Royal Rumble Stats And Facts: Hidden Rumbles, Split Personalities, Records, More

Each year WWE produces their own video highlighting statistics and figures from the iconic Royal Rumble match, and we have taken it a step further.

Below are dozens of stats and facts on the Royal Rumble. All stats are for the PPV Royal Rumbles only unless otherwise noted. (Updated for 2021. Please contact me with corrections)

The Big Red Machine

* 2012 saw Kane’s long streak of Royal Rumble match appearances end.

* Kane appeared in 19 Royal Rumbles, a record. Goldust, Kofi Kingston and Dolph Ziggler have been in 13, including Greatest Royal Rumbles.

* In 2014, he tied the all-time eliminations record, originally held by Shawn Michaels. WWE’s official website listed several different numbers for both competitors, but in 2015, Kane broke that record.

* Kane appeared on every Royal Rumble pay-per view from 1996 to 2016, including a couple of appearances as Isaac Yankem DDS and a Fake Diesel character.

* WWE doesn’t count Kane’s 1996 elimination of Fatu, as he performed under the Isaac Yankem DDS persona, but they do count the fact that he was in the match.

Split Personalities

* Mick Foley has been in the Royal Rumble under 4 personas (Mick Foley, Mankind, Dude Love, Cactus Jack), Rikishi as 3 (Fatu, The Sultan, Rikishi), and Kane as 3 (Isaac Yankem, Diesel, Kane)

* The Godfather was in the Royal Rumble under five gimmicks (Papa Shango, The Supreme Fighting Machine Kama, Kama Mustafa, The Godfather, and The Goodfather).

* The Godfather’s first Royal Rumble was in 1993 as Papa Shango; his last was 20 years later, under the Godfather persona.

* Scott Hall was never in a Royal Rumble Match, but did win a WCW World War 3 match. Also, an impostor Razor Ramon, Rick Bognar, was in the 1997 Rumble match.

Giving And Taking From The Competition

* Despite WCW going out of business in 2001, every men’s Royal Rumble since has featured a former WCW Champion or holder of the “Big Gold Belt.”

* 14 of the 30 entrants in the 2004 Royal Rumble went on to work for TNA. On the contrary, only 3 entrants in the 2005 Rumble would go on to get full time contracts from TNA, with another being an agent. (Note that this does not include the current incarnation of IMPACT Wrestling)

* Only 3 participants of the 2016 Royal Rumble wrestled for TNA before the show.

* 22 of the 30 entrants in the 1992 Royal Rumble would go on to work for WCW.

Champions

* Hulk Hogan is the only man to win the Royal Rumble while holding the WWE title. Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar both entered the Rumble as world champion, but didn’t win it.

* Brock Lesnar joined Roman Reigns and Hulk Hogan as WWE/Universal Champions to be entered into the Royal Rumble. All three had unique stipulations or lack thereof. Nothing was on the line in Hogan’s match, while in Lesnar’s a top contendership spot was at stake, and Reigns defended his WWE Championship.

* The 2016 Royal Rumble featured former WWE, WWF, WCW, World Heavyweight, ECW, NWA, TNA, IWGP Heavyweight, ROH World, NCAA, PWG, IGF, UFC, CMLL. and AAA Mega Champions. Chris Jericho and Dean Ambrose would also go on to become the AEW World Champions.

* Every standard Royal Rumble has been won by an eventual or former WWE/WCW Champion or Hall of Famer, outside of 2018’s Shinsuke Nakamura.

* From 2005 to 2010, the last wrestler eliminated from the Royal Rumble went on to also have a world title match at Wrestlemania.

* Before John Cena in 2013, the last time a Royal Rumble winner challenged for the WWE title at Wrestlemania and won was Brock Lesnar in 2003.

* The 2008-2011 streak of Royal Rumble winners failing to win their respective titles at WrestleMania was the longest in history.

* Both winners of the 2019 Royal Rumbles won their respective titles at WrestleMania that year, while both of 2018’s lost.

