20 Awesome WWE Royal Rumble Moments

The holidays have passed, but Christmas for wrestling fans is just around the corner. The Royal Rumble is one of the best €“ if not the best €“ things WWE does each year. WrestleMania might have the glitz and glamour, but the annual Rumble match has everything that is great about professional wrestling all rolled up in one format. That might sound like hyperbole, but when done right, the Royal Rumble really has everything a fan could want: surprise returns, star-making moments, emotional eliminations, humorous encounters, suspenseful teases and multiple storylines colliding, all in the span of about an hour. In the right balance, this makes for a highly entertaining night for wrestling fans, and there are huge stakes with the winner punching his ticket to WrestleMania. Whether it€™s a long-lost superstar returning for one night only, an underdog eliminating a main eventer or a wrestler creatively escaping elimination, the mere mention of the Royal Rumble sparks a flood of memories. This article will count down 20 huge moments throughout the Rumble€™s 27 years. While there are plenty of top 10 lists for eliminations or returns, this list melds some of those best with other awesome moments through the Rumble€™s history. Just to show how great the Rumble can be, here are a few honorable mentions that just missed the list: Kane setting the elimination record (2001), Beth Phoenix eliminating Great Khali (2010), Socko versus Cobra (2012), Hurricane trying to chokeslam Austin and Triple H (2002) and Mr. Perfect returning (also 2002).