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

27. 2005

Royal Rumble
WWE.com

The Good: A half-decent Rumble match masked an ultra-lame undercard. John Cena and Dave Batista's accidental double elimination looked real enough to be intended, but inadvertently reflected just how close both were to the promised land. Loaded with mini-segments as good Rumbles should be, the battle royal whizzed by en route to the heavy favourites arriving late.

The Bad: Edge and Shawn Michaels' opener was a disappointment, but understandably so considering their roles in the Rumble later on. Edge in particular had a 40 minute stretch to save himself for. The novelty was already wearing off JBL's long WWE Championship run before another pay-per-view required another creative escape hatch.

The Ugly: Mohammad Hassan being turned on by the entire field during the Rumble felt more than a little icky. WWE had promised a new spin on the anti-American stereotype when the character debuted late the prior year, and they were already reneging on the deal. As far as WrestleMania feuds for The Undertaker go, a doubles affair alongside Kane versus Heidenreich and Gene Snitsky would have been an all-time worst based on his wretched singles match here.

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