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2021 is here, and that means only one thing for WWE - it's time for the Royal Rumble.
This week's episode of WWE Friday Night Smackdown was the first live show of the new year, 2021. Of course, practically everyone is more than willing to move past the events of 2020 as quickly as possible. The year of the pandemic brought a lot of changes to WWE programming, and it impacted the organization in several ways.
From cinematic matches to record-low television ratings, WWE saw both new highs and lows during 2020. Two of the biggest highlights of the past year, however, have been the emphatic rise of Drew McIntyre as the new face of the company and the emergence of Roman Reigns as the top heel in the organization
While McIntyre has been stealing the spotlight on WWE RAW, Reigns has been brilliant in his "Tribal Chief" gimmick on the blue brand. So it made perfect sense for WWE to have these stars enter the new year as their respective brands' world champions.
Later this month, the majority of the roster will be fighting in the Royal Rumble for an opportunity to main event WWE WrestleMania in a world title match. But the reigning world champions will be defending their titles on the show.
Royal Rumble always features a world title match
Excluding the first three editions, WWE Royal Rumble has always featured at least one world title match, with the world title being on the line in the namesake match itself in 1992 and 2016.
Over the last three decades, many superstars have competed in multiple world title matches at the event. Several of these matches are still regarded as some of the best matches in WWE history.
Before "The Head of the Table" and "The Scottish Psychopath" defend their titles at the end of the month, here are the 10 superstars who have been in the most World Championship matches at WWE Royal Rumble.
#5 (Tied) Shawn Michaels and Kurt Angle - 4 world title matches at WWE Royal Rumble
Both Shawn Michaels and Kurt Angle have been in four world title matches at WWE Royal Rumble.
As one of the 30 superstars vying for the vacant world title, Shawn Michaels had his first appearance as a singles superstar in 1992. Five years later, he won the WWF Championship against Sycho Sid in 1997.
He defended the title against The Undertaker in 1998 in a Casket Match, where he suffered a horrific back injury that led to his first retirement. Michaels also competed in a violent Last Man Standing match against Triple H for the World Heavyweight Championship in 2004.
Joining Michaels is his former rival, Kurt Angle. The Olympian had 3 successful defenses; Twice for the WWE Title and once for the World Heavyweight Title. He defeated Triple H and Chris Benoit in two genuine classic encounters in 2001 and 2003, and got the better of Mark Henry in 2006. Plus, Angle came up short against JBL and The Big Show in a WWE Championship Match at the show in 2005.
#4 (Tied) Edge, Big Show and AJ Styles - 4 world title matches at WWE Royal Rumble
Following Angle and Michaels are three other stars who have carved their legacies at the Royal Rumble.
Kurt Angle and Big Show not only shared the ring multiple times during their illustrious careers, but they also fought in an equal number of World Title matches at the Royal Rumble. The only difference is that, unlike Angle, Show was on the losing end in all of his four appearances.
Just like Angle, The World's Largest Athlete was also on the losing end in their Triple Threat match for WWE Title in 2005. He followed these two successive losses in 2012 and 2013 to Daniel Bryan and Alberto Del Rio respectively, both as a challenger for the World Heavyweight Championship. His last appearance was in the 2016 Royal Rumble match, where Braun Strowman overpowered the Big Man.
Edge has also wrestled in a handful of world title matches at WWE Royal Rumble. Just like Angle, "The Ultimate Opportunist" had four such matches in six years. He lost the WWE Title to John Cena in 2006, just weeks after defeating Cena for his first World Title.
He was, however, victorious in his subsequent matches. He successfully defended his World Heavyweight Title against Rey Mysterio and Dolph Ziggler in 2008 and 2011. Sandwiched between the two is his victory over WWE Champion Jeff Hardy in 2009.
AJ Styles rounds out this illustrious group, with a record that is not matched by any other person on this list. Between 2016 and 2019, Styles was either challenging or defending the WWE Championship at the show. His debut in 2016 still stands among the best in history.
