WWE's annual Royal Rumble is perhaps the greatest stipulation match ever created, to the point where it brings back even the most jaded of wrestling fans just for one night to join in on the excitement. 30 WWE performers enter, with 29 of them well aware that they'll be thrown over the top rope (with both feet touching the floor, of course), leaving one person standing in the end. Traditionally, that lucky individual earns a world title shot of their choosing at that year's WWE WrestleMania.
Originally conceived by Pat Patterson in the 1980s, he likely didn't know that a simple Battle Royal with staggered entrances would go on to become one of the most entertaining matches of the wrestling calendar. Just about every promotion in existence has had their own version of the Royal Rumble in some shape or form, whether it be staggered entrances in the NJPW Ranbo, any of the "Casino" matches that take place in AEW, or Dragongate in Japan literally having a match stipulation called the "Royal Rumble," which has the exact same rules as the original. With that said, nothing can really top the original concept.
There have been dozens of Royal Rumble matches since it was created, and with the 2026 Royal Rumble rapidly approaching, Wrestling Inc. has decided to take a trip down memory lane and look back on the best that the Rumble match has had to offer. Many wrestling fans would agree that, when it's done right, the Royal Rumble is one of the best matches of the entire year, and here are our picks for the ten best.
Even though WWE's roster of women have only had their own Royal Rumble match since 2018, they have proven every year why it should have been introduced far earlier, as each match has been consistently good-to-great. Due to the fact that some fans don't want to lean too far into recency bias, some of the women's Royal Rumble matches haven't been given the credit they deserve, with the 2024 match being a prime example.
It was hard to imagine WWE getting any hotter than they were in 2023, but Rumble season always does something to fans that can't quite be explained, and the 2024 women's Rumble that kicked off the event itself proved that 2024 was going to be even better.
Fun fact: this was actually the first women's Rumble to not feature any nostalgia-based pops, meaning that the company were solely relying on the women they already had on hand. Still, they managed to squeeze in a few surprises. Naomi made her grand return after an excellent run as Trinity Fatu in TNA Wrestling, only to be confronted by her old TNA rival Jordynne Grace in what would be her debut for the company(and the first sign that WWE and TNA were more than just friends). On top of that, Tiffany Stratton and Roxanne Perez represented "WWE NXT" so well that both women would become staples of the main roster by the end of the calendar year, and former AEW TBS Champion Jade Cargill finally made her WWE debut in a performance that showed the world WWE went out of their way to sign her.
Marathon performances by Bianca Belair, the aforementioned Naomi, and the eventual winner Bayley (something that WWE fans had been begging to happen for years) set the bar so high that their male counterparts couldn't top it later that night. It's only two years old, but it's already an underrated gem of a match.
Truth be told, the 2005 Royal Rumble match is a bit of a mess, but it lands itself on this list for being not just one of the most memorable Rumble matches, but one of the most memorable WWE matches full stop.
To start, the two men who closed out WrestleMania 20 as champions, Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit, kicked things off.After giving Tough Enough contestant Daniel Puder a public hazing, the star power just didn't stop. Chris Jericho, Rey Mysterio, Booker T, Edge, Shelton Benjamin all viable winners of the match, proving just how stacked the WWE roster was this deep into the famed Ruthless Aggression era. However, it's the moments that really make this bout stand out.
Shawn Michaels and Kurt Angle not only entering one after another, but having an interaction so electric that it spawned one of the greatest WrestleMania matches of all time, was a luxury WWE would be crying out for just a few years later. Paul London forced his name into Royal Rumble folklore by having perhaps the best elimination in Rumble history, to the point where he actually got heat for it backstage due to it being too impressive. Then, of course, there's the ending.
The two future faces of the company, John Cena and Batista, eliminated each other simultaneously in an unscripted moment that people are still dissecting over 20 years later. This prompted Vince McMahon to storm to the ring and blow out both of his quadsinsheer anger. After the match was restarted, the rocket was strapped to "The Animal," as Batista won his first Rumble match. This would be quickly followed by his iconic babyface turn on "WWE Raw" and World Heavyweight Championship victory at WrestleMania 21. This was the match that showed fans which wrestlers to watch for the future, and it was one of the easiest Rumble matches to digest at just over 51 minutes.
