OPINION: What makes a good Royal Rumble?
WWE’s Royal Rumble is arguably the most successful gimmick match that the promotion has ever presented. For more than four decades, WWE has run with a simple concept that has become a hit: 30 wrestlers slowly trickle into a battle royale, with the remaining contestant being crowned the winner.
WWE viewers from any era will likely all agree that the Royal Rumble is one of the more interesting matches of the year. It’s part of why the promotion still runs decades after it was first introduced.
But for as much praise as the Rumble gets, it’s not a flawless match. Long-time viewers can recall many Rumble moments or overall matches that weren’t enjoyable. The Rumble, for all the praise it gets, has at times not been fun.
So before the Royal Rumble heads to the Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida this weekend, let’s discuss the good and the bad of the Rumble. What should fans hope to see this Saturday, and what should be avoided?
The Good: Surprises entrants of many different flavors
Simply put, a Royal Rumble without surprises is barely a Royal Rumble. The fact that a large portion of the entrants in a Rumble match are unknown is part of what attracts people to the match. It’s the idea that anyone, either current or past, can show up and make their mark.
Many different types of Rumble surprises are all important. The biggest, of course, is when a wrestler who has a legitimate shot at being in the main event picture comes back. The greatest example of this might be the 2008 Rumble when John Cena made his return at the 30th spot and ended up winning the match. Cena had been away from WWE programming for months due to a torn pectoral injury that he suffered in October 2007. Due to the severity of his injury, it was expected he would be out for a while — not just a few months. However, way before he was expected to return, he appeared in front of a jam-packed Madison Square Garden. A similar massive return took place in 2010 when Edge came back at entrant spot number 29 to win. Edge was coming off an even longer six-month absence from competition.
Some other appearances have come out of even more left field. Take for example AJ Styles, who in 2016 made his WWE debut in the match. Making a wrestler’s first appearance at the Rumble is a bold move. You’re putting someone into the big WWE spotlight without any build on your programming — you have to trust that the wrestler has enough popularity before they even enter the promotion. However, considering how much buzz Styles had before he even graced WWE television, this was a case of it paying off making a memorable moment. More recently, Edge’s return from retirement in 2020 was one of the more surprising returns.
Rumble surprises can be big, storyline-shifting changes — but they don’t have to be. Some of the more enjoyable unexpected entrants can be names from the past making a brief appearance in the current day. Rob Van Dam, Diesel, Jim Duggan, Kurt Angle, and Trish Stratus are some examples of wrestlers who appeared in a Rumble either after or in between stints with the promotion. Even fun entrants like Ricardo Rodriguez, who was the manager for Alberto Del Rio in 2012 and didn’t wrestle at all on WWE programming, add a special one-night-only attraction feeling to the night. Lasting more than an hour each time, the Rumble is always a marathon watch. The match doesn’t always have to be about who will win. It’s fun to throw in little subplots, like the unexpected appearances from wrestlers that you have barely — or sometimes rarely — recently seen in the WWE ring.
The Bad: Predictable or outright not fun finishes
What’s a good match if it doesn’t stick the landing? As much as a Rumble match is about the journey and not the destination, the finish of the match is always important. So many old Rumble matches finished with a flat reaction due to an expected outcome or an uninteresting one emerging. A strong example of an infamous Rumble finish was in 2015 when fan-favorite Daniel Bryan was eliminated halfway through the match.
To the displeasure of those in attendance and many discussing online, The Shield’s Roman Reigns won instead. Since we’re amid Reigns’ incredibly long title reign, it’s hard to remember how disliked he was during his initial rise. But if you can travel back nine years, you might remember how strongly fans rejected Reigns at the time. WWE’s decision to make Bryan exit the match early came off as tone-deaf, considering it was a massive controversy the year before that he was not involved in the match altogether. You could argue that booking shouldn’t favor the things that fans want to overwhelmingly see — which is true. However, the pungent reaction that the 2015 match generated — including the live crowd completely turning sour halfway through — makes it seem like a massive misstep.
It’s never fun when the winner of a match feels like a foregone conclusion either. An example of this I consider is 2016 when Roman Reigns had his WWE Championship put on the line in the Rumble match.
