Royal Rumble

This article is about the pay-per-view event. For the 1993 SNES and Genesis video game, see WWF Royal Rumble. For the Dreamcast and arcade game, see WWF Royal Rumble (2000 video game).

The WWE Royal Rumble logo as of 2011

The Royal Rumble is a professional wrestling pay-per-view event, produced every January by WWE, a professional wrestling promotion based in Connecticut. The event's main feature is a Battle Royal-type match named the Royal Rumble, with other matches scheduled on the undercard.

The inaugural Royal Rumble took place on January 24, 1988 at the Copps Coliseum in Hamilton, Ontario. The event however was not a pay-per-view but was originally shown as a television special on USA Network. The first Royal Rumble match was won by Jim Duggan. The following year's event was the first Royal Rumble pay-per-view event. The annual pay-per-view is one of WWE's "Big Four" events, along with WrestleMania, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series.

History

Match

Steve Austin holds the current record for most Royal Rumble match wins; with three.

The match is based on the traditional battle royal match, in which a set number of participants aim at eliminating their competitors by tossing them over the top rope, with both feet touching the floor. The winner of the event is the last participant remaining after all others have been eliminated. A Royal Rumble match normally consists of 30 entrants. However, the inaugural match in 1988 featured 20 entrants, while the 2011 Royal Rumble featured 40 entrants, the most in the history of the event.

The Royal Rumble differs from a battle royal as the contestants do not enter the ring at the same time but instead are assigned entry numbers, usually via lottery, although they can win guaranteed desirable spots via a number of other means, the most common being winning a match. This usually takes place before the Rumble begins. The match begins with the two participants who have drawn entry numbers one and two, with the remaining competitors entering the ring at regular timed intervals, either ninety seconds or two minutes, according to their entry number. These peculiarities are credited to Pat Patterson. In Royal Rumble 1995 participants would enter every sixty seconds.^{[citation needed]}

The match has no stipulations or rules other than that elimination must occur by a participant being placed over the top rope and both feet touching the floor. If they have any other part of the body touching they are also eliminated from the match. A wrestler who exits the ring without going over the top rope is not eliminated from the contest. A prime example is from the 1999 Rumble match, which saw both Vince McMahon and Steve Austin leaving the ring, only to return later in the match. Elimination is also valid if brought about by an external force (such as a non-participant or a previously eliminated participant). For instance, in 2005 and 2006, Shawn Michaels was eliminated from the match by Kurt Angle (who had previously been eliminated by Michaels) and Shane McMahon (who was never admitted in the match and simply was interfering) respectively. This also happened in the 1998 match when Triple H and Chyna worked together to eliminate Owen Hart. In the 1994 match, the last two participants Bret Hart and Lex Luger were declared co-winners when it was decided that both of their feet touched the floor at exactly the same time. A similar situation occurred in the 2005 match, however the match was restarted after Batista and John Cena eliminated each other at the same time. Batista eliminated Cena afterwards to win the match. Though various referees are charged with observing the match, some eliminations have remained unnoticed with the eliminated participant sneaking back into the ring to continue. For example, Stone Cold Steve Austin was eliminated this way during the 1997 event but re-entered and eventually won the match.

The reward for the 1992 Royal Rumble was the WWF Championship. The tradition of granting a WWE Championship match at WrestleMania started in 1993. Despite being introduced in late 2002, it was not until 2004 that a winner had the option to choose a match for the World Heavyweight Championship instead of the WWE Championship at WrestleMania. With the revival of the ECW World Championship in mid-2006, winners of the match were given a third option; this option was valid from 2007 until 2010. From 2001 to 2007, the Royal Rumble match winner had gone on to win a World Championship title at WrestleMania. After winning the 2008 match, John Cena became the first winner to use his championship opportunity at an event (No Way Out 2008) other than WrestleMania. He also became the first man since 2000 to win the Royal Rumble match but fail to win the title in his championship opportunity as a result.

The Royal Rumble winner may also put his championship opportunity on the line in a subsequent match if he chooses.^{[citation needed]}

Event

The Royal Rumble is a pay-per-view consisting of the Royal Rumble match, championship matches, and various other matches. The first Royal Rumble took place on January 24, 1988 and was broadcast live on the USA Network. The following year, the event was rebranded as a pay-per-view. It is part of WWE's "classic four" pay-per-views, along with WrestleMania, Survivor Series, and SummerSlam. The 2008 Royal Rumble was the first WWE pay-per-view to be available in high-definition.

The Royal Rumble match is usually located at the top of the card, though there have been exceptions such as the 1996, 1997, 1998 and 2006 events.

The first Rumble match featured only twenty men, and it was called the Rumble Royale. It lasted approximately thirty-three minutes of the two-hour broadcast. The modern Rumble matches are much longer, with the longest match, at the 2011 event, lasting over one hour and ten minutes of an approximately three-hour pay-per-view.

With the brand extension introduced in mid-2002, the 30 entrants from 2003 to 2006 consisted of 15 wrestlers from both the Raw and SmackDown brands. At first, the winner of the match received a shot at their brand's champion. Starting in 2004, the Rumble winner had the option of challenging any brand's champion. For instance, Chris Benoit switched brands in 2004 and won the World Heavyweight Championship. From 2007 to 2010, participants from the ECW brand competed along with the Raw and SmackDown brands, while the ECW World Championship became available for the winner to challenge for regardless of their designated brand. During ECW's participation, the entries for each brand were not evenly divided.