As far as WWE goes, 2019 isn't a year that is looked back at particularly fondly. Some bad creative decisions mixed in with a disillusioned fanbase, while also dealing with the success of NJPW and the creation of AEW, this stretch of time has become the butt of many joke amongst wrestling fans. However, it did have a few bright spots, and coming out of 2018, there was no brighter spot than "The Man" Becky Lynch.
The 2019 women's Royal Rumble is Lynch's match. She might be in it for less than 15 minutes, but the reaction she got when she begged Finlay to let her take an injured Lana's place in the match is up there among the biggest pops at any wrestling event this side of the millennium mark. The pop was so big that some people may have forgotten that she pulled double duty on this night, failing to take the WWESmackDown Women's Championship from Asukaearlier in the evening.
Outside of Lynch becoming the legitimate top star in the entire company, the 2019 women's Rumble had a number of other memorable moments. For many fans of "WWE NXT," this was the night where the brand first made a claim to being more than just a developmental show, as the likes of Kairi Sane, Io Shirai, and Rhea Ripley (then representing "WWE NXT UK") all made their first big splashes on the main roster. Considering where they all are now, it's safe to say they made quite the impression.
There was also a brief cameo from Hornswoggle, who helped Ripley eliminate Zelina Vega. The luck of the Irish was truly in bloom on this January night, as Lynch disposed of Nia Jax (who would also enter into the men's match later on) and Charlotte Flair, her biggest rival at the time, to win and move on to the first-ever women's WrestleMania main event that April.
The beginning of 2002 was a weird time in wrestling. WWE were living the dream they still want to this day by being the only game in town after the demise of WCW and ECW, and the 2002 Royal Rumble event took place in a pre-TNA and Ring of Honor landscape. If you wanted wrestling in the United States, WWE was your only significant option. With that said, the company kicked off its pay-per-view calendar year with a stellar Rumble match that has the vibe of an Attitude and Ruthless Aggression era match rolled into one.
Nostalgic surprises would become a fixture of the Royal Rumble match as time went on, but 2002 was an early example of how to do them right as Goldust returned to the company, entering at number two, while The Godfather and Mr. Perfect both showed up later on. There is one hilarious moment when The Hurricane sees his name up in lights and attempts to chokeslam both Triple H and Steve Austin at the same time. And who could forgetthe legendary dropkick Maven gave to The Undertaker, producing one of the most shocking eliminations in Rumble history. Maven did have to pay for kicking "The Deadman" out of the match via an unprotected chair shot to the head.
However, this match came just a few weeks after Triple H made his return from injury and the Atlanta crowd were white-hot for him. He was in the match for the second longest amount of time, secured four eliminations, and punched his ticket to WrestleMania 18 by dumping Kurt Angle out of the match at the very end. Another Rumble match that breezes by on an initial viewing, the 2002 Royal Rumble match was something that made wrestling fans believe that only having WWE to watch might not be so bad.
Whoever decided to revamp Madison Square Garden and take away the fire exit that allowed WWE to use the shorter entrance way for shows almost certainly does not realize how many wrestling fans they have upset over the years. The 2008 Royal Rumble event was the second Rumble to take place inside the "World's Most Famous Arena," and while the non-Rumble matches on the 2000 card are fondly remembered all these years later, the same can't be said for the Rumble match itself. 2008, on the other hand, has a Rumble match that features one of the most replayed moments in modern WWE history.
The term "Super Cena"became derogatory as the years went by due to John Cena taking his "Never give up" mantra far too seriously and never losing, but in 2008, Cena literally became the embodiment of Superman by returning from an injury that was meant to keep him out for nine months just a short time after undergoing surgery. He showed up in the final spot of the 2008 Rumble match to the disbelief of everyone watching, disposing of a just-as-shocked Triple H to win the match and move on to WrestleMania 24, though he would squander that title match at No Way Out one month later.
