10 Best WWE Royal Rumble Matches

Few WWE events over the years have managed to produce as many high-quality matches as the Royal Rumble.

Perhaps this is attributable to the fact that it comes right at the beginning of the year. Wrestlers, many of whom will have endured a difficult time the previous 12 months, are all suddenly determined to put their best foot forward as they embark on a fresh year ahead.

It's not just the first stop on the pay-per-view calendar either - it's also the first stop on the bumpy road to WrestleMania, meaning that many of WWE's biggest storylines are either started or, in order to make way for new ones, ended at the show.

All of that is to say that it rarely fails to be a must-watch event. Even when the under-card is drab and predictable - as looks to the case this year - you simply have to tune to find out which wrestler has been chosen to headline (or in the case of Rey Mysterio in 2006, co-headline) the Grandest Stage of Them All.

One way or another, they usually give us something we'll never forget...

OK, so perhaps complaints about the ending to this match have some merit. It was a little silly that Earl Hebner, the most senior official in the WWF, failed to realise that Mankind allegedly saying "I Quit" was in fact a recording from a promo he performed on Sunday Night Heat.

But, at its core, professional wrestling is fundamentally silly. Deducting points from a wrestling match for silliness is like deducting points from a football match because someone kicked the ball - that's exactly what is supposed to happen.

Besides which, the rest of this encounter still stands the test of time, largely because of the crazy bumps Mick Foley took in order to help his friend on his way to becoming one of WWE's biggest ever stars.

Seriously, the guy takes a DDT onto exposed concrete and gets launched head first into the ring post with his hands tied behind his back. It's exactly this sort of thing that led to his having to retire from in-ring competition in his mid-30s, and also - a little perversely - exactly why he has gone down as one of the most beloved wrestlers of his generation.