Since 1993, the winner of the WWE Royal Rumble match has earned a world championship match at WrestleMania. That highlights the importance of winning the Royal Rumble. However, whilst Royal Rumble match winners are guaranteed world championship matches at WrestleMania, they are not guaranteed a spot in the main event of WrestleMania. Headlining WrestleMania is the last match of the show, and that’s a huge privilege in itself.
RELATED:
WWE Ruthless Aggression Era: Every World Heavyweight Championship At The Royal Rumble, Ranked
The women’s Royal Rumble match was added in 2018, and only Becky Lynch and Bianca Belair are the two female winners of the women’s Royal Rumble match that headlined WrestleMania. Nevertheless, since 2020, WrestleMania has become a two-night extravaganza.
There are more opportunities for wrestlers to headline WrestleMania, but it doesn’t guarantee that the men’s and women’s Royal Rumble matches winners will close out WrestleMania. Several non-title matches and other major world title matches not involving the Royal Rumble match winner have prevented Royal Rumble match winners from seeing their match go on last.
5. Bayley
Bayley entered the 2024 women’s Royal Rumble match from the third position, and she produced a record-breaking performance. The Role Model lasted one hour, three minutes, and three seconds, the longest time spent in a women’s Royal Rumble match at the time. However, despite Bayley winning the women’s Royal Rumble match and opting to challenge IYO SKY for the WWE Women’s Championship at WrestleMania 40, she didn’t go on last.
Bayley and her former Damage CTRL stablemate had a good build-up heading into WrestleMania 40. However, it was always going to be a struggle for their match to go on last. Roman Reigns and the 2024 men’s Royal Rumble match winner Cody Rhodes headlined both nights in two different types of matches.
Nevertheless, Bayley and SKY tore the house down, and WrestleMania 40 meant a lot to Bayley as it was her first singles match at WrestleMania. Bayley dethroned SKY to become a four-time WWE Women’s Champion.
