5 Times new champions were crowned at WWE Royal Rumble
The 2021 WWE Royal Rumble is fast approaching, with the event set to take place on January 31st.
The Royal Rumble is one of the biggest events in WWE's calendar and marks the start of the road to WrestleMania. The focal point of the popular pay-per-view is the two 30-person elimination matches that are the namesake of the event, but championships are also put on the line.
Over the years, multiple feuds have begun and ended at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view. New rivalries have been established when WWE Superstars won their respective Royal Rumble matches, and some have ended during title matches at the event.
Here are five times new champions were crowned at WWE's Royal Rumble.
#5 Shinsuke Nakamura - WWE United States Champion (2019)
On the Christmas Day edition of SmackDown in 2018, Shinsuke Nakamura lost the WWE United States Championship to Rusev after a lengthy reign of 156 days. The pair had been rivals for much of late 2018, and Nakamura had previously retained his title against Rusev in September of that year.
With Rusev as the new WWE United States Champion, the title was put on the line at the 2019 Royal Rumble pay-per-view. Shinsuke Nakamura managed to win the championship for a second time at the event and even appeared in the men's Royal Rumble match later in the night.
However, Nakamura's second reign as WWE United States Champion didn't last as long as his first. The Superstar lost the championship to R-Truth two days later on SmackDown and subsequently aligned with Rusev when they paired up to attack the new champion.
Most recently, Shinsuke Nakamura enjoyed a reign alongside his current tag team partner Cesaro as a WWE SmackDown Tag Team Champion, after defeating The New Day at The Horror Show at Extreme Rules. The pair later dropped the titles back to The New Day in October 2020.