IT'S TIME TO RUMBLE! A Look Back At Rumble's Past: Part XI

February 07, 2025

IT'S TIME TO RUMBLE! A Look Back At Rumble's Past: Part XI

So, it's been awhile since I did one of these, hasn't it? That would be because I haven't been watching WWE until I came back at Wrestlemania 40. Now that I'm back in this, I figured I'd use this opportunity to catch this blog series up. Today we'll be covering twelve Rumbles (2020-2025). For the curious and completionists among you, here's a link to the rest of the It's Time To Rumble series:

Part I (1988-1991)
Part II (1992-1995)
Part III (1996-1999)
Part IV (2000-2003)
Part V (2004-2007)
Part VI (2008-2011)
Part VII (2012-2015)
Part VIII (2016)
Part IX (2017)
Part X (2018-2019)

And if you think that's a lot, I just wanna awkwardly jam in another factoid in a blog full of facts: This is my 900th blogpost! I've been doing this for a really long time, huh? Anyways, speaking of really long, let's take a look at a bunch of hour long wrestling matches!

2020 (Women's)

Match Time: 54:20
I wanted a gender-neutral term for "Iron Man" since we're doing both now, so I went with Iron Horse.
Technically, Shayna Baszler tied with Bianca Belair at eight eliminations apiece, but Bianca and Alexa Bliss are both credited with dumping Nikki Cross, so there's your tie-break.
This was the shortest Royal Rumble match since 2010 (which was only 49:24).
Only The Great Khali in 2007 has a better Ring Time to Elimination ratio than Shayna Baszler did here. She averaged an elimination every 33.375 seconds to Khali's 32.1428etc.
Though that technically isn't even true of this match: Chelsea Green becomes only the second Rumble competitor in history to last less than 15 seconds and still rack up an elimination (the unfortunate victim in this case being Dakota Kai.) MVP's one elimination in 2010 despite being in the ring for only seven seconds is still the record. (Two eliminations if you count that he sent himself AND The Miz over the top rope with a clothesline.)
Santino Marella...sort of...became the only man to compete in a woman's Royal Rumble match. He reprised his drag character Santina Marella, under which he'd won the Miss Wrestlemania Battle Royal at Wrestlemania 25 (the only women's match on the whole show). As a way of trying to claim a mea culpa (WWE and Santino respectively), "Santina" eliminated themself from the Rumble, putting this terrible idea to rest and sideways apologizing for the incident 11 years before.

Who walked out of the Rumble with the Championship?

Becky Lynch retained the Raw Women's title by besting Asuka, and Bayley defeated Lacey Evans to keep the Blue belt. Rhea Ripley had the NXT Women's Championship. Why is that relevant? Because...

Did the winner go on to Win the Championship?

Yes, in a first! This was the only time a Royal Rumble winner has challenged for an NXT title. At the time WWE was half-heartedly trying to push NXT as a real third brand so it could crush AEW Dynamite in the ratings. (Wow does THAT seem like a long time ago...) Eventually, this push and de-push during the Wednesday Night Wars would lead to the end of the Black-And-Gold era on NXT and the dreaded Rainbow era of 2.0 to follow.

It was also the first match in history to take place on night TWO of Wrestlemania (not counting Liv Morgan VS Natalya on the pre-show). This was the lockdown year with no fans, so WWE just decided to make it two nights since they were thinking about trying it anyway. World's ending, right? What've we got to lose?

2020 (Men's)

Winner: Drew McIntyre (Entry: 16th | Lasted: 34:11 | Eliminations: 6)
Runner-Up: Roman Reigns (Entry: 26th | Lasted: 16:01 | Eliminations: 2)
Iron Horse: Drew McIntyre (34:11)
Eliminator: Brock Lesnar (13)
First To Fall: Elias (Entry: 2nd | Lasted: 1:00)
Loser: Also Elias

