JOE ranks the 10 best Royal Rumble moments

JOE

The Attitude Era is long gone now, but one of the many great traditions of the WWE still remain to this day.

The Royal Rumble is heading in to its 29th year and has provided us Attitude Era lovers with some memorable moments. Even if you stopped watching the wrestling a while ago, The Royal Rumble never fails to give us some nostalgic surprises.

JOE’s resident wrestling fanatic Al Foran is happy to bring you his top ten moments from the famous 30 man elimination match! Enjoy.

10. Maven pulls off the upset of upsets (Royal Rumble 2002)

While he never managed to make a long term impact in the WWE, Maven shockingly eliminated the Undertaker in the 2002 Royal Rumble. Maven had won WWE’s Tough Enough competition months prior to the Rumble and was regarded as an inexperienced “Rookie”.

Maven wouldn’t have the last laugh though as the furious “Phenom” would take his out anger out on the rookie after being eliminated, laying down a beating on the poor lad.
Such a cheeky dropkick…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-0V6npBRRQ

9. Honours even for Bret Hart and Lex Luger as they tie to win the Rumble (Royal Rumble 1994)

At the time both men were two of the biggest stars in the company, with Bret already winning the title in 1992, while Luger was being considered as the WWE’s answer to filling the gap that Hulk Hogan left behind after jumping ship to WCW in 1993.

Both men ended up eliminating each other and their feet simultaneously hit the floor.

Meaning both men would go to face the WWE Champion at the time, Yokozuna in two separate matches at Wrestlemania 10, Luger lost to Yokozuna but Bret Hart would prevail and capture the WWE Title for the second time in his career.

8. Vince McMahon wins the Rumble (Royal Rumble 1999)

When you think of the quintessential rivalry of the Attitude Era, Steve Austin vs. Vince McMahon has to be the first one that comes to mind, a yearlong feud between the Rattlesnake and the Boss that had people tuning in to Raw every week to see what would happen next?

Both men were the first two entrants in the Rumble, Austin as No. 1 and McMahon as No. 2. A distraction from The Rock would help the evil boss throw Austin over the top rope to create quite a historical Rumble moment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUxvx0Qu6iE

7. Santino Marella sets an Elimination time record (Royal Rumble 2009)

Santino Marella has always been quite the comical character in the WWE, and this was certainly one of his finest moments.

The Italian grappler marched his way out to the Rumble in hopes of gaining a shot at the title at Wrestlemania, only to last 1.5 seconds and get eliminated by Kane.
He made Royal Rumble history for all the wrong reasons.

6. Chris Jericho Returns as entrant No. 2 (Royal Rumble 2013)

Nobody can pull off a surprise return quite like this man.

Although it cannot be seen in the clip below, Dolph Ziggler who entered as No. 1 decides to run his mouth on the mic, and tells the crowd “I don’t even care who number 2 is, just send him out already!”.
A perfect way to kick off the Rumble.

5. John Cena returns as the No. 30 entrant, Madison Square Garden erupts (Royal Rumble 2008)

Love him or hate him, this was quite a moment in Rumble History.

John Cena was initially ruled out until April of that year due to a torn pectoral muscle injury he had suffered in 2007. Surprisingly he made a quick recovery and made a shocking return at this Rumble and went on to win it, always nice to have Michael Buffer announce you as the winner too.

4. Kofi Kingston’s outrageous handstand walk (Royal Rumble 2012)

In recent years Kofi Kingston has provided some of the most amazing moments from the Royal Rumble. Mostly with Kofi showing off his amazing athletic abilities to avoid elimination from the 30 man match.
This save in 2012 was nothing short of brilliant.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zZoPJDenfE

3. Kane Runs riot in the Rumble (Royal Rumble 2001)

Before Roman Reigns set the record for most eliminations at 12 in the Royal Rumble of 2014, one legendary star from the Attitude Era held that title at 11 eliminations.

Kane’s performance in the 2001 Royal Rumble was fantastic to watch back in the day, lasting 55 minutes and eliminating The Rock in the process. Although a certain “Texas Rattlesnake” would end Kane’s dominance and eliminate him to win the Royal Rumble.

2. The Nature Boy makes an impact (Royal Rumble 1992)

Arguably the greatest wrestler of all time, a 16 time World Champion and one of the best talkers in the business

Ric Flair was undeniably the biggest star of the wrestling world in the 70’s and 80’s, becoming a champion in both the NWA and WCW. Towards the end of 1991 Flair had finally signed with the WWE, Vince had acquired his man.

Flair made an instant impact, as the vacated WWE Championship was up for grabs in the Rumble in 92. Flair entered at No. 3, and lasted over an hour and won the match in what many call the greatest Royal Rumble of all time.

Woooooo!!!

We also had to add the classic promo after he won the Rumble, pure gold.

1. The Rock Eliminates the Giant to win the Rumble (Royal Rumble 2000)

The Attitude Era was at it’s very peak at this point, WWE were in full control beating WCW every week in the TV ratings thanks to such stars like Steve Austin, The Undertaker, Mick Foley, Triple H and of course The winner of this particular Rumble, The Rock.

The Rock had elevated to Main Event level status and became a massive fan favourite with the WWE crowd, his work on the mic was absolutely flawless, providing many comical moments in his promos. Still to this day nobody can touch The Rock when it comes to interacting with the fans, John Cena came close but not close enough.

2000 was most certainly the year of The Rock, here in this clip below, the famous Madison Square Garden goes bonkers when Rocky manages to flip The Big Show over the top rope win the prestigious match.