Royal Rumble Top 30 - January 29

Happy Royal Rumble Day!

2. John Cena vs. Umaga - 2007
2007 was John Cena's peak year and it started with this instant classic. After a fluke win over Umaga and ending his undefeated streak at New Year's Revolution (remember that?), Cena had to defend his title once again, this time in a Last Man Standing match.

Perhaps the last truly brutal match in a WWE ring before the shift in direction, this match silenced critics of both men. Well, people are always going to complain about Cena, but this match and the year that followed proved that the guy could get it done in the ring. You don't have to like him, but to say he can't wrestle or tell a great story in the ring is just pure fanboyism.

Royal Rumble Top 30 - January 28

Another double post, we're getting close to #1!

4. Kurt Angle vs. Chris Benoit - 2003
Another great match for historical purposes, but once again, I haven't been able to watch it for almost five years. At the time, absolutely terrific, but now I have a hard time even watching Angle, let alone tapes of Benoit.

3. Royal Rumble Match - 1992
But let's lighten the mood with the greatest Royal Rumble match in history, 1992's. To date, it is the only Royal Rumble match where the WWE Championship was up for grabs (they should do that again) and that's only part of its intrigue.

A star-studded match with lots of stories heading in and out, high stakes and of course, The Nature Boy. Flair's performance, lasting a ridiculous amount of time after entering at #3 and Bobby Heenan on commentary, losing his shit? Perfection.

A couple years ago, I looked back on the Rumbles with the mindset that 92 had been overrated - it really pissed me off as a lil Hulkamaniac when I first watched - but after numerous viewings, yeah, it's the best Rumble ever and nothing else even comes close.

Royal Rumble Top 30 - January 26

5. The Hardy Boyz vs. The Dudley Boyz - 2000
The 2000 Royal Rumble is probably my favorite non-WrestleMania PPV of the last 15 years... and the Rumble itself wasn't even that great. This PPV is absolutely stacked and this match is a true highlight. One of WWE's best 2-on-2 tag matches of the 00s and still holds up today, despite being an Attitude Era brawl. These guys definitely killed each other and while I won't complain that WWE's moved away from this style, it is a really fun match. Those damn chair shots to the head are incredibly hard to watch now though.

It was really a coming out party for both teams. The Hardys proved they weren't one-hit wonders with the No Mercy ladder match and the Dudleys avoided a disastrous Public Enemy-esque flop. Not sure either team would've become as big as they did in WWE without this match.

Royal Rumble Top 30 - January 25

6. Royal Rumble Match - 2001
OMG, I love the 2001 Royal Rumble SO MUCH! It's the final Rumble of the last boom period and it happened right in this beautiful period in WWE history where the Attitude Era was still going strong, but Russo was gone and there was this terrific interest on wrestling. The Attitude Era gets a lot of undeserved hype as the last time wrestling was good, but people would shit all over most of it if it were ran today. However, the period from the 2000 Rumble to WrestleMania 17 was really, really good. A few hiccups here and there, sure, but WWE was on fire in that period and the 2001 Rumble was a true highlight.

Just look at it, we've got Kane kicking everyone's ass, a random Honky Tonk Man cameo, and Drew f'n Carey! As bizarre as that was, it was an excellent use of a celebrity and one of those things that really had no point, but turned out being a lot of fun.

Oh and of course, it was Steve Austin's third and final Rumble win. I cannot overstate how awesome was at this point and after returning from neck surgery in late 2000, Stone Cold was arguably the best he had ever been. This Rumble win, the amazing (and oddly forgotten) 3 Stages of Hell match with HHH at No Way Out and, of course, WrestleMania 17 might be my favorite Rumble-to-Mania stretch for any wrestler, ever. Bottom line (see what I did there?), Austin is God.

And one other thing, they brought back the cool animated poster for this year's Rumble. Not as cool as the cartoony ones from the early 90s, but I don't know why they stopped doing those.

Royal Rumble Top 30 - January 24

7. Chris Jericho vs. Shawn Michaels - 2003
Simple and effective. You take Shawn Michaels, one of the greatest of all-time, not quite sure if he's definitely going to wrestle full-time, but willing to do big matches like the Rumble and WrestleMania. Then you take Chris Jericho, a big-time Superstar that had frequently been compared to Shawn Michaels throughout his career. Jericho wanted to escape that comparison and out-Shawn Michaels Shawn Michaels by winning the Royal Rumble after entering at #1, Shawn wanted to protect his legacy, so he took the #1 spot, but Jericho's the ultimate prick so he earned the #2 spot.

