royal Rumble, the Ultimate Warrior would enter as the 25th entry, sprinting to the ring in his trademark high energy fashion. The Warrior would wrestle for 14 minutes and 29 seconds, and eliminate 6 competitors before he was eliminated by The Barbarian, Rick Rude and eventual winner Hulk Hogan. During the Royal Rumble, Warrior would eliminate Dino Bravo, Jim Neidhart, Ted DiBiase, Tito Santana, Shawn Michaels, and Rick Martel before he was eliminated.

The Ultimate Warrior was hitting the height of his popularity at the time, and his match with Hulk Hogan at that years Wrestlemania would elevate him to be the face of the WWF at the time.

#3 Randy Savage (1992) - Eliminated 27th - 2 Eliminations

Randy Savage tried to choke out Jake Roberts during the 1992 Royal Rumble

At the 1992 Royal Rumble, Randy Savage had just come off a personal feud against Jake 'The Snake' Roberts. Roberts had ruined the Macho Man's wedding to long-time valet and real-life girlfriend Miss Elizabeth by attacking them during the wedding and would tie Savage to the ring ropes and would have his snake bite him.

Savage, who was initially retired at the time started a campaign to reinstate him as an active wrestler in December 1991. Savage would defeat Roberts at the This Tuesday In Texas PPV.

During the 1992 Royal Rumble, Savage came in as the number 21 entry and would eliminate his former rival, Roberts, and Iraqi sympathizer Col Mustafa. Savage would last in the Royal Rumble until the last four, alongside former Mega Powers tag team partner Hulk Hogan, Sid Vicious, and eventual winner Ric Flair. Savage would later be eliminated when Sid and Flair worked together to eliminate him.

#2 Bray Wyatt (2017) - Eliminated 28th - 0 Eliminations

Bray Wyatt being eliminated from the 2017 Royal Rumble by Roman Reigns

In a similar fashion to 2009 Royal Rumble, Orton would win the match due to being in the ring towards the end with a stablemate. In 2009, Orton's Legacy stablemates Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase helped the Viper to his first Royal Rumble victory. In 2017, Randy Orton was in the final three with fellow Wyatt family member Bray Wyatt.

Bray Wyatt entered the 2017 Royal Rumble as the 21st entry. He was joined by a fellow member of the Wyatt family Randy Orton two entries later and a third member of the Wyatt Family, Luke Harper, came in at the 25th entry. Despite both Bray and Orton being in the Rumble at the same time, neither of them actually managed to eliminate any other competitor. While Bray Wyatt was thrown out by Roman Reigns, Orton would then pick up his first elimination by taking out Reigns to win the Royal Rumble.

Wyatt would go on to Elimination Chamber and win the WWE title from inside the Chamber itself and would face Orton for the title at Wrestlemania.

#1 Bret Hart (1997) - Eliminated 29th - 2 Eliminations

Technically, Bret Hart won the Royal Rumble in 1997 but that's not what is written in the history books. Instead, Stone Cold Steve Austin's hand was raised at the end of the match and he was declared the winner, despite the fact that he had previously been thrown over the top rope by Bret Hart and both his feet hit the ground. Neither Hart or Austin would make it to the title match at Wrestlemania, as the WWF President at the time, Gorilla Monsoon would overturn the decision.

The 1997 Royal Rumble saw former WWF Champion and 1994 Royal Rumble co-winner Bret Hart enter in as the 21st entry of the match. During the match, Hart would eliminate Jerry Lawler, Austin, and Diesel. However, as the officials were on the other side of the ring dealing with a ringside brawl between Mankind and Terry Funk. Austin would then eliminate the Undertaker and Vader before turning and tossing Bret Hart over the top rope.

As Shawn Michaels, the previous WWF Champion, vacated the title due to injury the final four from the Royal Rumble participated in a four-way elimination match at the next PPV. Hart would win the match but lost the belt to Psycho Sid on the following Raw. Instead, Hart and Austin would go on to face each other at Wrestlemania in a submission match which would go down in history.