1997 Royal Rumble
Alamodome, San Antonio, Texas
Men’s Royal Rumble 1997
Winner
"Stone Cold" Steve Austin
entered at number 5
- Match time
- 50:30
- Entrants
- 30
- Most eliminations
- 10 "Stone Cold" Steve Austin
- Longest time in match
- 45:07 "Stone Cold" Steve Austin
- 1 Crush
- 2 Ahmed Johnson
- 3 Razor Ramon
- 4 Phineas I. Godwinn
- 5 "Stone Cold" Steve Austin
- 6 Bart Gunn
- 7 Jake Roberts
- 8 The British Bulldog
- 9 Pierroth
- 10 The Sultan
- 11 Mil Máscaras
- 12 Hunter Hearst Helmsley
- 13 Owen Hart
- 14 Goldust
- 15 Cibernetico
- 16 Marc Mero
- 17 Latin Lover
- 18 Faarooq
- 19 Savio Vega
- 20 Jesse James
- 21 Bret Hart
- 22 Jerry Lawler
- 23 Diesel
- 24 Terry Funk
- 25 Rocky Maivia
- 26 Mankind
- 27 Flash Funk
- 28 Vader
- 29 Henry O. Godwinn
- 30 The Undertaker
The last five draws are 26 to 30 in this match, and are marked in the chart above. They enter against a field that is already thinning, which is the long-standing argument that a late number is an advantage.
Bar positions are derived, not recorded. No source publishes entry and elimination timestamps; they are solved from entry order, the published times in match and the recorded elimination order. The ring-population curve below reads the same solved times. The times in the table below are as published.
What it led to
Threads that start in this match and pay off later. Editorial rather than computed — each one cites where it comes from.
Austin wins it after being eliminated, and Hart never lets it go
Austin was thrown out without the referees seeing it, climbed back in and won. Hart demanded on the next Raw that the decision be reversed and threatened to quit; the commissioner would not overturn it, but refused Austin the WrestleMania title shot and made him earn it again.
WrestleMania 13 63 days later
A submission match, with Ken Shamrock as special referee
"Stone Cold" Steve Austin, Bret Hart
Source: Wikipedia, retrieved 7 August 2026
Entry and elimination times are derived, not recorded: no source publishes them. They are solved from entry order, published times in match and the recorded elimination order, around a nominal 108-second interval. Times in match are as published.
Sources: wikipedia (primary), darrenswinloss