10 Things You Didn't Know About WWE Royal Rumble
8. There Were 5 Other Non-PPV Rumbles On TV
It'd be easy to imagine that the original 1988 Rumble was the only one WWE ran as a non-pay-per-view special in front of fans. That's...not the case. In fact, five other non-PPV Rumbles have happened in front of the cameras. Note the wording there - this does not include any non-televised house show runs.
A 20 tag-team version aired on the 16 June 1998 episode of Raw. It was far too cluttered and a bit on the short side at only 10 minutes, but it happened. Then, there was a 10 deep Rumble on the 11 January 1999 Raw, and a 15-man version on the 29 January 2004 edition of SmackDown.
Later, WWE produced a 6-man "mini" Rumble on Raw's 14 January 2008 broadcast, and Jerry Lawler won a 7-man scrap on the 31 January 2011 Raw. That, by the way, bagged him a WWE Title shot against The Miz at Elimination Chamber. It also meant one John Cena did the job for Lawler.
Memphis forever.