10 Times WWE Royal Rumble Winners Risked It All Before WrestleMania

10. John Cena - 2008

2008 was the year we discovered that John Cena isn't human.

Three months after vacating the WWE Championship because of a torn pectoral muscle, the Chain Gang Soldier made a shock return as the final entrant in that year's Royal Rumble match, winning from number 30 to guarantee he'd be in the main event of WrestleMania XXIV.

Instead of waiting for the Granddaddy, Cena threw out the challenge to Randy Orton at No Way Out instead; any GameCube owners will remember exactly the same thing happening in WWE Day of Reckoning 2. The Viper got himself disqualified and that was it, he kept the belt and went on his merry way. It was a true cowardly heel move that meant Cena's guaranteed championship match had been wasted a month before WrestleMania.

It was as if Triple H had been promised a shot at Raw's top prize before WWE knew Cena was coming back, because later that night he won the Elimination Chamber match to become number one contender. No one gets in the way of the Game's shovel, but this was the days of Cena wins lol, so after a victory over Orton on Raw, the Royal Rumble winner was back in the match.

We had ourselves a Triple Threat at 'Mania, but the Legend Killer still left with the gold in his grasp.