Ranking All 31 WWE Royal Rumble Winners

7. Steve Austin – 2001

Ric Flair Royal Rumble 1992
WWE

WrestleMania title shot: Defeated the Rock at WrestleMania X-7

This is a tough one for some fans, and it’s understandable if they hate it in the long run. WWF was in a transition period where the Austin era was giving way to the Rock. While both were megastars in the company, you could feel the slight shift as another top guy was sharing – and in some cases stealing – the spotlight.

Austin tossed Rock (who would go on to win the WWF Championship at No Way Out) and Kane last to win the Rumble. He and Rock would then headline arguably the best WrestleMania, wrestling-wise, in an epic title match. The ending itself was a fustercluck, with Austin aligning himself with Vince McMahon and turning heel – in Houston, Texas of all places – to win the WWF Championship. To say that the heel turn didn’t really work would be an understatement.

But Austin still was at the top of the promotion at this point, and his becoming the only man to win three Rumbles merits placement in the top 10.

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.