The 2013 Royal Rumble was the 26th annual

Royal Rumble The Royal Rumble is a professional wrestling event, produced annually since 1988 by WWE, the world's largest professional wrestling promotion. It is named after, and centered on, the Royal Rumble match, a modified Battle royal (professional wre ...

professional wrestling Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to Real life, real- ...

pay-per-view Pay-per-view (PPV) is a type of pay television or webcast service that enables a viewer to pay to watch individual events via private telecast. Events can be purchased through a multichannel television platform using their electronic program ...

(PPV)

event Event may refer to: Gatherings of people * Ceremony, an event of ritual significance, performed on a special occasion * Convention (meeting), a gathering of individuals engaged in some common interest * Event management, the organization of eve ...

produced by

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is an American professional wrestling promotion. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority-owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. A global integrated media and entertainment company, ...

. It took place on January 27, 2013, at the US Airways Center in

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona. With over 1.6 million residents at the 2020 census, it is the ...

. As has been customary since 1993, the

Royal Rumble match The Royal Rumble match is a professional wrestling match based on the classic battle royal match in which a number of wrestlers (traditionally 30) aim at eliminating their competitors by tossing them over the top rope, with both feet touching the ...

winner received a world championship match at that year's WrestleMania. For the 2013 event, the winner received their choice to challenge for either the

WWE Championship The WWE Championship, also referred to as the Undisputed WWE Championship since April 2024, is a men's professional wrestling world heavyweight championship created and promoted by the American promotion WWE, defended on the SmackDown bran ...

or World Heavyweight Championship at

WrestleMania 29 WrestleMania 29, also promoted as WrestleMania NY/NJ, was a 2013 professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by WWE. It was the 29th annual WrestleMania and took place on April 7, 2013, at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New J ...

. It was the last Royal Rumble to feature the World Heavyweight Championship, which was unified with the WWE Championship in December; subsequently, this was the last Royal Rumble to include two eligible championships for the Royal Rumble winner until the 2017 event. Five matches were contested at the event, including one on the Pre-Show. In the main event, The Rock defeated

CM Punk Phillip Jack Brooks (born October 26, 1978), better known by his ring name CM Punk, is an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler and actor. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw (WWE brand), Raw brand. Regarded as ...

to win the WWE Championship, which was his first championship since 2002 that also ended Punk's reign at 434 days. On the undercard,

John Cena John Felix Anthony Cena ( ; born April 23, 1977) is an American actor and professional wrestler. As a wrestler, he has been signed to WWE , where he is the current WWE Championship, Undisputed WWE Champion in his record 14th reign, which is ...

won the 2013 Royal Rumble match, making him the fourth multiple Royal Rumble winner. In another prominent match,

Antonio Cesaro Claudio Castagnoli ( ; born 27 December 1980) is a Swiss professional wrestler. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he is a member of the Death Riders and a former AEW World Trios Championship, AEW World Trios Champion. He also per ...

defeated

The Miz Michael Gregory Mizanin (born October 8, 1980) is an American professional wrestler, actor, and television personality. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name The Miz. Mizanin first gained fame a ...

to retain his United States Championship.

Production

Background

The

is an annual

gimmick A gimmick is a novel device or idea designed primarily to attract attention or increase appeal, often with little intrinsic value. When applied to retail marketing, it is a unique or quirky feature designed to make a product or service "stand out ...

(PPV) produced every January by

since 1988. It is one of the promotion's original four pay-per-views, along with WrestleMania,

SummerSlam SummerSlam is a professional wrestling event, produced annually since 1988 by the world's largest professional wrestling promotion, WWE. Dubbed "The Biggest Party of the Summer", it is considered WWE's second biggest event of the year behind th ...

, and

Survivor Series Survivor Series, branded as Survivor Series: WarGames since 2022, is a professional wrestling event produced annually since 1987 by WWE, the world's largest professional wrestling promotion. Held in November generally the week of Thanksgiving ( ...

