The Worst Royal Rumble Matches in WWE History

The Royal Rumble is the most exciting match in WWE history. However, there have been some terrible versions of the iconic match. While the 2020 version was flawless, the years prior to that weren’t exactly perfect. From some horrible winners to terrible botches and the worst entrants ever, which Rumble match is the worst of all time?

Vince McMahon wins the 1999 Royal Rumble

The 1999 Royal Rumble had a very controversial finish, which saw Vince McMahon eliminate Stone Cold Steve Austin to win the match. This meant Vince McMahon would be in the main event of WrestleMania 15, facing the Rock for the WWE Championship.

That of course did not take place, as Steve Austin replaced Vince McMahon at St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. He beat Vince in a steel cage match to head to the main event of WrestleMania. This result completely nullified the Royal Rumble match, making it a minor stepping stone in the rivalry between Austin and the Corporation.

Vince winning wasn’t the only thing about the Rumble that sucked. Austin was the biggest star of the match, but was taken out of action for most of the match. The rest of the field was quite underwhelming as well, although Chyna entering at #30 was a cool sight.

The Rock gets booed in Philadelphia

In only a parallel universe will The Rock ever get booed, but that wasn’t the case at the 2015 Royal Rumble. Roman Reigns became the least favourite Royal Rumble winner of all time, in what was an absolutely disastrous Rumble match. The sheer number of reasons this match sucked makes it hard to watch on the WWE Network.

Daniel Bryan was the overwhelming favourite to win the Rumble match, but was eliminated in less than ten minutes. Instead of pushing young talent to the top, WWE had Kane and the Big Show dominate the entire match and eliminate crowd favourites like Dean Ambrose, Dolph Ziggler and Bray Wyatt.

Rusev and Bray Wyatt were the most impressive superstars in the match, picking up six and seven eliminations, respectively. The up-and-coming Wyatt would have made a much better winner than Reigns, but WWE were determined to push him to the top. Last but not the least, the crowd legit booed Dwayne freaking Johnson because he helped Reigns win the match.

Batista’s victory upsets Daniel Bryan fans

If you think booing the Rock was shocking, go and re-watch the 2014 Royal Rumble. The WWE Universes expected Daniel Bryan to walk out at #30, and were desperate for the Yes Man to win the match. Instead of Daniel Bryan, Rey Mysterio walked out at #30. The negative reaction Rey Mysterio received was utterly shocking.

Rey entered to a chorus of boos, and his elimination via Seth Rollins received an enormous cheer. The Rumble wasn’t a nightmare for just Rey, but also CM Punk. That match was Punk’s last match in the WWE. He entered at #1 and fought all the way till the end, only to be unfairly eliminated by Kane. After the match, Punk walked out of the company.

The final two men in the match were Batista and Roman Reigns. Reigns had just set the record for the most eliminations in a single Rumble match. Batista was hell bent on winning his second Rumble match and main eventing WrestleMania once again. Reigns had the crowd in his corner, but it would do him no good as Batista tossed him out to head to WrestleMania.

Forty men are clearly too much for a Royal Rumble

Before WWE came up with the fifty man Rumble in Saudi Arabia, they tried their hand at a forty man Rumble in 2011. This was bound to be a gargantuan task for the WWE Universe to get through, but promised some good moments.

Unfortunately for everyone, the dull moments in the match outweigh the positive ones. CM Punk and Daniel Bryan kicked off the match in the perfect way, but it only went downhill from there. Punk picked up seven eliminations along with the Nexus, but was dumped out along with his goons by Super Cena. Cena himself was screwed out of the match by the Miz, wanting to avoid facing Super Cena at WrestleMania.

The return of Diesel was incredible, but was not enough to save this Rumble from entering the poor category. Even Booker T returned in this match, only to be dumped out by Mason Ryan of all people. Alberto del Rio won this match by eliminating Santino Marella, making it the most underwhelming ending to a Rumble match.