Ranking the 10 Best Moments of Men's and Women's WWE Royal Rumble 2023 Matches

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Clocking in at a combined two hours and 12 minutes with some change, the two 2023 Royal Rumble matches had their fair share of memorable moments.

While some were unfortunate, like Kofi Kingston botching his save for the second year in a row and Rey Mysterio not entering whatsoever, others were incredibly fun and showcased exactly why these matches are among the most exciting that happened in WWE every year.

Let's look back on 10 of the best overall moments from both the 30-Man and 30-Woman Royal Rumble matches this year and break down what made them so great.

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Brock Lesnar entered the match at No. 12 and immediately did what he does best by dominating the landscape.

In a heartbeat, Santos Escobar, Angelo Dawkins and Chad Gable were gone.

The Beast Incarnate seemed poised to potentially run through everyone like he's done before, only for Bobby Lashley to be the next entrant.

A few moments later, The All Mighty scored a measure of revenge on Lesnar by eliminating him, as payback for having twice lost the United States Championship because of his interference.

Infuriated, Lesnar went on a rampage at ringside, destroying the commentary table, attacking a referee and laying out the next entrant, Baron Corbin.

By the time entry No. 15 Seth Rollins came out, he was able to toss Corbin in the ring and quickly back out again, setting the shortest time record for this match at a humiliating six seconds.

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Entry No. 8 in the women's match was the current NXT women's champion Roxanne Perez.

Not only was it a welcome site and surprise to see an NXT Superstar in general, but Perez is from Laredo and hails from Booker T's Reality of Wrestling promotion based out of Houston.

This meant she had some hometown support backing her as she quickly made an impact with a flurry of offense that showed off her talent.

Despite her size, she immediately looked like she belonged with the main roster stars and veteran wrestlers.

Though she only lasted four and a half minutes, she made a great impression during her time, and it was a smart move to give her some exposure to help build more interest in her upcoming NXT Women's Championship defense at Vengeance Day.

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On relatively equal footing were the entrances and performances of both Asuka and Piper Niven, back to back at No. 17 and 18 respectively.

In Asuka's case, the crowd was overjoyed not only to see her return, but also gave her a secondary pop when she removed her mask to unveil something closer to her face paint from her days as Kana.

With Niven, she had been out for several months due to complications from COVID-19. Her return meant she's healthy to go, which was already a major positive, but it also signified the end of the Doudrop character.

Moving on from this, Niven will be able to be taken more seriously, especially after having an impressive showing, lasting 28 minutes and eliminating Michin and helping take out Nia Jax.

Asuka did an even better job, going 33:15 and making it to the final moments of the match after taking out three Superstars along the way.

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A packed Alamodome loved seeing Hall of Famer Booker T come out at No. 21, looking ready to bring some Harlem Heat to the Royal Rumble.

In typical fashion, Booker T landed a few kicks and did his trademark spinaroonie, only to be eliminated in 42 seconds by one of the match's standout stars, Gunther.

This is a running gag that has happened nearly every single time Booker T has entered a Royal Rumble. Any time he breaks out that move—usually under a minute or so—he's tossed out immediately after.

As disappointing as it may be that he couldn't go on to win the big one, these comedic spots are classic, and for a while, it seemed we might not see it again. This could be the last, and if that's the case, it's good it happened in Texas.

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Ricochet always manages to astound with his high-flying acrobatics, but Logan Paul has been developing a shocking tendency to wow audiences with his athleticism, too.

Putting those two together would lead to an interesting clash, right?

It turns out, that's exactly true, and not just in a metaphorical sense, but quite literally a mid-air collision!

On opposite sides of the ring, both decided to go for a springboard maneuver, crashing into each other with a satisfying smacking sound.

Their timing was perfect and served as a great beat after everyone had already entered the match, wherein few surprises were thought to be left.

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It is a long-standing philosophy in the wrestling business that anywhere you travel, you always bring your gear. It doesn't matter if you've retired 100 times, you might be called upon to step back inside the squared circle.

Michelle McCool took that to another level here as the first participant to ever enter a Royal Rumble from a spot in the crowd, of all places.

Earlier in the night, during the Raw Women's Championship match, she was shown ringside watching Bianca Belair and Alexa Bliss battle it out. That seemed to rule her out as a possible entrant, as she didn't have her ring gear on.

Or so it seemed.

When entry No. 25 sounded off and her music hit, she revealed she was ready to go and added another local competitor and legend to the mix, eventually eliminating Tamina and helping take out Jax.

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It's automatically one of the most fun moments when someone makes their return in a Royal Rumble match. That goes double if they were just recently in another company, as that feels almost like stealing a star from a rival promotion.

But Chelsea Green's performance had an extra cherry on top in that she pulled a Bushwhacker Luke, in a sense, going from one side of the ring to the other with an immediate elimination.

In just five seconds, Rhea Ripley tossed her out, meaning Green now has beaten Liv Morgan's previous record of eight seconds to have the dishonorable distinction of being the woman who's lasted the shortest time in any Royal Rumble.

Was this the start of a new comedic character in the women's division, or just an off day? That remains to be seen!

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Entry No. 30 is often saved for a noteworthy surprise, which Nia Jax had the distinction of being in this year's match.

As the largest woman in the match and a former champion who has been difficult to remove from the Royal Rumble in the past—including the men's—she was immediately a target everyone agreed had to go.

After Ripley had a solo moment to shine as the powerhouse that could stop her in her tracks, Jax was tossed over the ropes by the combined efforts of eleven Superstars setting aside their differences to team up and send her packing.

9 of 10

Kicking off the match as the first entrant rarely bodes well for any Superstar, but Rhea Ripley managed to be one of only five to go the distance and win.

She had numerous standout spots in the match, but arguably the most entertaining was when things came down to the final three, as Ripley fought it out with Asuka and Liv Morgan on the apron.

All three were teetering on the edge until The Empress of Tomorrow spat some mist in The Nightmare's direction. She ducked, resulting in Morgan taking the painful spray to the face.

After disposing of Asuka and stumbling for a moment to almost lose, Ripley was able to flip Morgan to the floor to secure herself a title match for WrestleMania and write her name in the history books.

At this point, she now has several other records to her name, twice eliminating the most women in the match, collectively having the most cumulative eliminations, having the overall Iron Woman time both here and in any match, and coming just two minutes shy of Charlotte Flair's cumulative length record.

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Coming out at No. 30 made for an easier path for Cody Rhodes than Ripley's No. 1 spot, but it was far from a cake walk.

Once the initial dust settled with the crowd happy to see The American Nightmare back in action, seven other men were still in the match that had to be taken care of.

Eventually, this whittled down to the final two, with Rhodes up against the juggernaut of 2023 in Gunther.

Entering at No. 1, the intercontinental champion stood toe-to-toe with giants like Lesnar and Braun Strowman, taking out five Superstars along the way.

He gave Rhodes a fight for his life in a tense few minutes that saw both on top and many potential eliminations just shy from happening.

It was a hard-fought victory when Rhodes was eventually able to flip The Ring General out of the ring, do a "too sweet" taunt, and point at the WrestleMania sign, hopefully signifying a pending dream come true at The Showcase of the Immortals in April.

Anthony Mango is the owner of the wrestling website Smark Out Moment and the host of the podcast show Smack Talk on YouTube, Spotify and everywhere you find podcasts. You can follow him on Facebook and elsewhere for more.