Is the Number 14 slot in the Rumble really cursed? An analysis.

[Sky]

Number 30, logically, should be the best spot to draw in the Rumble, because you have to survive for a shorter time than anyone else. You'd be all set, right? In fact, there haven't been nearly as many number 30 winners as you'd expect. And it doesn't always go perfectly for the worker who's drawn the last spot. (Note: 1988 had only 20 entrants, so that isn't included)

1989 - Ted DiBiase
The Million Dollar Man had had a good 1988, being unofficially WWF Champ, and in the 1989 Rumble was the last eliminated by eventual winner Big John Studd. He was continually treated as a top guy throughout, getting title shots left and right and making his own shiny gemstone-y belt. In the 1990 Rumble, he'd go on to be the first true ironman of the match by going nearly 45 minutes. Verdict: good time! Strong start.

1990 - Mr. Perfect
Once again, Number 30 was the last eliminated. Perfect would go on to have a lengthy IC Title run. In 1991 he suffered a pretty serious injury, but managed to keep himself on TV throughout his rehab as a manager. Verdict: good time! Maybe I was wrong...

1991 - Tugboat
Tugboat was ineffectual in this Rumble, and later that year would flip to heel, renaming himself Typhoon and forming the Natural Disasters with Earthquake. They were Tag Champs for a bit, but Fred Ottman floundered in singles after Quake took a break and was gone in 1993. Verdict: mixed time. He would go on to SHOCK THE WORLD!

1992 - The Warlord
The less good Power of Pain was already a jobber at this point, and got tossed in two minutes or so. His final match for WWF was in April this year. Verdict: bad time.

1993 - Randy Savage
Macho Man revived the tradition of Number 30 being the last eliminated (by Yoko). Ultimately, though, Savage's time in WWF after this point was poor. He was phased out by Vince, claiming he was too old (though he could still easily outwrestle 80% of the roster), and spent most of his time as a clearly-dissatisfied colour commentator before jumping to WCW in late 1994 and pumping out dream matches. Verdict: bad time.

1994 - Adam Bomb
Bomb failed to explode into popularity after this Rumble, no thanks to his WrestleMania X match where he was squashed by Earthquake for no good reason. He slid down the card and was released in August 1995. Verdict: bad time.

1995 - Crush
Number 30 in the jobber Rumble, Crush helped clear out the dross before standing aside for Michaels and Bulldog. Brian Adams was himself cleared out after being jailed over illegal steroid and firearm purchases, returned as a biker (eventually forming the completely heatless Disciples of Apocalypse), before leaving again over something obscure, I think it happened in Montreal? Verdict: bad time.

1996 - Duke "The Dumpster" Droese
He beat Triple H in a match for this slot. He'd go on to lose that feud (and every other match) before quitting in August due to the strain of year-round touring. Verdict: bad time.

1997 - The Undertaker
At last, things are looking up again for the Number 30 slot. Taker was a top guy from 1997-99, introducing the world to Hell in a Cell, feuding with Kane, making Mankind famous at King of the Ring, and then forming the Ministry of Darkness. Verdict: good time!

1998 - Vader
It's time, it's time, it's... oh, no, it's not. This was near the end of Vader's WWF career; he lost his mask to Kane and declared Vader Time over. The self-proclaimed "BIG FAT PIECE OF SHIT" started putting over guys like Mark Henry and Edge before getting his release in October. Verdict: bad time.

1999 - Chyna
First woman in the men's Rumble. Chyna was fairly prominent on TV through the next three years, but usually in the roles of "bodyguard" and "someone's girlfriend". She would quit in 2001, incensed at the idea that (1) she, a woman, should wrestle women, and (2) she wasn't making 7 figures. Verdict: mixed time.

2000 - X-Pac
Always in the mix with feuds, getting his own stable (with a terrible LEGENDARY theme song), reformed the nWo, and the last ever WWF Light Heavyweight Champion. That said, it's not a good time because you can't look past the injuries, and the fact that he gave his name to being booed because the fans just wanted him to go away. Verdict: mixed time.

2001 - Rikishi
The largest-arsed individual to ever grace the WWF, Rikishi didn't have that great a time. Injury saw him sidelined for the entire Invasion (maybe that's a good thing), then he was the first man to lose to Hogan on his return, had a bunch of lower-card nothing feuds, things like that. Verdict: bad time.

2002 - Booker T
Did the honour of being Steve Austin's record-setting 36th elimination. His career since then: nWo member, lost repeatedly to Triple H when he absolutely shouldn't have, was IC Champ, Tag Champ with RVD, US Champ, had a fun Best of 5 series with John Cena... It was okay, I guess, but less than Booker should have been doing. Verdict: mixed time.

