Royal Rumble By The Numbers WWE DON'T Want You To Know

2. A Big Fat F*ckin' 0

Jericho Rumble Numbers
WWE.com

0 is precisely the amount of f*cks Vince McMahon gave in 2014 and 2015 - at which time, enjoying full monopoly over the wrestling racket, he surveyed that pasty vegan nerd Daniel Bryan with a firm "no", and inducted the entire WWE Universe into the Kiss My Ass club. Bryan's disappearing act and subsequent demotion was stupefying, depressing - infuriating - at the time. But it's somewhat funny in retrospect, because this absurd level of "F*ck off" reshaped the market entirely, giving rise to potential competition in the form of AEW.

0 is also the amount of Royal Rumble matches WWE presented in an alternate timeline, because Vince deemed Pat Patterson's original pitch "stupid".

In addition, 0 is the amount of times Braun Strowman wore the Greatest Royal Rumble Championship belt on WWE TV after winning the titular attraction bout. Also, 0 is the amount of women who competed at the Greatest Royal Rumble.

0 is also the amount of times a hometown star has emerged victorious from any Rumble match, Good, Bad, Great or Greatest - though Shawn Michaels did earn that rarest of WWE feats by exiting the Alamadome in '97 with the WWF Heavyweight Title wrapped around his waist.

Does every dog have his day, or did Vince just have a case of the red lipstick for his fave?

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!