10 Longest WWE Royal Rumble Performances With ZERO Eliminations

Lasted 36:02.

If you, like this writer, are in the midst of a mass Royal Rumble rewatch ahead of the 2023 instalment, you may as well skip the 1996 offering. Like many of its mid-nineties companions, the ‘96 Rumble came at a time when the then-World Wrestling Federation’s roster was nothing to write home about.

You need only quickly scan the Royal Rumble lineup. Was Duke Droese, the match’s final entrant, going to win the thing? How about Doug Gilbert? Either member of the Squat Team? Come on, Barry Horowitz, a perennial jobber, was in the ring for four whole minutes!

It was a match to forget that concluded with Shawn Michaels Superkicking Diesel over the ropes, winning his second Royal Rumble in a row in a victory that couldn’t have gone any other way.

But Jerry Lawler surprised many as a near-Iron Man of the match. Technically speaking, that is. Lawler actually spent much of the match hiding underneath the ring before being spotted and subsequently eliminated by Michaels, his official time clocking in at a whopping thirty-six minutes and two seconds.

How much of that period he spent between the ropes is a stat for another day.