5 past Royal Rumble winners who may never win it again and 5 who could
Winning the Royal Rumble multiple times is a rare feat. Only a few Superstars have done it, and the Women's Royal Rumble match was only introduced in 2018 - having three different winners.
Given how high the stakes are for both Royal Rumble matches, picking a Superstar to win it can be difficult. This list focuses on past Royal Rumble winners and assessing who has a chance of winning it again and who doesn't.
#5. May never win the Royal Rumble again: Randy Orton
Randy Orton belongs to the elite category of Superstars who have more than one Royal Rumble victory. That includes the likes of Stone Cold Steve Austin (3-time Royal Rumble winner), Hulk Hogan, John Cena, Batista, Triple H, and Shawn Michaels.
The first time Randy Orton won it was in 2009, where he went on to headline WrestleMania 25. The second time in 2017, he went on to defeat Bray Wyatt at WrestleMania 33 to become the WWE Champion.
While he wouldn't have ideally been a favorite pick to win the Royal Rumble, WWE cleverly utilized Roman Reigns to help get Randy Orton cheered (something they did for Shinsuke Nakamura the following year, and Drew McIntyre in 2020). Sadly, both WrestleMania matches were considered underwhelming.
Randy Orton had a great year in 2020, winning his 14th World Championship. He is unlikely to ever match Stone Cold Steve Austin's Royal Rumble record, so he may never win the Royal Rumble match again. And it seems as though there's no need for him to win it again either.
Even if he's in the match, he would be better utilized to have an important role before being eliminated by a Superstar who he's beginning a storyline - similar to what happened with Edge in 2020.