10 Worst Royal Rumble Match Winners of All-Time!

[@daveisabeastly2024]

This feels like an old school OTRS video, love it

[@Rosiereo]

Del Rio better be on here, fucking garbage time period and a crappy talent imo

[@tomb_vision]

Alberto Del Boring. My first thought as well

[@metalheadjake3339]

Punk should of won.

[@Gavin48]

Alberto was pretty good in the ring. He just had awful booking. Agreed it was a pretty dire time talent wise

[@julesdalli9716]

Would have taken Swagger or Ziggler over Del Rio, as bad as they both were.

[@jacobdonnelly27]

A little surprised Batista in 2014 didn't make the list.

[@natetieken619]

Jeff kinda hates Daniel Bryan. 2015 is obvious but 2014 is bad as well. I’m sure if he liked Danielson he would of put both of them in there

[@WWEGalaxy2013v3]

Batista has Breakfast Club privilege!

[@Larakinerd]

I suppose because of what it led to it can’t really be the worst.

[@nationofmasturbation4052]

Because, it wasn’t. Daniel bryan sucks

[@LimaKiloRomeo]

To understand, you'd have to watch his videos from that time. At the time, he predicted Bryan wouldn't have been in the Rumble (because by #24, 6 previously announced entrants not named Daniel Bryan hadn't enteree yet). If anything, I think he find it funny that he was right.

[@diesel101raw]

Christian shudda won the 2011 Royal Rumble and then had Edge vs Christian WM 27

[@natetieken619]

It wasn’t nearly as feasible at the time of the 2011 Rumble to see Christian winning it. Other guys made more sense on terms of being over, I thought Punk should have won it with the New Nexus and him vs. Edge and Christian. Would have been a great Mania WHC match. But even Christian was a much better option than fucking ADR.

[@julesdalli9716]

As much as Chrisitan was in decline at the time, this wouldn't be the worst idea. When Christian returned, there were opportunities for either an Edge and Christian reunion, or a feud, that WWE never pursued. We didn't see them properly feud until they ended up in F'ing AEW of all promotions.

[@freezhollywood]

Del Rio one pissed me off. Wade Barrett was right there.

[@natetieken619]

I thought Punk with The New Nexus at the time was the right call 🤷‍♂️

[@theonlygoodonehere2259]

@@natetieken619 it def wasn't, nexus storyline didn't become hot ever again as they did with barrett

[@natetieken619]

@@theonlygoodonehere2259 obviously. But the New Nexus storyline with Orton going into WM27 was decent. One of the most serviceable matches from that show. Idk why that couldn’t have just been Edge and been a WHC feud instead

[@theonlygoodonehere2259]

@@natetieken619 I agree, I also heard rumor that a guy that helped vince with the wwe company who managed lucha underground was the reason for why alberto del rio kept getting all these main event pushes, he told vince he owed him, and the owing was pushing del rio to the moon, heard it from a reply in some other video, but it sounds strange to me, if so, thats prob what stopped an early cm punk push in 2011, in fact why did they abandon nexus after punk beat cena?

[@keyshawnbess572]

No not true. It was reported that after cena won the title back from the miz at over the limit in 2011 that he was going to have a long title reign that lasted until wrestlemania 28 where he would have defended it against the rock.

[@johngleason1776]

Going back and thinking of all the wrestlers who deserved a push during the PG Era and never got one, it's crazy how much they believed in Alberto Del Rio. Money in the Bank and the Royal Rumble in the same year. Woof.

[@HHHBFResurrected]

I still remember my reaction when I saw that result the next day. My thought was "oh dear, they really do feel desperate now". I can't be sure if they really believed in ADR or not cos they were so starved of starpower up until Punk made himself one overnight by force. Was a bad time.

[@julesdalli9716]

Ironic that guys like Eddie and Mysterio became stars organically. Then WWE thinks "hey, there's an untapped Latino market, let's push nothings like Del Rio and Sin Cara!"

[@BMitc13476]

Be careful what you wish for because 1 of those PG era stars that didnt get a push back then was Cody Rhodes and we see what happens now when they do push. How fitting that i call him Diet Soda John Cena because at Mania theyre talking about giving us Cody vs the real thing only this John Cena has lost alot of his power and about retire this year so he himself is like Flat Coke

[@HHHBFResurrected]

@@julesdalli9716 Tbf Mistico (aka Sin Cara) was the 2nd biggest draw in western wrestling when they signed him. WWE can be blamed for thinking his appeal would translate to their audience, but they can't be blamed for him being a hot mess in the ring.

