As a big part of WWE’s marketing push, the Royal Rumble is billed as the start of the “Road to Wrestlemania”, and is integral to WWE’s winter PPV programming as they transition to the event WWE considers their refresh button. Along with Survivor Series and Summerslam, they make up the WWE’s big four PPVs distributed evenly through the year, and these days Money in the Bank making it the Big 5 so that there is less of a gap between Wrestlemania and Summerslam.
While Wrestlemania is the biggest show of the year in the eyes of the company, with the show of shows attracting the record attendance figures for the WWE, with 9 of the top 10 attendance records are from Wrestlemania. This means that a heavy emphasis is put on the building blocks on which the road starts. The negative fan reaction and backlash from the Royal Rumble, such as Roman Reign’s win in 2015 and Batista’s victory in 2014, led to the company having to scramble and change the Wrestlemania plans along the way for fear of the fan response.
Both Roman Reigns and Batista would lose their respective championship opportunities at Wrestlemania, with Seth Rollins cashing in his Money in the Bank contract during Roman’s title fight with Brock, and Batista would submit to Daniel Bryan’s “Yes-Lock” during their triple threat match at Wrestlemania after Daniel Bryan was added last minute to appease the angry WWE Universe.
You can see the other entries in this series below:
Part 1 is here; Part 6 is here; Part 11 is here
Part 2 is here; Part 7 is here
Part 3 is here; Part 8 is here
Part 4 is here; Part 9 is here
Part 5 is here; Part 10 is here
#5 Xavier Woods (2018) - Eliminated 7th - 0 Eliminations
Alongside Kofi Kingston and Big E, Xavier Woods is perhaps best known as being a member of the highly popular New Day faction. In recent Royal Rumbles, the New Day has predominantly been accessories to Kofi’s traditional Royal Rumble saves.
In 2018, Xavier Woods was there to make the save after he and Big E were thrown out of the ring by Jinder Mahal. Mahal looked to complete the elimination of the New Day, only for Kofi to land on Xavier Woods instead of on the floor.
Big E then put a stack of pancakes on the ground and Woods and Big E then helped Kofi get back into the Royal Rumble and eliminate Jinder Mahal. The moment was one of the highlights of an already exceptional Royal Rumble match.
#4 Gangrel (2000) - Eliminated 18th - 1 Elimination
Following the breakup of both the Brood and the New Brood, Gangrel was left as a single wrestler at the turn of the millennium to fend for himself. It was during this run with the company when Gangrel had the most success as the gothic vampire character.
While known predominantly for his teaming with Edge and Christian, Gangrel also competed for WWF European Championship at the 1999 Royal Rumble.
At the 2000 Royal Rumble, Gangrel entered with Test, the Big Boss Man, Rikishi and the British Bulldog already in the ring. Gangrel would clock a Royal Rumble time of 23 minutes and 19 seconds, which was just second to Test’s Ironman time of 26 minutes and 17 seconds for that year’s Royal Rumble. Gangrel was also one of the six superstars involved in eliminating Rikishi from the ring along with Edge, Test, Big Boss Man, Bob Backlund, and the British Bulldog.
He would eventually be eliminated by the Big Show.
#3 Mike Knox (2009) - Eliminated 19th - 0 Eliminations
In 2009, Mike Knox was set up in the mold of Raw’s resident psychopath and heading into the Royal Rumble was attacking Rey Mysterio. This continued during the Royal Rumble as, when Knox came to the ring as the 12th entrant, Mysterio was already there.
Knox lasted a full 32 minutes and 43 seconds in the Royal Rumble without eliminating a single competitor, despite his billed size and aggression, almost making it into the final stages of the match despite this.
Knox would only last a few short months on the Raw roster after the Rumble, during which time he competed for the World Heavyweight Championship as a part of the Elimination Chamber at No Way Out.
At the 2009 supplemental draft, Knox would be traded to Smackdown and would receive no further title opportunities. Knox would last another year in the WWE, and in April 2010 Mike Knox was released from his contract.
#2 Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler (2012) - Eliminated 9th - 1 Elimination
The 2012 Royal Rumble was a strange one, not only did Santino Marella’s Cobra match up against Mankind’s Mr. Socko, in a short battle between the sock based finishers but Alberto Del Rio’s ring announcer, Ricardo Rodrigues was an entrant and all three members of commentary, Jerry Lawler, Booker T, and Michael Cole were also entrants in the Rumble.
Jerry Lawler, the legend known for his days of wrestling out of the Memphis area, or his famous feud with Andy Kaufman will always be remembered by younger viewers of the WWE as one of the best color commentators the WWE had. Lawler was the first of the three commentators to get in the ring for the Royal Rumble, with Booker T entering in at 17 and Michael Cole at the 20th entry.
Despite his legendary status, Lawler only lasted 43 seconds before being eliminated by Cody Rhodes. However, he was later involved in the elimination of Michael Cole with the help of their third commentator Booker T.
#1 Rob Van Dam (2003) - Eliminated 26th - 2 Eliminations
ECW Legend, Rob Van Dam, came out in the 2003 Royal Rumble as the 12th entry and made it all the way to the final five along with his tag team partner Kane, Batista, Brock Lesnar, and the Undertaker.
This remains RVD’s second best performance in the Royal Rumble, slightly bettering his finish in the 2006 Royal Rumble, but this remains to be his longest Royal Rumble participation clocking in at 32 minutes and 56 seconds, as well as eliminating both Jeff Hardy and A-Train.
Van Dam and Kane looked in sync during the later stages of the match, seemingly helping each other when they worked together to eliminate A-Train. However, Kane would betray Rob Van Dam by performing a Gorilla Press over the top rope after Van Dam believed that Kane was going to throw Van Dam onto Batista.
Despite the betrayal, the two continued to partner each other in tag team action until their eventual split later that year after Kane turned heel on the June 23 episode of Raw after he was forced to unmask by Triple H and Evolution.
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