10 Biggest WWE Royal Rumble Falls From Grace
1. White-Hot Debutant Becomes Just Another Victim - Tazz
Being totally honest, Tazz was the inspiration for this entire article.
When the Human Suplex Machine made his WWE debut at the 2000 Royal Rumble, it felt huge. The Madison Square Garden crowd went absolutely nuts when the former ECW World Champion was revealed as Kurt Angle's mystery opponent at that PPV. And even better than that, Tazz went on to choke out the Olympic Hero, ending Angle's undefeated streak in the process.
This felt special, this felt like a genuinely big deal, and it even now holds up as one of the great WWE debuts.
It's just utterly baffling, then, to reflect back on how things played out for Tazz's in-ring WWE days.
From being introduced as one of the hottest acts in the company, 12 months later we found Tazz just another generic body in the 2001 Royal Rumble match. There, he lasted a legitimate 10 seconds and got zero offense in on his way to being eliminated by Kane.
Sure, that 2001 Rumble had Kane running roughshod, but it's spectacular to look at Tazz's 2001 Rumble fare when compared to that of the year prior.
Things would get a little better for the Redhook native at the 2002 Royal Rumble, as he and Spike Dudley dethroned the Dudley Boyz to become WWE Tag team Champions. Still, that was a far, far cry from the brooding badass who rocked up in WWE on 23 January, 2000.