The Royal Rumble differs from the classical
battle royal as the contestants do not enter the ring at the same time, but instead are assigned entry numbers, usually via a
lottery, although desirable spots are occasionally assigned by other means, the most common being winning a match.[1] The match begins with the two wrestlers who have drawn entry numbers one and two, with the remaining wrestlers entering the ring at regular timed intervals, either 90 seconds or two minutes (60 seconds for the
1995 event), according to their entry number.[1] This format is credited to
Pat Patterson.[4] To date, only six wrestlers who have been one of the starting two entrants have won the Royal Rumble:
Shawn Michaels in
1995,
Vince McMahon in
1999,
Chris Benoit in
2004,
Rey Mysterio in
2006,
Edge in
2021, and
Rhea Ripley in
2023. (Michaels, Benoit, Edge, and Ripley were entrant number 1 while McMahon and Mysterio were number 2), while only five wrestlers who have been the final entrant won the Royal Rumble:
The Undertaker in
2007,
John Cena in
2008,
Triple H in
2016,
Brock Lesnar in
2022, and
Cody Rhodes in 2023. The most common number to win is 30, and 16 eventual winners entered at number 25 or later.
The Royal Rumble match traditionally involves 30 wrestlers and usually lasts an hour (the
2011 edition had a 40-man field). The
Greatest Royal Rumble (the only edition to have a 50-man field)[5] was the longest, lasting one hour and 17 minutes of a five-hour pay-per-view event while the
first televised Rumble match in
1988 involved only 20 men[6] and lasted 33 minutes of the two-hour broadcast.[7] The
1998 match nominally had the traditional 30-man field, but only 28 individual wrestlers competed as
Mick Foley entered the Royal Rumble match three different times as three different gimmicks—first as Cactus Jack, then Mankind and finally Dude Love.[8] The 2018 Royal Rumble PPV was the first to include a
women's Royal Rumble match,[9] contested under the same rules as the men's match, including having 30 participants.[10][11]
According to the rules, participants are eliminated from the match if moved over the top rope and both feet touch the floor. Hence, a wrestler who exits the ring without going over the top rope is not eliminated from the contest. For example, during the
1999 match, both McMahon and
"Stone Cold" Steve Austin left the ring only to return later in the match.[12] Furthermore, a wrestler who only touches the floor with one foot is not eliminated from the match, a rule which greatly affected the 1995 match, allowing Michaels to re-enter the ring and win the match. Although he has not won a Royal Rumble match,
Kofi Kingston has become synonymous with finding various ways to keep at least one of his feet from touching the floor.[13] In the
1994 match, the last two participants (
Bret Hart and
Lex Luger) were declared co-winners when officials were unable to determine whose feet touched the floor first.[14] Although this was the intended outcome, a similar situation occurred by a legitimate accident in
2005, when
Batista and John Cena eliminated each other and hit the ground at exactly the same time. This time, the match was restarted.[15] Though various referees are charged with observing the match, some eliminations have gone unnoticed to allow the eliminated participants to sneak back into the ring to continue. Austin was able to re-enter the ring in this way and win the
1997 match.[16]
Although eliminations are usually caused by active participants, eliminations caused by other means have been ruled legitimate, including self-eliminations (such as
André the Giant after seeing a
snake in
1989,
Mil Máscaras diving out of the ring from the turnbuckle in 1997,
Kane in 1999, and
Pat McAfee in 2024, although
Randy Savage's jump over the top rope in
1992 was not ruled as self-elimination), elimination by previously eliminated participants (such as
The Undertaker eliminating
Maven in
2002,
Kurt Angle eliminating Michaels in 2005 or
Sonya Deville eliminating
Naomi in 2022) or non-participants (such as
Shane McMahon eliminating Shawn Michaels in 2006 and
The Miz eliminating John Cena in 2011). Furthermore, an injured wrestler can return to the ring as long as the match is still ongoing (such as Austin in 1999,
Roman Reigns in 2016, and
Randy Orton in 2021), but not if the match has already ended (such as
Spike Dudley in 2004,
Scotty 2 Hotty in 2005,
Curtis Axel in
2015,
R-Truth in
2019 and
Rey Mysterio in 2023) and can also be replaced by another wrestler (such as Mick Foley replacing
Test in 2004,
Sami Zayn replacing
Tye Dillinger in
2018, and
Nia Jax replacing
R-Truth in 2019).
