Royal Rumble: STUD or DUD? The top and flop performers.

Again, let's look at every data-focused person's favourite WWE event, the Royal Rumble!

This post is focused on finding Royal Rumble studs ... and duds. Only wrestlers who have participated in at least five Rumble matches are considered because we really want to focus on Rumble regulars here.

Speaking of Rumble regulars, Kane has entered 16 Rumble matches. Sixteen! He has also eliminated a record of 40 other wrestlers. But to no avail - Kane has never won the Royal Rumble. 👿

People who have won the Royal Rumble more than once (instant STUDs, I guess): Steve Austin (3), Triple H (2), Randy Orton (2), Batista (2), Hulk Hogan (2), Shawn Michaels (2), John Cena (2) ... holy cow, Evolution is likely the only wrestling stable in history where every member had already won or would go on to win the Royal Rumble.

(Bad) Luck of the draw

• Mr. Bad Luck (DUD): CM Punk has entered 6 Rumble matches and won none of them. This might have been due to his bad luck with the draw. On average, CM Punk entered the Rumble match at position 8. Randomness would have you enter at position 15 on average. Poor Punk!
• Mr. Luck (STUD): Batista has participated in 5 Rumble matches and won two of them. No wonder as his average entry number has been number 24! He was booed out of the arena in 2014 anyway.

How lang can you survive?

• Marathon men (STUD): While Chris Jericho has spent an impressive 4 hours and 51 minutes overall in Royal Rumble matches, Steve Austin - having entered five Rumble matches, and winning an impressive three - has averaged 30 minutes in Rumble matches.
• Not very long (DUD): Farooq has entered 5 Rumble matches and spent a total of 12 minutes in the ring. Ouch! However, Farooq still averages about two and a half minutes per Rumble match. That's half a minute more than The Great Khali!

How many opponents can you eliminate?

• Not that many, actually (DUD): While he did participate in 6 Rumble matches, Jack Swagger has yet to eliminate somebody!
• Beast (STUD): Steve Austin eliminates an incredible 7 opponents per Rumble! While Kane does hold the record for alltime eliminations, it took him 16 Rumbles to get there. Kane's average is actually 2.5 eliminations (same as Randy Orton's, by the way).

Efficiency: How many opponents can you eliminate per ten minutes?

• Mr. Efficiency (STUD): Oh SWERVE! The Great Khali eliminates 6 people per ten minutes. Only problem is that he never lasted more than 7 minutes in a Rumble match! The true Mr. Efficiency is Big Show who has spent a respectable 72 minutes in Rumble matches and eliminates 4 people per ten minutes (Steve Austin, by comparison, eliminates 2 opponents per ten minutes)!
• Forget about it (DUD): Well, Jack Swagger has never eliminated anybody so he 'wins' this by default. However, the 'runner-up' is The Miz who eliminates an opponent every 60 minutes! Wow, that is brutal. Big Show eliminates 24 people for Miz's 1. Looking at these guys, that does not sound unreasonable, actually. 

Honorable(?) mention: Roman Reigns has not yet participated in 5 Royal Rumble matches but he has to be mentioned here. Man, yeah, he is THE GUY, we get it. We really do! The pace at which Reigns is going should see him breaking various Rumble records! He has eliminated 26 people in 4 Rumbles (putting him slightly behind Austin in terms of average eliminations) already ...