Ranking EVERY WWE Royal Rumble Match - From Worst To Best

25. 1998

Steve Austin Royal Rumble 1998
WWE

In a historical sense, the 1998 Royal Rumble holds huge significance. This was the second Rumble won by Steve Austin, and the Rumble win that would propel him to the WrestleMania main event, a first WWF Title win, cement him as the poster boy of the Attitude Era, and swing the Monday Night Wars in Titan’s favour.

The 1998 Royal Rumble was also likely the most predictable Rumble of all time, with Stone Cold positioned as a marked man in this match after having attacked pretty much anyone and everyone leading up to that contest. Austin was on the cusp of true superstardom, and there was no way WWF wasn’t going to pull the trigger on another Royal Rumble win for the Texas Rattlesnake.

Of course, this was also the Royal Rumble match famous for Mick Foley pulling triple-duty, and for the Rock making it to the final two and revisiting his rivalry with Austin. Furthermore, it was a Rumble where Vader entered at #30 and lasted barely two minutes, which is a sad indicator of just how far the former WCW World Heavyweight Champion had fallen down the pecking order.

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Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.