The Unfortunate Journey of Chris Jericho in WWE Royal Rumble Matches

Amongst a plethora of achievements, one accomplishment is missing from the illustrious career of Chris Jericho. The former WWE Undisputed Champion has never won the Royal Rumble, even though he holds an incredible record. Jericho has taken part in eleven Rumble matches, but has not won a single one.

This is Chris Jericho’s history at the most exciting PPV of the year.

Chris Jericho’s history with the Royal Rumble

Jericho made his Royal Rumble debut in the year 2000, the year the Rock won the match. In the match, Jericho eliminated the legendary Bob Backlund before being dumped out by Chyna after surviving for over two minutes. At the 2001 Royal Rumble, Jericho beat Chris Benoit and won the Intercontinental Championship in a classic ladder match.

Jericho picked up a massive win at the 2002 Royal Rumble, successfully defending the WWF Championship against the Rock. At the 2003 Royal Rumble, Jericho entered at #2 and went toe to toe with Shawn Michaels. He lasted 39 minutes and picked up six eliminations, including HBK.

Jericho had a poor run in 2004 and 2005, picking up only three eliminations, and his next Rumble appearance came in 2008, where he lost to JBL via disqualification. Y2J clocked at 37:17 at the 2009 Royal Rumble before being dumped out by the Undertaker. He picked up a single elimination, but it was a big one: Rob Van Dam.

Chris Jericho would try his luck in 2010 but met a former friend turned foe in Edge. The Rated-R Superstar was Jericho’s tag partner and sought revenge, as Jericho was taking all the credit for the team’s success.

The two faced each other at WrestleMania once Y2J won the World Heavyweight Championship, but it was another unsuccessful Rumble for Jericho.

Chris Jericho earns the title of the Iron Man of the Rumble

After skipping 2011 entirely, Chris Jericho vowed to win the Royal Rumble in 2012. He entered at the prime spot of #29 and eliminated fan favourite Randy Orton.

It all came down to Sheamus and Y2J, which was a spectacular battle for the right to go to WrestleMania. Jericho almost had the match won, but Sheamus booted Jericho off the apron for the win.

From 2013 onwards, the Rumble became a proving ground for Jericho. It was from then on that he constantly proved that he still has what it takes to main event WrestleMania.

At 47 minutes, Jericho registered an amazing performance but once again could not win the Rumble match. He went even further in the 2016 Royal Rumble, clocking in at fifty minutes.

In 2017, Jericho made history. He became only the second man to survive for over an hour in the Royal Rumble and still not win the match. The only other superstars to clock in at more than an hour were Rey Mysterio, Chris Benoit and Bob Backlund, and Mysterio and Benoit won the match.

Jericho might never wrestle for WWE again and will never compete in the Royal Rumble as well. However, he has created a bunch of records that might never be broken. At 4 hours, 59 minutes and 33 seconds, Jericho has registered the most time in the Royal Rumble match. We really hope he makes one more appearance so he can make it a full five hours.