Former WWE Agent and current AEW on-screen Coach Arn Anderson recently discussed the Royal Rumble concept on his ARN podcast.
This week’s episode was another ‘Ask Arn Anything’ show, with the former NWA/WCW great taking questions from listeners. One question posed to Anderson was the booking of the Royal Rumble match; a bout that he would’ve had a hand in throughout his time agenting at WWE.
It’s interesting to hear how Anderson would define the intricacies of the bout. With a lot of WWE match concepts feeling overdone, the Royal Rumble still remains arguably one of the best match types in WWE, with surprises and real stakes being on the line every year.
Arn Anderson on The Royal Rumble
“Well, an hour or so is a long time to watch a match” Anderson began on the show. “You’ve got to be careful that you separate your surprises from your superstars. You’re going to have your day to day talent that need to be in there too, that have earned the right to be in the Rumble.”
Arn Anderson would elaborate further, saying how every entrant in the match needs to feel ‘special.’ “Certainly the prize [is special], the main event of WrestleMania? Make sure everybody that comes through the curtain special, it could literally be anybody. The key is not to have the ring too full at any one time. [You need to] figure out what four or five guys you’re going to feature and come up with something, and scatter it through the match to where you have some really big explosions and a roller coaster ride where you really feature some talent.”
Anderson would finish by saying how eliminations in the match are also used as a tool to boost a performer. Arn would reference Kane as having the most eliminations in a single match, however this record was broken by Roman Reigns (in 2014) and Braun Strowman (although that was in the ‘Greatest Royal Rumble’ which had 50 entrants).
“Eliminations at the Royal Rumble [are so important]. I think Kane had the record? Or it might have moved on to someone else but I think he had it for a long time. You know that’s something you walk away with if you don’t win the match, but if you had nine eliminations? It’s something you can hang your hat on going forward.”
