10 Most Surprising WWE Royal Rumble Winners Ever

2. Big John Studd (1989)

Especially considering potential alternative winners that year such as Ted DiBiase, Andre The Giant, Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Bad News Brown, or even Big Boss Man or Akeem, Big John Studd winning the 1989 Royal Rumble was a surprising selection that, certainly in hindsight, seems like a waste. Why Studd was chosen to go over has more to do with the way WWE viewed the Royal Rumble Match at the time and less to do with Big John Studd and any huge, main-event plans for him. In 1989, the company was only just getting used to what exactly the Royal Rumble Match was and how it could be used. It would be a couple more years until WWE realized just how big of a deal the battle royal could be, so John Studd winning in 1989 wasn't thought of as the huge achievement it would later come to be perceived as. In fact, the company used the victory as a way to re-introduce the audience to the big 6'10" superstar whom recently returned to the company after a two-year hiatus. John Studd was a big-name talent that wrestled for years under the World Wrestling Federation, but he failed to capitalize on the January victory when he left the company, this time for good, just a few months later. It helped make Studd's Royal Rumble victory one of the least impactful and most surprising in WWE history.