10 Wrestlers Who Should Have Won The WWE Royal Rumble
The nearly-men who were overlooked, unlucky or just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
18 years ago, The Rock was named the winner of the first Royal Rumble match of the new millennium when he was adjudged to have eliminated the Big Show – although adjudged is the operative word here.
With Big Show on the verge of tossing The Rock to the outside, the latter managed to hold on to the top rope and hoist himself back inside the ring while the former took a tumble to the outside. Or at least, that’s the way it looked on first viewing.
Replays from another angle revealed that during the ruckus, The Rock’s feet had actually touched the floor first. Those replays were even incorporated into the main event angle for WrestleMania 2000, but that public acknowledgment didn’t change the fact that the Big Show should technically have been named the winner of the 2000 Royal Rumble match.
Granted, this case was a rarity and more of a botch than anything else. But don’t think that means there haven’t been other years in which guys didn’t win the Royal Rumble match when, in hindsight, they probably should have.
From missed opportunities to tunnel vision booking, here are ten such stories from over the years.
10. Chris Jericho (2012)
After more than 15 months away from pro wrestling, and following weeks of cryptic vignettes, Chris Jericho returned to WWE programming on 2 January 2012 – conveniently, right in time for WrestleMania season.
Immediately, Jericho became a hot favourite to win the Rumble, partly so that the comeback would be a triumphant one and partly to set up a match with then-WWE Champion CM Punk - the very same who’d been referring to himself as the best in the world, which in turn was a title that Jericho himself had once been rather fond of.
The story seemed to write itself, which is why it was a tad surprising to see Sheamus win the Rumble instead before going on to face Daniel Bryan in a pointless 18-second match at WrestleMania XXVIII.
Jericho, meanwhile, did eventually go on to face Punk at the show, but it was a roundabout way of putting together a simple and straightforward angle. Rather than overcomplicating things, Jericho should have just won the Rumble, earning him an accolade that to this day eludes him.