Ranking All 34 WWE Royal Rumble Winners

17. Chris Benoit – 2004

Chris Benoit Royal Rumble 2005
WWE Network

WrestleMania title shot: Defeated Triple H and Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania XX

If not for the events of June 2007, wrestling fans and WWE itself probably would hold the Chris Benoit title chase angle in 2004 in high regard. Looking back solely at the event itself, it was one of WWE’s finest moments in storytelling.

At the 2004 Royal Rumble, Benoit was given the #1 entry as punishment, but then went on to become only the second person to go the distance from that spot and win. Benoit would then reveal a loophole in the title opportunity and jump from Smackdown to challenge Triple H for the World Heavyweight Championship.

Benoit would overcome both Triple H and Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania XX to win the world title in what arguably is the greatest main event in Mania history (which has been all-but erased). It was a huge moment for Benoit and – as Eddie Guerrero also was leaving WrestleMania as the WWE Champion – for fans who thought that the smaller, underappreciated performers would never get a big push.

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.