The Greatest WWE Royal Rumble Performers Ever

The annual WWE Royal Rumble is amongst my favorite events of each year, and is definitely my favorite wrestling match that the WWE has to offer.

Where else can you see 30 wrestlers compete in one match? Where else do you have the anticipation of a new, unidentified superstar entering the ring every 90 seconds?

And where else is the winner of a match guaranteed a main event title bout at Wrestlemania? In a word, the Royal Rumble is awesome.

After recently watching some old Rumbles on DVD, and to quench my seemingly unquenchable thirst to rank everything involving wrestling, I decided to create a list of who I feel are the greatest, most dominant performers in the 22-year history of this match.

I based the rankings upon how many Rumbles they won, how much total time they spent in the ring as well as average time per rumble, how many total eliminations they were responsible for as well as an average number of eliminations they made per rumble.

I will also state some facts and trivia regarding the Rumbles history that you may or may not know.

If you're a fan of the Royal Rumble, you should enjoy this slideshow. At least I hope you do. I'd like to throw a quick shout-out to the real List Man, aka Swell, hope you like this. As always everyone, thanks for reading...

Some facts about the Royal Rumble.

Some history about the Royal Rumble match:

There have been 22 Royal Rumbles, with the first occuring in 1988.

The first Rumble was won by "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan.

The record for most Rumbles any wrestler has competed in is Kane with 12.

Three wrestlers have won the Royal Rumble multiple times, Stone Cold Steve Austin (97,98,01), Hulk Hogan (90,91), and Shawn Michaels (95,96).

The record for most total eliminations in history is held by Steve Austin with 36.

The record for most eliminations in a single Rumble is held by Kane with 11.

The longest amount of time spent in the ring during a Rumble was one hour, two minutes, twelve seconds by Rey Mysterio in 2006.

The shortest amount of time spent in the ring during a Rumble was one second, by Santino in 2009.

The only female to appear in a Royal Rumble match was Chyna in 2000.

Two times the winner of the Rumble entered the ring as the number one entrant, Shawn Michaels in 1995, and Chris Benoit in 2004.

Two times the winner of the Rumble entered the ring as the 30th entrant, Undertaker in 2007 and John Cena in 2008.

The entry number that has produced the most wins in Rumble history is 27, with four wrestlers winning from that spot. Those four were "Big" John Studd (89), Yokozuna (93), Bret Hart (94) and Steve Austin (01).

The only wrestler to be crowned WWE champion by winning the Royal Rumble was Ric Flair in 1992.

Honorable Mentions

Two guys who have not succeeded in winning a Royal Rumble, but always seem to have a great showing during the match, are Chris Jericho and Edge.

Jericho has been in five Rumbles, and has eliminated 11 wrestlers total. He has a total time of over two hours spent in the ring, giving him an average of lasting about 24 minutes per Rumble, with an average of eliminating 1.8 opponents per match.

Edge has also been in five Rumbles, and he has eliminated 15 wrestlers total. He has been in the ring for a total of two hours, 2 minutes, 13 seconds, which gives him an average of lasting about 24 minutes per match, and he eliminates an average of three opponents per showing.

Both of these guys have always performed well at the annual event.

10. The Rock

The Rock was the winner of the 2000 Royal Rumble, last eliminating The Big Show, in what was a very memorable ending.

All together, he has participated in four Rumbles, eliminating nine opponents with a total ring time just short of two hours. He has averaged about 29 minutes in the ring per Rumble match.

9. Kane

Kane is the only man who hasn't won a Royal Rumble match to make the top 10. I could not leave him off, when his Rumble history is so impressive. Had he won a Rumble, he'd probably be atop this list.

He holds the record for most Rumble appearances with 12.
He holds the record for most eliminations in a single Rumble with 11.
He is third all time in overall eliminations with 34.
He has a total in ring time of two hours, twenty nine minutes, one second.

These figures are too impressive to ignore.

8. Randy Orton

The "Legend Killer" is the most recent Royal Rumble winner, outlasting Triple H to win the 2009 Rumble.

He has been in a total of four Rumbles, totalling 11 eliminations. He has spent an impressive two hours, 2 minutes, 28 seconds in the ring, giving him an average of about 31 minutes per Rumble.

His 2009 Rumble victory came from the No. 8 position, lasting almost 49 minutes in the ring.

