10 Things That Are No Longer Special About WWE Royal Rumble

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.

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.