It all came together quite well and Jericho shocked the world by easily eliminating Michaels in the early goings of the Rumble. Still, it's the most memorable story of the entire match and it wound up being the perfect set-up for their match at WrestleMania, which was an instant classic. It was also the match that gave HBK the confidence and desire to return to as a (mostly) full-time wrestler... and it all started in the Rumble.

Way Too Early

This year's Royal Rumble stats video, always one of my faves.

Royal Rumble Top 30 - January 23

8. John Cena vs. Smarks - 2008
OMG GUYZ, JOHN CENA SUX MY BUTT! HE IS THE WORST EVER! I AM SO GLAD HE'S HURT AND WON'T BE AROUND FOR A LONG TIME!

3...

CUZ LIKE I SAID...

2...

HE SUX MY BUTT!

1...

AND I HOPE HE NEVER COMES BACK!



OMG JOHN CENA!!!!!! I LOVE YOU! HAVE BABIES IN MY BUTT!

Royal Rumble Top 30 - January 21 & 22

Another double update today since I wasn't around much yesterday. And hey, we're in the top 10!

10. Chris Jericho vs. Chris Benoit - 2001
You could argue that this is the greatest ladder match in WWE history. There's the steel chair "batter-up" counter to the dive outside, the Walls of Jericho on the top of the ladder and the amazing chemistry these two had. But again, much like my entry on the 2004 Rumble match, it's hard to go back and watch. At the time though? Yeah, easily one of the best ladder matches WWE has done and a rare gimmick match at the Rumble PPV.

9. Ax vs. Smash - 1989
Oh yeah, now this is happy times. It might seem silly to put a 2-minute brawl in the top ten of a Rumble countdown, but when I was a kid, this was the coolest thing I'd ever seen. Ax & Smash were tag partners, tag team champions, presumably best friends, but they each drew #1 and #2, what would happen? They'd beat the hell out of each other, that's what happened! They didn't tease it, there was no "will they or won't they," they immediately starting punching the other in the face.



It was fun when they did it again in 98 with Cactus Jack and Chainsaw Charlie, but by that point and especially today, we're used to the "every man for himself" thing. But in 1989? I had never seen anything quite like this and it definitely earns it a spot in the top 10. Also doesn't hurt that Demolition will always be my favorite tag team of all-time.

Royal Rumble Top 30 - January 20

11. Christian vs. Ezekiel Jackson - 2010
Much like Mr. Kennedy in 2007, this should've been Big Zeke's big moment. This match absolutely tore the house down, affirming Christian's status as WWE's star-maker and setting Zeke up for a major run following ECW's demise.

Unfortunately, Zeke's quad tear sidelined him for months and then he got saddled with the disastrous Corre stable and he hasn't recovered since. But Zeke is capable of greatness and this match certainly showed it, especially when he's in the ring with one of the best performers in WWE today, Captain Charisma.

I feel like this is one of those matches I nerd out over that was just a blip on everyone else's radar, but I absolutely love it. If it didn't impress you the first time around, give it another watch, I think it's aged pretty well.

Royal Rumble Top 30 - January 19

12. Bret Hart vs. Razor Ramon - 1993
Have I mentioned lately how much I love Scott Hall? Shocking, the guy named Razor loved Razor Ramon as a kid. Ramon's rise to the WWE Title match at the Rumble in 93 was unlikely, rumors were Bret was supposed to defend against The Ultimate Warrior, but I think it's safe to say this match was much better than that hypothetical battle would have been.

These two had a great old school wrestling match with Bret being much more aggressive than usual, perhaps due to the fact that Razor threw his toothpick in the face of the little kid Bret gave his sunglasses to before the match. Have I mentioned how much I love Scott Hall?

It's not a flashy match and I do prefer their battle at the inaugural King of the Ring PPV later that year, but for what was their first one-on-one encounter in WWE, it turned out to be a really solid bout. Vintage Heenan & Gorilla on commentary too!