The WWE Royal Rumble logo, as of 2011

The Royal Rumble is a professional wrestling pay-per-view event, produced every January by professional wrestling promotion WWE.^[1] The event was created by Pat Patterson in 1988 with the inaugural event held on January 24, 1988 at the Copps Coliseum in Hamilton, Ontario. The event, however, was not a pay-per-view but was originally shown as a television special on USA Network. The following year's event was the first Royal Rumble pay-per-view event. The first Royal Rumble match was won by Jim Duggan. The event's main feature is a take on a Battle Royal match,^[2] entitled the Royal Rumble. The pay-per-view is a part of WWE's "Big Four", along with WrestleMania, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series.^[3] The Royal Rumble has been classified as being one of WWE's most popular pay-per-view events.^[4]

History[edit]

Match[edit]

The Royal Rumble match from 2009

The Royal Rumble match is based on the classic Battle Royal match, in which a number of wrestlers aim at eliminating their competitors by tossing them over the top rope, with both feet touching the floor.^[1][2][5] The winner of the event is the last wrestler remaining after all others have been eliminated.^[1][4]

The Royal Rumble differs from the classical Battle Royal as the thirty contestants do not enter the ring at the same time but instead are "assigned" entry numbers, usually via a lottery, although they can win guaranteed, desirable spots via a number of other scripted means, the most common being winning a match. This lottery is usually staged right before the event begins.^[1] The match begins with the two wrestlers who have drawn entry numbers one and two, with the remaining 28 wrestlers entering the ring at regular timed intervals, either ninety seconds or two minutes, according to their entry number.^[1] This format is credited to Pat Patterson.^[6] To date, only two men have won the Royal Rumble match starting from the number one spot, with Shawn Michaels being the first to do this in 1995, followed by Chris Benoit in 2004.

Steve Austin holds the current record for most Royal Rumble match wins, with three.^[7]

The match has no stipulations or rules other than that elimination must occur by a participant being placed over the top rope and both feet touching the floor. A wrestler who only touches the floor with one foot is not eliminated from the match, a rule which greatly affected the 1995 match, allowing Shawn Michaels to re-enter the ring and win the match. Subsequently, a wrestler who exits the ring without going over the top rope is not eliminated from the contest. For example, during the 1999 match, both Vince McMahon and Steve Austin left the ring, only to return later in the match.^[8] In the 1994 match, the last two participants Bret Hart and Lex Luger were declared co-winners when it was decided that both of their feet touched the floor at exactly the same time.^[9] A similar situation occurred in the 2005 match, however the match was instead restarted after Batista and John Cena eliminated each other at the same time; Batista eliminated Cena afterwards to win the match.^[10] Though various referees are charged with observing the match, some eliminations have gone unnoticed to allow the eliminated participants to sneak back into the ring to continue. Steve Austin was able to win in this way during the 1997 match after re-entering following an unacknowledged elimination and eventually tossed Bret Hart, who was the last legal wrestler in the ring, over the top.^[11]

Although most eliminations are caused by active participants, eliminations caused by other means have occurred, and have been ruled legitimate, including self-eliminations (such as Kane eliminating himself in 1999 and Drew Carey eliminating himself in 2001; however 1992's Randy Savage self-elimination was ruled illegitimate and he returned to the match) and elimination from previously-eliminated participates (such as Kurt Angle eliminating Shawn Michaels in 2005). Furthermore, if an injured wrestler is taken away by medical staff, he can return to the match as long as the match is still ongoing (such as Steve Austin in 1999), but if the match ends without the injured wrestler returning, he is deemed eliminated (such as Scotty 2 Hotty in 2005).

