The 2023 Royal Rumble is just around the corner, and with it, the road to Wrestlemania will officially begin. Next month’s marquee match takes place on January 28th at the 64,000-capacity Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. Excitement is already through the roof for the 30-man over-the-top-rope extravaganza, and there’s one wrestler who many feel will outlast the rest, sealing his spot in the main event of Wrestlemania.
That man is, of course, Cody Rhodes. OddsChecker, which compares WWE odds and free bets, has made the American Nightmare the favorite to win next year's Rumble match, which would set up a showdown for the ages against the current reigning and defending Undisputed WWE Universal Champion, Roman Reigns. The Tribal Chief has not been pinned or submitted in over three years, but is Rhodes the chosen one to end Reigns’ record-breaking reign?
Perhaps he is, perhaps he isn’t, but the fact remains that the Royal Rumble match promises to be an incredible event. And in honor of that, let's take a look back at two of the best Rumble matches in recent memory.
2020 - Won by Drew McIntyre
The 2020 Royal Rumble match was without a doubt one of the greatest of all time. The match began with reigning WWE Champion Brock Lesnar coming into the ring as the first entrant. The Beast Incarnate entered the match despite being the champion, with his advocate Paul Heyman claiming that there are no challenges left for Lesnar, and as such he wanted to enter at number one and eliminate every superstar en route to glory.
And for the first half of the match, it looked like he would do exactly that. The man from Minneapolis eliminated the first 13 contestants, including some marquee names such as Big E, Keith Lee, and Braun Strowman. In the end, however, the numbers caught up with Lesnar, and he was thrown out of the ring after over 26 minutes by Drew McIntyre. A stare-down for the ages then ensued between the pair, sewing the seeds of a potential future rivalry.
From then on, the match took a more traditional turn. The ring began to fill up with competitors and had a number of epic surprises, with the return of 12-time World Champion Edge sparking delirium inside Minute Maid Park.
In the end, however, it was McIntyre who would outlast the opposition. He eliminated Roman Reigns with a Claymore Kick from the gods and went on to headline Wrestlemania, taking the title off the aforementioned Lesnar.
2017 - Won by Randy Orton
The Royal Rumble in 2017 had a star-studded lineup. It featured Brock Lesnar, Goldberg and The Undertaker, and much of the build up to the match was featured around these three behemoths. On the go-home Raw before the Royal Rumble, the trio had a brawl for the ages, and it appeared that one of them may have been on their way to Wrestlemania.
Another interesting subplot was Randy Orton and his alliance with Bray Wyatts. The pair had been on the same page for a number of months, with the Viper famously assisting the Eater of Worlds as he pinned Roman Reigns at Survivor Series a couple of months prior, giving team Smackdown the win in a traditional five-on-five elimination tag team match.
Fans wondered if the duo could co-exist, or if this was the time when Orton finally turned on Wyatt. He didn’t however.
Lesnar was eliminated by Goldberg after just four minutes of being in the match, with the master of the Jackhammer continuing his dominant streak over his biggest rival. The Atlanta native was then eliminated by the deadman though, whi in turn was then eliminated by Reigns.
It seemed to the world that the stage was set for another Reigns victory. He went on to take out Wyatt and looked set to eliminate Orton. The Legend Killer found a famous RKO out of nowhere, though, and threw Reigns over the top rope to secure his second Royal Rumble match victory and first since 2009.