* 2020 was the first time a Royal Rumble winner, Charlotte, challenged for an NXT Title.

Luck Of The Draw

* Ted Dibiase drew #30 in the 1989 Royal Rumble, and #1 in the 1990 Royal Rumble. He was given that punishment for “buying” the number in 1989.

* The Number 1 and 2 entrants have won the Royal Rumble four times.

* The Undertaker drew number 30 three times.

* Eddie Guerrero “stole” Ric Flair‘s number in 2005, but ended up picking #1, and Flair got Guerrero’s number 30.

Heartbreak Kid

* Shawn Michaels has eliminated Marty Jannetty, Diesel, and Triple H from Royal Rumble matches—all former tag team partners of Michaels’.

* Michaels eliminated Shelton Benjamin from three consecutive Royal Rumble matches.

* Shawn Michaels participated in Royal Rumble matches in the 80’s, 90’s, 2000’s and 2010’s. Jim Duggan also matched that feat.

By The Numbers

* Chris Jericho has spent over five hours in the Royal Rumble. Triple H is at 3 hours, 59 minutes, more than an hour less at second place. A surprising entry in the three hour club? Cody Rhodes, at 3:08:30.

* Roman Reigns has eliminated 32 participants from the Royal Rumble

* Brock Lesnar has the record for most eliminations in a Royal Rumble with 13.

* Edge participated in Royal Rumble matches across four decades, but went from the 90s, 00s, 10s and 20s, the only person to do so.

* The 2014 Royal Rumble match saw its 300th different superstar enter the match.

* It took more men to eliminate Viscera (eight in 2007) than any other Royal Rumble participant in history, breaking his own record from 1994, when it took 7.

* 23 wrestlers lasted ten seconds or less in Royal Rumble matches. Six of them have been between 2019 and 2020.

* Finlay was “disqualified” from the 2008 Royal Rumble.

* 22 different Royal Rumble spots have won, but only 19 in standard-size, 30 man Royal Rumble matches.

* 4, 6, 7, 9, 11, 12, 15, 20, 21, 26 are the spots that have never won a 30-man Royal Rumble match. Charlotte Flair (17) and Drew McIntyre (16) took those spots off the board last year.

* There have been 17 Royal Rumble winners between spots 24-30. None have been from the 26 spot.

* Vince McMahon is the oldest Royal Rumble winner (1999) at 53 years old. Brock Lesnar’s 2003 win made him the youngest at 25, breaking Yokozuna’s record (26).

* Batista won the Royal Rumble twice from the #28 slot.

* 21 of the 35 winners of a 30-person Royal Rumble entered at 22 or later.

* Daniel Bryan (GRR), Rey Mysterio, Chris Benoit, Triple H, Chris Jericho, Bob Backlund and Ric Flair have all lasted over an hour. Roman Reigns missed the mark by ten seconds in 2016.

Unexpected Happenings

* Batista won the 2014 Royal Rumble and left the WWE later that year, the first time that happened since Big John Studd in 1989.

* All four women who have been in the men’s Royal Rumble match (Nia, Kharma, Beth Phoenix and Chyna) have eliminated male opponents.

* Jerry Lawler, Booker T, Michael Cole and JBL have all entered the Royal Rumble while serving as announcers.

* Randy Savage (1991), Bastion Booger (1994), Skull (1998), Spike Dudley (2004), Scotty Too Hotty (2005), Hornswogggle (2008), and Curtis Axel (2015) all weren’t actually eliminated from Royal Rumbles.

* Mosh (1999), Lo Down (2001), Test (2004), Nunzio (2005), and Tye Dillinger (2018) were all replaced in the Royal Rumble Match.

International Flavor

* No American wrestler won the Royal Rumble from 2010-2012.

* Wrestlers from the USA, Japan, Canada, UK, Ireland and Mexico have won the Royal Rumble.