, dubbed the "Big Four". It is named after the

, a modified

battle royal Battle royal (, also battle royale) traditionally refers to a fight involving many combatants, usually conducted under either boxing or wrestling rules, where the winner is the one who registers the most wins. In recent times, the term has been ...

in which the participants enter at timed intervals instead of all beginning in the ring at the same time. The match generally features 30 wrestlers and the winner traditionally earns a

world championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

match at that year's WrestleMania. For 2013, the winner could choose to challenge for either the

or World Heavyweight Championship at

. The 2013 event was the 26th Royal Rumble and was scheduled to be held on January 27, 2013, at the US Airways Center in

Storylines

The event comprised five matches, including one on the Pre-Show, that resulted from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portrayed heroes,

villains A villain (also known as a " black hat", "bad guy" or "baddy"; The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p.126 "baddy (also baddie) noun (pl. -ies) ''informal'' a villain or criminal in a book, film, etc.". the feminine form is villai ...

, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers, with storylines produced on WWE's weekly television shows, '' Raw'' and '' SmackDown''. On July 23, 2012, during ''

Raw 1000 Raw 1000 was a television special that was broadcast live on July 23, 2012, airing on USA Network (in the U.S.) as the 1000th episode of WWE's flagship show '' Raw''. It was held at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Missouri. The show feature ...

'', The Rock announced that he would challenge for the

at the Royal Rumble. Later that night, reigning champion

, Daniel Bryan, and

each stated that they'd face The Rock as defending champion; later that night, Punk turned

heel The heel is the prominence at the posterior end of the foot. It is based on the projection of one bone, the calcaneus or heel bone, behind the articulation of the bones of the lower leg. Structure To distribute the compressive forces exerted ...

, attacking and laying out The Rock. Punk defended the championship for the rest of the year, while on December 23, 2012, The Rock

tweeted A tweet (officially known as a post since 2023) is a short status update on the social networking site Twitter (officially known as X since 2023) which can include images, videos, GIFs, straw polls, hashtags, mentions, and hyperlinks. Around ...

to Punk that he was ready for the Royal Rumble. On the January 7 episode of ''Raw'', Punk retained the WWE Championship against Ryback in a

Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match A tables, ladders, and chairs match, often abbreviated as TLC, is a type of professional wrestling match that originated within the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE). The TLC match is a variation of a ladder match, which is modified to c ...

after

The Shield ''The Shield'' is an American crime drama television series created by Shawn Ryan and starring Michael Chiklis that aired on FX from March 12, 2002 to November 25, 2008 for seven seasons. The show is known for its portrayal of corrupt police ...

interfered. They also did during Punk's defense against Ryback and John Cena back at

; this win secured Punk as the one who would defend against The Rock. On the January 21 episode of ''Raw'' while speaking about beating Punk at the Royal Rumble, The Shield assaulted The Rock. After the assault, WWE Chairman

Vince McMahon Vincent Kennedy McMahon ( ; born August 24, 1945) is an American businessman and former professional wrestling promoter. McMahon, along with his later-estranged wife Linda McMahon, Linda, is a co-founder of the modern WWE, the world's largest ...

announced that if The Shield interfered in the match, Punk will be stripped of his title.

Big Show Paul Donald Wight II (born February 8, 1972) is an American professional wrestler and actor. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) under his real name of Paul Wight. He is best known for his tenure with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) f ...

began a feud with

Alberto Del Rio José Alberto Rodríguez Chucuan (born 25 May 1977) is a Mexican professional wrestler, professional wrestling promoter, sports commentator, and mixed martial artist. He is currently signed to WWE and Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (AAA), where h ...

after humiliating Del Rio's personal ring announcer, Ricardo Rodriguez, sarcastically picking him to fight Big Show for the World Heavyweight Championship during "Champion's Choice Night" on the

New Year's Eve In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Eve refers to the evening, or commonly the entire day, of the last day of the year, 31 December, also known as Old Year's Day. In many countries, New Year's Eve is celebrated with dancing, eating, drinkin ...

