Ranking Every WWE Title Match At Royal Rumble - From Worst To Best

The highs and lows of all 33 WWE Title bouts to play out at the company's January spectacle.

The Rock CM Punk
WWE.com

To many wrestling fans, the Royal Rumble is the most anticipated WWE event of the year. Forget the glitz and glamour of WrestleMania, forget the patented Biggest Party of the Summer, forget the lavish Saudi Arabia-set spectacles - for a whole lot of us, Royal Rumble is the biggest and best event on the pro wrestling calendar.

Over the decades, the Royal Rumble has featured a host of memorable 30-person battle royals that still make for great revisits to this very day. Away from the titular contest, though, this January staple - which rarely gets a February roll-out here in 2025 - has also showcased some brilliant, and not-so-brilliant, World Title matches. 

For the purposes of this article, the focus here is on the Undisputed WWE Championship. As in, the title currently held by Cody Rhodes, and the one and the same championship whose lineage, under various names, can be traced back to Buddy Rogers, Bruno Sammartino, Hulk Hogan, Bret Hart, Steve Austin, etc. For Cody, he of course defeated Roman Reigns for this prize at WrestleMania XL, and he's next due to defend his gold against Kevin Owens in a ladder match at this year's Royal Rumble PLE.

As of this writing, there have been 33 WWE Title contests at this fan-favourite event, with that prize having twice been on the line in the Rumble match itself. Here, it's about reflecting back on these bouts, bringing back painful memories of dross, remembering joyous bouts of great pro wrestling action, and somehow putting these in-ring battles into some sort of order.

With that in mind, then, from worst to best, here are the - of course, subjective to your writer - rankings of every WWE Championship match to have played out at the Royal Rumble.

33. Royal Rumble 1994 - Yokozuna Vs. The Undertaker

The Rock CM Punk
WWE.com

Back in 1994, both Yokozuna and The Undertaker fared better when against smaller guys who could bump around for them.

So, when the pair met in a casket match at the '94 Royal Rumble with Yoko's WWF Title on the line, it unfortunately proved to be a recipe for disaster. Both men meandered around the ring, methodically (see: glacially) stalking their prey, with 'Taker playing the babyface trying to take the bigger man down.

After a few minutes of glacial brawling, the contest turned into a complete cluster when Crush, Adam Bomb, Jeff Jarrett, Tenryu, Great Kabuki, Bam Bam Bigelow, The Headshrinkers, and finally Diesel all joined the action to attack the Deadman.

The Undertaker would finally be sealed in the casket and his 'spirit' would bizarrely ascend through the video wall, all as the watching audience looked on in confused bemusement. Yes, it's just as bonkers as it sounds, and it's still considered by many to be the strangest thing ever seen on a Royal Rumble PLE.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

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, Jamie Hayer, 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.