CM Punk’s 2024 near-win is the strongest of the last ten men’s Royal Rumble runner-up finishes: he reached the final exchange with Cody Rhodes, who countered Punk’s Go to Sleep and eliminated him to win. This is an editorial ranking of the last eliminated wrestler in each completed match from 2017 through 2026—not an official WWE list. The order weighs how clearly and memorably the finish was told, the runner-up’s role in the closing stretch, and the result’s story significance.
How this ranking defines a runner-up
Here, the runner-up is the wrestler whom the winner eliminated last. That definition distinguishes the final eliminated competitor from other wrestlers who may have reached the final four or featured prominently late in the match. The years below are the ten most recent completed men’s Royal Rumble matches as of 2026.
The ranking is interpretive, not a scorecard of match quality. Fans who prioritize surprise, in-ring performance, or what happened in later storylines may order the finishes differently.
The 10 most recent men’s Royal Rumble runner-ups, ranked
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CM Punk — 2024
Punk reached the final four with Cody Rhodes, Gunther, and Drew McIntyre. After Rhodes eliminated McIntyre and Gunther, he and Punk had the final exchange. Rhodes countered Punk’s Go to Sleep and eliminated him to win. The clearly documented sequence gives Punk a vivid, high-stakes near-win and makes this the strongest runner-up finish in the ranking. WWE’s 2024 recap details the closing stretch.
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Gunther — 2023
Cody Rhodes returned and won by eliminating Gunther last. The final pairing set the returning winner against a formidable opponent, giving Gunther a credible role as the last obstacle. WWE confirms Rhodes’ win; the year-by-year results list identifies Gunther as the final elimination.
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John Cena — 2025
Jey Uso won, with Cena as the last eliminated competitor. Cena’s prominence makes the near-win immediately legible as a major finish, even without a richer account of the final exchange in the available sources. WWE confirms Uso’s win, and the results list names Cena as runner-up.
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Roman Reigns — 2020
Drew McIntyre won after eliminating Reigns last. Reigns’ presence in the final sequence gave the finish clear stakes, while the result marked McIntyre’s route to a championship opportunity. WWE confirms McIntyre’s victory; the results list identifies Reigns as the final elimination.
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Braun Strowman — 2019
WWE’s recap describes the finish as coming down to Strowman and Seth Rollins, and the results list confirms Rollins eliminated Strowman to win. That direct final pairing gives Strowman a particularly clear runner-up role. Read WWE’s event recap and consult the year-by-year results.
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Drew McIntyre — 2022
Brock Lesnar won, with McIntyre as the final elimination. Placing a high-profile former winner opposite Lesnar at the finish gives the result weight, though the available official event page offers less detail about the closing exchange than WWE’s accounts of the 2019 and 2024 finishes. WWE confirms Lesnar’s win; the results list identifies McIntyre as runner-up.
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Randy Orton — 2021
Edge won and eliminated Orton last, giving the result a natural story hook in their established rivalry. The runner-up and winner are documented in the year-by-year results list; an accessible official event recap was not available for a fuller account of the finish.
Rank #4
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Gunther — 2026
Roman Reigns won, with Gunther as the last eliminated competitor. It is a prominent final pairing, but WWE’s official recap summarizes the winner rather than the final elimination. The results list supplies the runner-up identification.
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Roman Reigns — 2018
Shinsuke Nakamura won and Reigns was eliminated last. Reigns’ place in the final two is clear, although the available official account focuses more on Nakamura’s victory and WrestleMania opponent than on the last exchange. WWE confirms Nakamura’s win; the results list identifies Reigns as runner-up.
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Roman Reigns — 2017
Randy Orton won, with Reigns as the final elimination. The result is clear in the historical results list, but an accessible official event recap was not available for richer closing context. This is the least elaborated entry here, not a claim that the match was objectively the least entertaining.
Which wrestlers finished second more than once?
- Roman Reigns: 2017, 2018, and 2020.
- Gunther: 2023 and 2026.
Those repeat appearances stand out across the decade, but the finishes themselves carry different levels of narrative detail in the available official recaps.
Quick Recap
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