Every WWE Royal Rumble's Best Performer

1997 €“ Steve Austin

Stone Cold Royal Rumble 1997
WWE.com
In terms of star-making Royal Rumble matches, Steve Austin's '97 win is the biggest example yet of how to give someone that extra boost up to the main event scene.
1997 would be a huge year for Stone Cold, and it all started with a massively impressive Royal Rumble win. Throughout his 45-minute stay, Austin eliminated ten opponents and was the outright star of the show as he was often left all alone in the ring to play to the crowd and call for the next entrant to make their way to the ring. And then there were the awesome facials from Austin when long-time rival Bret Hart made his way down to the ring at #21.
Assisting in making Austin the star of the show was a hugely creative finish, where the already-eliminated Texas Rattlesnake would sneak back into the ring to eliminate Diesel, Vader and Bret to win the match. Obviously the refs hadn't seen Stone Cold's elimination, but this gave Hart plenty of fuel to vent his frustrations at Vince McMahon and the WWF audience as the double-turn between Austin and the Hitman was getting set to unravel in an iconic match between the pair at WrestleMania XIII.
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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.