For younger fans that were not around or not following WWE during the rise of Stone Cold Steve Austin, this entry may be a bit of a head-scratcher. But in January of 1997, it was very surprising to see Austin win the Royal Rumble since he wasn't expected to main event WrestleMania 13, which, of course, is what came with winning the Rumble match. In early '97, Steve Austin had only just begun his ascent to the top of the WWE roster. Although Austin had a brush with the semi-main at the 1996 Survivor Series, it would still be several months until he became a main event mainstay. WrestleMania 13 was expected to feature a rematch of the classic WrestleMania XII main event between Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart. So when Bret was "eliminated" in that year's Royal Rumble, despite being the last legal man in the ring, fans were shocked. Austin had been thrown out by Bret, but was able to sneak back into the ring before the referees noticed. Austin's victory shocked fans who expected a Bret/Shawn rematch and even though that match didn't happen at WrestleMania 13, Austin didn't get the main event spot either.