2008 Royal Rumble
Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York
Men’s Royal Rumble 2008
Winner
John Cena
entered at number 30
- 1 The Undertaker
- 2 Shawn Michaels
- 3 Santino Marella
- 4 The Great Khali
- 5 Hardcore Holly
- 6 John Morrison
- 7 Tommy Dreamer
- 8 Batista
- 9 Hornswoggle
- 10 Chuck Palumbo
- 11 Jamie Noble
- 12 CM Punk
- 13 Cody Rhodes
- 14 Umaga
- 15 Snitsky
- 16 The Miz
- 17 Shelton Benjamin
- 18 Jimmy Snuka
- 19 Roddy Piper
- 20 Kane
- 21 Carlito
- 22 Mick Foley
- 23 Mr. Kennedy
- 24 Big Daddy V
- 25 Mark Henry
- 26 Chavo Guerrero
- 27 Finlay
- 28 Elijah Burke
- 29 Triple H
- 30 John Cena
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.
Cena comes back early, wins, and refuses to wait
Cena returned from injury as a surprise entrant and won. The next night he said he did not want to wait until WrestleMania and took the title match at No Way Out instead, where Orton got himself disqualified to keep the belt.
WrestleMania XXIV 63 days later
Randy Orton retained the WWE Championship against Triple H and John Cena
John Cena, Randy Orton, Triple H
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 92-second interval. Times in match are as published.
Sources: wikipedia (primary), darrenswinloss