Ranking Every WWE Title Match At Royal Rumble - From Worst To Best
The highs and lows of all the 34 WWE Title bouts in Royal Rumble history.
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; 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 actually got a rare February roll-out last year - has also showcased some brilliant, and not-so-brilliant, World Title matches.
For the purpose of this article, the focus is solely on the WWE Championship. As in, the title that is currently held by Drew McIntyre, and who's lineague dates back, under various different names, to the likes of Buddy Rogers, Bruno Sammartino, Hulk Hogan, Bret Hart, Steve Austin, etc. The Scottish Warrior recently defeated Cody Rhodes to capture that prize, and the Scottish Warrior now has his eyes on walking into Wrestlemania 42 as the defending WWE Champion. Of course, before the Showcase of the Immortals gets here, though, McIntyre has the prospect of Sami Zayn coming for that gold at the Royal Rumble, and, should Drew retain in that match, he'll have to navigate the next few months before 'Mania rolls around.
As of this writing, there have been 34 WWE Title contests at this fan-favourite event, with that belt 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 ranked order.
With that in mind, then, from worst to best, here are the - subjective to your writer - rankings of every WWE Championship match to have played out at the Royal Rumble.
34. Royal Rumble 1994 - Yokozuna Vs. The Undertaker
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 who was trying to take the bigger man down.
After a few minutes of plodding 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 to date.