50 Things You Learn Binge-Watching Every WWE Royal Rumble
2. A Whopping 6 Rumble Winners Left Within A Year
Or a year and change.
It's wild to look back on the list of Rumble winners and realise that no less than 6 victors would be gone from WWE come the next calendar year at the latest. Big John Studd won in January 1989, then left in June due to a disagreement with management. Ric Flair won in 1992, then left 24 hours after the 1993 match to launch a WCW return. Those are just starting points for this exclusive club.
Lex Luger was a co-winner alongside Bret Hart in '94, and he'd bolt to WCW in 1995 by shockingly appearing on the debut episode of Monday Nitro. Brock Lesnar had his hand raised in 2003, then decided he didn't like the gruelling WWE schedule anymore and fancied doing something else with his life by 2004. Also, Batista returned to win in 2014, but was out of the promotion again come June.
The only female on the list is Ronda Rousey. She made a comeback to win the Rumble in 2022, but always seemed on the edge with wrestling fans and WWE in general. Rousey left the promotion for a second time following an ill-received MMA-style match vs. Shayna Baszler at SummerSlam 2023. She hasn't had nice things to say about the company since departing, which has come as no surprise.
That's a whopping 6 Royal Rumble winners who were out of there either the same year or the next. Luger, Lesnar and Rousey would have to be the biggest examples of those that caught WWE chiefs napping. They sure didn't see Brock going off to tryout for the NFL's Minnesota Vikings after WrestleMania XX, that's for sure.