Royal Rumble (2002)

Royal Rumble 2002 was the fifteenth annual Royal Rumble professional wrestling pay-per-view event from the World Wrestling Federation. It took place on January 20, 2002 in the Philips Arena located in Atlanta, Georgia.

[edit] Results

World Tag Team Championship match: Spike Dudley & Tazz (c) def. The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray Dudley and D-Von Dudley w/Stacy Keibler)
- Tazz made D-Von submit to the Tazzmission to retain the championship. (5:05)

WWF Intercontinental Championship match: William Regal def. Edge (c)
- Regal pinned Edge after hitting Edge with brass knuckles to win the championship. (10:04)

WWF Women's Championship match with special guest referee Jacqueline: Trish Stratus (c) def. Jazz
- Trish pinned Jazz after a bulldog to retain the championship. (3:43)

Street Fight: Ric Flair def. Vince McMahon
- Flair made McMahon submit to the Figure Four Leglock. (14:54)

WWF Undisputed Championship match: Chris Jericho (c) def. The Rock
- Jericho pinned The Rock with a low blow and a roll-up to retain the championship. (18:59)

Triple H won the 2002 Royal Rumble
- The final two participants were Triple H and Kurt Angle. Angle gave Triple H a back drop over the top rope and assumed he won. However, Triple H hung on and came back into the ring to tip Angle out from behind to win the Rumble. (1:11:50)
  - In a shocking upset, Maven dropkicked The Undertaker from behind and eliminated him. Not pleased by this result, Undertaker decided to beat up Maven and tossed him out of the ring over the top rope.

A new entrant came out approximately every 2 minutes.

Entrant		Eliminated		Time
1	Rikishi	6	by The Undertaker	13:38
2	Goldust	4	by The Undertaker	13:00
3	Big Boss Man	1	by Rikishi	3:24
4	Bradshaw	3	by Billy Gunn	7:26
5	Lance Storm	2	by Al Snow	4:57
6	Al Snow	5	by The Undertaker	5:18
7	Billy Gunn	8	by The Undertaker	3:44
8	The Undertaker	10	by Maven	8:12
9	Matt Hardy	9	by The Undertaker	4:34
10	Jeff Hardy	8	by The Undertaker	1:43
11	Maven	11	by The Undertaker (illegally)	4:01
12	Scotty 2 Hotty	15	by Diamond Dallas Page	6:17
13	Christian	16	by Steve Austin	15:05
14	Diamond Dallas Page	12	by Christian	6:04
15	Chuck Palumbo	17	by Steve Austin	11:07
16	The Godfather	14	by Christian and Chuck Palumbo	5:49
17	Albert	13	by Christian and Chuck Palumbo	2:20
18	Perry Saturn	18	by Steve Austin	4:30
19	Stone Cold Steve Austin	27	by Kurt Angle	28:54
20	Val Venis	19	by Steve Austin	3:45
21	Test	20	by Steve Austin	1:53
22	Triple H	-	WINNER	25:57
23	The Hurricane	21	by Triple H and Steve Austin	1:00
24	Faarooq	22	by Steve Austin	0:43
25	Mr. Perfect	28	by Triple H	16:26
26	Kurt Angle	29	by Triple H	16:52
27	The Big Show	23	by Kane	3:24
28	Kane	24	by Kurt Angle	1:37
29	Rob Van Dam	25	by Booker T	2:40
30	Booker T	26	by Steve Austin	1:08

Promotional poster of Royal Rumble 2002, featuring a silhouette of The Rock.

The theme song for this event was "Cocky" by Kid Rock.
The 2002 Royal Rumble was the last Rumble to date to feature an Intercontinental Championship match. The Intercontinental Championship was abandoned in October of that year and was not reintroduced until the following May. The Intercontinental Champions appeared at the 2004 (Randy Orton), 2005 (Shelton Benjamin) and 2006 (Ric Flair) Royal Rumbles but not with the title on the line, instead as participants in the Royal Rumble match.
Fans from the United Kingdom were shocked when Channel 4, who had the rights for four of the twelve annual WWF pay-per-views, decided right before Royal Rumble 2002 to stop showing WWF programming due to its violent content. Due to public demand, BSkyB bought the rights to those remaining pay-per-views and placed them on their pay-per-view service Sky Box Office. Royal Rumble 2002 was the first to be shown on Sky Box Office.
This was the only Royal Rumble in which Steve Austin did not make it to at least the final two under the "Stone Cold" moniker.
This was Mr. Perfect's first Royal Rumble appearance since 1993.