10 Times WWE Royal Rumble Opened The Forbidden Door

5. Dory Funk Jr (1996)

Haku Royal Rumble
WWE.com

Dory Funk Jr debuted in 1963, meaning he was 33 years deep into a fabled career when he made his one and only appearance in a Royal Rumble in 1996.

For multiple reasons - some more obvious than others - he was an imperfect fit.

It wasn't that Funk was a touch long in the tooth compared to a shallow roster full of mostly younger wrestlers, nor that in WWE canon he only really had a short spell as "Hoss" Funk a full decade earlier to lean on. It was simply that the match itself didn't exactly offer him the opportunity to prove exactly why he warranted a spot in the first place.

Funk was 55-and-looking-it in the match, but his age alone doesn't tell the whole story of where he was at in his career either side of the bout. Funk worked hundreds of matches for All Japan Pro Wrestling between 1986 and 1996, and went on to work hundreds more all over the world ahead of his (as-of-writing) last outing in 2018. To paraphrase another WWE Hall Of Famer, he had a lot left in the tank.

10 minutes with zero eliminations and mostly corner kicks and punches didn't really give him much chance to prove it.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 7 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back almost 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 60,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett