This is the second 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 2000 through 2009.
Be sure to check out part 1 of our Royal Rumble history series from last week 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.
2000-2009
Royal Rumble 2000 took place at Madison Square Garden. The Rock, who entered at number 24 would go on to win after last-eliminating the Big Show, thus earning a WWF Championship Match at WrestleMania later that year.
Royal Rumble 2001 was held at the New Orleans Arena and was won by entrant number 27 which was Stone Cold Steve Austin. He made history by winning his third Rumble Match. With his historic win, Austin earned a WWF Championship Match at WrestleMania X-Seven.
Royal Rumble 2002 took place at the Philips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia (now State Farm Arena). Triple H, who was entrant number 22 won the Rumble to earn an Undisputed WWF Championship match at WrestleMania X8.
Royal Rumble 2003 was the first Rumble under the new WWE company name. The event was held at the FleetCenter in Boston (now TD Garden). Brock Lesnar who entered at number 29 eliminated the Undertaker for the win.
Royal Rumble 2004 Rumble took place at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia (Now the Wells Fargo Center). This was only the 2nd time that the Rumble was won by someone who entered at number 1. The late Chris Benoit lasted over an hour to win.
It should be noted that this is the only one of the Royal Rumble winners that you shouldn’t expect to see WWE advertise based on the very tragic situation that happened with Benoit.
Royal Rumble 2005 was held at the Save Mart Center in Fresno, California. Batista enterened at number 28 to earn a World Championship Match at WrestleMania 21.
Royal Rumble 2006 Rumble was held in Miami, Florida at the American Airlines Arena. Rey Mysterio would enter the match at the number 2 spot and would eliminate Randy Orton to earn a World championship match at WrestleMania 22.
Royal Rumble 2007 took place at the AT&T Center in San Antonio, TX. The Undertaker who entered last at number 30 would go on to win the to earn a World Championship match at WrestleMania 23.
Royal Rumble returned to Madison Square Garden in 2008. This was the Rumble that will be remembered by the surprise return from John Cena, who had been out of action with a torn pectoral muscle. Cena entered at number 30 eliminating Triple H for the win.
Royal Rumble 2009 was held at the now defunct Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. Randy Orton entered at number 8 to eliminate Triple H and earned a World Championship match at WrestleMania XXV.
Next weekend, we will post history for the Royal Rumble 2010-2019.
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.