Every Two Time Royal Rumble Winner, Ranked

The Royal Rumble is supposed to be a match that kick-starts a run to the main event of WrestleMania. While it wasn't always the case, the winner of the match now receives a shot at the WWE world title at the biggest event of the year. This has happened since 1993. Since that year, the title was on the line in one match, but the rest kept the same format.

Since the Royal Rumble started in 1988, won by Hacksaw Jim Duggan, there have been 37 total events, with 23 different male winners and three female winners. There have also been seven men who won the event more than one time, with Stone Cold Steve Austin holding the record with three wins. Here is every Royal Rumble with at least two wins, ranked.

7 TRIPLE H (2002, 2016)

The WWE superstar with the longest time between wins was Triple H. He won the first Royal Rumble of his career in 2002 and then returned as a part-time star and WWE executives in 2016 just to screw over Roman Reigns. The win that mattered the most was in 2002, where he lasted for 23 minutes and eliminated Kurt Angle to win.

Triple H went on to WrestleMania X8, where he beat Chris Jericho two win the Undisputed WWE Championship. What holds him down was his final win. In 2016, Triple H ordered Reigns to put his title on the line in the Rumble match and came in as the 30th entry to beat him for it.

6 BATISTA (2005, 2014)

Batista went nine years between Royal Rumble wins, and the two victories couldn't be any more different. His first win in 2005 made him a fan favorite and led to his star-making moment at WrestleMania 21. At the time, Batista was part of Evolution and turned on Triple H to cash in his shot for the World Championship, winning it from his former boss.

Sadly, what holds Batista down on this list was his win in 2014. Batista came back to WWE after making his mark in Hollywood. However, at the time, fans wanted to see Daniel Bryan pushed. Batista won the Rumble match, and fans turned on him. He ended up tapping out to Bryan at WrestleMania XXX in a triple threat match.

5 RANDY ORTON (2009, 2017)

Randy Orton won his first Royal Rumble match in 2009 in a fantastic performance. Orton entered the ring as the eighth man and lasted for over 48 minutes in the match. It was Triple H that Orton eliminated to win the match. Orton then switched brands, challenging Triple H at WrestleMania XXV. Orton lost the title match.

The second Orton win came in 2017. The final two men in the match were Orton and Roman Reigns, and fans did not want to see Reigns win the match. When Orton won, he got a huge pop. He cashed in his briefcase against Bray Wyatt, and won the title this time around, even if his match with Wyatt was disappointing.

4 HULK HOGAN (1990, 1991)

Hulk Hogan is an interesting case for Royal Rumble winners. As previously mentioned, the winning wrestler getting a world title shot did not start until 1993. This meant that world champion Hulk Hogan could enter the match and not have to worry about losing his title. That didn't matter to the Hulkster.

After Hacksaw Jim Duggan and Big John Studd won the first two matches, WWE needed to do something to make the event seem more important, and they brought in the champ to do it. Hogan won in 1990 by eliminating mostly Bobby Heenan clients. In 1991, it was bigger. Hogan and Ultimate Warrior faced off before Hogan won. This moment led to their historic WrestleMania match.

3 JOHN CENA (2008, 2013)

The 2008 Royal Rumble featured one of the most shocking moments in the history of the match. The 30th man to enter the match was John Cena, returning a half year earlier than expected from a pectoral muscle surgery. Fans welcomed Cena back with open arms, and he eliminated Triple H at the end to win the match. Cena did not win the title at WrestleMania, as he lost a triple threat against Triple H and Randy Orton.

Five years later, John Cena won his second Royal Rumble match. This time, Cena entered at number 19 and lasted 26 minutes to get the win in the match. He chose to cash in against The Rock and won the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 29.

2 SHAWN MICHAELS (1995, 1996)

The mid-'90s saw the only two back-to-back winners of the Royal Rumble match. The first of these came when Shawn Michaels won the match in both 1995 and 1996. The win in 1995 saw Shawn Michaels become a legitimate star when he entered at number one and lasted till the end, winning the match. However, he lost his WrestleMania title match to his old buddy, Diesel.

The next year, Michaels didn't have to do as much work. He entered at the 18th spot and ended up eliminating eight people on his way to winning, making him the first back-to-back winner. This win led to WrestleMania XII and the Iron Man match where HBK won his first world title.

1 STONE COLD STEVE AUSTIN (1997, 1998, 2001)

While Shawn Michaels was the first back-to-back winner at the Royal Rumble, Stone Cold Steve Austin matched that the very next two years. In 1997, Austin won the Royal Rumble match and ended up not getting to go to WrestleMania for his title shot because Shawn Michaels forfeited the title. Austin got the shot in a four-way match and lost. Austin had his star-making turn with Bret Hart at WrestleMania 13 instead.

The second win came in 1998, and Austin finally got his moment. Stone Cold was the 24th entrant and ended up winning the match. He went on to beat HBK at WrestleMania XIV for his first world title. To add icing to the cake, Austin became the only three-time winner in 2001 and went on to beat The Rock at WrestleMania X-Seven for another world title.

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