Prize
Since 1993, the winner of the Royal Rumble match is traditionally awarded a title match for WWE's
top championship at
WrestleMania—WWE currently promotes two main roster
brands with a top championship for each and the winner can choose which championship to challenge for, regardless of the brand they belong to. For the men, that is the
World Heavyweight Championship on
Raw and the
Undisputed WWE Universal Championship (respresenting both the
WWE and
Universal Championships) on
SmackDown.[17] Similarly, the winner of the women's Royal Rumble match (first contested in 2018) is awarded a match at WrestleMania for their choice of one of WWE's top women's championships: Raw's
Women's World Championship, or SmackDown's
WWE Women's Championship.[9][18] However, it has never been officially confirmed that a man or woman would be barred from challenging a different gender at WrestleMania.
With the first
brand extension introduced in mid-2002, the 30 male entrants from
2003 to 2006 consisted of 15 wrestlers from the Raw and SmackDown brands, respectively. At first, the winner of the match received a shot for their brand's top championship, either the
World Heavyweight Championship or WWE Championship.[19] Starting in 2004, the Royal Rumble winner had the option of challenging for either brand's top championship. For instance,
Chris Benoit switched from SmackDown to Raw after winning the 2004 event to challenge for Raw's top championship at the time.[17] From 2007 to
2010, participants from the
ECW brand competed along with the Raw and SmackDown brands, with the
ECW Championship added as an option, although no winner ever chose it.[20] During ECW's participation, the entries for each brand were not evenly divided.[21] The ECW Championship was deactivated in 2010, leaving the two remaining titles until they were unified in December 2013 as the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. This singular option lasted until the brand extensions' return in 2016, which introduced the Universal Championship, as the WWE World Heavyweight Championship reverted to being called the WWE Championship. Like the first brand extension, the winner of the
2017 event earned a match for their brand's top championship, the Universal Championship or WWE Championship, but beginning with the
2018 event, the winner has a choice.
NXT - WWE's
developmental brand - was elevated to main roster status from September 2019 until September 2021, during that time NXT's top championships (the
NXT Championship for men and the
NXT Women's Championship for women) were also eligible choices. This ended when NXT reverted back to developmental status in September 2021. Since the return of the brand extension, the number of participants from each brand has not been evenly divided, as matches have also featured NXT wrestlers, as well has surprise entrants such as
WWE Hall of Famers and/or debuting wrestlers.
WWE's top championship has been booked as on the line during the Royal Rumble match on two occasions. In 1992, the vacant WWF World Heavyweight Championship was contested in the Royal Rumble match, which was won by
Ric Flair,[22] while in 2016,
Roman Reigns was scheduled to defend his WWE World Heavyweight Championship as a participant of that year's Royal Rumble match as entrant number one. This has thus far been the only time that a reigning champion had to defend his title in the match, which was ultimately won by
Triple H, who eliminated Reigns before lastly eliminating
Dean Ambrose to win; Reigns would earn a rematch against Triple H at
WrestleMania 32 and won back the title. In 2008, ECW Champion
Chavo Guerrero entered the Royal Rumble match as entrant number 26 before being eliminated by eventual winner John Cena. This was the first time in which a reigning world champion competed in the match in which the winner could challenge them. In
2020, although he did not defend his title in the match, WWE Champion Brock Lesnar entered the Royal Rumble match as entrant number 1, feeling as if no one on any brand deserved to challenge him at either the Royal Rumble or WrestleMania. Lesnar's participation was used as a way to set up his WrestleMania challenger, which ended up being
Drew McIntyre, who eliminated Lesnar, won the Rumble match and then challenged Lesnar for his title at
WrestleMania 36. In 2022, although she did not defend her title in the match, SmackDown Women's Champion
Charlotte Flair entered the Royal Rumble match as entrant number 17, feeling as if no one on any brand deserved to challenge her at either the Royal Rumble or WrestleMania. This was the first time in which a reigning women's champion competed in the match in which the champion could choose their opponent; Flair's participation was used as a way to set up her WrestleMania challenger, which ended up being
Ronda Rousey, who eliminated Flair, won the Rumble match and then challenged Flair for her title at
WrestleMania 38.
