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WWE's pay-per-view calendar kicks off on January 31st when the company presents the annual Royal Rumble event. Over the year, this has been the catalyst to The Road to WrestleMania and the main source of hype surrounding the biggest event of the year.
This is also when two of the biggest matches of the year will be all but confirmed with the winners of their respective Rumble matches looking forward to their upcoming title opportunities.
The Royal Rumble is a place where history is made on a regular basis. At one point in her life, Roux - daughter of Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch - will be told that her parents walked out as winners on one night back in 2019.
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Ric Flair and Triple H are the only men to ever win the WWE Championship in the Royal Rumble itself, whilst Roman Reigns is the only man who was ever forced to defend it. WWE has taken huge steps to make the Royal Rumble one of the best shows of the year recently, and this year could be no different.
There are several current WWE Superstars who are on the brink of both making and equaling history at this year's event, and the following are just five examples.
#5. Rey Mysterio could break Chris Jericho's Royal Rumble endurance record
Daniel Bryan now holds the record for the longest time spent in a Royal Rumble match following his stint in The Greatest Royal Rumble. but when it comes to the annual match, Rey Mysterio's record should still stand.
The Master of the 619 entered the 2006 Royal Rumble at number two and went on to win the match by lasting over an hour, last eliminating Randy Orton.
This isn't the only record that Mysterio is looking at heading into this year's match since current AEW star Chris Jericho is the man who holds the record for the longest overall time in all Royal Rumble matches.
Y2J's record stands at 4:59:33 whilst Rey Mysterio is just 58 minutes behind with 4:01:54. This means that if Mysterio is made the ironman of this year's match, just 15 years after his historic victory, he could break Jericho's record.
It's also worth noting that Triple H sits on 4:00:50 and hasn't yet retired from the ring. Whilst it's unlikely that he will enter the match, he could be a dark horse for this year's show.
#4. WWE star Randy Orton could equal Stone Cold Steve Austin's Royal Rumble record
Randy Orton recently announced that he would be stepping into the Royal Rumble match in just over two weeks, despite his current on-going feud with The Fiend.
It is quite interesting to note that this is the feud that The Viper is currently embroiled in, since his 2017 victory at the Royal Rumble also led to a feud with Bray Wyatt that culminated in him winning the WWE Championship at WrestleMania.
Randy Orton has already been victorious at the Royal Rumble on two occasions and is the only active WWE superstar currently with two wins under his belt (Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Hulk Hogan, Batista, and John Cena make up the list).
Stone Cold Steve Austin set quite the record during the peak of his career, when he was able to win three Royal Rumble matches in 1997, 1998, and 2001. Randy Orton has victories back in 2009 and 2017 and could add 2021 to his resume if he's able to withstand 29 other men on January 31st.
#3. Dolph Ziggler and Kofi Kingston could equal legend Kane's long-standing Royal Rumble record
Dolph Ziggler and Kofi Kingston have had very similar fortunes in the Royal Rumble over the past decade, since both men have failed to win the match after 12 tries.
Kingston has become famous for his antics inside the Royal Rumble in recent years and has always been added to the match, whilst Dolph Ziggler has always been WWE's dependable star.
This year the two men will likely step inside the Rumble match for the 13th time, which means that they will equal Kane's record for being in 13 consecutive Royal Rumble matches.
Kane isn't yet retired and could appear as part of the match himself in the coming years but, because he has already skipped several years, it means that the two men are now in contention to break his record if included next year as well.
Neither Kingston nor Ziggler looks as though they are nearing the end of their careers and both seem to be likely additions to the upcoming Royal Rumble matches.
#2. Bianca Belair and Shayna Baszler will be chasing Charlotte Flair's Royal Rumble elimination record
Bianca Belair and Shayna Baszler made quite the impact at last year's Royal Rumble by both eliminating eight women and setting a new record for the match.
Charlotte Flair is the woman who holds the overall elimination record for the Women's Royal Rumble match with just nine eliminations. Of course, The Queen was victorious last year and has been in more Rumble matches than her counterparts, but this is an easy record to reach.
Baszler and Belair only have to eliminate two more women than Flair is able to and, since both women are basically announced to be part of the match, there could be a new record set at this year's show.
Baszler and Belair have made just one appearance and shown the WWE Universe that they can dominate. It's likely that there will be another dominant female in this year's match in Rhea Ripley. It's unlikely that Ripley will eliminate more than nine women in her first match, so it's fair to assume that either the Submission Magician or The EST of WWE could hold the new record.
#1. Braun Strowman could break two Royal Rumble records if included in this year's match
At present, Braun Strowman holds the record alongside Brock Lesnar for the most eliminations in a single Royal Rumble match. The fact that Strowman's record came at The Greatest Royal Rumble back in 2018 whilst Lesnar's came at last year's Rumble means that The Monster Among Men definitely has something to prove this year.
Lesnar managed to eliminate 13 men as he dominated the 2020 Royal Rumble match, before being eliminated by Drew McIntyre. This means that Strowman will need to make his return and eliminate 14 men if he wants to hold the record and wipe Lesnar's name out of the history books.
It's interesting to note that if Strowman can achieve this feat then he will also break Kane's long-standing elimination record, since The Big Red Machine is currently standing on 43 eliminations. Whilst Kane did eliminate 44 men, WWE only recognizes 43 of them as eliminations and Strowman currently stands on just 30.
Will 2021 be the year of The Monster Among Men?
