WWE Championship Royal Rumble

[Jcogginsa]

This will be a Royal Rumble style event, featuring every wrestler who has ever held the WWE championship throughout it's history. It has the same rules as a traditional Royal Rumble, and the wrestlers will enter in the order that they held the title.

Each Wrestler will be in the prime of their health

1. Buddy Rogers
2. Bruno Samartino
3. Ivan Koloff
4. Pedro Morales
5. Stan Stasiak
6. Superstar Billy Graham
7. Bob Backlund
8. The Iron Sheik
9. Hulk Hogan
10. Andre the Giant
11. Randy Savage
12. The Ultimate Warrior
13. Sgt. Slaughter
14. The Undertaker
15. Ric Flair
16. Bret Hart
17. Yokozuna
18. Diesal
19. Shawn Michaels
20. Sycho Sid
21. Stone Cold Steve Austin
22. Kane
23. The Rock
24. Mankind
25. Triple H
26. Vince McMahon
27. Big Show
28. Kurt Angle
29. Chris Jericho
30. Brock Lesnar
31. Eddie Guererro
32. John Bradshaw Layfield
33. John Cena
34. Edge
35. Rob Van Dam
36. Randy Orton
37. Jeff Hardy
38. Batista
39. Sheamus
40. The Miz
41. CM Punk
42. Rey Misterio
43. Alberto Del Rio
44. Daniel Bryan
45. Seth Rollins
46. Roman Reigns
47. Dean Ambrose
48. AJ Styles
49. Bray Wyatt
50. Jinder Mahal
EDIT:
51. Kofi Kingston

[Powerboy]

I don't really have much of an opinion on this. Partly because, starting at about #39, I only know who a couple of these people are and then barely. But also because a match like this is unpredictable and the people coming in late are at an extreme advantage while the people coming in early are at an extreme disadvantage.

Going only with the ones I know and making it more an elimination tournament with no outside interference, it would come down to Hogan versus Austin and that's a toss-up but I would give Austin a slight edge only because Hogan was willing to lose a lot for someone who is almost certainly the most popular wrestler ever and definitely most well-known outside of wrestling fans though Austin is close.

I would mention though that the popularity of Bruno and Andre is not to be underestimated. The reasons Hogan and Austin surpass them are mostly things beyond the control of the wrestlers, primarily the mass communications technology that existed by Hogan's and Austin's prime compared to Bruno's or Andre's.

[master of read]

RR winners have the advantage. especially the multi-time winners.

[Jcogginsa]

RR winners have the advantage. especially the multi-time winners.

That would be Hogan, Austin, Michaels, Triple H, John Cena, and Randy Orton.

Hogan won from 25 and 24

Michaels won from 1 and 18

Austin won from 5, 24, and 27

Triple H won from 22 and 30

Cena won from 30 and 19

Batista won from 28 twice

Orton won from 8 and 23

So of the multi winners, Michaels, Austin, and Orton have gone the longest

When it comes to Single time winners, Flair won from 3, McMahon won from 2 (But that was pretty screwy), Mysterio won from 2, and Rollins won from 10

Andre also has a lot of Battle Royale experience in general though

[master of read]

That would be Hogan, Austin, Michaels, Triple H, John Cena, and Randy Orton.

Hogan won from 25 and 24

Michaels won from 1 and 18

Austin won from 5, 24, and 27

Triple H won from 22 and 30

Cena won from 30 and 19

Batista won from 28 twice

Orton won from 8 and 23

So of the multi winners, Michaels, Austin, and Orton have gone the longest

When it comes to Single time winners, Flair won from 3, McMahon won from 2 (But that was pretty screwy), Mysterio won from 2, and Rollins won from 10

Andre also has a lot of Battle Royale experience in general though

true but the RR has staggered entrants, so andre's endurence would come into question. also, shenanigans.

[Jcogginsa]

true but the RR has staggered entrants, so andre's endurence would come into question. also, shenanigans.

Yeah, Endurance would be a big factor here.

With that in mind, Misterio has a much bigger chance than he otherwise would have, since he won from a low number and comes in late

[Powerboy]

true but the RR has staggered entrants, so andre's endurence would come into question. also, shenanigans.

Yes Andre coming in so early would work against him although there is also the factor of whether each contestant is in his absolute prime or not. You could say they are whatever age they were when they held the WWE (or WWF or WWWF for some of them) but that puts Andre almost to the oldest and worst shape of his life. There is also the factor that other people will work together to eliminate Andre more than almost anybody else.

Sammartino at one point in his life held weightlifting records and had incredible stamina and even beat Buddy Rogers for real because Vince Senior wanted him to have the title and was afraid Rogers might take the belt and jump ship to another organization if he knew ahead of time he was supposed to lose the title. But coming in first all about eliminates any chance of winning.