The Royal Rumble winner may also choose to put his championship opportunity on the line in a match. This was first done in 1996, when Shawn Michaels risked his
WrestleMania XII WWF Championship opportunity in a match against
Owen Hart at
In Your House 6. The second time was in 2002, when Triple H lost his
WrestleMania X8 Undisputed WWF Championship opportunity at
No Way Out to
Kurt Angle, but regained his spot in a rematch against Angle on the following episode of Raw. The third time was in 2006, when
Randy Orton defeated
Rey Mysterio at
No Way Out for Mysterio's
WrestleMania 22 World Heavyweight Championship opportunity, though Mysterio was reinserted into the title match, making it a triple threat match. The fourth time was on the February 25, 2013 edition of Raw, where John Cena successfully defended his
WrestleMania 29 WWE Championship opportunity in a match against
CM Punk. The fifth time was in 2015 at
Fastlane, where Reigns defended his
WrestleMania 31 WWE World Heavyweight Championship opportunity against
Daniel Bryan. In a reverse case in 2008, John Cena decided that instead of waiting until
WrestleMania XXIV, he would use his world championship opportunity and challenge WWE Champion Orton at the preceding
No Way Out event, though won the match but not the title when Orton intentionally got himself disqualified; however, after Triple H became Orton's WrestleMania opponent, Cena earned another opportunity and was inserted into that championship match, making it a triple threat match. In another case in 2017, Randy Orton relinquished his
WrestleMania 33 WWE Championship opportunity after his stablemate
Bray Wyatt won the title, but later turned on Wyatt and reverted his decision; he then defeated
AJ Styles, who had become the new title challenger, to re-earn his title shot at WrestleMania.
Due to Austin re-entering the Rumble match when the referees did not see when he was thrown out of the ring, WWF President
Gorilla Monsoon ruled that he would not be receiving his
WWF Championship match at WrestleMania 13. A match at February's
In Your House event was scheduled to determine who would challenge the champion at WrestleMania, but after
Shawn Michaels forfeited the title, plans were changed.
Bret Hart won a repurposed match at In Your House 13 to become the new champion, but lost the title to
Sycho Sid on an episode of Raw Is War.
The Undertaker then became the number one contender and defeated Sid for the championship at WrestleMania 13.
Video footage later showed Rock's feet hit the floor first before runner-up
Big Show. After multiple attempts to name a rightful number one contender failed, both The Rock and Big Show were added to the main event along with
Mick Foley to make it a
fatal four-way match for the
WWF Championship. At WrestleMania 2000,
Triple H retained the championship.
Triple H lost his WrestleMania X8 title shot to
Kurt Angle at
No Way Out. The following night on Raw, Triple H was given a rematch by WWF co-owner
Ric Flair and defeated Angle to win his title shot back. Triple H went on to defeat
Chris Jericho to win the
Undisputed WWF Championship at WrestleMania X8.
As a member of the
SmackDown! brand, Lesnar earned a match for his own brand's
WWE Championship and defeated
Kurt Angle to win the title; had Angle gotten counted out or disqualified, he would have lost the title per the stipulation.
Instead of waiting until
WrestleMania XXIV, Cena from
Raw used his championship shot at
No Way Out to challenge for his own brand's
WWE Championship. Cena defeated champion
Randy Orton by disqualification, thus Orton retained as titles do not change hands by disqualification unless stipulated. Cena would nevertheless challenge for the title at WrestleMania XXIV in a
triple threat match also featuring
Triple H, with Orton again retaining.
