January is always an exciting time for WWE fans as the Royal Rumble holds its annual event during this time of the year. As usual, this year’s Royal Rumble will bring to it a lot of heated rumors as to who will win the match.
The reason for this is because the Royal Rumble is probably the WWE’s most dramatic event of the year. And yes, that also includes any Wrestlemania event. Most Royal Rumble winners will capture the WWE Championship at Wrestlemania after all.
While the Royal Rumble has produced some less than stellar outings, there are a lot of Rumble wins that are near and dear to WWE fans. The jitters of all those near eliminations and excitement of who will come out next for the Royal Rumble makes for perfectly good sports entertainment.
So before the 2017 Royal Rumble event finally happens in a few weeks time, here are some of the best Royal Rumble wins in WWE history according to an article by Den of Geek.
Ric Flair (1992 Winner)
A photo posted by Ric Flair® Nature Boy® (@ricflairnatureboy) on Dec 10, 2016 at 6:45am PST
Ric Flair’s amazing 1992 Royal Rumble victory was definitely one for the ages. This match is actually one of those Royal Rumble wins that fans still talk about even after 25 long years.
Leading up to the Rumble, Hogan was stripped-off the WWF championship because of the way he won it against the Undertaker (Typical WWE politics). It was then decided that the vacant belt will be up for grabs in that year’s Royal Rumble.
This marks the first time that the Royal Rumble became something bigger. So a lot of the biggest WWE stars joined the Rumble with the hopes of winning the WWF championship.
Ric Flair was entrant number three and for over an hour pulled off one of his best selling performance in a WWE ring.
Ric Flair was outmuscled by the likes of Hogan and lacked the athleticism of stars like Shawn Michaels. Yet he won the whole thing with a combination of endurance and incredible showmanship.
Steve Austin (1998 Winner)
A photo posted by "Stone Cold" Steve Austin (@stonecold_316) on Jun 14, 2016 at 8:58am PDT
This was Stone Cold Steve Austin’s coming out party and deserves a spot at the best Royal Rumble surprise entrants. Steve Austin was already red hot as the company’s new face before the Royal Rumble event. His feuds with the Rock became a stuff of legends which also started his incessant use of the stunner to everyone.
The start of the Royal Rumble was pretty controversial. The WWE carefully laid out a scenario where Austin will be unable to compete due to someone knocking him out. But when the number 24 entrant has to come out for the Rumble, Austin’s familiar glass break echoed blared throughout the arena and out came the man himself rushing through the crowd.
He dominated the Royal Rumble and went on to win a spot at Wrestlemania 14. This kicked off the WWE’s attitude era and the rest as they say, is history.
Shawn Michaels (1996 winner)
A photo posted by Shawn Michaels (@officialshawnmichaels) on Apr 18, 2016 at 4:05pm PDT
Shawn Michaels just got a nasty concussion courtesy of Owen Hart the night before the Rumble. Everyone had reason to believe that Shawn was not going to be entering the Royal Rumble event. So it was a bit of a surprise when he entered at no. 18 for the Royal Rumble.
What made Shawn Michael’s Royal Rumble win that special is the list of bodies he had to go through after the match. Michaels had to work with Yokozuna, Vader, and Diesel.
Not only was it hard to work with those big men, he also had Owen Hart’s athleticism to contend with. Shawn Michaels won hearts that way with his will, showmanship, and amazing feats of wrestling maneuvers.
This kicked off Michael’s first WWF championship and started his legendary real-life feud with Bret Hart.
Batista (2005 winner)
A photo posted by Dave Batista.fanpage (@dave_batista_fanpage) on Nov 30, 2016 at 2:25am PST
What made this Royal Rumble win special is not the fact that Batista won this one beautifully (He did not) but rather because it had one of the best of endings. The last two combatants for the Royal Rumble were John Cena and Batista.
During that time, both men were being heavily pushed by the WWE. Batista was fast becoming one of the WWE’s top face but so was John Cena. Keep in mind, that both these guys during that time have yet to win a single WWE championship.
An accidental ending resulted in one of the Rumble’s great drama. What was supposed to be a dominating win by Batista ended with both combatants eliminated. They had to go into sudden death where Batista finally got the win.
Both men went on to have legendary WWE careers.
Yokozuna (1993 winner)
Legend????GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN????
A photo posted by @yokozunawwe on Apr 3, 2016 at 4:02pm PDT
The Royal Rumble has fond memories of dominating figures crushing the ring. From the Big Show to Kane, these behemoths have lain waste to numerous Rumbles. Fans should take note that WWE Hall of Famer Yokozuna, did this first at the 1993 Rumble.
The giant came in at number 28 and absolutely obliterated everyone. From Earthquake to Randy Savage, no one was a match to Yokozuna who handled them with ease. He went on to win the WWF championship and became one of the most memorable heels in WWE history.
There it is, the most memorable Royal Rumble wins in WWE history. Per the WWE website, the 2017 Royal Rumble will happen on Jan. 29 at the Alamodome.
[Featued Image by Rick Scuteri/AP Images]