The 411 Top 10: The Top 10 Royal Rumble Moments

Hello 411 Mania readers! Since this will be my first article here at 411 Mania, it’d probably be a good idea to introduce myself. To give you a little background on myself, I am a 19-year old high school senior. My dream is to become a sports journalist, and I plan to pursue that in college, by majoring in journalism. I have been a die-hard wrestling fan since I was five years old, and I can attribute a lot of that to my two brothers, and my father. My dad worked for ECW back in the ’90s, and if it wasn’t for the stories that he told me, I don’t think I would be as interested in wrestling, as I am today.

Now that we’ve gotten the introductions out of the way, let’s get down to business. As is commonplace with everything in life, you must start at the beginning — there are no short cuts. With that said, I hatched the idea to begin my weekly “10 Count,” by counting down the 10 most memorable moments in Royal Rumble match history. What better place to start, then with the first WWE PPV of the year? The Royal Rumble match has given up some very surprising moments over the years, ranging from the return of John Cena (seven months early, may I add) in 2008, “Big Daddy Cool” Diesel’s WWE in return in 2011, and most recently, the jaw-dropping debut of the “Phenomenal” AJ Styles at this past Royal Rumble. We’ve also seen the WWE/F championship up for grabs in the 1992 Royal Rumble, as well as the 2016 Rumble.

As I stated, we’ve seen a number of cool moments from the Royal Rumble over the years. Trust me when I say, it was a pretty difficult task to narrow it down to the 10 best. Some were no-brainer choices, but some were not so easy. Now, I’ll shut my yap, and let the countdown speak for itself. The moments being discussed come from the Rumble match itself.

10.) Santino Marella Lasts 1.9 Seconds: I know, the title doesn’t sound very appropriate. But, if you were thinking that way, maybe you need your mind cleaned. Nonetheless, this was a memorable moment in Royal Rumble history, because Marella broke (albeit barely) the Warlord’s 20-year-old record of :02. Santino entered the ring as the #28 entrant, but was thrown over the rope immediately by Kane.

9.) Return to Dudleyville: The 2015 Royal Rumble took place in Philadelphia, and was strongly overshadowed by the fans’ negative (putting it nicely) reaction to the decision to have Roman Reigns win. One moment that fans forget from that event, is the return of Bubba Ray Dudley — his first WWE appearance since 2005. Granted, Bubba was the third competitor eliminated, lasting just a tick over five minutes. Nonetheless, it was a great moment, that the ECW-based Philadelphia crowd made even more special.

8.) Kane Eliminates More Than One-Third of the Field: Every now and then, the Royal Rumble match bears witness to a dominating performance. Hulk Hogan started that trend in the 1989 Rumble, by eliminating nine superstars. The record lasted eight years, before “Stone Cold” went on to eliminate 10 wrestlers in 1997. That record would be short-lived, as “The Big Red Machine” Kane went on a warpath in 2001, eliminating 11 superstars — more than one-third of the field. The most notable star was The Rock, who was the next-to-last to be eliminated.

7.) Double Winners — Double Main Event?:The 1994 Royal Rumble was an interesting one, to say the least. After a nearly hour-long match, the ending came in controversial fashion, as Bret Hart and Lex Luger simultaneously eliminated each other, with both men’s feet hitting the ground at the same time. WWF President (at the time) Jack Tunney came down to address the situation. He declared the pair as co-winners, stating that both men would face Yokozuna at WrestleMania X for the WWF Championship, in addition to wrestling in a second match. This marked the first, and only time that the Royal Rumble has seen more than one winner.

