10 WWE Royal Rumble Entrants You Totally Forgot
10 names you won't believe actually wrestled in the Royal Rumble...
With nearly 800 participants, the variety of participants that have taken part in the Royal Rumble is pretty diverse and pretty impressive.
The yearly battle royal has seen traditional entrants like current WWE superstars and returning wrestlers to legends and Hall of Famers, but it's also seen managers, ring announcers, jobbers, commentators, and even celebrities try for their chance at main eventing WrestleMania.
Surely, fans remember the event's mega stars like Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Shawn Michaels, Stone Cold Steve Austin, and others, but with over 30 years worth of Rumble matches, some are bound to be forgotten. In some cases, fans may not be overlooking the following 10 participants, they may have never known they rumbled in the first place. After all, many of the names on the list have made their name in the business from outside the squared circle. Then again, there are some that had long, decades-spanning careers yet hardly associated with WWE.
While the article will only cover 10 entrants, it shouldn't go unmentioned that the following wrestlers just missed the cut:
Honorable Mentions:
Carlos Colon (1993)
Dory Funk, Jr. (1996)
These two longtime wrestlers made a living out of their time spent in the ring, but are never remembered as Royal Rumble participants. Read on to see who else was a part of the famous Royal Rumble match...some of the names may surprise you.
10. Dick Murdoch (1995)
The 1995 Royal Rumble is widely regarded as one of the worst in company history.
For starters, the intervals were reduced from every 2 minutes to 60 seconds. The thought process was that it would be a more eventful match with the 30 participants only taking up 30 minutes rather than 60. It wasn't the worst strategy considering the number of low-level talent that filled out the match, but it didn't prevent anyone from seeing through the seriously low number of true contenders.
The match featured numerous fledgling tag teams like Well Dunn, the Blu Brothers, Bushwhackers, Heavenly Bodies, and Smokin' Gunns. Throw in the handful of stars that had not been seen on WWE television for months, such as Rick Martel, Crush, and Kwang, and that made up for half the Rumble's participants.
Another entrant that hadn't been seen on WWF television in 10 years was Dirty Dick Murdoch, the 27th entrant.
Murdoch had been brought in to work alongside Bob Backlund against Razor Ramon in dark matches. While Murdoch had a few non-televised appearances both before and after the Rumble, many fans totally forget that the former WWF Tag Team Champion from 1984 was also one of the entrants into the Royal Rumble from 1995.