Ranking EVERY WWE Royal Rumble Match - From Worst To Best

17. 2003

Brock Lesnar The Undertaker Royal Rumble 2003
WWE

Featuring an all-timer of a Royal Rumble opening, the 2003 Rumble was one of many accolades from Brock Lesnar’s dominant first two years on the main roster.

During that time, Lesnar would win the King of the Ring, become a three-time World Champion, and decimate a whole bunch of top stars. As part of winning the second of those World Titles at WrestleMania XIX, the Beast Incarnate won the 2003 Rumble to earn himself a ‘Mania shot at Kurt Angle.

For that stunning Rumble opening, we had Shawn Michaels out at #1 and Chris Jericho out at #2. Well, apart from Christian appeared disguised as Jericho when Y2J’s music hit, allowing the Ayatollah of Rock ‘n’ Rollah to enter from the crowd, put a brutal steel-chair-assisted beating on Michaels, and dump the Heartbreak Kid over the top after barely two minutes. Of course, Shawn would return later in the match to repay the favour on Jericho, setting up the two rivals to put on a classic later that year at WrestleMania.

As for the rest of 2003 Royal Rumble highlights, there were a couple of nice moments pitting former partners against each other - Edge vs. Christian, Matt Hardy vs. Jeff Hardy… complete with MFer shenanigans from Shannon Moore - there was the return of the Undertaker after a three-month absence, and we got an intriguing face-to-face between Brock Lesnar and Batista that would sadly prove to be the closest we’d ever get to a televised match between the two behemoths.

Senior Writer
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.