Ronda Rousey
When Ronda was first in the WWE many were surprised not only at ability in the wrestling ring as someone who wasn’t previously in the business, but also at how much she was involved. She was not just a UFC cross over star – she did the full schedule. And then after main eventing WrestleMania and making history for the first female match to main event the grandest stage of them all…she left.
Yes, there was an injury form the Mania match, and yes she did take time to start a family, and yes there was the pandemic, but for some time it looked like she may never return to WWE. And then she did and won the Royal Rumble as a surprise entrant. The fans were pleased to see her, and she put in a great showing in the match, but there is once again the factor that the WWE often makes the winner of a Rumble match glaringly obvious. The moment her music hit everyone knew she would win. And she did.
Also it’s worth noting that Ronda’s win tore the house down…almost literally as the WrestleMania sign started melting and caught fire when she celebrated…
Brock Lesnar
Lesnar first won the Rumble early in his career, during his first run in the WWE. At this stage he was still the Next Big Thing and was another example of his win being a forgone conclusion. On top of this, Lesnar entered at the very late number 29 position and it didn’t feel the most earned of victories.
His second victory came a ginormous 19 years after the first! From 2003 to 2022. And whilst Brock was dominant and eliminated several opponents to pick up the victory, he did so from the number 30 position. There is something a bit lame about this. He had been in from the start of the 2020 Rumble and eliminated almost the entire first half of the opponents single handed so why not do more here for the actual win? Add to this that he had lost the WWE Championship earlier in the same show and this was an example of WWE doing an obvious storyline rather than taking the Rumble as a chance to build someone new.
Bianca Belair
Bianca is an example of someone winning the title at the right time to elevate them. That this win would take her on to the main event of night 1 of WrestleMania where she would defeat Sasha Banks was the dream story for anyone going into the Rumble.
The only thing that let this all down for her is that the Rumble in 2021 took place in the WWE Thunderdome with the audience on video screen and not there live in person to celebrate Bianca’s win.
Undertaker
When Taker won the Royal Rumble he did so from the number 30 position, which up until this point had always been touted as the best number to enter from as it was last. As it was though, until The Undertaker no one had ever won from it. Like Lesnar this does give a sense that the Undertaker had less of a journey to the victory than other winners on this list, but as this was the first win from 30, it does add historic value.
And of course this was the Undertaker heading into WrestleMania in the midst of The Streak, so a World Title win was a sure fitting conclusion to the story started at the Rumble.
