Seeing that I’m going to the Royal Rumble tomorrow, I thought it would just be fair to give you, the average viewer of the blog, some info, so your in the know whether you like wrestling or not.
From Wikipedia, here are the rules and the rewards for winning a Royal Rumble match:
Rules
The idea behind the Royal Rumble match is credited to Pat Patterson.[7] Before the match begins, the contestants draw spots in the Rumble.[1] The match is comprised of thirty men, beginning with the two men who chose entry numbers one and two in the ring.[1] At regular timed intervals, usually ninety seconds, one of the remaining 28 wrestlers enters the ring.[1] Participants must eliminate all other opponents, and the winner of the event is the last wrestler remaining after all others have been eliminated.[1][4]
Similar to a Battle Royal, a wrestler is eliminated when leaving the ring over the top rope, with both feet touching the floor.[1][2][13] A referee, who is situated at ringside, must witness an elimination in order for it to be valid.[14] 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’ knowledge and eventually won the match.[14] Moreover, a wrestler who exits the ring without going over the top rope is not eliminated from the contest. During the 1999 Rumble match, both Vince McMahon and Steve Austin left the ring, only to return later in the match.[15]
Rewards for winning
The reward for the 1992 Royal Rumble was the WWF Championship.[16] The tradition of granting a WWE Championship match at WrestleMania started in 1993.[17] Beginning in 2004, the winner had their choice of a World Heavyweight Championship or WWE Championship match at WrestleMania.[17] Due to the revival of the ECW World Championship as a brand championship in mid-2006, the 2007 event added this championship as a choice to the winning stipulation.[18] The Rumble winner has gone on to win a Championship title at WrestleMania every year since WrestleMania X-Seven in 2001.[11]
Last year’s Royal Rumble winner, The Undertaker, with nearly a decade and a half of destruction, this was his first win. He went on to win his World Championship match against Batista at Wrestlemania 23. He is also one of a few (rumored) winners for this year’s Rumble (along with Triple H and Batista, who all have won one Rumble each and continued on to Wrestlemania to win their respective championships).
If I have time I’ll post some picks for the Rumble as well as for the rest of the card.
–Cos