100 Facts You May Or May Not Know About The Royal Rumble

[The Mac]

I have to be honest. I'm tired of seeing WWE show the same promo, year after year, about the Royal Rumble match. Sure the numbers add up in different ways, but in the end, it is the same overall list every year.

So it inspired me to put together a list of 100 facts and figures related to the Rumble that don't get publicized everyday. Sure, it isn't the typical list, and some of these are completely irrelevant, but I thought it would maintain more enjoyment than a simple, two-minute video package ever could.

Shall we get started? Let us all find out who drew number one....

Four superstars have been "lucky" enough to draw number one twice. They are Bret Hart (1988 and 1991), Ric Flair (1993 and 2007), Triple H (1996 and 2006), and Shawn Michaels (1995 and 2003).
The number two spot has won the Royal Rumble the same number of times as number one and number 30 (Rey Mysterio and Vince McMahon).
Shelton Benjamin was eliminated by Shawn Michaels three consecutive years in his Rumble tenure (2006, 2007, and 2008).
Ted DiBiase (1989 and 1990) and The Undertaker (2007 and 2008) are the only two men to enter the Royal Rumble number 30 one year and number one the very next year.
Big John Studd, Brock Lesnar, and Alberto Del Rio are the only superstars to win the only Rumble they've ever competed in.
Del Rio was the eighth superstar to win his very first Royal Rumble match.
Bret "Hitman" Hart set the original longevity record in a Rumble match at 25:42.
Bob Backlund holds the record for longest time in the Rumble without winning at 1:01:10.
Randy Savage was the first man to ever no-show his entry in 1991.
Bastion Booger was the second man to ever no-show his entry in 1994.
Every single superstar in Kane's record 11 eliminations from 2001 has won at least one championship from WWE.
Rick "the Model" Martel was in the final seven or better (final four twice) from 1989-1993.
If you combine Rumble entrants Haku and Rikishi, you get 1996 Rumble entrant Hakushi.
Alex Riley botched part of the finish to the 2011 Royal Rumble by falling off the apron and eliminating himself. The botch went unnoticed by the commentators who acted as if Riley was still in the match.
Despite being touted as a major accomplishment, Shawn Michaels' 1995 Rumble win from entry number one lasted only 38 minutes.
Even though there have been over 700 Royal Rumble entrants throughout time, only 271 different people have been entered in the contest.
Five men (Edge, John Cena, Alberto Del Rio, Steve Austin in 2001, and Brock Lesnar) have won the Rumble despite spending less than 10 minutes in the ring.
Not since the 2007 Royal Rumble has the winner actually won their brand's world title at WrestleMania.
Under the JBL moniker, Bradshaw NEVER competed in a Royal Rumble Match.
Neither did Bubba Ray or D-Von Dudley.
Just one year after debuting to an enlivened Madison Square Garden crowd in 2000, Tazz was eliminated in just 10 seconds in 2001.
Charles Wright has wrestled under the most different personas in the Royal Rumble match (The Godfather, Papa Shango, Kama, Kama Mustafa, and The Goodfather).
Hardcore Holly's first televised WWE match was in the 1994 Royal Rumble as race car driver Sparky Plugg.
The number 24 entry is second amongst active wins with three (Hulk Hogan in 1991, Steve Austin in 1998, and the Rock).
Edge will be the eighth Hall of Famer to have won the Royal Rumble.
Randy Savage forgot the rules of the Royal Rumble twice. In 1992, he eliminated himself and got back into the match, and in 1993, he attempted to pin Yokozuna.
When averaging out the numbers, Hulk Hogan has eliminated more men per Rumble (6.8) than any other superstar.
Glen Jacobs, who portrays Kane, has actually been in 15 Royal Rumble matches if you include his time as the Fake Diesel and Isaac Yankem, D.D.S.
The number 29 spot has also won the Rumble (Brock Lesnar, Edge) as many times as number one, two, and 30.
The Undertaker has been "lucky" enough to enter the Rumble at number 30 three times. No other Superstar has entered 30th twice.
The war for "worst" number 30 entrant is currently being contested between X-Pac and Duke "the Dumpster" Droese.
All three generations of the Rhodes wrestling family have competed in Royal Rumble matches.
R-Truth was eliminated by the Big Show in 2009 in identical fashion to his elimination as K-Kwik in 2001.
The 1996 Royal Rumble match featured no less than five entrants who weren't regulars with the company (Doug Gilbert, the Samoan Swat Team, Dory Funk, Jr., and Takao Omori.
Roddy Piper was the only man who entered a Royal Rumble event with the opportunity to win both major titles of the Federation at the time.
Over two-dozen Royal Rumble competitors have worn either a mask or face paint during the match.
The Undertaker was the first man to be eliminated by a competitor who was not even in the match.
John Cena was the last.
Yokozuna is statistically the largest competitor ever to compete in the Royal Rumble, tipping the scales at around 700 pounds in 1996.
Hornswoggle is the smallest.
Vader wore his singlet backwards at the 1996 Royal Rumble and nobody was bold enough to tell him he had put it on wrong.
Excluding the 2011 Royal Rumble, Rey Mysterio had previously only drawn the numbers one, two, four, and eight.
The Nexus and the Nation of Domination were the only factions in Rumble history to have five representatives in one match.
The only Royal Rumble in the last six not to have a "surprise" entry was the 2007 Rumble.
Sabu is the only Rumble competitor to ever leave the match by being put through a table.
Finlay is the only Rumble competitor to be "disqualified" for entering before his interval opened up.
Both Al Snow (2001) and Rick Rude (1990) entered prematurely as well but were not disqualified.
Shawn Michaels was legitimately thrown over the top rope by Vader in 1996 but allowed to reenter and win the match since Vader had already been eliminated. This is the only time in history such an event has been acceptable.
Ahmed Johnson, not Jim Duggan, was the first man to introduce a 2x4 into the match.
Despite being something of a pushover, the three men who have eliminated Santino Marella are Kane, the Undertaker, and Alberto Del Rio.