[@SeaMachine25]

2017.. Bray Wyatt should have won, Randy Orton should have won The tilte at elimination Chamber and Wyatt winning The title at mania..

[@kamronlynch]

That would've been brilliant, but then WWE or Vince Mcmahon screwed Wyatt over Orton, which is dumb.

[@SeaMachine25]

@ true, but Wyatt would have won a royal Rumble to help his push and a Win a World title at mania.. and not have Orton Win for his 2 time and have Wyatt hold a World title for 40 some days just to lose it at mania.. if Wyatt Got screwed after mania, Well so Be it, but Wyatts road to mania would have been cool

[@Christian4everish]

Agreed. Bray Wyatt going into Mania as the Rumble winner made more sense with the Randy Orton narrative than Randy being the one to choose to face him for the title.

[@ericdxfan511]

Bray shouldn't have even been in the World Title match at WrestleMania, let alone the champion. It should've been Orton vs AJ.

[@ericdxfan511]

​@@kamronlynch Wyatt going into that Mania as Champion over AJ Styles (or even Cena) was dumb 🤷‍♂️.

[@MrRed88]

Cena in 2013 should be way higher. Definitely higher then McMahon

[@ericdxfan511]

No it shouldn't. They had worse Rumble winners in that decade alone 😂

[@MrRed88]

@ericdxfan511 bullshit. Like who? What winner that decade other than Del Rio and Nakamura was anywhere near as insulting and this big of a waste of time? Absolutely no one wanted cena to win in 2013, and look what it led to anyway. Nah bruh,, Cena should be in the top three. There's hardly a winner that was a bigger waste of time.

[@ericdxfan511]

@MrRed88 Sheamus, Batista, Roman, and the other two you mentioned (I didn't even like Seth winning) were FAR worse. Cena winning was no different or worse than Orton winning in 2017. You just hating

[@MrRed88]

@ericdxfan511 Sheamus led to a memorable moment at WrestleMania for as dumb as it was. Batista was the right person to win, fans just rejected him for dumb reasons but now we have hindsight and realize he was the right call because Bryan ended up just being a waste of time and it's the same thing with the next year. We have hindsight now and can realize that these decisions were more correct than given credit for despite the unfair crowd reaction. And even in the case of roman, Roman went on to have a pretty good match at mania up until it was ruined with Seth cashing in at the end. Cena was a bad call before the rumble, during the rumble and led to one of the worst things the WWE ever did. Hell no, none of the ones you mentioned were worse. Cena is absolute top three and I could still be here listening reasons why. It was such a bad call they couldn't even main event the show with it

[@ericdxfan511]

@MrRed88 Sheamus didn't need the Rumble. They could've easily gotten the point across by having him win the Elimination Chamber. Jericho should've won. Batista was NOT the right person to win, Bryan was massively over and they purposely kept him out of the match and who tf wanted to see Batista vs Orton? No one and you want me to believe Cena's win was worse than that. Even CM Punk would've been a better choice than Batista.

[@Bgz8890s]

We are waiting for your Raw Netflix review, BROTHER 🤣

[@reeseangle9621]

I loved Cody going back to back.

[@josiahvincent1511]

Keep doing these videos all year long. Hope you enjoy doing these again. pull an MJ and come out of retirement next year too!

[@GenX6887]

Thank you for at least putting the 2004 Rumble as an honorable mention! Cause despite what ended up happening, you still can't take away how epic Benoit's Rumble victory was.

[@EVGriffinJr]

Agreed. Chris Benoit is a piece of shit for what he did to his family. But what he did in the Royal rumble 2004 was epic. I’ll down the man all day, but I won’t take away from his wrestling career.

[@mikelee4200]

OTRS im surprised that Austin 2001 Royal Rumble didn't make the list because of your reference of Kane's great performance on that night arguing that Kane should have won that Rumble 😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅

[@natetieken619]

Doesn’t mean Austin was a bad winner though

[@Tye0111]

Kane is my #1 but he didn't need that. His dominance in that alone was great. It's crazy that rumble is my favorite and the first one I ever watched.

