Ranking every WWE Royal Rumble PPV in history

15. WWE Royal Rumble 2013

Match card & results

• Last Man Standing Match for the World Heavyweight Championship: Alberto Del Rio (c) def. Big Show
• WWE Tag Team Championship Match: Team Hell No (c) def. Team Rhodes Scholars
• John Cena wins 30-Man Royal Rumble Match
• WWE Championship Match: The Rock def. CM Punk (c)

Following a decent kickoff show match between Cesaro (who was still using Antonio at the time) and The Miz, the main show got underway with a very underrated match between Alberto Del Rio and The Big Show for the World Heavyweight Championship. It’s always a little strange hearing the crowd cheer for Del Rio, who spent so much time as a heel, but he had the support here as Big Show dominated a lot of the match. But they did a good job of keeping the crowd in it, which can sometimes be tough in a Last Man Standing Match and the slow parts that come with those.

The WWE Tag Team Championship Match was up next as Daniel Bryan and Kane took on Cody Rhodes and Damien Sandow. These two teams had battled for quite a while and there was good chemistry there. There was nothing spectacular but the Phoenix crowd was into it and everything played out nicely.

The Royal Rumble match was up next and although the outcome seemed fairly evident given what was happening in the main event, this was still a decent Rumble match with some good performances thrown in there. Dolph Ziggler was out first at lasted close to 50 minutes. A returning Chris Jericho (awesome return moment) was in second and went close to 48 minutes. Cody Rhodes, working his second match of the night, came in third and went over 27 minutes and Kofi Kingston, who this time avoided elimination by using a chair like a pogo stick, was in fourth and went more than 22 minutes.

Sheamus had a good run, lasting more than 37 minutes and Bo Dallas debuted nicely by going more than 21 minutes but this match was built for John Cena, who had guaranteed victory coming into the match as he was still looking for retribution after losing to The Rock at the previous WrestleMania. He eliminated Ryback at the end and awaited the winner of the WWE Championship that closed the show.

As for that match between CM Punk and The Rock, it played very well. There seemed to be a lot of emotion in this one. If you’ll recall, Punk had referenced The Rock in his “pipe bomb” promo in 2011 and it all played out here. He was very intense throughout and The Rock looked great in his first WWE Championship match in a decade. The stipulation here was that if The Shield got involved, Punk would be stripped of the title he’d held for 434 days. The Shield did get involved but nobody saw it as the lights went out in the arena. Punk wins but Vince McMahon comes out and it going to strip Punk but The Rock is having none of that and has Vince restart the match and goes on to win the title, which he would then lose to John Cena at WrestleMania. I still think Punk should have gone to WrestleMania as WWE Champion but that’s just me…and a lot of others. Still a fun match to watch and a good Rumble overall.