Iconic Royal Rumble Events That Were Held in Texas

Texas and wrestling is a match in Heaven. We've seen some of the biggest Wrestlemanias in Texas, but another LARGE event that WWE holds every year is the Royal Rumble. For many, this is where the Road to Wrestlemania truly begins & Texas has seen many of them in the past too. So far there have been 6 in the Lone Star State.

1989 Royal Rumble

The first Royal Rumble held in Texas was the 2ND Royal Rumble...PERIOD. Held at The Summit in Houston, Texas, the 1989 Royal Rumble only saw a total of 6 matches (2 being dark matches), including the 30 man royal rumble match. The main event was won by Big John Studd by eliminating The Million Dollar Man, Ted Dibiase, last.

Fun fact: this was the FIRST Royal Rumble that aired as a pay-per-view event, becoming one of WWE's big 4 (the others being SummerSlam, Survivor Series & Wrestlemania)

1997 Royal Rumble

The 1997 Royal Rumble would be the 10th Royal Rumble overall, this time taking place at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. 9 matches took place; this was the first of 3 times that Stone Cold Steve Austin would win a Royal Rumble match. The main event showed another Texas boy, Shawn Michael, defeating Sycho Sid for the WWF Championship.

2007 Royal Rumble

10 years later, San Antonio would be the home of another Royal Rumble; the 2007 Royal Rumble at the AT&T Center. A total of 6 matches took place at this year's rumble;

• Bobby Lashley defeated Edge for the ECW Championship,
• Batista defeated Mr. Kennedy for the World Heavyweight Championship,
• John Cena defeated Umaga in a Last Man Standing match for the WWE Championship

The main event would see The Undertaker enter the Rumble at #30; he would defeat Shawn Michaels, becoming the first man to enter the Royal Rumble as the 30th entry.

2017 Royal Rumble

WWE would again return to the Alamodome in San Anton for the 2017 Royal Rumble. This year featured a total of 8 matches; some of the highlights included:

• Charlotte Flair defeating Bayley for the RAW Women's Championship,
• Kevin Owens defeating Roman Reigns for the WWE Universal Championship
• John Cena defeating AJ Styles for the WWE Championship

The night ended with the Royal Rumble, which lasted over an hour. In the end, Randy Orton would throw Roman Reigns over the top rope to win his 2nd Royal Rumble.

2020 Royal Rumble

Before COVID would put the world on hold, over 42 thousand people would come to Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas to watch the 2020 Royal Rumble. There were many surprises here;

• Charlotte Flair would win the 30 woman Royal Rumble,
• The Fiend (R.I.P. Bray Wyatt) would beat Daniel Bryan for the WWE Universal Championship,

And of course you have the 30 man Royal Rumble. Edge would make an emotional return to a HUGE pop; and Drew McIntyre would win his first Royal Rumble.

2023 Royal Rumble

The last Royal Rumble to take place in Texas was actually last year; The Alamodome would once again be home to a Royal Rumble. This time it was the 2023 Royal Rumble which had over 5 matches.

• Rhea Ripley would enter the 30 woman Royal Rumble match at #1,
• Roman Reigns would defeat Kevin Owens for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship,
• this was also the first time where the men's royal rumble match would kick off the show: Cody Rhodes would enter the Rumble at #30 and win.

It's clear that Texas is a favorite for WWE to bring the Royal Rumble & it's only a matter of time before we will see another one in the future.

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