Despite having to last the longest in the Royal Rumble to win it, the first two competitors to start in the ring have gone the entire distance on 4 separate occasions, as opposed to entries 3 to 10 which have produced 3 winners or entries 10 to 20 which have also only produced 4 winners as well.
Generally, the middle Royal Rumble will be mainly fillers to pad out the match itself, mid-card wrestlers tend to take part in this section of the Rumble, which tends to create a gap between the stars that came out towards the start and the heavy hitters who will emerge in the later entries.
Number 8 is only of those entries which have contained a winner, with Randy Orton winning from the 8th entry in 2009 largely thanks to his Legacy faction and Batista finished 3rd in 2008. The number 8 entry has eliminated 28 other superstars, including Dana Brooke who eliminated Kairi Sane from the inaugural women’s Royal Rumble. However, Goldust has come out twice in the number eight entry but was not able to eliminate anyone in either of those attempts.
You can see the other entries in this series below:
Part 1 is here
Part 2 is here
Part 3 is here
Part 4 is here
Part 5 is here
Part 6 is here
Part 7 is here
#5 Sami Zayn (2017) - Eliminated 25th - 0 Eliminations
After participating in the 2016 Royal Rumble as an NXT Call Up, Sami Zayn was forced to qualify for the Royal Rumble by defeating Seth Rollins on an episode of Monday Night Raw. After qualifying, Zayn would come out in the 8th entry and straight into a waiting Braun Strowman.
While Chris Jericho was technically the ironman of the 2017 Royal Rumble, lasting over an hour in the Royal Rumble, a large part of that was spent on the outside of the ring as he constantly rolled out of the ring to avoid being in the ring. Sami Zayn, on the other hand, came in 8th and spent 47 minutes and 12 seconds in the ring during the Royal Rumble.
Zayn came to the ring when Braun Strowman was dominating all the competitors in the ring and lasted all the way until Roman Reigns came down to the ring as the 30th entry before being eliminated by the Undertaker.
#4 The Undertaker (2002) - Eliminated 10th - 7 Eliminations
In the 2002 Royal Rumble, the Undertaker came down to the ring and absolutely dominated, eliminating the four competitors that were in the ring. Eliminating Goldust, Al Snow, Rikishi and Billy in quick succession, Taker would then eliminate both Matt and Jeff Hardy. After taking out Matt Hardy, the Undertaker stood alone in the ring waiting for the next entrant.
Enter the Tough Enough season 1 male champion, Maven, who nervously walked to the ring. Fortunately for Maven, Lita caused a distraction and the Hardy Boys were able to get back into the ring to try and beat up the veteran. After dispatching both the Hardy boys to the outside of the ring again, the Undertaker was drop-kicked from behind by Maven sending him over the top rope and out of the ring. What happened next is some of the most iconic footage in Royal Rumble history.
Taker got back into the ring and tossed Maven around like a sack of potatoes, and even after eliminating the rookie wrestler, he started throwing him around ringside, using a variety of weapons as the two battled into the crowd and around the arena.
#3 Rey Mysterio (2005) - Eliminated 27th - 2 Eliminations
A year before Rey Mysterio would win the Royal Rumble going from the second position, he would enter in at number 8 and last until the final four. Rey would last in the 2005 Royal Rumble 38 minutes and 25 seconds, making it all the way to the final four, before being eliminated by Edge who came out one entry before Rey Mysterio.
Appearing alongside close friends Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero during the Rumble, Rey managed to eliminate Kenzo Suzuki and Booker T, with the help of Eddie, on the way to his fourth place finish. Rey clearly showed in this Royal Rumble that he clearly had the staying power to last for a very long time, and the dedication of the 2006 Royal Rumble to Eddie, just a year after the two had been in the Royal Rumble together was pretty touching.
#2 Batista (2008) - Eliminated 28th - 4 Eliminations
During the 2008 Royal Rumble, ’the Animal’ Batista came out at the 8th entry and ended up as the ironman of the Rumble, lasting 37 minutes and 40 seconds. Batista would wrestle to the final 3 alongside John Cena and former Evolution stablemate Triple H. Batista would not replicate his Royal Rumble performance from 3 years earlier but was instead eliminated by Triple H.
During his ironman performance, Batista would eliminate Tommy Dreamer, Mr. Kennedy, Kane, and Umaga before he himself was eliminated. It was also the first Rumble in 5 years that no wrestler was in the Royal Rumble for 40 minutes or longer, but Shawn Michaels and the Undertaker finished with Royal Rumble participation times of longer than half an hour in 2008, and John Morrison was 37 seconds short of the 30 minute mark in the same Rumble.
#1 Randy Orton (2009) - Winner - 3 Eliminations
Despite being a third generation superstar, a member of the impressive Evolution stable and a multiple time World and WWE Champion, it was still 7 years into his career before ‘The Viper’ Randy Orton won his first Royal Rumble.
Despite having several successful gimmicks before 2009, including the Legend Killer gimmick, it wasn’t until his run as the leader of the Legacy stable alongside fellow multi-generational superstars like Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase that he would win the Rumble.
Coming out as the 8th entry, one after second-place finisher Triple H. Orton would dominate the Rumble alongside his stablemates Ted DiBiase, who came out as the 10th entry, and Cody Rhodes, who came out as the 15th entry. With the last four coming down to the three members of Legacy against Triple H, it was still impressive that Triple H was able to eliminate both Rhodes and DiBiase before Orton managed to eliminate him.
During the Rumble, Orton only eliminated two competitors aside from Triple H, Big Show and Kane, whom he eliminated with the help of Rhodes and DiBiase.
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