Ranking All 34 WWE Royal Rumble Winners
How have the winners fared on the Road to WrestleMania?
If it’s January, then it’s time for WWE to start ramping up for its biggest event of the year. That all starts with the Royal Rumble, the annual kickoff to the Road to WrestleMania.
The Rumble match gives fans the first official confirmation of a world title match, with the winner of the Rumble “headlining” Mania.
Winning the January edition of the is seen as a distinct and prestigious honor – those who have won are held in varying degrees of high esteem. In theory, if you win the Royal Rumble, you’ve got a huge spotlight cast on you for at least three months, longer if you manage to win the world title at WrestleMania. The Rumble can seriously help launch a career, though sometimes things don’t go quite that well.
Not all Rumble winners are created equally, and not all Rumble winners ascend the ladder of success. Before 1992, there was no tangible prize attached to winning the Royal Rumble. The ’92 Rumble was contested for the then-vacant WWF World Championship, while nearly every Rumble since has been for a WrestleMania world title shot. Some of those who have won the Rumble have gone on to win at Mania and become major stars. Others have lost, squandering months of build-up.
Let’s take a look at the 33 men and one woman who have won the 33 Royal Rumbles and see how they stack up against each other.
33. Vince McMahon – 1999
WrestleMania
title shot: Never
cashed in; Went to runner-up “Stone Cold” Steve Austin
Without a doubt, this is the worst Royal Rumble winner on record, as Steve Austin and Vince McMahon entered at #1 and #2 respectively and proceeded to spend the vast majority of the match outside the ring. The ending pretty much mirrors how many Raw matches end today: someone (in this case, the Rock) comes out and distracts someone (Austin) and the opponent (Vince) picks up the victory (eliminating Austin, in this case).
McMahon refused to face Rock, so WWF Commissioner Shawn Michaels named runner-up Austin the #1 contender. McMahon would face Austin in a steel cage match for the title shot at St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, where Big Show would debut and inadvertently help Austin win.
Austin went on to win the WWF Championship at WrestleMania XV, but what should have been a straight road to WrestleMania instead was full of unnecessary hairpin turns.