This is the third (and final of three) featured articles looking back at the history of the Royal Rumble from the very first event in 1988 up to last year’s event in 2019.
We will feature the venue and the winner for each year’s event.
This weekend we will feature the years 2010 through 2019.
Be sure to check out part 1 and part 2 of our Royal Rumble history series as we looked back at the first 11 years staring with the very first Royal Rumble in 1988 all the way up to the year 1999.
Below this week’s featured list is the video from an interview with Inside The Ropes featuring Royal Rumble creator WWE Hall of Famer Pat Patterson on the history of the Rumble Match.
In addition to the video, we will again include a short history of the very first Royal Rumble which took place in 1988, which can be found at the bottom of this week’s featured list.
Royal Rumble 2010 took place at the Philips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia (Now known at the State Farm Arena). Edge entered the match at number 29 for the win. Edge earned a World Championship match at WrestleMania XXVI.
Royal Rumble 2011 was held at the TD Garden in Boston. This was the first Royal Rumble to feature 40 WWE Superstars. The match was won by Alberto Del Rio, who entered at number 38. He earned a World Championship match at WrestleMania XXVII.
Royal Rumble 2012 Rumble took place at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, MI (Now known at the Enterprise Center). Sheamus entered the match at number 22 and eliminated Chris Jericho for the win to earn a World Championship match at WrestleMania XXVIII.
Royal Rumble 2013 Rumble was held at the at the US Airways Arema in Phoenix, Arizona. John Cena, who entered in at number 19 and would go on to earn a World Championship match at WrestleMania 29.
Royal Rumble 2014 took place at the Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh, PA (Now known as the PPG Paints Arena). Batista entered in at number 28 to win and go on to challenge for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship match at WrestleMania XXX.
Royal Rumble 2015 took place at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, PA. Roman Reigns entered in at number 19 to win the match.
This Rumble is most notable for the negative reaction from the Philadelphia fans when Reigns won the match.
Royal Rumble 2016 was held at the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida. Roman Reigns was forced to put his WWE World Heavyweight Championship on the line. Triple H entered in at number 30 to win the Rumble and would go on to win the Title.
Royal Rumble 2017 was held at the Alamodome in San Antonio, TX in front of over 50,000 fans. Randy Orton entered in at number 23 to win and earn a World Championship match at WrestleMania 33.
Royal Rumble 2018 which was held at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, PA was the first Rumble in history to feature both a men’s Royal Rumble and an all women’s Royal Rumble.
Shinsuke Nakamura entered in at number 14 to win the men’s match to earn a World Championship match at WrestleMania 34.
Asuka, who entered in at number 25 was the first-ever women’s Royal Rumble match winner. She would earn a Women’s Championship match at WrestleMania 34.
This was also the Royal Rumble where Ronda Rousey made her WWE debut.
Royal Rumble 2019 was held at Chase Field in Phoenix, AZ in front of 48,193 fans. In the men’s Rumble Match, Seth Rollins entered in at number to 10 to win and earn a World Title Match at WrestleMania 35. In the women’s Rumble Match, Becky Lynch who entered in at number 28 taking the place of the injured Lana eliminated Charlotte Flair and would go on to challenge for the Raw Women’s Championship at WrestleMania 35.
The History
The Royal Rumble is a pay-per-view event consisting of championship matches, various other matches and the Royal Rumble match.
Two competators start, and every 60 seconds, a new competer enters the ring.
The very first Royal Rumble event took place on January 24, 1988, and was broadcast live on the USA Network from the Copps Coliseum in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The
Match only features 20 competitors.
Hacksaw Jim Duggan who entered in number 13 was the winner of the very first Royal Rumble.
After the success of the very first Royal Rumble, the event moved to being broadcast live on pay-per-view.