Top 10 BEST WWE Royal Rumble Winners all time
Welcome to WWE Royal Rumble Winners all time tables, lists, and chairs. This is the best Royal Rumble winners edition. We've already gone once around the sun doing this show, so you can check out our picks for the best and worst Royal Rumble matches that we did last year, but now it's time to talk about the winners of many of these matches.
Top 10 BEST WWE Royal Rumble Winners all time
You won't see multiple entries of the same individual for different rumbles, so the body of work of their Rumble appearances and Rumble winds is what's going to be factored in, not three Steve Austin entries. Yes, each of us has compiled our list of what we believe to be the 10 best Royal Rumble winners, and we will be assigning a point total to each of them: if they are ranked number 10, they get one point; if they are ranked number nine, they get two points.
There were a lot of factors to kind of balance out and weigh here, and I don't know if I'm totally happy with how I've come about this, and this could be one where we might have similar picks; we might have some that completely come out of left field, and I might look back at this and be like, Ooh, it's really tough; this was. though it's harder than I thought it was going to be, and I don't think my list's correct. That's the spirit! 3, 2, 1, right off the bat, straight in there. I think you're right as well.
I think I hate my leg. This is a great way to start. Suvan, of course, has gone for the Undertaker, and Luke and I have gone for Edge. I already thought he'd be higher on your list. Now, see, I did too, but the thing is I love both of the Royal Rumble matches that Edge wins, and you know he does a big surprise return in the 2010 one. That's really cool. Unfortunately, he has the dubious distinction of being the only person to win multiple rumbles and lose both of his WrestleMania subsequent title shots. Yeah, so that's why he's at number 10. If he did more with winning the rumbles and what that meant, then he might be a little bit Higher One Iron Man performance as a winner one big surprise return right at the end; it's a nice balance of Royal Rumble appearances and wins. I was never the top guy, Edge, like a big fan whenever Edge was the top guy, so I don't have, like, oh, made the big return, but, like, watching it with the benefit of hindsight is really, really cool I've got very little to say about the 2021 Rumble aside from the fact that he reunites with Christian and that that moment's awesome.
It's like one of the best Rumble things ever. I wish it had not happened in front of screens. You can't not have a list of 10 without Edge being on it. Well, you sure can't, right, Sullivan? Hey, yeah, you're right, and I was just forgotten about Edge in 2010. That's the problem, isn't it? Like, that's where I've gone wrong, isn't it? That's where I've gone wrong, and I put in the undertak, because I was like, Yeah, that was fine. Was it that? That was fine. It was good." 3. Two. One. Ooh, Cody Rhodes from Luke Batista Sullivan and Bianca Belair from myself.
Top 10 BEST WWE Royal Rumble Winners all time
I think I want to specifically highlight, uh, 2024's Rumble because I think that's—I think the final stretch he has with Punk is really great considering that I went into Rumble being like, Oh, for sure Cody is winning that final stretch he has with Punk, which made me go like, Maybe they are going to give Punk the W here. probably a good job they didn't because, you know, he got hurt. Him winning the 2023 one is also great; at least do two great Wrestlemania matches.
I kind of wanted to have him higher on my list, but there are people up there that I think were more excited about winning the rumble than I was. Cody RADS, these were more rumbles I was going in expecting him to win. That is a very good point. That is a very good point. Obviously, I'm only doing this for 2014 and 2005, but I'm a bit disappointed,, what a swerve, and that breakdown of Evolution that followed afterwards was absolutely fantastic stuff, and what a lovely man indeed it was to Dave.
Shout out to Dave! Like, when I got back into wrestling in 05, Batista was one of the two guys that my housemate, who was a casual fan, really latched onto. It was him and Shelton, because we started, like', it was New Year's Revolution 5 when we came back, and that is when they were both inside the chamber, and that was like the real thing.
They'd been doing this beforehand, like, they basically Here's the plan now: okay, he's winning the rumble and is going to beat Triple H at WrestleMania. I think one of the best things that a rumble can do is cement somebody as a main event star. Bianca Belair is one of the best examples of that. Again, at number nine, because it's in front of nobody and all that, it's difficult to go back and watch, but she enters at number three, I believe, and goes on this Iron Woman run to win the Royal Rumble, and before that, her call-up in 2020 is absolutely nothing. She wins the Royal Rumble and goes on WrestleMania 37 to face Sasha Banks and win the title, but winning the Rumble into that WrestleMania has made her never look back.