Match Time: 60:50
There are only two other Loser/First To Fall double-whammys up to this point: Tom Brandi in 1998, and Liv Morgan in 2019.
Elias becomes the first Loser since The Junk Yard Dog ALLLLLL the way back in the first Rumble in 1988 to last 60 seconds. Which he did exactly. (JYD lasted over two minutes; a record that may never be broken.)
Roman Reigns becomes the only person to be Runner-Up four times (2014, 2017, 2018, 2020).
Brock Lesnar became only the fourth wrestler to enter the Royal Rumble as WWE Champion, joining "Macho Man" Randy Savage (1989), Hulk Hogan (1990) and Roman Reigns (2016). Lesnar's title was not at steak; he merely wanted Wrestlemania off, so he figured he'd plow through the entire field and just have no opponent. He volunteered to be #1, and got through almost half the field before eventual winner (and Wrestlemania opponent) Drew McIntyre kicked his head in.
MVP made his first Rumble appearance in a decade! Isn't that neat? Biggest surprise this year, surely no other...
This is the one where Edge came back. It's wild to think it was the same Rumble as Lesnar's complete domination of the first half. I haven't gone back and watched this match yet, but it's got to be a unique experience. (Especially with the greatest surprise return in Royal Rumble history. NO ONE thought Edge would wrestle again.)

Who walked out of the Rumble as Champion?

As mentioned above, Brock's title wasn't at stake, so that's Raw sorted. The Fiend successfully defended the Universal Title against Daniel Bryan in a strap match.

Did the Winner go on to Win the Championship?

Yes. In an empty WWE Performance Center (and taped after they taped the Raw after Wrestlemania) Drew closed out Night Two as WWE Champion, in what was supposed to be Brock's retirement match (and for legal and moral purposes should have been).

2021 (Women's)

Match Time: 58:50
Bianca Belair's 56:49 was a record at the time for not just the Women's Rumble, but for WWE women's performers. Up until then, only Natalya (2019) has also crested the 56 minute mark for ANY match.
Carmella ties MVP for the "Loser" with the most eliminations at two (counting self). It's really rare for anyone who lasts the shortest amount of time to get an elimination at all, so two (even with an asterisk) is quite something.
This was the first Royal Rumble match inside the THUNDERDOME (and only one of two, thank God).

Who walked out of the Rumble as Champion?

Sasha Banks retained against Carmella, and Asuka was busy losing the Women's Tag Titles with Charlotte on the pre-show.

Did the Winner go on to Win the Championship?

Yes. In the first ever all black main event of Wrestlemania, Bianca Belair bested Sasha Banks on Night One.

2021 (Men's)

Match Time: 58:30
Seth Rollins and Big E had four eliminations as well, but Seth had a co-elimination with Edge, and Big E ganged up with several people on two of his.Randy Orton is the only competitor to last NEARLY as long as he did and have 0 eliminations. OR SO I THOUGHT. Yes, my wild ass decided to comb through the data, and y'know what? I came up with a new category. Now, in addition to Winner, Runner-Up, Iron Horse, First To Fall and Loser, we will have the Wonderless Wonder: the competitor in a given Royal Rumble match that lasted the longest without eliminating anybody! Because I had to look this up, you now get to suffer through this obscure (but kinda neat) stat too!

