10 Things That Are No Longer Special About WWE Royal Rumble

If anything's ever special about the Royal Rumble, please don't tell McMahon...

By Chris Humphries /

For many people, the long winter months reinforce the idea that human beings need to hibernate. With limited social and outdoor activities, there isn’t always much to do during the coldest months of the year once the holidays pass. However, one source of bliss can be found on a lonely January night for those interested in such a thing...

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The WWE Royal Rumble!

The 30-man, over-the-top-rope extravaganza is an annual source of joy for wrestling fans and serves to help them get by during the shortest of days and most bone-chilling of nights. For those who aren’t freezing their butts off, they can enjoy it too, those lucky bastards.

The Royal Rumble match is chockfull of things to keep WWE fans, as well outsiders, entertained and distracted from what horrifying greyscale sight might linger outside of their windows.

Some of the more frequent spots in the iconic bout have become anticipated and welcomed by fans. Still, not every trope of the battle royal has maintained its shimmer. Many more elements of the Royal Rumble match suffered the wrath of oversaturation, going from jaw-dropping to yawn-inspiring after 30+ years of uncreative abuse.

10. Legend Cameos

Surprise appearances are a large attraction to the annual Royal Rumble matches. There have always been Marks either related to Dave Meltzer or bestowed with a prophetic knack for predicting who sneaks their way into the battle royal each year.

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On occasion, WWE shocks audiences with someone they didn’t foresee showing up in the Rumble, despite whatever wealth of insider information existed. Whether the surprise is spoiled rarely matters, as fans will be delighted if the moment involves a well-respected and missed performer.

Those are two critical ingredients for such guest spots. Whenever a return is underwhelming or unwelcome, fans tend to voice their displeasure rather quickly. Sadly, it’s almost customary for WWE to send a slew of second- and third-shelf veterans. Worse is the frequency of “legends” who have returned one too many times to be still appreciated.

As the Royal Rumble match has stretched over four different decades, some alumni have garnered unfavorable reactions. It might not always be that the performer was untalented or unpopular. Instead, many modern viewers find these needless (and often vain) appearances to waste the limited Rumble entries that were better appropriated for establishing younger talent.

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