10 WWE Royal Rumble Entrants NOBODY Wanted
8. The Great Kabuki (1994)
This writer will always have a place in his heart for mid-1990s WWF. Sure, the promotion had hit the skids financially, and it was clear the bloom was off the rose in terms of general fan interest. However, there's something charming about the...sh*t Vince McMahon served up to his dwindling supporters.
The 1994 Rumble is a prime example.
Scrambling for heels to pad out an anti-American vendetta against Lex Luger, and needing names to help stuff The Undertaker in a casket, McMahon flew in Japanese names like Genichiro Tenryu and The Great Kabuki. It's the latter who goes under the microscope here, because WWF fans just didn't know what to make of him.
This small masked man with a less-than-impressive physique wasn't what folks had grown accustomed to with Vince's fed. Unsurprisingly, Kabuki (despite being highly regarded in his homeland and pioneering the famous mist spot) played before complete apathy for a few minutes before being eliminated.
Yikes.