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

1. 2018

Royal Rumble
WWE

The Good: Swatting away recency bias, both battle royals were outstanding examples of how to pace and book the company's most treasured match, when such cases were needed most. In both cases, the winners worked against forces greater than heels - they had to overcome odds put up by the company itself. Rare had WWE had its finger so tightly on the nervous pulse of the audience. A good Rumble match carries a Royal Rumble pay-per-view - this show had two. Instant main eventer Ronda Rousey's end-of-show debut was a fitting way to conclude such an amazing edition.

The Bad: AJ Styles' WWE Championship match with Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens was a total waste of time and talent. Foreshadowing the year Styles would have at the top of the card (and they year "Kami" would have circling the bottom), it damaged all of them despite not being the worst three-man match on the show...

The Ugly: Brock Lesnar's original Universal Title match in 2018 was allegedly supposed to be with Finn Bálor, but bigger wasn't better yet again as Braun Strowman and Kane lumbered through a worthless Triple Threat in the worst match on the show instead. Hopefully 2019's effort makes up for this midcard misstep...

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