The 30-man over-the-top-rope Royal Rumble Match is the selling point of the Royal Rumble, however the WWE has also put on some great WWE Championship bouts in the 27-year history of the event.
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The 28th annual Royal Rumble will emanate on Jan. 25 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia and feature a WWE World Heavyweight Championship bout pitting champion Brock Lesnar vs. John Cena vs. Seth Rollins in a Triple Threat Match.
Since the inaugural WWE Championship bout that placed The Ultimate Warrior vs. Sgt. Slaughter in 1991, the WWE Championship matches have been hit-or-miss at the Rumble as the company knows it can always gamble with the title clashes due to the 30-man match being the main draw of the event.
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Sports World News will take a look at the Top 5 WWE Championship matches in the history of the Royal Rumble.
Honorable Mentions: The Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels in a Casket Match (Royal Rumble 1998), John Cena vs. Umaga Last Man Standing Match (Royal Rumble 2007).
5) CM Punk vs. Dolph Ziggler Royal Rumble 2012: Punk defended the WWE Championship against Ziggler at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis with John Laurinaitis serving as the outside enforcer. As two of the best in-ring workers, the "Best in the World" and the "Showoff" put on a fantastic match over the richest prize in the game. The two went hold-for-hold in a great back-and-forth battle leading to Punk hitting Ziggler with the GTS twice with the referee bumped, forcing Laurinaitis to count the fall.
4) Edge vs. Jeff Hardy Royal Rumble 2009: The "Rated R Superstar" and the WWE's daredevil fought in a highly entertaining no disqualification match at this event live from the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. The bout saw Hardy take a death-defying leap on Chavo Guerrero through a table and Edge and Hardy used weapons throughout. In the end, a shocking turn of events unfolded as Matt Hardy sauntered down and pretended to help his brother before turning on him and blasting him with a steel chair. A shocked Edge then collected the pin fall victory and escaped with the WWE Championship.
3) Triple H vs. Cactus Jack Royal Rumble 2000: "The Game" battled the Hardcore Legend in front of a raucous crowd at Madison Square Garden in New York City at the first pay-per-view of the new Millennium in a Street Fight. In the days leading up to it, Triple H looked to get the best of Mick Foley, causing him to dust off his Cactus Jack persona. The match was a blood bath, spilling all over ringside as sledgehammers, barbed wire 2x4s and thumb tacks were used throughout it. It took Triple H all he had in him to pull the victory out, as Cactus Jack finally laid down for the three count after "The Game" hit The Pedigree on him onto thumb tacks.
2) The Rock vs. Mankind Royal Rumble 1999: One of the best rivalries at the height of the WWE's famed Attitude Era was between the "Corporate Champion" and the Hardcore Legend. This rivalry spilled into the 1999 event live from the Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim in the form of an "I Quit" match. The bout was the type of hardcore brawl that the era is famous for, spilling all across the arena and seeing the use of tables, ladders, steel steps, chairs and other weapons. The Rock scrambled Foley's brains with chair shot after chair shot while they also took out the electrical equipment in a memorable spot that saw Foley fly onto the electrical hub from the crowd. In the end, The Rock cheated and used audio recorded of Foley saying, "I Quit! I Quit! I Quit!" from Sunday Night Heat to put an end to the brutal, bloody match.
1) Kurt Angle vs. Chris Benoit Royal Rumble 2003: The "Olympic Hero" and "Rabid Wolverine" had some hellacious matches during their time in the WWE and the 2003 event at the Fleetcenter in Boston was no different. Angle and Benoit put on a five-star classic bout with false finish after false finish that kept the crowd on the edge of their seats with their heart in their throats. Angle and Benoit stole each other's moves throughout the bout to sell the desperation in trying to win. The match also saw the two counter each other's attempts several times to sell their familiarity with one another. In the end, Angle finally managed to make Benoit tap out with the Ankle Lock. Though he lost, Benoit was met with a standing ovation from the crowd as arguably the best WWE Championship match in Royal Rumble history came to an end.
The WWE presents the 28th annual Royal Rumble on Jan. 25 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia.
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