Lost the WWE Championship to, ending his reign at 434 days. On July 23, 2012, during, announced that he would challenge for the at the Royal Rumble. Later that night, reigning champion,, and each stated that they'd face The Rock as defending champion; later that night, Punk turned, attacking and laying out The Rock. Punk defended the championship for the rest of the year, while on December 23, 2012, The Rock to Punk that he was ready for the Royal Rumble. On the January 7 episode of Raw, Punk retained the WWE Championship against in a after interfered. They also did during Punk's defence against Ryback and John Cena back at; this win secured Punk as the one who would defend against The Rock.

On the January 21 episode of Raw while speaking about beating Punk at the Rumble, The Shield assaulted The Rock. After the assault, announced that if The Shield interfered in the match, Punk will be stripped of his title.

On the December 31, 2012 episode of Raw announced he would enter the 2013 Royal Rumble match, making him the first confirmed entrant in the competition, and stated his desire to be WWE Champion. On the January 4, 2013 episode of SmackDown and both announced they would participate in the Royal Rumble match as well, both wanting to win the. On subsequent episodes of Raw and SmackDown numerous wrestlers confirmed their participation: claimed Cena had entered the match to hide from him, so Ziggler entered himself to stop Cena; 3MB (,, and ) announced all three members were entering; was confirmed on the 20th Anniversary of Raw; announced on his entry during commentary of; announced his entry by interview. On the January 21 episode of Raw a was held with the winner being able to pick their entrance number. Ziggler defeated The Miz in the fastest time (due to beating Orton's time over Cesaro and Sheamus vs Barrett ending in a time limit draw), but (after Ziggler barged into her office and gloated about winning) declared that his choice was between the first and second entry.

In the last few seasons the 49ers played at Candlestick Park, I got into the gate for roughly $50 per game. The swarms of ushers and ticket-checkers customary.

On the same episode, announced his entry into the Royal Rumble after defeating Slater, while ( and ) and ( and ) also promised to win the match. On the January 25, 2013 episode of SmackDown, and announced their entries into the Royal Rumble. Began a feud with after humiliating Del Rio's personal ring announcer,, sarcastically picking him to fight Show for the during 'Champion's Choice Night' on the 2013 episode of Raw, leading to a disqualification win for Big Show after Del Rio interfered. On the January 11, 2013 episode of SmackDown, Del Rio defeated Show in a Last Man Standing match for the championship. Three days later on Raw, Show announced that he would invoke his rematch clause at the pay-per-view. The week after, he made the match a Last Man Standing Match.

Event [ ] Pre-show [ ] The pre-show match featured reigning defending his title against. During the match, Miz attempted a diving attack and injured his leg. Shortly after, Cesaro won after landing the Neutralizer. Preliminary matches [ ] As the PPV portion of the show began, a backstage segment was shown with wishing good luck in his match. He then gave a pair of his signature sunglasses.

One Man Band V 11 Crack. The opening match on the PPV telecast (and second on the card overall) featured reigning Alberto Del Rio defending his title against in a. After Del Rio managed to beat the count after being chokeslammed through a table from an elevated position on the entrance stage, he managed to win when he locked in the Cross Armbreaker while Rodriguez Show's legs to the bottom rope. Show was unable to free himself in time and was counted out. Next, reigning ( and ) defended their titles against Team Rhodes Scholars ( and ).

The match ended when Bryan applied the No! Lock on Sandow, forcing him to submit.

John Cena won the 2013 Royal Rumble match. After that was the annual. (as per the 'Beat The Clock' stipulations from Raw) chose to enter first, followed by the surprise return of at #2. Another surprise entry, returned at #8, and spent most of his time battling with his half brother (entrant #3), who eventually eliminated him. Entered at #11, trying to become the fourth man to win back-to-back Rumbles, joining ('90-'91), ('95-'96), and ('97-'98).

(the #4 entrant) provided a highlight, for when he was about to be eliminated, he jumped onto the back of recently eliminated, who put him on the Spanish announce table. Kingston made it back onto the apron using a chair like a pogo stick, but was quickly eliminated by Rhodes before reentering the ring. Following this, made a surprise appearance at #17, only to be immediately eliminated by Ziggler. Entered at #19, quickly eliminating Rhodes and #10 entrant. Daniel Bryan (#21) and Kane (#24) teamed up to eliminate #23, but Bryan then eliminated Kane.

When #22 sent Bryan over the top rope, Kane caught him, only to drop him on the floor, eliminating him from the match. Later, tournament winner (and #16 entrant) managed to eliminate (#18), leading to Barrett eliminating him and perform the Bull Hammer on Dallas, despite having already been eliminated.

Entered at #30 and eliminated three wrestlers in quick fashion. Ziggler finally eliminated Jericho after nearly 48 minutes. The final four consisted of Ziggler, Sheamus, Cena and Ryback. Sheamus eliminated Ziggler (who lasted nearly 50 minutes) and execute White Noise on Ryback, but Ryback managed to eliminate him. After a few minutes of going back and forth, Cena then eliminated Ryback to win the Rumble, making him the fourth wrestler to win multiple Rumble matches (as he won the match in 2008 as well). Main event match [ ] The main event and fifth match on the card featured reigning defending his title against. During the match, Rock attempted to perform a Rock Bottom through the Spanish announce table on Punk, but the table collapsed beneath them.

