10 WWE Royal Rumble Eliminations More Significant Than You First Thought
7. The Big Show (2004)
The Royal Rumble that never happened.
On June 24th, 2007, the day of the Benoit family murder-suicide, the 2004 Royal Rumble erased from the mutual consciousness as the company made immediate efforts to disassociate themselves from its winner, Chris Benoit. The blackballing of this match is truly unfortunate, as it is undeniably one of the greatest Royal Rumble matches ever produced by WWE.
From start to finish, the match was a heartbreaking, gripping story that culminated with Chris Benoit eliminated The Big Show to win the Royal Rumble from the #1 spot, lasting the full 60 minutes in contrast to the half an hour Shawn Michaels grafted through just under a decade earlier. Although the elimination was a defining moment in Benoit's career, it became known as one of WWE's darkest moments in retrospect.
After Benoit's death, WWE made efforts to distance themselves from the former World Champion, and this Rumble would seldom be mentioned.