As one of the most royal pay-per-views is just around the corner, the anticipations about numbers have started shooting through the roof. From eliminations to survivals, from brutally thrusting one through the ring to using exotic acrobatics to keep your feet from touching the cold hard cement, Royal Rumble has been a perfect mix of blood and laughter.
In this story, we will take a quick look at the five superstars who have managed to register the highest number of eliminations in the glittering antiquity of a PPV that brings back superstars from their retirements, paves the way to one of the most extravagant wrestling events of the year and most importantly, grants you a title shot.
#5 Braun Strowman – 35 eliminations
They say that the men who came up with the biggest sizes always had an unfavourable advantage over others. When it comes to size, nothing beats the monster amongst men.
Strowman penned history by winning the biggest Royal Rumble match in the sport’s wrestling, as he outlasted fifty other men to claim his prize after a brutal bloodbath. He has so far been a part of 6 Royal Rumbles and even though one of them comprised 50 men, yet, in the antiquity of the PPV, he is just second in the chart of the average eliminations per match with Hulk Hogan acing the list with an average of 6.75 eliminations per game. Strowman flung his opponents onto the cold hard mezzanine like rag-dolls with no mercy whatsoever. His total tally in the Royal brawl totters up to 35.
#4 Stone Cold Steve Austin – 36 eliminations
There was a reason why SCSA was known as the most devastating S.O.B in the ring ever. He didn’t give a single dime to what others thought about his actions.
The man who became the face of the iconic attitude era also dominated the ring with an iron fist. He was also the most successful superstar to have participated in the Rumble with three triumphs from the six that he participated in. He was also responsible for 36 eliminations in his career alongside the exultant triumphs in 1997, 1998 and 2001.
#3 Shawn Michaels – 41 eliminations
The heartbreak kid was one of the toughest competitors in the ring, and the best part about him was that he never knew defeat. He would fight about till the last bit of breath left in him. Even the icon, Taker, had to empty his repertoire inside out over and over again to snuff out the fight in HBK. He participated in 12 Royal Rumbles to date and bagged 41 eliminations in the bloody history of Royal Rumbles. He won the Rumble back-to-back in 1995 and 1996.
However, the game-changer was the 95 Royal Rumble that saw him entering the ring first and emerging as the last man standing after the ropes came to his deliverance with him barely scraping through the skin of his teeth. He came back from the dead to beat an unobservant British Bulldog.
#2 The Undertaker – 44 eliminations
The Phenom, the Dead Man, the legend, the myth, call him whatever you want, yet the persona remains all the same. Enigmatic, sensational, menacing and most importantly insurmountable.
Even though he has just managed to win one Royal Rumble, yet the carnage that the man has left in the ring is unparalleled. In 2002 alone, he put an end to 7 superstars as he tossed them like paperweights across the ring. At the ripe age of fifty plus, the man has been sprinkling the ring with his own brand of stardust, delivered right through the gates of hell.
#1 Kane – 46 eliminations
The Big Red Machine, the Big Red Monster, the man who broke the gates of a steel cage as if it was some fragile glass door, Kane has been one of the most dominant personalities in the history of the sport. He has never won a Royal Rumble match in his entire career, and yet when he walked into the heap of tossed superstars, there was a trail of carnage that always followed.
He has been a part of 20 Royal Rumbles and has been responsible for 46 eliminations, with himself barely managing to cling on. Even though the man has significantly ruled the roost, yet it always felt as if the storylines ahead of the Rumble always went against Kane.