The Ultimate Warrior competed in only two Royal Rumbles and didn't make it to the final five in either one.
Hulk Hogan "accidentally on purpose" eliminated one of his "friends" in four consecutive Rumbles (Randy Savage, Ultimate Warrior, Tugboat, and Sid Justice).
According to WWE's main roster page, only five of the 40 entries in the 2011 Royal Rumble are not on the main roster in 2012.
The 25th Anniversary of the Royal Rumble will take place in 2013 because WWE can't count and doesn't care about traditional mathematics, science, reasoning, or logic.
In his first three Royal Rumbles, C.M. Punk eliminated three superstars. In his last two, he has eliminated 12.
Jonathan Coachman has appeared in multiple Rumbles. Seriously.
Goldust is the only superstar to be a "surprise" entry more than once.
Dolph Ziggler, Kurt Angle, and Randy Orton are the only men to appear in both the Royal Rumble match and a World Title match earlier in the evening.
The number three entry has lasted less than six minutes 18 times.
Three tag teams were complete within the first three entries to the Rumble three times (1989, 1994, and 2001).
It wasn't until 1993 that the winner of the Rumble was awarded a championship match at WrestleMania.
Before that time, the significance of the winner varied from WWF Champion (Ric Flair) to retirement celebration (Big John Studd) to patriotic validation (Hulk Hogan).
Shawn Michaels clocked 12 seconds of action in his second Rumble appearance before being eliminated by Hulk Hogan.
The final four of the 2005 Royal Rumble featured four men who had yet to become champion at the time: Edge, Rey Mysterio, Batista, and John Cena.
The final four of the 2003 Royal Rumble featured the four biggest men in the match: Brock Lesnar, The Undertaker, Batista, and Kane.
Bushwhacker Luke was notoriously eliminated from the Rumble twice whilst never stopping his arm-flapping ring entrance.
Fred Ottman, who was both Tugboat and Typhoon, was eliminated in his only two Rumbles by his best friend at the time (Hulk Hogan and Earthquake).
Mick Foley's entry into the 2012 Royal Rumble marks the third time since 2004 Foley has surprisingly come back to participate in the match.
Vince McMahon's 1999 Royal Rumble win completed a clean sweep wherein the Corporation won every match they competed in that night.
The state of California has hosted five Royal Rumbles, more than any other state.
Florida has hosted four Rumbles, Texas and New York have each hosted three.
Planet Funk has yet to host a Royal Rumble match.
The earliest a Royal Rumble has taken place in the month of January was the 15th in 1989.
The Warlord's Royal Rumble tenure is embarrassingly bad, included his two-second finish in 1989 and subsequent rapid exits in 1991 and 1992 despite drawing numbers 29 and 30 respectively.
In 1999, Mabel attacked Headbanger Mosh to steal his entry into the Royal Rumble, yet he himself would be attacked in the ring by the Ministry of Darkness, who also were not in the match.
Taka Michinoku possesses one of the most unfortunate and memorable moments in Rumble history despite never having competed in the match.
The false ending to the 1995 Royal Rumble forever changed the wording of the rules of the match to include the term "both feet" in the official elimination section.
Though the time format of the Rumble switched often during the late 90's and early 00's, the first official time the company switched from every two minutes to every 90 seconds was 1997.
Drew Carey stole his spot in the 2001 Royal Rumble from one of the members of Tiger Ali Singh's Lo Down tag team.
It took more men to eliminate Viscera in the 2007 Royal Rumble than any other competitor in history (eight).
That record beat out the previous record holder, Mabel (also Viscera), from 1994 (seven).
Shawn Michaels has eliminated his former tag team partner (Diesel, Marty Jannetty, and Triple H) three times during competition.
Barry Windham is the only member of this year's Hall of Fame class that did not participate in a Royal Rumble match.
The only two men to ever eliminate the Berzerker from the Royal Rumble were Hulk Hogan and The Undertaker.
The Great Khali's Rumble eliminators show his steady career decline through history: The Undertaker (2007), The Undertaker (2008), Vladimir Kozlov (2009), Beth Phoenix (2010), and Mason Ryan (2011).
Grand Master Sexay was the first man to enter a Rumble whose father (Jerry Lawler) had also entered a Rumble.
If you took the in-ring time of the seven fastest eliminations in the 1995 Royal Rumble, it would add up to 1:33.
The 1996 Royal Rumble marked the longest time a Rumble went without the first elimination at 12:22.
The 2005 Royal Rumble match was the only time the action in the ring stopped to acknowledge brand extension separation.
Only one of the men who has eliminated John Cena from the Royal Rumble not faced him at WrestleMania as well (The Undertaker).
After the Undertaker, the man who competed in the earliest Rumble on the active roster is erry Lawler (1993).
Sin Cara will botch the 2012 Royal Rumble by not appearing due to his numerous other screw-ups.
Evan Bourne will miss the Rumble this year because he attempted to "spice" things up.
Yokozuna was the first man billed as a non-American to win the Royal Rumble match.
Bret Hart was officially the first man not from the United States to win the Royal Rumble match.
Vince McMahon tore both of his quadriceps attempting to enter the ring during the ending of the 2005 Royal Rumble match.
No man has ever won the Rumble from their hometown.
Numbers one and two have been the final two in the ring only twice (1995 and 1999).
2006 was the last time the Royal Rumble did not go on last.
Including 2012, we have known the identity of the number one entrant seven times before the match:
-Ted DiBiase revealed it in 1990 as punishment for buying number 30 in 1989.
-Hunter Hearst Helmsely lost a match at the Free-For-All in 1996 to earn the spot.
-Steve Austin was given the spot in 1999 by Vince McMahon.
-Shawn Michaels announced his spot in 2003.
-Chris Benoit received the spot from Paul Heyman in 2004.
-Eddie Guerrero revealed his spot the night of the event in 2005.
-The Miz lost to R-Truth on RAW, securing his spot this year.

