5 of the best #1 v. #2 entrants in Royal Rumble history

When the calendar turns to January, the action in the WWE starts to heat up as the Road To WrestleMania officially kicks off with the Royal Rumble. With the exception of the first Rumble in 1988 and the 40-man Rumble in 2011.

The Royal Rumble Match was a creation from the brilliant mind of the first-ever WWE Intercontinental Champion, Pat Patterson. There was a special on the USA Network in 1988 and Vince McMahon wanted a unique match type for the show and the rest was history.

Since 1993, the winner of the Royal Rumble match was granted a WWE Championship opportunity at the biggest stage of them all, WrestleMania. In those 22 chances, the record of the Royal Rumble winner is 13-9 after Randy Orton successfully won the WWE Championship last year.

As any wrestling fan knows, the Royal Rumble Match starts with two competitors and then another one enters the match roughly every two minutes. Over the course of this match, some very interesting pairings were drawn for entrants #1 and #2.

This article is going to take a look at five of those who were unlucky (or in most of these cases lucky) to draw one of the first two numbers. Each of these five pairings has an interesting story to tell, and let's take a look at the first one below!

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#5 Triple H & Rey Mysterio (2006)

There were many close calls in the 2006 Royal Rumble for Triple H & Rey Mysterio...

In terms of performance, there may not be a better #1 / #2 combination than Triple H and Rey Mysterio in 2006. They are the only pair to kick off the Royal Rumble Match to BOTH last an hour.

Considering only six men have lasted over an hour in Royal Rumble history, what Triple H and Rey did in this match is truly astonishing. Though both lasted over 60 minutes, they weren't the last two standing.

Triple H was the 28th participant to be thrown over the top rope by Mysterio; which left Rey with "The Viper" Randy Orton as the final two.

The 62:12 mark by Mysterio broke the previous record of 61:31 by Chris Benoit in 2004, a record that still stands today.

#4 Stone Cold Steve Austin & Mr. McMahon (1999)

One of the greatest feuds in WWE history kicked of the 1999 Royal Rumble Match

The tagline for the 1999 Royal Rumble was "No Chance In Hell," coincidentally enough the title of Mr. McMahon's entrance music. The reason for the tagline was that there would be no chance in hell that Stone Cold Steve Austin would win the Royal Rumble and main event WrestleMania.

At this point, the feud between Austin and McMahon reached astronomical proportions, and the heat continued on this night as Vince made Austin come into the Rumble at #1, and as an insurance policy, Vince would be #2.

In the end, Austin and McMahon were the final two in the match, after everything The Corporation threw at Stone Cold. It was the last trick up Vince's sleeve that did Austin in as The Rock (who defended his WWE Championship earlier in the night against Mankind) taunted Austin; which enabled Vince to come up from behind and eliminate Stone Cold.

It was a shocking moment in Rumble history when Vince won, but Austin got his revenge at St. Valentine's Day Massacre when he faced Vince inside of a steel cage; which he would win and face The Rock in the classic WrestleMania XV match.

#3 CM Punk & Seth Rollins (2014)

CM Punk and Seth Rollins were a dream pairing to kickoff the 2014 Royal Rumble Match...

CM Punk and Seth Rollins made a name for themselves in Ring Of Honor before coming to the WWE, but they just missed each other as Punk left in 2006 and Rollins (as Tyler Black) debuted in 2007.

The internet nearly broke at the 2014 Royal Rumble when Punk and Rollins were the first two in the match, and they did not disappoint. They would delight the crowd with a fast and furious flurry of moves. Poor Damien Sandow tried to interrupt at #3 and got tossed over the top rope for his troubles after a couple of minutes.

Both men had a tremendous showing as they each lasted nearly 50 minutes. Roman Reigns would throw out his "brother" in The Shield for the 25th elimination; while Kane took out Punk for the 27th elimination. The match would be eventually won by a returning Batista.

#2 Shawn Michaels & The British Bulldog (1995)

Shawn Michaels and The British Bulldog put on a show at the 1995 Royal Rumble...

The Royal Rumble Match in 1995 might have kickstarted a shift in Vince McMahon's thinking of who could be a main eventer. In the 1980's and early 1990's, the top guy was mostly bigger men like Hulk Hogan, but after the show, Shawn Michaels and The British Bulldog put on in the Rumble match, it opened the door for guys like Michaels and Bret Hart to become WWE Champion.

Not only was it the first time that the #1 and #2 entrants of the Royal Rumble were the final two participants, it was also the first time that someone won the Rumble from the #1 spot.

The British Bulldog threw HBK over the top rope and turned around to celebrate as if he won the Rumble, but Michaels would perform his famous "skin the cat" move pulling himself back into the ring and eliminating Bulldog in the process.

#1 The Undertaker & Shawn Michaels (2008)

The start of the 2008 Royal Rumble was a precursor to one of the greatest matches of all-time...

HBK makes another appearance on this list 13 years after winning the Rumble from the #1 spot, Michaels would enter the match at #2. The man who entered first, none other than The Undertaker.

There were many reasons why the first two entrants of the 2008 Royal Rumble was special. These two legends had not feuded in the WWE since the iconic Hell In A Cell Match in 1997, so the fact that they were going one-on-one to kick off the Rumble match, it was special.

The other reason is that this was the moment that started the road to one of the greatest matches of all-time. After over a half an hour in the match, Michaels would eliminate The Undertaker.

Fast forward a year to 2009, and Michaels believed in his mind he could be the first person to defeat The Undertaker at WrestleMania. He defeated JBL for the right to face Taker, and the rest was history at WrestleMania XXV.