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The 2021 WWE Royal Rumble is fast approaching, with the event set to take place on January 31st.
The Royal Rumble is one of the biggest events in WWE's calendar and marks the start of the road to WrestleMania. The focal point of the popular pay-per-view is the two 30-person elimination matches that are the namesake of the event, but championships are also put on the line.
Over the years, multiple feuds have begun and ended at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view. New rivalries have been established when WWE Superstars won their respective Royal Rumble matches, and some have ended during title matches at the event.
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Here are five times new champions were crowned at WWE's Royal Rumble.
#5 Shinsuke Nakamura - WWE United States Champion (2019)
On the Christmas Day edition of SmackDown in 2018, Shinsuke Nakamura lost the WWE United States Championship to Rusev after a lengthy reign of 156 days. The pair had been rivals for much of late 2018, and Nakamura had previously retained his title against Rusev in September of that year.
With Rusev as the new WWE United States Champion, the title was put on the line at the 2019 Royal Rumble pay-per-view. Shinsuke Nakamura managed to win the championship for a second time at the event and even appeared in the men's Royal Rumble match later in the night.
However, Nakamura's second reign as WWE United States Champion didn't last as long as his first. The Superstar lost the championship to R-Truth two days later on SmackDown and subsequently aligned with Rusev when they paired up to attack the new champion.
Most recently, Shinsuke Nakamura enjoyed a reign alongside his current tag team partner Cesaro as a WWE SmackDown Tag Team Champion, after defeating The New Day at The Horror Show at Extreme Rules. The pair later dropped the titles back to The New Day in October 2020.
#4 Melina - WWE Women's Champion (2009)
2008 was a great year in WWE for Beth Phoenix. That year, The Glamazon teamed up with Santino Marella to form an alliance dubbed Glamarella, and the duo both became champions when they partnered up in an intergender tag team match against Kofi Kingston and Mickie James to become the WWE Intercontinental Champion, and WWE Women's Champion, respectively.
Beth Phoenix also won the Slammy Award for the Diva of the Year in late 2008, and shortly after she began feuding with Melina, who had recently returned from injury.
At the 2009 Royal Rumble pay-per-view, the WWE Women's Championship was put on the line and Melina defeated Beth Phoenix by countering the Glam Slam into a roll-up pin and began her third reign with the title.
Melina managed to defend the WWE Women's Championship until June the same year and was the title holder for an impressive 153 days. Overall, Melina was a five-time champion in WWE, as she won the Women's Championship three times and the Divas Championship twice.
Currently, Melina appears on NWA Power and has done since late 2019. There has also been rumors that the star is set to return to WWE soon, which she denied online.
#3 Cesaro and Sheamus - WWE RAW Tag Team Champions (2018)
From mid-2017, the WWE RAW Tag Team Championships began to bounce back and forth between two teams - Cesaro and Sheamus and the team of Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose.
In the build-up to the 2018 Royal Rumble pay-per-view, Ambrose had been injured at the hands of Samoa Joe, leaving Rollins without a tag team partner. Because of this, Kurt Angle, who was the RAW General Manager at the time had Jason Jordan team up with Rollins.
Seth Rollins and Jason Jordan managed to defeat Cesaro and Sheamus on a January episode of RAW to win the WWE RAW tag team titles, and the championships were to be contested again at the 2019 Royal Rumble.
During the match for the title at Royal Rumble, Cesaro and Sheamus managed to overpower their opponents by leaving Jordan unable to compete and then they performed a White Noise and diving neck breaker combination on Rollins to become WWE RAW Tag Team Champions once more, on Sheamus' birthday, no less.
As a team, Cesaro and Sheamus (who for some time were dubbed The Bar) were hugely successful and together were five-time tag team champions, having won the WWE RAW Tag Team Championship four times and the WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship once.
#2 John Cena - WWE Champion (2006)
After cashing in his Money in the Bank contract at New Year's Revolution 2006, Edge became the WWE Champion by hitting John Cena with two consecutive spears shortly after he had defended his title in a grueling Elimination Chamber match.
Just three weeks after this, the WWE Championship was put back on the line, with Edge attempting to defend the title against Cena with Lita at his side. Throughout the match, Lita attempted to distract Cena, which worked on occasion. However, this eventually backfired when Edge accidentally ran into Lita aiming for Cena. John Cena took advantage of the mishap and locked him into an STFU, causing him to submit and drop the WWE Championship back to Cena.
Following the title win, John Cena managed to keep hold of the championship for a further 133 days. Like his earlier title loss, John Cena was the victim of a Money in the Bank contract cash-in, this time at the hands of Rob Van Dam.
In the years that followed, John Cena has become of the biggest crossover stars from WWE to the mainstream.
#1 The Rock - WWE Champion (1999)
During WWE's Attitude Era, one of the biggest rivalries (and later alliances) was The Rock and Mankind. At Survivor Series 1998, The Rock won the vacant WWE Championship in a match against Mankind.
Following that, the pair carried on feuding, and Mankind won the WWE Championship from The Rock, 50 days later, on the December 29th episode of RAW in a no disqualification match. This only seemed to add more fuel to their rivalry, and another championship match between the pair was set for just under a month later at the 1999 Royal Rumble.
The match set for Royal Rumble was an 'I Quit' match, and became known as one of the most intense matches of its kind in WWE. It was one of the subjects of the 1999 wrestling documentary Beyond the Mat, where the wife and children of Mick Foley were seen upset at the action and left the crowd.
After The Rock hit Mankind with multiple chair shots, audio of Mankind saying 'I Quit' was played, and The Rock was declared the new WWE Champion.
However, the WWE Championship passed back and forth again between the two, with Mankind winning the title back two days later, and The Rock becoming the WWE Champion for the third time in April of the same year.
