10 WWE PPVs That Aren’t As Good As You Remember

6. Royal Rumble 1996

Royal Rumble 1996 Henry Godwinn Bob Holly Mabel Triple H
WWE

What You Remember: Following a dreadful 1995, the WWF started 1996 with a bang and Shawn Michaels' second consecutive Royal Rumble win. Elsewhere, The Undertaker and Bret Hart met in the main event, rising star Ahmed Johnson got to shine and bizarre newcomer Goldust creeped the hell out of Razor Ramon.

Reality: Literally nobody other than Michaels, the imposing Vader or maybe Owen Hart had a hope in hell of winning the Rumble. Drafted in hacks like Doug Gilbert, Dory Funk Jr, and The Squat Team filled space without much meaning, and it didn't help that Duke Droese was already penned in as a wobbly final entrant.

Ahmed's "shine" was scuffed by a disqualification result, Razor was clearly uncomfortable working with Goldust and the 'Taker vs. Bret headliner wasn't a patch on their later efforts at both SummerSlam 1997 and One Night Only that same year.

Not even HBK's heroics could save this one.

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Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.