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If there is an event every year that every wrestling fan is excited for, it's the Royal Rumble. WWE announcers like to describe the Royal Rumble match as the most exciting bout every year and it can very well be.
However, more often than not, there are other matches on the card that ended up being more exhilarating than the 30 man match and these are usually the WWE Championship matches. While we have seen some classic WWE World Heavyweight and Intercontinental Championship matches at the Rumble through the years, those contesting for the WWE title always seem to put in that extra bit of effort in competing with the mighty Rumble.
There have been countless times where this has happened and now I will look at the top 5.
#5 AJ Styles vs John Cena - 2017
Going into this match everyone knew it was going to be good, but I don't think anyone expected it to be arguably the best match of 2017. AJ and John had clashed on two previous Pay-Per-Views in 2016 at Money in The Bank and SummerSlam, with both being two of the best matches of the year and the latter being the overall best match of the year in the minds of many.
So, could they pull it off for the 3rd time? Fans were surprisingly indifferent to many thinking that the two had gotten the best out of each other at SummerSlam. With AJ Styles being a modern day Shawn Michaels and long gone the days where John Cena had been heavily criticized for his lack of selling and ability to hold his own in the making of a fantastic match, these two proved for a 3rd Pay-Per-View match that they could easily steal not just the entire show but maybe the entire year. This would also be not only the first one-on-one match between the two that John would come out on top of but would also secure is record 16 World Championships, tying with the Nature Boy Ric Flair.
#4 John Cena vs Seth Rollins vs Brock Lesnar - 2015
Fans were very interested in how this match would play out following its announcement. Much like the Brock Lesnar of 2017, the Brock Lesnar of 2014 won many of his matches that either just lasted for 10 minutes or were just complete squashes, with the most notable one being his shockingly dominant WWE Championship win over John Cena at SummerSlam that year.
This bout was going to be much different, however, as it also featured the WWE MVP of 2014, Seth Rollins. "The Architect" was the company's hottest performer having matches that ranged from very good to excellent on a weekly basis and this night would be no different, in fact, not just Seth but Lesnar and Cena deserved many props for making this one of the best matches if not the best match of 2015.
The action was at times breathtaking with a fantastic combination of speed and strength throughout and most notably, featured a tremendous dive from Rollins off the top rope through the Spanish announce table. And how can we forget the incredible comeback from the Beast Incarnate to pull off an improbable win.
#3 Triple H vs Cactus Jack - 2000
Triple H and Mick Foley were having the best feud in all of wrestling at the beginning of the millennium, and that is really saying something considering this was 2000 WWF with both WCW and ECW still being active.
The Game and the Hardcore Legend were having some of the best back and forth verbal thrashings on television and the tag team matches between them also delivered but the Royal Rumble would bring a huge test as the match was announced as a Mick Foley speciality -- a 'Street Fight'.
Triple H was still pretty new to the main event scene by this point and Mick Foley was going to have a lot to live up too after having an incredible WWE Championship 'I Quit' match with The Rock at the previous Rumble event. And he may just have done it in brutal fashion.
Foley decided to go one step further with this match by bringing Cactus Jack, his craziest persona yet. WWE had become pretty hardcore in recent years embracing violence now more than ever and in this match, it certainly showed.
Triple H and the hardcore legend threw everything at each other but the kitchen sinks as the match featured everything from thumbtacks to a barbed wired bat to a handcuffed Cactus Jack, the violence came in drones here and is remembered as one of the best matches of both men's careers.
As Foley was close to his retirement, the right call was made for Triple H to go over in this one.
#2 The Rock vs Mankind - 1999
If there was one match in the PPV's history that could top the incredible violence of the Triple H vs Cactus Jack 'Street Fight', it has to be the barbaric 'I Quit' match between Mick Foley and the Rock.
The clash is easily the most visually dangerous match in WWE history, outside the Hell in A Cell structure. Not even a botched spot of going through the Spanish announce table could hinder this from being a spectacular showdown between two of the greatest of all time. Mankind got electrocuted!
The match lasted just over 20 minutes, ending after Foley took eleven unprotected chair shots to the head while his hands were handcuffed and was knocked unconscious in the process. The Rock had played a tape of Foley saying "I quit" over the PA System to secure the win.
#1 Kurt Angle vs Chris Benoit - 2003
Much like the John Cena vs AJ Styles match from the 2017 Royal Rumble event, this match is separated from the others on this list for its lack of brutality, and that is because it was unnecessary in making his one of the best wrestling matches of all time.
When it was first announced, many fans expected the match it to be very good, after all, Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit had been feuding on and off for 2 years and always delivered in the ring. That night, the fans cared more about Scott Steiner's return in his WWE title match against Triple H than Angle vs Benoit.
However,By the time the event was over, absolutely no one cared about the Steiner/Triple H match and all props came towards the Pittsburgh native and the Rabid Wolverine. A match that was completely different to their previous encounters, the two men pulled out enough suplexes to make Brock Lesnar blush and more than a dozen reversals of each other's key submission moves into a version of their own.
At one point, Benoit gave his trademark diving headbutt to Angle as he lay well more than halfway on the other side of the ring. A defeated Benoit was given a rousing standing ovation from the Boston fans and the match would win several Match of The Year Awards from various websites and magazines.
