12 Best WWE Royal Rumble Performances Ever

3. Shawn Michaels (1995)

shawn michaels royal rumble 2010
WWE.com

Much like Stone Cold Steve Austin, there was a time when Shawn Michaels wasn’t the legendary performer everyone remembers today.

Heading into 1995, Michaels was a former Intercontinental and tag team champion, but wasn’t quite the Showstopper and WrestleMania legend everyone knew. But the Royal Rumble put HBK on the road to greatness. Michaels entered at #1 and ran the table, outlasting everyone and tossing eight men as he became the first man to go coast-to-coast in the Rumble.

Probably the most memorable moment came at the end, when the British Bulldog tossed Michaels over the top, but HBK played hotfoot, with only one foot touching the floor as he desperately hung onto the top rope. Bulldog celebrated his supposed victory, but Michaels snuck back in, dumped Davey Boy and won.

Michaels would fall short at WrestleMania 11, but he would duplicate the feat the following year, win the world title and solidify his reputation as one of the best ever.

Contributor
Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.