Ranking All 30 WWE Royal Rumble Winners

19. ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin – 1997

steve austin 2001 royal rumble
WWE.com

WrestleMania title shot: Stripped due to controversial ending of Rumble

It’s hard to rank a Rumble victory in which the winner never cashes in his title shot this high, but when you consider that it was a major stepping stone in the ascension of “Stone Cold” Steve Austin to the top of the WWF, you have to give it special consideration.

Austin pulled his best Eddie Guerrero impersonation and cheated to win the ’97 Rumble, getting eliminated while the refs were tied up, then sneaking back in and winning. He would not get his title shot because of the controversial ending, instead being stuck in a four-way match at IYH 13, which he lost.

Instead, Austin faced Bret Hart (the man who “eliminated” him and then who he eliminated) in a no DQ submission match at WrestleMania XIII, which would help launch Stone Cold into the stratosphere.

Contributor
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Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.