Ranking All 31 WWE Royal Rumble Winners

4. Bret Hart – 1994

Ric Flair Royal Rumble 1992
WWE.com

WrestleMania title shot: Defeated Yokozuna at WrestleMania X

As bad as things turned out for Lex Luger after winning the 1994 Royal Rumble, the other winner did pretty well. With co-winners of the Rumble, WWF decided to have Luger and Bret Hart flip a coin to see who would face champ Yokozuna first. Luger won, so Hart had to face suitable competition first.

Enter Bret’s brother Owen. The two would have one of the best PPV opening matches ever, one that provided a huge boost for the younger Hart without damaging the Hitman’s standing. In the main event, Hart would go on to win the WWF Championship. And while he had held the title before, this victory had special significance. It was one year earlier that Hart lost the title to Yokozuna at WrestleMania IX, then stood on the sidelines and watched Hulk Hogan win the belt in a 40-second “match” just moments later.

So Hart’s victory and subsequent eight-month title reign was as much a vote of confidence from Vince McMahon as anything else. Sure, sharing the Rumble victory was a bit of a downer, but Bret pulling double-duty at Mania and coming out on top was a special moment.

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.