Royal Rumble by (Entry) Numbers: 28

Many Nos. 28 have made the final four, but only Batista has won from that slot Photo Credit: WWE.com

Winners: Batista (2005)
Final four: Rick Rude (3rd, 1990); Randy Orton (3rd, 2012); Brian Knobbs (4th, 1991); Fatu (4th, 1994); Dude Love (4th, 1998); D-Lo Brown (4th, 1999); Kane (4th, 2000); Billy Gunn (4th, 2001); Batista (4th, 2003)
Multiple draws: Kane (2000, 2002); Batista (2003, 2005)
Longest: Sheamus (2011), 18:16
Shortest: Santino Marella (2009): 0:01.
Most eliminations: Seven — Great Khali (2007)

What a hodgepodge. The 28th Royal Rumble entry spot has produced a whopping 10 final four finishers, including the fourth-place finisher from 1998-2001. Only No. 30, with 14, has yielded more final four placements. Yet there’s only one winner, Batista in 2005, and he had to go to the Rumble’s only overtime session to win. There’s been showings like Great Khali’s jaw-dropping seven eliminations in just 3:45 in 2007, and two years later Santino Marella set the benchmark for the worst Rumble performance ever, lasting a single second.

It’s not that No. 28 isn’t strong. Those 10 final fours are tough to discredit, especially considering No. 29 yielded only seven despite a slight advantage. No. 28 also leads in total eliminations, 33-26, and in number of entrants who failed to record an elimination (12 for 28, 14 for 29).

Entering so close to the end of the match it would be wrong to expect much in terms of match longevity. Unsurprisingly the honor of longest duration for a No. 28 entrant goes to the 40-man 2011 entry, Sheamus. Removing that anomaly, the “iron man” honors go to Fatu, a Headshrinker in 2994 who lasted 13:04 but made only one elimination. Still, only seven who entered at 28 came up short of five minutes.

Khali’s dominant run was indeed impressive. He tied the mark for most consecutive eliminations by removing, in order, Bob Holly, Chris Benoit, the Miz, Rob Van Dam, CM Punk, Carlito and Chavo Guerrero. But that wasn’t enough to dethrone Batista. He recorded six eliminations in his overtime win, ousting Snitsky, Chris Jericho, Christian, Chris Benoit, Edge and, ultimately, John Cena.

That was a big step up from his fourth-place finish two years earlier, which resulted in just two eliminations in 9:55. Heck, WWF newcomer Brian Knobbs carded three eliminations over 10:07 en route to a fourth-place finish in 1991. Kane finished fourth in 2000 with three eliminations in only 6:11. (And that was a monumental step up from his paltry 1:02, though with one elimination, in 2002.)

When looking at gaps and steps up or down, the attention always turns — at least mine does — to the list of biggest disparity in ring time between two appearances. No less a Rumble standout than Chris Jericho places tenth on that list on account of his 2010 showing at No. 28, when he lasted just 2:24 — a gap of 45:29 from his 47:53 showing in 2013. This is one of the instances where the luck of the draw is a bigger factor than anything. In 2013 he started the match at No. 2 — even if he’d had a pedestrian performance from 28 he still might land somewhere on my top 30 list. Still, the 2010 appearance bears mentioning because of the interplay between Jericho and that year’s surprise No. 29 entrant, which is on the docket for tomorrow.

A glance at the list of 28th entrants shows the spot has never been used for a wildly surprising entrant, and certainly never for a nostalgia or novelty act. It was Dude Love’s spot in 1998, but after Mick Foley appeared earlier in the match as Cactus Jack and then Mankind, Dude Love’s entrance at some point was more or less a given.

Here’s the thing about all this number analysis. It’s kind of fun to say “if you want to bet on someone making the final four, put your money on No. 28.” But that ignores the reality of the Rumble as a storytelling device (and also that perhaps I’m putting a personal emphasis on the final four where others would not). In the big picture the characters, performers and narrative are far more interesting than the spot at which they enter the match.

As noted in the post on No. 26, it’s probably more a quirk there’s never been a winner from that spot than anything else. It’s highly unlikely someone penciled in Batista as the 2005 Rumble victor, then said, “He’d better enter at 28 so that spot finally has a winner.” Maybe the draw was more a factor of how long someone wanted Batista to be in the ring. As it was, his was the sixth shortest ring time of any Rumble winner.

The chances the people crafting the match each year put anywhere near as much thought into these incredibly fine (and in some cases marginal) details as people like me — who have been mapping Rumble statistics since our grade school days, back when it required a Coliseum Video release, a legal pad and a stopwatch — are microscopic. That said, every second I spend reliving old Rumble memories, or revisiting a clip I’ve only seen a few times, is just more fuel for the fire of excitement about this year’s match.

I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait until Sunday.