The road to WrestleMania is nearly upon us. As we approach one of my favorite events of the year, I thought it would be a good idea to go ahead and take a look back (and rank) every single Royal Rumble match since the very first one in 1988. This is actually a lot tougher than you might think. I tried to use a lot of different factors while getting into this. As much as I wanted to, I tried not to let what happened in the WrestleMania matches factor into my decisions, because we all know that sometimes the story just doesn't work out after the Rumble (cough, Batista, cough). So I tried just to use the Royal Rumble itself when counting down here. A good crowd, an awesome moment, a nice surprise, or a good finish are a few of the criteria I went with.

The brainchild of Pat Patterson, the Royal Rumble has become one of the most-watched and most anticipated pay-per-view events that WWE has. We're always looking to speculate on who's going to show up unexpectedly, who should win and who we want to win (two completely different things), and how it's going to affect WrestleMania.

Some Royal Rumbles have been great. Some have been just downright awful. The first few were just for show. One has been for the title, and the rest have been for a chance to be in the main event on the grandest stage of em' all. Let's take a look the worst, the best, and all the rest in Royal Rumble history.

28 28. 1988 - Hacksaw Jim Duggan

via wwe.com
via wwe.com

One had to come in last, and unfortunately for Hacksaw Jim Duggan, his win in the very first Royal Rumble takes the cake as the worst in history. It's certainly not his fault, but when you're toying with a new idea, it's usually not going to be perfect the first time out, and it certainly wasn't here. WWE was so concerned that the concept couldn't hold its own, it wasn't even a pay-per-view to start; it aired on the USA Network and only had 20 participants. Because it was the pioneer event, I wanted to rank it higher on the list, but if you go back and watch it, you'll understand why it sits here at the bottom.

27 27. 2012 - Sheamus

via wwe.com
via wwe.com

In recent years, as I mentioned earlier, we sit and wait for who the surprise entrances will be in the Royal Rumble. It's one of the biggest reasons a lot of us watch, but the 2012 version didn't give us much in that department, especially when the entire announce team, including Michael Cole, got involved in the match. Kharma coming back was another interesting choice, but if that's the highlight in the surprise entrant category, then you can understand why this match is down here. It wasn't without its highlights. Kofi Kingston, who I'm sure will come up a few different times on this list, walked on his hands on the floor to escape elimination and the Chris Jericho-Sheamus finale was fairly solid.

26 26. 2011 - Alberto Del Rio

via wwe.com
via wwe.com

The first Royal Rumble was the smallest on record with 20 participants and the 2011 version was the biggest in history with 40. However, as with a lot of things that WWE has done, bigger doesn't always mean better. There were some decent moments in the match, but things did get a little crowded at times. The best spot of the night probably came from John Morrison, who was knocked from the apron to the guardrail but hung on and moved his way down to jump back to the steps to avoid elimination.

Alberto Del Rio getting the win was a bit of a surprise, but he would lose at WrestleMania in Edge's final match. The end here was a bit comical as the last man to be eliminated was Santino Marella, who had been hiding for a few minutes outside the ring, almost to the point where you forgot about him. After Del Rio eliminated Randy Orton, Santino snuck back in and you almost believed for a second that they might go through with letting him win it. Outside of the returns of Booker T and Kevin Nash, along with the Morrison spot, there's not a ton of highlights here.

25 25. 1993 - Yokozuna

via 411mania.com
via 411mania.com

Speaking of not a lot of highlights, throw in the 1993 Royal Rumble. Perhaps the only reason it's in the top 25 to begin with is that it was the first one to have the stipulation where the winner got a shot at the title. I suppose one thing worth noting is that Bob Backlund lasted over an hour in the match. His official time of 1:01:10 is still the third-longest in history, behind only Rey Mysterio and Chris Benoit. Oh yeah, Giant Gonzalez debuted here as well to eliminate The Undertaker, even though he wasn't even in the match. Yokozuna eliminated Randy Savage for the win. The end. Yikes.

24 24. 1999 - Mr. McMahon

via wwe.com
via wwe.com

This one should actually probably be lower on the list, as we basically watched an hour-long episode of Austin vs. McMahon and not the Royal Rumble match itself, but the creativity of it made me put it up here. This was right smack dab in the middle of arguably the best feud in wrestling history and I think we all knew that this was going to take center stage at one of the biggest shows of the year.

Austin entered at number one, Vince at number two and after Vince escaped the ring, they (and the cameras) visited the entire arena, including the bathroom, the commentary area and everywhere in between. After everyone else was eliminated, The Rock distracted Austin to give Mr. McMahon the win in the 1999 Royal Rumble. Okay then.

23 23. 1989 - Big John Studd

via voicesofwrestling.com
via voicesofwrestling.com

It wasn't so much the winner that made headlines here, but honestly, it was nice to see Big John Studd get a big win at a big event near the end of his career. His health was in decline at the time, and if you look at his face after it's over, you can truly tell he was grateful to get the nod. This was the first Royal Rumble to have 30 entries, which I think we all feel is the exact right number, and this was when storylines started to creep into the match itself, most notably between Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage.