2013 episode of ''Raw'', leading to a disqualification win for Big Show after Del Rio interfered. On the January 11, 2013, episode of ''SmackDown'', Del Rio defeated Big Show in a Last Man Standing match for the championship. Three days later on ''Raw'', Big Show announced that he would invoke his rematch clause at the pay-per-view. The week after, he made the match a Last Man Standing Match.

Event

Pre-show

The Royal Rumble Pre-Show match featured reigning United States Champion

defending his title against

. During the match, Miz attempted a diving attack and injured his leg. Shortly after, Cesaro won after landing the Neutralizer.

Preliminary matches

As the PPV portion of the show began, a backstage segment was shown with

Bret Hart Bret Sergeant Hart (born July 2, 1957) is a Canadian retired professional wrestler. A member of the Hart wrestling family and a second-generation wrestler, he has an amateur wrestling background at Ernest Manning High School and Mount Royal U ...

wishing

good luck in his match. He then gave Ricardo Rodriguez a pair of his signature sunglasses. The opening match on the PPV telecast (and second on the card overall) featured reigning

World Heavyweight Champion At boxing's beginning, the heavyweight division had no weight limit, and historically the weight class has gone with vague or no definition. During the 19th century many heavyweights were 170 pounds (12 st 2 lb, 77 kg) or less, tho ...

Alberto Del Rio defending his title against

in a

Last Man Standing match Many types of wrestling matches, sometimes called "Glossary of professional wrestling terms#Gimmick, gimmick matches" in the Glossary of professional wrestling terms, jargon of the business, are performed in professional wrestling. Some gimmick m ...

. After Del Rio managed to beat the count after being chokeslammed through a table from an elevated position on the entrance stage, he managed to win when he locked in the Cross Armbreaker while Rodriguez

duct tape Duct tape or duck tape is cloth- or scrim-backed pressure-sensitive tape, often coated with polyethylene. A variety of constructions exist using different backings and adhesives, and the term "duct tape" has been genericized to refer to all o ...

d Show's legs to the bottom rope. Show was unable to free himself in time and was counted out. Next, reigning WWE Tag Team Champions Team Hell No ( Daniel Bryan and Kane) defended their titles against Team Rhodes Scholars (

Cody Rhodes Cody Garrett Runnels Rhodes (born June 30, 1985) is an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. As of April 2022, he is signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown (WWE brand), SmackDown brand. He is also known for co-fou ...

and

Damien Sandow Aron Steven Haddad (born August 3, 1982) is an American retired professional wrestler working as a manager in the National Wrestling Alliance under the name Aron Stevens. He is best known for wrestling with WWE under the ring name Damien Sandow ...

). The match ended when Bryan applied the ''No! Lock'' on Sandow, forcing him to submit. John Cena 2012

After that was the annual

making it the first time in 7 years (since back in 2006) that the

Royal Rumble Match The Royal Rumble match is a professional wrestling match based on the classic battle royal match in which a number of wrestlers (traditionally 30) aim at eliminating their competitors by tossing them over the top rope, with both feet touching the ...

would not be the main event of the namesake PPV.

Dolph Ziggler Nicholas Theodore Nemeth (born July 27, 1980) is an American professional wrestler. He is signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), where he performs under his real name, stylized as Nic Nemeth, where he is one-half of the TNA World Tag ...

(as per the "Beat The Clock" stipulations from ''Raw'') chose to enter first, followed by the surprise return of

Chris Jericho Christopher Keith Irvine (born November 9, 1970), better known by the ring name Chris Jericho, is an American-Canadian professional wrestler, rock musician, and actor. As a wrestler, he has been signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) , where he ...

at #2. Another surprise entry,

Goldust Dustin Patrick Runnels (born April 11, 1969) is an American professional wrestler. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he performs under the ring name Dustin Rhodes, with a nickname of "The Natural" and is a member of The Sons of ...

returned at #8, and spent most of his time battling with his half brother

(entrant #3), who eventually eliminated him.

