5 Most Star-Studded WWE Royal Rumbles Ever
Flair, Hogan, Savage, Piper... yeah, this is gonna be a good one.
The Royal Rumble, WWE's annual January show-piece, is the only time of year fans get to see the ring filled to the brim with all of the company's biggest stars.
Even world title matches pencilled in for the same card are often contested between the WrestleMania-bound defending champion and an obvious placeholder challenger (generally Rey Mysterio), such is the need for the big hitters to be in the Rumble itself.
For all the pre-match promo material, most of the time there are just a handful of genuine contenders, the remaining spots filled by a smorgasbord of perennial mid-carders, returning legends, and very occasionally, an ambitious diva with designs on over-throwing the established male order.
But there have been a few years when luck was uncharacteristically on WWE's side - when rival companies surrendered some of the industry's biggest names; when long-standing injuries healed up in the nick of time - and the WrestleMania main event spot is blown wide open as a result.
Here are the 5 most star-studded Royal Rumbles in history.
5. 2008
It was pretty clear, from the moment John Cena's music started playing, who would be walking out of Madison Square Garden as 2008's Royal Rumble winner. Going into the event, though, there was no real stand-out favourite, the company somehow managing to keep their star performer's imminent return a secret in the era of online dirt sheets.
About an hour earlier, the match started with a trip down memory lane, as Undertaker and Shawn Michaels entered at #1 and #2 - a precursor to the WrestleMania double-header they would share in 2009 and 2010. Former world champions Khali, Batista, Kane, Triple H and Cena later joined them, as did future title-holders CM Punk and The Miz. It even featured a reigning world champion in Chavo Guerrero, although few would have used their WrestleMania main event spot on a chance at his ailing ECW title.
WWE boasted a stacked roster around this time - the other matches on the card featured the likes of Randy Orton, Jeff Hardy, Edge, Rey Mysterio, Chris Jericho and JBL - and it's no surprise the year that followed turned into one of the company's best for a while.