The WWE's Royal Rumble pay-per-view takes place this Sunday live from the Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh and while the event has featured some of the best moments in WWE history on the road to WrestleMania it has also had its fair share of memorable eliminations--whether it be shocking eliminations, painful eliminations or just overall hilarious eliminations--some exits from the 30-man over-the-top-rope Royal Rumble match stand out more than others. We've already listed the Top 10 best and Top 8 worst winners in the match's history, and now we'll look at the Top 10 eliminations in the Royal Rumble match:
10) Royal Rumble 1995: Davey Boy Gets Fooled By "The Heartbreak Kid":
While the 1995 Rumble match is very memorable for Shawn Michaels becoming the first man to last from number one and win it all, it has also been knocked down a few pegs since the time constraints on the pay-per-view shrunk the intervals down to just one minute making it a short and rushed Rumble and taking away from Shawn's longevity while the lack of star power also hurt it. Still, the ending sequence that saw numbers one (Michaels) and two ("British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith) last the whole match was a nice touch as it boiled down to those two superstars. It appeared as though Davey Boy was going to WrestleMania XI after tossing Michaels over the top--his music even played-but it was not to be as HBK used his athletic prowess to dangle from the top rope with only one foot touching the floor, and knocked a celebrating Davey Boy off the top for his first Rumble win and a memorable elimination.
Winner: "Heartbreak Kid" Shawn Michaels
9) Royal Rumble 2010: CM Punk, Savior!
This counts as a group of eliminations. CM Punk entered the 2010 Rumble as the No.3 entrant, and after tossing Dolph Ziggler and Evan Bourne, the "Straight Edge Society" leader grabbed a microphone and began to cut a promo right in the middle of the match. Punk's reign would continue through JTG, The Great Khali, Beth Phoenix and Zach Ryder, as all four superstars would eventually fall and Punk continued to cut a promo between beatings. The party was crashed, however, when Triple H came out as the No.8 entrant.
Winner: Edge
8) Royal Rumble 2010: Beth Phoenix Gets Creative To Eliminate The Great Khali:
During Punk's promo, he had gotten by Ziggler, Bourne and JTG easily, however when The Great Khali came running down, Punk's promo was cut short. That is until Beth Phoenix came out and kissed The Great Khali all the way over the top rope and eliminated him. It was a happy moment for the "Glamazon" until Punk subsequently hit her with the GTS and tossed her out to continue his promo.
Winner: Edge
7) Royal Rumble 1991: Bushwhacker Luke Is Unfazed By Elimination:
In a hilarious moment at the 1991 edition of the 30-man match, Bushwhacker Luke lasted a whole four seconds in the match. When the buzzer sounded, Luke did his classic Bushwhacker march down to ringside, stepped in the ring and walked two feet before Earthquake threw him over the top rope. Unfazed, Luke just continued his Bushwhacker march back to the locker room.
Winner: Hulk Hogan
6) Royal Rumble 1989: The Warlord Sets A Record Of Futility That Lasted Two Decades:
In 1989, the powerhouse wrestler known as The Warlord set a record that lived in infamy. The jacked up Warlord came down the ring for the 30-man match and struck a pose outside of the ring. He eventually turned into the ring only to get clotheslined out by Hulk Hogan in two seconds. The Warlord's two-second stint in the Royal Rumble was the record for shortest amount of time in the Royal Rumble match until 20 years later.
Winner: Big John Studd
5) Royal Rumble 2009: Santino Marella Defies History And Achieves A Record That Will Never Be Broken:
20 years after The Warlord created history by only lasting two seconds, Santino Marella broke the record that had stood for two decades after doing his classically stupid waltz to the ring only to get clotheslined out immediately by Kane, setting an infamous record by lasting just one second in the Rumble. It's safe to say that record will never be broken.
Winner: Randy Orton
4) Royal Rumble 2007: Sabu Crashes And Burns:
The "suicidal, homicidal and genocidal" Sabu made his Royal Rumble debut in 2007 and immediately made an impact by setting up a table on the outside of the ring. For the next few minutes, many entrants teased going through it with false eliminations on the ropes leading to the crowd speculating who it would be that would go through the table. Eventually, it was Sabu himself who was thrown through the table as Kane picked him up and chokeslammed him out of the ring through the table and eliminated Sabu with a thud.
Winner: The Undertaker
3) Royal Rumble 2002: The Rookie Gets The Best Out Of The Undertaker In His Yard:
The Undertaker entered the 30-man match in 2002 as one of the favorites to win it with his newly minted heel character, however he got an early draw at No.8 casting doubt that he'd last until the end. So who would eliminate The Undertaker? Would it be Triple H? Kurt Angle? "Stone Cold" Steve Austin? The returning Mr. Perfect? Turns out, it was none of the above as rookie and Tough Enough winner Maven snuck up behind a distracted Undertaker--who was dealing with The Hardys--and dropkicked him out of the ring in one of the most memorable eliminations. It was the highlight of Maven's stint in WWE, and it didn't end well as 'Taker proceeded to beat him up throughout the arena and Maven couldn't finish the match.
Winner: Triple H
2) Royal Rumble 2000: Taka Goes Flying And Lands On His Face:
At the 2000 edition of the event, Funaki and Taka Michinoku, collectively known as Kaientai, were angered by the fact that they weren't included in the 30-man match, and made sporadic and random appearances on several occasions throughout the match to attack superstars, which all ended with them being thrown over the top. However, on the last time out for Taka, he was thrown over the top rope with such velocity that he did a front flip and landed directly on his face in one of the more painful eliminations in the match's history. The next time Funaki came out, he was alone.
Winner: The Rock
Since Taka wasn't technically in the match, here is a bonus:
Royal Rumble 1997: "The King" Gets Anything But Royal Treatment:
To the surprise of his fellow commentators Jim Ross and Vince McMahon, Jerry "The King" Lawlers music hit during the Rumble match and he got up from the announce table to partake in the event. Before joining the fray, he said, "It takes a king..." put down his headset and walked into the ring. Bret Hart clotheslined him out afterwards and he took his spot back at the announce table and finished his thought saying, "...To know a King." He spent the rest of the match pretending he never entered.
Winner: "Stone Cold' Steve Austin
1) Royal Rumble 2005: Paul London Gets Knocked Out Of This World:
In thinking about the most impressive Royal Rumble elimination in the event's history, Paul London's exit from the 2005 match takes the cake. London was involved with Gene Snitzky during the match and found himself out on the apron while Snitzky was still in the ring. London was able to dodge Snitzky's first clothesline attempt, but he wasn't so lucky the second time as Snitzky connected with a clothesline that led to London flipping over backwards and turning inside out. London basically did a Shooting Star Press off of the apron onto the floor in one of the most memorable eliminations in history.
Winner: Batista
The WWE's Royal Rumble pay-per-view has had many great eliminations over the years, and it will be interesting to see if any Rumble exits this year can top the list when the WWE takes over the Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh this Sunday for the Royal Rumble.
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