1988: Danny Davis (Entered: 9th | Lasted: 17:51)
1989: Greg Valentine (Entered: 6th | Lasted: 19:52)
1990: Bret Hart (Entered: 8th | Lasted: 16:16)
1991: Tito Santana (Entered: 11th | Lasted: 30:23)
    (there were four wrestlers with over 20 minutes in this Rumble)
1992: I.R.S. (Entered: 18th | Lasted: 27:01)
1993: Jerry Sags (Entered: 20th | Lasted: 21:50)
1994: Mo (Entered: 19th | Lasted: 22:46)
    (Would be one of two men in 1995 to only last three seconds)
1995: Mantaur (Entered: 20th | Lasted: 9:33)
    (The only one under 10 minutes!)
1996: Bob "Spark Plugg" Holly (Entered: 5th | Lasted: 39:35)
    (Lawler lasted 36:02 from #4 as well)
1997: Fake Diesel (aka Kane) (Entered: 23rd | Lasted: 17:49)
1998: Thrasher (Entered: 15th | Lasted: 28:08)
1999: Test (Entered: 21st | Lasted: 12:48)
2000: Crash Holly (Entered: 16th | Lasted: 14:54)
2001: Bradshaw (Entered: 16th | Lasted: 17:40)
2002: Goldust (Entered: 2nd | Lasted: 12:52)
2003: Matt Hardy (Entered: 13th | Lasted: 27:13)
2004: Matt Hardy (Back-To-Back, baybee!) (Entered: 7th | Lasted: 14:18)
2005: Jonathan Coachman (really?!?) (Entered: 21st | Lasted: 13:48)
2006: Eugene (Entered: 18th | Lasted: 16:25)
2007: Finlay (Entered: 2nd | Lasted: 32:32)
2008: John Morrison (Entered: 6th | Lasted: 29:23)
2009: Mike Knox (Entered: 12th | Lasted: 32:42)
    (Finlay also came close to repeating with an exact 30 minutes even)
2010: Drew McIntyre (Entered: 9th | Lasted: 14:43)
2011: John Morrison (our first non-consecutive repeat "Winner"!) (Entered: 7th | Lasted:
    13:24)
2012: Kofi Kingston (Entered: 11th | Lasted: 17:55)
2013: Damien Sandow (Entered: 20th | Lasted: 16:26)
2014: Antonio Cesaro (Entered: 21st | Lasted: 16:57)
2015: Big E (Entered: 20th | Lasted: 15:04)
2016: Stardust (Cody Rhodes) (Entered: 14th | Lasted: 14:12)
2017: Sami Zayn (Entered: 8th | Lasted: 46:55) (Holy toledo!)
2018 Men's: Rusev (Entered: 1st | Lasted: 30:28)
2018 Women's: Carmella (Entered: 17th | Lasted: 18:45)
2019 Women's: Ember Moon (Entered: 6th | Lasted: 52:10)
    (Now THAT'S...impressive?)
2019 Men's: Pete Dunne (Entered: 18th | Lasted: 11:13)
2020 Women's: Naomi (Entered: 18th | Lasted: 22:01)
2020 Men's: Dolph Ziggler (Entered: 19th | Lasted: 12:20)
2021 Women's: Naomi (Back-To-Back!) (Entered: 2nd | Lasted: 47:39)
2021 Men's: Orton (58:30)

So yeah, the only other person to last 50 minutes or more in a Royal Rumble and get no eliminations was Ember Moon in 2019. Not only did Randy clear her by over six minutes, he's the only person to ever last an entire Rumble and not dump anybody out.
This is the third time #1 and #2 were both there at the end. The others were 1995 and 1999 (2006 was close).
Edge is the first wrestler to win from #1 since 2004, and only the third to do it period. (Michaels, 1995)
This was Edge's first Rumble win since 2010. He joins Hulk Hogan, Shawn Michaels, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, Triple H, Batista, John Cena and Randy Orton as the only repeat winners (up to that point).

Who walked out of the Rumble as Champion?

Drew McIntyre retained against Goldberg (somehow) and Roman Reigns (in the first six months of his Tribal Chief period) repelled Kevin Owens (and not for the last time).

Did the Winner go on to Win the Championship?

Hard no. In fact, it was a triple threat and Edge got pinned at the same time as Daniel Bryan (in Bryan's final WWE match).

2022 (Women's)

Match Time: 59:40
Almost half the field (including the winner) were not associated with Raw nor SmackDown.
Mickie James became the first (but certainly not the last) reigning and defending Champion of the TNA (then Impact) roster to participate in a Royal Rumble.

Who walked out of the Rumble as Champion?

Becky Lynch fended off Doudrop (Piper Niven) to hang onto the Raw belt, and...is this right? Wikipedia says our Runner Up/Eliminator Charlotte Flair was SmackDown Women's Champion from October 22, 2021 to May 8, 2022? Sure, I'll go with that. I have no other frame of reference.

Did the Winner go on to Win the Championship?

Nope. Charlotte downed Ronda on Night One.

