Ranking All 28 WWE Royal Rumble Winners

Which Rumble victory was the most satisfying?

For the better part of three decades, wrestling fans have come to expect and be treated to an annual tradition that is all but guaranteed to entertain. The Royal Rumble has grown throughout the past 27 years to become an institution that is almost as synonymous with WWE as WrestleMania itself. Try to imagine a year without the Rumble€ it€™s virtually impossible at this point. The Royal Rumble match marks the official beginning of the road to WrestleMania, a march toward WWE€™s biggest pay-per-view event of the year. The Rumble also gives fans the first official confirmation of a world title match, with the winner of the Rumble €œheadlining€ Mania. Since the Rumble is a once-a-year event, winning it is seen as a distinct and prestigious honor €“ those who have won are held in varying degrees of high esteem. Basically, if you win the Royal Rumble, you€™ve got a huge spotlight cast on you for at least three months, longer if you manage to win the world title at WrestleMania. The Rumble can help launch a career, even more so than winning a world title. But not all Rumble winners are created equally, and not all Rumble winners ascend the ladder of success. Before 1992, there was no tangible prize attached to winning the Royal Rumble. The €™92 Rumble was contested for the then-vacant WWF World Championship, while every Rumble since has been for a WrestleMania world title shot. Some of those who have won the Rumble have gone on to win at Mania and become major stars. Others have lost, squandering months of build-up. So let€™s take a look at the 28 men who have won the 27 Royal Rumbles and see how they stack up against each other.
Contributor
Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fortunately became a fan in time for WrestleMania III and came back as a fan after a long high school hiatus before WM XIV. Monday nights in the Carlson household are reserved for viewing Raw -- for better or worse.