Grim's Top 10 Wrestling Lists

[Barry Poppins]

Yet another list thread from your boy, Grim. Since I've been in a productive mood, I thought to might as well share my personal top 10's of a variety of categories in the subject of professional wrestling. So let's give it a good old college try and enjoy some of the shit lists I put out.
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Archive:

Top 10 Royal Rumble Matches

 

[Barry Poppins]

Top 10 Favorite Royal Rumble Matches:

The Royal Rumble match has always been one of my personal favorite match types throughout professional wrestling. It has the highs and lows, twists and turns, shocking surprises and dramatic twists all within a 60 minute span. Here, I will list my personal favorite all-time Royal Rumble matches. This is strictly the "Royal Rumble Match", and not other matches that happen to be on the pay-per-view extravaganza. So without further ado, let us get onto the list.

10.

Spoiler

2019 Men's

Kicking off our list is the 2019 Men's Royal Rumble match, which was full of surprises and twists and turns. There was the return of Jeff Jarrett to the WWE, Kurt Angle's participation, Nia Jax appearing after losing the Women's Rumble, and of course Seth Rollins' Iron-man win. The victory by Rollins helped push his story with Brock Lesnar forward as well. It's not the greatest Rumble ever, but it's good enough for me.

9.

Spoiler

2019 Women's

This was the second Women's Royal Rumble and one of the biggest highs in the career of Becky Lynch. This match isn't the greatest showcase of Rumble talents, but it's arguably the second best Women's Royal Rumble match of the four and is all about the build-up to Becky Lynch's surprise win. Most of the match is pretty standard affair, but again, that crowd reaction at the ending part of the match seals it as more than memorable.[

8.

Spoiler

2008

The 2008 Royal Rumble match is highly considered one of the most memorable Rumbles, and with good reason. This Rumble is absolutely jam-packed with memorable moments such as The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels starting off when they were the final two in the 2007 Rumble, Roddy Piper & Mick Foley's surprise entrances, and of course John Cena shocking the world and returning at the Rumble from injury months ahead of schedule to win. It's definitely a top 5 all-time Royal Rumble match.

7.

Spoiler

2003

The thing that sets the 2003 Royal Rumble apart from many of it's contemporaries is just how different it feels as far as a Rumble goes. It's kinetic, full of action, and just ceaseless in its action. It's also a different kind of Rumble for the kind of superstars are in it. Brock Lesnar's win is the big note, but also the ascension of Batista as a future star in the final four, the use of tag-team action from RVD & Kane and The World's Greatest Tag Team, and of course The Undertaker giving Lesnar his respect after the match. This is a pretty underrated match in the grand scheme of things.

6.

Spoiler

2018 Men's

The 2018 Men's Royal Rumble is memorable for the start of what should have been Shinsuke Nakamura's rocketing to the moon, but despite the stopped push, this Rumble was great for playing with the crowd. There were memorable moments such as Finn Balor's Iron-man performance, John Cena shockingly returning for his (to date) last Rumble appearance, and Rey Mysterio's return to the WWE. There's also the great final moment of Nakamura and Roman Reigns duking it out as the final two with the crowd firmly behind Shinsuke. What a good Rumble.

5.

Spoiler

2018 Women's

The very first Women's Royal Rumble is arguably the best Women's Rumble of all time (thus far). It had everything, nostalgia, great wrestling, unpredictability, and shocks throughout. There was the return of several of WWE's former stars, such as Torrie Wilson, Molly Holly, Vickie Guerrero (!), Lita, and Trish Stratus, which was a joy. There's also Sasha Banks going from #1 to the Final Four, The Bella Twins returning, and of course, the "Empress of Tomorrow" Asuka ascending as the best women's wrestler on the roster (before losing her undefeated streak to Charlotte at Mania). There is also the aftermath, which saw the debut of Ronda Rousey. For my money's worth, this and the 2019 Women's Royal Rumble are the only two worth watching.

4.