Elsewhere in the match, a classic showdown in the Garden between Roddy Piper and Jimmy Snuka scratched the itch of the long-time WWE fans. Cody Rhodes got his first taste of the Rumble spotlightwhen got The Undertaker to take a bump, and "The Deadman" picked up where he left off with Shawn Michaels at the end of the previous year's Rumble by entering first and second respectively. Remembered for the Cena return, but appreciated for how well-rounded of a Rumble it is, 2008 absolutely deserves a rewatch every January. And speaking of 2007...
If you ever get to the final two in a Royal Rumble match and it becomes an impromptu singles match that lasts a lot longer than you would think for a bout where you need to throw people over the top rope, thank Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker.
The closing stretch of the 2007 Royal Rumble match is adored by many fans, and serves as the moment when the "match within a match" was officially born. Whether this ten minute mini-match was what inspired Vince McMahon to have Michaels challenge "The Deadman" for his WrestleMania streak in back-to-back years is up for debate, but what can't be denied is that it made for one of the best endings to a Rumble match ever. Two of the top stars ever in WWE, who were both realistically the only viable challengers to John Cena and Batista at WrestleMania 23 respectively, were seen giving everything they could to main event the biggest show of the year. Not only that, but the spot where 'Taker sits up and Michaels kips up immediately is perfection.
A sneak preview of what 'Taker vs. Michaels would look like wasn't the only thing the 2007 Rumble had going for it, as it was also the first year where the stars of ECW got involved in the festivities. While no one outside of RVD orCM Punk stood a chance of winning (and even their odds were slim), it did give us Sabu being eliminated via a chokeslam from Kane through a table, which still gets replayed to this day.
It's a Rumble match that deserves way more love than what it actually gets, and in a decade where WWE were simply incapable of putting on a bad Rumble match, 2007 stands tall as one you absolutely have to go back and watch.
The 2018 Royal Rumble pay-per-view was a historic one, as it was the first to feature a women's Royal Rumble, Ronda Rousey made her first appearance after signing a multi-year deal with the company, and Brock Lesnar punched Braun Strowman so hard that "The Monster Among Men" thought teaming with a nine-year old boy at WrestleMania 34 was a good idea.
Due to the women's Rumble being a first, it obviously took center stage in the main event, but an over-reliance on names from the past to pad out the lineup makes it fall just shy of the mark for this list. The men's Rumble, on the other hand, ended up being one of the best in recent memory.
There was a little bit of everything for everyone in this match. The comedy came from Heath Slater being destroyed by everyone who entered after him, meaning that he took an age to get to the ring. However, Sheamus (apparently in a jolly mood because of his birthday) got Slater in the ring but immediately paid for it by being eliminated in near-record time. Adam Cole and Andrade Cien Almas proved why "WWE NXT" was one of the most exciting brands in the world at the time with their performances, which also came 24 hours after they competed at NXT TakeOver: Philadelphia. There were just enough nostalgia and surprises to keep people on the edge of their seats for every countdown as Dolph Ziggler, The Hurricane, and Rey Mysterio all made their long-awaited returns.
In the end, it was Shinsuke Nakamura who emerged victorious, becoming the first Japanese winner of the Royal Rumble. He won by eliminating Roman Reigns to the delight of everyone, setting up the WrestleMania dream match with AJ Styles immediately after. Combine the ending with incredible performances from the likes of Finn Balor, Seth Rollins, and John Cena, and you have a modern classic that many people didn't think would be topped for a long time. However, those people were proven wrong just two years later...
The men's Royal Rumble in 2020 is the dictionary definition of a match split in two. The first half of the match is the story of Brock Lesnar attempting to go the distance from the top spot and eliminate every single person in the match along the way. The second half, after Lesnar's elimination, featured everyone scrambling to take his spot, while also eliminating the man who dumped "The Beast Incarnate" out of the match.
