Royal Rumble Rewind 2001: Stone Cold Steve Austin makes history

Event: Royal Rumble 2001
Date: January 23, 2001
Location: New Orleans Arena in New Orleans, Louisiana
Time: 1:01:55
Winner: Stone Cold Steve Austin
Last Eliminated: Kane
Iron Man: Kane
Quickest Out: Tazz
Most Eliminations: Kane

When Stone Cold Steve Austin returned from nearly a year away after neck surgery, the same issue that would prematurely end his career, he was just as over as ever. Wanting to capitalize on Austin's fame coupled with that of The Rock's exploding popularity, the WWF set up the scenario to have the two meet at WrestleMania 17.

That meant having Austin make history by winning his third Royal Rumble, a mark that may never be broken.

He did so by outlasting a fairly loaded line up that included Rock himself, who was dumped by Kane after over 38 minutes in the match. This was the Rumble that featured Kane setting the record for most eliminations by one wrestler in a single Rumble match with 11. That's over one-third of the entrants, an astounding feat that also likely won't be broken.

Another interesting stat? Only nine of the guys in the Rumble eliminated someone.

Quite possibly the best part of this Rumble match, though, was Drew Carey entering at number five. Enjoy!