Dates, venues, & winners

#	Event	Date	City	Venue	Winner	Entry #	Ref.
01 !1	Royal Rumble (1988)	January 24, 1988	Hamilton, Ontario	Copps Coliseum	Jim Duggan	13
02 !2	Royal Rumble (1989)	January 15, 1989	Houston, Texas	The Summit	Big John Studd	27 !27
03 !3	Royal Rumble (1990)	January 21, 1990	Orlando, Florida	Orlando Arena	Hulk Hogan	25 !25
04 !4	Royal Rumble (1991)	January 19, 1991	Miami, Florida	Miami Arena	Hulk Hogan	24 !24
05 !5	Royal Rumble (1992)	January 19, 1992	Albany, New York	Times Union Center	Ric Flair	03 !3
06 !6	Royal Rumble (1993)	January 24, 1993	Sacramento, California	ARCO Arena	Yokozuna	27 !27
07 !7	Royal Rumble (1994)	January 22, 1994	Providence, Rhode Island	Providence Civic Center	Bret Hart Lex Luger	27 !27 23 !23
08 !8	Royal Rumble (1995)	January 22, 1995	Tampa, Florida	USF Sun Dome	Shawn Michaels	01 !1
09 !9	Royal Rumble (1996)	January 21, 1996	Fresno, California	Selland Arena	Shawn Michaels	18 !18
10 !10	Royal Rumble (1997)	January 19, 1997	San Antonio, Texas	Alamodome	Steve Austin	05 !5
11 !11	Royal Rumble (1998)	January 18, 1998	San Jose, California	San Jose Arena	Steve Austin	24 !24
12 !12	Royal Rumble (1999)	January 24, 1999	Anaheim, California	Arrowhead Pond	Vince McMahon	02 !2
13 !13	Royal Rumble (2000)	January 23, 2000	New York, New York	Madison Square Garden	The Rock	24 !24
14 !14	Royal Rumble (2001)	January 21, 2001	New Orleans, Louisiana	New Orleans Arena	Steve Austin	27 !27
15 !15	Royal Rumble (2002)	January 20, 2002	Atlanta, Georgia	Philips Arena	Triple H	22 !22
16 !16	Royal Rumble (2003)	January 19, 2003	Boston, Massachusetts	FleetCenter	Brock Lesnar	29 !29
17 !17	Royal Rumble (2004)	January 25, 2004	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	Wells Fargo Center	Chris Benoit	01 !1
18 !18	Royal Rumble (2005)	January 30, 2005	Fresno, California	Save Mart Center	Batista	28 !28
19 !19	Royal Rumble (2006)	January 29, 2006	Miami, Florida	American Airlines Arena	Rey Mysterio	02 !2
20 !20	Royal Rumble (2007)	January 28, 2007	San Antonio, Texas	AT&T Center	The Undertaker	30 !30
21 !21	Royal Rumble (2008)	January 27, 2008	New York, New York	Madison Square Garden	John Cena	30 !30
22 !22	Royal Rumble (2009)	January 25, 2009	Detroit, Michigan	Joe Louis Arena	Randy Orton	08 !8
23 !23	Royal Rumble (2010)	January 31, 2010	Atlanta, Georgia	Philips Arena	Edge	29
24 !24	Royal Rumble (2011)	January 30, 2011	Boston, Massachusetts	TD Garden	Alberto Del Rio	38
25 !25	Royal Rumble (2012)	January 29, 2012	St. Louis, Missouri	Scottrade Center	TBD	TBD

1. The 1988 Royal Rumble featured 20 participants.
2. Luger and Hart were declared co-winners due to them being the last two wrestlers in the ring and having eliminated each other at the same time.
3. The TD Garden was formerly known as FleetCenter.
4. The 2011 Royal Rumble featured 40 participants.

Video box set

In March 2007, WWE released a complete DVD box set entitled Royal Rumble: The Complete Anthology, which showcases every Royal Rumble event in its entirety, up to the 2007 Royal Rumble.

See also

• Battle royal
• Gauntlet for the Gold
• WCW World War 3

References

General

• "Royal Rumble Statistics". MondayNightWarriors.com. http://www.mondaynightwarriors.com/other-royalrumblestats.php. Retrieved 2009-12-05. 
• "Royal Rumble results". ProWrestlingHistory.com. http://www.prowrestlinghistory.com/supercards/usa/wwf/rumble.html#89. Retrieved 2007-12-05. 
• Eric Cohen. Royal "Royal Rumble History". About.com. http://prowrestling.about.com/od/ringresults/a/royalrumble_2.htm Royal. Retrieved 2007-12-09. 
• Ian Hamilton (2006). Wrestling's Sinking Ship: What Happens to an Industry Without Competition. Lulu.com. ISBN 1411612108. 
• Ric Flair (2004). Ric Flair: To Be the Man. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0743456912. 
• Brian Shields (2006). Main Event: WWE in the Raging 80s. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 1416532579. 

Specific

Further reading

• Harley Race and Gerry Tritz (2004). King of the Ring: The Harley Race Story. Sports Publishing. ISBN 1582618186. 
• Davies, Ross (2002). Kevin Nash. The Rosen Publishing Group. ISBN 0823934926. 
• Meltzer, Dave (2004). Tributes II: Remembering More of the World's Greatest Professional Wrestlers. Sports Publishing LLC. ISBN 1582618178. 
• Brian Fritz and Christopher Murray (2006). Between the Ropes: Wrestling's Greatest Triumphs and Failures. ECW Press. ISBN 1550227262. 
• Steve Austin and Jim Ross (2003). The Stone Cold Truth. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0743477200. 
• Scott Keith (2004). Wrestling's One Ring Circus: The Death of the World Wrestling Federation. Citadel Press. ISBN 080652619X. 

External links

• Official Royal Rumble Website
• WWE.com: Royal Rumble Facts & Figures
• Royal Rumble History at About.com