The two Hall of Famers were still teaming at the time, but the inevitable split was on the way only a short time later. Here, Hogan accidentally eliminated the "Macho Man" as he was mixed up with Bad News Brown, only adding fuel to the fire that would cause the MegaPowers to explode at WrestleMania V.

22 22. 1991 - Hulk Hogan

via voicesofwrestling.com
via voicesofwrestling.com

Speaking of Hulk Hogan, this was the second of his back-to-back wins. The Royal Rumble winner didn't officially get the title shot until two years later, but in this case, Hulk Hogan won the match and went on to face and defeat Sgt. Slaughter at WrestleMania VII. The ending of the match was typical Hogan, as he fought off two heels in the final three to win the match. How else were things going to go down at that time?

21 21. 2013 - John Cena

via wwe.com
via wwe.com

It's hard to have a good Royal Rumble when it's not even the main event of the show, but such was the case in 2013 and every single wrestling fan in the world knew who was going to win that night. CM Punk and The Rock fought for the championship that night (see, Punk got to close out shows sometimes), and it was inevitable that Rock-Cena II was going to happen at WrestleMania, meaning we knew that Rock would win the title and Cena would win the Rumble, which is exactly what happened.

The Royal Rumble match itself was decent, including another epic spot from Kofi Kingston involving using a chair like a pogo stick to save himself. The Goldust vs. Cody thing was cool too. Cena would eliminate Ryback in the end for the win.

20 20. 2015 - Roman Reigns

via wwe.com
via wwe.com

Remember how hot the Philly crowd was? Even with The Rock by his side, Roman Reigns got destroyed by the fans in 2015. The Daniel Bryan "YES movement" was still the hottest thing in WWE at the time and Bryan entered at number ten, only to be eliminated after about ten minutes by Bray Wyatt. The crowd, and apparently everyone on social media, went nuts when this happened and Roman Reigns never stood a chance with the WWE Universe after that.

The final four was very disappointing as well as the aging Kane and Big Show joined Reigns and Rusev, who spent a lot of time outside the ring before being the final man eliminated.

19 19. 1994 - Bret Hart/Lex Luger

via bleacherreport.com
via bleacherreport.com

The 1994 version brought us our first tie, but before the controversial finish, this match is most known for the breakout performance of Kevin Nash, who was using the Diesel moniker at the time. This was basically the first time that one guy dominated the match for several minutes and Nash eliminated seven guys before a big group that included Shawn Michaels tossed him out. Michaels had some great moments with former partner Marty Jannetty in this match as well.

As far as the finish goes, Luger went to throw Hart over the top rope but the Hitman reversed the momentum causing both men to hit the floor at the same time. Instead of restarting, both men were declared the winner and both received a title shot at WrestleMania X against Yokozuna.

18 18. 1996 - Shawn Michaels

via tumblr.com
via tumblr.com

This is another one that could probably be lower on the list, as the participant list wasn't the greatest in the world (Barry Horowitz even got into the mix in this one), but this was the first year that each person got his own entrance music, which has become part of what makes the Royal Rumble what it is. I don't think that I'm the only one who sits and waits for that music to hit to see who's coming out next. In the end, it was Shawn Michaels eliminating his good friend Kevin Nash to seal his second consecutive win.

17 17. 2009 - Randy Orton

via sportskeeda.com
via sportskeeda.com

This certainly isn't the greatest Royal Rumble in history, as the outcome was somewhat predicatable, but it provided some nice moments. A lot of times in this match, the guys who come in late are there at the end, but the final four men in this one all lasted at least half an hour. This was around the time that Randy Orton was teaming with Cody Rhodes and Ted Dibiase, Jr. in Legacy in a feud with Triple H. So of course the final four in the match were going to be Legacy....and Triple H, who was able to eliminate Rhodes and Dibiase before being tossed out by Orton. A little too predictable, but it wasn't a complete waste of a main event.

16 16. 2014 - Batista

via wwe.com
via wwe.com

Speaking of predictable, there aren't many on this list that get more predictable than this one. Despite the fan base rooting hard for Daniel Bryan to just at least be involved, Batista was brought back to the company specifically to win this match and headline WrestleMania XXX. It's not Batista's fault that this Royal Rumble is heavily criticized because the match itself really wasn't all that terrible.

But when Rey Mysterio's music hit for number 30, I thought the crowd was going to riot. I know the IWC lost their collective minds. Poor Batista. He's gone for four years, returns to win the Rumble, gets tapped out by Bryan at WrestleMania, never got his one-on-one title match and isn't even with the company anymore.

15 15. 1995 - Shawn Michaels

via wrestling20yrs.com
via wrestling20yrs.com

If they hadn't shortened the entrance time from two minutes to one minute for this one, it might be ranked a little higher, and it also would make the performance from Shawn Michaels and Davey Boy Smith even more impressive than it was, not that I'm trying to take away from them at all. They entered number one and number two, respectively, and they were the final two at the end. That was a different concept that hadn't been done yet, and it made for a captivating finish as the "both feet must hit the floor" rule came into play as well.

