The Royal Rumble is generally regarded as a one-match show. All anyone really cares about is the 30-man main-event. But the Rumble has other matches that need to fill up the card and sometimes they’re pretty rad. In fact, with the low-quality Rumble matches we’ve seen over the last few years, the auxiliary matches have become integral.
These matches are the role players who may never get MVP, but they are essential in getting the team to the championship. So, let’s take a moment to acknowledge these great non-Rumble Rumble matches.
Honorable Mentions
Ricky Steamboat vs. Rick Rude – 1988 – I had no clue this match happened at a Royal Rumble, let alone was the first ever match for the first ever Rumble. The match is objectively good, but I’m including it here because Steamboat/Rude is one of my favorite match combinations ever.
Bret Hart vs. Diesel and Bret Hart vs. The Undertaker – 1995 & 1996 – I’m putting these together because they are great for the same reasons and fall short for the same reasons. Bret against big guys always delivered, but these matches had crappy endings before they could get into that fifth gear. They’re two thirds of great matches.
Shawn Michaels vs. Edge – 2005 – It’s Shawn Michaels and Edge. Of course it’s a great match.
10. Undertaker vs. Rey Mysterio – 2010
Undertaker has the ultimate gift of making matches with smaller guys look more realistic than they should. The bloody nose helped, too. Undertaker was able to keep up an incredible pace while still being The Undertaker. This is also one of Mysterio’s last great matches before his knees went to glory. This was also one of Undertaker’s last great appearances before going part-time. I think it’s an underrated gem that should get more recognition.
9. The Quebecers vs. The Harts – 1994
Full disclosure: I didn’t even consider this match until Stroud recommended it and he was absolutely right to do so.
Bret Hart is one of the best sellers ever and he made that knee injury look totally legit. This match is all about the story. Bret wanted to protect his brother from a beat down, so he wouldn’t tag out even when he blew out his knee. As a result, the refs stopped the match and Owen ended up turning on his brother. What’s great here is that Owen is justified, but he’s a jerk for beating up on his brother with a hurt knee. This is prime storytelling that sets up WrestleMania, which is what the Rumble is supposed to do.
8. Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker – Casket Match – 1998
Bad news first: This is the match that destroyed Shawn Michaels’ back and kept him out of wrestling for four years.
The good news is that allowed HBK to find God and get his life together. The also good news is that this match carried on the tradition of Michaels and Undertaker having the best matches imaginable. Shawn bounced around like a maniac and Undertaker had no problem tossing him like a tiny bouncing baby. I just love the fire Taker showed here, being relentless and a badass all match. The ending is as goofy as you can get, but all Casket Matches are. The theatrics of Undertaker having his annual Casket Match death only added to it all.
7. The Rock vs. Chris Jericho – 2002
Some guys just have that chemistry no matter what, and Jericho and Rock had it from the very beginning. From the moment Jericho debuted in the WWF against The Rock, they had a rapport on the mic that you really can’t teach. In the ring was much of the same. Jericho and The Rock had only good-to-great matches and this was their best one. The match happened when they were both probably at their bests in the ring, and it showed. Rock was challenged to chain wrestle Jericho and he kept up. Jericho was forced to show he belonged in the ring with The Rock from a star standpoint and he delivered, and he got a clean-ish win as a bonus.
6. The Rockers vs. The Orient Express – 1991
How in the hell did the Rockers never win the tag titles? I don’t want to take anything from the Orient Express, but they essentially are props for the Rockers to do all sorts of wild moves for 20 minutes. They’re basically the dicks in porn. This match took place in 1991, and there were moments that made me pause and freak out over the amount of athleticism Shawn and Marty displayed. They never stopped flipping over things the entire match. They turned the boring formula of so many ’90s tag matches on its head and had one of the more surprising great matches you’ll see.
5. Chris Benoit vs. Chris Jericho – Ladder Match – 2001
This is a brilliant ladder match. It’s almost a throwback to the Stampeded Wrestling ladder matches where the guys stay in the ring, beat each other up and fight until someone can’t climb a ladder anymore. The choreographed spots were few and far between, including an incredible Walls of Jericho on the top of the ladder that looked more realistic than it had any business looking. The problem with 2001 was the fact that there were so many ladder matches — the WrestleMania X-Seven TLC match happened only three months later — so some got lost in the shuffle. This match deserves better.
4. John Cena vs. Umaga – 2007
Umaga. Mother*cking Umaga. I’ve always liked Umaga, but I don’t think I gave him the proper respect until I did my post on Elimination Chamber matches and then re-watched this. If 2015 was Cena’s renaissance year where he became a top-tier worker, 2007 was the year Cena established himself as a guy who could have great matches.
That all started with this match, one that was originally considered a throwaway and immediately became the best match Cena had been apart of so far in his career. Also, this match wins for Lawler’s most hyperbolic description of the steel steps. He’s said they’ve weighed hundreds of pounds and even half a ton, but when Cena tossed the steps, Lawler said Cena should have been able to lift a Volvo now. Amazing.
3. Triple H vs. Cactus Jack – 2000
Mick Foley’s lasting legacy will be his ability to create new stars in the ring. He was Stone Cold, The Rock and Triple H’s first feuds after their titles, helping legitimize them as main-eventers. He’s pretty much the main-event version of the Brooklyn Brawler tee bee aitch. If you can’t make it in a feud with Foley, then you just can’t make it. Prime example is the Street Fight with Triple H at Rumble 2000.
In an instant, Triple H became dangerous and Cactus Jack became even more of a sympathetic figure as his career started to come to a close. But this isn’t just a brawl. There’s real emotion here. There’s desperation and there’s history between these two guys. It’s the rare instant where the title match overshadowed the Rumble and for good reason.
2. Brock Lesnar vs. Seth Rollins vs. John Cena – 2015
The beauty of Royal Rumble-adjacent matches is that they build momentum for guys going into WrestleMania. This was no different. This match put Seth Rollins in the position to win the title three months later. Rollins busted out his Phoenix Splash, elbow dropped onto the table and looked like a star the whole time. But let’s not forget Cena and Lesnar. John Cena’s career year of 2015 started here and Lesnar showed that he can do more than have his spectacle, ultra-violent matches.
This is five stars and the second best match of 2015.
1. Chris Benoit vs. Kurt Angle – 2003
Forget Royal Rumble, this might be the best-wrestled WWE match of the 2000s.
Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit have as much chemistry as any two wrestlers ever, and it showed here. They’ve never had a bad match, but this one was so much different. They kept the entire match in the ring and stayed away from any bells and whistles. There’s a spot where Angle hits a power bomb on the turnbuckle and turns it into an Angle Slam and I swear I go crazy for it every time, no matter how many times I’ve seen it. On top of that, the match helped change the course of wrestling from the gimmicky ref bump era to clean finishes.
Watch it:
