Ranking EVERY WWE Royal Rumble Pay-Per-View From Worst To Best

16. 2003

Royal Rumble
WWE

The Good: The Royal Rumble has spots at the beginning, middle and end that make it memorable. Shawn Michaels and Chris Jericho's rivalry makes the best of the earlier spells, whilst Brock Lesnar's match through the company's other giants makes for a grand spectacle as the match concludes. The battle royal couldn't top the evening's best battle - Kurt Angle's WWE Championship war with Chris Benoit was as real-feeling a fight between the two submission specialists as humanly possible. 'The Crippler' didn't win the top prize for another year, but he was made here.

The Bad: Torrie Wilson and Dawn Marie's match wasn't as horrendous as their storyline, but that's damning it with the faintest praise. Neither could wrestle, and neither should have been.

The Ugly: Triple H's World Heavyweight Championship defence against Scott Steiner is the worst match from one of the worst ever title reigns and remains one of the worst matches in Royal Rumble history. It was super-smart game-playing from the man with that very moniker - he knew he could hang 'Big Poppa Pump' out to dry and take none of the blame, and let it happen once more the following month as a result.

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