WWE Royal Rumble 2017: Ranking All 30 Match Winners

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9. Stone Cold Steve Austin – 1998

Stone Cold Steve Austin won three Royal Rumble matches, all of which mark high among the all-time greatest winners of this classic bout. The first would come in 1997, and the last came in 2001. Sandwiched in between is his second win, which would go down in 1998.

Austin came off a historic 1997—he turned face after wrestling Bret Hart at WrestleMania 13 and worked toward a feud with Mr. McMahon, pulling the WWE Chairman off commentary in the process for good. This worked in the Beer-Drinking Superstar’s favor heading into 1998, which made him a favorite to win the Royal Rumble match for the second consecutive year.

However, this time around, Austin had to work through a career-threatening neck injury that he received via a piledriver. This saw his head get spiked directly into the mat, causing damage.

This wouldn’t stop the momentum of Stone Cold, however, as he cruised to the win. This slid him into the main event of WrestleMania for the first time, going head-to-head with Shawn Michaels for the WWE Championship. The title would change hands as HBK left the ring for a few years to recover from what had been thought to be a career-ending back injury.

Austin was the obvious winner here due to the path he had been on. That doesn’t make him a poor decision to win, though, as it vaulted a fan-favorite to the main event scene and continued WWE’s momentum in the late 1990’s.