2022 (Men's)

Match Time: 51:10
The Rumble (and Brock's ring time) were so short because they were right up against the hour and they had to go home quickly.
The 2022 Men's Rumble is the second shortest 30 Wrestler contest only to 2010 (49:24).
This was where Shane McMahon used his pull to rewrite most of the match at the last minute. It led to no one knowing what the hell was going on, no real flow, and the lowest rated Royal Rumble match in history on CageMatch.
Shane McMahon was dead set on being #29, so when his music hit for #28, backstage Randy Orton laughed his ass off and said something to the effect of: "Well, guess you're up!" because, like everyone else, he was already over Shane's bullshit by then.
The whole debacle led to Shane being persona non grata on the creative team and hasn't touched it since. His only other work with the company was an appearance at Wrestlemania 39 where he tore a quad three moves into a match with The Miz, which had to be finished by Snoop Dogg as his replacement.
Brock's Ring Time to Elimination ratio is one every 30 seconds, the most efficient of all time.

Who walked out of the Rumble as Champion?

Funny story: Brock actually walked IN to the Rumble as WWE Champion and lost it on the undercard to Bobby Lashley. Roman was still Universal Champion from 2020.

Did the Winner go on to Win the Championship?

Not at Wrestlemania! In a twisting snake of events set forth by Roman Reign's positive Covid test on January 1st, Brock would win the WWE title BACK from Bobby Lashley, then go on to drop it to the Tribal Chief in a title-for-title match in the main event of Wrestlemania 38.

2023 (Men's)

Match Time: 71:40Gunther Stark is the name of a Nazi U-Boat Captain. There was a whole kerfuffle about how WWE was copyrighting for wrestling purposes the name "Gunther Stark", so when NXT aired the night Walter debuted there, they "compromised" by just calling him "Gunther". It makes me feel uncomfortable referring to him as "Gunther" because it's a fucking dog whistle (which Walter suggested, so make of that what you will), so I'll just be calling him by his NXT UK/Independent wrestling name.
Walter also had five eliminations, but Drew McIntyre helped him dump Sheamus.
Walter shattered Rey Mysterio's 2006 record for longevity by nine minutes (62:15) As it happened, Rey Mysterio was listed as "Unable To Compete" and an official time of 0:00 (which I do not count for "Loser" purposes, because he never got in the ring). So that's ironic.
This, to my recollection, is the only time #1 and #30 were the final two.

Who walked out of the Rumble as Champion?

Roman Reigns beat Kevin Owens, which was followed by the extremely well-received Sami Zayn turn (which, having no context for the Bloodline Story, I thought lasted a fucking ETERNITY; look, I'm happy you're happy, all right? I'm an outsider now.)

Did the Winner go on to Win the Championship?

Nope. This was the fake-out ending of Cody's story.

2023 (Women's)

Match Time: 61:08
Rhea Ripley and Liv Morgan are tied (up to this point) for the longest in-ring performance by a woman in company history.
A record 11 Women combined to eliminate Nia Jax. The previous record was eight men to eliminate Viscera in 2007.

Who walked out of the Rumble as Champion?

Bianca Belair beat Alexa Bliss (in Alexa's last match before her 2025 Royal Rumble return). Charlotte Flair did not wrestle on the card, but she was the SmackDown Women's Champion at the time.

Did the Winner go on to Win the Championship?

In what most people have called the match of the weekend, Rhea Bloody Ripley tore the house down and tore the title away from the queen.

2024 (Women's)

Match Time: 65:00
Shout out to Naomi, who, despite not getting the Iron Horse, lasted longer than any woman in a prior wrestling match in WWE history (62:18), only to get upstaged by the winner and get dumped 25th (not even in the final four!)
I'm just realizing now, this is Naomi's return after an 18-month stint in Impact Wrestling. Heck of a comeback!
This was also Jade Cargill's debut match for WWE. (Interesting coincidence, now that Naomi has subbed in as Women's Tag Champ for an injured Cargill.)
Jordyn Grace becomes the second reigning and defending TNA title holder (Knockouts Champion in this case) to enter a Royal Rumble.

Who walked out of the Rumble as Champion?

Neither Women's title was contested on the show. Rhea Ripley was champion on Raw (after some amount of fuckery where they switched the SmackDown title to Raw in the 2023 Draft and renamed it the Women's World Championship, which has made looking these up SO MUCH harder), and Bayley's Damage CTRL stablemate Iyo Sky held the WWE Women's Championship (the SmackDown belt, renamed).