There it is. Hope you enjoyed the list as much as I.

BR

[Lord Tensai]

Put it in WWE Discussion makes more sense since it's all WWE .

[Kage]

Pretty cool

[198d]

i like the by the numbers videos

[LionDen]

Nice post Mac, thank you Forgot about some of those facts.

The 25th Anniversary of the Royal Rumble will take place in 2013 because WWE can't count and doesn't care about traditional mathematics, science, reasoning, or logic.

lol

[Metalitia]

Pretty interesting list

[L.A.I.N.E.Y.]

One thing about the Royal Rumble is year to year WWE seem to change how they deal with people being eliminated by guys who are ineligible. It's actually annoying how inconsistent they are with this as it happens often.

[Swinny]

One thing about the Royal Rumble is year to year WWE seem to change how they deal with people being eliminated by guys who are ineligible. It's actually annoying how inconsistent they are with this as it happens often.

Yeah, there's a lot of little things like that that change year after year and never quite addressed...

And this guy is full of shit because this IS the 25th anniversary of the Royal Rumble. Been going since 1988, 2012 will have been 25, thus 25th anniversary.

[L.A.I.N.E.Y.]

Yeah, there's a lot of little things like that that change year after year and never quite addressed...

And this guy is full of shit because this IS the 25th anniversary of the Royal Rumble. Been going since 1988, 2012 will have been 25, thus 25th anniversary.

24th anniversary as the 1st anniversary starts from the 1st complete year ending in 1989.

[Strawberries & Cream]

Yeah, there's a lot of little things like that that change year after year and never quite addressed...

And this guy is full of shit because this IS the 25th anniversary of the Royal Rumble. Been going since 1988, 2012 will have been 25, thus 25th anniversary.

An anniversary is one year after the debut so this year is technically the 24th anniversary.

[Swinny]

An anniversary is one year after the debut so this year is technically the 24th anniversary.

I see what you're saying, but at the same time when someone has say a 25th wedding anniversary, it is 25 years since they were married, not 26, right? I could be wrong, but I do believe that's how everyone I know has done it, lol.

Either way though, this guy's making too big of a deal out of it when it's obviously what they meant...

[L.A.I.N.E.Y.]

it isn't 25 years since 1988 though, it's 24 so you're digging yourself into a bigger hole Mr Swinny!

[4 Gold Scorpio]

It's the 25th EDITION of the Royal Rumble but the anniversary comes next year.

[198d]

I see what you're saying, but at the same time when someone has say a 25th wedding anniversary, it is 25 years since they were married, not 26, right? I could be wrong, but I do believe that's how everyone I know has done it, lol.

Either way though, this guy's making too big of a deal out of it when it's obviously what they meant...

yes but when you get married the first anniversary is the first year, the wedding date is at zero years, but in the rumble the first rumble starts a one since its the first event. so then for rumble the 2nd event becomes the first anniversary

also wwe made this exact same mistake at wm 25 too

[Flamesoffury]

Technically.. eddie guerrero didnt reveal his number at the 2005 rumble.. it was implied it was #1 though. Cause when eddie swapped out his #1 for ric's #30.. ric pulled out the #1 and started showing bischoff, torrie, christy, and teddy long and we couldn't see the number. So that fact is incorrect.. partly :P He didn't reveal it though.. but we kinda figured it out.