10 Biggest WWE Royal Rumble Falls From Grace

6. Allowed A Genuine Match, To Then Only Afforded 20 Seconds - The Women's Championship

Melina Royal Rumble 2009 Mickie James Royal Rumble 2010
WWE.com

*Sigh*

Until the Divas Revolution, the women of WWE had had a murky past when it came to the company's annual Royal Rumble PPV.

While there were several years where WWE didn't even feature a women's match on the Rumble, one major fall from grace came in 2010.

The previous year's Royal Rumble show saw Melina defeat Beth Phoenix to become the new WWE Women's Champion in a match that, while relatively short at six minutes, was on the higher end of what WWE's female talent were allowed to put on at that point in time.

In 2010, though, the Women's Championship, and the women wrestlers, period, were given an almighty slap in the face when WWE gave its audience a Women's Championship that was just 20 seconds in duration.

To many, this was even more disrespectful than having no women's match on the PPV, with it dismaying to see WWE only able to award 20 seconds to the Women's Championship on an event that lasted for three hours. Adding further to the bad taste of WWE's treatment of its women's division, this was at the time when the SmackDown brand was running with its god-awful "Piggy James" trash.

James did get her revenge here, defeating Michelle McCool to become the new Women's Champion - but c'mon, man, 20 seconds?!

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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 and Presenter, 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 day job, his role as 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 and Eli Roth to Kevin Smith and the Russo Brothers, to Kevin Conroy and Frank Miller, to Bret Hart and Sting, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, and Brian Flynn, to many, many more. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is a long-standing season ticket holder and an FSA Award-winner for his time co-hosting the Fearless in Devotion podcast.