50 Things You Learn Binge-Watching Every WWE Royal Rumble
19. It Took Until 2007 For #30 To Mean Anything
Here's a quick list of every #30 up until 2007 since 1989: Ted DiBiase, Mr. Perfect, Tugboat, The Warlord, Randy Savage, Adam Bomb, Crush, Duke Droese, The Undertaker, Vader, Chyna, X-Pac, Rikishi, Booker T, 'Taker again, Goldberg, Ric Flair, Randy Orton and 'Taker again. Now here's a list of every winner from #30 by that point: The Undertaker in '07.
That's literally it.
'The Deadman' was WWE's first ever winner from that position. Commentary teams had been ooh'ing and aah'ing at the 30th entrant since that became a thing 18 years before, but the truth was that being last out rarely paid dividends. In fact, it was little more than a token spot to play pretend that somebody had the best chance of winning. They were well rested compared to everyone else in the match, basically.
It's pretty wild that it took almost 20 years for the #30 spot to really mean much. 'Taker and Shawn Michaels worked their very own match within a match in 2007, and it was a classic that preceded what was coming down the line between them at WrestleMania XXV and XXVI a few years later. So, Undertaker was the first to live up to the 30th hype, but he wasn't the last.
John Cena would follow up by winning from the #30 slot in 2008. That took everyone aback, because JC had been benched with a serious injury most figured would force him to miss 'Mania. Nope. 'Big Match John' was here to repeat the same trick his elder had pulled 12 months before.