10 WWE Title Matches Nobody Asked For

3. Brock Lesnar Vs. Hardcore Holly (Royal Rumble 2004)

Hardcore Holly's only WWE Title shot on pay-per-view was the least exciting match on the Royal Rumble 2004 card. That shouldn't come as a surprise, because Holly had been presented as a midcarder for his entire run with the company up until WWE tried to quickly turn him into a realistic challenger for the beast-like Lesnar.

6 minutes and 30 seconds later, Hardcore's title dreams were shattered and the revenge storyline pinning down the build was ignored from that point on. Holly had targeted Lesnar due to suffering a broken neck at his hands in 2002. Fans were willing to invest initially (and probably would have enjoyed a SmackDown match), but the Royal Rumble was a step too far.

This was stop gap booking, something which should never happen at the Royal Rumble. The next month, Eddie Guerrero would rise to the top and beat Lesnar for the WWE Title, and the positive reaction to that win only outlined just how subdued the response had been to Holly's brief push.