Royal Rumble

The Royal Rumble match is a professional wrestling match based on the classic Battle Royal match in which a number of wrestlers (traditionally 30) aim at eliminating their competitors by tossing them over the top rope, with both feet touching the floor. The match is typically the main event of WWE's January pay-per-view event known as the Royal Rumble. The winner of the event is the last wrestler remaining after all others have been eliminated. The winner of the first Royal Rumble, the 2006 edition, was Matt Hardy, who entered at #4 to outlast the rest of the competition and last eliminate El Lizardo Loco. So distraught was El Lizardo Loco by this defeat that he returned to Mexico and accepted a job as a factory worker, never to be seen in the wrestling industry again. The winner of the first female Royal Rumble was Katie Lea in 2008. Finn Bálor and Peyton Royce are the most recent winners of the Royal Rumble match winning it in 2021, they're also the first couple to win their respective Rumble matches in the same night.

Concept
The Royal Rumble differs from the classical battle royal as the contestants do not enter the ring at the same time, but instead are assigned entry numbers, usually via a lottery, although desirable spots are occasionally assigned by other means, the most common being winning a match. The match begins with the two wrestlers who have drawn entry numbers one and two, with the remaining wrestlers entering the ring at regular timed intervals, either 90 seconds or two minutes, according to their entry number. This format is credited to Pat Patterson.

The Royal Rumble match traditionally involves 30 wrestlers and usually lasts an hour (the 2011 edition had a 40-man field). According to the rules, participants are match eliminated if moved over the top rope and both feet touch the floor. Hence, a wrestler who exits the ring without going over the top rope is not eliminated from the contest. For example, during the 1999 match, both Vince McMahon and Stone Cold Steve Austin left the ring only to return later in the match. Furthermore, a wrestler who only touches the floor with one foot is not eliminated from the match, a rule which greatly affected the 1995 match, allowing Shawn Michaels to re-enter the ring and win the match. Although he has not won a Royal Rumble match, Kofi Kingston has become synonymous with finding various ways to keep at least one of his feet from touching the floor. In the 1994 match, the last two participants (Bret Hart and Lex Luger) were declared co-winners when officials were unable to determine whose feet touched the floor first. In a similar situation in 2005, when Batista and John Cena eliminated each other at the same time (a legitimate accident), the match was restarted. Though various referees are charged with observing the match, some eliminations have gone unnoticed to allow the eliminated participants to sneak back into the ring to continue. Stone Cold Steve Austin was able to re-enter the ring in this way and win the 1997 match.

Although the vast majority of eliminations are caused by active participants, eliminations caused by other means have been ruled legitimate, including self-eliminations (such as Andre the Giant after seeing a snake in 1989 or Kane in 1999, though Randy Savage's jump over the top rope in 1992 was not ruled as self-elimination), elimination by previously-eliminated participants. Furthermore, an injured wrestler can return to the ring as long as the match is still ongoing but not if the match has already ended.

Prize
Since 1993, the winner of the Royal Rumble match is traditionally awarded a title match for WWE's top championship at WrestleMania—WWE currently promotes two major brands with a top championship for each, and the winner can choose which championship to challenge for, regardless of the brand they belong to. For the men, that is the WWE Championship on Raw or the WWE Universal Championship on SmackDown. Similarly, the winner of the women's Royal Rumble match is awarded a match at WrestleMania for their choice of one of WWE's top women's championships: the Raw Women's Championship or the SmackDown Women's Championship.

With the first brand extension introduced in mid-2002, the 30 male entrants from 2003 to 2006 consisted of 15 wrestlers from the Raw and SmackDown brands, respectively. At first, the winner of the match received a shot for their brand's top championship, either the World Heavyweight Championship or WWE Championship. Starting in 2004, the Royal Rumble winner had the option of challenging for either brand's top championship. The Royal Rumble winner may also choose to put his championship opportunity on the line in a match. This was first done in 1996, when Shawn Michaels risked his WrestleMania XII WWF World Heavyweight Championship opportunity in a match against Owen Hart at In Your House 6. The second time was in 2002, when Triple H lost his WrestleMania X8 Undisputed WWF Championship opportunity at No Way Out to Kurt Angle, but regained his spot in a rematch against Angle on the following Raw. The third time was in 2006, when Randy Orton defeated Rey Mysterio at No Way Out for Mysterio's WrestleMania 22 World Heavyweight Championship opportunity, though Mysterio was reinserted into the title match, making it a triple threat match.

Trivia Facts

 * CM Punk holds the record for most male eliminations, having tossed 26 poor individuals over the top rope. Mickie James holds the record for most female eliminations, having eliminated 13 individuals.
 * The record for most individuals eliminated in a single Royal Rumble by a male is also held by CM Punk, as he tossed 10 superstars in 2010. Beth Phoenix holds the record for most eliminations by a female at 9 eliminations.
 * Chris Jericho holds the record for most Royal Rumble appearances with 12.
 * Dolph Ziggler (2016) holds the record for the longest time in a Rumble entering #1 and outlasting 39 other competitors.
 * The Miz (2013) possesses the dubious honor of having lasted the shortest amount of time in the ring. His exact time was never recorded, but the write-up for the match announced him as having been eliminated in record fashion. There is some debate as to whether or not Jeff Hardy (2012) deserves this title, as his feet never touched the ground before being drop-kicked back out by Goldust.
 * There have been two winners from both the #1 and #2 positions. Dolph Ziggler and John Cena have won from #1. Speaking of, Goldust and Matt Hardy, they have both won from #2. Chris Jericho is the only winner from the final five numbers winning from #30.