Top 10 BEST WWE Royal Rumble Winners all time
Yeah, she has been a top star of WWE since then, and I think that is one of the biggest things that a Royal Rumble match and Royal Rumble win can accomplish. I one of the best WrestleMania main events ever, so gosh, Dar, good 3, 2, 1, ooh, Rey Mysterio from Sullivan Bailey from Luke and the Undertaker from myself. Allow me for a moment, 'cause I might give a bit more of a glowing endorsement of this match than San Game. I don't know; it seemed like it was sounding pretty cool. I don't know what happened around it.
This win does more for the Royal Rumble lineage than it does for the Undertaker. Like, it's 2007; the Undertaker is a made man, has been for a decade plus at that point, but having the Undertaker's name listed among Royal Rumble winners makes the Royal Rumble feel more important. Yeah, I see that's a good point. Not only is it like,Oh, it's the first number 30 entrant to win, and that was, like, at the time, a big deal, but also this is one of the best Royal Rumble matches, so it's a really cool way to cap off a great thing. The little mini match he has with Shawn Michaels is the final two; it's like everybody's favorite final two in Royal Rumble history and all that.
Probably the best WrestleMania match he'd had to that point with Big Dave and winning the world heavyweight title, it's just all around a very solid Royal Rumble win performance. I was just about to say all that so close, but there are nine better ones. You took the words right out of my mouth. Uh, this is more personal. I will Say I know that a lot of people would be like, What? Huh? No, Sullivan doesn't know what he's talking about, and that's true, but I know that this is going to sound strange to be talking about another wrestler while saying this, you Rey Mysterio's s name.
I was a big Eddie Guerrero fan, and I felt the emotional story that WWE wanted us all to feel of, like, he's doing it," and, weirdly, I don't know why I didn't just come in as number one, but whatever. I was swept up with it as a child, this underdog story. It was one of those Rumble wins where it felt like the company was never truly behind him because, you know, he then loses the following month to Randy Orton, and then it's a triple threat at WrestleMania, and it goes for like 10 minutes, not even; it's like nine, yeah, yeah, it's like really disappointingly short, and I was like, I want them to be behind Ray,but I was like, I don't think they're ever going to be behind Ray. I got, Oh, Bailey, yeah, your girl, my girl, one of the few times that—and you can attest to this—that I have interviewed someone, and I've been genuinely starstruck, and I actually think I did a bad job of interviewing them because I was like, Hi, I like your match at Takeover Brooklyn, idiot.Like, of course you said that; she even went, Everyone says that, idiot.
" I did the live reactions for this; we had the party at the Long Arm. I was doing commentary during this point and jumped out of my seat when Bailey went, I actually love the finish of this, where you've got the three of them on the apron where it's Carill, Liv, and Bailey, and as genuine as I figured Bailey was going to win I think that's why she's kind of on my list, because I was like, Oh, I pegged you to go in and win, but when she does win, it's a genuine euphoric, like, Did it! I love seeing Bailey get her flowers. Yes, exactly, and then she goes on to have a really underappreciated WrestleMania match. Absolutely. 3, 2, 1, very ery nice.
Shawn Michaels for the two of you and Ria Ripley for me, MH Ripley, in a similar vein to Bianca Bair, but with fans, I compare them very similarly in my head because you look at the performances in the match and early entry Ria's number one Bianca's three; they go the distance. I believe one of them has, like, the women's record for longest run in a Royal Rumble. Good match too. This is, I think, the best women's Royal Rumble match.
This is 2023; her follow-up match with Charlotte Flair at WrestleMania at least emotionally completes a story that I was telling myself: the roles were reversed years ago, and Charlotte ruined the early career of Ria Ripley, and it took a long time for her to fully recover from it, and finally with a great Royal Rumble performance into a star-making match and title win at WrestleMania 39, that is as much as I can ask for from a Royal Rumble Park performance. Yeah, it's great; it was a really good Rumble. Shan lovely sha oh well he wasn't lovely at this point in his career he was not a very nice man. Uh, this is short, but he came in at number one. That's very impressive, very cool.
Yeah, I like both of the rumble wins for Sean, like because in 95 he wins it. He's a heel; he wins it, and it's the Davey Boy finish as well with the one Fe. it's Ru by terrible Vince commentary, like really bad garbage commentary , his voice is so annoying. Yeah, uh, but in the 96 win, it's actually really rapid-fire, 'cause I think it's like Sid goes out and then immediately superkick to Diesel, and he goes out, and there's a great sell by Diesel. I think I prefer the 961 to the 95 one, even though I think 95 is more iconic, but I think HBK is probably, you know, arguably Mr. Royal Rumble. He's not on my list, and that may shock people, but I think it's just because I think both of those Royal Rumble matches are quite bad.
