Ranking All 31 WWE Royal Rumble Winners
2. Steve Austin – 1998
WrestleMania
title shot:
Defeated Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania XIV
Despite having won the Royal Rumble the previous year, it was “Stone Cold” Steve Austin’s 1998 Rumble win that really launched him into the stratosphere. But the end of 1997, Austin clearly was the big, rising star of the future, and it was only a matter of time before he would be wearing the WWF Championship.
The Rumble match itself wasn’t all that great, but it was the fact that Austin was on the right trajectory at the perfect time that made this work. Fans were clamoring for his eventual victory, which happened at WrestleMania XIV against Shawn Michaels (in what would be his last match for four-plus years). Austin’s title win at Mania kicked off a new era in WWF, which would in turn lead to the company finally ending WCW’s year-and-a-half dominance in the ratings a few weeks later.
So a Rumble victory leading to a title win at WrestleMania that launched a new era that carried WWF to unmatched heights? And it helped topple the promotion’s competition in the Monday Night War? It’s hard to imagine something topping that.