The GREATEST Royal Rumble

[King Patrick Star]

The Greatest Royal Rumble has come and gone, and it got me thinking. What was actually the “Greatest” Royal Rumble?? I’m not just talking about the Royal Rumble matches themselves, but also take into consideration the rest of the matches on the cards. Which Royal Rumble was the “Greatest”??

Note, since I can only have a max of 15 choices in the poll, I made each choice 3 events, and then put 2018 and The Greatest Royal Rumble together as the last choice. So for example, if you think 1992 is the Greatest Royal Rumble ever, just pick “1991 - 1993”, and explain your choice in the comments.

 

[Deoxyribonucleic A.C.I.D.]

My candidates are 2001, 2007, 2013, 2016, 2017 and 2018.

I'll rate these depending on Rumble match quality, Rest of the card match quality and impatct that the event made.

Rumble match quality
That's a tough one. I remember that the 2018 Royal Rumble match was the best one in years, so this beats 2017 and 2016. 2013 had a pretty ok Rumble match. So it's between 2001, 2007 and 2018 and I think that 2018 wins this one by a little. Second comes 2001 and third comes 2007.

Rest of the card
2001 - 2 more great matches in this card: Angle vs Triple H and Jericho vs Benoit in a Ladder match. Plus two ok bouts (women's match and tag team championships match)
2007 - Here you have the LMS match between Cena and Umaga and the rest is just ok.
2013 - This was a solid card. A LMS match between Big Show and Del Rio, Team Hell No vs Rhodes Scholars who were the most over tag team at that time besides Team Hell No and also Rock vs CM Punk.
2016 - Another good card. A great match between Ambrose and Owens and the rest of the card was also good.
2017 - One great match. Styles vs Cena and the rest is also good.
2018 - This card had two Royal Rumbles and that's about it actually. The rest of the card was OK.
Ranking the cards I'd say: 2001, 2013, 2017, 2007, 2016 and 2018.

Now onto the impact.
Rumble 2001 was the beginning of the highest two months in the history of the WWE. You have the historic victory of Stone Cold which would lead to him beating The Rock and turning heel. Jericho and Benoit's ladder match is underrated because of the name Chris Benoit, but it's one of the greatest ladder matches out there and HHH vs Angle is probably the best heel vs heel match out there.

2007, 2016 didn't have much of an impact. In 2013 you had The Rock ending CM Punk's championship reign, which was a huge deal at the time. In 2017 you had Cena tieing Ric Flair's record and in 2018 you had the first ever Women's Royal Rumble.

This one is a tie between 2001 and 2018.

Given the results, 2001 wins this contest as the greatest Royal Rumble ever, opening the Road to the Greatest Wrestlemania ever. 2018 comes second by a little. What 2018 lacked was a big memorable non-Rumble match, in order to boost the card to the skies.
2013 takes the third place and correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the Rumble match there wasn't anything special. If that card had a great Rumble like 2001 or 2018, then this would probably had won here.

So, 2001 for me.

 

[Goldie]

Forgetting the undercard- the best royal rumble match was 1992.
The RIC flair show- with the vacant world title on the line the stakes were never higher, and with the exception of Dibiase who was eliminated beforehand- Flair was the first guy to walk through the entire field of participants (and those days it was 2 mins per entry as opposed to 90 seconds).

The wrestler list was a whos of who of the time- Hogan and Flair (the Ying and Tang of pro wrestling)- All time legends in Savage and Piper, future legends Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, past/future world champs in Sgt Slaughter and Sid and classic wrestlers such as Ted Dibiase, Davey Boy Smith, Tito Santanna, Rick Martel, Jake Roberts, Jimmy Snuka.

It was booked magnificently as Flair cleared the ring mid-Rumble only for Piper (who was involved in a fued with Flair) raced through next for a one on one grudge battle, and the Sid turn on Hogan to set up the WM8 main event.

This match solidified Flairs greatness in the WWE- fans had read about his acomplishments in NWA/WCW but he proved his nickname here- the marathon man- by going an hour.

