For everyone who says that WrestleMania is like Christmas, then the Royal Rumble is Thanksgiving. It’s the calm before the storm when the landscape of what The Show Of Shows will look like takes shape. It’s generally the start of the most exciting time of the year for WWE.
It might be the fastest sixty minutes in sports entertainment, but every so often the action taking place doesn’t come to a dead stop, but an entertaining one. The Royal Rumble match, now and then, finds a way to entertain the WWE Universe instead of just heaving men and women over the top rope.
10 Monsoon Takes Control - 1996
While the action didn’t stop, the 1996 Royal Rumble match came to a crashing halt when Shawn Michaels was eliminated by his future SummerSlam opponent, Vader. The debuting Mastodon then preceded to annihilate anyone that was still in the Rumble at that time. He didn’t just brutalize them all, he heaved them all over the top rope, in some cases twice. Officials, Vader’s manager Jim Cornette, and WWE President Gorilla Monsoon had to step in to stop all of the madness. Since Vader was eliminated at this point, all of those combatants were allowed to come back into the ring.
9 Fox Wins Gold - 2021
.jpg?q=50&fit=crop&w=740&dpr=1.5)
While the real goal of the Rumble would be to earn a WWE title match at WrestleMania, you should still take advantage of an opportunity when it arises. Around the same time that Alicia Fox had entered the match, 24/7 Champion R-Truth headed into the ring with several rivals in hot pursuit.
Rather than steer clear of the ridiculousness, Fox steered into the skid and wound up capturing the 24/7 title herself instead of paying attention to the match she was actually in. She was eliminated by Mandy Rose shortly after.
8 Giant Gonzalez Debuts - 1993
Whenever The Undertaker enters the Royal Rumble, the field immediately begins to change, and the advantage immediately goes to The Deadman. He entered the 1993 competition in a great position to win: fifteen. He stalked to the ring and immediately obliterated the field and emptied the ring. That was when the mammoth Giant Gonzalez made his debut to take out The Phenom and leave him laying. Despite not being eliminated, The Undertaker still decided to leave the match and go after his attacker.
7 Santina Returns - 2020
As every competitor in the 2020 Women’s Rumble were down and out, except for The Divas of Doom inside and Naomi trying to figure out how to get back into the match, Santina made her long-awaited return at 29, much to Beth Phoenix’s chagrin staring laser beams into her former partner’s eyes. Santina tried to make peace before realizing that wasn’t going to work, put on her cousin’s Cobra Arm and decided to hit herself before leaping out of the ring.
6 Flair And Austin Stand Alone - 1992 and 1997
When a wrestler embarks on their Royal Rumble journey, an empty ring is almost a statistical impossibility, but it can happen. Two of the more memorable moments happened during Ric Flair and Stone Cold Steve Austin's separate pursuits of Rumble glory.
Albeit brief, Ric Flair had just dumped the Big Boss Man over, did the Flair Flop and started sucking down wind as commentator Bobby Heenan tried to convince everyone that Ric Flair had won the match. A few seconds later, Flair’s expression changed as rival Roddy Piper hit the ring. Several years later, Steve Austin would find himself in a similar situation, checking his imaginary watch as his bitter rival Bret Hart entered the fray.
5 Vince Blows Both Quads - 2005
The 2005 match wound down to two young lions looking to make a name for themselves: John Cena and Batista. The two Superstars fought so hard that they eliminated each other, which meant that either the match iwasover with no winner, co-winners, or should keep going. Since this wasn’t the planned ending, a very ticked off Vince McMahon stomped to the ring so hard (and clearly didn’t stretch before leaving Gorilla), that he unfortunately tore not one but both of his quads. He sat in the ring barking orders to his referees that the match would continue.
4 Damien Enters The Fray - 1989
In the first-ever Royal Rumble pay-per-view (second match of all time), Andre the Giant came in as number three. Several moments later, Jake "The Snake" Roberts entered the ring and was eliminated by Andre. Several combatants later, Jake returned with Damien in tow and launched his pet into the ring. It wasn’t a long stoppage of combat, but long enough for Andre to run from the ring, scared to death of the snake.
3 Punk Preaches - 2010
The Straight Edge Savior, CM Punk was in all his Straight Edge Society glory when he entered the 2010 field. He entered the ring at number three and spent several seconds in between his eliminations, which were quick, preaching to the WWE Universe about how he’s better than us all because he’s straight edge. Part of the momentary stops also included Beth Phoenix kissing The Great Khali before Punk dumped her out.
2 Rikishi And Too Cool Get Down - 2000
After clearing the ring of everyone except his Too Cool brethren, Grandmaster Sexay, Rikishi was ready to momentarily turn on his friend when the third member, Scotty 2 Hotty came to the ring.
The MSG faithful clapped along as Too Cool didn’t fight each other, JR proclaimed, "we're gonna dance a while." Rikishi then remembered where he was and dumped his boys over before dancing some more, waiting for the next combatant.
1 Legends Renew Their Rivalry - 2008
Madison Square Garden has always been considered WWE’s home base. It’s where memories like Jimmy Snuka diving off the cage and Roddy Piper raising the ire of the NYPD took place. The two legends had one of the most memorable rivalries of the Golden Era as well. During the 2008 match, both men entered at 18 and 19 respectively, leaving the entire field that was in the ring to just sit back and watch the two legends reignite their bitter rivalry.