[@kamronlynch]

I agree, I think it is stupid to bring the invasion angle by having Austin join the alliance back in 2001.

[@radioVHS149]

Every single Rumble always has an "mvp" ( not THAT mvp) and an eventual winner.. 1993's MVP was Bob Backlund 1994 was Diesel 1995 was British Bulldog 1996 was Helmsley 1998 was Mick Foley 2000 was Rikishi and of course 2001 was Kane

[@julesdalli9716]

Surprised he passed on a chance to criticize the year of 2001.

[@taylork7530]

So what I’m seeing on Twitter is that a certain Founder is going after a world title in 2025. Interesting…

[@tomb_vision]

Alberto Del Boring

[@1hendrixx7]

Alberto Del Dip Shit (Solomonster reference)

[@JonCombo]

Who should've won that one then? While trying to get a newer guy over.

[@JonCombo]

Wade Barrett, Dolph Ziggler, Drew Mcintyre?

[@tomb_vision]

​@@JonCombo CM Punk

[@powerspyin1games]

WWE didn't expect the backlash against 2014 Batista, but the fact that they brought The Rock in to ease the backlash for 2015 Roman was a middle finger to the fans

[@faw9148]

what about 2014 Batista?

[@metalheadjake3339]

He didn't hate the choice that year. I remember him making a video laughing at the IWC online for it. 😂

[@leoramos50]

If this the last otrs year, let’s do it big Jeff, I hope you see this comment you are truly appreciated

[@GregOGrady84]

2014 and 2015 royal rumbles and the carry on of the fans really put me off the product for a while it was pathetic

[@reallyretro]

You left out Big John Studd from the 1989 Royal Rumble. His win was random af, wasn’t over at all with the crowd, and nowhere near a world title contender in 1989. He wound up being a special guest referee at WrestleMania V, then gone from the company shortly after for gods sakes. He’s my pick for the worst winner ever.

[@jurtra9090]

Before 1993, Royal Rumble was just another show

[@CarlosGarcia-ut2th]

Top 10 Non-Royal Rumble Royal Rumble PPV Matches

[@TheObliviousRhino]

Marcus Smart: FLAMING KEYBOARD FINGERS OF FIRE!!! 🔥 😂

[@taylork7530]

0:57 It truly does suck, because I remember seeing that at Dave & Busters as a kid.

[@wrestlingbuff87]

Ill stand with you on Santino winning 2011... should've happened.

[@Profess84]

I agree with your list!!! Vince almost ruined Roman's career with those terrible promo's. To add on to it, I wasn't a fan the 2014 Rumble either.

[@JackieAprilesr]

You should do more top tens, this stuff is great. You should do a top ten favorite Wrestlemanias or top ten Rumble shows.

[@undertakerfanz628]

Batista was the worst Daniel Bryan should have won that

[@nationofmasturbation4052]

Nahhh

[@ericdxfan511]

Exactly, Batista should've came back and started a program with Brock. They really screwed up WM 30 🤦‍♂️

[@alanmcdonald469]

There really was so many bad Rumble winners over the years Lol. Honorable mention is 1993. Nothing against Yokozuna, but Savage should have won the Rumble that year, and it should have been Savage vs Bret for the belt at Wrestlemania 9.

[@dwlc4288]

That would be interesting to see and would Hogan politic his into a title win?

[@reallyretro]

I would have picked Mr. Perfect to win the 1993 Royal Rumble, as he could have gotten his win back from SummerSlam 91’ and him vs Bret had amazing chemistry. That would have been a fantastic climax to his late 1992 comeback in the ring.

[@digitalstatictv]

In 2015, let's not forget how much old school booking they did with Daniel Bryan. He won the belt, got cashed in on. He won the belt, dusty finish. He almost had it won, Big Show runs in. He almost wins it, gets turned on by Shawn Michaels. What would you expect the fans to do? Each of those finishes were classic territory "we're gonna make you want it more now" then they thought it would be cool for him to fuck around with the Wyatts. WWE created the Bryan hysteria. They booked it. That's on THEM. As for Santino, if the ultimate goal was to get Del Rio over as a heel (let's pretend like the guy wasn't a complete non-talent, bear with me) that was the play. Del Rio wins the belt from Edge in the Elimination Chamber, and you tell the story of Santino's ultimate underdog tale to Mania where Del Rio crushes every hope spot, wins clean, and pie-faces him on the way out. (Then you do Edge and Christian vs the Corre jobbers for Edge's retirement match).

