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| The only winner from No. 5 (and he was illegitimate) Photo Credit: WWE.com |
Final four: Edge (3rd, 2007)
Multiple draws: Bob Holly (1996, 2008), Edge (1999, 2003, 2007) Great Khali (2009, 2010)
Longest: Austin (1997), 45:07
Shortest: JBL (2004): 0:38.
Most eliminations: 10 — Austin (1997)
On paper, Steve Austin’s performance in the 1997 Royal Rumble is arguably the greatest of all time. He’s the only man to enter at No. 5 and win a Rumble, and though his 45:07 is only the sixth-longest stay for a Rumble winner (and 20th-best all time), he eliminated 10 men, the most of any winner and one shy of the single-match record. But there are two points of note: One, this was a match where entrants came roughly every 90 seconds, and Rumble purists prefer the two-minute intervals. And two, Austin didn’t actually win the match.
Anyone who actually watched the event knows Bret Hart eliminated Stone Cold, only the officials didn’t see his feet hit the floor because they were busy breaking up a Mankind-Terry Funk scrum. Austin re-entered the match and eliminated Undertaker and Vader before eventually ousting the Hitman. We’re willing to let a lot of this slide because it set up a great “four the hard way” (copyright Dre of the Old School Wrestling Podcast) match at the February In Your House as well as the Hart-Austin WrestleMania 13 match, considered by many the greatest match in WrestleMania history, and by a subset as the greatest in WWF/WWE history, and yet another subset as simply the greatest match period.
(I love Hart-Austin, but don’t call it the greatest of anything, but that’s partly because 16 years later I’m still kind of upset I went with my family to visit my grandparents for spring break in 1997 instead of getting to go see WrestleMania at the Rosemont Horizon. It’s a dumb reason, but who are you to judge?)
Of course, Austin would legitimately win the Rumble in 1998 and be cheated out of a win in 1999, so his claim to being the greatest Rumble performer of all time is probably safe in the big picture. Still, the nod for greatest night ever still goes to Flair in 1992 (and yes, that’s accounting for the help he had from Hulk Hogan in making the final elimination).
All that said, what else has been done from No. 5?
In 1999, his first time entering fifth, Edge lasted 11:51 and made one elimination. In 2003, again at No. 5, Edge lasted 11:03 and eliminated three men. Not bad, but in 2007 he made it 44:04 and logged five eliminations, perhaps the second- best showing from No. 5.
His contender for that honor is Rikishi in 2000. The big man lasted just 16:23 and was the eighth man ousted on the night… but he also recorded the first seven eliminations of the evenings, a feat that’s never been topped. It took six men to remove him from the fray. The nod probably goes to Edge for making the final four, but Rikishi’s showing was far more memorable.
Bob Holly went 12 years between turns at 5. He put up nearly 40 minutes in 1996, but eliminated no one. That still stands as the longest duration with no eliminations, a dubious record indeed and nearly three minutes longer than Jerry Lawler at second place — which happened in the same Rumble with Lawler entering only one spot earlier.
Like many early spots, No. 5 has produced several pedestrian showings. Fourteen men entering at 5 failed to last five minutes, while 18 logged zero eliminations. Four men who came in fifth exited first, the least of those being Bradshaw in 2004 after just 38 seconds in the ring. This was during his second run as part of the APA and a few months before rising to main event status, but it was still a dud.
The Great Khali entered fifth in 2009 and 2010, and couldn’t last 100 seconds either time — a far, far cry from his dominant run in 2007.
After mentioning Flair’s performance in 1992 earlier, it’s only fair to point out how poorly he did in 2006. Yes, that was 14 years later, but the difference between his 80 seconds from No. 5 in 2006 and his 59:26 from No. 3 in 1992 is the second-largest gap between two performances in Rumble history.
Then there’s the elephant in the room. In 2001, with the Matt and Jeff Hardy alone in the ring trading blows, the clock ticked to zero and out came someone Jim Ross identified as “one of the biggest stars in all of Hollywood.” His name? Drew Carey. In a not-at-all-veiled attempt to promote his own pay-per-view special airing the following Saturday, a track-suit clad Carey actually entered the Royal Rumble, the first “celebrity” entrant in Rumble history.
Carey worked the crowd while the Hardys continued to trade blows (including one horribly botched dropkick spot) before actually entering the ring — and hanging out in the corner while the Hardys eliminated each other. The fun ended when the next timer hit zero and Kane made his way to the ring. After Carey’s sportsmanship and bribery failed, Kane grabbed the then portly-comedian by the neck and prepared to show him to the floor. Carey was saved only when Raven entered the match and distracted Kane, allowing Carey a chance to eliminate himself.
I may be a Rumble purist, but I’ve never much been bothered by Carey’s appearance. It happened early in the match and had no actual effect on the outcome. The only complaint is the fact Kane easily could have eliminated Carey, and if so would have tossed 12 men in a single night, an even more impressive feat than the 11 he actually tallied. It also would have been the start of a streak of seven straight eliminations, tying Rikishi’s mark from the five-spot the year before. But that’s merely nitpicking.
Year | Wrestler | Duration | Out | El. | Eliminated by |
1988 | Jake Roberts | 0:21:52 | 10 | 2 | Gang |
1989 | Ronnie Garvin | 0:02:39 | 2 | 0 | Andre |
1990 | Randy Savage | 0:10:10 | 4 | 1 | Rhodes |
1991 | Kerry Von Erich | 0:24:17 | 7 | 0 | Undertaker |
1992 | Haku | 0:01:51 | 3 | 0 | Smith |
1993 | Brian Knobs | 0:02:58 | 2 | 0 | DiBiase |
1994 | Owen Hart | 0:04:10 | 5 | 1 | Diesel |
1995 | Jimmy Del Ray | 0:01:25 | 1 | 0 | Smith |
1996 | Bob Holly | 0:39:35 | 18 | 0 | Austin |
1997 | Steve Austin | 0:45:07 | - | 10 | (Winner) |
1998 | Mosh | 0:13:09 | 3 | 0 | Kurrgan |
1999 | Edge | 0:11:51 | 8 | 1 | James |
2000 | Fatu (Rikishi) | 0:16:23 | 8 | 7 | Boss Man, Test, Smith, Gangrel, Edge, Backlund |
2001 | Drew Carey | 0:02:54 | 5 | 0 | Self |
2002 | Lance Storm | 0:04:46 | 2 | 0 | Snow |
2003 | Edge | 0:11:03 | 10 | 3 | Jericho |
2004 | JBL (Bradshaw) | 0:00:38 | 1 | 0 | Benoit |
2005 | Hurricane Helms | 0:01:04 | 3 | 0 | Benoit, E. Guerrero |
2006 | Ric Flair | 0:01:20 | 3 | 0 | Triple H |
2007 | Edge | 0:44:02 | 28 | 5 | Michaels |
2008 | Bob Holly | 0:13:46 | 6 | 0 | Umaga |
2009 | Great Khali | 0:01:30 | 1 | 0 | Kozlov |
2010 | Great Khali | 0:01:39 | 4 | 0 | Phoenix |
2011 | William Regal | 0:04:10 | 3 | 0 | DiBiase Jr. |
2012 | Justin Gabriel | 0:06:12 | 4 | 0 | Foley, Rodriguez |
2013 | Santino Marella | 0:00:55 | 1 | 0 | C. Rhodes |