Orton won the Rumble as a
Raw wrestler, but chose to challenge for
SmackDown's
WWE Championship, but lost to
Triple H; had Triple H gotten counted out or disqualified, he would have lost the title per the stipulation.
Cena chose to challenge for the
WWE Championship and successfully defended his title shot against
CM Punk on the February 25 episode of Raw. At WrestleMania 29, Cena defeated
The Rock to win the title.
After months of feuding,
Triple H agreed to face
Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania XXX, with the stipulation that whoever won would be inserted into the
WWE World Heavyweight Championship match between champion
Randy Orton and Rumble winner Batista to make it a
triple threat match. Bryan defeated Triple H in the opening match and went on to defeat Orton and Batista to win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.
Reigns successfully defended his title shot against
Daniel Bryan at
Fastlane. At WrestleMania 31 during Reigns' match against champion
Brock Lesnar,
Seth Rollins cashed in his
Money in the Bank contract, converting the
singles match between Reigns and Lesnar into a
triple threat match. Rollins then defeated Lesnar and Reigns in the impromptu triple threat match by pinning Reigns to win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.
As a member of the
SmackDown brand, Orton earned a match for his own brand's
WWE Championship. After his fellow
Wyatt Family member
Bray Wyatt won the championship at
Elimination Chamber and retained it on the following SmackDown, Orton relinquished his championship opportunity. On the next episode of SmackDown, however, Orton reverted his decision and turned on Wyatt. The following week, Orton defeated
AJ Styles, who had become the new number one contender for the title, to re-earn his title shot. At WrestleMania 33, Orton defeated Wyatt to win the title.
Edge won as a free agent and chose to challenge for
SmackDown's
WWE Universal Championship. After a controversial finish in the main event of
Fastlane, which saw champion
Roman Reigns retain the title against
Daniel Bryan in a match where Edge served as the
special guest enforcer, a decision was made to add Bryan to the match at WrestleMania, making it a
triple threat match. At WrestleMania 37, Reigns defeated Edge and Bryan to retain the Universal Championship.
Lesnar, who came into the
Royal Rumble event as
Raw's
WWE Champion and lost the title to
Bobby Lashley in the opening match, came back in the main event as the surprise #30 entrant in the Rumble match, won the Rumble, and chose to challenge for
SmackDown's
WWE Universal Championship. Lesnar would go on to win back the WWE Championship at
Elimination Chamber in an
Elimination Chamber match. It was then announced that the match between Lesnar and Universal Champion
Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 38 would be a
Winner Takes All match for both the WWE and Universal Championships. At WrestleMania 38, Reigns defeated Lesnar to retain his Universal Championship and win Lesnar's WWE Championship, subsequently becoming recognized as the
Undisputed WWE Universal Champion.
^The WWE Championship has had various names due to company name changes and title unifications. Since the 1993 Royal Rumble, these include the WWF World Heavyweight Championship, the WWF Championship, the Undisputed WWF Championship, the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, and the
Undisputed WWE Universal Championship (in tandem with the
WWE Universal Championship).
^Since April 2022, the
WWE Championship and Universal Championship have been held and defended together as the
Undisputed WWE Universal Championship, thus both titles together have since been a singular choice as the Undisputed title.
Female Royal Rumble winner's championship opportunity
Lynch won the Rumble as a
SmackDown wrestler, but chose to challenge for the
Raw Women's Championship. Lynch was removed from the match and suspended after continuously attacking the McMahon family and was replaced by Rumble runner-up,
Charlotte Flair. At
Fastlane, Lynch defeated Flair thanks to interference from champion
Ronda Rousey, and as per the stipulation of that match, she was reinserted into the match at WrestleMania, making it a
triple threat match. Flair then won the
SmackDown Women's Championship on the March 26 episode of SmackDown, leading
Stephanie McMahon to announce that both titles would be on the line in a
Winner Takes All match. At WrestleMania 35, Lynch defeated Rousey and Flair to win both titles.
