WWE: 5 Most Historically Significant Royal Rumble Matches

1. Royal Rumble 1998, Winner: Steve Austin

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88dGggCGQdI Heading into the 1998 Royal Rumble, there only seemed like one logical winner, The Texas Rattlesnake, Stone Cold Steve Austin. Austin made predictions come true, when he won the event by last eliminating a man he'd go on to main event two Wrestlemanias against, The Rock. Yet, despite the outcome being predictable, it's the bigger picture that makes the 1998 Royal Rumble the most historically significant one of them all. For a year and a half leading up to this event, rival wrestling promotion WCW (fuelled by the popular and rebellious NWO supergroup) had been dominating the WWE in the Ratings. By Winning the Royal Rumble, and setting up a Wrestlemania main event against Shawn Michaels (with special enforcer Mike Tyson) Steve Austin helped usher in the "Attitude Era"--the second golden age of WWE which ultimately put WCW out of business. With his beer drinking, hell raising, and boss fighting antics, Steve Austin was the poster child for the Attitude Era, and the 1998 Royal Rumble was the launching pad that put him at the top of the pack during this important time in wrestling history. For being instrumental in changing the course of wrestling history, the 1998 Royal Rumble is indeed the most historically significant Royal Rumble match of all time.