Royal Rumble

The **Royal Rumble** is a yearly professional wrestling pay-per-view and livestreaming event made by WWE, usually in January. The show's main event is a Battle Royal-type match, named the Royal Rumble match. The pay-per-view is part of WWE's "Big Four", along with WrestleMania, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series. The Royal Rumble is also one of WWE's more popular pay-per-views. Since 1993, the winner of the Rumble match has received a title match at that year's WrestleMania. Before the match begins, the contestants draw spots in the Rumble. A referee, who is seated at ringside, must see an elimination in order for it to be valid. A wrestler who is eliminated without a referee noticing may sometimes sneak back into the match. For example, Stone Cold Steve Austin was eliminated during the 1997 event, but he re-entered without the referees' seeing and eventually won the match. In the 1994 match, the last two wrestlers, Bret Hart and Lex Luger were named co-winners when it was decided that both of their feet touched the floor at the same time. A similar situation occurred in the 2005 match, however the match was restarted after Batista and John Cena eliminated each other at the same time. Batista eliminated Cena afterwards to win the match.

The reward for the 1992 Royal Rumble was the WWF Championship. This title, now named the WWE Championship, was also the reward for the 2016 Royal Rumble. The tradition of granting a WWF/E Championship match at WrestleMania started in 1993. Beginning in 2004, the winner had their choice of a World Heavyweight Championship or WWE Championship match at WrestleMania. From 2001 to 2007 the Royal Rumble match winner has gone on to win a World Championship title at WrestleMania. He also became the first man since 2000 to win the Royal Rumble match but fail to win the title in his championship opportunity as a result.

Since 2018 there also is a women's Royal Rumble match, where the winner can challenge for the WWE Women's Championship or the Women's World Championship at that year's WrestleMania. The first one was won by Asuka.

### Pay-per-view
The Royal Rumble is a pay-per-view consisting of the Royal Rumble match, championship matches, and various other matches. The first Royal Rumble took place on January 24, 1988 and was broadcast live on the USA Network. It is part of WWE's "classic five" pay-per-views, along with WrestleMania, Survivor Series, SummerSlam, and King of the Ring.

The Royal Rumble match is usually at the top of the card. However, it is not always the case, as the 2006 event had the match in the middle of the pay-per-view. and it was called the Rumble Royale. It lasted about 33 minutes of the 2-hour broadcast. Today, Rumble matches are much longer, with the longest match happening at the Greatest Royal Rumble (the only edition to have 50 men enter the match), lasting one hour and 17 minutes of a five-hour event.

With the brand extension introduced in mid-2002, the 30 entrants from 2003 to 2006 had 15 wrestlers from both the RAW and SmackDown! brands. At first, the winner of the match received a shot at his brand's championship. Starting in 2004, the Rumble winner had the option of challenging either brand's champion. The winner of the Royal Rumble now had the option to challenge for the ECW Championship as well.

## Dates and venues
## Video box set
On March 13, 2007, WWE released a full DVD box-set called *Royal Rumble: The Complete Anthology*, which showcases every Royal Rumble event in its entirety.

## Footnotes 
## References
**General**
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**Specific**
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## Other websites 
*Official Royal Rumble Website
*WWE.com: Royal Rumble match description 
*WWE.com: Royal Rumble Facts & Figures 
*Royal Rumble History at About.com