2003 - The Undertaker
First 2-time number 30 and last elimination once again. BikerTaker died a literal death, but he sprung right up with the Return of the Deadman. He was treated well, but had a lot of iffy moments since then, including burying Paul Bearer in cement and having his terrorist angle with Muhammad Hassan scrapped after a real terrorist attack. So, I can't really call it good. Verdict: mixed time.

2004 - Goldberg
Was in a feud with Brock Lesnar, but had his final match booed out of MSG as the fans knew that both were leaving. He clearly had something to prove, which is why he rejoined WWE in 2016. Verdict: bad time.

2005 - Ric Flair
Treated well, but clearly kept going for too long (so, the opposite problem of Savage then). People were calling him out for ruining his legacy in 1999, so in 2005-7 it was clearly really bad. At least he retired in 2008. Still, he's Ric Flair, and was treated as such throughout. Verdict: mixed time.

2006 - Randy Orton
Another last elimination from number 30. Orton was on an upward trend, comments on Eddie Guerrero's position in the afterlife nonwithstanding. He formed Rated RKO, started his legend killing phase, and became WWE Champion. Verdict: good time! Feels like forever since we had one of these.

2007 - The Undertaker
3-time Number 30, and he won it, which is somehow a first! This was the last big run of Taker, as he was settling into the special-attraction legend role for which we know him. The 3-year period also encompasses the great match against HBK at WrestleMania 25, so that's another plus. Verdict: good time!

2008 - John Cena
Won it! Do you even need me to explain this one? Cena doesn't have bad years, even when he does. Verdict: good time!

2009 - Big Show
Weeeeeeeeeell, it's.... a pretty good showing for Show, who was in a lot of championship pictures around this time. Granted, it was always for the less important of the two World Titles, but Big Gold looked good on him, so I'm not complaining that much. Verdict: good time!

2010 - Batista
Started 2010 as a top contender, but by mid-2010 he had received a bad injury and left WWE over his dislike of the company's direction. Verdict: bad time.

2011 - Wade Barrett
First time that having number 30 wasn't much of an advantage, though with the way Barrett had been pushed in 2010, he could have gone on last. He slipped down the card from his prior position of prominence, but settled into the role of highly effective midcard heel. Verdict: mixed time.

2012 - Big Show
Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeell, he's back. And this three-year period for Show wasn't nearly as good as the previous one. He became IC Champ, sure, but the rest was just him being muscle for the authority of the week. Still kept him in a job, though, because B I G. Verdict: mixed time.

2013 - Ryback
Last elimination from Number 30, again! Similar situation to Barrett, as his peak was the previous year, and it was downhill from there. Lost to Cena in his last true main event push, then became a cowardly bully, did the RybAxel thing, but bounced back by getting the IC Title. Verdict: mixed time.

2014 - Rey Mysterio
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
But yeah Rey didn't have a good time, as related in the Number 14 post. Was in the unenviable position of deconfirming Daniel Bryan, then expected to get his release but didn't as WWE had added time on due to injury. Thank goodness for stem cells, or else this would have been our last memory of Rey in WWE. Verdict: bad time.

2015 - Dolph Ziggler
He's here to show the world, but all that Ziggler showed anyone in 2015 was his willingness to take part in shit storylines (Rusev/Lana love triangle). After that, he became a solid midcarder who is able to slot into matches with main eventers if needs be... I miss this Ziggler. Verdict: mixed time.

2016 - Triple H
Won it, and the WWE Championship, as a part-timer. Let his storyline run its course (and then some) then went off to run NXT, which around this time was doing pretty well. Verdict: good time! I miss this NXT.

2017 - Roman Reigns
Oh boy, Roman. It's impossible to rank this one. On one hand, he absolutely had a good time as WWE was pushing him as a top guy, but no one in the crowd was buying it. Then his cancer came back (thankfully briefly) and he suddenly wasn't a guaranteed main eventer anymore. I'll have to call this mixed, as it was a bit of a downturn from his previous position. Verdict: mixed time.

2018 Men - Dolph Ziggler
Fun fact: this guy's full first name is Dolphin. This was probably the weakest Dolph has been in his career, but you can't really call it a bad time given all the stuff he's won (and that he's really good). Verdict: mixed time.

2018 Women - Trish Stratus
Legend spot. Verdict: bad time, mainly because she and Lita didn't meet in that Rumble for SOME REASON.

