Last Updated on March 29, 2024 by Avik Das
Royal Rumble has been around for over there decades since it first started in 1988. Over the years, several Superstars from different generations have won the battle royal match to punch the ticket for WrestleMania. While some WWE Superstars have won it once, some have won more than once to entrench their names in the history book.
In the thirty-six years of its history, only eight WWE Superstars have won a Royal Rumble match more than once to earn the opportunity to headline the Grandest Stage of Them All. In this article, we take a look at Royal Rumble winners with more than one victory in the Battle Royal match.
#8 Brock Lesnar ( 2003, 2022)
Brock Lesnar has been a major star of WWE throughout his career. The Beast Incarnate has won Royal Rumble matches twice in his career, once in his first run and another one in his second run. His first Rumble win was in 2003, when he ended up facing Kurt Angle at WrestleMania 19 main event, Lesnar won it 2022 by last eliminating Drew McIntyre. He faced Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 38 but failed to win the match and the Universal Championship.
#7 Batista (2005, 2014)
Batista made his WWE debut in 2002, and he started getting more exposure as part of Evolution. He was an amazing heel with the stable. But his singles career started to prosper in 2005 when he won the 2005 Royal Rumble match. After winning the battle royal match, he faced his former mentor, Triple H, in the main event of WrestleMania 21. While they delivered a great match at the Show of Shows, Batista had prevailed to win the World Heavyweight Championship for the first time in his career. Nine years later, Dave Batista came back and won the 2014 Royal Rumble match. Unlike his previous victory, a myriad of fans were not pleased to see him win the match. He, however, mainevented WrestleMania 30, but he squandered the title opportunity. His accomplishment places him among the greatest Royal Rumble winners.
#6 Randy Orton (2009, 2017)
Batista’s Evolution stablemate, Randy Orton was one of those Superstars to win the Royal Rumble twice in his career. Meanwhile, his maiden victory came seven years after his debut on the main roster. He won in 2009 by last eliminating Triple H, whom he faced for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 25. Unfortunately, he failed to win the bout in the main event of the show. Orton’s second win took place in 2017 when he won the match despite having some heavyweight names like The Undertaker, Goldberg, and Brock Lesnar. Having earned the title shot, he successfully won the WWE Championship from Bray Wyatt at WrestleMania 33.
#5 John Cena (2008, 2013)
Considering John Cena was the face of WWE in the PG Era, it wasn’t surprising that he had attained this feat. Besides winning the World Title sixteen times, he also won the Royal Rumble match more than once. He won it in 2008 as well as in 2013. After winning the first one, he challenged then WWE Champion Randy Orton at WrestleMania 24. It was a triple threat match involving Triple H, but he failed to get the job done. Subsequently, he won it again five years later. Cena didn’t make the same mistake again because he beat The Rock at WrestleMania 29 to capture the gold in the main event. His two big victories gave him the tag multi-time winner of the match.
#4 Hulk Hogan 1990, 1991)
Before Hulk Hogan jumped ship in 1993, he was the biggest star and draw in WWE. In the initial days of Royal Rumble as well as WrestleMania, Hogan played a crucial role to bring in mainstream attention. Hogan’s first Rumble victory was in 1990. Consequently, he got the chance to main event WrestleMania VI against The Ultimate Warrior, which he lost. He won the Battle Royal once again in 1991, making him the first man to win it two consecutive years. After the win, he met Sgt. Slaughter at WrestleMania 7, where beat the champion to win the gold.
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#3 Triple H ( Royal Rumble 2002, 2016)
Triple H is another big name to achieve the feat of winning the Battle Royal match twice in his career. He is the winner with the biggest gap in-between these two Royal Rumble victories. His first Royal Rumble victory was in 2002. Securing a spot at WrestleMania 18, he won the WWE Undisputed Title by beating Chris Jericho. Fourteen years later, The Game won the battle Royal Rumble match once again to become the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Since the 2016 match was a title match itself, he eventually defended it against Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 32.
#2 Shawn Michaels ( Royal Rumble 1995, 1996)
Shawn Michaels became the second wrestler ever to win two back to back matches after Hulk Hogan. HBK was one of the most popular stars in the 1990s and hence, WWE pushed him as a main event star in the New Generation Era. First, he won the 1995 Royal Rumble to secure his spot at the Grandest Stage of Them All. He challenged then WWE Champion Diesel at WrestleMania XI but lost the match. The very next year Shawn Michaels won Rumble again and then, he went on to face Bret Hart in a sixty-minutes Iron Match, which was one of the greatest matches in the history of WWE. After Hogan, HBK became the second man to win two back-to-back matches.
#1 Stone Cold Steve Austin ( Royal Rumble 1997, 1998, 2001)
Stone Cold Steve Austin was the first and only WWE Superstar to win the Royal Rumble thrice in WWE. As a matter of fact, all his wins came in the Attitude Era, which was predominantly the era of Stone Cold Steve Austin. With those victories, he managed to headline WrestleMania multiple times. Stone Cold Steve Austin’s won the Battle Royal for the first time in 1997. Therefore, he wrestled Bret Hart at WrestleMania 13, but he lost the match. The Texas Rattlesnake repeated the same feat in 1998, and this time he successfully won the WWE World Heavyweight Championship from Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania 14. Austin won the battle royal match for the third time in 2001. The victory enabled him to headline WrestleMania 17, where he dethroned then WWE Champion, The Rock.
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Avik Das is the founder of Sportsheed. He is a sports lover with broad knowledge of Professional Wrestling, MMA, Football, and Cricket. He has an English major and has previously written articles for various sports and entertainment websites