It became clear once Triple H entered the bout that the veteran talent would win the match. This was in part due to his ties to “The Authority,” which included Stephanie and Vince McMahon. While the 2016 Rumble event is remembered as a fun match with a strong undercard, something was certainly taken out of it by the predictable win from Triple H in the end.
The Good: Mid-match endurance storylines
An appearance in the Royal Rumble can last more than an hour, or come to an end in just moments. Some of the more memorable Rumble appearances come from wrestlers who performed for an impressive amount of time in the match.
For years, Rey Mysterio’s 2006 Rumble victory — which lasted a total of 62 minutes — has been held up as the prime example of this type of performance. Mysterio started that match alongside Triple H, who notably made it to the hour mark in the match as well.
Mysterio’s 2006 appearance, which saw him score six eliminations and take out Randy Orton last to win, held the record for the longest Rumble appearance for more than a decade. That record was broken last year by current WWE Intercontinental Champion Gunther, who competed for an otherworldly 76 minutes.
Those 76 minutes saw him making many eliminations and being a fixture in the match. He simply wasn’t just there, he was active. Similarly, Rhea Ripley and Liv Morgan went 61 minutes in 2023, with Morgan being eliminated last to end the match.
The appearances from Gunther and Ripley were arguably the highlight of last year’s Rumble matches. The “Iron Man” of a Rumble is always a fun thing to watch for, and it sometimes gives you an unlikely contender to root for during a match. In cases like last year, the long-lasting performance of one wrestler can elevate the quality of the match greatly.
The Bad: When comedy is ill-advised
Look, I’m not above a funny spot in the Rumble. I liked it when Santino Marella lasted just under two seconds in a match, causing him to deliver the classic line: “I wasn’t ready!” And I love a bizarre moment, like when Booker T., Jerry Lawler, and Michael Cole all left the commentary desk to compete in the 2012 Rumble. But comedy can be done poorly in the match as well.
Comedy spots in the Rumble are meant to help kill downtime during the lengthy match. This is to say, it shouldn’t be the finishing sequence. When it came down to Santino Marella and Alberto Del Rio in the 2011 Rumble, you could have just called it then and there. Everybody knew that Marella had no chance of winning, so it devalued the finish to one of WWE’s top events of the year to a comedy spot.
Royal Rumbles can be some of the most intricate and planned out matches on the WWE schedule. While the matches can involve some great hilarity, the hit percentage is not 100. Some moments are groan-worthy and can take something out of a match. An example of poorly put-together comedy that I always go back to is in 2010, when Beth Phoenix, a women’s wrestler, was placed in the men’s Rumble not to show that she could hang with the men, but instead to eliminate The Great Khali by — wait for it — kissing him.
The best Rumble comedy comes when it is placed at a good time and put together creatively. However, that’s simply not always how it plays out.
The Good: Wild mid-match moments
There’s something about the Royal Rumble that makes it an evening where wild in-ring moments seem to always come up. Is it the fact that, among 30 or more competitors, some wrestlers want to stand out? Or could it be because there are opportunities for unique spots during battle royal matches, which rarely happen outside of the Rumble?
Whatever the reason is for big spots, the Rumble has earned a reputation for it. Having moments during the match that might genuinely shock fans goes a long way toward making a match memorable.
When talking about the best Rumble spots, you can’t not mention Kofi Kingston. The WWE veteran has gained a reputation for having close-call situations, nearly avoiding elimination by pulling off athletic stunts. Every time Kingston has appeared in a Rumble, it has almost become an expectation that he will impress once again by just barely staying in the match. Kingston’s history of Rumble moments is so noteworthy, that there are even articles ranking each one (and there have likely been more than you remember!)
Last year’s Rumble notably saw a mid-air car crash between Ricochet and Logan Paul, as they both went off the ropes and collided before landing in the middle of the ring. That chaotic moment was another example of a hectic Rumble moment that was just as, if not more talked about than the outcome of the match.
The most important part of the Rumble is always who wins, but the length of the match and the number of contestants means that there’s so much more to the match than that. Part of what makes a Rumble so good is the intricate exchanges throughout the bout and the moments that take place before the finish. If this year’s Rumble matches follow these dos and don’ts, 2024 could be another hit for the classic WWE event.