2018 GRR - Tyler Breeze
In a 50-man rumble, the number 30 spot is meaningless, and so it went to Breeze. His main roster plans with Fandango were put on hold after the latter's injury, but the two did have a nice time in NXT, so there's that. Verdict: mixed time.

2019 Men - Nia Jax
...fuck. This could have been R-Truth, and it could have been another score for the Good Times, as R-Truth is perfect as he is. Instead we got Nia. Any good that happens to Nia Jax is only good from the perspective of Nia. She got a Women's Tag Team Title, but also spent a lot of time recklessly hurting others. And then she got budget cut in 2021. Verdict: mixed time.

2019 Women - Carmella
At least Mella got the spot she earned. She's made TV a lot, but most of this was her being involved with various thrown-together teams and also the whole "Most Beautiful Woman" heel turn thing. Eh. Just... Eh. Verdict: mixed time.

2020 Men - Seth Rollins
Seth had a pretty unambiguously good COVID-19 pandemic (that's such a weird sentence). He got to lean into being an unhinged "visionary" heel and pretty much carried segments he was in. Still, they've got a year to fuck it up, and adding "Freakin" to his name officially might do it. Verdict: good time!

2020 Women - Shayna Baszler
Thus begins the 2 months in which Shayna was treated as a top talent on the main roster. Then she became a vampire and it was over for her. Tag Champ, yes, but it's far less than she should have been doing, and she seems to be just a heavy for whatever heel is around now. Verdict: mixed time.

2021 Men - Braun Strowman
Another Ryback/Barrett situation here, where Braun's outlook would be significantly better if the previous year were considered. Instead he feuded with Shane McMahon, and then got budget cut. Now he's doing the anti-gimmick thing with EC3, and no hands are being gotten. Verdict: bad time.

2021 Women - Natalya
Earned this spot by beating future Women's Tag Title partner Tamina. Natalya's 2021 was very indifferent, in which she won the titles but did very little with them (except lose repeatedly to Shotzi and Nox, who never got their title shot). Verdict: mixed time, but I can see this dropping to bad if 2022 continues the last year's trend.

So, out of 38 Rumbles with at least 30 participants, this is the trend for Number 30: 9 good, 17 mixed, 12 bad. Overall, a very middling picture for the "best" spot.

 

[Redboy123@]

2010 - Batista
Started 2010 as a top contender, but by mid-2010 he had received a bad injury and left WWE over his dislike of the company's direction. Verdict: bad time

Batista didn't last long in the fed after this appearance but it was comedy heel gold. "Kissing babies and hugging fat girls" absolutely brilliant ✨

 

[Y2Jayne]

Curses don't exist any more than ghosts. Solved,

 

[Sabretooth]

Like I said I think this just goes to show how most stars have shitty WWE runs and we just don’t realize

But I’m gonna disagree with you about Booker T. I think you should change his to good time.

 

[Sky]

Going to bump this to think about the Number 14s and Number 30s of this year's Rumble. Too early to tell, but I have some thoughts

Women's 14: Naomi. Almost certainly headed for a bad time after her walkout.
Women's 30: Shayna, which... I can't say it's going much better.

Men's 14: Dominik Mysterio, who is... there. Mostly losing.
Men's 30: Brock Lesnar, nothing more needs to be said.

 

[Sky]

I will definitely do number 1 eventually.

 

[Chris]

Oh no the Naomi one really looks bad rn

 

[Vegeta]

I can’t wait to see what number gets the most good times and the most bad.

 

[Sky]

Okay, time for Number 1, the loneliest number that you'll ever do, and theoretically the worst spot to start from. But it's been luckier than most in a lot of cases...

1988 - Bret Hart
First man to ever enter a televised Rumble. The Hart Foundation would continue to be tag team headliners from 1988 onward, now as faces. Strong start! Verdict: good time!

1989 - Ax
Entered against his Demolition partner, in an amazing coincidence that can't have been worked at all! They continued to be top guys until Ax was phased out in favour of Crush. To be fair, he was getting old, and it was for the best that he didn't have a good time... Verdict: mixed time.

1990 - Ted DiBiase
Number 30 in 1989 was Number 1 in 1990. He had an ironman run, then continued a great feud with Virgil and formed Money Inc in the last real run of his career. Verdict: good time!

1991 - Bret Hart
The Hitman does the double, and this time, he's being groomed as a singles main eventer. He does get quite significantly dicked around by Hulk Hogan, though, but it all turns out fine in the end. He's the one the fans really want to see. Verdict: good time!

