100 Greatest WWE Royal Rumble Moments Ever

3. John Cena Shocks The World (2008)

WWE Royal Rumble 2020 Edge
WWE

John Cena has proven time and time again that he is a freak of nature when it comes to returning from injury. Give Big Match John an estimated timescale, and he’ll smash that timescale with ease.

Never was this more evident and downright shocking than at the 2008 Royal Rumble.

For some background, Cena’s pectoral muscle was completely torn off the bone during a 1 October 2007 Raw match against Mr. Kennedy. Completely torn! This is the same injury that caused Cody Rhodes to miss seven months following Hell in a Cell 2022, and even then Cody was ahead of schedule.

Despite being told that he could be out of action for a year, John Cena somehow returned at the 2008 Rumble as #30 just three months after surgery. That is just absolutely insane and unheard of. As such, Cena was the last person Madison Square Garden expected to see in the Royal Rumble.

MSG went nuts when Cena’s music hit and the man himself smugly stood in the building’s iconic entrance way. Likewise, the moment was further sold as a big deal by the shocked reaction of the wrestlers left in the match, in particular Triple H.

Of course, it would take only a matter of minutes for the electric pop for John Cena to revert back to the “Cena Sucks!” chants of the time. Still, that clearly didn’t deter John, for he’d walk out of Madison Square Garden with a Royal Rumble win under his belt.

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