Ranking All 30 WWE Royal Rumble Winners

28. Big John Studd – 1989

steve austin 2001 royal rumble
WWE.com

WrestleMania title shot: N/A

The winner of the first 30-man Royal Rumble, Big John Studd was not a world title contender, nor was he an up-and-comer. Rather, Studd was on the downswing of his wrestling career, retiring just five months after winning the Rumble.

It’s viewed that this was more of a reward for Studd’s career and contributions to WWF’s boom period in the 80s than anything else. Seeing how the Rumble was only in its second year and hadn’t yet been established as a major event, it’s understandable that WWF would choose to give Studd a nice sendoff into retirement.

But for the purposes of this list, Studd’s victory was pretty forgettable.

Contributor
Contributor

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.