10 best Royal Rumble events in WWE history

#2 Royal Rumble 2001

Royal Rumble 2001 reestablished Kane as a Monster.

If you have watched WWE for a long time, you surely know what Royal Rumble 2001 is most fondly remembered for - Kane's dominant performance in the Royal Rumble match. It was a performance that no one had ever seen in the past, a performance that was so strong and dominating that it overshadowed everything else on the show.

It was the first time that a single superstar eliminated more than ten other participants in the Royal Rumble and played a massive role in maintaining the excitement of the match. Surprising appearances by Honky Tonk Man and Drew Carey added to the comedy factor, while strong performances from the likes of The Rock, The Undertaker, and Steve Austin, the eventual winner of the match, also kept fans on the edge of their seats.

For the WWF Title, Kurt Angle and Triple H wrestled a highly physical match that was as good as any other match between the two arch-rivals. The Dudley Boyz and Edge & Christian also had a fun match that gave the Dudleys their second WWF Tag Team Titles.

However, the honor for the best match of the night belonged to Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit, who had a show-stopping match early on in the show. With the Intercontinental Title on the line, the two Canadians wrestled a highly competitive Ladder match that ranks at the top on both the lists of best Intercontinental Title matches and the best Ladder Matches in wrestling history.

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#1 Royal Rumble 2017

John Cena and AJ Styles wrestled arguably the best World Title match in Royal Rumble history.

How often do we witness a show that doesn't have an average match, let alone a bad match? Once in a decade, right? Well, we witnessed one such show on January 29, 2017, as WWE presented probably the best Royal Rumble show in history in front of a record crowd of over 50 thousand fans.

It started with a solid Raw Women's Title defense by Charlotte, who defeated Bayley in a match that was just a preview of the battles they would have in the subsequent weeks. Neville's victory over Rich Swann, which kick-started probably the best Cruiserweight Title reign, came in a highly competitive contest between two great performers.

The Royal Rumble match itself was not lacking in excitement or pure thrills. Appearances from Goldberg, Brock Lesnar, and The Undertaker added star power to the bout. A dominant performance by Braun Strowman, who eliminated seven superstars on the trot, provided the 'awe factor'. The use of Roman Reigns at #30, while initially getting a negative response, also served its purpose as it generated a massive pop for the eventual winner in Randy Orton.

However, the real show-stealers were the two World Title matches, which were not only better than anything else on the card but probably better than 90% of bouts that have ever taken place at Royal Rumble events. Kevin Owens' Universal Title defense against Roman Reigns, in a No DQ match, was probably the best match of his 6-month long reign.

Their performance, however, was soon overshadowed by AJ Styles and John Cena, who wrestled a nearly 25 minutes long WWE Title match that would go down as probably the best bout in Royal Rumble history. Filled with lots of finishers and a sequence of near falls, this match gave Cena his record-tying 16th World Title.

It was one of those shows where the quality of matches kept going up with every passing contest, peaking with this WWE Title match that played a big role in the success of the show.