Sheamus Stephen Farrelly (born 28 January 1978) is an Irish Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw (WWE brand), Raw brand under the ring name Sheamus. Prior to joining WWE, he wrestled on th ...

entered at #11, trying to become the fourth man to win back-to-back Rumbles, joining

Hulk Hogan Terry Gene Bollea (; born August 11, 1953), better known by his ring name Hulk Hogan, is an American retired Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE as a brand ambassador. Known for his flamboyance and massive physiq ...

('90-'91),

Shawn Michaels Shawn Michaels (born Michael Shawn Hickenbottom on July 22, 1965) is an American retired professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he is the Senior Vice President of Talent Development, Creative, and oversees the creative aspects of th ...

('95-'96), and

"Stone Cold" Steve Austin Steve Austin (born Steven James Anderson and later Steven James Williams; December 18, 1964), better known by his ring name "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, is an American media personality, actor, producer and retired Professional wrestling, profes ...

('97-'98).

Kofi Kingston Kofi Nahaje Sarkodie-Mensah (born August 14, 1981) is a Ghanaian-born American professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw (WWE brand), Raw WWE brand extension, brand under the ring name Kofi ...

(the #4 entrant) provided a highlight, for when he was about to be eliminated, he jumped onto the back of recently eliminated Tensai, who put him on the Spanish announce table. Kingston made it back onto the apron using John Bradshaw Layfield's chair like a pogo stick, but was quickly eliminated by Rhodes before reentering the ring. Following this,

The Godfather ''The Godfather'' is a 1972 American Epic film, epic crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, who co-wrote the screenplay with Mario Puzo, based on Puzo's best-selling The Godfather (novel), 1969 novel. The film stars an ensemble cast inc ...

made a surprise appearance at #17, only to be immediately eliminated by Ziggler.

entered at #19, quickly eliminating Rhodes and #10 entrant

Heath Slater Heath Wallace Miller (born July 15, 1983) is an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is best known for his tenure in WWE under the ring name Heath Slater. He also performed in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, Impact Wrestling ...

. Daniel Bryan (#21) and Kane (#24) teamed up to eliminate #23

The Great Khali Dalip Singh Rana (born 27 August 1972), better known by his ring name The Great Khali, is an Indian-born American former Professional wrestling, professional wrestler, promoter, and actor. He is best known for his tenure with WWE, where he be ...

, but Bryan then eliminated Kane. When #22

sent Bryan over the top rope, Kane caught him, only to drop him on the floor, eliminating him from the match. Later, NXT tournament winner (and #16 entrant) Bo Dallas managed to eliminate Intercontinental Champion

Wade Barrett Stuart Alexander Bennett (born 10 August 1980) is an English acting, actor and former professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he performs under the ring name Wade Barrett as a color commentator on the ''WWE Sma ...

(#18), leading to Barrett eliminating him and perform the Bull Hammer on Dallas, despite having already been eliminated. Ryback entered at #30 and eliminated three wrestlers in quick fashion. Ziggler finally eliminated Jericho after nearly 48 minutes. The final four consisted of Ziggler, Sheamus, Cena and Ryback. Sheamus eliminated Ziggler (who lasted nearly 50 minutes) and tried to execute the Broque Kick on Ryback, but Ryback managed to eliminate him. After a few minutes of going back and forth, Cena then eliminated Ryback to win the Rumble, making him the fourth wrestler to win multiple Royal Rumble matches (as he won the match in 2008 as well).