 

[LibSuperstar]

Forgetting the undercard- the best royal rumble match was 1992.
The RIC flair show- with the vacant world title on the line the stakes were never higher, and with the exception of Dibiase who was eliminated beforehand- Flair was the first guy to walk through the entire field of participants (and those days it was 2 mins per entry as opposed to 90 seconds).

The wrestler list was a whos of who of the time- Hogan and Flair (the Ying and Tang of pro wrestling)- All time legends in Savage and Piper, future legends Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, past/future world champs in Sgt Slaughter and Sid and classic wrestlers such as Ted Dibiase, Davey Boy Smith, Tito Santanna, Rick Martel, Jake Roberts, Jimmy Snuka.

It was booked magnificently as Flair cleared the ring mid-Rumble only for Piper (who was involved in a fued with Flair) raced through next for a one on one grudge battle, and the Sid turn on Hogan to set up the WM8 main event.

This match solidified Flairs greatness in the WWE- fans had read about his acomplishments in NWA/WCW but he proved his nickname here- the marathon man- by going an hour.

What I loved about it. The mini-matches were great and Heenan was on fire w/ commentary.

 

[StraightEdge]

Forgetting the undercard- the best royal rumble match was 1992.
The RIC flair show- with the vacant world title on the line the stakes were never higher, and with the exception of Dibiase who was eliminated beforehand- Flair was the first guy to walk through the entire field of participants (and those days it was 2 mins per entry as opposed to 90 seconds).

The wrestler list was a whos of who of the time- Hogan and Flair (the Ying and Tang of pro wrestling)- All time legends in Savage and Piper, future legends Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, past/future world champs in Sgt Slaughter and Sid and classic wrestlers such as Ted Dibiase, Davey Boy Smith, Tito Santanna, Rick Martel, Jake Roberts, Jimmy Snuka.

It was booked magnificently as Flair cleared the ring mid-Rumble only for Piper (who was involved in a fued with Flair) raced through next for a one on one grudge battle, and the Sid turn on Hogan to set up the WM8 main event.

This match solidified Flairs greatness in the WWE- fans had read about his acomplishments in NWA/WCW but he proved his nickname here- the marathon man- by going an hour.

Good post. 1992 is my choice as well. I bought the event on VHS around the time I started watching wwf in 1998. I remember when Piper won the IC title I popped like crazy at home. The new foundation vs the orient express was a pretty good opening match as well.

 

[HeenanGorilla]

1990-92 would be my favorite 3-year window, but to follow the rules, I'll go with 1991-93.

1991 - I enjoyed the Warrior/Slaughter/Savage/Sherri portion. I thought it was well done. I also think Rockers/Orient Express is one of the most underrated tag matches I've ever seen.

1992 was an all-time Rumble match and had an entertaining undercard.

1993 I am not familiar with, which is why I wanted the range to be 1990-92 (that and the 1990 Rumble match may be my favorite of all time--what a lineup!). The only thing that stands out to me from this one is that just one year removed from his foolish self-elimination in 92 (which they explained away with some nonsense of having to be thrown out by someone else) Savage actually doubles down on his cluelessness and goes for the pin on Yoko. Granted, it was a spot where Yoko could kick out and launch him over the ropes. But when the spot requires a mistake like that, in my opinion, go back to the drawing board for another spot.

Actually, thinking back now to the 1988-90 option, it's closer than I first thought. But, I'll stick with 1991-93 here. Put it this way, the first Rumble DVD collection I bought was 1988-92 and I never regretted leaving 1993-97 on the shelf.

 

[King Patrick Star]

1990-92 would be my favorite 3-year window, but to follow the rules, I'll go with 1991-93.

1991 - I enjoyed the Warrior/Slaughter/Savage/Sherri portion. I thought it was well done. I also think Rockers/Orient Express is one of the most underrated tag matches I've ever seen.

1992 was an all-time Rumble match and had an entertaining undercard.

