3 women who appeared in the men’s Royal Rumble

This weekend, one of WWE’s best-loved traditions will carry forward with the 32nd annual Royal Rumble. Moreover, fans will witness the second ever all-female Royal Rumble as the success of last year’s inaugural edition shores up a second go-round that arguably has even more intrigue attached to it.

But before WWE had two separate Royal Rumble matches at the annual event, there were three occasions when women made their presences felt as official participants in Rumble matches. This article takes a look back at those pioneering first three figures who kicked down the Rumble door before there was a match set aside for them and complicated the narrative of the Rumble being a 30-man match. No, none of them won the match or came all that close to it, but they each had their memorable spots and threatened to shake up the status quo, if just for a few moments.

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#3 Chyna

Chyna was the first woman to ever work a Royal Rumble match.

Chyna was the first woman to ever compete in a Royal Rumble match and made a great deal of sense in that role. Her size, strength and the degree to which she got over with WWE fans had allowed her to work matches with men regularly during this era of her career. As such, while having a woman in the Rumble was unusual, it didn’t feel as revolutionary at the time as it would in retrospect.

Chyna’s role in that Rumble was limited, given she entered the ring last at number thirty and got dumped to the outside by Stone Cold Steve Austin in under a minute. She nonetheless had an impact, though, not just as a novelty entrant, but as the one to actually eliminate Mark Henry from the proceedings.

Chyna would only compete in a Rumble this one time, though she was wrestling men again at the following year’s event, in the Intercontinental Championship scene.

#2 Beth Phoenix

Beth Phoenix is the only person to work both the men's and women's Rumble matches.

Beth Phoenix was a surprise entrant in the 2010 Royal Rumble and in some ways the most oddball of female entrants to the otherwise all-male match. Although the Glamazon was competing regularly on WWE television at the time, unlike Chyna, she wasn’t regularly wrestling men, but rather a cornerstone of the women’s division.

Phoenix did, to her credit, have the power game to immediately carry some credibility into the Rumble. Moreover, she made unique use of her femininity in executing the momentous elimination of The Great Khali from the Rumble via a lip lock.

Phoenix’s appearance in this match would become all the more historic. Interestingly, eight years later, she entered the first women’s Royal Rumble and thus became the only woman to work both types of Rumble, and the first woman to have ever worked two Royal Rumble matches (though she will have a great deal of company at that latter milestone after this Sunday).

#1 Kharma

Kharma was one of the most surprising Royal Rumble entrants ever.

Kharma’s WWE tenure was nothing if not unique. She got a huge push upon her arrival as a monster heel who terrorized the women’s division with attacks after matches, and who seemed to have an inexplicable fascination with Kelly Kelly.

Before the Kharma character could be more fully realized, and before she even worked an official match, she went out of action after the reveal that she had become pregnant.

Kharma was off TV until the 2012 Royal Rumble where she returned as a surprise entrant. Her short stint in the match saw her eliminate Hunico and play a key role in scaring Michael Cole to set up his elimination. She’d be gone again from WWE in the aftermath, with reports indicating that she had had a miscarriage. WWE wanted her back full time before she was ready, and so the Rumble became a one-off appearance to generate some buzz before she was released.

While it doesn’t seem likely at this point, there remains the possibility of WWE bringing Kharma back for a one-time deal or even an extended run that might include working the women’s Rumble, to put Kharma alongside Beth Phoenix for working both matches.