'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
The Road To WrestleMania is officially underway and we know which title the Royal Rumble winner, Shinsuke Nakamura, will go after in New Orleans. He will compete for the WWE Championship against either AJ Styles, Kevin Owens or Sami Zayn.
As always, the Royal Rumble Match had surprises such as The Hurricane and Rey Mysterio to go along with NXT cameos from Andrade Cien Almas and Adam Cole. Another surprise was this turned out to be one of the best Rumble matches in a decade. The action and pacing were great, and it ended with a classic final four showdown.
As you know, with the Royal Rumble Match, it's all about the numbers. After the 2018 match, a total of 930 WWE superstars have set foot with the hopes of winning this prestigious event. This article will look at seven key numbers associated with last Sunday's Royal Rumble Match.
Continue on to see the anti-ironman of the 2018 Royal Rumble Match
2 or 20 - the shortest time spent in the 2018 Royal Rumble Match is up for debate
In a way, Sheamus was a surprising entrant of this year's Royal Rumble Match because of the WWE Raw Tag Team Championship match between Seth Rollins and Jason Jordan vs The Bar hadn't happened yet. The good news is Sheamus remained fresh for that tag title match because he ended up with the shortest time spent in the ring.
One of the more hilarious moments of the match was Heath Slater being the doormat for every new entry. He was entrant #5 when the eliminated Baron Corbin attacked him. He'd try to crawl down to the ring, but everyone that came out after attacked him.
Sheamus came in at #11 and threw Slater in the ring and to everyone's surprise, Slater woke up and eliminated Sheamus immediately with a clothesline. The official time is up for debate though as it appears the WWE is saying 2 seconds but Wikipedia lists the time in the ring as 20 seconds, either way, it was not a good showing for the Celtic Warrior, but he'd regain his gold later.
65:27 - the total length of the men's 2018 Royal Rumble Match
From when Rusev entered the Royal Rumble Match at #1 to Shinsuke Nakamura tossing Roman Reigns over the top rope to win the match, it took 65 minutes and 27 seconds. Not counting the 2011 Royal Rumble Match that had 40 competitors, this was the longest Rumble match since 2002 when Triple H threw out Kurt Angle to win.
Having a longer Royal Rumble Match may have been the catalyst to its success. There was time to tell some great stories without having to rush through the 30 competitors, and of those 30 WWE Superstars, 11 of them lasted at least 13 minutes or longer.
47 - total number of WWE world championship reigns of the 30 competitors
For many of the WWE superstars, the Royal Rumble is a chance to reach immortality for the first time in their WWE career. For 11 of those WWE superstars, the Rumble was a chance to get back on top of the mountain.
There were 11 former world champions within the WWE in the Rumble match who have a combined 47 championship reigns. Leading the way is John Cena with 16, Randy Orton with 13, then it drops down to 4 reigns by Sheamus.
Shinsuke Nakamura will look to capture his first WWE Championship of his storied career when he takes on either AJ Styles, Kevin Owens or Sami Zayn at WrestleMania.
2 - the number of NXT stars who entered the Royal Rumble Match
If you are a pro wrestling fan, then you know that NXT has become a juggernaut over the past few years. It's been home to the rise of several homegrown talents, but it was also the WWE start for many of the best in the indies. That mix has made NXT a brand that stands out on its own and gets bigger and better each year.
NXT's importance was shown in both the men's and women's Royal Rumble Matches as each had two NXT competitors become entrants. For the men, it was the first time more than one NXT Superstar was in the Rumble match when Andrade Cien Almas came in at #7 and Adam Cole came in at #23.
After having one of the greatest matches in NXT history at Takeover, Almas impressed the following night when he lasted nearly 30 minutes and ranked 5th among the entrants for the most time spent in the Rumble.
4 - a surprisingly low number for most eliminations
Most Royal Rumbles will have that one person who dominates the match and cleans house. On average the person with the most eliminations typically ends up with around six, but this year it was only four when Roman Reigns and Finn Balor tossed out the most WWE Superstars in the 2018 Royal Rumble Match.
Last year, Braun Strowman cleaned house and ended up with seven eliminations, and in 2014, Reigns broke Kane's long-standing record of most eliminations in one Rumble when he had 12.
This year, the eliminations were really spread out. A total of eight WWE Superstars had more than one elimination, and another eight had exactly one elimination.
57:38 - a first-time Rumble competitor is the 2018 ironman
When it came to performing in his first Royal Rumble Match, Finn Balor didn't disappoint. He would draw #2 and make it all the way to the final four before John Cena eliminated him.
Balor nearly lasted an hour to become the 'Ironman' of the 2018 Royal Rumble logging in a time of 57:38 minutes. It was truly an impressive first Rumble for Balor as that time ranks him the 8th all-time for the longest appearance in a single Rumble match behind Roman Reigns and the six men who have lasted over an hour in the match.
2017 was an up and down year for Balor, and hopefully, this great performance in the Rumble will get 2018 a kickstart for the leader of Balor Club.
14 - the first man to win the Royal Rumble from this entry
Just like Balor, it was the first Royal Rumble Match in the storied career of Shinsuke Nakamura. A career that began in Japan over 15 years ago.
As the entrant numbers were getting into the teens this year, Michael Cole made the point that very few people have won the Royal Rumble Match from positions 13 to 19. Maybe, he was giving us a spoiler and we didn't know it.
Not only did Nakamura become only the fifth WWE Superstar to win from the teens (Jim Duggan, Shawn Michaels, Roman Reigns, and John Cena), he became the first person to ever win from entrant #14.
Send us news tips at [email protected]