1993 I am not familiar with, which is why I wanted the range to be 1990-92 (that and the 1990 Rumble match may be my favorite of all time--what a lineup!). The only thing that stands out to me from this one is that just one year removed from his foolish self-elimination in 92 (which they explained away with some nonsense of having to be thrown out by someone else) Savage actually doubles down on his cluelessness and goes for the pin on Yoko. Granted, it was a spot where Yoko could kick out and launch him over the ropes. But when the spot requires a mistake like that, in my opinion, go back to the drawing board for another spot.

Actually, thinking back now to the 1988-90 option, it's closer than I first thought. But, I'll stick with 1991-93 here. Put it this way, the first Rumble DVD collection I bought was 1988-92 and I never regretted leaving 1993-97 on the shelf.

Sorry, I didn’t mean pick the range. I meant just pick the choice that your favorite falls on. The selections are only the way they are due to the limited number of choices we have for polls. Also I set it up so you can pick more than one.

 

[HBKperfect23]

1992: I don't think many dispute the actual rumble as being the best there was. The cast of wrestlers is this rumble is unmatched. Flair going the distance from the 3 spot with Hennan rooting for him the entire way was classic. The undercard was decent as well with LOD in the tag title match and Piper in the IC title match.

1995: I think this is a very underrated undercard. Bret and Diesel always had good matches, only thing I would change is Diesel should have went over here. I liked the tag match with Kid/Holly pulling off the upset then the set up for mania with LT/Bam Bam. The rumble itself was pretty good, it did have a lot of filler guys but Shawn and Bulldog made the match.

2001: The last rumble of the attitude era. Austin gets number 3. The undercard has Jericho/Benoit and and Angle/H, both having great matches. Really good job setting up wrestle mania X7.

2004: Benoit goes the distance. One of the more entertaining rumble matches. I really enjoyed HBK/HHH. I'll put this one as an honorable mention since the other undercard title match featured someone with no chance to win the title and a few very short matches.

 

[relentless1]

1992 followed by 1990

The depth of HOF talent in 92 plus Flairs performance make that a no brainer for me

1990 wa built perfectly to showcase Hulk vs Warrior and that moment still gives me goosebumps to watch it

 

[WWEWrestleFest]

1992 is probably the best one, but 1990 is my favorite. That era of WWF, 1989-1990, is my personal favorite year leading up to WM6. That Hogan/Warrior moment was unlike anything I had ever seen before as a kid. It was like Superman and Batman were going at it.

 

[mjg1987]

I voted 2000-2002

Although some of my favourite rumble matches took place in other years, 1990, 91, 2004, 06, when I take into account the overall event, 2000-2002 comes first place IMO

2000 - debut of tazz, hardys vs dudleys in tables match, the street fight with hhh vs cactus, a decent rumble match
2001 - a great undercard with edge & christian vs dudleys in a great match, a hard hitting ladder match with benoit vs jericho, a good wwf title match with hhh vs angle and an awesome rumble match with kanes performance being a highlight
2002 - I enjoyed the feud & match with mcmahon vs flair at the time, rock vs jericho was a good and one of my all time favourite rumbles based on the names including hhh return from quad injury, austin, angle, taker, kane, big show, booker, rvd, the returns of mr perfect, goldust, val venis & godfather, other names such as rikishi, apa, bossman, test, al snow, although the attitude era had ended its still good to see a lot of the stars still around

 

[Wrestlingaholic]

I am going to say 2001, followed by 2000, 1991 and 1998.

2001 was the 2nd best Rumble match, IMO (after ‘92) - what made it s good was the pacing. A build up which actually suggested a handful of potential winners, rather than the usual obvious one or two, and each of these entered fairly spaced out - Kane #5, the Rock #13, and Austin, Rikishi and Undertaker all in the final few. The ending was a surprise (even though Kane was presented as an potential winner, I’m sure most were surprised when the final 3 were him, Austin and the Rock and yet HE made the final two. Add to this the fact the overall card was stacked, with the Dudleys v Edge and Christian for the tag titles, a brilliant ladder match between Chris’ Jericho and Benoit, and a decent WWE Title match between Kurt Angle and Triple H, and you have a near perfect Royal Rumble card in what is probably WWE’s best ever 18 month period, creatively and in-ring.

