WWE Royal Rumble Interesting Facts And Stats: Hidden Rumbles, Owen's Win, WCW Connections
WrestleMania season is always an exciting time, and the annual Royal Rumble is a huge contributing factor. Every year WWE produces their own video highlighting statistics and figures from the iconic match, and Wrestling Inc has taken it a step further.
Below are dozens of stats and facts on the Royal Rumble:
The Big Red Machine
* 2012 saw Kane's long streak of Royal Rumble appearances end.
* In 2014, Kane tied the all-time eliminations record, originally held by Shawn Michaels. WWE's official website lists several different numbers for both competitors.
* Kane has appeared on every Royal Rumble pay-per view since 1996, including a couple of appearances as Isaac Yankem DDS and a Fake Diesel character.
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 Goodfather, and The Godfather).
* 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 Royal Rumble since has featured a former WCW Champion.
* 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.
* 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.
* Half of the entrants in the 2004 Royal Rumble were WCW, WWE or World Heavyweight Champions at some point in their careers, the most of any Royal Rumble. Another 2 won TNA or ECW World championships.
* Every Royal Rumble has been won by an eventual or former WWE/WCW Champion or Hall of Famer.
* 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.
Luck Of The Draw
* Ted Dibiase drew #30 in the 1989 Royal Rumble, and #1 in the 1990 Royal Rumble. The feat would be replicated by The Undertaker and Rikishi.
* The only Superstars to win a 30 man Rumble to draw a number between 9 and 21 was Shawn Michaels in 1996 and John Cena from #19 in 2013.
* The Number 1 and 2 entrants have won the Royal Rumble four times.
* The Undertaker has drawn number 30 three times.
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.
By The Numbers
* 43 WWE Hall Of Famers Have Entered The Royal Rumble
* 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.
Unexpected Happenings
* Batista won the 2014 Royal Rumble and left the WWE later that year, the first time that has happened.
* 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 Fatu win the match, which also featured the likes of Diesel, Shawn Michaels, Scott Steiner, Bob Backlund, Sgt. Slaughter, Jeff Jarrett, Bret Hart, 1-2-3 Kid, and others.
* All three women who have been in the Royal Rumble match (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.
International Flavor
* No American wrestler won the Royal Rumble from 2010-2012.
* Wrestlers from the USA, Canada, Ireland and Mexico have won the Royal Rumble.
* 26 different countries have been represented in the Royal Rumble.
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, the only time that rule was enforced.
* Royal Rumble entrants have entered at intervals of 60, 90, and 120 seconds throughout the history of the Rumble.
* 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.
* 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 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.
* 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) all eliminated themselves from the Royal Rumble.
* Bob Backlund (1993) 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. However, Edge and Batista both eliminated 5 each in '05, and Sheamus and Ryback eliminated 5 in 2013.