Spoiler

2020 Men's

Call it recency bias, but this match in particular is what inspired me to officially start these top 10's, because in hindsight, this match is arguably one of the very best Rumble matches of all time, probably in the top 5. It's the tale of two halves, with Brock Lesnar dominating the early match after entering #1, and the push to see who will eliminate this monster. Of course, it's all a set up to make Drew McIntyre a living god. The second half of this match is all about seeing if McIntyre can now survive. There is also the grand return of Edge to the Rumble, which was one of the best surprises in Rumble history. This is definitely a match one must go out of their way to see in order to truly appreciate the structuring and inner-story of a Rumble match.

3.

Spoiler

2002

I have a feeling that several of my WS colleagues would agree that this is their favorite Royal Rumble match, and with good reason. It is arguably the last Rumble before the "New Guard" of WWE came in by the next year (Batista, Orton, and Cena). It is chocked full of incredible memories such as The Undertaker cleaning house and being eliminated by Maven, Steve Austin's dominance, The Hurricane's entire 39-second run, Mr. Perfect returning and making it to the final four, and of course the finish with Triple H eliminating Kurt Angle. It is one of the very best, and is easily a top-3 all-time Royal Rumble match.

2.

Spoiler

1992

The 1992 Royal Rumble match is the masterclass of Royal Rumbles, it is the magnum opus of all Rumbles. It is quite rightly considered the greatest Royal Rumble match of all time for just how star-studded, incredibly structured, and emotionally packed it is. The entire Rumble revolves around Ric Flair's iron-man struggle to win the WWF Championship. There are other mini-stories in there as well, such as Roddy Piper's quest to two titles in one night after beating The Mountie for the IC Championship. Hulk Hogan and The Undertaker scrambling for the WWF Championship after This Tuesday in Texas. Finally there is the Jake Roberts and Randy Savage feud that was at a fever pitch by this point. It is simply the perfect Rumble match for just how it plays out.

1.

Spoiler

2004

The 2004 Royal Rumble Match is never talked about by the WWE, and with justifiable reasoning. However, it is still my favorite Royal Rumble match of all time for what it meant for my childhood. It's not the greatest Royal Rumble of all time, it's not particularly memorable in the grand scheme of things, and it will undoubtedly never go down as a top 10 Rumble match, but for me it is my favorite all time Rumble for Chris Benoit's impressive First-to-Last performance. As many people know, Benoit was my childhood hero and this Rumble victory of his furthered my idolization of him and would lead to my all-time favorite wrestling match ever: The WrestleMania XX WHC Triple Threat Match. That isn't to say that there aren't some fun spots either, as Mick Foley's return to attack Randy Orton was one of the highlights of the night. There was also the entire comedy spot of Ernest "The Cat" Miller. We also cannot forget the Goldberg/Lesnar storyline, regardless of how badly that turned out. People may wholeheartedly disagree with this becoming #1, and I definitely understand. I'm not sorry though.

That finishes up my list of my Top 10 Favorite Royal Rumble Matches. If there's any you agree with or disagree with, let me know. I'm gonna go re-watch every single one again just for the fun of it!​

 

[OMB]

No Edge first rumble win and the whole hbk/Taker story

 

[Kairi HoHo]

Damn good list I probably would of had Flair as my Number 1 and HBK winning it all from 1995 being marks for them both. I can't hate on your 1 on your list the drama especially towards the end with Benoit trying to get Show out of the Ring man it was great. The Drew win from last year might be one of my favorites in years mainly due to Lesnar running the Table for so long and Drew eliminating him and winning makes the win even more important.

 

[Carter]

Good list that grim, personally I liked the one when flair won tipping big sid over, remember it as a kid laughing and my ma saying that's cheating vividly

 

[Chris]

Glad to see 2020 rated so high, it was really one of my all time favorites as well.

 

[Lady Redfield]

1992 Royal Rumble is my favorite of all time, love it so much.

I really respect your #1 choice, I know Benoit talk gets frowned upon, understandably, but, fuck it, he was a great wrestler, the best technical wrestler WWE ever had imo, and his matches were fun to watch.