10 Most Disappointing Surprises In WWE Royal Rumble History
You can't always get what you want... right, Daniel Bryan?
The Royal Rumble is usually one of the most exciting events on the wrestling calendar. The past few years haven’t delivered (thanks, Roman Reigns), but wrestling thrives on surprises, and the Rumble usually delivers them. No matter what's going on in WWE at the time, the Rumble always provides a shocking moment or two, and it remains one of the company's most popular events because of this.
It has become one of the event's great clichés, but you never know who's going to show-up at the Royal Rumble. WWE typically leave a handful of spots open for mystery guests, and while their claims that "anyone can win" are far fetched, some of the Rumble's best moments have come from its surprise entrants.
AJ Styles' shock debut in this year's match provided one of the year's biggest pops, and when John Cena made an unexpected return to win the 2008 Rumble, Madison Square Garden has rarely been louder. Even Bob Backlund received a great reaction for his 2000 appearance, and more often than not, the Rumble's unannounced participants justify their spot.
Sometimes, however, they do not. For all the great moments these shock appearances have brought over the years, WWE have also served-up their fair share of duds. Part of the Rumble's excitement is seeing which wrestlers make an unannounced appearance, but sometimes, it's all a waste of time.
Here are the 10 most disappointing surprises in WWE Royal Rumble history.
10. Haku (2001)
The 2001 Royal Rumble is an all-time classic. Not only did it feature a titanic performance from Kane as he set the all-time single-Rumble elimination record (11), but it concluded with an epic showdown between Stone Cold and The Rock. Entering at number 27, Austin eventually triumphed over The Great One, but not before losing several bucketloads of blood after being jumped by Triple H en route to the ring.
The surprise entrants weren’t quite up to scratch, however. Each was a disappointment, and when Haku emerged at number 29, widespread confusion overcame the arena. He hadn’t wrestled for WWE in 9 years, and thus, much of the audience had either forgotten about him completely, or didn’t know who he was in the first place.
Haku might be one of the most infamous tough guys in wrestling history, but he struggled to make a mark in the 2001 Rumble. He was eliminated in less than three minutes without mustering a single elimination, and transitioned into an ineffectual tag team with Rikishi, his fellow Samoan, afterwards.
The biggest surprise was that Haku was reportedly still under WCW contract at the time, and had just won the company’s Hardcore Championship one week prior. Who knows how those negotiations went down, but here’s hoping they passed without somebody getting their nose bitten off.