5 Royal Rumble matches with the best Final Four
Winning the Royal Rumble is one of the highest points of the career of any professional wrestler, and only a handful of wrestling legends, including the likes of Steve Austin, Shawn Michaels, John Cena, and Randy Orton, can boast about winning the match multiple times.
Winning aside, only a handful of Superstars are actually able to make it to the last bunch of performers from a massive group of 30 performers. The most commonly used term for these bunch of Superstars, the Final Four, has featured both some of the best and worst groups of wrestlers for a Royal Rumble match.
The last four participants can have a huge impact on how a Royal Rumble match is remembered in the years to come. Having a final four featuring participants like Santino Marella or Big Cass, who are nowhere near top tier performers, or where participants have minimum in-ring action, such as in 2015 Royal Rumble, leaves a bad taste in the mouth of the fans.
There have been years where WWE has hit the jackpot with the last four performers in the Rumble. From all those years, here are the five best years featuring the best final fours in Royal Rumble matches.
Honorable Mentions: -
1992 - Randy Savage, Hulk Hogan, Sid Justice and Ric Flair
2004 - Chris Jericho. Kurt Angle, The Big Show, Chris Benoit
2018 - Finn Balor, John Cena, Roman Reigns, Shinsuke Nakamura
#5 2006 (Rob Van Dam, Triple H, Randy Orton, and Rey Mysterio)
Rey Mysterio's win in the 2006 Royal Rumble match is and will always be regarded as one of the best feel good moments in WWE history. Battling for over 62 minutes, Mysterio went coast to coast in arguably the most memorable individual Rumble match performance.
However, his road was not easy, as all four men left in the ring at the end of the match were favorites to take home the victory that year. Triple H, who entered number 1, had been with The Ultimate Underdog since the very beginning (Rey started at number 2). Triple H and Randy Orton had an Evolution reunion against the fan-favorite team of Mysterio and Rob Van Dam.
Not only was the 6-minute stretch a great showing of all of their talents, it had all the fans on their feet as any one of them could have gone all the way. Even though a mistake from Rey lead to RVDs elimination, which left him in the ring alone with Orton and Triple H, he was able to overcome the hefty odds to eliminate both The Game and The Legend Killer to seal his spot at WrestleMania 22.