Since the 1991 event, every winner (other than in 1992, 1997, 1999, and 2000) has gone on to challenge the WWE Champion or the World Heavyweight Champion at WrestleMania, but this was not made an official stipulation of the match until 1993.
And of the previous 14 eligible challengers to the champion at WrestleMania (having won the Rumble), 11 of them have gone on to capture the title in the main event. That’s 78.5%… if I were in Vegas, I’d take those odds!!
Stone Cold Steve Austin has won three Royal Rumbles (1997, 1998, 2001). No Superstar has won more.
Rey Mysterio has the longest recorded time in the Royal Rumble with 1:02:12 in 2006. The next longest-lasting entrants are Chris Benoit (1:01:30 in 2004) and Bob Backlund (1:01:10 in 1993).
In 2001, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin became the Royal Rumble winner to spend the shortest amount of time in the match at nine minutes. In 2005, Batista came in at a close second at roughly 10 minutes.
The Superstar with the shortest time in the Rumble Match is The Warlord with two seconds in 1989. In 1995, the next shortest times belonged to Mo and Owen Hart who each lasted three seconds.
Steve Austin won the 2001 Royal Rumble and won the WWE Championship at WrestleMania X-7. Since then, every Rumble winner has won a World Championship at that year’s WrestleMania.
The Royal Rumble entry number with the most wins is No. 27. Big John Studd (1989), Yokozuna (1993), Bret Hart (1994) and Steve Austin (2001) all entered with this very lucky number.
Shawn Michaels (1995) and Chris Benoit (2004) are the only two competitors to draw the No. 1 spot and win the Royal Rumble Match.
Rey Mysterio (2006) and Mr. McMahon (1999) are the only two competitors to draw the No. 2 spot and win the Royal Rumble Match.
In the Royal Rumble’s storied legacy, the Superstar to draw the No. 30 in the Rumble has never won the match.
“Stone Cold” Steve Austin holds the record for most eliminations overall, having tossed 36 Superstars over the top rope.
Kane eliminated 11 men in the 2001 Royal Rumble: Grand Master Sexay, Steve Blackman, Al Snow, Raven, Saturn, Honky Tonk Man, Tazz, Crash Holly, Albert, Scotty 2 Hotty and The Rock.
The most consecutive eliminations is seven, by Diesel in the 1994 Royal Rumble.
Three Superstars have won back-to-back Rumbles: Hulk Hogan (1990 & 1991), Shawn Michaels (1995 & 1996) and “Stone Cold” (1997 & 1998).
The 2002 Royal Rumble was the longest ever. It lasted 1 hour, 9 minutes, 23 seconds.
The 1988 Royal Rumble was the shortest ever. It lasted 33 minutes. The match had only 20 Superstars, as opposed to the usual 30.
The shortest Royal Rumble Match with 30 entrants took place in 1995. With participants entering in 60-second intervals, this match lasted a little more than 38 minutes.
In 1999, Chyna became the only woman in history to be an entrant in the Royal Rumble Match.
Rey Mysterio is the shortest Superstar to ever win the Royal Rumble. He is also the only masked wrestler to ever win this match.
The Big Red Monster Kane has the most consecutive appearances in the Rumble with eight between 1999 and 2006.
Mick Foley is the only man to appear in the same Royal Rumble Match three different times. In 1998, Foley entered as Mankind, Dude Love and Cactus Jack, and despite his enhanced odds, Foley still did not win.
There have been nine instances where Superstars eliminated themselves from Rumble competition. This includes Andre the Giant (1989), Drew Carey (2001), Kane (1999), Mick Foley (2004) and Farooq (1997).
Past Royal Rumble Winners
“Hacksaw” Jim Duggan won the inagural Royal Rumble by eliminating One Man Gang, Dino Bravo, Danny Davis, Bret Hart and Nikolai Volkoff. Duggan will live in WWE history as the first winner of the annual spectacular.
WWE Hall of Famer Big John Studd won the 1989 Royal Rumble, entering at #27 and eliminating Akeem and Ted DiBiase. This was the second annual Royal Rumble, but the first on pay-per-view.
Although he entered at #25, WWE Champion Hulk Hogan was able to eliminate four other Superstars, lastly throwing Mr. Perfect over the top. Hogan went on to face Ultimate Warrior at WrestleMania VI.
The 1991 Royal Rumble was full of memorable moments from Bushwhacker Luke’s :04 second performance, to Hulk Hogan eliminating Earthquake to claim his second victory in a row at Royal Rumble.
The winner of the 1992 Royal Rumble would claim the vacated WWE Championship, and no Superstar knew more about gold than the 16-time champion Ric Flair, who won the rumble and the title by eliminating Psycho Sid.
When the buzzer sounded and the #27 entrant to the 1993 Royal Rumble made his way out, the odds for every other Superstar went down. Yokozuna hit the ring and proceeded to eliminate seven others on his way to victory.
1994 was the year the Royal Rumble had two winners. Bret Hart and Lex Luger were declared co-winners, and both would go on to face Yokozuna at Wrestlemania X.
Shawn Michaels drew #1, and lasted to the end, when he took advantage of British Bulldog’s premature celebration and tossed Davey Boy over the top to win the 1995 Royal Rumble.
His second win in as many years, HBK entered at #18 and proceeded to elimintae 7 other Superstars, including bodyguard Diesel, on his way to a title match at WrestleMania XII agaisnt Bret Hart.
Stone Cold Steve Austin’s elimination went unnoticed, and the Rattlesnake snuck his way back in and eliminated Bret Hart to win the 1997 Royal Rumble, his first of three victories in the event.
1998 saw all three ‘faces of Foley’ participating in the same match, but Stone Cold Steve Austin, the #24 entrant, last eliminated The Rock to win the Royal Rumble.
The Royal Rumble 1999 saw the Austin – McMahon rivalry in full force. With an assist from The Rock, the #2 entrant Mr. McMahon stunned the world by winning The Royal Rumble, eliminating Stone Cold.
The Rock took part in one of the most controversial Royal Rumble’s in history. He won the 2000 event after he eliminated Big Show. Big Show would later claim he was the actual winner, but that was never reconized.
In 2001, the Texas Rattlesnake broke the record for victories by winning his third Royal Rumble. Austin threw Kane over the top to claim the victory.
After a devastating quad injury and rehabilitation that kept him out of the ring 9 months, Triple H returned and entered the Royal Rumble at #22 and eliminated Mr. Perfect and Kurt Angle to pick up the win.
Brock Lesnar elevated himself into the main event at WreslteMania by winning the 2003 Royal Rumble. Lesnar had to last eliminate Undertaker to pick up the victory and earn his title match at WrestleMania XIX.
Chris Benoit went into the ring with the #1 spot and he outlasted 29 other Superstars to win the 2004 Royal Rumble.
Batista and John Cena each withstood the vicious onslaughts of 28 other Superstars but needed a sudden death overtime period to decide the winner. Batista eliminated Cena and won the 2005 Royal Rumble.
In 2006, Rey Mysterio entered at #2 and overcame the odds, eliminating Randy Orton to win the Royal Rumble in tribute to the late Eddie Guerrero.
