10 Fascinating WWE Royal Rumble 1998 Facts

10. It Brought In The Largest Wrestling Crowd To Northern California In More Than 35 Years

The 1998 Royal Rumble may not have taken place inside a venue the size of San Antonio's Alamodome, but they still managed to do impressive business at the San Jose Arena, known to local NHL fans as "The Shark Tank".

In total, 18,542 fans packed the building. According to Dave Meltzer, that topped the largest northern California wrestling crowd of 17,000, for a Ray Stevens/Pepper Gomez match in 1962 at San Francisco's Cow Palace. Of course, even that Rumble would be subsequently shattered by later events in the region (most notably dwarfed by WrestleMania 31).

The event also did $414,000 at the gate, which toppled the previous area record of $192,000 for WCW SuperBrawl the previous year. Factor in almost $160,000 in sold merchandise, and it's clear that WWE was reclaiming its status as a hot ticket.