10 Most Underrated WWE Royal Rumble Performers
4. The British Bulldog
The British Bulldog finds himself in rather elite company as one of just a handful of non-winners to have spent more than two hours in Royal Rumble matches. That haul comes from just six outings, two of which clocked in at more than 30 minutes apiece.
His first half-hour effort came in 1991; three eliminations and a 36:43 stay saw him eliminated fifth-to-last, although it took two behemoths, Earthquake and Brian Knobbs, to finally send him packing. Then in 1995 he eclipsed that performance with a 38-minute showing in which he entered at number two and was ultimately the final man eliminated, coming within a whisker of winning the thing altogether.
Having tossed Shawn Michaels to the outside, Bulldog had seemingly won the match—they even started playing his music. But it was later revealed that only one of Michaels’ feet had officially touched the floor, which not only meant that the Bulldog hadn’t won, but also saw the creation of the now-commonplace “both feet must touch the floor” ruling.
Typically, Michaels then pulled himself back into the ring and promptly eliminated Bulldog, but not before his victim had played a major role in formalising one of the match’s most important rules and creating a piece of Royal Rumble history.