10 Wrestlers Who Should Have Won The WWE Royal Rumble
9. Ted DiBiase (1989)
One of the big stories of the 1989 Royal Rumble match was Ted DiBiase’s continued attempts to buy his way to victory, only to be eventually served his comeuppance at the hands of Big John Studd.
But why couldn’t the company have eked that story out and had DiBiase get what was coming to him at WrestleMania just 11 weeks down the line? And furthermore, why did they go with Studd as the man to put DiBiase down and score the big Royal Rumble win?
Looking back, it looks like it would’ve been a win-win situation to have DiBiase win and enter a longer-term program, either with Studd or someone else, culminating in a big win for the babyface at WrestleMania V. And that seems especially true when you consider that all Studd really did after his Rumble win was enter a house show program with Akeem, referee a match at ‘Mania and ultimately depart a couple of months later.
As for DiBiase, you could also make the claim that he deserved to win the 1990 Rumble after his then-record 45-minute stint having entered at number one.