10 Best Matches From The WWE ThunderDome Era

9. The 2021 Men's Royal Rumble

Kofi Kingston Street Profits
WWE.com

WWE's deal in hyperbole on a daily basis, but there was an inconvenient truth hanging over the 2021 Royal Rumble main event that they didn't want to shout from the rooftops - there was more probably pressure on this specific Rumble than the other one on this show, and maybe any in company history.

Though audiences couldn't be there to cheer the various potential winners of the Women's Royal Rumble, the booking had given them good reason to care. With the exception of Edge's shocking comeback announcement on the go-home Monday Night Raw, WWE had anti-booked this one, lining up queues of wrestlers that might win because they happened to be there, not because they'd put a run together on television or made their WrestleMania intentions crystal clear.

And yet, all of that turned out to be enough. The action zipped along nicely after Randy Orton was written out for a bit following a brutal beating from 'The Rated-R Superstar' (that was at least more exciting than their WrestleMania bore), and all those midcard hopefuls suddenly looked enough like favourites to make the middle of the match matter.

Damian Priest scored a series of eliminations as his main roster career began in earnest and Christian's return was a lovely surprise. And when Edge scored the climactic win following one last tease, the contest felt worthy of its prestige and all that sign-pointing, even without real human beings counting to 10.

 
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Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 7 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 30 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz", Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 50,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett