WWE Royal Rumble 2017: Ranking All 30 Match Winners

8. Chris Benoit – 2004

Chris Benoit, despite being stricken from the WWE record books, had one of the greatest Royal Rumble performances ever. What he did pushed him into the main event scene, something he climbed through the ranks of WWE’s roster to do.

Benoit entered the 2004 Royal Rumble match at No. 1 and played the role of survivor throughout, dodging every big-name Superstar that came after him. He would end up surviving for over one hour to claim the victory and move on to headlining WrestleMania 20 at Madison Square Garden. This saw him defeat two of WWE’s all-time greatest stars, Triple H and Shawn Michaels, in the main event for the World Heavyweight Championship.

This permanently placed the Rabid Wolverine into WWE’s main event scene, which automatically made him a star. It helped that the fans were behind him too, something that started with his in-ring work and not looking like your typical WWE Superstar. Of course, things have changed since then, but Benoit had once been one of the most popular members of the roster.