[@dpistons149]

Goat is back

[@EVGriffinJr]

You have every right to feel how you feel about the royal rumble 2004. I myself think Chris Benoit is a piece of shit for what he did. Still, to be fair, his win at that rumble was epic. I still go back and look at it on occasion.

[@PaulieAFantoneJays19]

#PleaseDontLeaveUs! #OTRScentral4Life

[@gordonarmstrong2208]

I’m really worried Charlotte is going to win the Women’s Rumble this year, to get her win back against Rhea from two years ago…

[@starknight2262]

I'll add the 2018 women's royal rumble match winner. It wasn't bad that asuka won, Its was HORRIBLE what they did after at Wrestlemaina 34. Having Charlotte beat asuka for the smackdown women's championship at wrestlemaina 34. All that hype and all that build up for asuka and her long undefeated streak and the catchphrase nobody's ready for Asuka, Just to have asuka win the very first ever women's royal rumble match then go on to Wrestlemaina 34 just to loose to charlotte was SO FREAKING DUMB. and NOTHING you can say will ever change my mind or opinion on that. Asuka was never the same after that.

[@julesdalli9716]

That really seemed like some sort of internal conflict. HHH wanted to push one of his NXT darlings, but Vince wanted to keep pushing Ric's kid. While neither performers were that great, I would take Asuka over Charlotte. Kind of marketable with all those colours.

[@starknight2262]

@@julesdalli9716 It's more then that and a lot more then you would know. It's not just about pushing someone, It's about making a big time star. Something people fail to realize is that the wwe haven't had or had any huge mega star or a house hold name since Austin and the rock left wrestling in the early 2000's. Nobody knows who any of these wrestlers are today unless you actually watch wrestling. A person who who doesn't watch wrestling wouldn't know who cody Rhodes or roman reigns and so on is. But I'll guarantee you they would know who Dwyane Johnson aka the rock is or who hulk hogan is because they are mega stars who made a huge difference and impact inside and outside of wrestling. The reason I'm bringing this up is because this was a chance for the wwe to make Asuka a mega star back in 2018 if the wwe had gone all the way with her and had her beat Charlotte for the title at wreslemaina 34. You know how huge that would have been in Asia? To have an Asian wrestler have that much in impact? But no the wwe blew it and had asuka loose after all that hype and build up she had going in to Wrestlemaina. And she was never the same again after her loss to Charlotte at Wrestlemaina. All that hype and build up she originally had was gone and people began to care less about her after that. She did win the title sometime after but it wasn't the same and didn't have the same feel or impact it would have if she beat Charlotte at Wrestlemaina. I don't care whose fault it was not to go all the way with asuka when they had the chance. Whoever's fault it was is stupid. Here's a chance to make asuka a mega star and they blew it. Just think about the huge impact that would have had in Asia the largest population of people in the world.

[@gregwilson2382]

No Big John Studd?

[@AS-is4dt]

My problem with Cody Rhodes winning again. They should’ve made it a storyline and have Cody come out 1 and have Roman put a hit on him or something

[@Stoneman180190]

The whole 2015 royal rumble was awful. Out of shape and past their prime Kane and Big Show eliminating crowd favourites like jobbers, and also being in the final four because in Vince’s mind fans will have no choice but to cheer Roman.

[@andrewwatson8591]

To be fair without the 2015 backlash as well as a few other horrible decisions, we may never have gotten the tribal chief version

[@botchamaniajeezus]

this video being sandwhiched by both philly rumbles is genius

[@heelgill]

Would've been nice if Ryback won the 2013 Royal Rumble. He wasn't as bad as people make him to be. Promo-wise, whatever, but in the ring, he was a good powerhouse. People like to say it was botching all the time but he wasn't although he did here and there. He would've done well.

[@mattc060793]

As a big Bryan Danielson fan, I'll let it slide that you don't think he's that special. We all have opinions. But seriously Roman going over there was insulting and you're right they shouldn't have even put Bryan in the match. The fans were behind Rusev, Ziggler, Ambrose, anybody but Roman. And to make matters worse the ending with Kane and Big Show. Truly insulting.