* Since 2010, seven international wrestlers have won the Royal Rumble. In the 22 years before, only two had, and they were both Canadian.

Rules Are Made To Be Broken…Or Changed

* Shawn Michaels, Triple H, and Bob Holly were thrown over the top rope by Vader in 1996 (who had already eliminated), but it was disallowed, one of the only times that rule was enforced.

* CM Punk‘s last appearance was at the 2014 Royal Rumble, where Kane illegally eliminated him.

* Royal Rumble entrants have entered at intervals of 60, 90, and 120 seconds throughout the history of the Rumble. In the “tag team rumble” on Raw in 1998, the intervals were 30 seconds.

* 1988 was the only Royal Rumble to feature 20 superstars.

* Royal Rumble 1996 was the first to feature entrance music for all wrestlers.

Non-achievements

* John Cena lasted just over 22 minutes in the 2010 Royal Rumble, which was the longest that year. The year before, ten superstars lasted longer.

* ‘Nature Boy’ Buddy Landel was slated to be in the 1996 Royal Rumble, and was pulled due to injury. He still had a WWF Title match with Bret ‘The Hitman’ Hart on a January 1996 episode of ‘WWF Mania.’ He injured himself after the match, which was actually taped in late 1995/

* Doink the Clown was advertised for the 1996 Royal Rumble match, but didn’t appear.

* Despite spending 48 minutes in the 1996 Royal Rumble, Triple H didn’t eliminate any opponents.

* Shelton Benjamin was eliminated by a who’s who of wrestling: Randy Orton, Edge, Brock Lesnar, Undertaker, John Cena, Braun Strowman and Shawn Michaels three times. He was also eliminated by Kurt Angle in a Smackdown Royal Rumble.

* Neither of the Dudley Boyz participated in a Royal Rumble match until Bubba Ray Dudley in 2015.

* Andre the Giant (1989) , Randy Savage (1992), Ahmed Johnson (1997), Mil Mascaras (1997), Faarooq (1997), Drew Carey (2001), Kane (1999), Mick Foley (2004) and MVP (2010)m Santino Marella (2020 Women’s) all eliminated themselves from the Royal Rumble.

* Bob Backlund (1993), Chris Jericho (2017) and Triple H (2006) both lasted over an hour in the Rumble match and didn’t win.

* The only years that no competitor eliminated at least 6 Superstars were 2005, 2013, 2016 and 2018 2019 (both matches). However, Edge and Batista both eliminated 5 each in ’05, and Sheamus and Ryback eliminated 5 in 2013. Roman Reigns and Braun Strowman tossed 5 each in 2016.

* Going into 2021, Braun Strowman has eliminated 18 participants from Royal Rumbles. If you include the Greatest Royal Rumble, that number is 31.

Extra Rumbles

* WWE held a minis-Royal Rumble in 2008, which Hornswoggle won.

* Kane and Mankind won a 1998 tag team top contender Royal Rumble that barely went ten minutes.

* Owen Hart won a Royal Rumble that was never actually televised. In 1994, WWE ran a full 30-man Royal Rumble match at Madison Square Garden. Owen last eliminated Shawn Michaels to win the match, which also featured the likes of Diesel, Scott Steiner, Bob Backlund, Sgt. Slaughter, Jeff Jarrett, Bret Hart, 1-2-3 Kid, and others.

* Chyna won a “Corporate Royal Rumble” for the 30th spot in the 1999 Rumble

* Jerry Lawler won a 7-man Rumble on Raw in 2011 to get a WWE Title shot at Elimination Chamber.

* Eddie Guerrero emerged victorious in a 15-man Smackdown Rumble in 2004 to face Brock Lesnar at No Way Out for the WWE title.

* The 16-active competitors in the tag team Royal Rumble match were the most in any type of Rumble match.

Women’s Royal Rumble Records
(All stats reflect women’s Rumbles only)

* Michelle McCool originally held the single-match eliminations record with five. She also eliminated everyone who entered between number 10-13. That number was broken by both Bianca Belair and Shayna Baszler in 2020, with eight.