The reward for winning the 1992 Royal Rumble was the WWF Championship.^[12] The tradition of granting a WWE Championship match at WrestleMania started in 1993.^[13] Despite being introduced in late 2002, it was not until 2004 that a winner had the option to choose a match for the World Heavyweight Championship instead of the WWE Championship at WrestleMania.^[13] With the revival of the ECW World Championship in mid-2006, the title became a third option for the winner to choose since the 2007 event.^[14] From 2001 to 2007, the Royal Rumble match winner had gone on to win a World Championship title at WrestleMania.^[7] After winning the 2008 match, John Cena became the first winner to use his championship opportunity at an event (No Way Out 2008) other than WrestleMania.^[15] He also became the first since The Rock in 2000 to win the Royal Rumble match but fail to win the title in his championship opportunity as a result.

The Royal Rumble winner may also choose to put his championship opportunity on the line in a match. This was first done in 1996, when Shawn Michaels risked his WrestleMania XII title shot in a match against Owen Hart at In Your House 6. The second time was in 1999, when Steve Austin offered to forfeit his title opportunity to the Big Boss Man, who won third place in the Rumble (Austin was actually the runner-up in that rumble, but the winner—Vince McMahon himself—had voluntarily given up his title opportunity) if Vince McMahon could beat him in a cage match at St. Valentine's Day Massacre: In Your House, which Austin would go on to win. The third time was in 2002, when Kurt Angle convinced Triple H to put his WrestleMania X8 championship spot on the line at No Way Out, a match which Angle won. However, Triple H would later defeat Angle and regain his WrestleMania championship spot. The fourth time was in 2006, when Randy Orton goaded Rey Mysterio into putting his main event spot at WrestleMania 22 on the line at No Way Out, a match which Orton won. Mysterio was eventually reinserted into the main event at WrestleMania, making it a triple threat match, and went on to win the World Heavyweight Championship. On the February 25, 2013 edition of Raw, John Cena successfully defended his WrestleMania 29 WWE Championship opportunity in a match against CM Punk.

Three non-PPV Rumble matches have taken place. The first on January 17, 1994 at Madison Square Garden when Owen Hart last eliminated Fatu. The second took place on Smackdown in 2004 when Eddie Guerrero last eliminated Kurt Angle to face Brock Lesnar at No Way Out for the WWE Championship. The third took place on Raw when Jerry Lawler defeated John Cena, Sheamus, CM Punk, Randy Orton, R-Truth and John Morrison to face The Miz at Elimination Chamber for the WWE Championship. The six who were eliminated participated in an Elimination Chamber match to face the WWE Champion at WrestleMania XXVII.

Event[edit]

The Royal Rumble is a pay-per-view consisting of the Royal Rumble match, championship matches, and various other matches. The first Royal Rumble took place on January 24, 1988 and was broadcast live on the USA Network.^[16] The following year, the event was rebranded as a pay-per-view.^[17] It is part of WWE's "classic four" pay-per-views, along with WrestleMania, Survivor Series, and SummerSlam.^[18]

The Royal Rumble match is usually located at the top of the card, though there have been exceptions such as the 1996, 1997, 1998, 2006, and 2013 events.^[19] Due to the Rumble match taking up a large amount of time (most Rumble matches last roughly one hour), the Rumble event tends to have a smaller card than most other pay-per-view events, which routinely have six to eight matches per card.

The first Rumble match featured only twenty men,^[20] and it was called the Rumble Royale.^[16] It lasted approximately thirty-three minutes of the two-hour broadcast.^[7] The modern Rumble matches are much longer, with the longest match, at the 2002 event, lasting over one hour and nine minutes of an approximately three-hour pay-per-view.^[7]

With the brand extension introduced in mid-2002, the 30 entrants from 2003 to 2006 consisted of 15 wrestlers from both the Raw and SmackDown brands. At first, the winner of the match received a shot at their brand's champion.^[21] Starting in 2004, the Rumble winner had the option of challenging any brand's champion.^[13] For instance, Chris Benoit switched brands in 2004 and won the World Heavyweight Championship.^[13] From 2007 to 2010, participants from the ECW brand competed along with the Raw and SmackDown brands, while the ECW World Championship became available for the winner to challenge for regardless of their designated brand.^[14] During ECW's participation, the entries for each brand were not evenly divided.^[22]

The 2008 Royal Rumble was the first WWE pay-per-view to be available in high-definition.^[23]

Dates, venues, and winners[edit]

^ 1. This Rumble featured 20 participants.

