Pick Your Poison #19 - Best Royal Rumble Match

The Royal Rumble, in some circles, it's as big and as exciting as Wrestlemania. The Rumble match itself has been the scene of great underdog stories, big returns, shocking feats of endurance and just memorable moments in general. But which Royal Rumble was the best one of all? Here are the contenders.




In the only Rumble match to have the WWF Title on the line, Ric Flair did what most people deemed impossible: he won the match from entering in at the No. 3 slot. Having spent a staggering 59:26 in the brawl, Flair would go on to eliminate five men before winning the contest. Featuring a star studded line up with the likes of Roddy Piper, Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Sid Justice and the Undertaker, this one ranks very highly amongst fans.


The most chaotic start ever to a Royal Rumble featured Cactus Jack vs Chainsaw Charlie in which, yes, an actual chainsaw was used. This wasn't the last time we would see Mrs Foley's Baby Boy as his other two personae Dude Love and Mankind also had a go at winning. The main story heading in was definitely Steve Austin having a bullseye on his chest. Who can remember the amazing scene of his music hitting and the whole ring of superstars stopping and facing the entrance way only for the rattlesnake to come in from behind and raise hell. This event was also somewhat of a coming out party for The Rock.



Nearing the end of the Attitude Era, this was still one of the more chaotic Rumble matches. It seperated itself from the pack immediately by included its first ever celebrity guest contestant, Drew Carey. ECW alumni Raven, Perry Saturn and Al Snow brought with them an abundance of foreign objects, which only escalated when Steve Blackman brought a bag full of kendo sticks with him to the ring. Plus who can forget Al Snow gettng a 7/10 split with his bowling ball to a seated superstar in the corner?

​Following the madness of the Rumble's first segment, the "Big Red Machine" Kane went on a rampage, eliminating seven men in a row before coming face-to-face with The Rock. The remainder of the contest was an epic partnership between the Brothers of Destruction, a viscious brawl between Steve Austin and Triple H that took them around the arena, and an all-out sprint to the finish line between some of the greatest stars in history. Jim Ross put the icing on the cake with his now-famous exclamation, "Stone Cold! Stone Cold! Stone Cold is going to WrestleMania!"


This entire Rumble match was built around the return of Triple H, after suffering a torn quad injury that would put him on the shelf for eight months. It was almost guaranteed that The Game would go over in the end, but WWE delivered one of the best, most action-packed Rumble matches leading up to the inevitable conclusion. Another awesome highlight includes Maven shockingly eliminating the Undertaker during the latters Big Evil phase. This resulted in violent arena-wide dismantling of the Tough Enough rookie. In one of the best Rumble returns ever, Mr Perfect showed why Curt Hennig deserved that moniker.


This year was the first time that somebody entering at the No. 30 slot had managed to go on and win the big one itself. The Undertaker would be the first man to break the curse of the No. 30 position, by eliminating Shawn Michaels last to win his first ever Rumble. This one will probably go down in history as having the best ever head-to-head final duel between the last two competitors. Nobody had any idea who was going to win the match. The fight, lasting nearly eight minutes, the two legends pulled off in the ring was an all-time Rumble highlight.
The previous year's winners, Shawn Michaels and The Undertaker, started the match off from the #1 and #2 positions. So right out of the gate we had two of the greatest wrestlers in history competing, insuring a hot Madison Square Garden for at least the 32 minutes they remained in the match. While there was a fair lot of filler Superstars following Undertaker and HBK, the Garden did their part to recognize who they saw as future stars. CM Punk and Mr. Kennedy got huge reactions, as did Shelton Benjamin, while heels like Miz, John Morrison and Umaga were appropriately dealt with. The returning legends cast for this Rumble is among the best, with Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka, "Rowdy" Roddy Piper and Mick Foley blowing the roof off MSG. In one of the best kept secrets of modern times, the superhuman John Cena came out at # 30 despite us being told he would be out for another 4 months. It was one of the best reactions you could ever hope to witness.