WWE Royal Rumble: Ranking Every Winner After Lynch, Rollins Wins

Credit: WWE.com

25. Shawn Michaels (1995)

The 1995 WWE Royal Rumble was not very good, all things considered. Billed as the “fastest” Royal Rumble ever, the match saw the time between entrants lowered to only one minute. As such, the match lasted less than forty minutes.

Shawn Michaels and The British Bulldog were the first two men in the ring at the start of the match, and the last two men at its close. In between, the two did battle with 28 other performers, most of whom absolutely did not stand a chance of winning. When one takes out the Kwangs, Mantaurs, and Aldo Montoyas in the field, the only truly credible performers in the match were the aforementioned Michaels and Bulldog, Owen Hart, Lex Luger, and Crush. The others were just space fillers.

None of this can detract from the thrilling finish, however, as Bulldog tossed Michaels over the top rope and was declared the winner, only for the audience and referees to realize that only one of Michaels’ feet had touched the floor. Thus, he was able to climb back into the ring and dump Bulldog to become the first performer to win from the Number 1 spot.

At WrestleMania XI, Michaels was unsuccessful in capturing the WWE Championship from Diesel, and soon turned babyface, winning the Intercontinental Championship. At Summerslam, he and Razor Ramon did battle in a rematch of their legendary WrestleMania X ladder match, with Michaels coming out victorious this time.

Michaels would have better success the next year…