10 Biggest Swerves WWE Ever Pulled At The Royal Rumble

Thanks to the current global health crisis blurring nine months into one, it feels like we've blinked and now suddenly found ourselves with yet another set of Royal Rumble matches heading our way. Seriously, didn't Edge just return last week?

When it comes to these over-the-top-rope spectaculars we've grown to love over the last three decades, however, a number of things have become almost guaranteed. One star will take up the mantle of 'marathon man or woman' and survive in the match for an admirable amount of time (that Michael Cole will no doubt gush over), everyone will join forces to flip a monstrous individual out of the bout, and the winner will earn a chance to challenge for a world title at WrestleMania.

Yet, a quick look back over the history of this mammoth match will also tell you that WWE have consistently found their fair share of joy in taking fan expectations and giving them the Paul London treatment.

From surprise entrants returning to win the whole damn thing, to leaving the fan favourite at home for the hell of it, just when we think we know the answer, WWE inevitably go and change the questions.

Whatever way you slice it, the 2018 men's Royal Rumble is one of the finest of the modern era.

A performance which should've established Finn Balor as a bonafide main roster star - entering at number 2 and lasting a staggering 57:38 in the bout - an unexpected Ruthless Aggression/Modern Era stare-down, and a winner fans could all get behind in Shinsuke Nakamura. This baby had it all...well, almost.

With the match purring along nicely and fans drinking in rumours of The Undertaker, Batista, CM Punk and even Kenny Omega turning up during the bout in the build-up to the match, all eyes were on the number 30 spot when that famous final buzzer went off. Yet, instead of any of these guaranteed crowd-poppers blowing the roof off of the Wells Fargo Center, WWE chose to trot a returning Dolph Ziggler out instead. Returning after being away for a grand total of five weeks. Awesome.

To be fair, we did already see Rey Mysterio and The Hurricane make comebacks, along with the arrival of NXT stars Adam Cole and Andrade, so perhaps we were being a tad greedy here. But sending out Ziggler as the final entrant of a so-far stellar Rumble did stink of Vince McMahon sticking a personal middle finger up at those on the internet begging for another big hitter.