2000 has perhaps the greatest Royal Rumble undercard in history (the beginnings of the Dudleys and Hardy Boys epic feud in a tables match, the best streetfight in WWE history between Cactus Jack and Triple H) but is let down by that Mae Young moment and a mediocre Rumble match with few high spots.

1991 was a very good card, nearly took my top spot, with a fantastic tag team opener (Rockers v Orient Express, find it on the Network if you haven’t seen it, and remember when you are watching that it took place in 199-freaking-1!), a decent secondary tag match between Ted DiBiase/Virgil and Dusty/Dustin Rhodes - Dusty’s last proper WWE match and also a brilliantly executed and super hot babyface turn in the post match angle; a WWE title change and a strong Royal Rumble match where the booking actually made most of the participants come out stronger than when they went in (something very few Rumble matches achieve) but the title match wasn’t brilliant, and whilst the Boss Man and Barbarian has a better than expected scrap, it was still the Boss Man v the Barbarian so there’s only so much they can do.

My final ‘semi finalist’ is 1998, as I love the Rumble match, and the casket match for the WWE title is decent, especially when you realise Shawn Michaels broke his back half way through but still finished the match. Vader v Goldust was also a strong opener. However, the Mexican minis ‘comedy’ match and a poor tag title match (New Age Outlaws v the Legion of Doom) let this show down slightly, plus I’m just not a fan of the casket match gimmick, no matter how hard Michael’s and the Taker worked.

So for me, that’s the final four of ‘best overall Royal Rumble card’, with 2001 taking the plaudits.

 

[JESSE MCGINNIS]

3. 1998
The beginning of the attitude era. Stone Cold era was beginning. You had undertaker and shawn Michaels(even though he injuried his back in the match) in there prime. Even had Mike Tyson looking on. Very good event and entertaining rumble.

2. 2004
Yes I'm a big Chris Benoit in ring fan. It was a big year for him and this was the start of it for him. WWE may not recognize this but it was and still is one of the best rumble performances in history. Before the rumble there was a intense last man standing match with hunter and Michaels. Definitely a must watch rumble.

1. 2001
Probably my favorite wrestling year and the rumble was the start of it. Definitely star studded from the opening match to the rumble. Stone Cold wins his 3rd but probably the best and most entertaining story telling rumble in history. You had the hunter attack on Austin. Big show attack on the rock. Dont forget even drew Carey.

Those are my top 3 Royal Rumbles
1998, 2004, 2001

 

[Psykohurricane55]

This is kinda hard for me because i grew up with this event, in fact my first event a bought on videotape was the rumble 89.

So since it'S so hard, i will post my top 5 rumble.

5. Men's royal rumble 2018: I lost hope with this event after a few years of poor quality rumbles, But this one was booked to perfection and in fact outshine the women'S rumble that was put as the main event later that night. The way they put over Nakamura strong help put that match on that list for me.

4. Royal rumble 89: This is mostly for nostalgia reason as the winner isn'T that memorable and in fact was out the door by the end of the year. But it was the first one i saw and that Ax vs smash moment at the beginning of the rumble still resonate for me.

3. Royal rumble 2004: The one that WWE will never talk about again. Despite what happened with Benoit at the end of his life, i still love this rumble as it was another one that was perfectly booked and was made to make Benoit a mega star. The elimination of Big show by Benoit as become a classic elimination spot that is still use to this day.

2. Royal rumble 1990: The match itself was what it was but this match will always be remember for the epic first meeting between Warrior and Hogan and that'S why i still love it

1. Royal rumble 92: This was what a rumble should look like, you have a bunch of stars wrestling for the top prize in the industry. Have Flair go almost coast to coast which was the first time they did that and set up your mania programs with the bulk of the match. It was perfectly booked and it'S still regarded as the strongest rumble match in history.