7 Things You Should Know About WWE Royal Rumble 1998

3. Steve Austin Was The Easy Choice To Win The Royal Rumble

Austin was the focal point of the Rumble match. They put a bounty on his head with Vince McMahon saying he was going to reward whoever eliminated him. When Austin entered the match at #24, everybody stopped what they were doing to face him. He snuck up from behind and attacked all of them as best he could. The crowd ate it up. It was a great storyline because it was very fresh at the time, unlike WWE in 2015 for example. Stone Cold lasted 15:58 in the match from the #24 spot and he eliminated eight guys. He was still getting back into shape after a serious neck injury, but he looked great as the focal point of the match. The final four was Austin, Dude Love, Faarooq and The Rock. Dude was eliminated by Faarooq and then The Rock dumped out Faarooq, who was the leader of the Nation of Domination with The Rock at that point. It just showed that Rock didn't care. The Rock had a strong performance in the match as the best heel and as the man that lasted the longest with a time of 51:32. Austin was too tough to beat, though. Following an Austin stunner, which Rock sold by landing back on his feet. Austin tossed Rock over the top rope for the win. http://youtu.be/oBMOcu8p_xs It was a very average Rumble for the most part. Austin was the right choice to win. There really was no second choice that was even close to his level. The Rock still had to improve quite a bit to get there. Austin was one of the most obvious Rumble winners ever. In the end, all that matters is that he was put over strongly and set to main event WrestleMania.