29 Years of Royal Rumble Statistics

On January 24, 1988, the World Wrestling Federation (now WWE) presented their first ever Royal Rumble match.  The event was held in Hamilton, Ontario Canada and kicked off what has now become a yearly tradition.  On Sunday January 28, 2018, WWE will present the 30th annual Royal Rumble on the WWE Network.

The Royal Rumble match itself is a unique wrestling match concept.  It is a battle royal type match, where wrestlers are eliminated from the contest when they are thrown over the top rope, and their feet hit the floor.  To add intrigue to the contest, the match starts with only two wrestlers in the ring.  Then, every two minutes, another superstar joins the match.  The match continues on in this way until all 30 competitors have entered.  A wrestler can be eliminated at any time.

With the nature of the match itself, and with 29 years of history behind it, it’s obviously going to have some interesting historical statistics associated with it.  So here today, we’re going to take a look at some of the more interesting statistics from this great event!

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First Man to Win the Royal Rumble:  “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan – 1988

The very first Royal Rumble match only featured 20 competitors, and “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan was the 13th entrant to the match.  He became the first man to win a Royal Rumble match when he eliminated the One Man Gang.

 

Multiple Time Royal Rumble Winners:  7

Hulk Hogan won the event in 1990 and 1991, Shawn Michaels was the victor in 1995 and 1996, Triple H claimed the top honor in 2002 and 2016, John Cena won in 2008 and 2013, Batista claimed victories in 2005 and 2014, Randy Orton claimed the top spot in 2009 and 2017, but “Stone Cold” Steve Austin is the only man to have won three Royal Rumble matches with victories in 1997, 1998, and 2001.

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