Royal Rumble by (Entry) Numbers: 18

All three entries at No. 18 yielded the Final Four for Michaels, including one win Photo Credit: WWE.com

Winners: Shawn Michaels (1996)
Final four: Shawn Michaels (2nd, 1994; 4th 2010)
Multiple draws: Irwin R. Schyster (1992, 1993); Shawn Michaels (1994, 1996, 2010); Faarooq (1997, 2000)
Longest: Shawn Michaels (1994); 29:17
Shortest: Faarooq (2000): 0:18.
Most eliminations: Nine — Hulk Hogan (1989)

When Shawn Michaels won the 1995 Rumble from the No. 1 spot, he lasted 38:41 and logged eight eliminations. He didn’t enter until No. 18 the following year, and immediately made his presence felt by eliminating Vader and Yokozuna simultaneously. He lasted 26:09 in total and again eliminated eight contestants. When he dumped the last of the eight, his former tag team partner Diesel, Michaels was the second man to win back-to-back Rumbles.

It’s pretty easy to detail how HBK’s 1995 performance isn’t the greatest No. 1 ever. And while his 1996 win is quite easily the best No. 18 showing, it’s probably fair to give his ‘95 win the edge as the most impressive of his two best years.

Just how good is Michaels in Royal Rumbles? He also entered at No. 18 in 1994, two years before winning, and lasted a bit longer (29:17) while making four eliminations and being the last eliminated before Bret Hart and Lex Luger tumbled to the floor together to end the match. And when he entered at 18 for the third time in 2010, he lasted 20:45, made six eliminations and finished fourth.

If winning is everything, you give Steve Austin the nod as the best Rumble contestant for his three victories. But Michaels is second in Rumbles entered (12; Glenn Jacobs has 16), second in total time (3:42:30, only 9:02 behind Triple H) and first in eliminations (at 40, he leads Jacobs by three). He’s been in the final four five times, another exclusive club. There will be other chances to discuss Michaels as this series continues, but if he’s not Mr. Royal Rumble, he’s at least Mr. 18.

The second best here is no slouch — Hulk Hogan himself, who lasted 11:31 and made nine eliminations in his first Rumble. Sure, he probably should be blamed for eliminating partner Randy Savage from the match, and sure he was a sore loser who came back to cheat Big Boss Man out of his chance to continue, and sure his consecutive wins in 1990 and 1991 were more impressive, but only two men have ever eliminated more in one night than the Hulkster did in the first full-size Rumble.

Speaking of Randy Savage, he was the first no show in Rumble history. When the clock hit zero for the 18th entry in 1991, no one came out. This is back before each entrant got his (or her) own theme song and entrance video — but it was back when every match participant was announced in advance — so it wasn’t clear until the end of the night that Savage had chosen to skip the match after costing the Ultimate Warrior his WWF Title earlier in the night.

The next year Irwin R. Schyster entered at 18 and lasted 27:01 with no eliminations, the tenth longest in-ring time without a single ouster. No less a Rumble standout than John Cena made 22nd on the same list from No. 18 in 2003 when he put up 19:38 and no eliminations. IRS went 16 minutes from the 18th spot the next year, also with no eliminations. Those two combined put him third on the list of most total duration with no eliminations, a remarkably safe spot given who trails him on the list (Kerry Von Erich, Tenryu, the Honky Tonk Man, Shane Douglas, among others).

The flip side is the list of shortest tenure with at least one elimination. Faarooq checks in at sixth with one elimination in 41 seconds in 1997. He might have lasted longer, except Ahmed Johnson came to the ring to attack Faarooq with a 2x4. Kane placed eighth on that list from 18 in 1999 when he made four eliminations in just 53 seconds when (and yes, this happened) he eliminated himself trying to escape asylum orderlies who were attempting to take him to a mental institution.

The Ultimate Warrior was only in two Rumbles. His showdown with Hulk Hogan in the 1990 match remains one of the most electric moments in WWF/E history. His 3:51 in the 1988 Rumble is about the most un-Warrior thing I’ve ever seen. It was a few months after his televised debut and shortly after his first pinfall loss, but it’s light years away from what most remember as prime Warrior. Maybe that says something about character development, or maybe it says the creative team didn’t really know at first how to treat the Rumble as a plot device differently from a conventional battle royal.

Warrior’s elimination came at the hands of Dino Bravo and the One Man Gang. By the next January the Gang had been reborn as Akeem the African Dream and paired in a tag team with the Big Boss Man. They combined to dump Hogan in 1990. Not a bad run.

Speaking of Bravo and Warrior, the tables were turned in 1990 when Bravo was No. 18 and Warrior did the eliminating. Michaels was No. 18 three times and eliminated No. 18 twice. Entirely useless facts in the grand scheme, but interesting none the less.

On balance, No. 18 actually is a fairly weak spot. It’s accounted for 38 total eliminations, third behind No. 1 (62 total) and No. 30 (52), but the credit for that goes almost entirely to Hogan (nine in one match) and Michaels (18 over three). After Kane’s four in one night, the output is dismal. Sixteen who entered 18th eliminated no one, three made one elimination and two men eliminated two each.

Eleven No. 18s didn’t last even four minutes, not counting Savage’s no-show. The odds are in favor of this year’s No. 18 being a total bust. It’s possible to get something like Dolph Ziggler making two eliminations, lasting nearly 20 minutes and finishing fifth. It’s possible for an absolute domination, a la Hogan or Michaels. But more often than not, No. 18 produces almost nothing of importance.