10 Biggest WWE Royal Rumble Falls From Grace

3. Former World Title Contender Gets Eliminated Off-Screen - Scott Steiner

Taz Royal Rumble
WWE.com

When WWE assimilated WCW in 2001, one of the big WCW stars who initially remained out of reach was Big Poppa Pump, Scott Steiner.

Upon Steiner making his WWE return and immediately being lined up against Triple H for the 2003 Royal Rumble, anticipation was high as to what to expect from the Big Bad Booty Daddy. Unfortunately, Scott Steiner of 2003 wasn't Scott Steiner of 2000, and a fused ankle massively restricted what the former WCW World Heavyweight Champion was able to do between the ropes.

Regardless of how awful his Rumble contest against Triple H was - and their subsequent rematch - there's no disputing that WWE thought of Steiner as a big-time player, as reflected by his spot going up against Vince McMahon's perennial golden goose, the Game.

By the time of the 2004 Royal Rumble PPV, though, the bloom had come off the rose for Scott Steiner's second WWE run.

While Triple H was again in action defending his WWE World Heavyweight Championship at the 2004 Rumble, it was a drastically different situation for Scott Steiner - with him a generic body in the Royal Rumble match, lasting six minutes before being eliminated by WCW rival Booker T.

Making things even worse in 2004, the WWE production crew actually missed Steiner's elimination in real-time, and thus it was only viewable via a replay.

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.