WWE: 13 Best Spots Ever In The Royal Rumble

By Andrew Pollard /

6. Marathon Men

Given the conditioning of the current WWE performers, it's quite a regular occurrence to see a superstar last 30 minutes or more in the Rumble. Back in the day, these feats were unique and the stuff of legends. A testament of a performer's conditioning and abilities as a worker, certain wrestlers over the years have been given the task of holding a Rumble match together, regardless of whether they win the match or not. Back in the 1990 Royal Rumble, Ted DiBiase put in an impressive 44 minutes and 47 seconds, a then record. In 1992, "Nature Boy" Ric Flair would clock up an outstanding 59 minutes and 36 seconds on his way to the winning the Rumble and the then WWF Title. The following year, the long-absent Bob Backlund returned to the company and put in 1 hour, 1 minute and 10 seconds of determination and graft in a losing effort. On his way to winning the 2004 Royal Rumble, Chris Benoit passed Backlund's record with a workhorse-like 1 hour, 1 minute and 30 seconds that saw him win the Rumble and head to Wrestlemania to defeat Shawn Michaels and Triple H for the WWE Title. Topping that, and the current record holder for time spent in one single Rumble match, is Rey Mysterio. The Master of the 619 won the 2006 Royal Rumble by chalking up 1 hour, 2 minutes and 12 seconds of action. Could this year's Royal Rumble see another marathon man emerge?