#3: Royal Rumble 2003
Winner: Brock Lesnar
A lot of Royal Rumble matches focus on one or two feuds, and then ultimate set up a small handful of guys to look good. The 2003 Rumble match holds a special place in my heart for how much of the roster gets utilized, and how many guys seem to make the best of their time in the contest.
I will admit that once Chris Jericho gets eliminated by an obligatory Shawn Michaels retaliation late into the game, the outcome was fairly predictable. Brock Lesnar had become “the man” in an extremely short period of time, and it was clear that he was on a warpath to WrestleMania, and the WWE Championship. But for the first 40 minutes of the match, Y2J looked like absolute gold, working with Rey Mysterio, Edge, Christian, Rob Van Dam, Eddie Guerrero and more. Tommy Dreamer briefly brought some hardcore elements into the ring, freshening things up, while a pretty solid division of tag team and former tag team guys like Matt and Jeff Hardy added a good amount of drama to the mix.
This was the first Rumble match following the brand split between Raw and Smackdown, and both rosters were developing a ton of new star power. It was a really exciting match with tons of non-stop action from beginning to end, that would eventually lead to the legendary Undertaker putting over and showing a huge sign of respect to Brock Lesnar.
