The Shocking Reality Of WWE's Royal Rumble
No friends, only blows.
For over a decade now, WWE's pre-show promotion of the Royal Rumble has been based around a much-loved and always-updated "By The Numbers" video package.
You know the one. Did you know that Kane held the record for the most number of eliminations until it was broken by Roman Reigns in 2014? Did you know that Rey Mysterio went longer in the match than anybody else during his 2006 win until Daniel Bryan made his first last trip to Saudi Arabia for the Greatest Royal Rumble 12 years later? Did you know that two men have gone on to win the Rumble from the Number One spot but they can't actually name one of them? You know the one.
You love the one, judging by one of WWE's favourite new metrics.
A quick nosey at the YouTube viewing figures for the annual upload finds us dipping a toe into yet another McMahon money pit. 2020's hasn't been up a week and it's sailed past 500,000. 2019's cruised past 2,000,000. 2016, the year of the controversial "One Versus All" Roman Reigns storyline managed 1,700,000 when the only thing anybody gave a sh*t about was making sure he got thrown over.
The Royal Rumble might be the start of the Road To WrestleMania for the wrestlers, but it's all a numbers game to WWE. But there are some darker mathematics looming beneath the 'January Classic'...
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