{"id":149648,"date":"2025-12-31T09:00:15","date_gmt":"2025-12-31T14:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/?p=149648"},"modified":"2025-12-31T03:07:26","modified_gmt":"2025-12-31T08:07:26","slug":"singles-matches-that-closed-out-the-wwe-royal-rumble-ple-ranked","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2025\/12\/31\/singles-matches-that-closed-out-the-wwe-royal-rumble-ple-ranked\/","title":{"rendered":"Singles Matches that Closed Out the WWE Royal Rumble PLE, Ranked"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Royal Rumble event is one of the biggest shows in WWE. It is where the road to WrestleMania begins. Usually, the show closes with the infamous Royal Rumble matchup. There were years when the Royal Rumble match involved the WWE Championship being defended. Sometimes, the event ends with championship matches alone.<\/p>\n

Whenever the World Championship bout closes the show, it is usually due to it being the bigger story or building one itself. There are only five Royal Rumble PLEs where a championship match main-evented the show. Here are the five ranked main event championship matches in Royal Rumble history.<\/p>\n

#5: Kurt Angle vs. Mark Henry – World Heavyweight Championship (Royal Rumble 2006)<\/h2>\n

If there was a championship match that shouldn’t have main evented a Royal Rumble, it’s this match between Kurt Angle and Mark Henry. A few weeks earlier, Angle won a battle royal for the vacant World Title. This win led to him defending his championship against Henry, who was the number-one contender. Understandably, this was the final match of the show due to the aftermath.<\/p>\n

It was rough to watch as Henry was just back wrestling in the main roster, while Angle was a mega heel, who turned babyface out of nowhere. Angle did the best he could, carrying this match by toggling and employing a strategic approach against Henry. The finish was a simple way to protect Henry as a super heavyweight by having Angle cheat to win.<\/p>\n

The post-match ended up being bigger than the actual match. It became clear that Angle versus Henry closed the show, because a return of The Undertaker followed it. Undertaker made it known that he wanted the World Heavyweight Championship. He made his statement by staring down Angle and striking lightning above the ring.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

#4: Sycho Sid vs. Shawn Michaels – WWE Championship (Royal Rumble 1997)<\/h2>\n

This wasn’t the first time Sycho Sid and Shawn Michaels wrestled one another. The match itself is considered one of their better matches than before. Although the Royal Rumble Match that night was more exciting to watch, Michaels was challenging for the WWE Championship in his hometown. That night, Michaels had the flu, which slowed him down, but he was still able to make a star out of Sid.<\/p>\n

The match started slowly, but it began to pick up towards the end. What brightened this match was the storytelling Sid and Michaels delivered. Sid played the giant heel, antagonizing Michaels, while Michaels played the hero, slaying the beast. It concluded with Michaels hitting a clean “Sweet Chin Music” to Sid, leading him to regain the WWE Championship.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

#3: Bret Hart vs. The Undertaker – WWE Championship (Royal Rumble 1996)<\/h2>\n

When Hart defended the championship against The Undertaker, he was up for a big task. Hart wasn’t facing the usual “Deadman”. Instead, Hart competed against a white masked version of The Undertaker, which was inspired by The Phantom of the Opera<\/em>. Expectations were high for this match as it involved two high-profile stars. Unfortunately, the bout didn’t go well as fans had hoped.<\/p>\n

There were some discrepancies in this matchup. For one, the match involved two babyfaces that didn’t have a big build that could’ve helped the flow of this feud. Both men’s wrestling styles did not gel well with each other, as Undertaker has a supernatural gimmick with Hart’s technical wrestling abilities.<\/p>\n

Another reason the match was underwhelming is the duration and the finish. The match lasted over 30 minutes with a slow pace, only for it to end in disqualification. Diesel attacking The Undertaker to end the match left fans in attendance even more unhappy, as they didn’t get to see a convincing main event finish.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

#2: CM Punk vs. The Rock – WWE Championship (Royal Rumble 2013)<\/h2>\n

Although it was easy to predict that The Rock would win the WWE Title, it was still a solid match to see. The Rock had a little ring rust, but luckily, CM Punk helped carry the pace of the match. CM Punk constantly had The Rock in submission holds. The Rock’s showing resiliency throughout this match was what drove fans even more behind him.<\/p>\n

It was great back-and-forth storytelling with only one little flaw that didn’t involve the two. At first, The Shield interfered on CM Punk’s behalf. Vince McMahon came out upset with this interference, and he instructed the referee to restart the bout. This time, The Rock prevailed by beating CM Punk cleanly, thus capturing his seventh WWE Championship.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

#1: Roman Reigns vs. Kevin Owens – Undisputed WWE Universal Championship (Royal Rumble 2023)<\/h2>\n

This match had everything in one for the main event that wasn’t the Royal Rumble Match. There was a combination of storytelling and intensity between Reigns and Owens. Fans being on their feet for Sami Zayn was what helped make the match interesting.<\/p>\n

Zayn was in a dilemma whether he should help Reigns retain his championship or not. Owens gave everything he had, but it wasn’t enough to dethrone “The Tribal Chief”. Reigns defeated Owens, but it just wasn’t enough.<\/p>\n

The post-match brought out something greater to close that year’s Royal Rumble event. The Usos and Solo Sikoa were beating down Owens until it came down to Zayn getting a pick of the litter. Reigns tested Zayn’s loyalty by demanding that Zayn hit his long-time friend with a steel chair. Reigns’ verbal, physical abuse, and manipulation took a toll on Zayn, to the point where he nailed Reigns with a chair instead.<\/p>\n

\"A
Photo Credit: WWE<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This led to such a loud fan reaction upon witnessing Zayn finally coming to his senses. Although Zayn felt justified in his actions, he suffered a beatdown from Jimmy Uso, Sikoa, and Reigns as well. The whole Bloodline storyline escalated as Jey Uso was growing a bond with Zayn. The brutal beatdown had Jey walking away hurt and distraught. The post-match was also the planting of the seeds for an Owens and Zayn reunion.<\/p>\n

Do you believe that there will be more championship matches closing the Royal Rumble event? Leave your comments below.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

More From LWOS Pro Wrestling<\/strong><\/p>\n

Header photo \u2013 WWE \u2013 Stay tuned to the\u00a0<\/i><\/em>Last Word on Pro Wrestling<\/i><\/u><\/em><\/a> for more on WWE Royal Rumble and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the significant news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world.<\/i><\/em><\/p>\n

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The Royal Rumble event is one of the biggest shows in WWE. It is where the road to WrestleMania begins. Usually, the show closes with the infamous Royal Rumble matchup. There were years when the Royal Rumble match involved the WWE Championship being defended. Sometimes, the event ends with championship matches alone. Whenever the World […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5615,"featured_media":149657,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7205,4,3],"tags":[397],"class_list":["post-149648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history","category-wwe","category-wwe-universe","tag-royal-rumble"],"modified_by":"Michael Joseph Sugue, Manager","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5615"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=149648"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149648\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":149659,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149648\/revisions\/149659"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/149657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=149648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=149648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=149648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}