The Best WWE Royal Rumble Eliminations Of All Time

The Royal Rumble is one of WWE’s best ever stipulation matches, featuring a lot of chaos from returns to debuts to backstage machinations. There is plenty to enjoy during the over-the-top battle royal and that includes the eliminations themselves, as WWE stars have long found weird, wacky, and inventive ways to get taken out of the match. 

Whether shocking, dangerous, dramatic or simply funny, the following eliminations rank up there as the best of the best. 

10. Matt Hardy - 2003

Matt Hardy was really starting to get his ‘Version 1.0’ character over by the 2003 Royal Rumble and the 30-man battle royal provided him with a chance to continue his upward momentum. 

Entering at number 13, The Sensei of Mattitude might not have scored an elimination, but he lasted a solid 27 minutes and 13 seconds, thanks in large part to Shannon Moore helping him to avoid elimination on several occasions. 

There was nothing that Moore could do to prevent Matt from being thrown out by the runaway freight train and eventual match winner Brock Lesnar. 

The Next Big Thing first dumped Team Angle’s Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas in one go, before hoisting Hardy up for an F5. Rather than simply drop him down to the canvas, Brock launched Matt over the top rope and onto Benjamin and Haas in a spectacular spot. 

9. Jerry Lawler - 1997

Primarily serving as an announcer, Jerry Lawler was used for comedic moments in the Royal Rumble matches. In 1996, for example, he spent the majority of the 36 minutes and 2 seconds he was technically in the match hiding under the ring, before being found out and then thrown out by eventual winner Shawn Michaels.

A year later, Lawler wouldn’t be in the match for nearly as long, but he would similarly create a moment with his brief performance. Entering from the commentary position at number 22, Jerry talked up his chances before he got in the ring, where Bret Hart had Steve Austin locked in the Sharpshooter. 

Unfortunately for The King, The Hitman relinquished the hold and immediately nailed his former rival with two big right hands, the second of which sent him sailing backwards over the top in a spectacular bump.

8. Santino Marella - 2009

Though there is a lot at stake in the Royal Rumble, as Lawler’s humorous 1997 elimination showed, there is certainly a place for comedy in the match.

Whether it’s a Bushwhacker doing his strut to the ring, immediately being eliminated once he’s in the ring and then continuing to do his strut after, or The Hurricane having the temerity to think he can double chokeslam Steve Austin and Triple H, there have been many funny Rumble moments to savour over the years. 

When Santino Marella entered the 2009 Rumble at #28, you knew he would probably do something to cause a chuckle. That was exactly the case too as The Milan Miracle was instantly eliminated by Kane within a second of entering the ring. 

Not only was this a genuinely great Rumble moment, punctuated by Santino’s cries of "I wasn’t ready! I wasn’t ready!" but it was also genuinely impressive as an elimination. 

As Titus O’Neil, Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose demonstrated when trying to replicate the spot in 2015, getting the timing exactly right isn’t easy, but Marella and The Big Red Machine nailed it, ensuring they broke a record The Warlord had set two decades earlier.

7. Bret Hart & Lex Luger - 1994

In the entire history of the Royal Rumble match, there has only ever been a tie once, and it required the Excellence of Execution to pull it off. 

The final two in the 1994 Rumble were super babyfaces Bret Hart and Lex Luger. Rather than have a prolonged finishing sequence, it was decided that they would go right to the ending seconds after Fatu and Shawn Michaels were thrown out. 

Bret grabbed Lex and jumped at him with something akin to a crossbody from close range. Luger caught him but, with both men being right next to the ropes, their momentum took them both backwards over the top and to the floor. 

They had practised the spot earlier in the day, with a nervous Lex sweating over their ability to get the timing just right when it counted. He needn’t have worried, as they produced the desired photo finish, with replays unable to show conclusively whose feet had touched first. 

The finish itself, with The Hitman and the Total Package being declared co-winners, is divisive, but you can’t knock the way they accomplished it.

6. The Undertaker - 2002

The Undertaker was, by default, one of the favourites whenever he entered the Royal Rumble match.

The Deadman won the Rumble in 2007 and made it to the final four on several occasions. When you think of The Undertaker at the Rumble, however, one moment is likely to stand out above the others. 

The Phenom entered the 2002 Rumble at #8 and lasted 7 minutes and 40 seconds, racking up 6 eliminations in that time in Goldust, Al Snow, Rikishi, Billy Gunn and both Hardy Boys. 

Matt and Jeff - who'd had issues with The Undertaker in the recent past- returned to the ring and attacked him, but they were once again thrown out. As Big Evil was trash talking the Hardys, however, Maven, the rookie winner of Tough Enough, snuck up behind him and hit a picture-perfect dropkick, sending ‘Taker sailing over the top rope. 

The timing was impeccable, and it still ranks up there as the most shocking elimination in Rumble history. 

The Undertaker ‘got his heat back’ by beating poor Maven to a bloody pulp afterwards, but it really made Maven’s WWE career in a lot of ways and fans still talk about the elimination fondly decades later. 

5. Brock Lesnar - 2020

Among his many, many accolades, Brock Lesnar has two Royal Rumble victories to his name, having won the match in 2003 and 2022. 

In 2020, The Beast Incarnate was reigning as WWE Champion, but decided to enter the Rumble anyway – at #1 no less – because he didn’t feel as though anyone deserved to challenge him for the title at WrestleMania. 