Did the Winner go on to Win the Championship?

You bet. Bayley was going to challenge Rhea Ripley because she didn't want to fight her friend, but BETRAYAL! Bayley was kicked out of the group and so the Role Model achieved her revenge.

2024 (Men's)

Match Time: 68:25
Cody Rhodes is the first Back-To-Back Royal Rumble Winner since the 90s. "Stone Cold" Steve Austin in 1997 and 98 was the last time that happened.
This was CM Punk's first match in WWE in 10 Years. His last one was the infamous 2014 Royal Rumble, which led to him walking out of wrestling for seven plus years.
Punk, of course, tore his tricep in this match (like he had once before after a big AEW match), and was out until SummerSlam.
Because of the advent of the Wonderless Wonder category, this is the first time brothers have both won a category (both for longevity; who'd'a thunk it?).

Who walked out of the Rumble as Champion?

Roman, again. Oh, oh and Seth too. Guess that counts.

Did the Winner go on to Win the Championship?

Finally, yes. Cody finished his story, Roman's reign of terror is over, and I started watching WWE again to see it, because I didn't want to be on the outside looking in at such a momentous occasion.

2025 (Women's)

Match Time: 70:20
This year's Women's Rumble had three women go over an hour and not win. (Iyo Sky (66:45), Liv Morgan (67:00) and Roxanne Perez (67:47)). Let's put these into perspective: Canonically, these are the second, third and fourth best endurance marks in Royal Rumble history. ALL IN THE SAME MATCH.
There are only six other wrestlers ever who have gone over an hour and not won: Bob Backlund in 1993 (61:10), Triple H in 2006 (60:15), Chris Jericho in 2017 (60:13), Walter in 2023 (71:40), Liv Morgan in 2023 (61:08) and Naomi in 2024 (62:18).
As a matter of fact, their times are all longer than all but the following Rumble Matches: 2002 (69:22), 2011 (which had 40 men) (69:49), 2019 (Women's) (72:00), 2023 (Men's) (71:40) and 2024 (Men's) (68:25). And obviously this match, since neither #1 nor #2 made it to the end.
Even the "Loser" sets a new bar for longevity. Maxxine Dupri lasted the longest for having the least time in a Rumble since the first one (where Junkyard Dog had over two minutes). Only two other performers have hit 60 or more seconds in the category.
Poor B-Fab. First to fall in 2023 and 2025. At least she did better by almost seven minutes this year.

Who walked out of the Rumble as Champion?

Rhea Ripley, Tiffany Stratton and Giulia (Raw, SmackDown, NXT in that order). We don't know for sure who Charlotte will challenge yet (I'm writing this on February 6th), but the betting favorite is Rhea.

2025 (Men's)

Match Time: 80:15
This is the longest Royal Rumble of all time. 20-Man, 30-Man, 40-Man, 50-Man, 30 Woman...longer than any of 'em.
Cena is the second person to be Runner-Up three times. He joins Roman Reigns (who has four).
Joe Hendry becomes the first ever reigning TNA World Champion to participate in a Royal Rumble.
Akira Tozawa was attacked by Carmelo Hayes during his entrance, so streamer Ishowspeed was selected by HHH to take his place because he was hanging around Gorilla for some reason.
Okay, yeah, I've seen Botchamania. Penta totally touched with both feet when he did that spot with Rey. Roman Reigns had 37:15, so like, give it to him if you want. I'd rather Penta have it, and it's kayfabe so, whatev.

Who were the champions?

Cody and Walter. It looks pretty clear Jey's going after Walter for redemption.

PHEW! That was a LOT. It's always a lot when you're a lapsed fan trying to fill in the gaps, but I've got insulation and spackle for days, so let's FILL this muthafucka! Anyways, I may get my druthers and post more wrestling content on here sooner rather than later, so watch out! My run-ins are silent and don't hit the theme music until after the beatdown. I know it's getting harder by the day, but please:

Don't give up.

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IT'S TIME TO RUMBLE! A Look Back At Rumble's Past: Part XI

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