In the next three years, he lost his WWE Title to John Cena in a barn burner encounter that many believe to be the best in the history of the show, he outlasted Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens in a handicap match, and failed to regain the WWE Title against Daniel Bryan.
#3 (Tied) Undertaker, Randy Orton and Brock Lesnar - 5 world title matches at WWE Royal Rumble
In the 13 years between Royal Rumble events in 1991 and 2004, no superstar was involved in more World Title matches than The Undertaker.
His maiden appearance was in the iconic 1992 Royal Rumble match, and this was followed by three more unsuccessful attempts at the WWF Title. He failed twice in the subsequent 5 years at the Royal Rumble, with losses to WWF Champions Yokozuna and Shawn Michaels in Casket matches, in 1994 and 1998 respectively.
Sandwiched between the two Casket match losses is his disqualification victory over Bret Hart in 1996, thanks to and interference from Diesel. His only legitimate victory was his successful World Heavyweight Title defense against Rey Mysterio in 2010.
Given their long history inside the ring, it feels perfect to have Brock Lesnar's name listed along with Taker. Brock's first WWE Title defense came during his first stint with the company, at the 2004 Royal Rumble, against Hardcore Holly.
His more notable matches, however, have been his acclaimed WWE Title defense against John Cena and Seth Rollins in 2015, and his incredible Universal Title defense against Finn Balor in 2019. He successfully defended the Universal Championship a year before that as well, in a gargantuan match against Braun Strowman and Kane. His only unsuccessful attempt at the World Title was at the 2016 Royal Rumble, where he was dispatched by the Wyatt Family from the Royal Rumble match.
Completing this trifecta is the only superstar who has an actual shot of being in a World Title match this year as well - Randy Orton. Orton's first appearance came way back in 2005, where he lost to World Heavyweight Champion Triple H. Since then, he has defended the WWE Title against Jeff Hardy in 2008 and lost to Sheamus and The Miz in 2010 and 2011 respectively. His last World Title match was his successful defense of the WWE World Heavyweight Title against John Cena in 2014.
#2 (Tied) Triple H - 6 world title matches at WWE Royal Rumble
Just like the World Title scene at WrestleMania, Triple H was always in the World Title scene during the Royal Rumble season between 2000 and 2005. In fact, he either challenged or defended a World Title on all but one of the shows in that period, and we all know what he achieved in 2002.
The Game's journey began way back in 2000, with his highly acclaimed WWF Title defense against Cactus Jack in a Street Fight. He followed this with a loss to Kurt Angle the very next year.
Between 2003 and 2005, he had three successive World Heavyweight Title defenses at the Royal Rumble. It started with a victory over Scott Steiner in 2003 in a rather underwhelming match, and ended with another against Randy Orton in 2005.
Between these two successful defenses lies his brutal Last Man Standing encounter against Shawn Michaels, which ended without a clear winner.
He featured in his final World Title bout at the Royal Rumble in 2016, when he made a surprise return at #30 and won the WWE World Heavyweight Title for the 14th time in his career.
#1 (Tied) John Cena - 6 world title matches at WWE Royal Rumble
Triple H had his final world title match, apart from the 2016 Royal Rumble, in 2005, and it was John Cena who took up that mantle from HHH the subsequent year.
Cena actually had some of his career-best matches at the Royal Rumble. His WWE Title victory over Edge in 2006 was bettered by his performance in the outstanding Last Man Standing match against Umaga the very next year, often ranked among the greatest matches of that particular stipulation.
He followed this with a successful World Heavyweight Title defense against JBL in 2009, and a loss to Randy Orton for the WWE World Heavyweight Title in 2014, in a match that was marred by the response from the crowd.
His best outings, however, were his final two outings that will continue to define his Royal Rumble legacy. His brutal triple threat encounter against Seth Rollins and WWE Champion Brock Lesnar in 2015 ranks among the greatest Triple Threat matches of all time.
Two years later, he wrestled arguably the best match of his entire career as he finally managed to defeat AJ Styles in a WWE Title match, claiming the prestigious World Title for a record-tying 16th time in his illustrious career.
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