The 95 in particular really is terrible. It's just the finishes that people remember, and people don't even remember what happens up to the Daav Boy spot. No one even remembers the Daav Boy elimination of Michaels; they just know Shawn Michaels is skinning the cat back up. Yeah, because the rest of it is so dreadful. 3, 2, 1, oh no, okay, so quickly we've got the Undertaker, we've got John Cena, we've got Ric Flair. Now the reason why I put John Cena here is only for that moment where he came back from the injury; it's nothing else, just that moment I watched.
Back I didn't even watch it live. I wasn't watching wrestling at the time, but it still gives me goosebumps. Awesome. It's unbelievable for a crowd who absolutely, like, they realize very quickly,Oh no, we hate this. They forget that they hate him for like 30 seconds. That's how good it is. It's the pop, isn't it? It's the pop. It's like, he's back!Oh no, he's back! Oh, I thought I was going to enjoy WrestleMania season this year. Everything else doesn't matter. It's the best thing. It's the timing of Jr. saying it.
Perfect time It's John Sha that timing is amazing how perfect that is. All of it is great, and he just looks up, Oh no, love it. I won't have your disparaging ooze." I don't think it's the best Rumble, but I think it's the most Royal Rumble. Yeah, loads of people in the ring at Madison Square Garden, the most unbelievable surprise return, yeah, and capping off a great match earns a lot of points for that and then loses some because 2013 is bad, but oh yeah, 2013 does not factor in this whatsoever rubbish.
The Undertaker, though Sullivan T Yeah, pretty good. Yeah, so 2007. This is a bit personal for me because of 2007. I'm not really into WWE. I'm actually quite a big wrestling fan at this point, but I'm not a WWE fan. I'm a TNA guy at this point, and I've watched WWE. I watch it a lot and watch pretty much all the pay-per-views. I'm watching TV, but I'm just not into it like I'm watching it because I'm a wrestling fan, and you just watch wrestling when you're a wrestling fan, but I am not into the products, but Undertaker wins the Royal Rumble and
It's the one thing that I'm like, Oh, that's cool, and it leads me into the Wrestlemania season, and he has that awesome match with Batista, and I'm like, Oh, that is genuinely, like, even though I'm not into this product, that is objectively ly awesome." the old-school pick of a Royal Rumble, the first truly great Rumble, the first Royal Rumble with stakes Yeah, it's amazing that it took long, but Ric Flair going in—and again, I really like the long performance in the Royal Rumble—enters at number three and goes the distance in the first really star studded Royal Rumble and goes just has the best Rumble match this still.
I mean, you can go back and watch our list of the 10 best Royal Rumble matches from last year; this still ranks very high, so you can tell that it is still like you get a lot of points assigned to Ric Flair having won the first early great Royal Rumble, and he wins the WWE title in the match. I wouldn't tell them to do that as a stip; often they've only done it one other time, and that is not factoring into this list, but for that one I think it's really cool and adds a lot of prestige to Ric Flair's title win 3, 2, 1, so close, close, we are so close to a three.
Oh, that's disappointing, so saddening, with a tear in my eye, I just want to Echo everything you said like it's an incredible Rumble, one of the only early Rumbles that still hold up. Yeah, 'cause it genuinely does still hold up, and it's amazing 'cause this one holds up, but then, like, the next six don't, and the previous ones do not either. Yeah, I mean, it's amazing that the step lasted that long 'cause, like, it's a winner of Stip, but through the first like 12 Royal Rumbles, there's like two good ones. Yeah, it's a bad time, an incredible Rumble, an incredible win. Yeah, great. When I started writing this list, Batista was like top two or three because when I look at him, I call him a young guy, but an up-and-coming guy who then wins the Royal Rumble and is never looked at as anything less than a main event guy ever again. I look at Batista and love the evolution breakup storyline.
The Road to WrestleMania 21 with him and Triple H is, I think, one of the best WWE stories ever. and at the center of that is him winning the Royal Rumble. 3, 2, 1, oh, ASA for Luke Shinsuke Nakamura from Sullivan and dear old Becky Lynch from myself. Yeah, I wanted to have Becky on my list. I think the reason why I don't have Becky on my list is I have never loved how she gets into the match, which is just Finn's like, Well, we're Irish; in you go now.Genuinely, everything about the actual match bumped this down a few pegs because I was tempted to put this at number two. The only thing this has going for it is it was the only option, really.
