WWE Ruthless Aggression Era: Every Royal Rumble Match, Ranked

The first Royal Rumble Match of the Ruthless Aggression Era also got off to an explosive start. Shawn Michaels was #1 – competing in his first Rumble Match since 1996! – and his then-rival, Chris Jericho, was #2. It was Christian who came out wearing Jericho’s gear, though, allowing Chris Jericho to attack HBK with a steel chair from behind.

Moments later, three SmackDown Six members entered the Rumble (Rey Mysterio at #4, Edge at #5, Chavo Guerrero at #7) to elevate the in-ring action. Matt Hardy and Jeff Hardy had a cool little interaction, John Cena made his Royal Rumble debut, and Maven tried to eliminate Undertaker for the second consecutive year, only to get tossed out this time around.

Speaking of The Undertaker, it all came down to him, his “brother” Kane, and Brock Lesnar in the end. The Brothers of Destruction started fighting each other, with The American Badass getting the upper hand by eliminating Kane. However, Lesnar capitalized as soon as Kane’s feet hit the floor, eliminating Undertaker to win the 2003 Royal Rumble Match.

2005

Those who have never seen the 2005 Royal Rumble Match might think it was an absolute mess. After all, the botched ending and Vince McMahon tearing both his quads are all people talk about from that night. However, this was actually a really good Royal Rumble.

Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit, the two men who’d walked out of WrestleMania 20 as world champions, started the Rumble and destroyed poor Daniel Puder alongside fellow veteran, Hardcore Holly. Established names like Edge, Rey Mysterio, Booker T, and Chris Jericho joined the party moments later, as well as entertaining mid-carders such as The Hurricane and Shelton Benjamin.

Muhammad Hassan getting eliminated by everyone was a cool moment, as was Paul London’s insane elimination at the hands of Gene Snitsky. Shawn Michaels and Kurt Angle started their feud here, and then it all came down to Batista and John Cena – two of WWE’s fastest-rising stars. Looking back, this was actually an amazing Royal Rumble.

2008

The last Royal Rumble Match of the Ruthless Aggression Era got off to a tremendous start (notice a pattern here!?) with The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels kicking things off. They dominated the first half of the 2008 Royal Rumble, with fellow top star Batista joining them at #8.

Royal Rumble 2008 took place at Madison Square Garden, so there were some cool cameos from legends in that match. Roddy Piper and Jimmy Snuka revisited their feud in a pleasant moment, and a few moments later, Mick Foley would enter the fray as well.

Finlay getting disqualified for coming out too early was extremely weird, but everyone forgot about it when John Cena came out last. Cena shocked the world by returning from injury a lot sooner than expected, and he would last eliminate Triple H to win the 2008 Royal Rumble Match.

2007

As we mentioned in the previous entry, the 2008 Royal Rumble began with The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels. One year earlier, the 2007 Royal Rumble Match came down to The Deadman and HBK in the end. Undertaker ended up winning the Rumble after a great “mini-match” against Michaels.

Edge came out at #5 and lasted 45 minutes, lasting until the final three with ‘Taker and Michaels. This was the first Rumble to feature ECW wrestlers, with Sabu famously getting eliminated by Kane with a huge Chokeslam through a table.

The Great Khali entered at #28 and eliminated seven WWE wrestlers in just three minutes of in-ring action, but he ended up being eliminated by The Undertaker. Speaking of The Deadman, he was the first wrestler to win the Royal Rumble from the #30 spot.

2004

WWE will never talk about the 2004 Royal Rumble Match due to the horrible actions of that year’s Rumble winner, Chris Benoit, in the last days of his life. That’s a shame, because the 2004 Royal Rumble is actually the best Rumble of the Ruthless Aggression Era, and one of the greatest of all time.

Benoit came out at #1 and started the Royal Rumble alongside a young Randy Orton. Benoit lasted one hour and lasted until the very end, last eliminating Big Show in a great finale. Randy Orton had a great showing as well, lasting 33 minutes before getting eliminated by the returning Mick Foley, starting their feud that culminated at Backlash.

That wasn’t the only program that either began or was advanced in this Royal Rumble match. Undertaker’s return was teased, which led to Kane’s elimination. Big Show eliminated John Cena to start their program over the United States Championship. Brock Lesnar interfered and caused Goldberg to get eliminated. Chris Jericho vs. Christian was also teased.

This was a spectacular Royal Rumble match that helped set up WrestleMania XX.