5 fascinating facts about Royal Rumble winners you may not know

The WWE Royal Rumble is an interesting match. Over 300 people have entered it, while only 19 of them have won. This match has the potential to create new stars, to re-establish old ones, to send you on a nostalgia trip, and to bury people, all in one hour-long thrill ride.

As such, the Rumble has created a seemingly endless series of commonly-cited statistics. We all know that Shawn Michaels was the first person to win from #1, we all know that Roman Reigns threw out more people than anyone else in a single Rumble, and and we've all heard that Jim Duggan was the first person to win the Royal Rumble.

But what if I told you that the last thing I listed isn't true?

See, for every stat that the commentators spout off ad nauseam, there are plenty of others that no one talks about. So today, I'm going to share five facts about Royal Rumble winners that you might not know. Oh, and if you've got one, feel free to leave it in the comments below.

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#5 There are two people with a 100% Royal Rumble victory percentage

Yes - Vince McMahon won a Royal Rumble.

Let's face it - if you're entering the Royal Rumble match, your chances of losing are markedly higher than the chances of winning. Despite this, there are two people who have never lost in the Royal Rumble. To be fair, they've both only been in the match once, but I digress -

Vince McMahon won the 1999 Royal Rumble by only eliminating one man, Stone Cold Steve Austin, at the very end. It would be the only Rumble he ever entered. Ten years prior, however, Big John Studd entered his first and only Royal Rumble and won it.

Sure, Vince McMahon spent most of the match outside of the ring and sure, he only eliminated one person, but he still has a perfect winning percentage. And sure, Big John Studd only went slightly over 12 minutes and sure, he only eliminated two people (Akeem and Ted DiBiase), but he still has a perfect winning percentage.

Brock Lesnar was also part of this exclusive club for 12 years after his 2003 victory, and he would have remained there had he not decided to enter two more Rumbles in 2015 and 2017, respectively.

And while we're talking about winning percentages, the lowest for any winner is The Undertaker (9%). Also, there are four people who have won half of the Rumbles they've entered - Hulk Hogan, Yokozuna, Lex Luger, and amazingly, Stone Cold Steve Austin.

#4 The worst Royal Rumble winner, statistically, is...

Actually, no - it isn't Jim Duggan.

People often scoff when Jim Duggan comes out as a surprise entrant in the Royal Rumble. I mean, sure, the "HOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" is cool for a second but then you set your timers to see how quickly he gets eliminated once the nostalgia fades. But we can't judge Jim Duggan's overall performance on his recent failures in the Royal Rumble. In fact, he's not even the least impressive Rumble winner, statistically.

It's Alberto Del Rio.

Aside from Big John Studd, who only entered once, Alberto Del Rio has the lowest cumulative time in the Royal Rumble match out of any winner. In three appearances, Del Rio only went a total of 19 minutes and 16 seconds, never once reaching the 10-minute mark. Sure, he won the only 40-man Royal Rumble in history, but he also entered at #38, so how is that any more noteworthy than entering and winning from #28 is in any other Rumble?

Additionally, he has the fewest eliminations out of any winner who entered more than once (Studd also had two and Vince McMahon had one). In three appearances, he only eliminated two people - Randy Orton and Santino Marella. Both of those eliminations came in 2011 when he won.

With all due respect, these numbers are comparable to that of a half-adequate Royal Rumble performer, not a former Rumble winner. Still, his best time is still better than Brock Lesnar's. Speaking of which...

#3 Brock Lesnar has the worst "best time" out of any Rumble winner; and the worst "worst time" is...

The Beast's Rumble longevity has been adequate at best.

While Alberto Del Rio has the lowest cumulative time in the Royal Rumble out of any winner, Brock Lesnar has the worst "best time" out of this group.

Much like Del Rio, Brock Lesnar has never reached 10 minutes in any of his three Rumble attempts. When he won in 2003, he only went 8:59. Last year, he went 4:31 before getting humiliated by Goldberg. His best time was in 2016 when he went 9:12 before being eliminated by the Wyatt Family.

