Each year, WWE heightens the anticipation levels surrounding the Royal Rumble match by unveiling expertly-made videos detailing the history of the event - and the different mathematical statistics to which it lends itself. Some of them have become part of the legacy of the year's most anticipated match - for instance, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin is the all-time Royal Rumble champion, with a record three wins in the grueling contest. Kane has participated in the most Rumble matches (18) and, in the process, has racked up the most career eliminations (43). Those records are safe this year, but other statistics are in jeopardy. After all, the unpredictable (and yes, scripted) nature of the event means that anything can happen - in 2014 (his very first appearance in the match), Roman Reigns eliminated 12 men to set a new Royal Rumble record. 2016's Royal Rumble match promises to be historic, and already has one record to its credit - for the first time in history, the WWE World Heavyweight Champion will be defending his title in the match. Add that to the fact that Reigns has already been announced as the #1 entrant in the bout, and several Rumble statistics look primed to change. Here are 10 new records the 2016 Royal Rumble could create:
Scott Fried is a Slammy Award-winning* writer living and working in New York City. He has been following/writing about professional wrestling for many years and is a graduate of Lance Storm's Storm Wrestling Academy. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/scottfried.
*Best Crowd of the Year, 2013
