10 Fascinating WWE Royal Rumble 2008 Facts
3. CM Punk Only "Qualified" For The Rumble The Day Before
In an interesting concept that made erstwhile-irrelevant house show matches mean something, back in the mid-2000s, WWE would run qualifying matches for Royal Rumble entry. Winners would enter into the match, and some losers would as well - Chuck Palumbo and Chavo Guerrero were two such wrestlers that lost qualifiers, but still made it to the 2008 Rumble to fill in the numbers.
The Guerrero loss took place the night before the Rumble. Guerrero, by this time ECW Champion, lost a qualifier to CM Punk at a pre-Rumble house show in Providence, RI. In other words, Punk, who was by now one of the clear rising stars in the company, didn't have any concrete Rumble involvement until 24 hours prior to the pay-per-view.
Not only was the defeated Guerrero thrown into the Rumble as well, but he would be the one that eliminated Punk in the later stages of the match.