5 Best No. 28 Entries in the Royal Rumble

Since 1993, with the exclusion of 2016, the winner of the Royal Rumble has gone on to Wrestlemania with a guaranteed title shot. However, the rule has had a few exceptions, and that is without taking into account Roman Reigns being required to defend his WWE Championship from the number 1 spot in the 2016 Royal Rumble.

In 1997, Stone Cold Steve Austin was stripped of his Wrestlemania title shot against Shawn Michaels as he had previously been eliminated from the Rumble before re-entering to eliminate Bret Hart. However, after the Royal Rumble, Shawn Michaels vacated the WWF title due to injury.

The WWF decided that the final four would contest for the vacant title at In Your House: Final Four, with Bret Hart beating Austin, Vader, and the Undertaker for the belt. Hart would lose the belt the next week on an episode of Monday Night Raw and would instead face Steve Austin at Wrestlemania 13.

Two years later, Vince McMahon would win the Royal Rumble after eliminating Austin to win the Royal Rumble. However, with the Rock as champion, Mr. McMahon decided to renounce his shot at the title, not wanting to compete against his Corporation stablemate.

Commissioner Shawn Michaels then gave the title opportunity to Austin as the runner up and put McMahon in a cage match against Austin for the Wrestlemania spot, which Austin won.

The following year, the Rock won the match though it was later revealed his feet had touched the floor first and therefore Big Show was the rightful winner. Instead of stripping The Rock of his title opportunity, the Big Show was added to the title match at Wrestlemania, along with Mick Foley. However, Triple H retained the title in the fatal four-way.

Randy Orton also renounced his shot at the WWE title at Wrestlemania after the leader of the Wyatt family, Bray Wyatt, had won the WWE title. Orton later changed his mind and would win back the number one contender spot from AJ Styles. He would go on to defeat Bray Wyatt at Wrestlemania 33 for the WWE title in a bizarre match.

This doesn't even include all the people that gambled their Wrestlemania title shots or used them early.

You can see the other entries in this series below:

Part 1 is here; Part 6 is here; Part 11 is here; Part 16 is here; Part 21 is here; Part 26 is here

Part 2 is here; Part 7 is here; Part 12 is here; Part 17 is here; Part 22 is here; Part 27 is here

Part 3 is here; Part 8 is here; Part 13 is here; Part 18 is here; Part 23 is here

Part 4 is here; Part 9 is here; Part 14 is here; Part 19 is here; Part 24 is here

Part 5 is here; Part 10 is here; Part 15 is here; Part 20 is here; Part 25 is here

# 5 Randy Orton (2012) - Eliminated 28th - 3 Eliminations

Randy Orton hits Cody Rhodes and Dolph Ziggler with a draped DDT at the 2012 Royal Rumble

Randy Orton has a long history at the Royal Rumble, having won the match on two separate occasions in 2009 and 2017. Orton would also place in the final four on many other occasions as one of the biggest stars of the company for much of the last 10 years. Orton had another final four finish in the 2012 Royal Rumble, which would eventually be won by Sheamus.

Coming in at entry number 28, Orton would attack many of the superstars in the ring, including his former Legacy stable member Cody Rhodes. Quickly after entering, Orton would eliminate Jey Uso and Wade Barrett, making it to the final four alongside other WWE veterans Chris Jericho and the Big Show. Orton would eliminate the Big Show but would then be dumped out by fellow veteran Chris Jericho after lasting 5 minutes and 46 seconds in the Royal Rumble.

Orton would go on to face and lose to Kane at Wrestlemania after the two began a rivalry on an episode of Smackdown at the start of March.

Orton's style of wrestling suits the Royal Rumble setup and he has been a two-time winner and two-time runner up of the annual fixture.

Orton also boasts of an enviable record of being in the Rumble match for a record cumulative time of 4 hrs and 31 mins as of the 2021 Royal Rumble.

Only Chris Jericho has outlasted Orton and the difference is a mere 30 mins which the legend killer is expected to wipe out soon.

# 4 Brie Bella (2018) - Eliminated 28th - 2 Eliminations

Brie Bella returned to the ring at the 2018 Royal Rumble after the birth of her daughter Birdie

The 2018 Women's Royal Rumble marked the in-ring return of Brie Bella after giving birth to her and her husband Daniel Bryan's first child Birdie. Before her return in the Royal Rumble, Brie's last match in a WWE ring was at the Wrestlemania 32 kickoff show alongside Alicia Fox, Paige, Natalya, and Eva Marie against the team of Emma, Lana, Naomi, Summer Rae, and Tamina.