Main event match

The main event and fifth match on the card featured reigning WWE Champion

defending his title against The Rock. During the match, The Rock attempted to perform a Rock Bottom through the Spanish announce table on Punk, but the table collapsed beneath them. The Rock performed a Rock Bottom outside the ring, but Punk kicked out of a pin attempt. When The Rock attempted to perform a People's Elbow, the arena went dark and The Rock was attacked by an unknown entity, believed by the commentators to be

(

Dean Ambrose Jonathan David Good (born December 7, 1985) is an American professional wrestler. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he performs under the ring name Jon Moxley and is the current AEW World Champion in his record-setting fourth ...

Roman Reigns Leati Joseph Anoaʻi ( ; born May 25, 1985), better known by his ring name Roman Reigns, is an American professional wrestler and former gridiron football, football player. As a wrestler, he has been signed to WWE , where he performs on the Sm ...

and

Seth Rollins Colby Daniel Lopez (born May 28, 1986), better known by the ring name Seth Rollins, is an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw (WWE brand), Raw WWE brand extension, brand and ...

). When the lights came back on, the assailant(s) were nowhere to be found, and The Rock had been driven through the English announce table, allowing Punk to get the winning pin. As Punk celebrated with the title, WWE Chairman

came out and reminded Punk that if The Shield interfered (which while McMahon said he could not see it, he knew enough to realize what had happened) he would strip him of the title. Before he could however, The Rock said he wanted to take the title from Punk and told McMahon to instead restart the match. McMahon did so, and The Rock won the match with a

Spinebuster A spinebuster is a professional wrestling move in which an opponent is grabbed by the waist and then slammed down back-first. The standard variation starts with the wrestler facing their opponent and then grabs them around their waist, lifts them u ...

followed by a second People's Elbow, winning the WWE Championship for the eighth time and ending Punk's historic reign at 434 days.

Reception

The event garnered 512,000 pay-per-view buys, the highest in four years.

Aftermath

CM Punk, livid that his reign had ended, invoked his rematch clause at

Elimination Chamber The Elimination Chamber is a professional wrestling elimination-based match held in the WWE. The match was created by Triple H, and introduced by Eric Bischoff in November 2002. It features a large chain-linked circular steel structure which ...

, but The Rock defeated him and retained the championship. Punk then challenged Cena for his contendership opportunity, which Cena accepted and defeated Punk. Punk later went to WrestleMania to try to end

The Undertaker Mark William Calaway (born March 24, 1965), better known by his ring name the Undertaker, is an American retired Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. Widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, Calaway ...

's undefeated streak. After Elimination Chamber, The Rock retired the spinner and bling belt (which was Cena's design for the championship and used by the company for the past eight years) and unveiled a new belt to represent the WWE Championship. The following night on ''Raw'', John Cena announced that he would challenge the reigning WWE Champion with his winning the Royal Rumble match. With The Rock retaining the championship, this would set up a rematch between The Rock and Cena from last year's WrestleMania. Cena would go on to win the match and the championship, making him a record 11-time WWE Champion. The 2013 Royal Rumble was the last to feature the World Heavyweight Championship, as well as the last time it was a choice for the winner of the titular match, as the title was unified with the WWE Championship at December's TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs event, with the latter being renamed to WWE World Heavyweight Championship. It would in turn be the last Royal Rumble in which two world championships were eligible to be challenged for by the Royal Rumble winner until the 2017 event.

Results

Royal Rumble 2013 entrances and eliminations

: – NXT : – Winner * ¹ – Barrett was already eliminated, but after that, Sin Cara pushed Bo Dallas over the top rope. As a result, both Cara and Barrett were able to eliminate Dallas. * ² – Cesaro threw Bryan over the top rope, who was then caught on the outside by Kane (who had already been eliminated). Kane then dropped Bryan to the floor, eliminating him.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Royal Rumble (2013) 2013 in Arizona 2010s in Phoenix, Arizona

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

Professional wrestling shows in Phoenix, Arizona 2013 WWE pay-per-view events January 2013 in the United States