Battle royal, plural battles royal, traditionally refers to a fight involving three or more combatants which is fought until only one fighter remains standing. Far more so than for other forms of combat, success in a battle royal is far more dependant on luck than true martial skill due to the wild nature of these fights. In recent times the term has been used in a more general sense to refer to any fight involving large numbers of people.

Ancient Rome

The term "battle royal" was first coined by the Romans to refer to a form of gladiatorial combat involving a number of gladiators fighting, armed or unarmed, until only one remained standing, or alive. These fights tended to be particularly brutal, even by the standards of the Romans. Early Christians, such as Clement of Rome and Ignatius, actively campaigned against this savage form of entertainment, to no success.

Boxing

Following the collapse of the Roman empire the battle royal fell out of vogue as a form of entertainment until the 19th century, when they resurfaced in the USA.

Before 1865, when the thirteenth amendment to the United States constitution was signed, battles royal often appeared on the undercard of boxing matches. These fights would normally involve five or six slaves fighting blindfolded and bare-knuckled. Depending on the pre-agreed rules these fight would either last until one man was left standing, the winner, or until two remained standing, at which point the blindfolds would be removed from the combatants and the fight continued until one was unable to continue. The owner of the winner would receive the usually small purse.

The practice of fighting battles royal in this context continued long after the abolition of slavery, some were still fought legally in the 1930s albeit with the use of gloves. However, most bouts in these period were fought illegally at "smokers", unsanctioned and unregulated boxing matches, as preludes to the main event. Almost all fighters at these contests, both legal and illegal, were still black Afro-Americans, although they were now allowed to keep their winnings.

Many major black boxers gained their first in-ring experience at these battles royal. Such fighters include: Jack Johnson, Beau Jack, and Joe Gans.

Pro-wrestling

The battle royal re-emerged as a spectacle in the 1990s, albeit in simulated form, in the professional wrestling shows of WWE. These fights usually begin with ten, fifteen, or twenty, wrestlers in a ring and are fought until one remains. The method of elimination is typically by removing opponents from the ring by throwing them over the top-rope, although elimation by pin and KO are sometimes allowed.