After Bulldog threw Michaels out of the ring, only one foot hit the floor and Michaels climbed back in to eliminate Davey Boy for the first of his two Royal Rumble victories.

14 14. 2005 - Batista

via wwe.com
via wwe.com

This match wasn't overly exciting at the start, but the finish will go down as certainly one of the most interesting in Royal Rumble history. The company's two top rising stars, Batista and John Cena, were battling it out for the chance to go to WrestleMania 21's main event and much like the 1994 version, they both went out of the ring and hit the floor simultaneously.

Speculation has it that the finish happened by accident, but that's not been confirmed. What we do know is that the match was restarted to get a clear winner and that may be the most entertaining part. As Vince McMahon power walked to the ring, he tore his quads and couldn't move for a few minutes. The looks on Cena's and Batista's faces are priceless. Nevertheless, the match was restarted and Batista got the win to set up his match with Triple H.

13 13. 2006 - Rey Mysterio

via wwe.com
via wwe.com

This win was actually quite shocking, even for WWE. Rey Mysterio had been getting a decent push leading up to this, perhaps in some part due to the death of his longtime friend Eddie Guerrero only a few months before, but the underdog story was huge at the 2006 Royal Rumble. Entering at number two, Mysterio lasted a record 62 minutes and 12 seconds (he did sit in the corner a lot though) and outlasted the number one entry, Triple H, and Randy Orton for the victory. His win here provided a great moment in Royal Rumble history.

12 12. 1990 - Hulk Hogan

via wwe.com
via wwe.com

When it comes to big moments, they don't get much bigger than what happened in the 1990 Royal Rumble. We all know that Hulk Hogan won the match and doing what only Hulk Hogan could do, he won the Royal Rumble as the champion. Go figure. But the big moment came towards the end of the match. The Ultimate Warrior's popularity had been growing immensely in the year leading up to this event and many looked at him as the successor to Hogan's throne.

The company didn't really do the face vs. face thing back then, but that's always another great thing about this event. At that time, everybody wanted to see what would happen when Warrior and Hogan squared off and after they had cleared the ring of everyone else, we finally got to see it. The crowd went nuts for it and so did all of us kids when we were growing up. If you go back and check it out, it's still a great moment that holds up today.

11 11. 2003 - Brock Lesnar

via elwrestlingsegunyo.com

There weren't a ton of big spots or moments in the 2003 Royal Rumble, but what I liked about this one is that there always seemed to be a big star in the ring at any given point. The match started with Shawn Michaels once again entering at number one, but instead of going the distance, he was eliminated by number two Chris Jericho after some help from Christian. This helped set up the Y2J-HBK feud that culminated with their epic encounter at WrestleMania XIX.

You then got guys like Eddie Guerrero and John Cena in the middle and there were plenty of big stars at the end. The final four were Brock Lesnar, The Undertaker, Kane, and Batista. That's some big guys and it's funny how young Lesnar looks in there at the time, but this win elevated his status even higher than it already was. It was also another cool moment in the Brock vs. Taker feud.

10 10. 1997 - Stone Cold Steve Austin

via wwe.com
via wwe.com

If the 1996 King of the Ring win didn't elevate Stone Cold Steve Austin to superstar status, the 1997 Royal Rumble certainly did, and that's why it had to be included in the top 10. The match was entertaining, but the ending is what really stands out in this one. Austin, who you'll remember was a heel at this time, was eliminated by Bret Hart. However, the officials were tending to a fight that had broken out between Mick Foley and Terry Funk, so Austin just did what a heel is supposed to do and got back in the ring and quickly eliminated Undertaker and Vader. Bret Hart eliminated Diesel and thought he had won but Austin threw him out as well.

Officials started paying attention again and Stone Cold was the only man left in the ring and was declared the winner. He didn't get his title match at WrestleMania, but this Rumble, which had the largest attendance of any in history, planted the seed for the epic double turn of Austin and Hart at WrestleMania 13.

9 9. 2002 - Triple H

via wwe.com
via wwe.com

It was going to be extremely difficult to top the event that had taken place the previous year, but this one was still very solid. Sure, it had a few slow moments, but it was fairly entertaining throughout, including one of the most shocking moments in Royal Rumble history when Tough Enough winner Maven (remember that guy) eliminated The Undertaker.

However, this will forever be known as the return of Triple H following the big quad injury. The final four in this match were Triple H, Stone Cold, Kurt Angle, and one of the surprise entrants, Mr. Perfect, who got a loud pop from the crowd upon his return. Austin was the first to go, then Hennig, which left Triple H and Kurt Angle to give us one of the best finishes I've ever seen. The clothesline that Triple H gave Angle was absolutely perfect and I've never seen a better sell going over the top rope. Great stuff.