10 Biggest WWE Royal Rumble Falls From Grace

8. From Major Debut, To Huge Win Over The Undertaker, To Cannon Fodder - Vader

Taz Royal Rumble
WWE.com

WWE's annual Royal Rumble PPV is a great barometer for measuring Vader's tenure with the company.

Ahead of the 1996 Rumble, WWE programming was heavily promoting the impending arrival of this former WCW World Heavyweight Champion. When that year's January extravaganza rolled around, the the Man They Call Vader turned up in the Rumble match and decimated numerous poor souls before being eliminated by Shawn Michaels. Not content with that, Vader returned to the ring and left a trail of bodies in his wake as he finally made his way backstage.

At this point, it was clear WWE viewed Vader as a main event attraction who was destined to tangle with some of the company's biggest names.

Skipping ahead to the 1997 Royal Rumble, WWE still saw value in Vader, as the Mastodon picked up a huge singles win over the Undertaker, and then the hulking powerhouse was utilised as one of the final four in the Rumble match itself later that night.

It's between 1997 and 1998 that the WWE fall from grace over Vader really kicked into gear, though. From a dominant display in 1996 and a mammoth victory over the iconic Undertaker in 1997, the '98 Royal Rumble PPV saw Vader eliminated by Goldust just two minutes after entering the contest at #30 - with Vader having bested Goldie in in the PPV's opening match.

With WWE clearly having no idea how best to use Vader, it came as no real surprise to see Leon White depart the company in 1998 after referring to himself as "a big fat piece of sh*t" on WWE television.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.