[@JonCombo]

In defence of Hogan's 1990 win, he's the biggest draw, and it's a match that's becoming a fan favourite. Perhaps he could've had a match after the Rumble, but then they wouldn't have the Hogan / Warrior tease. He'd probably been in all main events of every PPV up to that point. You've got to remember there hadn't been many PPVs and they built their company around him. That's what the kids wanted to see. Atleast for that Rumble.

[@ajphillips3152]

You know what would be awesome a starrcade review series

[@GregOGrady84]

no 9 was way too kind to Nakamura, seth rollins in 2019 for me, disagree with the Vince Mcmahon one it was great story telling

[@vishansilva8546]

Del Rio winning and Roman reigns winning gotta take the cake that was pretty bad. !!!

[@BMitc13476]

Randy Orton 2017? Not really bad for say just kinda pointless to give it to the last guy who needs it. Just to set up Randy vs Bray at wrestlemania.

[@PopeSixtusVI]

Del Rio is worse because there were 40 men that year. 08 was also annoying mainly because they had Cena win at 30 the year after Taker.

[@ericdxfan511]

Cena's win in 2008 was great because nobody saw it coming

[@undertakerfanz628]

I caught it real quick about the honorable mention

[@RATEDRRYAN1]

Still the goat, we going out with a bang

[@TheValhalla1989]

Del rios win was one of the biggest duds of all time

[@metalheadjake3339]

Screw Barrett and ADR. CM Punk should of won the 2011 Royal Rumble that year. He was the leader of the "New Nexus" and already started a mini feud with John Cena prior. You could of had Punk win the rumble. Cena win the world championship from Miz at Elimination chamber 2011 where Orton eliminates him. Thus getting Miz vs Orton and Punk vs Cena at Wrestlemania 27. Nothing good came from the Orton and punk feud. Apart from the new nexus getting buried. Honestly, a Cena vs Punk match at Wrestlemania 27 would of probably made that Wrestlemania a little better with how good of a match it would of been since they have chemistry. But it may of caused the future to be different since punk getting a Wrestlemania main event may of led to no pimpbomb or walk out and leave for 10 years. But I still think Punk should of won it.

[@Gavin48]

Punk would have been overshadowed by The Rock. Punk should be happy he dodged the WM27 Main Event. Poor Miz took a bullet for him. Can you imagine the hissy Punk would have thrown if he was in The Miz spot?

[@cliffbot638]

2013 should've been The Undertaker. CM Punk never should've lost to The Rock at the Royal Rumble and the main event of 29 should've been a Streak vs Streak match.

[@Gavin48]

Undertaker and Punk were awful draws at the time. Sadly Cena vs Rock was the right way to go. Even though we can all agree the rematch sucked.

[@cliffbot638]

​@Gavin48 How? The streak was still intact and Punks title reign would still be going. If anything Undertaker beating him would make a lot of people happy

[@Gavin48]

@@cliffbot638 Punk had a pretty terrible reign. He felt more like the IC Champ at the time. He was constantly in the middle of the show on both RAW & PPVs. The Rock taking it at the Rumble was a mercy killing.

[@kidgruesome407]

Is WrestlingJesus still alive? I ask seriously.

[@Mohammad_AL_Enezi]

Let’s go SD ..

[@LordRaptor]

I say Triple H in 2016 as a honorable mention to this list as well because it was lame, but you pretty much right on every one of these, I'd add Becky Lynch in her latest win because she was forced and she sucked, but I don't give a crap about women's rumbles, number 1 and 2 are absolutely spot on.

[@jakewhite3508]

Doesn't help that Triple H went on to have one of the worst WrestleMania main events ever against Roman at 32

[@theguy261]

Why aren't you making a video about the legendary Jeff Jarrett promo on aew dynamite. Give the people what they want jeff

[@stingrey1571]

The Cody hatred is played out. Cody vs reigns made more sense than Rock vs reigns. Two years was devoted to Cody vs Roman only for rock to show up and vanquish the villain?

[@reeseangle9621]

Agreed.

