Ranking Every WWE Title Match At Royal Rumbles Worst To Best

6. Royal Rumble 2002 - Chris Jericho Vs. The Rock

The Rock CM Punk
WWE.com

If looking back at Chris Jericho's heel run as the Undisputed WWF Champion, likely the best match of that period was the Canadian's Royal Rumble '02 bout against The Rock.

While audiences had craved for Y2J to become the guy in the years prior, Y2J was now dead. Gone was the eccentric, electric, energetic, babyface rockstar persona, and instead we had a Jericho who was obsessed with keeping his Undisputed Title by any means necessary.

By "any means necessary", here that meant the utilisation of a low blow, an exposed turnbuckle, and a roll-up with his feet on the ropes to get the cheap win over the Great One.

As a snivelling, shortcut-taking villain, Jericho was pitch-perfect in stellar bouts with The Rock and Steve Austin during this reign. It was only when he found himself on a collision course with Triple H did this run turn sour - with the one-time Ayatollah of Rock 'n' Rollah relegated to a background player to the greater story between Trips, Stephanie McMahon and their dog Lucy.

When revisiting this Rumble '02 match, it's no surprise to hear how both The Rock and Chris Jericho regularly talk each other up as amongst the favourite opponents they've ever each respectively stepped in the ring with.

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.