10 Dumbest Royal Rumble Participants In WWE History
Strategy? What strategy?!
The Royal Rumble has produced some of the most awe-inspiring in-ring performances in WWE history. It's a match that often brings out the best in its participants, and feats like Rey Mysterio's hour-long run to glory (2006) and Ric Flair's strategic WWE Title-winning brilliance (1992) stand proudly among the company's most memorable moments.
The Rumble rewards cunning and endurance above all else. It's usually the longest match of the year, and if you draw an early number, you're in for a tough shift if you want to head to WrestleMania. Wrestlers can't afford to take their eye off the ball for even a fraction of a second, and if they do, they're outta there.
For every heroic example, however, there's a dozen cases of rampant lunacy. Something about the Royal Rumble turns even WWE's best wrestlers into bumbling buffoons, and barely a Rumble passes without at least half a dozen superstars disgracing themselves.
There are two-second wonders like Santino Marella and The Warlord, of course, but it goes much deeper than that. More than any other event, the Rumble compels its participants to abandon all logic and reason. No Rumble goes by without a host of counterproductive elimination break-ups, a distraction elimination, or a giant failing to take advantage of his massive size, and certain offenders just keep making the same mistakes over and over again.
Here are the 10 dumbest Royal Rumble participants in WWE history.
10. Mil Mascaras
WWE’s bloated roster means they’ll have no trouble filling the Royal Rumble when they return to the San Antonio Alamodome, but this certainly wasn’t the case at building’s last Rumble in 1997. WWE struggled to populate the 30-man match with their own stars, and thus, they leaned-on their working relationship with Mexico’s AAA promotion to bring a number of high-flying luchadores in for the night.
Among them was Mil Mascaras. One of his country’s most popular wrestlers, Mascaras was a huge star with genuine crossover appeal, and had starred in over 30 movies in his homeland. He was competing in his very first Royal Rumble at the ripe old age of 54, and while fellow guest stars Pierroth and Cibernetico didn’t exactly set the match alight, Mil’s run was inconceivably stupid.
Mascaras entered the match at number 11. Steve Austin and the British Bulldog were on the verge of eliminating The Sultan, but Mil decided he wasn’t going to let that happen and ran over to stop them. Minutes later, Mascaras prevented another elimination by attacking Austin as he, Triple H, and Pierroth were trying to throw Goldust out, but the worst was yet to him.
Shortly after Pierroth’s elimination, Mascaras scaled the turnbuckles and flew to the outside. He took-out his fellow luchador, but eliminated himself in the process. Mil tried to protest to the officials, but there was no sympathy for his colossal mistake, and The Man of A Thousand Masks was sent to the back.