[@CopingDoom]

Yo I totally forgot about the royal rumble, they done a poor job at promoting their next big ppv. Then again I havent been watching at all since its garbage product still alive by corporation money and structure

[@taylork7530]

Semi-related: no woman, yes even Bianca, should be going more than 20 min tops at next year’s women’s Royal Rumble match. If they do, 0 complaints about anybody’s performance. If they don’t legitimately pass out in the ring, I’ll be shocked.

[@julesdalli9716]

Cody Rhodes - Agreed. Him winning a second consecutive Royal Rumble was ridiculous. Shinsuke - This should probably be much higher on the list TBH. He bombed within a year and never bounced back. Rhonda Rousey - Women's RR matches are stupid to begin with, but Rhonda was probably the best choice at the time. She was the only female wrestler with any real name value. John Cena - Looking back, no one on the roster was really in any position to win that Royal Rumble. You mentioned Ryback, he was derailing pretty badly (largely because creative had no idea what they were even doing with him, not to mention Ryback himself being VERY green). While that whole Rock vs Cena II program was a complete waste of time, it probably made more sense for Cena to win compared to any other full timer, unless you had Punk lose the championship, win the RR that same night, and then use said win to go after Undertaker's streak. Hart/Luger - Horrible decision. Just a way to persist with the doomed Luger experiment while also keeping Bret Hart in the title scene. Hogan - Don't know too much about this one, but the way you described it made it sound horrible. Charlotte Flair - Again, women's Royal Rumble matches are stupid. Don't think it really mattered who won. Vince McMahon - This was a good example of the erratic, swerve-style booking you saw during the Russo era. And while there was a time and place for that type of thing (at least in that era, when junk like Springer was mainstream), this was a very bad way to go about it. And the payoff was ridiculous anyway. Austin reclaims the No.1 Contender spot at the very next PPV, and then it becomes about Paul Wight and keeping the title within the Corporation. Vince had no interest (kayfabe) in going after the championship after STVD Massacre. Absolute mess, Austin should have just won the match and gone after Rock at WrestleMania. ADR - This just reminds me how dead the roster was in late 2010/early 2011. Batista was gone, HBK had retired, I think Jericho was with his band, HHH was committing to his front office duties, and your only real main eventers were Edge, Orton and Cena (I don't count Sheamus). ADR was just brutal to watch. JBL with none of the charm or even an accent you could understand. I hate to give this person credit, but I think Cena should have won that Royal Rumble. WrestleMania ended up centering around him and Rock that year anyway (even Miz was an afterthought). Roman Reigns - Having him win the RR only months after breaking away from Shield (which ended up hurting all 3 members long-term), was a terrible call. Like, downright horrible. This being said, the full time roster was an absolute dumpster fire (yes, including Daniel Bryan), and I struggle to think of ANY full-timer that was prime to face Lesnar, given that Lesnar was basically an OP'd final boss since ending "the streak" the previous year. If they were willing to get on their hands and knees and apologize to CM Punk, and offer him that WrestleMania main event he was always whining about never getting, him winning the Royal Rumble MIGHT have worked (though with CM Punk's ego, you never know).

[@kamronlynch]

I think 2012's royal rumble is the worst one because they could've had chris jericho winning and main eventing wrestlemania to face CM Punk for the WWE Championship, but Vince Mcmahon decides you know what I'm just gonna have John Cena main eventing Wrestlemania 28, and sheamus will start at the opening to defeat Daniel Bryan and win the championship. Which is dumb because he won the rumble, which makes no sense at all. 😕🤦🏾‍♂️

[@ericdxfan511]

All of the Rumble winners in the 2010s sucked TBH 😂.

[@xGLLx]

Ok first off womens rumbles do not count (they cheapen the whole thing by doing the same crap twice in one night, they should have one on another ppv to break up it up or no at all, the same way having a hell in a cell ppv ruins the whole thing etc), if womens rumbles do count then thats 7 names before you start 2018-2024 then just add Cody Rhodes twice and number 1 Rey Mysterio, the whole match they constantly say he is doing it for Eddie, total cringe and they kept that going all the way though his short title run on the weaker smackdown brand.

[@xoynialedmc]

10 agree for sure 9 in hindsight it didn't matter triple h got his way 8 seemed okay before the WrestleMania years late 7 unnecessary didn't like it even as a fan at the time 6 confusing 5 don't know much of it 4 agreed. Shayna was destroyed by Becky too 3 unnecessary 2 unnecessary 1 disagree