Every Babyface WWE Royal Rumble Winner Ranked From Worst To Best

10. Chris Benoit (2004)

Chris Benoit Big Show Royal Rumble 2004
WWE

Impossible to appreciate in its original context, Chris Benoit's 61:30 in the Royal Rumble earned him an enormous response when he secured his first ever WrestleMania main event, not least when he hauled over The Big Show after 'The World's Largest Athlete' had flattened every attempt to eliminate him.

Ahead of Benoit's best mate Eddie Guerrero winning the WWE Championship the next month, 2004 looked like the start of a philosophical shift towards cult technical favourites. It wasn't, of course. It never is.

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Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation for nearly 10 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 65,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has provided in-person coverage of some of the biggest pay-per-views and Premium Live Events in wrestling history, including WrestleMania, Survivor Series, All In & Double Or Nothing in destinations such as New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live.