10 Biggest WWE Royal Rumble Falls From Grace

2. An All-Time Rumble Great Goes Out With A Whimper In Saudi Arabia - Chris Jericho

Taz Royal Rumble
WWE.com

Chris Jericho was about to fly the nest rather than fall from grace as he entered last in 2018's controversial Greatest Royal Rumble, but the '61 Minute Man's iconic WWE legacy was parked in rather sour fashion just a year after breaking a record in the January classic.

It was during his mammoth 2017 stint that Y2J became the wrestler to spend the longest cumulative time in Royal Rumbles, all to inform an eventual WrestleMania match with Kevin Owens. The exceptional breakup was reduced to United States Championship fodder at the 'Show Of Shows', but Jericho was far from unfazed. By the end of 2017, he was setting up a monster Wrestle Kingdom showdown with Kenny Omega in New Japan Pro Wrestling.

'Alpha Vs Omega' proved to be a transcendent moment for the entire industry - not that you'd have any idea at Greatest Royal Rumble. The man that had just played a part in something that would finally birth a North American opposition to Vince McMahon wrestled just three minutes in a bloated and unappealing slab of evidence for why the monopoly needed to be broken. He's not been in a WWE ring since.

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.