The “official” Road To WrestleMania starts with the first pay per view of the year in the WWE Royal Rumble. There will be 30 WWE Superstars hopeful to win this match and get their title shot at WrestleMania.
The Royal Rumble match is one of the most anticipated matches of the year by the WWE Universe because of its unpredictability. This match has been used as a way to debut Superstars such as AJ Styles in 2016, and also it has been a way for Superstars to return or make cameos like Bubba Ray Dudley and Diamond Dallas Page in recent years.
In the weeks leading up to the Royal Rumble, there will be one message in particular that the announcers will remind you of constantly, “it’s all about the numbers.” This message is definitely true because when you break down the Royal Rumble match, numbers are what define the results and story.
This article will cover five key numbers that have defined the Royal Rumble match since its inception in 1988. The numbers come from different aspects of the match such as the entrant number, the length of time spent in the match, and the number of eliminations. Read on to see what these key numbers are.
#5 Most eliminations in one Royal Rumble match – 12 (Roman Reigns)
As a dominating force of The Shield, Roman Reigns took the Royal Rumble by storm in 2014. Kane’s long-standing record of 11 eliminations in a single Royal Rumble in 2001 was finally broken when Reigns tossed 12 men over the top.
In just three Royal Rumble appearances, Roman Reigns has 23 total eliminations; which comes out to just under eight per year. If he continues at that pace, he will be able to break another record that Kane holds, the career total eliminations in Royal Rumble history; which is 44, in just a few years.
With Reigns only being 31, one can imagine that it will just be a matter of time before that Rumble record is his too.
#4 Most career eliminations in Royal Rumble history – 44 (Kane)
When you look at Kane’s 19 total appearances in the Royal Rumble, it is no surprise that he would hold the record for most total eliminations of all-time. The only other active wrestler that is close to Kane’s 19 Rumble appearances is the 47-year old Goldust with 11.
Over these 19 appearances, Kane has eliminated a total 44 WWE Superstars from the Royal Rumble match. In 2001, Kane tossed 11 wrestlers over the top rope; which was a record that stood for 13 years.
While we’ll talk about him later on, Roman Reigns is really the only active WWE Superstar that has a shot at Kane’s record as he has 23 eliminations in only 3 appearances. The next active wrestler that is close to Kane is Undertaker (35 eliminations), who doesn’t wrestle much in the Rumble any longer.
#3 Longest time spent in one Royal Rumble match – 62:12 (Rey Mysterio)
In the history of the Royal Rumble, there have been five WWE Superstars that have lasted over an hour in one Royal Rumble match. Those wrestlers include Ric Flair, Triple H, Bob Backlund, Chris Benoit, and the person who holds the record for the longest ever time in one Rumble match, Rey Mysterio, who lasted an amazing 62 minutes and 12 seconds in 2006.
For being one of the smallest competitors in the WWE at the time, Rey Mysterio definitely defied the odds to win the Royal Rumble as he was the #2 entrant with Triple H being the first one to enter the match. The match came down to Triple H, Mysterio, and Randy Orton, and Rey would eliminate both to get his WrestleMania title shot.
#2 The most common entrant number to win the Royal Rumble – 27
Many will assume that drawing #30 is the lottery ticket for winning the Royal Rumble, but that position has only won three times. It is #27 that has the most Royal Rumble victories with a total of four.
The first one to win at #27 was Big John Studd, who took out Ted DiBiase to win the second ever Royal Rumble match. Four years later, the very massive Yokozuna would win from this position, eliminating Randy Savage in the end.
The very next year was an interesting one as it was the first and only time there were co-winners of the Royal Rumble when Lex Luger and Bret “The Hitman” Hart touched the floor at the exact same time. Hart was the #27 entrant of that Rumble match.
The last person to win the Royal Rumble from the #27 position was Stone Cold Steve Austin in 2001, and next, I’ll talk about this historic win.
#1 Most Royal Rumble matches won – 3 (Stone Cold Steve Austin)
The 2017 Royal Rumble will be the 30th pay-per-view event in the series. Over the past 29 Royal Rumble matches, Stone Cold Steve Austin is the only WWE Superstar with three career wins. During the height of the Attitude Era, Austin won back to back Royal Rumble matches in 1997 and 1998 and then added a third one in 2001.
Outside of Triple H (who is a part-time wrestler at the very best currently), only John Cena has a chance in 2017 to tie Austin for the most Rumble wins. Austin’s record will be safe until at least 2018 though, as Cena is going to be competing in a WWE Championship match at the Rumble.
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