^Since the inception of the Women's Royal Rumble in 2018, Jax is the only wrestler to ever take part in both the men's and women's Royal Rumble matches on the same card, and one of two, along with Beth Phoenix, to score eliminations in both.
Chelsea Green (left) and
Sarah Logan (Valhalla) (right) hold the record for the shortest time spent in a single women's Royal Rumble match at 5 seconds.
There was a tag team Royal Rumble on the June 15, 1998 episode of Raw. Kane and Mankind won the match and earned an opportunity for the
WWF Tag Team Championship against
The New Age Outlaws.
On January 11, 1999, a "corporate Royal Rumble" involving members of
The Corporation and
D-Generation X was held on Raw to determine the 30th entry in the Royal Rumble that year. The match was won by
Chyna, who last eliminated
Vince McMahon.
A 5-man Royal Rumble took place on the September 16, 1999 episode of SmackDown to crown a contender for Triple H's
WWF Championship later that night. This was won by The Undertaker, but Vince McMahon would fight Triple H instead, winning the title.
A 4-man Royal Rumble took place on the January 8, 2004 episode of SmackDown, when
Paul Heyman pit Chris Benoit against the three members of the
F.B.I. Benoit won the match.
A 7-man Royal Rumble took place on the January 22, 2007 episode of Raw. However instead of entrants coming out to timed intervals, Jonathan Coachman called each entrant out at his own discretion.
The Great Khali won, last eliminating
John Cena.
A 5-man Royal Rumble took place on the January 25th, 2011 episode of SmackDown as a "Royal Rumble Exhibition". The match was won by
Kofi Kingston.
On the January 2011, episode of Raw, a Royal Rumble to crown the contender for
The Miz's WWE Championship at
Elimination Chamber was held.
Jerry Lawler won the match, last eliminating
Sheamus.
In 2017, the female wrestlers of
NXT held a Halloween Royal Rumble during as a house show event.
Shayna Baszler, as Darth Baszler, won the match.
At the
2018 Royal Rumble, WWE aired an advert for
KFC in the form of a 9-man "KFC Colonel Rumble," segments of which had been filmed as a dark match at a SmackDown taping two weeks prior.
Ric Flair won the version that was aired, last eliminating The Miz.
In 2018, the male wrestlers of NXT held a costumed Halloween Royal Rumble during a house show to crown a contender for
Ricochet's
NXT North American Championship, which was won by Stacey Ervin Jr..
In 2019, NXT held two costumed Halloween Royal Rumbles during a house show. The women's match was won by
Shayna Baszler and the men's match was won by
Bronson Reed.
^"Royal Rumble 1997: Main Event". WWE. Retrieved December 3, 2007. Stone Cold was actually eliminated during the match, but the referees failed to detect it, so he sneaked back in.
^Powell, John (2004-01-26).
"Benoit wins the 'Rumble'". SLAM! Wrestling. Archived from the original on July 18, 2012. Retrieved 2007-12-23.{{
cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (
link)
^Powell, John (January 19, 1998).
"Austin wins predictable Rumble". SLAM! Sports. Archived from the original on July 21, 2012. Retrieved July 10, 2009.{{
cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (
link)
^Powell, John (January 22, 1998).
"Surprises dominate Rumble 2001". SLAM! Sports. Archived from the original on July 13, 2012. Retrieved July 10, 2009.{{
cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (
link)
^Powell, John (January 26, 1998).
"Benoit wins the 'Rumble'". SLAM! Sports. Archived from the original on July 18, 2012. Retrieved July 10, 2009.{{
cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (
link)
^Plummer, Dale (January 31, 1998).
"Batista claims the Rumble". SLAM! Sports. Archived from the original on July 17, 2012. Retrieved July 10, 2009.{{
cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (
link)
^Plummer, Dale (January 28, 1998).
"Cena wins Rumble in surprise return". SLAM! Sports. Archived from the original on June 29, 2012. Retrieved July 10, 2009.{{
cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (
link)