Ranking EVERY WWE Royal Rumble Match From Worst To Best

29. 1996

Cody Rhodes
WWE.com

Healthily rebounding from the prior year's sh*tshow, 1996's Royal Rumble gets better with age when viewing the intriguing mix names yet to find their footing in an ever-changing WWE, and the ones making the best of the time they had left.

The future Stone Cold Steve Austin and Triple H put in strong showings in their old gimmicks, Diesel looks revived and reignited as the company's first true tweener, debutant Vader is sublime on sh*t-kicking duties, and Shawn Michaels looks every bit the WWE Champion he'd become just three months later.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett