Royal Rumble 2013 Royal Rumble 2013 was the twenty - sixth annual Royal Rumble professional wrestling pay - per - view event produced by WWE . It took place on January 27 , 2013 at the US Airways Center in Phoenix , Arizona . It was the first WWE pay - per - view of 2013 , and will feature the traditional Royal Rumble match . Background . Royal Rumble featured professional wrestling matches involving different wrestlers from pre - existing scripted feuds , plots , and storylines that are played out on WWE ' s television programs . Wrestlers portray villains or heroes as they follow a series of events that build tension , and culminate in a wrestling match or series of matches . On July 23 , 2012 , during " Raw 1000 " , The Rock announced that he will challenge for the WWE Championship at the Royal Rumble . During the same episode WWE Champion CM Punk , Daniel Bryan , and John Cena each stated that they will face The Rock as defending champion ; later that night , The Rock was attacked and laid out by Punk which marked the start of Punk becoming a heel character . Punk defended the championship for the rest of the year , while on December 23 , 2012 , The Rock tweeted to CM Punk that he was ready for the Royal Rumble . On the January 7 episode of " Raw " , Punk retained the WWE Championship by defeating Ryback in a Tables , Ladders , and Chairs match after interference from The Shield group , who had also interfered during Punk ' s defence against Ryback and John Cena at Survivor Series ; this win secured Punk as the wrestler who would defend against The Rock . On the January 21 episode of " Raw " while speaking about beating Punk at the Rumble , Rock was assaulted by The Shield . Following the assault , WWE Chairman Vince McMahon announced that if The Shield interfere in the match , Punk will be stripped of his championship . On the December 31 , 2012 episode of " Raw " John Cena announced he will enter the 2013 Royal Rumble match , making him the first confirmed entrant in the competition , and stated his desire to be WWE Champion . On the January 4 , 2013 episode of " SmackDown " Randy Orton and Sheamus both announced they would participate in the Royal Rumble match as well , both wanting to win the World Heavyweight Championship . On subsequent episodes of " Raw " and " SmackDown " numerous wrestlers confirmed their participation : Dolph Ziggler claimed Cena had entered the match to hide from him , so Ziggler entered himself to stop Cena ; 3MB ( Heath Slater , Jinder Mahal , and Drew McIntyre ) announced all three members were entering ; Wade Barrett was confirmed on the " 20th Anniversary of Raw " ; The Miz announced on his entry during commentary of " Main Event " ; Antonio Cesaro announced his entry by interview . On the January 21 episode of " Raw " a Beat The Clock Challenge was held with the winner being able to pick their entrance number . Ziggler defeated The Miz in the fastest time ( due to beating Orton ' s time over Cesaro and Sheamus vs Barrett ending in a time limit draw ) , but Raw Managing Supervisor Vickie Guerrero ( after Ziggler barged into her office and gloated about winning ) declared that his choice was between the first and second entry . On the same episode , Ryback announced his entry into the Royal Rumble after defeating Slater , while The Prime Time Players ( Darren Young and Titus O ' Neil ) and Team Hell No ( Daniel Bryan and Kane ) also promised to win the match . On the January 25th , 2013 edition of " SmackDown " , Kofi Kingston and The Great Khali announced their entries into the Royal Rumble . Big Show began a feud with Alberto Del Rio after humiliating Del Rio ' s personal ring announcer , Ricardo Rodriguez , sarcastically picking him to fight Show for the World Heavyweight Championship during " Champion ' s Choice Night " on the New Year ' s Eve 2012 episode of " Raw " , leading to a disqualification win for Big Show after Del Rio interfered . On the January 11 , 2013 episode of " SmackDown " , Del Rio defeated Show in a Last Man Standing match for the championship . Three days later on " Raw " , Show announced that he would invoke his rematch clause at the pay - per - view . The week after , he made the match a Last Man Standing Match . Event . The pre - show match featured reigning United States Champion Antonio Cesaro defending his title against The Miz . During the match , Miz attempted a diving attack and injured his leg . Shortly after , Cesaro won after landing the Neutralizer . Before the first match started , a backstage segment was shown with Bret Hart wishing Alberto Del Rio good luck in his match . He then gave Ricardo Rodriguez a pair of his signature sunglasses . The first match on the card featured reigning World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio defending his title against Big Show , who invoked his rematch clause after losing the title to Del Rio on " SmackDown " , in a Last Man Standing match . After Del Rio managed to stand up after being chokeslammed through a table from an elevated position , he managed to win when he locked in the Cross Armbreaker and Ricardo Rodriguez duct - taped Show ' s legs to the bottom rope . Show was unable to free himself in time and was counted out . The second match on the card featured reigning WWE Tag Team Champions Team Hell No ( Daniel Bryan and Kane ) defending their titles against Team Rhodes Scholars ( Cody Rhodes and Damien Sandow ) . The match ended when Bryan applied the " No ! Lock " on Rhodes , forcing him to tap out . The fourth match was the annual Royal Rumble match . Notable events included Dolph Ziggler deciding to enter first , followed by the surprise return of Chris Jericho at # 2 . Later , Goldust returned and was eliminated by his brother , Cody Rhodes . Sheamus entered at # 11 , quickly eliminating Titus O ' Neil and David Otunga . Kofi Kingston was about to be eliminated , but jumped into the recently eliminated Tensai ' s arms , who put him on the Spanish announce table . Kingston made it back onto the apron using a chair like a pogo stick , but was quickly eliminated by Cody Rhodes before reentering the ring . Following this , The Godfather made a surprise entry , only to be immediately eliminated by Ziggler . John Cena entered at # 19 , quickly eliminating Rhodes and Heath Slater . Kane and Daniel Bryan teamed up to eliminate The Great Khali , but Bryan then eliminated Kane . When Antonio Cesaro sent Bryan over the top rope , Kane caught him , only to drop him , eliminating him from the match . Later , NXT tournament winner Bo Dallas managed to eliminate Intercontinental Champion Wade Barrett , leading to Barrett eliminating Dallas and hitting him with the " Bullhammer Elbow " , despite having already been eliminated . Ryback entered at # 30 and eliminated Damien Sandow , Sin Cara , The Miz and Randy Orton , while Ziggler finally eliminated Jericho after over 40 minutes . The final four consisted of Ziggler , Sheamus , Cena and Ryback . Sheamus eliminated Ziggler and hit Ryback with the " White Noise " , but Ryback managed to eliminate him . Cena then eliminated Ryback to win the Rumble . The main event and fifth match on the card featured reigning WWE Champion CM Punk defending his title against The Rock . During the match , Rock attempted to " Rock Bottom " Punk through the Spanish announce table , but the table collapsed beneath them . Rock quickly landed another " Rock Bottom " successfully outside the ring , but Punk kicked out after being rolled into the ring and covered . When Rock attempted a " People ' s Elbow " the arena went dark and Rock was attacked by an unknown entity , believed by the commentators to be The Shield . When the lights came back , the assailant ( s ) were nowhere to be found , and Rock had been driven through the English announce table , allowing Punk to roll him into the ring and get the winning pin . As he celebrated with the title , Mr . McMahon came out and reminded Punk that if the Shield interfered , he would strip him of the title . Before he could however , the Rock said he wanted to take the title from Punk and told McMahon to restart the match . Vince did so , and Rock won the match with a " People ' s Elbow " , ending Punk ' s historic reign at 434 days . Royal Rumble entrances and eliminations . A new entrant came out approximately every 90 seconds .