Ranking the top 5 WWE Championship matches in Royal Rumble history

The Royal Rumble speaks for itself. It is the first stop on the road to WrestleMania, providing us viewers with an exciting hour of pure madness filled with memorable moments and nail-biting finishes.

It is the most exciting match of the year and is the evident selling point of its own event. However, Royal Rumble as an event has grown bigger and bigger over the years, becoming a staple in the WWE's calendar as one of the Big Four pay-per-views.

The undercard also plays a big role in the success of an event, along with the added importance of the 30-man, once 40-man, match in the main event. Even though a second Royal Rumble match, this one for the women, has been introduced to the event, the title matches are still pretty important.

Sometimes, WWE may opt to have a placeholder challenger for the world title at the Royal Rumble, so that the bigger stars can enter the Rumble. But there have been many instances where the WWE Championship match has stolen the show at the Royal Rumble.

On a few rare occassions, it has overshadowed the Rumble match as a whole. The annual 30-man match has been bumped down to the semi-main event spot quite a few times, to accommodate for a huge championship match in the main event. With these five matches, it has not been the case.

They have all carried out their role perfectly, giving fans an excellent match right before the hour-long parade of shocks and surprises. In one case, however, the WWE title match was the main event and served all purposes involved. Here are the five greatest WWE Championship matches in WWE Royal Rumble history.

But first, here are a couple of stellar honourable mentions.

• Shawn Michaels vs The Undertaker - Casket Match (1998)
• John Cena vs Umaga - Last Man Standing Match (2007)

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#5 Brock Lesnar vs John Cena vs Seth Rollins (2015)

This was a star-making performance from Seth Rollins

The 2015 Royal Rumble match was pretty terrible, as was most of the show. The one saving grace was the triple threat match between Brock Lesnar, John Cena and Seth Rollins for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. This almost did not happen as well, with the original match being Cena vs Lesnar.

The inclusion of Rollins made this match good and exciting. There would not have been much doubt about the Beast retaining his title and marching into WrestleMania 31 as the champion, but Rollins and his Money in the Bank briefcase made for an intriguing dynamic.

The match was incredible, as all three wrestlers flourished. Rollins and Cena did most of the work, while Lesnar applied a certain amount of blockbuster worth on it. It quickly became a must-see match, as Seth Rollins stole the show.

He showed off his incredible moveset on both megastars, even sending Lesnar through the announce table with an elbow drop and kayfabe breaking his ribs.

The Beast would ultimately prevail, but not before an epic nail-biting sequence involving all three men. This saved the pay-per-view from being a total disaster from top to bottom.

#4 Kurt Angle vs Chris Benoit (2003)

This was a classic championship match

The Ruthless Aggression Era was famous for creating many new stars in the WWE, with 2002 Smackdown being the perfect example of that. The infamous 'Smackdown Six' were all destined for greatness in the business, with most of them achieving just what they were touted to achieve.

Two of them faced off for the WWE Championship at Royal Rumble 2003. Former rivals and tag team partners, Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit went head-to-head in an unbelievable match. Angle was the champion heading in and it looked like another day in the office for the Olympic Gold Medalist. But it would be much, much more than that.

This match was a technical wrestling masterclass, with both men showcasing just how good they were. Angle and Benoit were two of the very best on the roster, proving it in the most thrilling way possible. There was a flurry of German suplexes, Angle slams, diving headbutts and loads of traded submissions.

Finally, it was Angle who prevailed after he locked in the Ankle Lock and held on for over a minute before Benoit finally tapped out. After twenty excellent minutes, the match was over. Chris Benoit got a standing ovation, one that was richly earned for the incredible fight he put up.

#3 AJ Styles vs John Cena (2017)

This was arguably one of Cena's last good matches

John Cena in recent times has been a frustrating figure, hardly taking things seriously and goofing around to a point where it may become damaging for certain full-time wrestlers. While this past week has been an improvement, it has been around two years since Cena made much of a positive contribution to the overall storytelling of the product.

That came at the start of 2017 when he was set to challenge AJ Styles for the WWE Championship. The then-fifteen time world champion had a lot to prove, such as winning his 16th title and to avenging his groundbreakingly clean defeat to Styles at SummerSlam.

This match was story driven, but it involved two of the best performers in the company. A motivated Cena is still one of the best there is, while AJ Styles is quite simply phenomenal. They had a match similar to the one at SummerSlam, but with the drama of the WWE title being involved as well.

It was excellent and gripped all the fans from start to finish, a real symbol of how excellent Smackdown Live was from the start of the second brand split to WrestleMania 33.

Cena won the match in dramatic fashion, hitting two consecutive Attitude Adjustments to pick up the pinfall victory and tying with Ric Flair's record of sixteen world championships. These stole the show at the Alamodome.

#2 Royal Rumble Match (1992)

With a tear in my eye...

Speaking of Ric Flair, the Nature Boy stole the entire show at the 1992 Royal Rumble. After the controversy surrounding The Undertaker and Hulk Hogan, the WWF Championship was held vacant and would be up for grabs in the Royal Rumble match.

This was the first time ever that there were stakes to a Rumble match and a year before the WrestleMania championship match would start to be awarded to the winner. There may not have been a more star-studded Rumble than this one. From entrant number 3 Ric Flair to the larger than life stars entering later on, all the stars were out.

A couple of feuds were incorporated in this match, with Randy Savage involved in a bitter and personal feud with Jake Roberts and the ongoing issue between Hogan and Undertaker. It all came down to the scrappy Nature Boy who stuck around till the end and a pair of babyface powerhouses in Hogan and Sid Justice.

The Hulkster would get thrown out by Sid and assist Flair in picking up the shocking final elimination, as he went on to lift his first WWF title. This match and victory was enhanced by the ever-passionate and consistently brilliant Bobby Heenan on commentary. With a tear in his eye, this was one of the greatest moments of Ric Flair's life.

#1 Triple H vs Cactus Jack - Street Fight (2000)

This match made the Game

There have been many great WWE Championship matches at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view, but none of them was as good as the ultra-violent Street Fight between Triple H and Mick Foley. Under the Cactus Jack persona, Foley channelled his violent and extreme self for this match against the Game.

Triple H had been doing great as a fresh main eventer but was yet to receive any run of a high profile nature. That came here, at Madison Square Garden, in the craziest way possible. Triple H and Cactus Jack went into war.

It was brutal and tons of weapons were involved, it was not one for the faint of heart. Steel chairs, barbed wire two-by-fours and thumbtacks were all in use, as both Hunter and Foley tried to kill each other. We even got a run-in from The Rock. However, the winner of the match was Triple H. He pinned Foley after a painful to watch Pedigree onto the thumbtacks.

This match and performance turned the Game from a boy to a man. This made his career. This was every bit as violent, brutal and exciting as one would want from a WWF Championship street fight in the Attitude Era. It was top notch.