WWEsRoyal Rumbleworks because of its controlled chaos.
The story of the match is that anyone can win, but luck creates a massive handicap.
If it wasnt pre-determined, wed see an awful lot more winners from the #30 spot.
I mean, ever watch a CPU simulated version of a Rumble in a video game?
Theres like a 2/5 chance of that last entrant winning.
If that was a normal thing inWWE, that would get old real quick.
In fact, if someone earns the spot prior to the match, its practically a death sentence.
Theyre a fake favorite.
So lets look back at all the final fighters in Royal Rumble history.
JUNKYARD DOG (1988)
The very first televised Royal Rumble was a minor one.
Not only was it lacking in big names, but it only featured 20 combatants.
The #20 spot went to Junkyard Dog, which was fitting.
By the time Dibiase entered, everyone from Hogan to Savage to Andre were gone.
The only real challenge left was Big John Studd, who proceeded to survive Akeems onslaught.
Dibiase got his ass absolutely handed to him and lost, only able to get the runner up spot.
His number switching scheme was banned in future Rumbles and he ended up at #1 in 1990.
PERFECT (1990)
Ive heard tell that Mr.
Perfect was originally penciled to win this Rumble, but alas.
Perfect was open about his draw and made it seem like a natural piece of fate.
Of course he would draw #30.
It was the PERFECT number and he was simply Perfect.
And indeed, was a perfect choice for #30.
TUGBOAT (1991)
Ah, Tugboat.
Now this was an interesting choice.
In the latter half of 1990, the massive sailor was Hogans sidekick.
He was mainly played as the heroic counterpart to Hogans rival Earthquake.
Like many of Hogans best friends, it was Tugboats destiny to turn on him.
Tugboat lasted only a few minutes and fought Hogan as if their friendship meant nothing.
Hogan eliminated Tugboat and went on to win.
The match really seemed to be building towards some kind of feud, but that never happened.
As a tag team wrestler, he was safe from Hogans wrath.
At one point, everyone left tried to team up, work him over, and lift him up.
Then Savage appeared at #30.
Savage was semi-retired, but still treated like the Obi-Wan Kenobi of this era of WWF.
A main-eventer, but no longer in the main event.
Savage had a year and a half left with the company.
He was huge and had a cool and crazy look.
He was just a bit too cartoony to really go anywhere.
The 94 Rumble was about having Lex Luger and Bret Hart end the show as co-winners.
Any and all heels left were just there to put over Luger and Bret.
That included Adam Bomb, who fell victim to Luger in under five minutes.
CRUSH (1995)
Crush was a bit of an anomaly.
A year earlier, he was a rising heel who feuded with Randy Savage and Lex Luger.
After the Luger feud, he left for a while and made his return at the 1995 Royal Rumble.
Instead, he got arrested shortly after the event.
It was about Hunter Hearst Helmsley and the importance ofRoyal Rumble 1996s pre-show.
Towards the end, he went back to fighting his enemy Vader.
Well, that was the last time Vader seemed like a major threat in any way.
By 1998, he was a tough guy who lost all the time.
He was just a shadow of his former self, but it was going to get a lot worse.
Months after that, hed have his final aired match onSunday Night Heatbefore leaving the company.
Commissioner Shawn Michaels decided to mess with him by entering Vince into the Rumble as #2.
The winner would be #30 at the 99 Rumble match.
With a little distraction help from Steve Austin, Chyna tossed out Vince and crushed his dreams.
Chyna entered, eliminated her rival Mark Henry, and then got clotheslined over the top by Steve Austin.
A mere 35 seconds for the Ninth Wonder of the World.
X-PAC (2000)
2000 was when it seemed WWF could do no wrong.
Their midcard was so strong, but unfortunately, their main event scene was lacking.
Especially since he was feuding with Kane.
Its just that there was only so far they could go with his dancing sumo/felching enthusiast gimmick.
Rikishis showing still bore some fruit as he got to cleanly eliminate the Undertaker.
All he had keeping him afloat were his charisma and the silliness of the Spinaroonie.
As the ring filled up with major names, Booker was the last to enter.
A mere 33 seconds.
It was also a piece of character development for Undertaker.
A year earlier, he got eliminated from behind by Maven and handled it violently.
This time, he admitted that the young guy simply had his number and shook his hand over it.
Kurt Angle finished the job and that was that.
That in turn made Heyman look like a total idiot.
The winner would face WWE Champion Brock Lesnar atNo Way Out.
Yes, hard as it is to believe, Holly was at this brief point a title contender.
Once he lost that title match, that was it for his push.
Still, it made him the perfect candidate to get the final entry in this half-Rumble.
He helped eliminate the Big Show, but didnt do much else.
Then after being caught, he gave Flair back his number…and his wallet.
As #30, Flair was part of driving forward Batistas story.