1992 - British Bulldog
Davey Boy would have the highlight of his career in 1992 but then hit a low later that same year. Basically, see my entry for him as 1991's Number 14. He came back in 1994, though. Verdict: mixed time.

1993 - Ric Flair
Lost a Loser Leaves match the next night, in order to go back to WCW like he wanted. I know this is going to be a red rating, but we should be glad; at least we didn't see him reduced to the midcard in WWF. Instead, we saw it in WCW. Verdict: bad time.

1994 - Scott Steiner
The Steiner Brothers were, like Flair, coming to the end of their WWF run, though this wasn't as abrupt. Returning to a WCW relatively unburdened by steroid allegations would do wonders for Scott, in more ways than one. Verdict: bad time.

1995 - Shawn Michaels
Won it and became the first man to win from Numero Uno, though considering the field that's a diminished achievement. He spent the next three years constantly on TV and generally getting his way backstage. Verdict: good time!

1996 - Hunter Hearst Helmsley
Before he was Triple H, he was a rubbish New Generation gimmick. He'd shake that off within our time period, declare himself the Fucking Game, and begin his slow, steady rise up the card. Verdict: good time!

1997 - Crush
In 1997 he would become head of an awful stable, and then out within the year because of something that happened in Canada, I don't know, it's quite obscure. Verdict: bad time.

1998 - Cactus Jack
This was the year that Mick Foley had a career-defining moment by falling from the roof of the Cell twice. He may have destroyed his body to do so, but damn if he didn't entertain. Verdict: good time!

1999 - Stone Cold Steve Austin
I was tempted to put this in Mixed because he spent a lot of it out after neck surgery, but come on. It's Stone Cold. He was THE headline guy of his era, and his absence only made him hotter by building up more challengers. Verdict: good time!

2000 - D'Lo Brown
D'Lo Brown has called the post-Millennium period, which he spent teaming with Tiger Ali Singh, the lowest point of his career. He went down to OVW after that and was relegated to Heat for 2002. Verdict: bad time.

2001 - Jeff Hardy
Hardy is seemingly incapable of having an unqualified success. He did the cool Hardy Boyz thing in 2001; he climbed the ladder and made himself famous in 2002; he was out after his drug problems became unbearable in 2003. Verdict: mixed time.

2002 - Rikishi
We've seen the big-buttocked gentleman before, and it hasn't been any good. He got jobbed out, had a brief tag run with Scotty, then got cut for being overweight in 2004. Verdict: bad time.

2003 - Shawn Michaels
That's more like it. Consistent main eventer, putting on some of the matches of his career, and generally not looking like he'd been forced into retirement 5 years prior. Verdict: good time!

2004 - Chris Benoit
Won it. He was a top guy and recognised as a brilliant wrestler from 2004-2006. I hate to say it but... Verdict: good time. This would have been a bad time if it extended to 2007. Let's not talk about why.

2005 - Eddie Guerrero
And the depression continues. Eddie was viewed as a headliner... until he died later in 2005. WWE spent a year's worth of storylines after that effectively desecrating his corpse. Verdict: bad time.

2006 - Triple H
Triple H was at one of the heights of his career, and spent most of 2006-2008 FUCKING GOING OVER. When he wanted to do the silly old-man DX reunion, he got to do that too. Verdict: good time!

2007 - Ric Flair
Flair was venerable, to put it kindly, and his career would draw to a much-belated close in 2008, but it was done with the utmost of respect. And he never desecrated that ending. Especially not in 2022. Verdict: mixed time.

2008 - The Undertaker
The Big Spooky Bong Man himself saw 2008-2010 be his last years as a proper title contender. It took in things like the great duology of matches against Shawn Michaels at consecutive WrestleManias. Verdict: good time!

2009 - Rey Mysterio
Was IC Champ for a bit, but Rey spent most of the next three years in the midcard, sad to say. Also the Straight Edge Society was a huge missed opportunity and could have been way better. Verdict: mixed time.

2010 - Dolph Ziggler
A regularly featured player in the ascendancy, it was a good time to be Dolph. Sadly his career peak (winning the World Heavyweight Title) didn't come until 2013, but you could see it was going there from 2012. Verdict: good time!

2011 - CM Punk
In June 2011, CM Punk took up a mic. A career was made. Not going to waste time on what you already know. Verdict: good time!

2012 - The Miz
Miz had a long, long run in this Rumble. He was regularly featured, but in the midcard, naturally, and did that rubbish face turn, so I'm not going to say it was good. Verdict: mixed time.

