WWE Royal Rumble: All previous winners and records

The 2024 Royal Rumble takes place this Saturday in St Petersburg, Florida and will be the 37th annual time that the WWE have held the January tradition.

Although the Royal Rumble event often has other matches on the show, the Royal Rumble match itself is a rare, once-a-year show where seemingly anything can happen. The first match of this type was hosted in 1988 and a women's version of the match was introduced in 2018.

In a Royal Rumble match, typically 30 wrestlers (though the number can vary) enter the ring at timed intervals, usually 90 seconds to two minutes apart. Wrestlers are eliminated when they are thrown over the top rope and both of their feet touch the floor. The last wrestler remaining in the ring after all others have been eliminated is declared the winner.

There are three outliers in this. The first Rumble in 1988 featured just 20 wrestlers. In 2011, the field was, for one night, expanded to 40 wrestlers. In 2018 a rare Greatest Royal Rumble took place in Saudi Arabia featuring 50 wrestlers.

The Royal Rumble match is known for its unpredictability, surprise entrants, and memorable moments. The winner of the Royal Rumble match earns a title shot at WrestleMania, WWE's biggest event of the year, for either the WWE Championship or the Universal Championship, depending on their brand affiliation.

For those interested, here are all the winners of the previous Royal Rumble matches:

Men's Royal Rumble winners:

1988 - 'Hacksaw' Jim Duggan

1989 - Big John Studd

1990 - Hulk Hogan

1991 - Hulk Hogan

1992 - Ric Flair

1993 - Yokozuna

1994 - Bret 'Hitman' Hart and Lex Luger

1995 - Shawn Michaels

1996 - Shawn Michaels

1997 - Stone Cold Steve Austin

1998 - Stone Cold Steve Austin

1999 - Vince McMahon

2000 - The Rock

2001 - Stone Cold Steve Austin

2002 - Triple H

2003 - Brock Lesnar

2004 - Chris Benoit

2005 - Batista

2006 - Rey Mysterio

2007 - The Undertaker

2008 - John Cena

2009 - Randy Orton

2010 - Edge

2011 - Alberto Del Rio

2012 - Sheamus

2013 - John Cena

2014 - Batista

2015 - Roman Reigns

2016 - Triple H

2017 - Randy Orton

2018 - Shinsuke Nakamura

Greatest Royal Rumble - Brawn Strowman

2019 - Seth Rollins

2020 - Drew McIntyre

2021 - Edge

2022 - Brock Lesnar

2023 - Cody Rhodes

Women's Royal Rumble winners:

2018 - Asuka

2019 - Becky Lynch

2020 - Charlotte Flair

2021 - Bianca Belair

2022 - Ronda Rousey

2023 - Rhea Ripley

Royal Rumble records:

Entry number with the most wins: Men's: 30 - 2007, 2008, 2016, 2022, 2023, Women's: 28 - 2019, 2022

Longest Time Spent in a Single Rumble Match: The record for the longest time spent in a normal 30 man Royal Rumble match is held by Gunther, who lasted for 1 hour 11 minutes and 40 seconds in the 2023 Royal Rumble. Daniel Bryan lasted 1 hour 16 minutes and 5 seconds in the Greatest Royal Rumble which had 50 wrestlers. Rhea Ripley holds the record for the women's match spending 1 hour, 1 minute and 8 seconds when she won in 2023.

Most Eliminations in a Single Rumble Match: The record for the most eliminations in a single Royal Rumble match is jointly held by Braun Strowman, who eliminated 13 opponents in the Greatest Royal Rumble and Brock Lesnar, who also eliminated 13 men in 2020 match. The most eliminations in a single women's Royal Rumble is jointly held by Bianca Belair and Shanya Baszler who both eliminated 8 wrestlers in 2020.

Most Career Royal Rumble Match Wins: Stone Cold Steve Austin holds the record for the most career Royal Rumble match wins, with three victories in 1997, 1998, and 2001.

Shortest Time Spent in a Single Rumble Match: Santino Marella holds the record for the shortest time spent in a single Royal Rumble match, lasting only 1.9 seconds in 2009. Chelsea Green holds the record for the women's match having last just 5 seconds in 2023.

Most Royal Rumble Appearances: Kane holds the record for the most Royal Rumble appearances, having competed in 20 Royal Rumble matches throughout his WWE career having also appeared under the gimmicks Isaac Yankem DDS and Fake Diesel. Kane also hold the record for total eliminations having thrown 46 wrestlers over the top rope in Royal Rumbles. Four women have entered their respective Royal Rumble a record of six times. They are Dana Brooke, Tamina, Natalya and Liv Morgan.

Women to compete in men's Royal Rumble matches: To date, only four women have entered the men's Royal Rumble. They are Chyna, Beth Phoenix, Kharma and Nia Jax. Santino Marella is the only man to have entered a women's Royal Rumble.

Longest cumulative time in Royal Rumble matches: Chris Jericho holds the record for the longest overall time spent in Royal Rumble matches having spent 4 hours, 59 minutes and 33 seconds in the match during his career. Charlotte Flair holds the record for the women's match so far spending 2 hours, 22 minutes and 30 seconds in the match during her career.

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