10 Bizarre Wrestling Epics That Didn’t Live Up To The Hype
2. The Greatest Royal Rumble (WWE Greatest Royal Rumble)
When WWE expanded the 2011 Royal Rumble to 40-men to allow for the Nexus/Corre rank-and-file that polluted the roster the prior year, it allowed the match to be split in to tangible 'sections' - the gang warfare took up much of the early portion, before John Cena and Hornswoggle calmed the crowd with comedy ahead of a latter-stages struggle that resembled the WrestleMania opportunity the match is supposed to be.
The match was broadly successful as a result, and though the company haven't returned to the concept since, it didn't leave enough of a stink to suggest they one day won't.
2018's fifty (50) man version was different a*se gravy altogether.
A grandiose and gross gesture on a grandiose and gross show, WWE satisfied their Saudi Arabian money marks with a 'Greatest' gimmick that couldn't possibly live up to the billing even if they had tried to book it as such. But they didn't.
It took Titus O'Neil falling flat on his face to give meme-hungry followers something to remember, whilst the virtually ungoogleable Hiroki Sumi was drafted in because he was rotund enough to fool the Yokozuna fans funding the show. Even surprise NXT entrants were seeming plucked from the bowler hat Vince McMahon used to wear when it took the promise of shaving his head to earn millions of dollars instead of simply selling his entire Women's Division short for oil dollars.