^ 2. This Rumble featured 40 participants.

Royal Rumble records[edit]

Most Rumble Victories

Longest Time Spent in a Single Royal Rumble
Top ten longest times in a single Royal Rumble match. As of the 2013 Royal Rumble.

^ Large portion of this time was spent out of the ring; wrestlers were not eliminated as they didn't go over top rope.

Longest Cumulative Time Spent in Royal Rumbles
Only wrestlers who have spent more than 3 cumulative hours are shown. As of the 2013 Royal Rumble.

Shortest Time Spent in a Single Royal Rumble
Only wrestlers that spent less than 10 seconds in a single rumble are shown.

Most Eliminations in a Single Royal Rumble
Top wrestlers with most eliminations in a single match. As of the 2013 Royal Rumble.

Diva Entrants

Total Eliminations in Cumulative Royal Rumbles
The ten wrestlers with the most eliminations. As of the 2013 Royal Rumble.^{[88][verification needed]}

^ Totals include Kane's previous personas as Isaac Yankem and the new Diesel.

Most Rumble Appearances
Only wrestlers with at least 7 appearances are shown. As of the 2013 Royal Rumble.

^ Totals include Kane's previous personas as Isaac Yankem and the new Diesel.

^ Totals include Rikishi's previous personas as Fatu and the Sultan.

^ Totals include Big Daddy V's previous personas as Mabel and Viscera.

^ Totals include The Godfather's previous personas as Papa Shango and Kama Mustafa.

^ Totals include Hardcore Holly's previous personas as Thurman Plugg and Sparky Plugg.

Video box set[edit]

In March 2007, WWE released a complete DVD box set titled Royal Rumble: The Complete Anthology, which showcases every Royal Rumble event in its entirety, up to the 2007 Royal Rumble.^[91]

See also[edit]

Professional wrestling portal

• Battle royal
• Gauntlet for the Gold
• WCW World War 3

References[edit]

General

• "Royal Rumble Statistics". MondayNightWarriors.com. Retrieved 2009-12-05. 
• "Royal Rumble results". ProWrestlingHistory.com. Retrieved 2007-12-05. 
• Eric Cohen. Royal "Royal Rumble History". About.com. Retrieved 2007-12-09. 
• Ian Hamilton (2006). Wrestling's Sinking Ship: What Happens to an Industry Without Competition. Lulu.com. ISBN 1-4116-1210-8. 
• Ric Flair (2004). Ric Flair: To Be the Man. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0-7434-5691-2. 
• Brian Shields (2006). Main Event: WWE in the Raging 80s. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 1-4165-3257-9. 

Specific

Further reading[edit]

• Harley Race and Gerry Tritz (2004). King of the Ring: The Harley Race Story. Sports Publishing. ISBN 1-58261-818-6. 
• Davies, Ross (2002). Kevin Nash. The Rosen Publishing Group. ISBN 0-8239-3492-6. 
• Meltzer, Dave (2004). Tributes II: Remembering More of the World's Greatest Professional Wrestlers. Sports Publishing LLC. ISBN 1-58261-817-8. 
• Brian Fritz and Christopher Murray (2006). Between the Ropes: Wrestling's Greatest Triumphs and Failures. ECW Press. ISBN 1-55022-726-2. 
• Steve Austin and Jim Ross (2003). The Stone Cold Truth. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0-7434-7720-0. 
• Scott Keith (2004). Wrestling's One Ring Circus: The Death of the World Wrestling Federation. Citadel Press. ISBN 0-8065-2619-X. 

External links[edit]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Royal Rumble

• Official Royal Rumble Website
• WWE.com: Royal Rumble match description
• WWE.com: Royal Rumble Facts & Figures
• Royal Rumble History at About.com