You're absolutely right, and it's weird as well because she was not advertised for the match because she defended the title earlier in the night, and it's the only option they should have ever considered, and they did it. Yeah, and you know what? Big points for that. Yeah, absolutely similar to Shinsuke Nakamura. The one of the things I don't love about Asa's Rumble win is what it leads to, which is the Wrestlemania match where she lost the streak, and she should never have lost the streak; she should have just won.
The world title, and that is a real shame, and it took her a long time to recover from that, and arguably in some ways has never felt as big of a star as she did when she won this Royal Rumble, but when she won this Royal Rumble, I turned to my friend, and I was like, It feels like this company is moving into a positive direction, and I haven't said that for a while. This gen was a Royal Rumble win that filled me with hope, and there was not there was a scan B of that in WWE.
In 2016, there was scant hope there. This gave me hope absolutely, and I felt the same as Shin Nakamura. In fact, I felt the same when it came to what led to it as well. I was like,That could have been—I mean, it could have been amazing; it could have been so great. I remember going into that being fully prepared to see another Roman Reigns win, yeah, and just being like, You know, I can't do this again; this is just horrible, and I loved it when it was the young guys and the old guys in the Rumble. That was really great, um, and I was just over the moon when Shinsuke won. I actually couldn't believe it. Genuine surprise, yeah, brilliant.
I was there at that show where both of these happen, and I tell you, I have never seen, at the time anyway, people leaving a WWE show so happy. Yeah, one of the big things that we have said, like, talked about in our cursed history of Money in the Bank video, is that Money in the Bank is hope. I feel like the Royal Rumble is also hope because no matter how bad WWE is, when the first entrance comes out for a Royal Rumble, everybody still is hoping to see the best thing all year. It's the most wonderful time of the year.
It is three, two, one, and it's why Shinsuke Nakamura is my number three pick. Damn it, we were so close as well, Shinsuke Nakamura. Becky Lynch and Drew McIntyre and like very quickly for me because basically it's what I said about as but about Shins Nakamura, it's this genuine hope hot damn at the end of this show I turn to my friend and was like, I'm in. I'm so in. Yeah, and that for me is that's a Royal Rumble winner right there.
Also, Guy did not expect Shinsuke Nakamura to win this Royal Rumble. No, he did not expect him to win it, and this, for me, I think you're absolutely right. You know the points made about how she gets into the match, you know, but it was just the only way she needed to be in, and when she does go into the match, I felt that pop from that crowd excitement that she's going to be in the match. You're like,I know she's going to win now, um, and they're sort of making you feel like maybe she won't win, though maybe she won't, and Charlotte's there.
There's always a chance you never know because it's WWE, and it's being run by a crazy guy. He could have just done his thing, like, I'm going to throw her out immediately just to say, 'Hey, you, the fans, stop cheering for her; we don't want to push her. I could have fully seen that happen where she just loses the title, and then she just gets chucked out of the Royal Rumble immediately. I wouldn't have been surprised. It's Vin Man in this era, so awesome. I don't want to—I mean, I kind of want to visit that timeline just to see what the reaction to that show was.
Straight back down to NXT you chaos greins, but yeah, no, you're right; see any option This is so awesome, isn't it? This is so cool. I love everything that I just said about Batista and making a new top star and never looking back. I feel like Drew McIntyre is done the best with, because this might be high for some people as like, Oh really, Drew McIntyre? All that? Not only is it one of the best Royal Rumble matches with a great story told throughout where Drew eliminates Brock halfway through, but there's still that doubt that maybe, well, that's how you set up Drew and Brock at WrestleMania, then Roman's going to win the Royal Rumble match, and he'll face the fiend and all that stuff, but no, they switch it around, and they have Drew McIntyre Claymore Roman Reigns and throw him out at the very end. This is such an awesome Royal Rumble moment. This is a surprise, this anyone-can-really-win type scenario, and just this guy that people wanted to see succeed did it. Look at his 2019: he's a lackey; he's just someone's lackey, whether it's Dolph's or Shane's lackey, and then in January 2020, he wins the Royal Rumble.
And he's a main event guy. It's incredible the turnaround. It goes on 3, 2, 1. Yeah, I was like,Oh no, missed. Some people might say you had it too high. I said, Not high enough.Ruled, and this was nearly ruined for me by Andy Datson because Mike Johnson had essentially reported ahead of time that Drew was going to win the rumble. Oh, and Andy came into the office because me, him, and Ollie watched it together, and the first thing he said was like, Oh, have you heard who's winning the rumble? and I was like, Don't you dare.