* Ember Moon was in the 2019 Royal Rumble for over 52 minutes without eliminating anyone.

* It took six opponents to eliminate Nia Jax in 2018, a record.

* Natalya’s Iron Woman time of 56:01 was set in 2019. Sasha Banks‘ 54:46 was the best in 2018’s event. Ember Moon and Charlotte Flair both lasted over 50 minutes.

* Vickie Guerrero lasted the least amount of time in the first women’s Royal Rumble, at 54 seconds. She and Liv Morgan were the only two people to last less than a minute in the Royal Rumble heading into 2020. Morgan lasted a mere 8 seconds in 2019. However, FOUR wrestlers lasted under a minute in 2020 alone.

* Beth Phoenix was the first woman to compete in men’s and women’s Royal Rumble matches. Nia Jax became the second. Santino Marella became the first man to compete in both.

* Asuka won The 2018 Royal Rumble from the #25 spot. Becky Lynch won from the #28 spot in 2019. Charlotte Flair won from #17 in 2020, the earliest in women’s history

* Only half of the 2020 entrants were from Raw or Smackdown. NXT and NXT UK had the most representation, with 11 entries.

* Wrestlers born in America, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Canada, China, Ireland have been represented in the Royal Rumble

* Nia Jax has been in three Royal Rumbles total (including one men’s Rumble).

* Carmella, Dana Brooke, Kairi Sane, Liv Morgan, Mandy Rose, Naomi, Natalya, Sarah Logan, Sonya Deville, Tamina have all thus far been in every women’s Royal Rumble match.

* Alicia Fox was announced for the 2018 Royal Rumble match, but got injured and was replaced by Kairi Sane.

* Lana was kept out of the Royal Rumble in 2019 via storyline injury and replaced by Becky Lynch.

* Charlotte’s four eliminations are the most by a women’s Royal Rumble winner.

GREATEST ROYAL RUMBLE STATS

Record setters

* Braun Strowman set a Royal Rumble record by eliminating 13 entrants in a Royal Rumble.

* 28 entrants eliminated nobody, a new Royal Rumble record.

* With Chris Jericho entering at number 50, he’s the latest Royal Rumble entrant of all-time.

* Daniel Bryan’s 1:16:05 was the longest in any Royal Rumble match ever.

* Chris Jericho passed the five hour mark in Royal Rumble matches, the most ever.

* The three Royal Rumbles in 2018 are the most of any year, as many have had two.

Outsiders and old-timers

* Mark Henry and Kurt Angle were the only WWE Hall of Famers in the Greatest Royal Rumble.

* Rey Mysterio and Chris Jericho both have appeared in Royal Rumbles and for New Japan Pro Wrestling this year.

* NXT had four representatives in the Greatest Royal Rumble — Roderick Strong, Tucker Knight, Dan Matha and Babatude.

* Dan Matha, Knight, Babatunde and Hiroki Sumi had their first main roster matches at the Greatest Royal Rumble.

* Tony Nese and Drew Gulak were the only members of 205 Live in the Greatest Royal Rumble.

Additional Stats

* Mike Kanellis had the shortest Greatest Royal Rumble time, at 2.5 seconds.

* Of the three former Cruiserweight Champions in the Greatest Royal Rumble (Hornswoggle, Chris Jericho, Rey Mysterio), none have wrestled on 205 Live.

* The average time between entrants was 77 seconds, with the lowest right at 60 seconds.

* Braun Strowman eliminated members of Raw, Smackdown, NXT, and a free agent in Great Khali.

* Nine former WCW, WWF, WWE, IWGP Heavyweight Universal and World Heavyweight champions were in the Greatest Royal Rumble, nowhere near the previous record, which is 16 in several other Rumbles

NOTE: There are bound to be errors as this is updated annually. If you notice any, please message me on Twitter @SeanRossSapp