This week in WWE history (Jan 31-Feb 6) Bobby Lashley announces his WWE depature, Edge wins The Royal Rumble 

This week's WWE news has been dominated by The Royal Rumble and the return of Ronda Rousey.

The former UFC Champion and fellow UFC alum Brock Lesnar came out victorious on Saturday night and have already booked their places in high profile WrestleMania matches against Roman Reigns and Charlotte Flair.

The Road to WrestleMania has officially begun, and throughout WWE history there have been many interesting events this week.

The following list looks at some of the biggest moments in the world of wrestling throughout the first week of February.

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#5. Edge wins his first WWE Royal Rumble - January 31st, 2010

After stealing the headlines at the last two Royal Rumbles, Edge wasn't part of the titular match at this year's event. Instead he teamed with his wife Beth Phoenix in a winning effort against The Miz and Maryse.

The Rated R Superstar made his return after nine years at the 2020 Royal Rumble and even managed to capture his second career Rumble match victory last year. He would go on to main event WrestleMania against Daniel Bryan and Roman Reigns.

Edge's previous victory in the historic match came in 2010, when he entered at number 29 and managed to eliminate Chris Jericho and John Cena en route to the win.

That year, he advanced to WrestleMania and challenged Chris Jericho for the World Heavyweight Championship in a losing effort. Despite coming up short, Edge was still able to retire from WWE the following year as an 11-time World Champion.

In 2012, Edge was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame following a forced retirement. At the time, his career was believed to have ended due to a diagnosis of cervical spinal stenosis that was made public.

Aside from Edge's first victory, the 2010 Royal Rumble was filled with memorable moments. This was the year that saw Sheamus retain his WWE Championship against Randy Orton as well as Mickie James' defeat of Michelle McCool in just 20 seconds to win the Women's Championship.

It was also the Rumble that saw one of the quickest eliminations ever when MVP entered and was eliminated in a mere seven seconds, but this attempt at Santino Marella's record fell well short of the mark. Marella, of course, was clotheslined over the top by Kane the previous year in an unbelievable 1.9 seconds.

#4. The Mega-Powers implode - WWE Main Event February 3rd, 1989

Randy Savage and Hulk Hogan dominated WWE throughout their time together, but this legendary run came to quite an abrupt end more than three decades ago this week.

The Macho Man's jealousy surrounding his wife Miss Elizabeth became too much when Hogan fell out of the ring during their match against The Twins Towers. The Immortal One fell onto Elizabeth, then carried her to the back before making his return to the match.

Hogan then tagged in, but Savage slapped him on the way out before going on to pick up the victory. After the match, Savage accused Hogan of trying to steal Miss Elizabeth before the issues between the two men became physical.

Macho Man hit Hogan with the WWF Championship and the two then started to brawl, forcing several referees and officials to run to the ring to split them up.

This fight signaled the end of The Mega Powers and also set up a match between the two in the main event of WrestleMania V.

#3. Former WWE Superstar Axl Rotten passes away - Feb 4th, 2016

Axel Rotten was perhaps best known for his appearances in WCW and ECW, but the star did have a short stint with WWE.

In June 2005 the former ECW Original was hired by WWE to be part of several angles after the company had decided to revive their extreme brand. While he didn't wrestle a match on TV for the company, he was part of an angle on RAW and brawled alongside several other ECW Originals at ECW One Night Stand that year.

Rotten went on to wrestle in several dark matches throughout 2005. The former star was found dead in a McDonald's bathroom from an apparent heroin overdose in February 2016.

His final tweet read:

"The way I do things may not be the way you do things but you will find out there is only 1 way. My away! (sic) #AxIsTruth."

It was also revealed in October 2016 that Axel was one of many former wrestlers who were struggling with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).

#2. Bobby Lashley announces his WWE departure - Feb 5th, 2008

Bobby Lashley is currently WWE Champion in his second stint with the company, after opting to leave back in 2008.

Lashley was part of the famous "Battle of the Billionaires" match at WrestleMania 23, which pitted Vince McMahon against President Donald Trump, with the latter picking up the win since the match pitted Lashley against Umaga.

McMahon had his head shaved as a result, but Lashley didn't receive much of a push off the back of his inclusion in the angle. Less than a year later, the All-Mighty announced his exit from the company on his Facebook page.

"Circumstances, which are out of my control left me no decision but to leave the WWE. I can't go into details of this now but like I said before, sometimes people will hate you personally and try to destroy you, which has happened here. Evil has prevailed. However like I said before, if you continue your struggle, doors will open around these people. You have not seen the last of me, so please don't stop your support. Add Bobby Lashley to the list of RECENTLY RELEASED!"

Lashley went on to a successful MMA career, and reports suggest that the company had actually granted his release ahead of The Royal Rumble a few weeks prior to the statement.

#1. The first-ever "Top Ten Superstars List" was unveiled - February 6th, 2018

Daniel Bryan was seen as one of the best General Managers of SmackDown during his time on the brand, and his tenure came with some interesting ideas.

WWE made the choice to debut a "top ten" list, which was unveiled in February 2018. The following are the names of SmackDown talent chosen as the top ten, and this would form a basis for Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan when making decisions for opportunities on the blue brand.

10. Tye Dillinger

9. Randy Orton

8. Becky Lynch

7. The Usos

6. The New Day

5. Bobby Roode

4. Naomi

3. Shinsuke Nakamura

2. Charlotte

1. AJ Styles.

Like many new rules unveiled in WWE, this didn't last long. It also didn't add much scope to the SmackDown brand, despite the show being dubbed "the land of opportunity" at every given moment.

It is interesting that despite all the recent WWE releases, nine of the stars in this list are still employed by the company.