[Jcogginsa]

Yes Andre coming in so early would work against him although there is also the factor of whether each contestant is in his absolute prime or not. You could say they are whatever age they were when they held the WWE (or WWF or WWWF for some of them) but that puts Andre almost to the oldest and worst shape of his life. There is also the factor that other people will work together to eliminate Andre more than almost anybody else.

Sammartino at one point in his life held weightlifting records and had incredible stamina and even beat Buddy Rogers for real because Vince Senior wanted him to have the title and was afraid Rogers might take the belt and jump ship to another organization if he knew ahead of time he was supposed to lose the title. But coming in first all about eliminates any chance of winning.

When Sammartino goes out will probably effect a lot. Do you think he can make it past Hogan and Andre?

[master of read]

Yes Andre coming in so early would work against him although there is also the factor of whether each contestant is in his absolute prime or not. You could say they are whatever age they were when they held the WWE (or WWF or WWWF for some of them) but that puts Andre almost to the oldest and worst shape of his life. There is also the factor that other people will work together to eliminate Andre more than almost anybody else.

Sammartino at one point in his life held weightlifting records and had incredible stamina and even beat Buddy Rogers for real because Vince Senior wanted him to have the title and was afraid Rogers might take the belt and jump ship to another organization if he knew ahead of time he was supposed to lose the title. But coming in first all about eliminates any chance of winning.

i considered that as well. as you said, andre didn't really have a prime in the WWF since his body started to break down around that time. but even at andre's true prime, it's still a long way to go since regular battle royals last about 10-15 minutes, depending on the number of guys in it. a standard RR can last for at least a hour and this is a 50 man RR.

so i'd also say that stamina machines like kurt and shawn could be favorites to win as well.

[Jcogginsa]

Could Andre lengthen his time in the ring by making alliances with other wrestlers to buy himself time to rest?

[Beadle]

There’s so many high-level guys in this, you’ve got to more or less ignore anyone before about 30. And 30’s probably generous.

Someone that I think most people are overlooking is Del Rio. He comes in at 43 and is the only person here who has won a Rumble of more than 30 people.

But ultimately, given ‘prime’ status, Reigns has at times been booked as one of the more dominant guys ever and he’s coming in at 46. That’s tough to overlook.

I mean I’d love to say, from the later guys that it could be Punk, Rollins, D-Bry or AJ, but Punk and AJ have never won the Rumble and neither Rollins or D-Bry have been as dominant as Reigns.

[KJS]

Jinder Mahal wins 10 times out of 10 for me...

[Powerboy]

There’s so many high-level guys in this, you’ve got to more or less ignore anyone before about 30. And 30’s probably generous.

Someone that I think most people are overlooking is Del Rio. He comes in at 43 and is the only person here who has won a Rumble of more than 30 people.

But ultimately, given ‘prime’ status, Reigns has at times been booked as one of the more dominant guys ever and he’s coming in at 46. That’s tough to overlook.

I mean I’d love to say, from the later guys that it could be Punk, Rollins, D-Bry or AJ, but Punk and AJ have never won the Rumble and neither Rollins or D-Bry have been as dominant as Reigns.

Yeah my bias would be to want to believe one of the earlier guys would win such as Bruno or Andre. But, coming in so early aside, even Bruno doesn't compare to the raw strength of someone like Lesnar, nor does Andre and that's even taking in to consideration what Andre was portrayed to be in the ring and giving him his true prime. Both the reality of genetics and training techniques as well as "power creep" favor the later guys.

I can't say for sure on the current guys because I don't watch it anymore. There may have been a slight lowering of the power scale to get a bit more "realistic".

For those who still follow it, what would you say was the era where wrestlers were portrayed as the most superhuman?

[KJS]

I can't say for sure on the current guys because I don't watch it anymore. There may have been a slight lowering of the power scale to get a bit more "realistic".

Braun Strowman survived being put in the back of a garbage truck and having the compactor turned on. He survived being put in the back of an ambulance and having the ambulance reversed at full speed into a trailer. He pulled down what was said to have been several tonnes of scaffolding. He flipped an ambulance with his bare hands. He did the same with a limousine. And he did the same with a truck.

So nah.

[Powerboy]

Braun Strowman survived being put in the back of a garbage truck and having the compactor turned on. He survived being put in the back of an ambulance and having the ambulance reversed at full speed into a trailer. He pulled down what was said to have been several tonnes of scaffolding. He flipped an ambulance with his bare hands. He did the same with a limousine. And he did the same with a truck.

So nah.

In other words, the "Let's get more realistic" era must have lasted a couple of months before they realized it doesn't work and the power level continued creeping upward.

I still think all the "raw" strength and durability feats don't compare to teleportation, turning to mist, summoning lightning and many of the other powers of the Undertaker combined with his own considerable durability or possibly super fast healing feats.