7. Rey Mysterio

Rey Mysterio amazingly won the 2006 Royal Rumble, entering as the second participant, lasting a record one hour, two minutes, 12 seconds, all in the name of Eddie Guerrero.

In his four Rumbles, Rey has eliminated 10 opponents, and has averaged 38 minutes per Rumble, which is the second best in ring average of all time for anyone who has been in a minimum four Rumbles.

6. Chris Benoit

I know some of you may not like to see this guy here, and I apologize in advance to anyone who is offended. But let's face it, he is a part of WWE history, and he was an amazing competitor.

Chris Benoit competed in four Royal Rumbles, winning the 2004 contest as the first entry. He lasted 61 minutes and 30 seconds in this match, which is the second longest total in Rumble history.

He is one of only three men to last over 60 minutes in a Rumble, (Rey Mysterio, Triple H) and his 39 minute in ring average is the greatest of all time.

His 14 total eliminations is impressive as well, as he is one of only 12 men to have double digit eliminations in Rumble history.

5. The Undertaker

Maybe the greatest Royal Rumble ever was the 2007 match in which The Undertaker won.

I know the last 10 minutes of this bout was pure brilliance, with HBK and Taker going back and forth as the final two participants, giving us a glimpse of the magic they would create for us at Wrestlemania 25.

Undertaker ultimately won the Rumble, although it wasn't an absolute dominating performance, as he entered the match at number 30, and only eliminated three opponents.

But his final ten minutes in the ring with Shawn Michaels was more than I could have ever hoped for.

In addition to his 2007 win, Taker was in nine more Rumbles throughout his legendary career. He has eliminated 35 wrestlers, which is second most all time.

He has totaled two hours and 23 minutes in the ring, and always made a big impact upon his entry to the match.

4. Hulk Hogan

Hulk Hogan was the first wrestler to win two Royal Rumbles, and he won them back to back in 1990 and 1991.

Although he was only in four Rumbles during his career, he made a huge impact, eliminating 25 opponents, which is fifth all time. His time in the ring isn't outstanding (55 minutes, 44 seconds total) but that has more to do with him always being a late entrant.

After competing in just four Rumbles, and winning two of them, and averaging over six eliminations per match which is the highest rate ever, Hulk is our fourth most dominant Rumble participant of all time.

3. Triple H

Triple H flies under the radar a bit I think, when it comes to great Royal Rumble performances. He was the winner of the 2002 event, last eliminating Kurt Angle.

Having participated in six Rumbles in his career, The Game holds the record for most time spent in the ring, topping out at three hours, 27 minutes.

He has eliminated a total of 23 opponents, which puts him at sixth most in history, and he is one of only three men to last over 60 minutes in a single Rumble (60 minutes, 9 seconds in 2006).

When it comes to the Royal Rumble, it's all about The Game.

2. Shawn Michaels

What can I say about my hero? He won back to back Rumbles in 1995 and 1996, with his victory in 95 occuring as the first entrant in the bout.

The vision of his feet sweeping across the floor as he dangled from the ropes in 1995, only to pull himself back in and knock Davey Boy Smith out of the ring to claim victory is one of my favorite Rumble moments and something I will never forget.

His three hours and twenty one minutes spent in the ring is second only to Triple H.

His 11 Royal Rumble appearances are second only to Kane.

His 34 eliminations ranks him 3rd all time, and he averaged just under a half hour per Rumble match.

As is the case in everything else HBK does in wrestling, each year at the Royal Rumble the man is just brilliant.

Only one man can top Shawn's Rumble career...

1. Stone Cold Steve Austin

That would be the Rattlesnake himself, numero uno Stone Cold Steve Austin.

Austin is the only three-time winner of the event. He holds the record for most eliminations of all time with 36, giving him an average of six eliminations per Rumble.

Over his six career Rumbles, he ranks third all time spending a total of two hours, 52 minutes in the ring, averaging just about thirty minutes per match.

Had it not been for Mr. McMahon's bogus tactics in the 1999 match, Austin would have four Royal Rumble victories.

But that doesn't matter. The man was a beast when it came to this event, dominating every one he participated in, usually eliminating more opponents in one match than most eliminated in their careers.

What I wouldn't give to see Stone Cold come back for just one more Rumble.
He is without a doubt, the greatest performer in the history of this match.

Hope you enjoyed this slideshow...