100 Greatest WWE Royal Rumble Moments Ever

39. Yokozuna Punishes Randy Savage’s Stupidity (1993)

WWE Royal Rumble 2020 Edge
WWE Network

While he’s obviously one of the all-time greats, the Macho Man was at times not the smartest tool in the box, particularly when it came to Royal Rumbles.

In 1993, Randy Savage entered the Rumble at #30 and found himself in the final two with Mr. Fuji’s Yokozuna. As a veteran babyface and two-time former World Champion, Savage was the perfect foil to go against Yoko and help the relative rookie look like a monster.

The problem is, Randy seemed to forget one of the basic fundamental rules of the Royal Rumble: you can’t win by pinfall!

So, after getting Yokozuna off his feet and hitting his patented elbow drop, Macho inexplicably tried to pin the big lad… and this would be Savage’s downfall, as Yoko kicked out of the pin with such force that it sent Randy straight over the top rope.

Undoubtedly, it was one heck of a bump from Randy Savage to go from a pinning position to propelling himself over the top rope to the ringside area, but it certainly wasn’t the smartest kayfabe move to try and eliminate someone from the Royal Rumble with a 1-2-3. Still, it did its job in being yet another way to make Yokozuna look like an unstoppable, unbeatable monster.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.