Royal Rumble facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Royal Rumble
WWE Royal Rumble logo
Information
Promotion(s)	{{{promotions}}}
Brand(s)	Raw (2003–2011, 2017–present) SmackDown (2003–2011, 2017–present) ECW (2007–2010) 205 Live (2019)
First event	{{{firstevent}}}

The Royal Rumble is a super exciting professional wrestling show. It's held every year in January since 1988 by WWE, the biggest professional wrestling company in the world. The event is named after the special Royal Rumble match. This match is like a big battle where wrestlers enter the ring one by one, not all at once.

The very first event in 1988 was shown on the USA Network. Since 1989, it has been available to watch on pay-per-view. From 2015 onwards, you can also watch it live online. The Royal Rumble is one of WWE's five biggest shows each year. The others are WrestleMania, SummerSlam, Survivor Series, and Money in the Bank. These are known as the "Big Five" events.

The Royal Rumble match is usually the main event of the show. However, sometimes other matches have been the main event. For example, in 1988, a tag team match was the main event. In other years, a men's world championship match was the last match. At first, only men competed in the Royal Rumble match. But in 2018, a women's Royal Rumble match was held and was the main event. That year was also the first time both a men's and women's Rumble match happened at the same event. Now, it's normal to have both matches every year.

History of the Royal Rumble

How the Event Started

The amazing Royal Rumble match was thought up by a wrestler named Pat Patterson, who is now in the WWE Hall of Fame. The event itself was created by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), which is now called WWE. The match was first tried out at a smaller show in October 1987.

The first Royal Rumble event took place on January 24, 1988. It was shown live on the USA Network. The next year, in 1989, the event became a pay-per-view (PPV) show. This made it one of the "Big Four" yearly PPVs, along with WrestleMania, Survivor Series, and SummerSlam. These were the four biggest shows of the year. From 1993 to 2002, it was even considered one of the "Big Five" when King of the Ring was also a major PPV. In 2021, Money in the Bank joined the "Big Five" list.

In May 2002, the WWF changed its name to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). This happened because of a legal issue with the World Wildlife Fund. In 2011, the company started using just "WWE" instead of its full name. Also in 2002, WWE started the brand extension. This meant wrestlers were split into different groups, like Raw and SmackDown. They would only wrestle on their assigned weekly TV shows. ECW became a third group in 2006. The first brand split ended in 2011, but it came back in 2016. Other brands like NXT also became active. The Royal Rumble, along with the other original "Big Four" events, were always for all brands, not just one.

The 2008 Royal Rumble was the first WWE pay-per-view shown in high-definition. In 2015, the Royal Rumble also started to be shown on WWE's online streaming service, the WWE Network. In 2022, the event became available on Peacock in the United States.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, WWE had to hold its shows without fans. The 2021 event was held in WWE's special safe area called the WWE ThunderDome. This was set up at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. WWE started having live audiences again in July 2021. The 2022 event was held at The Dome at America's Center in St. Louis, Missouri.

Royal Rumble matches take a long time, usually about an hour. Because of this, the Royal Rumble event usually has fewer matches than other pay-per-view shows. Most other shows have six to eight matches. From 2018, the Royal Rumble show became longer, sometimes having nine to twelve matches. However, in 2022, WWE went back to having around six matches, and the show lasts about three to four hours. The men's Royal Rumble match is usually the last match of the night. But there have been times when other matches ended the show. For example, in 1988, a tag team match was last. In other years, a men's world championship match was the main event. In 2018, the women's Royal Rumble match was the main event. That year was the first time both a men's and women's Rumble match happened. Now, it's normal for both matches to be part of the event.

How the Match Works

The Royal Rumble match is based on a classic battle royal. In this match, many wrestlers (usually 30) try to get rid of their opponents. They do this by throwing them over the top rope, so both of their feet touch the floor. The main difference in a Royal Rumble match is how wrestlers enter. In a regular battle royal, everyone starts in the ring at the same time. But in a Royal Rumble, two wrestlers start, and then others come out at set times. The winner is the last wrestler left in the ring after everyone else has been thrown out.

Since the 1993 event, the winner of the Royal Rumble match gets a chance to wrestle for a world championship at WrestleMania. The only exception was the 2016 event. In that match, the WWE Championship was on the line, and the champion Roman Reigns had to defend his title in the match.

Events and Winners

Video Box Set

In March 2007, WWE released a special DVD box set. It was called Royal Rumble: The Complete Anthology. This set included every Royal Rumble event up to the 2007 show.

See also

In Spanish: Royal Rumble para niños