At the Royal Rumble, Brie would enter the spot after Nikki Bella and the two would collaborate in the ring. They were a part of the group that eliminated Nia Jax, and together eliminated the iron woman of the Royal Rumble and number 1 entrant Sasha Banks.

However, after eliminating Banks, Nikki turned on her twin sister and eliminated her from the Rumble, meaning that Brie finished her first Royal Rumble in third place.

Brie, like Nikki, would also miss a place at Wrestlemania but would team up with Daniel Bryan against the team of the Miz and Maryse. She would also be involved in Nikki's feud with Ronda Rousey leading to their title match at the all-female pay-per-view Evolution.

# 3 Roman Reigns (2018) - Eliminated 29th - 4 Eliminations

Roman Reigns hits 2018 Royal Rumble winner Shinsuke Nakamura with a Superman punch

For the first time since the 2013 Royal Rumble, which he didn't participate in, Roman Reigns will not finish in the final 3 participants of the Royal Rumble. Over the last 5 years, Reigns has finished no lower than the 28th competitor eliminated, and over that course has eliminated 30 competitors, including a record-breaking 12 eliminations at the 2014 Royal Rumble.

While many fans didn't like Roman Reigns, there are very few detractors that would wish him to be sidelined in the way he has been.

Reigns would come into the 2018 Royal Rumble as the 28th entry and form an alliance with a fellow member of the newly reformed Shield, Seth Rollins. Reigns would eliminate Titus O'Neil before Reigns and Rollins would team up to eliminate the Miz, while Reigns would then betray Rollins and eliminate him from the Royal Rumble.

Reigns would make it to a final six which saw him alongside new generation stars Finn Balor and Shinsuke Nakamura, standing opposite WWE veterans Randy Orton, John Cena, and the returning Rey Mysterio.

Reigns would eliminate Orton, as Balor and Rey were also eliminated, leaving Reigns in the final three with Cena and Nakamura. Nakamura would eventually pull off an upset, eliminating Roman Reigns from the 2018 Royal Rumble and booking himself a title match at Wrestlemania.

Reigns would go to Wrestlemania and face Brock Lesnar for the Universal title but would lose in the main event of the night in a disappointing match.

# 2 Batista (2014) - Winner - 4 Eliminations

Batista after winning his second Royal Rumble as entry 28 in the 2014 Royal Rumble

9 Years after he won his first Royal Rumble, Batista returned in the same spot as his first Royal Rumble victory. Despite being hugely popular with the WWE crowd, the Animal would be booed by the crowd after eliminating Roman Reigns as they were hoping that Daniel Bryan would win the Royal Rumble.

At the Royal Rumble, Batista would come into the ring to an immediate impact, eliminating Erick Rowan, Ryback, and Alberto Del Rio in succession. Batista would square off against Roman Reigns as the final two competitors.

While Reigns had been at the 2013 Royal Rumble, it was only as a part of the Shield running interference in the title match between CM Punk and the Rock. Reigns had eliminated a record-breaking 12 eliminations during the event, but he was eliminated by Batista in the end.

Batista would go on to face former Evolution stablemate Randy Orton for the WWE Title at Wrestlemania with Daniel Bryan being entered in the match at the event after beating Triple H to qualify. Batista would tap out during the title match after being put in Daniel Bryan's signature: "Yes! Lock".

It was not the ideal return for the animal and he was not able to create the impact that made him a household name in the WWE.

# 1 Batista (2005) - Winner - 5 Eliminations

In 2005, Batista, then a part of the Evolution stable alongside Triple H and Ric Flair, having previously kicked Randy Orton out of the group. Due to the brand split, Batista had his choice of whether or not he would pursue Triple H's World Heavyweight title or move to Smackdown and face John Bradshaw Layfield for the WWE title.

During the Royal Rumble match, Batista came in as entry 28 and would quickly make his presence felt. The Animal would eliminate Gene Snitsky, Chris Jericho, and Christian on his way to the final three against John Cena and the iron man of the Rumble, Edge. John Cena and Batista would team up to eliminate Edge leaving the two of them as the final two.

At the end of the match, Batista looked to deliver a Batista Bomb on Cena, he stumbled back into the ropes and the two men fell over the top and to the floor. While Smackdown referees on the outside declared John Cena the winner, Raw officials declared Batista the winner. This brought WWE CEO Vince McMahon to the ring who ordered the match restarted with the final 2. Batista would then hit Cena with a spine buster and throw him over the top rope to win.

Despite Triple H's best efforts to convince Batista to use his Royal Rumble victory to challenge JBL for his WWE title, the Animal would turn on Triple H, instead choosing to face the Game at Wrestlemania for the Heavyweight title.