Outside of Wrestlemania, there's no WWE pay-per-view as cherished as the Royal Rumble. 30 men enter the ring, all vying for a shot at the Wrestlemania main event - but only one will emerge the victor. There's nothing else like it: the surprise returns, double-crosses and underdog victories are just a part of what makes the WWE's first event of the year so exciting.
The 2015 Royal Rumble takes place this Sunday, January 25, and you know what that means: it's time to look back at some of the best Rumble matches in WWE history.
Honorable Mention: The 2010 Royal Rumble
Winner: Edge
This may be a personal pick, but the Royal Rumble is famous for big returns - and there's nothing quite like hitting number 29 and hearing "You think you know me."
1990 Royal Rumble
Winner: Hulk Hogan
For more modern fans, the 1990 Royal Rumble doesn't have as much going for it - at least in terms of traditional matches. Other than a brawl between 'Hacksaw' Jim Duggan and Big Boss Man, there's not a whole lot that'll grab newer viewers. Of course, everyone knows that - when it comes to the Royal Rumble - it's all about the main event.
It doesn't get much more classic than the 1990 Royal Rumble - kicking things off with The Million Dollar Man is always a good start, and the rest of the match is basically a guided tour of the best wrestlers of the era...but the ending is really what makes the match. Yes, it's the standard Hulkamania ending as Hogan fights back against Rick Rude and Mr. Perfect, but it's such a perfect example of why Hulk Hogan was so much fun to watch in the first place.
And Hogan grabbing the flag from the fan after his victory? Perfect.
The 1992 Royal Rumble
Winner: Ric Flair
Again, the 1992 Royal Rumble features a lot of fighters and matches that won't really grab a lot of modern WWE fans. It's a different era, and the matches are slower, less explosive - it's completely different from the matches of today's WWE. Aside from a match between the Legion of Doom and The Natural Disasters, it's likely that younger fans will want to skip straight to the main event.
And what a main event it was: everything great about the 1990 Royal Rumble was amplified for the 1992 show. Sure, the Million Dollar Man may have been knocked out early, but Ric Flair, Shawn Michaels, the Undertaker, Hulk Hogan, Macho Man Randy Savage and Jake 'The Snake' Roberts make the '92 Rumble one of the most star-studded pay-per-views of the Classic Era, and that's only a small sample. Plus, as opposed to a Wrestlemania main event match, Ric Flair, the winner of the Royal Rumble, was directly awarded the WWE championship.
The 1998 Royal Rumble
Winner: Stone Cold Steve Austin
The Attitude Era was in full swing when the 1998 Royal Rumble began, and like the 1992 event before it, serves as one of the best showcases of the era's roster. Vader vs. Golddust, The Rock vs. Ken Shamrock, The New Age Outlaws vs. the Legion of Doom, Shawn Michaels vs. the Undertaker: all were great matches featuring great athletes, and that's all before the main event even started.
Starting off with Cactus Jack and a chainsaw-wielding Chainsaw Charlie is always a good idea, but ending with The Rock, Vader, Mark Henry, Dude Love and Stone Cold Steve Austin gave fans the best Royal Rumble match to date. It's 100% Attitude Era, and one of the purest examples of why so many people loved wrestling back then.
Of course, the 1998 Royal Rumble is famous for a single line, courtesy of Jim Ross: "Stone Cold! Stone Cold! Stone Cold!"
The 2002 Royal Rumble
Winner: Triple H
The Attitude Era had changed professional wrestling, but it was never going to last forever. By the time 2002 rolled around, it was clear that the immense momentum that had kickstarted the Attitude Era was beginning to wane: professional wrestling would soon go through another massive change.
For the most part, the match uses the same Attitude Era superstars that fans loved, but there were plenty of new faces as well: the Undertaker may have dominated the match, but newer, younger athletes like the Hardy Boyz and Rob van Dam really changed the feeling of the Rumble. It was quite possibly the last great Royal Rumble of the Attitude Era, and Triple H finally coming through for the win after the longest Rumble match in history was the perfect finale for such a monumental event.
The 2004 Royal Rumble
Winner: Chris Benoit
2004 acts as a strange hybrid: the Attitude Era was coming to a close (some claim it already had) and the Ruthless Aggression era was just getting into swing. As such, there's a strange-yet-awesome mix of Attitude Era stars and the current WWE roster: Evolution vs. the Dudley Boyz, Brock Lesnar vs. Hardcore Holly - there are matches here unlike any other in Royal Rumble history.
The Royal Rumble itself is a perfect example: superstars like Big Show and Chris Jericho are pitted against the likes of John Cena and Randy Orton. It's a bit more reserved than any of the Attitude Era matches, but it's easily the most accessible for younger or newer fans of the modern WWE. Also, Mick Foley returning to just eliminate Randy Orton? It was perfect, and was the instigator for some of the best matches of the year.
It's worth a watch, simply because it took place in a time where John Cena wasn't the unofficial king of the WWE, which is something younger fans might not have ever seen.
It'll be hard to top even just one of these entries, but with any luck, the 2015 Royal Rumble will be the biggest yet. Superstars like Roman Reigns and Daniel Bryan haven't been in a PPV for months, which means the Road to Wrestlemania is about to start in a big way.
The 2015 Royal Rumble begins this Sunday at 8pm on the WWE Network and pay-per-view.
