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

Credit: WWE.com

14. Chris Benoit

As WWE will tell us every year, only two men have won the Royal Rumble from the Number 1 spot, including Shawn Michaels. For obvious reasons, the other winner is never mentioned.

Chris Benoit was booked as the iron man of the 2004 Royal Rumble Match, entering at Number 1 and lasting for over an hour. In the course of the match, Benoit eliminated 6 men, last eliminating The Big Show to win the match.

While Benoit was a member of the SmackDown roster at the time, rather than challenging for the WWE Championship, he took the unprecedented step of jumping to Raw to challenge World Heavyweight Champion Triple H.

At WrestleMania XX, Benoit took on Triple H and Shawn Michaels in a triple threat match, the first time such a match would headline WrestleMania. The match ended with Triple H tapping out to the Crippler Crossface and the show ended with Benoit celebrating with WWE Champion Eddie Guerrero in the middle of the ring.

Benoit retained the title against Michaels and Triple H again at Backlash. While Champion, Benoit would also capture the World Tag Team Championships with Edge. The two would lose the Championships to La Résistance, while Benoit successfully fended off a challenge from Kane for the World Heavyweight Championship.

Benoit lost the World Heavyweight Championship to Randy Orton at SummerSlam, ending his time in the main event. He closed the year in a feud with former partner Edge.

In a vacuum, Benoit’s 2004 was rather impressive, and the Royal Rumble push was a key piece of the puzzle.