Rock performed a Rock Bottom outside the ring, but Punk kicked out of a pin attempt. When Rock attempted a People's Elbow, the arena went dark and Rock was attacked by an unknown entity, believed by the commentators to be. When the lights came back, the assailant(s) were nowhere to be found, and Rock had been driven through the English announce table, allowing Punk to get the winning pin. As he celebrated with the title, WWE Chairman came out and reminded Punk that if the Shield interfered (which while McMahon said he couldn't see it, he knew enough to realize what had happened) he would strip him of the title. Before he could however, the Rock said he wanted to take the title from Punk and told McMahon to instead restart the match. McMahon did so, and Rock won the match with a spinebuster followed by The People's Elbow, winning the WWE Title for the eighth time and ending Punk's historic reign at 434 days.

Aftermath [ ] CM Punk, livid that his reign had ended, invoked his rematch clause at, but The Rock defeated him and retained the championship. Punk then challenged Cena for his contendership, which Cena accepted and defeated Punk. Punk later went to WrestleMania to try to end 's.

After Elimination Chamber, The Rock retired the spinner and bling belt (which was Cena's design for the championship and used by the company for the past eight years) and unveiled a new belt to represent the WWE Championship. The following night on Raw, John Cena announced that he would challenge the reigning WWE Champion with his winning the Royal Rumble match. With The Rock retaining the championship, this would set up a rematch between The Rock and Cena from. Cena would go on to win the match and the championship, making him a record 11-time WWE Champion. Reception [ ] The event garnered 512,000 pay-per-view buys, the highest in four years. Results [ ] No. Results Stipulations Times 1 P (c) defeated for the 07:37 2 (c) (with ) defeated for the 16:58 3 ( and ) (c) defeated Team Rhodes Scholars ( and ) by submission for the 09:25 4 won by last eliminating 30-man for a world championship match at 55:05 5 defeated (c) (with ) Singles match for the Had interfered, Punk would have been stripped of the title 23:20.

• Originally, CM Punk defeated The Rock, but the match was restarted after The Shield interfered. Royal Rumble entrances and eliminations [ ] Yellow ██ indicates a superstar. Draw Entrant Order Eliminated by Time Eliminations 01! 1 27 Sheamus 49:47 2 02! 2 25 Dolph Ziggler 47:53 2 03! 3 12 John Cena 27:39 4 04!

4 9 Cody Rhodes 22:18 2 05! 5 1 00:55 0 06! 6 2 Chris Jericho 02:40 0 07! 7 3 Sheamus and David Otunga 07:30 0 08! 8 5 Cody Rhodes 09:41 0 09!

9 4 Sheamus 04:24 1 10! 10 11 John Cena 15:49 1 11! 11 28 Ryback 37:23 5 12!

12 7 Kofi Kingston 05:37 0 13! 13 6 Chris Jericho, Heath Slater, Cody Rhodes, Sheamus & Darren Young 03:47 0 14! 14 13 Wade Barrett 15:43 0 15!

15 8 Kofi Kingston 02:51 1 16! 16 21 Wade Barrett 1 21:42 1 17! 17 10 Dolph Ziggler 00:05 0 18! 18 20 Bo Dallas 20:34 2 19! - Winner 26:39 4 20! 20 22 Ryback 16:26 0 21! 21 16 Antonio Cesaro & Kane 2 07:55 2 22!

22 18 John Cena 08:50 1 23! 23 14 Daniel Bryan & Kane 03:08 0 24! 24 15 Daniel Bryan 01:46 2 25! 25 17 Randy Orton 02:34 0 26! 26 26 Ryback 10:20 1 27!

27 19 Sheamus 02:10 0 28! 28 24 Ryback 05:08 0 29! 29 23 03:27 0 30! 30 29 John Cena 09:06 5.

Kerosun Monitor 30 Manual. Retrieved 2012-12-29. 13 January 2013.

[ ] • 'WWE Raw'. 14 January 2013. January 31, 2013. Retrieved 2013-06-09. Retrieved 2012-08-19.

• Grabianowski, Ed.. Retrieved March 5, 2012. Archived from on November 18, 2013. Retrieved March 21, 2012. • Caldwell, James.. Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 29 July 2012.

• Stephens, David.. Retrieved 15 November 2012. • (2012-12-24).. Retrieved 2012-12-26.

• Retrieved 2012-12-31. • Retrieved 2013-01-04. • Caldwell, James (May 2, 2013).. Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved March 23, 2015. • • Powers, Kevin (2013-01-22).. Retrieved 2013-01-28.

Retrieved 2013-01-14. Retrieved 2013-01-14. Retrieved 2012-12-31. Retrieved 18 December 2013. January 28, 2012. Retrieved January 28, 2012. January 28, 2012.

Archived from on January 30, 2013. Retrieved January 28, 2012. External links [ ] •.