10 Times WWE Totally BOTCHED The Royal Rumble
6. 1999
Don't believe the hype about the Vince McMahon/Stone Cold Steve Austin rivalry carrying every pay-per-view at the time, especially not when it came to one
Thought of as the Russo Rumble for dropping slap bang in the middle 'Vinnie-Ru's creative dominance within WWE, the man who saw the wrestling itself as an inconvenience allowed his obsession with angles to bludgeon the one hour of ring time that rewarded even the shortest attention spans. Transparently booked as a backdrop to the Austin/McMahon war and very little else, their fight at the start and brawl at the end was all that really mattered, and fans were informed as such with the way the rest of the match was booked.
Almost no bona fide stars entered until the second half of the match, the Chairman and 'The Rattlesnake' missed the bulk of the action to be fit enough for the final stretch, and idiotic portions where wrestlers were left to do nothing but scratch their a*ses were inserted in the match despite having 28 other people to use.
Hot angle - hottest, maybe ever - but not so hot that an entire match survives being bookended by it.