Over the last 10 years,it's fair to say that there's been some talent who deserved to win the Royal Rumble and go on to headline WrestleMania,while others were poor creative decisions that led to fan disappointment.This list will focus on the former, as we rank the last decade of Royal Rumble winners whose victories were not only well received, but also deemed the right choice to challenge for a world title at WrestleMania.From the inaugural Women's Royal Rumble to this past January's edition of the event, there have been several winners that made WrestleMania more memorable because of their involvement in the main event, while some failed to deliver in their eventual match at "The Grandest Stage Of Them All," but are still praised for their performance in the over-the-top rope competition. Now that this year's event is in the books, here are the 10 best WWE Royal Rumble winners from the last decade, ranked.
The opening entry on our list is the first-ever WWE Women's Grand Slam Champion,Bayley, who won the 2024 Women's Royal Rumble. "The Role Model's" victory is often remembered fondly due to the epic match that followed at WrestleMania 40 between herself and IYO SKY for the WWE Women's Title, but also because it kickstarted the eventual breakup of Damage CTRL. After months of Bayley spearheading one of WWE's top women's factions, IYO SKY, Asuka and Kairi Sane betrayed their Damage CTRL leader on "WWE SmackDown," resulting in Bayley's Rumble win being more than just about being champion, but also getting revenge.In addition to WWE picking the appropriate winner and story that fans wanted to see featured at WrestleMania, the2024 Women's Royal Rumble is widely considered one of the best at the event since the introduction of the women's Rumble in 2018. Overall, Bayley's victory is a great example of the company following through on a well written storyline, which concluded with the hero becoming champion and overcoming her former stablemates.
In 2018, Seth Rollins was WWE's ultimate workhorse, with his ability to have the best match on TV each week andmaking the Intercontinental Championship the most important title on "WWE Raw" leading him to be one of the most respected wrestlers on the roster.Therefore, coming into the 2019 Men's Royal Rumble, fans wanted to see Rollins inserted back into the world title picture after having not been WWE Champion since 2016.At the time, the top champion on "Raw" was Brock Lesnar, who was in the midst of his second WWE Universal Title reign, but unlike Rollins, was rarely featured on the promotion's weekly television. As a result, "The Visionary" winning the2019 Men's Royal Rumble allowed Lesnar's title defense at WrestleMania 35 to be a story about a part-timer clashing with the ultimate ironman, while granting fans their wish of Rollins challenging for a world championship again. The2019 Men's Royal Rumble is not remembered the best for its quality, but rather WWE awarding one of its top stars for their hard work over an entire calendar year.
Although this year's Women's Royal Rumble received mixed reviews with fans criticizing the match for its poor pacing (while crediting it for the exciting drama in the latter half) Liv Morgan was undoubtedly the right choice to emerge victorious. Since Morgan returned at the 2024 Royal Rumble, she's taken her career to the next level, having become Women's World Champion and elevating her character from the mid-card to the main event. However, one of the feathers missing from Morgan's cap was a Royal Rumble win, and after two of the best years of her career, she's deserved the opportunity to challenge for a world title at WrestleMania.Morgan will likely face Stephanie Vaquer for theWomen's World Championship come this April, and if both women impress on WWE's biggest stage, the perception of the 31-year-old's victory this past weekend will only continue to be remembered with admiration. Additionally, Morgan had been the runner-up in back-to-back Royal Rumble's in 2023 and 2024, and the runner-up in the last two Women's Elimination Chamber matches, turning this year's win into a moment of redemption after several failed attempts.
Before Rhea Ripley punched her ticket to WrestleMania 39, no other women in WWE history had won the Royal Rumble from the number one position, making "Mami's" performance in 2023 one of the best outings at the event in recent memory. In addition to having seven eliminations in the Royal Rumble, the most out of all women's competitors that year, Ripley went toe-to-toe with Liv Morgan, who entered at number two, and outlasted her former tag team partner until the final bell.Although Ripley's showing in the Rumble was memorable, perhaps more impressive was her match at WrestleMania, where she challenged Charlotte Flair for the WWE SmackDown Women's Title. To this day, Ripley's battle with "The Queen" is arguably one of the best women's WrestleMania matches in history, which concluded with Flair passing the torch to the Australian star. Similarly to Bayley, Ripley's Rumble win was on par with the quality of her WrestleMania match that followed, which was not the case for our next entry.
The 2018 Men's Royal Rumble is not only regarded as one of the best 30-man competitions of the last decade, but also one of the most entertaining since the event started in 1988. A loaded talent pool and star-studded surprises eventually led to one of the best final six lineups in Rumble history, which included Roman Reigns, Shinsuke Nakamura, Finn Balor, John Cena, Randy Orton and Rey Mysterio. After spending a year dominating in "WWE NXT," fans were shocked when Nakamura was the last man standing, as many didn't believe that the company would push him to the main event scene just yet. In addition, wrestling fans were thrilled when it was announced that Nakamura would challenge AJ Styles for the WWE Title at WrestleMania 34, which would be their first match together since their iconic battle at NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 10. Unfortunately, they failed to recapture that same magic.Instead of Nakamura becoming WWE Champion and having another five-star classic with Styles, the Japanese legend failed to capture the gold, and turned heel after an underwhelming 20-minute match. Eight years later, the WrestleMania 34 clash between both veterans has since left a stain on Nakamura's Rumble win, but it definitely hasn't taken away from his hard fought performance and the fan excitement that followed when he outlasted some of the best the business had to offer.
