Ranking EVERY WWE Royal Rumble Match - From Worst To Best

8. 2018 Women's

Royal Rumble 2018 Asuka Brie Bella Nikki Bella
WWE

The inaugural women’s Royal Rumble, and the best women’s Rumble to date, the 2018 contest was a perfect mix of top stars, legends, and a nice sprinkling of up-and-comers.

It would be Asuka standing tall at the end of the match - and the end of the PPV, for that matter - with the Empress of Tomorrow’s parade crashed by the debuting Ronda Rousey. Forget the negativity surrounding the Rowdy One’s later WWE days, this Rumble appearance felt huge, signaling Ronda had signed with the company and that she had WrestleMania 34 firmly in her crosshairs.

Asuka was great as the hard-hitting babyface, last eliminating the polar opposite Nikki Bella to win the match, but likely the star of the Rumble here was Sasha Banks, who started at #1 and went nearly a full hour before falling to the Bella Twins. There were also solid performances from Becky Lynch and Natalya as the glue for certain parts of the match, and Nia Jax was a perfect fit for the classic ‘monster’ spot - it eventually taking six women to eliminate the Irresistible Force.

Having the been-retired-for-seven-years Michelle McCool score the most eliminations with five? Yeah, that was certainly a choice. Thankfully, that record was beaten in 2020 when Shayna Bazler and Bianca Belair each grabbed a whopping eight eliminations; a number that has since been matched by Nia Jax in 2024.

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.