Given that the match has been around for so long, it's difficult to come up with new ways to keep the Royal Rumble interesting. Having said that, the sight of Lesnar eating anyone who dared enter the match alive genuinely had people believing that he was going to go all the way. Heading into 2020, WWE fan morale was at an all-time low, so the concept of Lesnar eliminating everyone because Vince McMahon loved him so much felt like a real possibility. Stars like Cesaro and "WWE NXT's" KeithLee, former Rumble winners like Rey Mysterio and Shinsuke Nakamura, and even his old friend Shelton Benjamin were no match for Lesnar, until Drew McIntyre showed up, and with the help of a low blow from Ricochet, delivered the biggest Claymore of his career, and thus began the second half of the match.
That second half is, of course, remembered for the return of Edge, who came out of retirement for his first match in nine years. Seeing the WWE Hall of Famer mix it up with fresh faces, while also reuniting with old friends and even having a brief Rated-RKO reunion, was truly a sight to behold. In the end, McIntyre prevented Roman Reigns from once again ruining everyone's day and won the match, punching his ticket to WrestleMania 36. Sadly, McIntyre's title victory at WrestleMania was somewhat tainted, as the world had gone into lockdown due to theCOVID-19 pandemic.
The 2001 edition is the only Attitude Era Rumble on the list, as the previous bouts were, at best, watchable. However, in the first few months of 2001, WWE was on such a white-hot run that it felt like the company could do no wrong in the eyes of fans. Even in hindsight, though, the 2001 Royal Rumble remains one of the best of all time.
So many iconic moments in Rumble history came from this match. Drew Carey is literally in the WWE Hall of Fame because of his involvement, and to prove he is one of the smartest men in the entertainment business, he didn't have to take a single bump. That was probably for the best considering he came face-to-face with the most unstoppable version of Kane, who would set the record for most eliminations with 11 a record that would stand for over a decade. "The Big Red Machine"did allow the likes of Raven, Steve Blackman, and Al Snow to have the first-ever Hardcore WWE Royal Rumble, and even allowed The Honky Tonk Man to get a nostalgia pop before taking a guitar to the head.
However, you can always judge a Rumble on its star power and possible winners, and the tail end of the Attitude Era was a murderer's row of WWE legends. The Rock, The Undertaker, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Kane, Rikishi, The Big Show (who was returning to TV after spending time in OVW), and a returning Haku (who didn't stand a chance but his hair certainly deserves a mention), the star power was unprecedented. Of course, it was Austin who emerged victorious, battered and bloodied. He finally got the better of Kane and won his record-setting third Rumble, a tally that still hasn't been topped, and officially kicked off the road to the greatest WrestleMania of all time, WrestleMania 17.
If there is one Royal Rumble match that can make the claim to having the most star power, it's this one. It might seem like an obvious answer, but sometimes the most obvious answer is also the correct one, and the 1992 Royal Rumble match still holds up as being the greatest bout of its kind all these years later.
It holds a special place in people's hearts for a number of reasons. The 1992 Rumble is regarded as the first time WWE ever got the match right, as it was previously seen as a way to get Hulk Hogan a title shot or just an overly long battle royal. It's also the first time that the WWE Championship was on the line, as the title was made vacant at the end of 1991, and as we've already mentioned, the number of people who have gone on to be considered all-time greats in this match is honestly ridiculous.
Hogan and The Undertaker were already promised spots in the match as their feud resulted in the WWE Championship being made vacant. However, they were joined by the likes of Roddy Piper, Randy Savage, Jimmy Snuka, a young Shawn Michaels, Sid Vicious, Jake "The Snake" Roberts, Jim Duggan, Ted DiBiase, The British Bulldog, and so many more. If anything, this was simply a match that was Vince McMahon's way of parading his all-time great roster out for the world to see.
The backbone of the match is "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair, who recently jumped ship from WCW and showed everyone why he called himself a "60-minute man." Entering at number three, Flair outlasted all his competition and eventually eliminated Sid (with a little help from Hogan) to win and become WWE Champion for the very first time. Afterwards, he cut the now iconic "With a tear in my eye" promo, backed by Bobby "The Brain"Heenan, who also produced perhaps the single best hour of wrestling commentary in history. It's an all-time classic, and the perfect match to watch if you want to get in the mood for Royal Rumble season.