Say, Shut your mouth, because this is the Royal Rumble, and it matters. Just because he doesn't like wrestling, don't ruin it for me. When he eliminated Brock Lesnar, I jumped out of my seat. I was so excited. It could not have happened to a nicer guy, and he won it, and then the world fell apart, and he did not get his proper WrestleMania moment, and it made me sad, but hot damn, I love this so much that Cody Rhodes is now one of the all-time great Royal Rumble people." Cody Rhodes going in there, I thought we were long past the days of like back-to-back Royal Rumble winners It was a thing of the '90s that we'll never really see again, and then, was he the best choice to win the Royal Rumble in back-to-back years with two different performances, one at number 30 and then one about halfway through, and two completely different but very excellent performances going to with Gunther in a great mini match within a match? You made us wait a year; now if you take this from us now, we'll not be happy about this, and to see him win, go point at Roman Reigns, it's like, okay.
This man is undeniably the weight will have been worth it, and sitting here now a year later, I can tell you that it was, mhm, it's one of my favorites; like, I love that party we had that watch screw you ww for taking them away from us, but I being in that huge group of us all together just willing Cody RH to win that Royal Rumble is so great. I agree there's simply nothing else to say; I would just be adding'words for fluff, and I refuse to do that. I the run time here, Daddy gets the next ad break this way.
Right, I like his hair very much, and, um, he wears nice clothes. Three, two, one, yeah, very clever. Now, uh, before we move on, oh, should all the quants be forgot for the sake of all Lang? Enough of this. Yeah, I don't know your Ry BNS. I don't know the worst of that. No one really knows the wor. That's a mental thing to say. That's a mental thing to say. I don't know the words either. Well, fair enough, I feel now.
That this is going to become a boomer opinion, I don't know what that is for me now, because I'm not a boomer millennial, but he won the greatest Royal Rumble, and he may have entered the greatest WrestleMania of all time. Mhm. Yep, yeah, that is my millennial opinion, but I think it is still true; just don't think you can argue no. I think it's the best Royal Rumble ever, and it's the best WrestleMania ever, and he's the best Royal Rumble winner. That alone would be enough to be a slam dunk at the top of the list. Everything about it is the best.
pay-per-view they've ever done. You don't even need to factor in that he won two more rumbles. I know I didn't think a WrestleMania out of one of them, but he went on to have an amazing match with Bret, arguably like at that point one of the best WrestleMania matches of the time, might still be. You said earlier that Shawn Michaels might be Mr. Royal Rumble. nay sir Big John Stud Steve Austin, this is Mr. Royal Rumble. He, at least for a time, had the most eliminations ever, cumulatively, in the Royal Rumble. It's inarguable that Steve
Austin is the best Rumble winner. He should have won the 99 Rumble like it's a, you know, funny sweep. Vince wins it, but he should have won the 99 Rumble as well. But yeah, he's the best. It's not even an opinion at this point; it's just counting. Just counting, guys. It's MTH. You know how much we love math on this show. We do love math. These matches, they defined an era. They were some of the best matches of the best era.
Let's face it, it was the best. It was the best era because I was growing up at the time. Yeah, that's where Boomer opinion. So I was a teenager when this happened. Hero, this is the best one. I wasn't and still acknowledge it, and we've been given our results from Adam Whitney. I wonder who number one is; however, Adam Whitney has written, I bet you were expecting a joke here, especially after calling me out for the lack of joke inclusion in the previous Patreon episode. Sorry to disappoint again; no joke to be seen here. Carry on with your little video. I'm sure it's going really well, and there are no ridiculous Seth Rollins at number two pics you Sullivan.
you're the joke not me, you. You took it like a gentleman. Woo! Oh, the essic really came out of the end there, didn't it? Not the first time he'd written that. Oh, he hides it so well in the office, but it really comes out at times. Right at third place, joint with 17 points, it's Ric Flair and Drew McIntyre. Oh, I think that's very fair. Yeah, pretty at number two with 20 points, it's Cody Rhodes, and at number one with a full 30 points, it's Stone Cold. Steve Austin I'm very happy and glad that Cody got to the position that he was in.
I think that's well earned. Absolutely. Thank you for read this episode of Tables, Lists, and Chairs. If you want to watch more of this show, you can check out last year's list of our best Royal Rumble matches. Here's a clip from 2004 that was controversial, so obviously me picking this does not condone anything anyone in this match might have gone on to do.
