WOMEN’S ROYAL RUMBLE -Pat McAfee comes out to start the show as special guest commentator for the evening. Michael Cole is very excited, and Corey Graves is pissy about this development. They did this better last year, but they actually explain that by saying Cole knew in advance that Pat was coming out this time. -Naomi is right into the match at #2 giving us … Continue reading Ranking The Rumbles: 2024

It’s Stew’s time to shine! Every year for the past… I dunno… many (?), I have watched the Royal Rumble match[es], reviewed the Royal Rumbles, and ranked them all in order of my own preference. And now it’s time for the 2023 editions. We’re going to be breaking down the matches, figuring out where the new editions fit in the all-time rankings and then talking … Continue reading Ranking The Rumbles: 2023

2022: THE MYSTIQUE DISSOLVES EARLY I’m writing this in the aftermath of the event, and I’m still working out my feelings, so BEAR WITH ME and let’s get right into it! WOMEN’S ROYAL RUMBLE MATCH -You’re probably wondering what the asterisks are for! Well, those are for the SEVEN entrants that were just returning old timers (“legends”) who were all IMMEDIATELY eliminated from the match. … Continue reading Ranking The Rumbles: 2022

It’s been a year, but we are back for another entry in my Ranking The Rumbles series! We are going to do things a little differently this year. I’ll be actually talking about the whole of the 2021 Royal Rumble pay-per-view, though I will be focusing most of my attention on the two separate Rumble matches proper. Before tonight, we’ve had 36 Royal Rumble matches–that includes … Continue reading Ranking The Rumbles: 2021

2020: DIFFERENCE OF OPINION It’s been a good run of Rumbles lately! 2019 gave us a fantastic Women’s iteration of the match. I gave the 2018 men’s Rumble a solid 7/10. Even the kind of “meh” 2017 and 2016 Rumbles, I graded out as ever-so-slightly above average. How long do you think a run like that can last? I’ll admit, I’ve been reading reviews online … Continue reading Ranking The Rumbles: 2020

2018: The Man A funny thing happened between the Royal Rumble 2018 and the Royal Rumble 2019, as perpetual also-ran Becky Lynch became a star so big that she pulled so many of WWE’s plans into her orbit. She became THE focus of so much going on, and was easily the most talked about figure in the WWE landscape. Are we hitting the hipster backlash … Continue reading Ranking The Rumbles: 2019

Like a slumbering kraken, I have been awakened and re-emerged to the wrestling side of 411mania from the TV/Movies department and my podcast because I have heard tale of a Royal Rumble that occurred in a far off land (that’s what… that’s what Krakens do, yes?). I gave approximately two seconds worth of thought to “Well… does this Royal Rumble count towards the Reviews” before deciding that … Continue reading Ranking The Rumbles: The Greatest Royal Rumble

2017: The Rising Sun A Royal Rumble happened, and there was no way I was going to leave my adoring(?) public hanging. I’m sure as you were all enjoying the 2018 iteration of the Royal Rumble, you thought, “Gosh, hopefully someone will review this Rumble after the fact and provide me with some context as to where it fits in the grand scope of the … Continue reading Ranking The Rumbles: 2018

Hey, you didn’t think you were rid of me that easily, right? All those other reviews were leading up to something after all: the 2017 Royal Rumble! And how much of a let-down would it be if I ranked every other Rumble and then just left this one out? A pretty big one. So back by popular (er… back by some? ANY?) demand, let’s finalize … Continue reading Ranking The Rumbles: 2017

2016: The One That Wasn’t As Bad As It Should Have Been Despite what had seemed so apparent, Roman Reigns did not fulfill his destiny at WrestleMania 31, and we were all instead treated to one of the more fantastic finishes to a WrestleMania main event in history. Oh, but don’t worry… Roman found his way to the title before 2015 faded out. He was … Continue reading Ranking The Rumbles: 2016

2015: The BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO The 2014 Royal Runble’s crowd turned toxic because Daniel Bryan, the fan favorite of this era, was not entered into the match. One year later, WWE decided to put Daniel Bryan in the Rumble, so that would certainly turn out better, right? Participants 1. The Miz2. R-Truth3. Bubba Ray Dudley4. Luke Harper5. Bray Wyatt (this gets called his first Rumble ever, which … Continue reading Ranking The Rumbles: 2015

2014: The One Without Daniel Bryan I swear I thought I watched this Rumble live on the WWE Network, but… nope. The Network didn’t debut until a month after this event. Funny how your memory can mess with you after less than three full years. Anyway, yeah, this one. The second half of 2013 was all about Daniel Bryan. He had an extensive feud with … Continue reading Ranking The Rumbles: 2014

2013: Twice In A Lifetime There’s an argument to be made that the Royal Rumble should be the headline, main event match on its own card every year. That’s understandable. But sometimes, it just makes sense to have a world title match go on last. This was actually one of those years. Let’s not pretend we didn’t all know what WWE was lining up for … Continue reading Ranking The Rumbles: 2013

2012: Shades of 1995 Hmmmm. Sometimes Royal Rumbles are negligible. Even when the ultimate outcome is indirectly very important, sometimes the Rumble itself is reduced to filler. Say, for instance, you could adjacently link one Royal Rumble to the creation of the Yes Movement, which was a yearlong storyline that culminated in one of the best WrestleManias ever. You’d think that Rumble would have to … Continue reading Ranking The Rumbles: 2012