As scared as I am to say anything bad about Brock Lesnar...that's pretty poor. Still, he doesn't have the worst "worst time" out of any winner. Not by a longshot. So who does?

Believe it or not, Shawn Michaels.

Yes, Shawn Michaels is one of only two Royal Rumble winners to last under 1 minute in a Rumble match. Jim Duggan went 57 seconds in 2012, but Shawn Michaels lasted a measly 12 seconds in 1990. Basically, he came into the ring and got almost immediately kicked to the curb, courtesy of The Ultimate Warrior.

Luckily for Shawn, he went the distance in 1995, so people don't often talk about that embarrassing Royal Rumble outing during his days as a "Rocker".

#2 Roman Reigns currently averages 6.5 eliminations per Royal Rumble... but there's still one better

Roman Reigns has put on four impressive Royal Rumble performances, much to the fans' disdain.

Say what you want about Roman Reigns, but the numbers don't lie. And his Royal Rumble numbers are remarkable.

In his first Royal Rumble, he tossed out 12 men, breaking Kane's old record of 11 eliminations from 2001. He then won his second one, went coast-to-coast in his third one, and made it to the Final Two (again) in 2017.

As of this writing, Reigns has the 8th most eliminations in Royal Rumble history, which is incredible considering he's only been in four of them. With a little quick math, we can determine that Reigns (on average) eliminates 6.5 men per Royal Rumble match.

Impressive, but there's still one former Rumble winner who tops him - Hulk Hogan.

Much like Roman Reigns, Hulk Hogan also entered four Royal Rumbles. In that time, he managed to throw out 9 people in 1989 (a record until 1997), 6 people in 1990 (when he won), 7 people in 1991 (when he won again), and 4 people in 1992.

Not only does Hogan have one more elimination in his worst performance than Reigns does in his worst, but Hogan also has one more total elimination than Reigns - 27. This means that, on average, Hogan eliminated 6.75 people per Royal Rumble appearance.

And while we're on the subject, Stone Cold Steve Austin comes in a pretty close third place here, as his 36 eliminations in 6 appearances gives him an average of 6 eliminations per Rumble.

Back to the main point, though -- Reigns has more time to top Hogan's elimination number/average, but when people say that Roman Reigns' push is comparable to Hulk Hogan's, it's kind of hard to disagree when you put numbers like these side-by-side.

#1"Hacksaw" Jim Duggan is not the first Royal Rumble winner

Jim Duggan is often cited as the first-ever Royal Rumble winner...but he wasn't.

One of the most oft-used tales of legend in WWE is that "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan was the first-ever winner of the Royal Rumble. While this is true in one way, it's not true in the two versions it's told.

Jim Duggan was not the first Royal Rumble PPV winner. In fact, he wasn't even the first Royal Rumble match winner.

You may not know this, but the then-WWF gave their first try at a Royal Rumble match at a house show in St. Louis, MO in October of 1987. The bout featured 20 men and there is no known record of the eliminations nor times. All that is known is that Junkyard Dog was the last man eliminated. And who was he eliminated by?

One Man Gang.

That's right - the last man that Jim Duggan eliminated to "win the first-ever Royal Rumble" was the actual first winner of the Royal Rumble. It is also pertinent to note that One Man Gang was arguably more dominant in the 1988 Royal Rumble, eliminating four men to Duggan's three.

So now that you know that, you're probably yelling "well he's the first winner of the Royal Rumble pay-per-view, so that's more important!" Well, that's actually not true either...

See, the 1988 Royal Rumble wasn't a PPV - it was broadcast on the USA Network. The first one to be broadcast on pay-per-view was the 1989 Royal Rumble, which was won by Big John Studd.

First televised winner? Yes. But both of the commonly-told narratives on "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan's Royal Rumble victory are factually inaccurate.

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