WWE Royal Rumble: Best Performances From Every Entry Slot
12. Rob Van Dam - 2003
Rob Van Dam entered the 2003 Royal Rumble at the No. 12 position, lasting over 30 minutes, being stopped just short of making the final four. No man has ever bettered this result from this position.
Van Dam ran into an empty ring but for Chris Jericho, attacking his fellow Raw superstar with almost every move in his range. Even when Matt Hardy entered at No. 13 and teamed up with Y2J, Van Dam still managed to fight them off, delivering a devastating Five Star Frog Splash to the latter.
After double teaming Jericho with Matt's brother Jeff, RVD took advantage of Hardy's trust, waiting for him to ascend to the top rope before pushing him to the floor, eliminating him from the match. This was a move that would come back to haunt RVD before the match was over.
Once The Undertaker entered at No. 30 and the ring started emptying, Van Dam struck up an new partnership with Kane, teaming up to send A-Train out of the match. The tandem then turned their attention to Batista. The Big Red Machine lifted RVD above his head to Gorilla Press him onto The Animal, but instead simply tossed the No. 12 entrant out of the ring and out of the match.