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WWE's first Royal Rumble pay-per-view took place back in 1988, a response to pressure to create a number of shows a year in order to build around WrestleMania, which had only debuted earlier in the decade.
Of course, 23 years ago the rules for the match were not as well known as they are now; WWE presented a Rumble match with no WrestleMania main event as the reward for winning.
The first-ever Royal Rumble event was also the smallest, which consisted of just 20 men and saw Jim Duggan come out on top. Interestingly Duggan didn't go on to main event WrestleMania and instead was part of one of the opening matches.
This is the only thing that has changed about WWE's annual match over the past three decades.
Over the years, the rules to the Royal Rumble match have become much more well-known but that doesn't mean that WWE hasn't decided to change them several times just to keep the fans on their feet.
#5. Wrestlers can't eliminate themselves from the Royal Rumble match
Several WWE stars have eliminated themselves from the annual Royal Rumble match in recent years, but the first man to ever jump over the top rope himself was Andre The Giant back in 1989.
The WWE Hall of Famer was so afraid of Jake Roberts and his snake that he decided to take himself out of the match and head for an early shower. A few years later in 1992, Macho Man Randy Savage was able to eliminate Jake Roberts from the match and then jumped over the top rope to continue the assault on his opponent after he had been taken out of the match.
Savage was allowed to get back into the match despite stepping over the top rope and onto the floor because the commentators stated that self eliminations were not allowed.
Macho Man didn't go on to win the match or even add much more to the bout after he was allowed a reintroduction, which is strange since WWE went through a lot of trouble to ensure that he was allowed back in.
Despite this bend in the rules, several WWE stars have since been able to eliminate themselves from the annual Royal Rumble match and it's still been deemed to be within the rules.
#4. Both feet have to touch the floor in order to be eliminated from a Royal Rumble match
In recent years, Naomi and Kofi Kingston have managed to exploit this Royal Rumble rule to the point that they have only ever had one foot on the floor so that they can be reintroduced to the match.
When the Royal Rumble was still in its infancy, WWE didn't specify that both feet had to touch the floor to be eliminated from the match.
Back in the 1980s, it wasn't stated that this was the only way to be eliminated from the match which meant that several WWE stars would come out of the ring and land on their backs so they would have been able to re-enter if they could get back on their feet in an innovative way.
One example was when Don Muraco was eliminated from the match. He didn't land on the floor, instead he sat on the apron and then seemingly eliminated himself by stepping onto the floor. Technically it would have been within the rules for him to re-enter the match after landing on the apron, but instead, he opted to head to the back because he believed that he had been eliminated.
#3. Disqualifications count in the Royal Rumble match - or do they?
As part of last night's Royal Rumble match, Edge attacked Randy Orton with a steel chair and it was seemingly well within the rules of the match. Orton was taken out of the match because of the assault and later returned to continue his feud with The Rated R Superstar.
In the past, several weapons have been used in the Royal Rumble match. In another instance, Rick Rude also entered his only ever match early because Ultimate Warrior and Hulk Hogan cleared house and left the fans with nothing to watch.
Disqualifications have never been pulled up in the Royal Rumble match until 2008 when Finlay entered the match and helped Hornswoggle with his trusty shillelagh. The Irish star then exited under the bottom rope with his little friend before being disqualified from the match.
It was stated that Finlay had been disqualified for using a weapon before reports later stated that it was because he came out to the ring early, but neither of these had been seen as a reason for a disqualification in the past.
#2. There can only be one winner of a Royal Rumble, right?
Hacksaw Jim Duggan won the first-ever Royal Rumble match and it appears that from then on the rule was that only one person could win the match, until 1994.
Six years after WWE debuted the Royal Rumble match, the match was won by both Bret Hart and Lex Luger. It appears that this meant that more than one star could win the match if both sets of feet touched the floor at the same time.
Interestingly, just over a decade later, John Cena and Batista both won the 2005 Royal Rumble but dual winners were not allowed. While the referees argued it out amongst themselves, it became clear that this ending was not scripted.
The match was then restarted with Batista ultimately wining and going on to main event WrestleMania. It appears that since this ending wasn't in the script WWE decided to once again change the rules so that they could ensure that their WrestleMania plan was still able to go ahead.
#1. Wrestlers can't be eliminated by Superstars who aren't part of the Royal Rumble match
As part of last night's Royal Rumble match, Omos made his way to ringside and eliminated both Big E and Rey Mysterio in order to help AJ Styles.
While outside interference has been a major part of continuing feuds in the past, there was a time when WWE stars couldn't be eliminated from the match by wrestlers who weren't involved in it.
A prime example of this was at the 1996 Royal Rumble when Shawn Michaels eliminated Vader and the Superstar was so upset about it that he got back in the ring and bench pressed Michaels over the top rope.
It was noted that because Vader was no longer part of the match, he couldn't eliminate Shawn Michaels from the match. Of course, this was WWE covering for the error because HBK then went on to win the Royal Rumble that year.
As noted, this form of elimination has continued over the past few years and is now commonplace in the Royal Rumble match.