2013 - Dolph Ziggler
Yes, Ziggler had the best moment of his career in 2013, but he slowly came back down to earth, with the Authority and then the Rusev feud. Verdict: mixed time.

2014 - CM Punk
What a difference the span of three years makes. CM Punk walked out after this Rumble's insulting booking, also citing health concerns that hadn't been addressed. It took 7 years for him to like the business again. Verdict: bad time.

2015 - The Miz
Wait, isn't this a 3-year cycle? Are we getting Dolph next? Anyway, Miz did Miz things, they were significantly better than before, this was the time that Maryse showed up and he had the Talking Smack feud with Bryan. Good stuff. Verdict: good time!

2016 - Roman Reigns
So, how about that One Versus All? Reigns is difficult to rank. He was a main eventer, but completely rejected. His cancer did come back in 2018, which was rough too. So... let's go with the same rating from before. Verdict: mixed time.

2017 - Big Cass
OOOOF. That's a nasty fall. Big Cass had his very bad singles run, and then personal issues took him off the roster in 2018. I'm glad he's turned it around (but I miss him on my screen on Thursdays). Verdict: bad time.

2018 Men - Rusev
Two bad times in a row, not seen since 1994. Rusev had Rusev Day buried for getting over, split up, and was then emasculated live on TV, and fired. Verdict: bad time.

2018 Women - Sasha Banks
Sasha Banks got good treatment on-screen mostly, but she did have that extended absence over being dicked around with the Women's Tag Title booking (nothing changes). But then the pandemic happened, and she hit a new high. Just barely reaches this ranking, but... Verdict: good time!

2018 GRR - Daniel Bryan
Set a Rumble endurance record, and often headlined for the 3 years that followed. I was so happy for him, after he came back... Verdict: good time!

2019 Men - Elias
Started strong, but then the pandemic hit and there was no crowd to play to. He would end up jobbing to Jaxson Ryker of all people, and if that's not a low I don't know what is. Verdict: bad time.

2019 Women - Lacey Evans
A real back-and-forth one for Lacey here. She had her run as a top title contender, got into the very shit relationship with Ric Flair, then left due to her legit pregnancy. Verdict: mixed time.

2020 Men - Brock Lesnar
The world's most OP wrestler obviously got a long time off due to the pandemic, but has come back beastier and beardier than ever. He'll be back soon enough, and keep dominating. Verdict: good time!

2020 Women - Alexa Bliss
She did have that great tag team with Nikki Cross, but it all went to shit when she became a mere valet and accessory for the Fiend. She's better now, though, and this could raise to Good by year's end. Verdict: mixed time.

2021 Men - Edge
Won it, and since then, has played up his role of veteran special attraction perfectly. Not much more to say here. Verdict: good time!

2021 Women - Bayley
Finish off with a big old yikes. Bayley had a good start to the year, followed by a bad injury and hasn't returned since. Hope she can get better soon, the women's division needs her. Verdict: bad time.

So, out of 39 Rumbles from 1988 to 2021, this is the trend for Number 1:
18 good,
10 mixed,
11 bad.

1 is much better than 30 Join me next time, when we'll be visiting lucky number 27.

 

[Vegeta]

Wonder if there’s any other time we get the same 3 in a row like that over 6 years like that’s honestly pretty crazy

 

[Sabretooth]

Like I said… Chris Benoit.

 

[Swerve]

Of course it is.

 

[Sky]

Going to look back at these considering the 2022 winners...

Men's #14: Dominik Mysterio
Has FINALLY grown out of just being Rey's kid and has found his place in the Hot Topic goth stable. Isn't it interesting, by the way, that two members of the Judgement Day were 14 last year? Verdict: good time.

Women's #14: Naomi
Quit the company along with co-Women's Tag Champion Sasha Banks after finding out they were going to have their titles buried. Even then, no one has really paid attention to what she's doing, they're distracted with Sasha. Verdict: bad time.

Men's #30: Brock Lesnar
Won it, and returned to his usual position of "pull lever for main event". Verdict: good time.

Women's #30: Shayna Baszler
"It'd be funny if it weren't so sad" is the motto for Shayna Baszler's WWE career. Although, her more recent run as Ronda's MMA friend hasn't been too bad. Verdict: mixed time.

Men's #1: AJ Styles
Lost, lost, lost, got the OC shackled to him again, then got injured long-term. Verdict: bad time.

Women's #1: Sasha Banks
See Naomi. Verdict: bad time.

Gonna post these into the original posts eventually. Also gonna upgrade Strowman at 30 to mixed because he came back.

 

[Sky]

I swear I will update this eventually