Evolution recently betrayed Randy Orton and won the feud that followed.
Batista was really getting popular at the time and seemed to be at peace with his Evolution comrades.
He and Flair worked together for a couple minutes, eliminating opponents together.
Then Flair attempted to backstab Batista and it didnt work.
Namely an overconfident Orton looking over Triple Hs shoulder and laughing about the number he drew.
True to the foreshadowing, Triple H was #1 and Randy Orton was #30.
Rey Mysterio was #2 and they ended up being the final three.
Mysterio eliminated Orton, who in turn roughed up Mysterio a bit before leaving to the back.
Mysterio won and Angle and Orton moved on to feuding with each other.
UNDERTAKER (2007)
For those keeping track, the Undertaker picked #30 THREE times.
The Undertaker, ironically enough, was just the guy to end that streak.
It was like the wrestling version of seeing Thor if he actually went for the head against Thanos.
JOHN CENA (2008)
Nobody expected John Cena to enter and win the Royal Rumble.
He was on the injured list and wasnt supposed to return for months.
That would be ridiculous!
Read More: WWE: The Top 100 Royal Rumble Moments
Well,Royal Rumble 2008was ridiculous.
The final three had him alongside top faces Triple H and Batista.
Cena outlasted them and the crowd didnt know whether to boo or cheer.
BIG SHOW (2009)
Big Show is the epitome of a #30 guy.
Instead, he faced Undertaker, got eliminated, and pulled Undertaker out of the ring out of revenge.
Shawn Michaels who HAD to win so you can get hisWrestleManiarematch against the Undertaker.
Otherwise, Batista lasted just a few minutes until falling to John Cena and ending up in third place.
At least hed be feuding with Cena byRoyal Rumble 2012.
Kane didnt really do much here, merely getting one elimination to his name.
All gone like that.
Then he lost to important guy Randy Orton.
Winning the 2013 Royal Rumble match was his last chance at relevancy.
He got that final spot and demolished many of his enemies.
He was doing great until it was just him and John Cena.
Someone got built up, John Cena showed up, and John Cena tore them down.
Ryback lost and his career never recovered.
REY MYSTERIO (2014)
Ah, the most infamous #30 of them all.
This time their victim was Daniel Bryan and it backfired hilariously.
Two, because Bryans run toWrestleManiaseemed pretty self-explanatory in a sane world.
WWE never outright said that Bryan was in the match, nor did they outright say he wasnt.
Bryan showing up was at least expected.
Yet Bryan never showed up.
When Rey Mysterio stepped out instead, the boos started and never stopped.
He was so hated during these two minutes that heel Seth Rollins got cheered for eliminating him.
Ziggler was discarded, more so when Roman came back.
Everyone knew exactly where this was going.
The predictability of it all turned people off Romans push once again.
ROMAN REIGNS (2017)
Okay, okay.
They did that again…but with Roman as the guy everyones supposed to hate.
Roman was in the undercard, losing to Kevin Owens for the Universal Championship.
Many were happy about that, as it meant he wasnt going to be in the Rumble itself.
And so, he was in the Rumble itself as the final entrant, gaining a chorus of boos.
Roman eliminated Jericho and, just as major, eliminated the Undertaker.
This led to the Roman Reigns vs. Undertaker main event ofWrestleMania 33and that hurt Romans brand even worse.
Did great for Braun Strowmans career, though!
Dolph Zigglers Royal Rumble appearance in 2018 was definitely one of those times.
Ziggler won the match.
He threw down the US title, walked off, and the belt was vacated.
That had people wondering what the payoff was going to be.
What was Ziggler so mad about and where would they go with this?
There was no follow-up at all.
She wasnt going to win and she shouldnt have won regardless.
CHRIS JERICHO (2018, GREATEST ROYAL RUMBLE)
Greatest Royal Rumblewas a bit of nonsense.
Hell, WWE was even asked to include guys who were long dead!
One of the matches was supposed to be Undertaker vs. Rusev in a casket match.
For reasons never fully explained, the match was changed to Undertaker vs. Chris Jericho.
Then it went back to being Undertaker vs. Rusev.
It was a lot of things, really.
It involved various teams of one man and one woman each facing off against each other.
The winning team ended up being R-Truth and Carmella.
Carmella needed theMixed-Match Challengevictory to keep her afloat, for what it was worth.
Becky Lynch took Lanas place, but Lana was #27.
Becky was the actual final contestant, making it kind of a gray area.
R-TRUTH/NIA JAX (2019)
Like I said, Truth earned his spot at #30.
It just felt…off.
Despite being a popular act, R-Truth hadnt been even close to the main event scene since 2011.
He seemed like the weakest wrestler to ever get that spot.
If Becky Lynch could take Lanas spot, then she could take R-Truths.
So Nias time as #30 in the mens Rumble was just a fun diversion that didnt go anywhere.
