10 Greatest Final Two Competitors In The WWE Royal Rumble

The Rumble and the winner WWE no longer speak of for obvious reasons, but empirically speaking, Chris Benoit puts on one of the finest performances in the event’s history. The Wolverine goes from coast to coast to win the whole thing, and until Rey Mysterio two years later was probably the most unfancied victor in the competition’s history.

Unlike Rey’s, Benoit’s win makes total sense. He may be on the small side, relatively speaking, but he drags himself through the Rumble by sheer force of grit, determination, technique, and smarts. His win over The Big Show typifies this perfectly.

Big Show has every possible advantage in the final two and plays the monster brilliantly, hurling Benoit around the ring and smashing the Canadian with brute force. They don’t get much wilier than Benoit, though, and he finally strikes, grabbing hold of Show’s massive head and slowly but surely levering him over the top rope for the win.

It’s a superb payoff to a solid Rumble with a magnificent central performance. Like Ric Flair in 1992, the underdog Benoit grapples and grinds his way to a win both heroic and wholly believable.