Ranking EVERY WWE Royal Rumble Match - From Worst To Best

6. 2004

Chris Benoit Royal Rumble 2004
WWE Network

One of the lesser-revisited Royal Rumbles for obvious reasons, the 2004 Rumble was pitch-perfect in how it propelled a talent to an entirely new level.

While the Royal Rumble has so often been won by already-made top-tier stars, there are times when the Rumble has been used to elevate someone from the upper-midcard to main event picture. And never was that more prominent than in 2004 with Chris Benoit.

By that point, Benoit had long established his reputation as one of the best in-ring workers in the world, but had always lacked the personality to be given the ball at the top of the card. Sure, there was his WCW World Heavyweight Championship win, but that was done as a gesture to convince the Canadian to stay with WCW. Instead, he walked out on the company and headed to the then-WWF, and was stripped of that title after one day.

In Vince McMahon’s market leader, Benoit was a strong midcard talent who’d been Intercontinental Champion, won tag gold, and was always relied on for excellence between the ropes. But with his 2004 Royal Rumble win - entering at #1, no less - Benoit’s star was taken to a whole other level, even more so when he’d win the WWE World Heavyweight Title at WrestleMania XX.

Granted, WWE soon cooled on Benoit as World Champ - him dropping the title at SummerSlam - but, as an example of using the Royal Rumble to push someone up the card, the 2004 Rumble is exemplary. Added to that, Mick Foley finally snapped on the arrogant Randy Orton - an Orton who’d spent months goading Foley and literally spitting in his face - and there was the crowd-popping sight of Brock Lesnar hitting the ring to nail Goldberg with an F5 and set up a battle of the beasts that people were genuinely looking forward to at that moment in time.

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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.