Like we discussed the 30 women Royal Rumble in detail ,now is the time to look into the rich history of 35 years of the men’s Royal Rumble was started in 1988 and it was the creation of the genius known as Pat Patterson, he came up with the idea of having a 30 man over the top rope battle royal and he named it the Royal Rumble and since 1988 ,this match is the favorite and the most anticipated match of the wrestling year for almost every professional wrestling fan as they don’t know what might happen.
There have been 34 Royal Rumble matches so far and they have produced so many great moments and shocking returns over the years and this match has become the breeding ground for making new stars and making new champions in the main event of WrestleMania. Let’s look at the rich 35 year history of the men’s Royal Rumble match.
The Start of something new
On 24th January, 1988, a new concept was first tried in the WWE where there will be 30 men who will be in an over the top rope match with each entry coming after a fixed time and the winner of this match will earn a title shot in the main event of the biggest show of the year which is WrestleMania. The first Winner of this historic match was Hacksaw Jim Duggan and he won from the number 13 spot and this match was so well received and it became a hit they decided to do it as an annual thing and from 1989 it started as a PPV and from that time there was no looking back.
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The Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair era
From 1990-1992 it was the era of probably the greatest wrestler ever and the most popular WWE superstar ever as they both won the next 3 Royal Rumble matches and the Hulkster won back to back in 1990 and 1991 and thus cemented his status as an all time great already with everything he had achieved and then the 1992 Royal Rumble which is considered the greatest Royal Rumble match of all time and the reason is Ric Flair winning it from the number 3 spot against a lot of odds and thus making history that day. It was in 1992 that the Royal Rumble match got into legendary status on its own.
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The duopoly of Shawn Michaels and Steve Austin
From 1995-1998 only 2 people won those 4 Royal Rumble matches and they were arguably the two most entertaining and the biggest names at that time and both of them deserved to win each year they won as they were the only ones who deserved to win WrestleMania and Shawn Michaels was the first man to win it from the number 1 spot which was absolutely incredible and Steve Austin got into the iconic rivalry with the Rock after his win so the course of WWE changed after both these legendary superstars won.
2000-2010 : The Time for some Attitude and Ruthless Aggression
These 10 years were probably the most important in the history of the Royal Rumble match as in these 10 years the torch had passed from the Attitude era to the Ruthless Aggression era and the winners of the years are proud of it. In 2000, it was the Rock who won the Royal Rumble and created his own history and then the following year in 2001, Austin became the only man to win 3 Royal Rumble matches and was in a league of his own but from there on it wax the time of the new age superstars to shine on the grand stage as Triple H, Brock Lesnar and Batista won the Royal Rumble matches the next few years and were clearly established as the next big stars of WWE , in 2008, in probably one of the greatest Rumble returns in history, John Cena won his first Royal Rumble match and would win the title at WrestleMania, how can Randy Orton and Edge be left behind as then in 2009 and 2010, they both became the newest stars to etch their names in the history books.
The era of the wrestlers
Since 2018, people who are great wrestlers and whom the fans adore are winning the Royal Rumble matches starting with Shinsuke Nakamura in 2018 in what was one of the best rumble matches ever and then in 2019, Seth Rollins won the match and challenged Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania, then came the turn of Drew McIntyre who finally had his big moment in the sun and was established as a top star in one match.
2022- The year of Big E?
This year’s Royal Rumble is one of the most unpredictable in recent memory as anyone can win the match and only a few superstars have been announced like AJ Styles, Big E, Damian Priest etc and more will be announced and some will be big surprises but the fans want Big E to win the Royal Rumble because he deserves the spotlight and his name in history.
