10 Great Wrestlers Who Were Only In One WWE Royal Rumble
7. Rick Rude (1990)
A WWE wrestler since 1987, Rick Rude missed the first two Royal Rumble matches as he had duties elsewhere on the card, wrestling Ricky 'The Dragon' Steamboat in '88 and meeting The Ultimate Warrior in a pose-down the following year. 1990 was finally when he made it into the titular bout, but not for long: six-and-a-half minutes in the ring yielded the elimination of Hercules and a collaborative effort against Earthquake, before the eventual final two, Hulk Hogan and Mr. Perfect, put 'Ravishing' out.
Why no more Rumbles for Rick? Timing was an issue, as Rick was out of the company before the next 30-man affair, leaving the promotion following a quarrel with Vince McMahon. He didn't return to the company until 1997, when he was recruited as D-Generation X's bodyguard. His in-ring career had already come to an end by that point, with Rude retiring after suffering a serious back injury while working for New Japan in 1994. Working was out of the question.
November '97 then saw Rude make history as the first man to appear on WWE Raw and WCW Nitro on the same night, going live for his new employers before appearing on his former's pre-taped show.