Coming into the 2024 Royal Rumble, CM Punk and Cody Rhodes were the odds-on favorites to come out victorious, and despite fans being split about the latter winning back-to-back Rumbles, WWE ultimately chose him to main event WrestleMania for the second year in a row. At first, many questioned if the promotion would be able to write a better story for Rhodes' second clash at WrestleMania with Undisputed WWE Champion Roman Reigns, especially after "The American Nightmare" initially gave his title shot to The Rock. However, after fans practically forced WWE to have Rhodes face Reigns instead of "The Great One," the build to the match that followed is one of the best in company history.The infamous WrestleMania 40 press conference, The Rock attacking Rhodes outside of his tour bus on "WWE Raw," followed by the "Tribal Chief" being dethroned in one of the best WrestleMania main events of all-time, proved that the former AEW star was the correct choice to win the 2024 Royal Rumble. Although WWE almost ruined their own story by having Rhodes give up his Rumble victory, it's one of the best examples of damage control done near perfectly.
It was expected that the first-ever Women's Royal Rumble would have plenty of surprises, with legends such as Trish Stratus, Lita and Beth Phoenix appearing, but coming into the match, the outcome was unpredictable, with there being many names on the current roster that were deserving of the honor. WWE ultimately chose to go with Asuka, whose revolutionary 510-day NXT Women's Title reign had just come to an end. Similarly to Nakamura, fans were thrilled to see the company elevate a new star on the main roster, but unlike "The King Of Strong Style," Asuka delivered in her first WrestleMania match.After winning the Rumble, Asuka would challenge for Charlotte Flair's SmackDown Women's Title. Although she would be unsuccessful in capturing the gold, Asuka proved why she deserved to win the Royal Rumble, as her 13-minute match with Flair was arguably the best contest on the entirety of the WrestleMania 34 card. WWE could've picked a veteran like Nikki Bella or an established star like Sasha Banks to win theWomen's Royal Rumble that year, but taking a chance on Asuka not only kickstarted a new rivalry, but set the bar high for Rumble winners in the years that followed.
At the2020 Men's Royal Rumble, Edge did theunthinkable by returning to WWE for the first time in nine years after sustaining a career-ending neck injury and being told that he could never wrestle again. Although he survived until the final four in his returning match, Edge would have to wait a full year before punching his ticket to WrestleMania, as he won the2021 Men's Royal Rumble from the number one position.At the beginning of 2021, Edge had made it his goal to be world champion one last time after he was forced to vacate the title he never lost due to injury. Therefore, his victory in the Royal Rumble was not just about getting to live out a dream match against Roman Reigns, or headlining WrestleMania again, but to finally have the opportunity to redeem himself. Edge would likely be featured in the top two spots of this list if the 2021 Men's Royal Rumble didn't take place during the Thunderdome era, or if he had defeated Reigns at WrestleMania, but with or without the audience, it's one of the most memorable victories in "The Rated-R Superstar's" WWE career.
Coming into 2019, there was no bigger star in WWE than Becky Lynch, who had quickly become the fan favorite to win that year's Women's Royal Rumble. In most cases, there's usually multiple stars that the WWE Universe would be happy to see headline WrestleMania, but in 2019, fans didn't want anybody else to win the Royal Rumble except Lynch.To kickoff the show, Lynch failed to defeat Asuka for the WWE SmackDown Women's Championship, leaving fans to question if she'd be inserted into the Royal Rumble later in the night. However, when Carmella entered at number 30 instead of Lynch's music hitting the speakers, the audience became noticeably uninterested, as there was nobody in the ring they wanted to see emerge victorious. That was until Lynch replaced Lana, who had entered at number 28, but in storyline suffered an ankle injury, allowing "The Man" to take her spot.When Lynch replaced Lana, Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona became unglued, resulting in one of the biggest pops for a superstar in Rumble history."The Irish Lass Kicker" would go on to famously be one of the first three women to main event WrestleMania alongside Charlotte Flair and Ronda Rousey, where she became a double champion. Lynch's Rumble win not only led to one of the most important WrestleMania main events ever, but signified change in the company, who couldn't deny her star power and the evolution of the women's division.
All the entries mentioned above were either heartwarming or monumental in their own way, but Drew McIntyre's win in 2020 might just be the most perfect conclusion to one of the best Royal Rumbles of all-time. Ahead of the first 30-man competition of the decade, fans were bracing for impact after WWE announced that Brock Lesnar would be entering the match at number one, despite being world champion. The idea was that "The Beast" would try to outlast his competitors in order to not face anybody at WrestleMania, and it felt like a gimmick that would ruin the Royal Rumble, but thankfully that wasn't the case.After Lesnar dominated for the first half of the match, McIntyre entered at number 16 and eliminated the champ, with an assist from Ricochet. The audience in attendance erupted for "The Scottish Warrior" after he took out Lesnar, a moment that felt as special as his eventual victory. Additionally, the remainder of the match was booked to perfection, with entrants such as Randy Orton, Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins making the Rumble feel unpredictable, while fans were also treated to Edge's surprise return.McIntyre would unfortunately headline WrestleMania and defeat Lesnar for the WWE Championship in front of no fans due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but it doesn't take away from his Royal Rumble win, which completely changed the trajectory of his career, as he's felt like a main event star ever since.
