10 Great Wrestlers Who Were Only In One WWE Royal Rumble

9. Arn Anderson (1989)

Rick Rude
WWE.com

Arn Anderson's Royal Rumble lineage is identical to his former Brain Busters partner, with 1989 standing as his solitary appearance. 'The Enforcer' fared a little better than his Canadian counterpart though, eliminating both Shawn Michaels and Tito Santana with the help of Randy Savage, before Arn, too, was thrown over the top rope by Hulk Hogan. Clearly, 'The Hulkster' had a thing against Horsemen.

Blanchard's failed drug test preceded Arn's own departure from WWE. Unlike Tully, Anderson wasn't effectively blacklisted from mainstream professional wrestling, sticking with WCW beyond his 1997 retirement before spending most of the next two decades as a WWE road agent.

Still, swapping WWE for WCW in '89 proved a costly move for 'The Enforcer.' Speaking on Talk Is Jericho last year, Anderson claimed WCW executive Jim Herd cut around $150,000 off his contract offer by claiming that Arn wasn't worth as much without Blanchard as his partner. When Anderson protested, Herd said "Hey, no big deal, you can go back to Vince if you want. No hard feelings."

In Arn's words, the incident showed "how little [Herd] knew about our business." He wasn't the first to express such a sentiment.

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Andy has been with WhatCulture for eight years and is currently WhatCulture's Wrestling Channel Manager. A writer, presenter, and editor with 10+ years of experience in online media, he has been a sponge for all wrestling knowledge since playing an old Royal Rumble 1992 VHS to ruin in his childhood. Having previously worked for Bleacher Report, Andy specialises in short and long-form writing, video presenting, voiceover acting, and editing, all characterised by expert wrestling knowledge and commentary. Andy is as much a fan of 1985 Jim Crockett Promotions as he is present-day AEW and WWE - just don't make him choose between the two.