10 Best WWE Royal Rumble Matches

WWE's ongoing failure to get anyone (including even current holder Roman Reigns) to care about the Intercontinental Championship becomes all the more tragic when you watch matches like Chris Benoit versus Chris Jericho at the 2001 Royal Rumble.

To this day, it remains the standard-bearer for all ladder matches. There were just so many memorable spots: Y2J performing an improvised Walls of Jericho at the very peak of the ladder, Benoit crashing onto the mat after a missed headbutt.

It takes guts to be involved in an exhibition like this, but also a lot of imagination. Much of this stuff probably would have been called on the fly, and without a careful eye for the business, your attempts to wow the crowd can easily end up being greeted by the sound of crickets.

So much of the Attitude Era was about main event stars like Stone Cold and The Rock, but the array of mid-ranking talent like Jericho and Benoit gave a depth to the roster that WWE hasn't always been able to call upon. It's matches like this, at third billing on the card, that prove what a great asset that can be.