10 Tropes Of The Royal Rumble Every Wrestling Fan Should Know
We are preparing our best announcer impressions because “it’s time to rumble! It’s time for the Royal Rumble!” Participants include - Iron men, wrestlers you haven’t seen in years, wrestling returning from injuries, and all kinds of other oddball booking decisions to add some more fun to what otherwise would be as Luke Gallows puts it, “trading forearms with your bros.”
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Like a lot of major TV shows, the Royal Rumble has several hallmarks that almost always happen during the event. The Road To WrestleMania begins with the the Rumble, for example needs to be mentioned about 53 times throughout the Royal Rumble itself. Here are 10 Tropes Of The Royal Rumble Every Wrestling Fan Should Know.
10 The Cameos
With thirty guys (once 40 and once 20) heading out to the ring for fame and glory, you need to have a few decent surprises. Sometimes they’re old-school legends who fans haven’t seen in a while. Or, the wrestler heading down can be a guy returning from an injury.
Lately, we’ve seen NXT guys come up to perform for the evening. There might even be a Rumble’s worth of surprise appearances from the likes of Mil Mascaras (1997), Diesel (2011), John Cena (2008), and Adam Cole (2019).
9 Quick In And Out
Someone does have to be the guy with the shortest time. But then you have superstars with near-impossible short times. Beginning with the Warlord in 1989 with a whopping two seconds, superstars have arrived in the Rumble and removed nearly as fast.
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Luke of the Bushwackers tried to beat it a few years later but he lasted four seconds. Over the years, 20 men have lasted less than 30 seconds, but it took 20 years for someone to beat the Warlord’s record - Santino Marella lasted 1.5 seconds in 2009.
8 The Iron Man
Just as someone must have the shortest time, one wrestler must have the longest time as well. Usually, they’re booked to be in the ring for a really, really long time. Rick Martel dripped in sweat in 1989. Ric Flair was the first Iron Man to win the Rumble.
In 2006, Rey Mysterio winning at number two broke Flair’s record and was part of the huge storyline to get Rey to WrestleMania. The Iron Man doesn’t need to win the Rumble, but it is always great to see how the heel gets eliminated and how the babyface gets a rousing ovation for their efforts.
7 The Diesel Spot
In 1994, the seven foot monster, Diesel sauntered into the Royal Rumble and dumped out 7 guys in less than 20 minutes. From that point on, the big elimination spot, according to Bruce Prichard was known as The Diesel Spot. Most of the time, it works as a spot to help get someone a little more over they were before the Rumble started.
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Other big “Diesel Spots” went to Austin in ‘97 (famously looking at his wristband as if it was a stopwatch) and Kane in 2001 with 11 eliminations. That record stood for almost 15 years before Roman Reigns tossed over 12.
6 An Empty Ring
Every so often, the entire ring gets emptied, either by a big monster or by happenstance. But someone is usually left in the ring all by himself waiting for the next competitor. It’s a pretty fun spot, because it gives the guy in the ring a quick breather and the crowd a breather before a massive pop for a guy like Roddy Piper coming down after Ric Flair in ‘92 or Bret Hart heading into battle with Stone Cold in 1997.
The spots also been used for comedy - in 2002, the Hurricane came to do battle with both Austin and HHH and tried to chokeslam them both.
5 Kofi’s Hope Spot
The Dreadlocked Dynamo might not have the title anymore, but that just means he gets another chance to find a dynamic way to not be eliminated from the Rumble.
Whether it’s doing a handstand, getting carried around by Rosebuds or Big E, standing atop a stack of pancakes, or leaping from the barricade to the ring steps, it has become a Rumble staple and now it’s also becoming one for Naomi too on the women’s side.
4 Point At The Sign
Since 1993, the winner of the Royal Rumble won the chance to challenge for the WWE title at WrestleMania. The big ‘Mania sign started in 2004, but pointing at started the following year.
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Several years in and it began a big tradition to point at the WrestleMania sign. It has become the WWE’s version of the “I’m going to Disney Land,” quote from the Super Bowl winning team’s victory. At some point during the build to ‘Mania, seemingly everyone one the roster gets to point at the sign, but the very first person(s) to do it are both Royal Rumble winners.
3 The 27 Club
During the Rumble, there’s a montage of “By The Numbers,” where they’ll put over all kinds of obscure facts and figures that pertain to the Rumble. One of those stats is all about the number 27 and how more winners of the match have had the best luck coming from that number than any other.
Four times the Rumble winner has won coming out with number 27 - Big John Studd, Yokozuna, Bret Hart, and Steve Austin.
2 Sore Loser Elimination
When you’re fighting thirty other guys and a main event title match at WrestleMania hangs in the balance, tempers can flare up big time. Getting eliminated can be pretty frustrating and sometimes you just have to get back in the ring, rules be damned, and assault whoever dumped you out.
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Famously, the Undertaker obliterated Maven in 2002. Several years later after Kane tossed him out, Booker T jumped back into the ring to take out Kane. Even perennial babyface at that time, Hulk Hogan couldn’t take getting tossed and grabbed Sid to pull him out the Rumble and allowing Ric Flair to become WWE champion.
1 The Crowd Turns
It’s happened several times now and it’s almost as much of an anomaly as it is becoming a trope of the Rumble. But the WWE Universe loves its heroes and will not accept anything less than their collective guy on top, pointing to the WrestleMania sign. But if that chosen one isn’t booked to win, expect the WWE Universe to “riot” and start chanting the name of their hero.
It happened in 2014 and ‘15 when Daniel Bryan didn’t win and it nearly happened in 2018 when it looked like one of the old guard was going to win over Finn Balor or Nakamura.
