10 WWE Matches That Were Spoiled Before They Happened
3. The 1998 Royal Rumble
Stone Cold Steve Austin had to win the WWE Championship at WrestleMania XIV - it was written in the stars for 'The Rattlesnake', and written on the booking sheets for the good of Vince McMahon's future bank balance. He had to, and thus, had to win the 1998 Royal Rumble, but the company could and should have done a far better job at making it seem like anybody else had a chance.
If anything, it exposed the resurgent organisation to criticism for how Austin's inexorable rise was papering wider cracks never truly filled until his unexpected injury exit 18 months later. The roster below him was wafer thin - only runner up (and 1998's iron man) The Rock looked remotely close to his orbit, and he wasn't yet the complete package he'd be by the end of the year.
A marked man in the promotion - WWE's poster for the event showed the back of his head full of nails, whilst the man himself literally drew a target on his chest ahead of getting the jump on the field across much of January - Austin was in a 1vsAll Rumble the company tried to pretend wasn't happening. His victory was well-recieved of course, but the drama on the way was wholly non-existent as a result.