6.) City of Brotherly Loathe? : As I previously stated, the 2015 Royal Rumble event was completely overshadowed by the result of the match itself. Just before the Royal Rumble event, Daniel Bryan announced that he would be partaking in that match — mistake #1 for the WWE. Fans were still riding the high of the “Yes! Movement” from the previous year, and there wasn’t much indication that D-Bry would be the winner. Therefore, this was a recipe for disaster. Their second mistake was eliminating Bryan before the eventual winner in Roman Reigns even entered the match. As soon as Bryan’s feet hit the floor, the entire match went to hell. Fans revolted throughout the remainder of the match, and decided to focus their frustrations on WWE’s new “chosen one” in Roman Reigns. Hell, it got so bad that not even an appearance by The Rock could save the night. It was so bad, that fans in Philadelphia blocked the cars of WWE stars from leaving.

5.) The Roman Empire Crumbles: We go from Roman’s career highlight in 2015, to his career low-point the next year. Roman didn’t capture the WWE World Heavyweight Championship until Survivor Series in 2015, in the finals of a tournament that began after Seth Rollins tore his knee up at live event. Roman would be champion for less than five minutes, before Sheamus cashed in his Money in the Bank contract to win the title. Roman would predictably win the championship for the second time on the December 14 RAW, during a Career vs Title match. Reigns would then be ordered to defend his championship in the 30-man Royal Rumble in January, where he would lose the title to a returning Triple H. This was only the second time that the WWE Title has been on the line, in the match itself.

4.) Hacksaw Jim Duggan Wins Inaugural Rumble: There has been 29 winners of the Royal Rumble Match (15 different). However, there can only be one “first-time” winner, and that was “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan. Duggan outlasted 19 other superstars in 1988 to win the very first Royal Rumble. Yes, there were 20 superstars in this match — the only time in history that there were less than 30 wrestlers in the match.

3.) The Birth of Super Cena: For the last 11 years, John Cena has been the “face that runs the place” in WWE. He’s been called pretty much everything you can think of — positive or negative. In October 2007, Cena was made to look like a mere mortal, as he suffered a torn pectoral muscle. The injury was initially thought to have put him out of action for up to a year. Cena had different plans though, as he made his triumphant return only four months later to win the 2008 Royal Rumble. It was at this event, that we all were witness to the birth of “Super Cena.”

2.) A “Flair” for The Gold: The 1992 Royal Rumble was a historic one, as it marked the first occasion in company history, where the WWF Championship was to be defended in the 30-man match. Back in late 1991, there were a pair of controversial finishes, that saw the championship flip-flop between The Undertaker and Hulk Hogan. Commissioner Jack Tunney would later strip Hogan of the belt, and declare the title vacant. He announced the winner of the Rumble would win the belt. “Nature Boy” Ric Flair would go on to win the match, and the championship — becoming the first wrestler to hold the World Heavyweight Championship in three different promotions, as Flair has held the NWA, WCW, and WWF World Heavyweight Championship.

1.) A “Phenomenal” Debut: Some fans will remember the 2016 Royal Rumble match, as the match where Triple H won the WWE World Heavyweight Championship by eliminating Roman Reigns. However, most fans will remember it as the night that the Earth stood still, as former TNA superstar AJ Styles made his shocking debut in a WWE ring. Earlier in January, it had been rumored that Styles was one of four superstars in the process of leaving New Japan Pro Wrestling — joining Shinsuke Nakamura, Karl Anderson, and Luke Gallows. Those rumors would turn out to be true, and Styles would be the first to debut, only 20 days after losing to Shinsuke Nakamura at Wrestling Kingdom 10 in Japan. Styles lasted nearly 30 minutes in the match, before being eliminated. Styles was greeted by one of the loudest pops in WWE history, and has since become one of the company’s most popular wrestlers.

Before I bring this piece to a close, I want to stress that these are the Top 10 Memorable Moments from the Royal Rumble Match, not the entire event. That would explain the absence of the I-Quit Match from the 1999 Royal Rumble between The Rock & Mankind for the WWF Championship.

I want to thank you all for reading, and I hope you enjoyed. I also encourage you all to share some of your most memorable, or favorite moments from past Royal Rumble events in the comments section below. Until next week, I bid you adieu.