Brock looked like he was going to be true to his word, lasting over 25 minutes and scoring 13 straight eliminations, tying a record Braun Strowman had set at the Greatest Royal Rumble in the process.

Some of the eliminations, such as his belly-to-belly suplex on John Morrison, were spectacular, but they all paled in comparison to the way in which Brock himself was taken out of the match.

Squaring off with Drew McIntyre, Lesnar left himself open to a low blow from behind by Ricochet, which stunned him long enough to allow the Scottish Warrior to hit him with a mighty Claymore kick, sending Brock sailing over the top rope. 

This was such a good payoff to Lesnar running through the field and he sold it magnificently with a glorious bump, setting Drew up nicely for his big win at WrestleMania 36 to capture the WWE Championship. 

4. X-Pac - 2000

There was no shortage of controversy surrounding the 2000 Royal Rumble, which was won by The Rock despite the fact that both of his feet touched the floor before The Big Show as he went to eliminate The World’s Largest Athlete. 

The finish was not the only contentious moment of the closing stretch, though. X-Pac drew the coveted #30 spot and, unsurprisingly, made it to a final four along with The Rock, Kane and Big Show. 

Also unsurprisingly, the DX member was the first talent to be chucked out when The Rock threw him over the top, with X-Pac doing a huge flip dive and landing with a sickening thud right on his back. Unfortunately, the referees were preoccupied and didn’t see it, allowing Sean Waltman to not only come back in but also eliminate Kane with an impressive spin kick. 

Big Show was not so impressed with being on the receiving end of a Bronco Buster and responded to the indignity by Gorilla Press Slamming X-Pac to the floor for his second rough bump in just a few minutes. 

3. Sabu - 2007

Did you know that WWE wanted Sabu to participate in the 1994 Royal Rumble? The company were keen to sign the independent sensation to a deal after a series of tryouts the previous autumn and offered him a spot as one of the 30 entrants. Sabu turned the opportunity down on the basis that working for WWE might diminish his aura, as well as the fact that Vince McMahon wanted him to break a table during the match, a table Sabu would bring to the ring himself, something he scoffed at as being contrived. 

There was some irony, then, in the way in which Sabu was eliminated from his one and only Royal Rumble in 2007. Though he didn’t bring the table to ringside himself, Sabu did retrieve one from under the ring and set it up on the black mats.

Lasting a few seconds shy of five-and-a-half minutes, the former ECW Champion ended up being hoisted up before being Chokeslammed through the table by Kane. 

2. Shawn Michaels - 2010

Like everything else in wrestling, a Royal Rumble elimination tends to mean more and linger longer in the memory if there is a story behind it.

One of the big stories heading into the 2010 Rumble was Shawn Michaels attempting to win his third ever Rumble match so that he could challenge World Heavyweight Champion The Undertaker at WrestleMania XXVI, seeking redemption for his loss at WrestleMania XXV as much as the gold itself.

The Heartbreak Kid came out at #18 and it was obvious he meant business as he eliminated six other competitors, including his D-Generation X teammate Triple H. 

The field was eventually narrowed down to a final four of Michaels, Batista, John Cena and Edge, making his surprise return after a long injury layoff. 

After hitting Cena and Batista with Sweet Chin Music, a clothesline sent HBK and the Rated-R Superstar over the top rope and onto the apron, where another Superkick put Edge back into the ring. 

Standing on the apron and with his back turned, HBK was eliminated by The Animal, though he tried desperately to cling on before the inevitable. 

1. Paul London - 2005

Paul London’s WWE career yielded a few highlights, including runs with the Cruiserweight and WWE Tag Team titles, as well as some pretty great matches. 

The high-flier was only ever able to enter one Rumble, which was his favourite match growing up as a WWE fan, and he was determined to make it count.  

Setting out to do something spectacular, London helped devise an elimination that would make Gene Snitsky look like a killer. London entered the fray at #24 and was in the ring for around 3 minutes when he decided to jump on entrant #26 Snitsky’s back and lock in a sleeper of sorts.

Snitsky managed to shake him off, with London landing on the ring apron. The plucky Texan then ducked the first clothesline attempt, but wasn’t so lucky with the second. The cast on Snitsky’s right arm caught him flush in the face, with the running London’s momentum causing him to do a Shooting Star Press-style bump as he landed on the ringside mats with a thud. 

Returning backstage after being stretchered out of the arena, London was duly informed by irked road agent Michael Hayes that the elimination perhaps looked a "little too good." London got in trouble, according to Maven, because people thought he was showing up others in the match.

London reflected on the elimination while speaking on Insight with Chris Van Vliet in 2026:

"So when I saw him eliminating me, it wasn't like I wanted Shawn to super kick me out or whatever. But I think this is well after his not my fault stuff. So I thought I feel like that was just kind of like an afterthought. Well, who's gonna eliminate [London]? Well, just have him [Snitsky] take this guy. That's what it felt like. So I thought, well, how can we do this? I love David and Goliath. Easiest story to tell in wrestling. So easy. I said to my students all the time, and so it was a matter of just, how do I get [eliminated]? There are moments in that spot that I don't like. There's a pube of hesitation on my part before he clotheslines, but that was my idea. Gene's like, 'You know I'm gonna have to bring it.' I was like, 'Yeah, please, as long as you bring it.'"